By Joe Murphy
Before returning a shirt to old friend Sullivan Brown after a fancy dress forfeit, Adam Blampied sat down with Joe Murphy to give Wheel2Wheel Reports his insights into everything WWE and board gaming while also discovering his unofficial official favourite and least favourite moment from a selection in the world of wrestling. And yes, Formula 1 did briefly make an appearance too.
Fresh off the back of creating his new Patreon page, Adam talked about how wrestling is now at a peak not seen since perhaps the early 2000s. From a solely financial perspective, Adam admits, it has in fact never been bigger. But what else did the ‘Posh Guy Who Likes Wrestling’ have to say?
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John Cena sucks!
The podcast kicked off with the first of two in-podcast tournaments to select Adam’s favourite and least favourite wrestling moments from this century. From the options provided in terms of favourite moments, Adam revealed not only his first choice but also the shock and awe he experienced whilst watching John Cena’s heel turn, which has reinforced WWE’s position in mainstream media.
The turn is actually making him watch wrestling live in the form of WWE Raw this Monday, something he has not done since his WhatCulture days nearly a decade ago. In part, because of how bad the show used to be but also due to the time difference. Adam reiterated, however, he will be “so cross” if they butcher the booking of this angle.
Adam went on to praise his second choice of CM Punk’s WWE title win at Money in the Bank in 2011. He credited this show as being the reason why he is where he is today, on the back of a decade in the business of online wrestling content.
Adam “loves” wrestling at the moment…
The hottest years of wrestling, according to Adam, are from 1998 to 2000. However, it’s clear that he’s chosen a good time to set up his Patreon as the viewing is “very strong” at the moment. He even went as far as saying outright that he “loves” it. Why? Well, viewing WWE content nowadays “rewards weekly watching and long-term investment,” in stark contrast to 2007-2011, when Adam took a hiatus from watching WWE shows. After bringing up the comparisons of today’s WWE with the yesteryear of ‘black and gold’ NXT, Adam made note of the raucous crowds that seem not to appear at big stadium arenas, instead at 1000-2000 people, but that there are similar patterns emerging.
“I picked a good time to have wrestling stuff behind a paywall!”
In the next round of the tournament, Adam desired his love for Shinsuke Nakamura’s Royal Rumble win of 2018, as it was a rare time the company did what fans wanted. After selecting this as the victor over the Ironman Match of Kurt Angle v Brock Lesnar, Adam then ended up choosing Daniel Bryan versus the aforementioned Lesnar over the “video essay” of WrestleMania 36’s Firefly Funhouse Match. Since the real-life death of Bray Wyatt’s portrayer Windham Rotunda, it’s something that would be “difficult to rewatch,” Adam explained.
The most fun hobby in the world…
The conversation then went on to board games, a key part of Adam’s work following the success of the YouTube channel No Rolls Barred (NRB). After dismantling Monopoly as being some people’s “only exposure” to board gaming, claiming it’s responsible for “engendering genuine bad feeling” and is, in reality, a “truly bad game.” Its biggest crime, as per Mr. Blampied, is that it is making people think this industry is in any way boring. Which, of course, it isn’t.
Creating and developing the NRB family and board games themselves were the driving factors behind the success of the channel, alongside the incredibly popular “House Rules” series with the previously referenced Sullivan. Adam does also believe that the hobby is unquestionably becoming more popular than it’s ever been. In suggesting why this might be,
The importance of the pandemic opening up people’s eyes to board gaming was a large driving force. Furthermore, Adam took joy in identifying the emergence of his hobby into mainstream media through television shows such as The Big Bang Theory, among others. The hope, from Adam at least, is that they become more popular moving forward.
“People love just hanging out with each other.”
Therefore, on the back of this rise, Adam confirmed he will be appearing at Clockers Con on April 5th and 6th, 2025. An event that Adam promises to be “so much fun” with plenty of lying and shouting. If you are interested in ticketing information, then act fast as tickets are selling rapidly! Clockers Con Tickets
Board gaming, particularly for people heading into and beyond their thirties, can be a preference to going out. It brings people together, as long as you can be prepared to lose. Although Adam made the point of not holding back when playing such games, admitting his girlfriend is better than him.
Adam Blampied away from wrestling and board gaming…
Cena’s heel turn and Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar won their respective semifinals to set up a blockbuster final for the end of the show.
We then looked into Adam away from the camera, away from wrestling, and away from board gaming. Two industries that, too many, he has been synonymous with for so long now. Adam revealed that in his spare time, he is a huge video gamer, owning almost every conceivable console over the last 30 years, such as Game Gear, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and an Xbox 360. Moreover, he gets satisfaction from painting mini figures, playing with adult Lego, and battling couch co-op with his girlfriend.
The birth of ‘Blampco!’
The move to Patreon and going into business for himself, he said, has given him stability. Financial security and also a work-life balance, but also a control over his own exposure to an audience that has specifically paid to see him. This in turn has helped his mental health, especially when there can be a nasty side to online exposure.
