Dave Meltzer inimitably unrattled by earthquake

Apparently, it takes a lot more than an earthquake to rattle Dave Meltzer while taping an episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter founder and longtime reporter was recording a podcast episode very early Thursday morning in his San Francisco home when an earthquake hit the area. And no, we’re not talking about the late John Tenta; we’re talking about a real earthquake. But as everything shook around him, Meltzer remained about as calm as could be.

“By the way, there’s an earthquake going on here right now,” Meltzer said casually as his camera began to shake. “Yeah, I’ll let you know how bad it is.”

“It’s serious,” Meltzer continued with a bit more excitement in his tone, although he remained uniquely composed considering his house was shaking from an active earthquake. And once his camera stopped shaking, Meltzer nonchalantly said, “It’s over, it might come back, but it’s over right now,” seeming unconcerned by any potential aftershocks.

Malika Andrews was incredibly calm while on-air for ESPN as an earthquake hit Los Angeles a couple of years ago. But Meltzer looked like he could have just as easily fallen asleep as one was hitting San Francisco Thursday morning.

The earthquake was initially deemed a magnitude 4.9, later downgraded to 4.6. Meltzer may have been more apt to rate it a 5 if it were at the Tokyo Dome, but as a longtime resident of California, this was just another earthquake for him.

After things stopped shaking, Meltzer’s phone started firing off with rings and alerts. But if an earthquake wasn’t enough to derail Meltzer from his show, a phone call from someone who may have been more concerned than he certainly was wasn’t going to do it either.