How A Laid-Off Dad Built A Wrestling Game Channel That Pays The Bills

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We sit down with Matt from Assemble to unpack how he goes from corporate layoffs to full-time YouTube with a focused wrestling game channel. We dig into narrowing your niche, building a second channel for diversification, and handling controversy without turning into rage bait.
• getting laid off during COVID and choosing not to return to corporate work
• treating YouTube like a real job with daily uploads and tighter focus
• narrowing from broad entertainment to wrestling game coverage
• spotting traction signals through views, subscribers and month over month revenue
• choosing a channel name that supports community and future expansion
• launching a second channel to avoid mixed signals and seasonal dips
• relearning retention, pacing and video length for a new audience
• earning recognition from the WWE 2K team through consistent work
• staying grounded when viewers and creators recognise you in public
• breaking down the WWE 2K26 battle pass backlash and why players are angry
• how to criticise a product clearly without yelling or selling out
• aiming to make the wrestling channel the long-term primary

Transcript

Betting On YouTube Full Time

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And I said, I don't want to go back. I just don't. I wasn't fulfilled and happy. And at this point, my YouTube channel had maybe 5,000 subscribers. I wasn't even monetized. And if I was, I was making not enough for coffee. Nothing. I told her I was like, give me three months, six months tops. And I said, let me see if I can make this profitable and pay the bills. It kind of worked out. So that's that's kind of the long and short of where I started.

Leaving Corporate After Two Layoffs

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Hey, welcome back to the only podcast that's willing to go bell to bell to give you a five-star podcast. I'm Travis, and I'm here every single week to help you grow your channel. I can't wait to help you grow your channel today. And we're gonna do it with a friend, someone who I watch on YouTube, Assemble, Matt from Assemble. How are you doing, Matt? Doing great. How are you, my friend? I'm super excited to talk to you about all the things video games and wrestling and all the things about YouTube. But first, if you're new here, we help you grow your channels by either interviewing uh other creators or answering your questions. And we just love to do it. So hit that subscribe button if you feel like it. And if you're listening to the audio podcast, everything will be in the show notes. We'll see you there. Anyway, so Matt, welcome to the show. And I'm so curious about what your life was like before YouTube. Because I mean, we kind of know you about your life in YouTube now, and we're definitely going to talk more about how that looks on your day-to-day. But before you were a YouTuber, what were you doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

So, what I was doing before all this was probably around five plus years ago. I was doing corporate. Uh I work for a big telecom company back then in Canada. Uh, and uh what I would do is training developments, working with employees. I was working in the corporate head office. I'd go over products and services and whatever, but I was one of the guys that get up there and present and put everybody through all these different programs and stuff for the company. And I worked for about 12, 13 years doing that. And then during that period, um I got let go, COVID hit, company said, adios, we don't need you anymore because everyone's shut down. Got another job that I was really excited for, and I worked, it was remote online. I could be with my kids that were at home, and again, this is during peak COVID time, things were on, things were off. And then after about six to eight months, they let me go again. Oh my god. And that was also because I figured it was me, but they figured it was because they were actually downsizing, they had to, you know, change up the company stuff. Uh, so they let a lot of people go, and I was new, and so they said, Thank you very much, see you later. And at that point, I told my wife, I don't want to do this anymore. Um, it was a very long conversation. She was dealing stuff with her work as well. We had two little kids, and I said, I I don't want to go back. I just don't. I don't want I wasn't fulfilled and happy. And at this point, my YouTube channel had maybe 5,000 subscribers. I don't I wasn't even monetized. Wow. Uh as far as I remember, I was not monetized at that point. And and if I was, I was making not enough for coffee. Nothing. Yeah. So I told her, I was like, give me three months, six months tops, and I said, let me see if I can make this profitable and pay the bills. And then it kind of worked out. So that's that's kind of the long and short of where I started.

Doubling Down And Finding A Niche

SPEAKER_01 3:18

I want to talk about that because um you know, every once in a while we hear people like taking that leap of faith, which is a scary thing. Now, for a single person, it might be less scary than for a dad and a husband. Like, that's wild to me that um you weren't even if you were monetized, like you said, it wasn't very much. Talk to us a little bit about your your your mental in that moment, the emotional, and what you committed to doing for those months. Like, what did you do?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Um, at that point, I knew that I had to basically double down. Uh, I got very serious about content at that stage, and it still was and still is a learning process, don't have things figured out. But I at least knew in that moment, one, I could give myself a little bit of time to breathe. And what what I mean is I could sit down and instead of doing a video before I went to work at 6 a.m., 7 a.m., or at night, now I'm going, I have the day. So it was much more of, well, this is now your job. So you treat it as such, you have fun, but it's now your career. And I always knew it wasn't that I had a I didn't have any fallback, but I knew that I had some skills and enough that, hey, if in a year this isn't working out, all right, I'll go back to the grind that was over there. I could figure that out, but I knew that I'm like, I I don't want to do that, so I took things pretty seriously from a content standpoint of I gotta do daily, I've got to do as much coverage as I can. And even some friends' advice on YouTube and other creators were looking at my channel, going, hey man, at this point too, Jazz, my channel was very broad. I was covering video games, I was covering Marvel movies, I was covering just general entertainment content, nerdy stuff I liked. Yeah, and then I narrowed it down because I had friends that would be like, you know, you probably should just talk cover the wrestling stuff because you seem to like that more. And those were the videos that started to get more traction than other bits of coverage. So it's kind of like, oh, well, then that's what I'll try to focus on.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

