Rumors swirl amidst Five Star Radio Show’s removal from F4Wonline
All good things, they say, come to an end… And while we’re often told to “never say never” in this business, It was fun while it lasted.
It now seems more and more apparent that the relationships between F4Wonline and popular, yet polarizing podcast hosts Michael Coughlin and Todd Martin is over.
Early Wednesday afternoon, news began to surface that MMA columnist, and podcast host Mike Coughlin’s long-standing show on F4Wonline “Five Star Radio” had been removed from the site archives. Multiple mentions were made on the F4W discussion forum, The BOARD~!, regarding the show’s abrupt disappearance from the site, including a requests for the RSS feed to be fixed by members who were having issues downloading the episodes. However, no responses we offered, and no fixes materialized as the show remained “offline” throughout the day.
When asked whether this was a deliberate move by the site, or some sort of oversight, site co-owner, and the man responsible for first bringing the Five Star Radio Show to a wide audience as part of F4W, Bryan Alvarez claimed not to know how or why this had happened.
“I was unaware it happened until it was mentioned on the board.” Alvarez said, before referring the Sandwich to the site’s administrator, affectionately known as Admin Tony.
Five Star Radio had long been touted as one of F4W’s top podcasts, and it’s lone MMA podcast on an ever-expanding list of shows. The site still lists it among its benefits of membership and describing Coughlin as one of the site’s premier hosts.
“Five Star Radio Show: Join Mike Coughlin as he talks Mixed Martial Arts. Mike is one of the best analysts in the MMA game today and his pre-show previews are legendary.”
It didn’t take long for speculation and rumors to begin swirling that, perhaps, Coughlin had requested the show be taken down, since he was exiled from the site, having previously been banned for “cuntish reasons” stemming from an April 3rd altercation on the Board where Martin referred to Coughlin as “a cunt,” leading to Coughlin erupting into a (self-professed) drunken screed against Martin.
RELATED STORY: Martin Done with F4Daily… For Now
Coughlin remained coy Wednesday evening in discussing why, and how much he may have known about, his show no longer being available on F4W.
“I’m aware and want people who have tweeted, texted and reached out on FB [FaceBook] to know that my lack of response isn’t meant as a sign of disrespect. All in time.” Coughlin told Sheet Sandwich.
RELATED STORY: Scathing Allegations Surface in Coughlin vs Martin Drama
Given Coughlin’s track record, he could either be hinting at something new and different to come, or trolling for effect. Either way, the former podcast host stopped short of confirming that he was working on a new project, despite alluding to it with his cryptic “all in time” remark.
It’s a statement that rings eerily similar to the statement Martin had made on Twitter, publicly, two weeks following his departure from F4Wonline:
“I hope people who have tweeted, texted and reached out on FB know that my lack of response isn’t meant as a sign of disrespect. All in time.”
Indefinite Hiatus Becomes Permanent Departure?
For his part, it would also appear that Martin’s leave of absence from he site has taken on a degree of permanence.
Sources have told Sheet Sandwich to expect the final nail to come during the site’s next MMA picks, when those close to the situation expect Martin to be replaced or absent from the picks.
This latest development comes just two weeks after he spoke on the Shake Them Ropes podcast, hinting that, while his future online was unclear, listeners could expect to see Martin showing up somewhere “soon.”
“No I have not quit WrestlingObserver.com And no I have not been fired from WrestlingObserver.com. Yes, you will hear me very soon, either there or somewhere else.”
RELATED STORY: Martin Speaks Out on Shake Them Ropes
While that may have been true at the time, speculation is now that Martin is gone for good from F4Wonline, and is in talks to join Voices of Wrestling, either as part of their upcoming WCW 2001 project, or with a show of his own.
Meanwhile, F4Wonline does not appear to be missing either of their former hosts. In the weeks since their departure, several new shows and formats have either debuted or been announced on the site.
Bryan Alvarez has added more frequent, long-form interviews to the site podcast lineup, where guests from the daily Wrestling Observer Live radio show on Sports Byline continue for a 60-minute conversation on the members only podcast F4Daily twice a week.
Additionally, this week saw the debut of a new Monday F4Daily with Alvarez and UFC fighter Tom Lawlor talking MMA and Wrestling, while in a couple of weeks, Josh Nason will be debuting the site’s new MMA-focused show Figure Four Friday—which now seems even more apparent will be an outright replacement to Coughlin’s Five Star Radio.
What a joke Alvarez is. The site without Todd Martin is much weaker.
Todd Martin was absolutely awful and I’m glad he’s (hopefully) gone. Tom Lawlor is a far better guest judging from the first show and his appearances with Dave, Bryan and Mike S.
Mike C is a bigger loss for the site but realistically speaking still not a big one. Hopefully the horribly named Figure Four Friday show will be a decent addition to the site.
I love Todd Martin, so upset he is gone. I’m cancelling my sub and signing up at rajah.com