Working as his own boss has been “brilliant” and “really transitory,” with Adam admitting his page has been more successful than he originally thought it would be. Subsequently, he is now busier than he thought he’d ever be.
A Return to YouTube in Summer 2025
The long-term goal is to put content back on YouTube again for free, according to Adam. Understandably, the difficult balance to calculate is working out what needs to go behind a paywall and what could go up for free. This is something that he and his business partner, who are currently building a studio, are working out a strategy for. Adam hopes that by May or June this year, his full-time YouTube return could be complete after nearly a couple of years away.
Adam did also confess at this point to almost no experience of Formula 1, praising Fleetwood Mac’s old theme song, ‘The Chain,’ not realising it hadn’t been the theme song for half a decade. Parallels can be drawn between WWE and F1 in recent years, however. For example, both are on Netflix in some form, both are global brands, and both have seen their financial stock increase in recent years with controversial decisions surrounding parts of the Middle East.
“Cody is the face of WWE.”
The next tournament started, with Adam venting his frustrations at Keith Lee’s release that just so happened to occur on his birthday. However, it was Baron Corbin retiring Kurt Angle that progressed to the next round of Adam’s least favourite moments. In doing so, we chatted about WrestleMania 35, something this writer was at live, agreeing that Cena v. Angle would have been a better and more fitting end to the career of Angle, who by that point couldn’t really ‘go’ anymore. All it would have needed to be was a five-minute match. Seeing as Cena was in the MetLife Stadium that night, it’s a huge missed opportunity.
After reminiscing over early 2000’s WWF, a time when Stone Cold Steve Austin’s injury forced the company to build other stars, Adam identified that we are at the same point again with so many ‘top guys’.
Adam argued that the joy of Triple H’s (Paul Leveque’s) booking is that now he has more plates spinning than WWE ever used to. Roman Reigns’ upcoming triple threat match is evidence of this, and also evidence that, as Adam put it, “the face of WWE right now is Cody (Rhodes).” Recent concerns over Rhodes becoming the new Cena, as if there is this legacy of fear in the audience for a repeat of the boring late 2000s era.
In the next round of the least favourite moments, Bray Wyatt’s passing makes it worse than Saudi shows, and then Jinder Mahal’s WWE title win is still worse than the Katie Vick storyline, despite necrophilia on WWE TV. Did unmistakable damage to the WWE title.
The Rock is a jobber, and Dominik Mysterious is a future World Champion!
It was time for a game. Adam and I chose, from a select group of wrestlers, whether they would be world champion (again in some cases). See below for our picks:
Chad Gable: JM=Jobber, AB=Jobber
Sami Zayn: JM=Champion, AB=jobber
Asuka: JM=Jobber, AB=Jobber
Finn Balor: JM=Jobber, AB=Champion
Dominik Mysterio: JM:Jobber, AB:Champion
Logan Paul: JM=Champion, AB=Champion
Kevin Owens: JM=Jobber, AB=Champion
Bayley: JM=Jobber, AB=Jobber
LA Knight: JM=Jobber, AB=Jobber
Antonio Castangoli: JM=Jobber, AB=Jobber
Bryan Danielson: JM=Jobber, AB=Jobber
Ricochet: JM=Jobber, AB=Jobber
The Rock: JM=Jobber, AB=Jobber
The semifinals then culminated with Kurt Angle’s dubious retirement, making the final, alongside Jinder Mahal’s final reign.
Then for the tournament finals. Cena’s heel turn had story, pantomime, and drama and bested the clinic that is Bryan vs. Lesnar match to become Adam Blampied’s Unofficial Official Favourite Wrestling Moment. Mainly because his love for wrestling is the soap opera aspect, along with the booking, the surprises, and the live audience engagement. Cena’s heel turn had the lot.
In crowning an Unofficial Official Least Favourite Moment, Jinder Mahal’s “fucking goddamn motherfucking” title reign won the honours. It had him ‘raging against the entire world’ for the better part of a year because of the damage it was doing to the hobby that he loves.
What’s next for BlampCo?
Adam claimed he is very happy for his personal YouTube involvement to be smaller scale than it perhaps used to be. When working at What Culture, the channel had over two million subscribers. Cultaholic, Wrestletalk, and NRB also have six-figure audiences.
He concluded the interview by outlining a clear plan for the future. The goal is for YouTube to promote Patreon, as opposed to the opposite. The ultimate dream of Blampco is to make a YouTube channel with no ads or sponsors, or certainly one that doesn’t rely on them for revenue. So far, his Patreon income is paying for his bills and new equipment. He recognises also that to get the best user experience with no compromises, this steady income needs to remain. He also promised more live events, an incentive being that he loves working with everyone from NRB in such capacities.
Join Adam Blampied over on his Patreon for lists, live streams and much more here…
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