{"id":219396,"date":"2026-07-16T15:32:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=219396"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:32:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:32:58","slug":"vip-podcast-7-16-the-nickys-club-with-nick-barbati-nick-discusses-several-of-wwes-rising-stars-and-how-he-would-handle-their-creative-direction-summerslams-sagging-ticket-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/16\/vip-podcast-7-16-the-nickys-club-with-nick-barbati-nick-discusses-several-of-wwes-rising-stars-and-how-he-would-handle-their-creative-direction-summerslams-sagging-ticket-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"VIP PODCAST 7\/16 \u2013 The Nicky\u2019s Club with Nick Barbati: Nick discusses several of WWE&#8217;s rising stars and how he would handle their creative direction, Summerslam&#8217;s sagging ticket sales, Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event preview, more (45 min.)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2727583041\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>SHOW SUMMARY: <\/strong>This week on <em>The Nicky\u2019s Club<\/em>, Nick Barbati puts on the booker&#8217;s hat and takes a closer look at several of WWE&#8217;s brightest rising stars, sharing how he would handle their creative direction to elevate each of them into true main event players. Which superstars are one storyline away from breaking through, and what would it take to get them there?<\/p>\n<p>Plus, Nick examines the conversation surrounding Summerslam&#8217;s sagging ticket sales, previews the upcoming <em>Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event<\/em>, and breaks down the latest headlines from around WWE in another packed episode.<\/p>\n<p>Join the conversation inside <em>The Nicky\u2019s Club<\/em>\u2014where wrestling feels like the coolest club in town.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DIRECT LINK: <\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/android\/legacyuploads\/wp-media\/2026\/07\/20260716TNC.mp3\">VIP AUDIO LINK<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>NOT VIP? NO PROBLEM\u2026<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorchvipinfo.com\">CLICK HERE FOR VIP SIGN UP INFO<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>OTHER LINKS&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Or support us on Patreon&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/pwtorchvip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/pwtorchvip&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1751173881549000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Q7ZrxqjTjmliv0ww4ly6q\">https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/<wbr \/>pwtorchvip<\/a><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-721121217\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Subscribe to our YouTube Channel&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<a 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target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pwtorch@gmail.com<\/a><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3826821746\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2088579426\"><div id=\"pwtor-604670427\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>SHOW SUMMARY: This week on The Nicky\u2019s Club, Nick Barbati puts on the booker&#8217;s hat and takes a closer look at several of WWE&#8217;s brightest rising stars, sharing how he would handle their creative direction <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/16\/vip-podcast-7-16-the-nickys-club-with-nick-barbati-nick-discusses-several-of-wwes-rising-stars-and-how-he-would-handle-their-creative-direction-summerslams-sagging-ticket-sale\/\" title=\"VIP PODCAST 7\/16 \u2013 The Nicky\u2019s Club with Nick Barbati: Nick discusses several of WWE&#8217;s rising stars and how he would handle their creative direction, Summerslam&#8217;s sagging ticket sales, Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event preview, more (45 min.)\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":205697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1360],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vipexclusivealerts","category-vip-podcasts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2025\/10\/TheNickysClub.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219406,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219396\/revisions\/219406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}