WWE's move to ditch their post-Premium Live Event press conferences in favor of a new, high-energy live post-show is getting big praise from the Cheap Heat podcast crew -- especially host Peter Rosenberg, who didn't hold back on his criticism of the old format.
The conversation kicked off with panelist Diperstein raving about the new approach, which debuted at SummerSlam.
"I do. This was leaps and... a formal, produced show that includes Peter Rosenberg. What's better than that? In all seriousness... this format blows that out of the water. 1,000%. There are segments. It's timed. It feels tight. It feels good."
Rosenberg explained why the old setup killed the energy for fans watching at home.
"When we would do those post shows... we're all hyped up, talking about what happens. And then it's like, 'Hey, we're gonna throw it to the... press conference.' It then goes to a quiet room inside where, like, a group of 20 people is awkwardly... pretending to be media. It completely killed the show... it just ended up sucking the air out of the room."
He believes the new format -- produced live in front of a crowd -- keeps the excitement going at the exact moment fans want it most.
"The moment in which fans really want to hear and talk about wrestling is after the big event. So the post show... feeling like a... countdown show makes way more sense. This is it."
Co-host Stat Guy Greg pointed out that while fans seem happy, some wrestling media members aren't thrilled about losing the chance to ask questions.
"I think from wrestling media, I think I saw some of them that were just like, you know, obviously they miss it. But I think a lot of the fans... were just like, 'we weren't feeling the press conferences. Anyway.'"
Greg also joked that the new format feels like the Thunderdome era of WWE, dubbing it the "Thunderdomed" post-show.
The Cheap Heat hosts all agreed that this change is a huge improvement, delivering a more exciting and engaging wrap-up to WWE's biggest nights.