Talking Ringside Pass 5 with Danhausen, The Vision is Back, plus All In Recap | No-Contest Wrestling

The No Contest Wrestling Podcast reached episode 101, and O'Shea Jackson Jr. and TJ Jefferson promised to keep it short. They did not, and nobody who loves wrestling will mind.

It opened on a somber note. The hosts sent condolences to the family and friends of Bill Dundee, a star one host remembered watching as a kid in the '80s and '90s, and Andy Williams, known as The Butcher in AEW, who died after an in-ring incident. The outpouring of love for Williams on social media stood out to both of them. O'Shea, recalling a line about his own father, said stars should receive their flowers while they can still smell them, and that fans should let wrestlers know they are appreciated "while they're still here." They also sent their love to Cody Rhodes and his family after the loss of their dog, Pharaoh.

Then it was on to WWE, where Bronson Reed made his return, noticeably leaner after six months of work. "Medium Bronson Reed," one host called him. The tsunamis still looked like they hurt, but the running joke was that Oba Femi took the lightest tsunamis anyone has ever taken.

One host had no patience for fans who said Femi against Bron Breakker wasn't a good match. It was the beginning of a feud, and wrestling fans should know neither man was going to lose that night. "You don't have to reinvent the wheel. What you going to do? Make it rounder?"

With The Vision back together and Paul Heyman's position unclear, the hosts agreed Raw is so stacked that "somebody's got to not eat." That was called a great problem to have.

There was a booking critique, too. Reed's return carries weight because he once beat Roman Reigns, the argument went, so his attack on Femi should matter. When Femi came out the next night acting like nothing was wrong, it felt "very John Cena-ish," like Cena getting crushed on a pay-per-view and running out fine the next night. "If Oba comes out struggling to walk, but still going out there to whoop somebody's ass, that's more believable."

The hosts also dug into Femi elbowing Reed's foot off his back, which they chalked up to an unwritten rule, and one host dismissed the reaction online as manufactured Oba hate. Everyone loved Femi smushing Petey Williams in the face, and it prompted a pointed complaint about wrestling accounts with 100,000 followers that don't know who Petey Williams is.

On whether The Vision or The Judgment Day runs WWE, the verdict on this version of The Judgment Day was harsh: they better not want problems with The Vision. The hosts also questioned Royce Keys torching an Escalade, since wrestlers on the road aren't driving their own cars. "You're blowing up a rental car," one said.

Liv Morgan retained against Stephanie Vaquer, the way the hosts expected, though Becky Lynch's offer to help Vaquer in exchange for the first title shot struck them as more than fair. Trick Williams got his belt back from Baron Corbin, with a production complaint about Corbin carrying Williams' furry custom belt the whole time. Lil Yachty also got credit for playing his part well, even from a host who admitted he didn't want to see him wrestle.

Randy Orton's win over Cody Rhodes in Atlanta was called the right call, and the teases of a darker Cody have the hosts excited. One has held a plan for evil Cody for about a year and a half, and warned fans who build stars up only to tear them down. "Be careful what you wish for."

The centerpiece of the episode was O'Shea's solo interview with Danhausen, recorded while TJ was at his day job on The Rich Eisen Show and tied to Danhausen joining WWE 2K26's Ringside Pass season five.

O'Shea opened by crediting Danhausen as the only athlete to win a Stanley Cup, a World Cup and an NBA championship in the same year. Danhausen explained that he uncursed the Hurricanes, who won the Stanley Cup the next day, cursed Argentina, and was thrilled for the Knicks and Jalen Brunson, who took less money to make the team better.

Asked about being playable in the game, he had requests. A car that drives really fast, and rocket arms that shoot off and hit opponents. O'Shea suggested that was a bit complex, so Danhausen settled for being able to curse people.

His first year has been remarkable. Danhausen said he wasn't originally supposed to be part of WrestleMania, but it became undeniable, and he ended up sharing the ring with John Cena. The moment that finally hit him was simple. "You can absorb John Cena one foot away from your face."

He also got to make The Miz look like The Miz, then gave O'Shea a tip for any future Miz interview: ask him about being an independent wrestler in Cleveland before WWE, and tell him Danhausen informed you.

Danhausen got hooked on wrestling watching Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie get thrown off the entrance ramp into a dumpster, a clip replayed until it burned into his brain. Kane's debut at Bad Blood 1997, with the red lights and the fire and the ripped-off door, appealed to a kid who loved horror because of his father. He drifted away as he got older and came back because of CM Punk's pipe bomb and the Punk and Cena feud, which sent him to wrestling school.

That history comes with a grievance. Danhausen said Punk told him the move was his after Punk retired, then returned and took it back. "He takes backsies," Danhausen said, adding that Punk now owes him royalties.

O'Shea's own answer for when wrestling broke his heart was Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon teaming up to take out The Rock at WrestleMania 17. For Danhausen, it was Kane unmasking, with what he described as a George Costanza haircut.

His favorites run from Kane, The Undertaker and Austin to the New Age Outlaws, Triple H, Bayley, Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect and Demolition. He paid tribute to Hart at SummerSlam and gave a cape to a child in the crowd, and he is working on getting capes to every show so he can give one away each night.

O'Shea told him his comedy works like a palate cleanser. Danhausen's theory is that people rewrite history. Kurt Angle, Austin and The Rock were great comedy wrestlers, and William Regal is often forgotten, though Danhausen steals a lot from him. "If you can make someone laugh, you can make them a fan."

For O'Shea's bar fight question, Danhausen took the APA, CM Punk, and Haku, subbing out Piper once O'Shea revealed they have debated renaming it the Haku question. He also put two dreams into the universe: winning Money in the Bank, with a briefcase presumably full of "human monies," and wrestling in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match.

Back in studio, the hosts caught up on AEW All In, which they couldn't cover the week before because of the Becky Lynch episode. Mercedes Moné's win over Willow Nightingale for the AEW women's world title drew a passionate defense of Moné against internet hate. "She is my favorite female wrestler of all time," one host said, comparing her decision to bet on herself to Jon Moxley's.

Will Ospreay's win over Kenny Omega for the AEW world title got the biggest reaction. The hosts took issue with Eric Bischoff saying he didn't like the match and put it on the short list for match of the year. Omega's entrance, explained on the show as a tribute to All Might from My Hero Academia, fit a story about passing the torch. Ospreay's entrance began with a video of his mother admitting she was wrong when she told him at 16 that he couldn't make a living wrestling, then took him past figures from his career, from Zack Sabre Jr. and Ricochet to his wife, Alex Windsor, and finally Moxley handing him the flag.

That mother story hit home. One host remembered being the class clown whose mother warned he wouldn't get anywhere, then getting a call on that same couch offering him a job as a comedy producer at MTV. He asked for an apology, and got one.

The hosts also celebrated Darby Allin's win over Kevin Knight, Kazuchika Okada retaining, the Brawling Birds winning the women's tag titles, and Moxley winning in London against Nigel McGuinness. One stat stood out: in four years of All In, no one has main evented more than once.

TJ added news from his own world. He won his fantasy league for the fourth time, and the league is being renamed after actor Eric Dane, a member for 17 or 18 years, who died in February from ALS. TJ even beat Dane in the playoffs on his way to that fourth title.

The episode signed off the way it always does: have a good day, but not too good, because "who the hell do you think you are?"