Meet Anthony Neylon | YouTube Presenter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anthony Neylon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anthony, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
We originally created a wrestling podcast, as a way to talk about wrestling and gain engagement from an audience. Dom and I both enjoyed the performance aspect of wrestling and wanted to cast a critical eye on it, talking about the performance aspects, as well as production and delivery. Wrestling has always been seen as a lower form of entertainment than something like Ballet, but the performers are often delivering an improvised dance to look like a fight. We wanted to spotlight the performers as well as give our opinions on the stories being told. Wrestling is a scripted show, and has been promoted as that for many years now, but there is still a huge contingent who will straight away point out to the fact that its “Fake” however many forms of entertainment are scripted but don’t get tared with the same brush. Soap Operas are not real, but that doesn’t mean you cant get invested in the stories and drama which unfolds on screen. This is the same for wrestling and we wanted to create a place for a community to discuss their enjoyment of wrestling and decided that the best platform for us to do this was on YouTube.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The Start of Gimme A Hull Yeah!

Our early videos, saw us watching old wrestling Pay Per Views from the original WrestleMania 1 (1985) as these had all become available on the WWE network. The content was being provided for us and we was able to offer a critical take on the content. These were all pre-filmed reviews (Not Live) but gave us the skills needed to perform to a camera, and also work on our dynamic as presenters. Dom and I have known each other since our time at college (20 years ago) and whilst we knew we had a fun chemistry, we had to develop this to work on camera and that takes practice.

It wasn’t until the Covid Lockdown in the UK, that we had more time to invest in our brand. We wasn’t developing the community that we wanted with these past reviews as it didn’t give people an opportunity to discuss things live. So we changed things up and started to do live streams of wrestling events. As the events were broadcast we would sit and watch it with our audience and give them an opportunity to provide their opinions and discuss it with them. Wrestling is presented as a sport, and like most sports has commentators, however they are part of the presentation of the product. In football, if someone fumbles a pass, a commentary team will be critical of it. In wrestling, if a similar fumble was to happen during a suplex, the commentary wouldn’t be critical of it as they are part of the storytelling and presentation. They don’t give an opinion on if a match was good or could have been better. We was able to do that, but also the community we had created was also able to do that. It gave our community chance to give opinions on presentation, story telling and also deliver praise to the moments they enjoyed! We noticed a growth curve as people were returning to watch wrestling events with us.

Due to our growth and partnerships, we were noticed by the companies broadcasting the shows and we was now able to produce more content by interviewing the wrestlers. Our podcast has interviews with wrestlers from major wrestling companies such as WWE, AEW, Impact Wrestling, GCW and more. Our subscribers enjoyed the fact that they could get more wrestling content from our channel and we have since expanded into wrestling video game videos and fantasy booking videos.

One of the major challenges we have faced is being able to provide a safe space for people to share their opinions. When people are passionate about a certain subject, or have a belief on a certain matter we see times when it creates tension within the chat. This can be about the product we are watching, or even outside of the wrestling discussions. Politics can be a big one during elections, when viewers want to discuss their beliefs, which other members may not agree with. during these times its difficult to moderate the discussion whilst we are trying to discuss the wrestling. To overcome this, we gained moderators, who try to keep our subscribers on topic, and always remind people to be open to listening to points of view, even if they don’t agree with them. This will always be a challenge and as we expand, we bring in more moderators to keep the vocal members engaged in the type of conversation you would expect a wrestling podcast to cover.

Its not easy watching live events all the time (we are all based in the UK and the usual start time is 1am) however we have divided shows between our team and, try to cover a breadth of wrestling content. Whilst we are there to listen to our community and lift their spirts up during difficult times, they have done exactly the same for us during our own personal struggles. We get to know our subscribers and they get to know us. Its a two way relationships and I’m honored to say I’ve made some true friends through our Podcast.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As we are from Hull in the UK, a major part of the alternative scene is Spiders (named because the Spiders from Mars were from Hull) Dom and I spent a lot of time there growing up and still continue to enjoy it now. If a friend was looking for a boogie, that would be our local haunt.

The marina in Hull is a beautiful area to walk around and dome of the restaurants are lovely! you may catch Dom and I grabbing a bite at nibbles or Thieving Harry’s!

In 2017 Hull was awarded the city of culture, and a lot of investment was brought in the city for all kids of entertainment. Dom does a lot of work for the music scene in hull, and is often attending gigs around the city supporting local artists, and I spend a lot of time at the Hull City Hall with some cracking gigs there!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our partnerships with Soundsphere magazine really helped get us interviews from some of the biggest wrestling talent in the world. Our work with other YouTubers has really helped us develop our audience and in return theirs. Support and advice to each other on how to improve content is key to success. even though we are creating similar content, working together with the right channels can create a positive environment for both channels to succeed. Our Collaborations with WrestleSphere, Pro Wrestling Eve, The Wrestle Story, Botch Guy, Insiders Pro Wrestling and many more have really given us the opportunity to expand our subscribers and their. Not only do you develop your brand with these people, but also relationships with other content creators.

Website: www.gimmeahullyeah.com

Instagram: gimmeahullyeah

Twitter: @GimmeAHullYeah

Facebook: Gimme A Hull Yeah

Youtube: Gimme A Hull Yeah