Matt Khoury and Blake Shanks cover pickleball from opposite ends of it.
Matt runs mattspickleball.com, where he measures paddles and publishes the numbers. Blake is a pickleball photographer who spends most of the year at PPA events, which puts her around the players and the brands all year. She picks her paddles on feel and will argue with him about it.
Every week, they get into new releases and what's actually worth buying, what the tour is doing, and an interview with someone from inside the sport. Blake runs those.
Rumor Mill: Is Selkirk Moving Away From the Widebody? Plus Engage Pickleball's Founder
Engage Pickleball founder Robert Elliott made his first paddle because his wife couldn't feel the ball, and within a year of launching, Engage was making over 100 paddles a day. He talks about cutting paddles with a table saw, leaving "Made in USA," why the X2 is his favorite over the X3 Pro, and why he thinks hot paddles make people play worse.
Then Bobby and I get into whether the widebody is on its way out, the Loco 2, the Holbrook Fuze with VantaGrit, and the Six Zero Boulder Opal.
Code MPB works at Engage, Bread & Butter and Holbrook.
Engage lineup:
www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod5/engage
Engage X2:
www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod5/x2
Engage Axiom:
www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod5/axiom
Loco 2, elongated vs hybrid:
www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod5/loco-2
Holbrook Fuze VantaGrit:
www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod5/fuze
Best widebody paddles:
www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod5/widebody
Find your next paddle:
www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod5/find
00:00 Intro With Robert Elliott of Engage01:32 Make Me One and How Engage Started10:42 Leaving Made in USA and Going Global21:22 The More You Make the More You Buy26:02 Engage R and D and Paddles With No Foam32:15 Engage X2 vs X2 Pro vs X3 Pro41:28 Why Hot Paddles Make People Play Worse43:14 Is It a Real Paddle Company50:35 Is the Widebody Dying59:04 Enhance ArmorGrit Follow Up01:01:13 Selkirk S2 Pro and Franklin X4401:05:09 The Durable Grit Re Release Wave01:08:09 Bread and Butter Loco 2 vs Loco 101:12:46 Joola Power FX First Hits01:17:49 Six Zero Boulder Opal01:23:44 Arronax KVL00501:24:47 Holbrook Fuze VantaGrit
#pickleball #pickleballpaddle #engagepickleball #engagex2 #pickleballpodcast
28 Sept 2026
Gearbox Founder on Copycat Paddles and the Pressure X | Pickleball
Rafael Filippini runs Gearbox, and he brought the inside of the Pressure X with him. We get into what he means by pressurizing a paddle, why the carbon ribs take a thousand pounds to move three millimeters when the foam on its own takes four hundred, why the hottest spot on this face sits an inch and a half from the tip instead of the middle, and why he is not chasing the highest spin number anyone can post on day one.Then Bobby and I go through what showed up this week. The Enhance ArmorGrit Turbo, the Volair CMD HYB with Hex Grit licensed from 11SIX24, the roughest face in my database so far from Wika, the Diadem Edge Flex, the CPX Hyper+, and the Gherkin Draco OP.Code MPB saves you money at Gearbox, Volair and Enhance.
00:00 - The Pressure X 8E and 8M
09:32 - Carbon, Foam and Pressure
24:10 - Break-In and the 1000 Pound Rib
39:51 - Durable Grit and the Long Game
53:29 - Why a Paddle Costs 280 vs 99
01:07:18 - Enhance ArmorGrit Turbo
01:11:10 - Volair CMD HYB
01:17:37 - Wika QD Air Evolution 2
01:19:20 - Diadem Edge Flex
01:22:19 - CPX Hyper Plus and Gherkin Draco
01:29:10 - New from 24SEVEN and Arronax
01:32:05 - The Oct 1 Spin Test and Cert Costs
21 Sept 2026
James Ignatowich Says Reviewers Run Pickleball. I Pushed Back.
James Ignatowich runs RPM with his college buddy. In this episode, he says the thing most brand owners will not say out loud: reviewers run the game. I told him I think that is nonsense, and we went at it for a while.He also gets into the RPM Jade, some clever marketing, why the Q2 and the Friction Pro V2 feel close off the face, what a paddle launch really costs when you live at the factory, and the tennis career he had before pickleball.Then Blake and I get into what showed up this week, the Volair CMD HYB and the two new Gearbox Pressure X paddles.Code MPB saves you money at RPM, Volair, Gearbox and Enhance.RPM paddles, every one measured: www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod2/rpmThe Q2 versus the Friction Pro V2, side by side: www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod2/q2-vs-v2Volair CMD HYB: www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod2/cmd-hybBoth Gearbox Pressure X paddles: www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod2/pressure-xEnhance and the ArmorGrit story: www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod2/enhanceFind your next paddle: www.mattspickleball.com/v/pod2/find
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1,346,883
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Podcast Authority Score: 46 / 100
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Quality
58
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
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