So how long before so you you you know, you lost your job, you're at about 5,000 subscribers, which for most people is super far from going full time. You're kind of thrust into full time. Yep. How long before things started actually taking form where you're like, okay, this actually is working? Like about how long and how because you said you were going about daily, like what when was it where it was like, okay, this actually might work?

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Probably after about three or four months, uh, because I was able to give it more tension and focus and get more dialed into okay, I'll go down the path of wrestling game, video game content, and I'm gonna make this work. And it was much more of an attitude of just I don't have a choice. I I'm doing this, so figure it out. Yeah. And it's not that every day was great, it was very hard. And you start seeing that the revenue's going up very slowly, but I would see that one month it was getting more, and then you I doubled that, and then I doubled that, and I started realize I got to kind of my point where I was looking at, I was assessing it, going, is this gonna work long, long term? And I was getting I was going in the right direction. So that was kind of the signals of like viewership is going up, subscribers were increasing, and month over month revenue was beginning to increase. It wasn't great, but it was going in the right direction. So as long as I was like, hey, the numbers aren't going down, uh, that that was kind of a good signal.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

So then your wife was probably on board shortly after uh uh you started committing to seeing numbers going up, or like when when did she like, okay, I'm fine. Like, she already kind of gave you the okay to give it a shot, but she had to be worried somewhere in between there, right? Like, I mean every day, yeah. It still is doesn't approve of any.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

No, I'm kidding. She's the reason why she was like, Well, then you need to go for it. Um I'm by myself or anybody else, they may not give you the support. And she was also struggling with her full-time job. She's a nurse, and during COVID, it was not pretty. So we were both going through it, and our kids at the time were probably five, six years old. And um, she was still like, Yeah, okay, you need to do this. I don't want you to be unhappy. Why spend the next 15 years doing a job that will be you'll be successful at on paper, but I was miserable. And so doing this, I wasn't miserable, and I was in control of it, and it has its own struggles even to today. Absolutely. Nothing's it's hasn't changed much. But you're working for yourself, and that has its advantages, but also some big disadvantages, or just at least you have your own concerns. Um, someone else isn't gonna you know pay you for the hours and clock in, clock out, you're not really off the clock. So for her, it was more of just go for it. And she's I I wouldn't I maybe after six months to a year, I could say a year, feeling very consistent. That things were like, okay, we're good, we're fine.

Naming Assemble And Building Community

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Nice. So, how did the name Assemble come to be? What was that from?

Starting A Second Channel From Zero

SPEAKER_00 8:32

That is Marvel, this is Avengers Assemble. Sure. And I actually came up with that when I was coming up with my channel before all this stuff happened. I'm still working. I was sitting at Starbucks and I had a notepad and I was sitting there doodling ideas for a channel, topics, what I could do, because I was starting to get itchy. I wanted to do it. And I was gonna do, but I knew I was like, I really want to, I feel like I want to do something with YouTube. I want to do something. So I jotted down probably 20, 30 names of just stuff from my name to other references to whatever I could. I just knew that I whatever I wanted to name the channel outside of just my name, I wanted to be something that's kind of inclusive, kind of community driven, where it's just yeah, that. So I was trying to think of pinpoint something that was easy, clear to understand, and also a little bit dynamic in terms of I can use this over here, I can use this over here. It doesn't have to be locked into Matt's gaming 101, uh Matt's gaming channel. So I just used assemble because I was like, well, I loved Avengers and still do, and I just like that moniker and that that name. So I was able to parlay that into this and then over to the second channel and just expand it.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

