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Billboard Women in Music 2025
Brennan Lee Mulligan has shown “Dimension 20” viewers countless new worlds as the dungeon master of Dropout‘s tabletop actual play series, but now he’s stepping into a new realm: professional wrestling.
The latest season of “Dimension 20,” “Titan Takedown,” is a four-episode side quest that swaps Mulligan’s usual crew of comics and D&D aficionados for a quartet of WWE wrestlers: Bayley, Chelsea Green, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods/Austin Creed.
Though Dungeons & Dragons and pro-wrestling may seem like two different universes, Mulligan says the idea for a wrestling season of “Dimension 20” has been brewing for some time. “These wrestlers have tons of fans among the Dropout staff and the ‘Dimension 20’ cast and crew,” he told Variety.
“We’d had Austin [Creed] on ‘Um, Actually’ and word got to me that he loved playing D&D, so there was immediately a connection there. I was like ‘Oh, I wonder if there are any other wrestlers that would be interested,’ and when the time came to really start exploring it, [casting director] Jazzy Collins made it all come together.”
Though he didn’t know much about wrestling before the season began, the Dropout crew was more than happy to help fill in the gaps.
“In the months leading up to ‘Titan Takedown’ I went from being tangentially aware to being led by the hand like Virgil and Dante,” Mulligan said. “I had absolute wrestling super-maven Danielle Radford, who opened my eyes. It was truly the ghost of Christmas past, being like ‘Here are the specials you need to watch. Here are the big matches you need to see in order to understand these cast members.’ You could not find a better teacher than Danielle to initiate and anoint you into the circle.”
Radford isn’t the only wrestling superfan at “Dimension 20:” when the “Titan Takedown” trailer first dropped, fans were quick to note the conspicuous absence of Brian Murphy, who has been peppering WWE references into D20 campaigns as far back as “The Unsleeping City: Chapter II.”
Mulligan wants to set the record straight regarding the lack of Murph in a long-awaited wrestling season. “Everyone thinks I’m ignoring Murph and it could not be more different. I live in a tent outside Murph’s house, and every morning I wake up and bang on the door and beg Murph, beg him, and he buries his face in his hands in a dark room with an organ where he’s working on NADDPOD 24/7.”
“I say ‘Murph, please. Please,’ and Murph says ‘My ghosts whisper,” and then he goes into a darker cavern of his room where he makes more amazing podcasts. I want to be extraordinarily clear. If you think Murph wasn’t the first guy I called? You would be mistaken. I need it on the record. I need all the fans to know the number one Brian Murphy fan in the world is me. You don’t need to wonder where Murph is. I’m wondering with you!”
As for which wrestlers Mulligan was drawn to while researching for “Dimension 20?” “Mankind. The vibes were immaculate,” he says of hardcore legend Mick Foley’s sock puppet-toting persona. Foley/Mankind was one of the many wrestlers active during the “golden age” of pro wrestling, an aesthetic that Mulligan fuses with ancient Greece to create the setting of “Titan Takedown.”
“It just felt like the funniest comedic pairing. For a lot of ‘Dimension 20’ seasons, we want to find some mashup of two things that comedically create friction but that make sense together. For our purposes, something fantastical and magical for the D&D part of it to work, but then something that fits the vibe of your performers, which in that case is the Macho Man, oiled-up 1980s thing,” he said.
“Especially with the Greek gods, looking at the comedic juxtaposition of Greek myth with this 80s sleaze-ball Zeus. By adding them together, it’s easy for the cast to navigate it because they recognize the energy.”
Though most of the wrestlers were new to the mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons, Mulligan says he wasn’t worried about their ability to pick up the infamously complex game.
“This is my belief, having worked with this incredible cast of Austin, Chelsea, Bayley, and Kofi, having worked with Bob, Monét, Jujubee and Alaska and having had Hank Green come in and do a side quest. People at the top of a performance medium, people that have dedicated their lives to connecting with audiences, so many of those credits transfer. They’re quick learners who love challenges, full stop,” he said. “In terms of diving into the story, these guys were ready. I would say the biggest difference in DM’ing an Intrepid Heroes season is that I don’t have to explain the rules of the game, or do as much coaching. Also the Intrepid Heroes harass and abuse me more.”
But while Kofi, Bayley, and Chelsea didn’t know a rogue from a ranger before “Titan Takedown,” Mulligan was able to lean on Xavier Woods to help his fellow wrestlers.
“When you’re playing with people that haven’t played before, it’s really nice to have someone like Xavier at the table to help, because that’s someone that has a pure relationship with his colleagues but can still help part the veil and add some clarity on what we’re doing together.”
“I love playing with new people,” Mulligan continued. “Even if there were four professional wrestlers that had played DND their entire lives, there’s something captivating about playing with new people who are exploring the learning process of the game. If someone is coming to this season for the first time and doesn’t know what D&D is, they can still go on this ride with one of their favorite performers.”
Since filming “Titan Takedown,” Mulligan says he’s kept up with the ongoings of his “righteous wrestlers” in WWE, which includes The New Day’s (made up of Woods and Kofi Kingston) controversial heel turn.
“Here’s my heart. I’m pulling my heart out of my chest and putting it in Austin and Kofi’s hands. If they chose to turn heel, if it’s time for a little scandal, if it’s time for a little betrayal and villainy, I’ll follow those dudes to the end of the earth. I’m with them.”
Kingston and Creed aren’t the only “Titan Takedown” alums making wrestling headlines: since filming “Dimension 20,” Chelsea Green has since become the inaugural WWE Women’s United States Champion.
Despite hailing from Canada, Green has adopted a “Madame President” gimmick since winning her title and is in the process of assembling her cabinet. For his part, Mulligan salutes the champ and says he’d be proud to serve under the Green administration as “Secretary of Dice.”
“I feel like she needs someone to keep track of all the dice. That’s a position I could fulfill and I’d be happy to fill it. My promise to Chelsea is: Madame President, if you put me in your cabinet, I will not put our business on an app store group chat and broadcast it to the world. Any secret dice shit going on, I won’t put it on a group chat like an absolute fucking clown.”
“Dimension 20: Titan Takedown” streams Wednesdays on Dropout.