I love that. And I'm glad you just mentioned the second channel because just yesterday I found out that you even had a second channel. I didn't know this. Oh no, but let me tell you how I found out the YouTube algorithm. I I didn't have to research you, it just showed up on my screen. And I it and I didn't know it was you because it was a it was a picture of Brock Lesnar with a clown makeup on. And I'm like, oh, this looks interesting. It's a great thumbnail, right? I'm like, oh, that's cool. Let me click it, and then it's you. I'm like, wait a minute, what is this? What is this channel? I had no idea. So what's interesting is in so for people who don't know, Symbol is a channel that's primarily about the video game WWE 2K, and then of course 25, 26. I I think I started watching you right around 2K24 or something like that. So it's a video game and it's a wrestling game that comes out every year. We'll talk a little bit about that too, because that's important. But um, I always thought he should probably just have a regular wrestling channel. That that would also make sense because a lot of those things are popping off right now, especially like especially if you know like a wrestler and you kind of podcast with them. It's been pretty good. But overall, I've noticed that uh wrestling on YouTube has been doing very well over the last couple of years. Um, so then seeing that, I was really happy. I was happy to see that you had this secondary thing, and I was very impressed by like how how performant it is, how successful it is. Thanks. Um at the size that it is. It's actually super performant for what it is. How did that when did that start? And like when did you take that leap? And what made you do that?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Uh about a year and a half ago is probably when the channel went live. And it was out of I mean, out of necessity in one hand in one way, it was also just for me to grow. Uh, I've been doing the WWE 2K video game coverage for a couple of years now, and I still enjoy doing it. But knowing in my head, in the back of my head, I'm like, I want to grow and continue to expand. How can I do that? And I don't know, I'm not an expert or even in this, but I know what I like and what I'm comfortable with and what I could speak to. And with the second channel, I was kind of like, I gotta force myself to get in there and to start. And it's been even to now, it's still a learning curve of what works, what type of content on that channel works for the audience. Yeah, what doesn't, what do I like? Um, length, all of the different stuff for videos. And so it was more of I want to be able to have both arms swinging. What's interesting is that I did start originally just on the one main channel because the one main channel, I got past 100,000 subs, and I thought to myself, okay, cool. I kind of feel a little bit more established. I I kind of I know the direction, I know what I'm comfortable with here. Let's add maybe some regular wrestling content, you know, just deep dives, reviews of the shows, uh kind of what everybody else is doing too. Started that, killed that because I was finding that I'm like, I am one, I'm worried that I'm sending mixed signals to the algorithm in that, and just the audience that I thought this was about video games. Right. Now you're talking about the real stuff, which isn't. And I would see those comments. So I would stop that, tested that, stopped it, and I was like, okay, just start your own thing over here. And at least I had a foundation of I know some of the basics of what I want to do for packaging, for presentation and things.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

How did that start? So you put through up, you upload first of all, at that point, you have a successful YouTube channel. And I love talking to creators who have a second channel because hey, I highly encourage creators to have more than one channel when you can fit it into your schedule and it's it's feasible, especially when you're successful, because because diversification is so important in in every possible I mean, financially in life, like diversification is is the key to everything. Um, but you had a channel that was uploading and getting tens of thousands of views, and and when the game comes out even more, like you know, when the game comes out, you get a lot more, right? Um what was that like uploading the video on the other channel when you don't have that ready to feel like your one of ten might be a hundred views? Like, what was it like? Tell me all about that.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

It is, it's literally like 4,000 views, 3,000 views. No, it knowing having the mindset that going in, I'm like, this is brand new. Treat it as if nobody knows you. And what's interesting is how little of the existing audience comes over, like finds it, just what you just said. I didn't know you had a second channel. Yeah, still get those comments and that today where people are like, I had no idea you did this other one, it's not fed to them. I don't overly promote on my main channel to go come over here. I will sometimes, but I don't make it a habit of go here. They're here for this, that's why they're here. And so I just promote whatever I'm on in that regard. It was hard though, because you're sitting there going, This main one is doing consistently fine, and I'm comfortable with it, I'm happy with it, and you're starting from scratch, and you're going from 500 subs, a thousand subs, and so on, and it is it is more difficult, and you go back to just like, oh yeah, I've got to give it time. And it's not the same, and it's also not the same type of videos and audience. So retention is different, length of videos is different, and needing to adapt is is tricky in that regard.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

What were some of the big learning lessons you had starting the second channel? Uh, maybe that you thought you'd already learned, but like, oh crap, this is I forgot about this pain. Like, this is wild.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

I think one thing is knowing to adjust length of video for the type of content it was, where I was starting off with, I need to make this punchy uh Mr. Beast-ish in terms of that style of like it's gotta be quick, snappy retention, high retention, go, go, go, and trying to do that versus maybe relaxing a little bit and let's have more of a conversation, let's deep dive a topic, and then noticing, oh, that did better, or more emphasis at the beginning with certain things from my hook and getting right into it. Uh just having to adjust, like knowing that figuring out that these are two different audiences because you have your habits of what you do on somewhere else, also just from packaging thumbnails, it's it changes every day. And sometimes I think I can go with a format or style that might work for a bit and then it doesn't work. And on 2K, it might be a little more consistent just with the style. So it's yeah, it's tricky though when you're going to two similar audiences, niches, but they're they're very different in terms of what you need to do.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

I think that's a really cool thing to point out because I think from the outside looking in, you'd think, oh yeah, well, wrestling video game wrestling, the people are the same, which they're not. They're really not, actually. Because for me, I was an old school wrestling fan, and I still sometimes watch it, but I'm more of a 90s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. So when the games come out, I'm more interested in the older guys. Like when I heard Demolition's coming, I'm excited. I really want LOD. But like that's why the the game pass thing, which we'll talk about in a little while, is really upsetting to me because that's where all my guys are, they're all hidden behind that scene. We're gonna talk about like the backlash online about that in a little bit. But um, you know, for me, uh I don't I wouldn't necessarily watch the newer, like if you were to talk of retro stuff, uh like Wrestling Bios does some really great stuff. It does some great like it's amazing. Um, and it but he talks about a time period when I was watching. So if you hit a topic that I am particularly interested in right now, um, then I might watch it. But I've watched, I'll probably watch all of your gaming content while I'm getting the game, right before it comes out, right as it comes out, like that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

So it totally makes sense that it's technically there's a Venn diagram of like who's interested and who's interested in this channel, and then in the middle, a little bit of crossover, a little bit, and it's um and it's also the reasons for adding the second channel, even when I did, there's still just there's fatigue, uh, natural fatigue with covering one singular thing. Yeah where I get to the fall, you get through the dog days of summer, and you get to the fall, and you're like, there's not a lot to talk about, right? Your revenue's going down, you need to deliver on certain things, you have advertisers as well. So you've got to hit these marks, and that is difficult. Sometimes I'm like, I don't know how that worked out that month, but hey, it did, okay, it didn't feel like it did. And then you like you said, you know, there's the peak seasons of it when things are red hot, and it's very much similar, I think, to other channels that are in different genres altogether. If you're in the tech industry, it's like well, a new phone comes out, it's go time, man. Like new Apple products drop, that's your season. Yes, and then there's always a difficulty later on. So out of necessity as well, and knowing me, I'm like, I want to be in a position where I'm not behind, feeling like, okay, I've run the well dry on this, I got nothing left. Man, I really should start up another channel. That's gonna take me a long time. And there's no guarantee. There's also no guarantee how long it will take to monetize, to grow it substantially, uh, to make it on par or similar with the other channel. So that's why I've spent the last year and a half really focusing on both. Um, and then yeah, when it when it does taper off on the video game side, it's been nice to have like this other lift where I go, well, I can create creatively, I can focus over here. Yeah. And have fun here too.

When The Game Studio Calls You

SPEAKER_01 18:50

The one thing that that's um, I don't know, it's not unusual because there are certain games that have this, but like usually when you're a gaming creator, you're focused on one or two games. And a lot of times that game doesn't have a natural cycle. Like if you're doing Minecraft content, that game's been out forever. Uh, there's some updates and stuff, but it's the same game. Uh, but in your particular game and games like it, like NBA 2K and stuff, you get a new version every year, which is nice. So you can still be talking about the same basic game, but you get a natural refresh at least once a year where the interest spikes back up, which is not the case with every game. I mean, some games they don't come out every year, maybe there's one every three years or something, and you just got to try to stretch it. So, at the very least, you kind of know going into it that there's gonna be another game. Um, so as long as you can stretch through the thin times, which is what your other channel should be able to help you do, because actual wrestling things never stop, so you can continue on that channel. Um, it's nice to have that spike. So let's talk a little bit about what that's been like for you. At what point when you're making this content about this game, did the actual company who makes the game start to kind of notice you and and reach out to you and talk to you? Because that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

It is. Uh, that didn't happen for a long, long time. Um, I think I got into my third, we're into year five, I think. I think by year three. Uh at some point, 2K24 25 toward 20, or at 26, yeah, 2K24. Um some of the people from the team, they were nice enough and they they DM'd me just out of the blue and just said, hey, heads up, check your email. Uh, we're just gonna send you something just uh for some information on it. And uh that was you know to get an opportunity to go and play the game early and test it out. So it was my first time ever doing that. But at that point, I had I think I just passed a hundred thousand subscribers. I'd get messages from people, just you know, your people on your channel and stuff that say, you never go out for the game or anything. I'm like, I don't ask, I'm just sit, I'm just head down and do my work. And I've said it to other people too. I'm like, if you get every year, it's never, you know, it's not guaranteed you get to experience it or or get an opportunity like that. It's always just a welcome bonus. It's I just put my head down and work. And if they notice that my work gels with them or they feel like I have some type of input uh to share, then that's wonderful. That's always just kind of how I looked at it. So it's it took, yeah, it took over three years for them to just go hi. And I'd been covering it for a while at that point, and it wasn't like, why aren't you looking at my stuff? They have no reason to, they don't need to. It's just I just have to just do my thing, and that's again, it's just a nice bonus uh if they're willing to to do that. That must be kind of exciting, though. It is, it's it's crazy exciting. Like, uh, I did do Creator Fest this year, and I got invited out for that, and that was amazing. We went to WWE's headquarters and we got to meet other wrestlers and see them and play the game, and it's a really, really great experience. Um, it gives you the opportunity also to talk to people that are making the game and pick their brain and ask questions. And you're seeing different creators too for like all walks of life. Some are like me who like cover, I guess, more of the nitty-gritty stuff about the game, the updates, what's new with it, and other people are on like the entertainment side where like they're playing the game just constantly, just you know, having a great time uh doing that. So it's just really cool to see that there's so many different types of creators going to these things. So yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

You mentioned uh when we before we started recording that yeah, when you went to one, you people recognizing you was kind of interesting and maybe a little cringy. Talk to us about like fit uh other creators uh recognize you, maybe also if you were out and about and some of a viewer recognized you. I love these stories, I just I just think these are great.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

It does not happen. I do not go to the grocery store and then people are pointing at me unless it's your neighbor. I know. No, not not even remotely. Um, I went to the creator fest like this year, and it was it blew me away that there was like just a couple of people that were like, Oh, Matt, hi, yeah, I watched your stuff, and I'm like, that's that's weird. Why would you want to do that? Don't do those things. Um, or I've gone to a WWE show like in Toronto, and I was like, I this one time I was with my wife, and I think it was for Money in the Bank, one of their pay-per-views, their bigger shows. Yeah, and we were just walking around like getting a drink or something, and then I had someone come up and they're like, Can I take a picture with you? And I was like, Yeah, why? You're fucking like I don't I don't receive that at all ever, and it throws me off that people watch you and that it's not just numbers, and you see comments and numbers, but that if they point you out and be like, I watched your video on this and this thing, and I'm like, that's so weird, right? So because you just I'm I'm talking to myself all day long. I'm editing myself, listening to myself, so you lose some of it where there are other people. If it's five people that watch your video, or it's 500 people, it's still wild. The other thing I've said to other creators too over the years is to try and uh keep it all in perspective of like you may say, I got 500 views on a on a video, and that's that's trash, and I don't like you know, that's not good enough. Number one, the the number it never ends. Nothing's ever typically nothing's ever satisfying, but it's keeping some perspective of like 500 people walked into a room and listened to you talk. They opened a door and they chose to give you the time of day and they sat in. And maybe they only sat in and watched you and talk to you for 10 minutes, five minutes, two minutes, but 500 people came in and they listened to you. And if it was in a big boardroom, a big theater room, that'd be kind of wild. So I I often think about that of just how silly it is from that perspective of like people click and watch, they give up their time. Uh, is something I often say. I'm like, you chose to give up your time to go through and look and see all these different options, and you clicked on something I made. I'm like, that's crazy.

Covering Backlash Without Burning Bridges

SPEAKER_01 25:05

I love that like almost everything you said is something I've said in a previous podcast. So people don't think that I'm just making stuff up. It's literally what you just said. Um, it's very easy to lose track of the fact that these are people, it's just not numbers going up. And and the comments are nice, it's definitely nice, but it is a different level. It hits different when you meet someone in person. Like, it's a different thing. Because it becomes more real. It's the I always say that YouTube is like the most lonely popular job you could have because you're not seeing the people you're interacting with. Uh, you know what I mean? So you're just talking to a lens, and and a lot of times you forget that like you want to see those numbers go up, but you don't actually know what that means, like in real life. Yeah. Uh very interesting stuff. So um let's talk about because so you were invited to this thing because you're a brand friendly, also you have like uh a viewership and stuff. So that's that makes a lot of sense. Um, what's happening now is very interesting in this game. So 2K26 just came out and it's getting a lot of um backlash, I would say. And I I'm gonna ask you specifically about like how you view this because it's actually important. So there's another game that had a very similar thing happen in the past year or so. It's called Tekken A. It's a game I play, and their season two update, which was added in a bunch of new stuff, really went badly. It went so badly that the platform Steam, which is uh how you play games on on PC, the ratings, uh, which are much like if you go to Amazon, you see ratings for things that are up and down, went from mostly positive to negative. Now, to put that into context, in order for that to have happened, because the game had been purchased, people either had to repurchase the game or or have a new purchase, or go back in and change their original rating to negative. It was the backlash was so intense that Namco, which is a huge company, had to make a whole statement. They had to start patching things. But what ended up happening was some of the people who were vocal, some of the creators who were vocal, who were also commentators for their live streams, were basically blacklisted. And that's what became really interesting because the critiques were out there anyway. People were universally against this thing. And these were voices of the community kind of explaining why the fandom didn't like it. And the company uh took it out on them. Now, you're in a position where this game is getting a lot of backlash over this new system that they've implemented. Just to give people an idea, you purchase this game and it has a bunch of wrestlers in it. Now, when you purchase it, you're purchasing the game with those wrestlers in the game. However, you can't access all of them until you play the game a certain amount of time. Now, if your favorite wrestler happens to be locked behind 30 hours of gameplay, they're making you play a game that you don't necessarily want to play in the way that they want you to play it in order to get to the point that you want to play it. There's a whole bunch of backlash going on out there. And as a creator in this space, this can be tricky, especially when you're already in the good graces of the company that makes that game or makes that product. For me, uh on my tech channel when I used to do things, I didn't care because I didn't want to go to these events anyway. So I just blew everyone around. I was like, ah, y'all are terrible. You're in a unique position where you don't necessarily have to go to these events, but it's nice to, and it's good to have these contacts. So you want to shine a light on the fact that people are having problems, but you don't want to trash the company either and lose that potential connection. How do you approach this whole situation? Because it's hot and heavy right now.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

So, number one, I've never, whether pol people believe it or not, I've never changed my approach for content based off of an invitation to go, you know, play early, uh, experience the game or anything like that. My coverage has always been the same, and even talking to the developers, they've said that's what we appreciate, is that it's the way you approach it. You can kick and scream and yell and shout in videos, sure people do. That's fine. That's how you want to approach it. I don't approach any of my from both channels. I don't approach my content that way. I I I find it tiring. I just don't have that in me. I'm not an angry, like, I need to get really visibly this is the worst thing ever, the world is crumbling. I my style and just the actual approach to both pieces of uh content on both channels, and particularly with the 2K stuff, has always been all right, guys, let's look at the goods, let's look at the bads. This is what the community is saying to this point, what we're talking about now. They have a battle pass system, and the majority of people are not enjoying it. Here's why. I take the perspective of the overall player or the narrative or what the conversation is, and I bring that to light to say this is what players are saying. Here's what I think, too. Here's what I think they are the developers, the game, what they're trying to go for. What do you think? And that's typically I think, anyways, that's my approach. It's not, oh, he's gonna say this is the greatest thing ever and he loves it. People will say that I or any other anybody else says they love everything about it. It's simply not true. Yeah, it's just how you're approaching it. And I might do it with a smile on my face or make a sarcastic comment or something about it, but that's just how I'm gonna do my content. I think that for something like this, it is making a lot of fans angry, a lot of players angry. It's a new system, they've never had it before, they're used to a way of playing the game every year. The cost of video games, period, are really high. The the top version of this game in Canada is$200 plus tax. Yeah, it's crazy. And that gives you access or the opportunity to play this battle pass system. You don't get anything on lock day one for the money you're paying. You get the opportunity, it's the the equivalent of you got the flight for free, but the resort you gotta pay for. And you're like, the whole point was to get to the resort. You go, you'll get there, but you can't go inside. You gotta pay to get inside. So your flight's covered. You paid for the flight, but the resort part, yeah, that's extra. And so it has rubbed people along the wrong way. As we're filming this, they've done updates now to tweak it, but they've also tweaked it in a way that fans are trying to farm the experience points. I'll talk about that. Anybody and everybody's covered it, they've seen it, and they go, We're gonna dial that down so that it's not easy for players. And I made a video that's actually going up soon because I was thinking community QA and taking people's feedback and discussing it. And one point I made in there was you are already charging people all of this, and then now players are trying to go in and you know use the in-game sliders and things that are in the game to make it easier to get the XP to grind faster to unlock the things they want, and you're halting that. I don't quite understand what's the difference in terms of why are you going to make it harder for them to grind it out in a week, the players choosing to do that, or they can take six months to grind it out, but you already got the money. The the the consumer has already paid for the product, paid for the battle pass to do it. However, they get there, what's the difference? You know, if I if I'm gonna make the game easier on me so I can get it done in a day and a half, okay. Well, that's my prerogative as a player. That's my perspective. So I think uh Travis, for a lot of it is from a creator side who somebody who touches on here's the goods, here's the bads. I I think it's a lot of just how you deliver your message. It's not being outwardly angry at a in like a company that it they don't care what I think ultimately. The big brand of Take Two Interact does not care what I have to say, it doesn't matter. The practices and the decisions made are gonna be made. And that even goes beyond what developers would have their two cents about, right? But the player cares about what's in front of them, their wallet, and that is a hundred percent valid. It's important.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

I'm just gonna say, I know the people who are listening for like YouTube advice are gonna tune out for a second, but I just need to say this you're 100% right. Uh, I just don't like that they're they're getting signals from the fan base of what they want and they're kind of ignoring them, and they're actually doing the opposite. It's like the reason people came up, because I found the YouTube video that showed you how to like grind it faster. It wasn't the Eric Bischoff thing. Actually, what it was was uh I found a guy at a small channel who said you have the underground match and then you do the slider thing, and I was just uh I think it was Andre the Giant, and I just squashed the guy from uh from the the storyline. You know, I'd really I didn't even think about it and those were like five seconds each. Um and then sometimes that there was a glitch there because like you would tap him and he wouldn't tap out. I mean tap out, but it would yeah, yeah, that didn't end. Yeah, it didn't end. So there was these, but the thing is, I did that because some of the characters that I wanted to use were available at launch on the game that I just got done playing, the 2025 version. I had to unlock characters that have been around for a couple of games, which made no sense to me. And they're getting very, very strong signals from the viewership and the and the people were paying. They don't want this, they want to do this thing. And they decided, and I I just can't believe they did this to like this. Is why I did all that grinding that the day I found out about it, I go, I know they're gonna shut this little exploit down. I know they are, so I'm gonna grind it out for the next two days before a patch comes out. And it's funny because I did it on like the I finished on like Saturday morning. I'm like, they won't have a patch at least until the week. They released a patch like on a weekend.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

I'm like, whoa. And they referenced it that they're like, this is what they're doing, so we're gonna tweak it and we're gonna Which is wild.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

These players are doing this because of the reasons that we talked about.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

And they'll, you know, the the one argument is the passes never expire all year. But where I feel, and I say this in today's video on my channel, the one issue with that argument of hey, you can just play it all year round, you know, you can go back to season one and grind and get those characters unlocked, and you got all year. So take your time. Like you could go quick or slow, it it won't matter. But there's another game coming out. This this is not a live service game, it's a live service model you're putting into an annualized game. Yes, that is for the wrestling players, is not something that they're used to, and it's their first year doing it. So you're already seeing the game technically comes out like Thursday or Friday where it's released to the public, to the wide public. It's not getting good fanfare. They need to, and and hopefully they do tweak it and adjust it as they go. But yeah, it's it's a tricky model because you're you're gonna let this thing go all the way to December, and by January, you start hyping up the next game. No, I know. So everything that you work towards, what's happening there? Well, the next year's game is probably some of that's going to be recycled and brought back in, or it's in the base game, and over and over and over it goes.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

And you know what's funny? I had a sentiment after buying this game, and I saw other people starting to say the same thing. It's like, this is the last one I'm buying anytime soon. I was buying the top package every year. Uh, I will not buy another one until they bring like the Legion of Doom in, because that's kind of the one thing that I really need. Uh, I know people are listening probably this is nerdy stuff. What is going on? We'll get back to the YouTube stuff in a second. I just need to say this. I got Matt on here. I need to talk to him about this. No one else knows what I'm talking about. I gotta talk to him about it. Um, and to me, that's like you you have now I'm the perfect customer for you. I buy the highest package every year and I buy it every year. And you've now made it so that I'm not interested ever again until the particular characters I want, which I know I can get the created characters, but I want like the commentary. You want the legit ones. I want all the legit. Which, if it doesn't happen next year, I'm not buying extra. So you've you've basically made it so that I'm just keeping this version, I'm done. So it's it's um it's a very interesting thing. So that's for people that are listening that know what we're talking about. I'm sure you you enjoyed that little segment, but for the rest of you, let's talk a little bit more about YouTube. The last the last thing I'll just say about this is that I I brought this up the other day.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

It every player is different. Some people will play all year long and have that nice slow grind progression. And I see it in my comments. People are like, I'm fine with it. I like it. It's refreshing, it's different. I like unlocking stuff as I go. I'm like, it's valid. I get it. But the other side, and there's multiple sides to it, like I don't have all the time in the world. I did the cheap slider method and just try to grind it out, and then they patched it and it's gone. And I go, oh yeah, season two, I do not have time for this. Yeah, I have I don't have 60 hours to sit there. I got wife, kids, work like a lot of us. I have an hour a day, if a day, because I might have it's other responsibilities and stuff. Like, I'm not playing that much, and people like to play lots of video games. So when your time is so limited, you cannot you can do the math and you can figure out this is not gonna get done where I've got the whole thing ready to go. It's gonna take most people too long where it's re where it's passed, and now they gotta go back and they might feel like I paid for all this and I didn't even unlock it. Yeah, you can, but it's gonna take too long. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done with it. I think it's an interesting model, it's a new one, but they it's being the first year with it and the first week. They definitely need to adjust and tweak it for fans because it's not working for them.

Making The Second Channel The Future

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Yeah, I sincerely hope they figure it out because what you just said literally hit my mind the other day. I'm like, I feel like okay, I got through it. And then I realize, oh, there's characters coming out that I want in the future that they've announced, which I'm kind of excited about. And they got to do it again, except for this time I don't have the exploit. So I don't know. We'll have to see what happens. Okay, finally, let's talk a little bit about your secondary channel. We talked quite a bit about the primary and the secondary we talked a little bit about, but what is your goal for this secondary channel, though, about the actual wrestling, like about actual wrestling rather than the video game? What's your what's your what are you are you are you taking it after like some of the other channels that have blown up on YouTube? Are you trying to do your own thing? Like, what's your actual goal here?

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Trying to do my own thing as best you can. It's very difficult in the space because everything's been done. So you are cherry picking to a degree of well, here are ways or topics or formats that have proven successful or moderate success, and maybe you can put your own spin on it. Uh, the goal for me is to probably make it higher than the video game channel. I want it to eclipse and from a you know, revenue side, advertising side, community side, I want it to be bigger than the 2K one so that when there are the dip seasons or I sunset it, I have this other one as the main driving force. And that's what I am working towards now. It's because it takes a lot more work, but at the same time, I'm like, I was doing this with the 2K channel where I'm like, hey, I hit 10,000 subs and then I hit 15 and it's slow, it's slow, it's slow, and you forget that. Where you're like, come on, like it's gotta go faster and bigger. Um, the goal is to make it the primary channel, to make it the primary focus. And it it very much is, but like we're in the video game season, so it's now I'm like, okay, now I'm 50-50, yeah, or I'm 60-40 focusing on the game, and that will slow down and then we'll go back up. So I'm trying to make it the bigger one. I'm trying my hardest, and it's very difficult to find nuances, new ways to approach it in videos in terms of topics, in terms of formats that haven't been done before. Uh, one thing I I try to stay away from and I probably fail at is not looking at, well, this guy's doing this format, let's and it's got whatever, 100,000 views on the video. Okay, I'll just do that. Yeah, well, that's that's why he does like that's what the audience wants from them. That's they're gonna go there. Why would you want a recycled version doing it again less lesser than? You're already getting that over here. So it's trying to figure out formats, it's trying to figure out what the audience wants because it's still small at 50,000, 53,000, whatever it is now, um, it's still growing a lot. So there's still a lot of work to do.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

So do you eventually want to have like interviews and stuff, or do you want to just keep it commentary-based?

SPEAKER_00 41:14

I enjoy doing commentary-based. I thought of doing interviews, but the side of that, and you know way better than I do, there's a ton of work, and it's a whole other beast when you're gonna go for interviews, setting them up, yes, trying to get that to work. Um, if it's with wrestlers like WWE superstars, I would assume there's a lot of steps in order to make that happen. That is not just message them or DM them and say, You want to come on? There's there's protocols and approvals and all of that. I and I'm not built for it. I'm I'm built for sitting right here and do some commentary, try to laugh, try to have fun and and do it my way. So yeah, not not so much with the interviews in that portion. It's much more of let's do the commentary pieces. I like doing longer form videos and I like putting them, trying to make them more cinematic or trying to make it more of a docustyle in some videos, uh, and try and take different approaches.

Closing And Creator Coaching Offer

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Yeah, as someone who did that uh for UFC content, I can tell you that it was great and also difficult and very easy to burn out on. Because if you couldn't get somebody, uh, then you're like, okay, well, I've got to go back to doing just like regular news stuff, which is fine, but maybe you're starting to get really good at interviews, and if you can't get them, you're relying on someone else for your success. And that was never great. So what you're doing, I think, is a lot smarter. Thanks. So with that being said, um, I want to thank you for joining us. It's been quite a lightning. And uh, and one of the things you mentioned, we're gonna do off uh camera, but if y'all are wanting to do this, so uh Matt talked about having problems figuring out different ways to come up with new content. I'm gonna help him with that off camera. There's different ways you can do it. There's links in the description if you want your own one-on-one coach. We have those available here at VidIQ. Also, uh, if you want to try the AI coach, that can help you as well. So I'm gonna take Matt through some of that stuff and show him how to come up with some really amazing ideas for his channel. But that's behind closed doors. Y'all don't get to see that. That's that's in the gorilla position, behind the curtain. All right, everybody. Look, thank you so much for joining us. If you want to know more about Assemble, there'll be links in the description. And if you're listening to the audio podcast, it'll be in the show notes. Thank you so much, Matt, for joining us. We greatly appreciate it. Is there anything else you want to tell people before we go?

SPEAKER_00 43:17

No, just um thank you very much for having me. I've I watch, listen to the podcast, I watch vid IQ every week before I started YouTube and still to today uh to keep up, to see what's what are nuances, what are different thumbnail styles that are working for people right now in different niches. And I always find it just super helpful. So I I think it's wild to be talking to you and to be, you know, with vidIQ on this. So this is great. Thank you. Well, thank you for joining us, and we'll see everyone else in the next one.