The Thread Killer

I get the impression that Sean is having problems getting the podcast carried by as many platforms as he would like. I myself had to sign up for Spotify in order to access the podcast. It finally became available on iTunes today, about a week later than he had hoped. He also tweeted today that he has no intention of posting the podcast on YouTube, which I personally think is a mistake. He would reach a much wider audience that way but according to Sean, YouTube "doesn’t count toward download stats that are shown to advertisers and Google/YouTube pay dick." So there you go. @SPS let us know what you thought of it after you checked it out, I am interested to hear your opinion.

You should check out Sean's interview with Conrad, I found it really interesting. I don't think it will be for everybody (some fans won't give a shit about the business aspects of podcasting) but I thought it was informative.

There is no point trying to discuss this with you any further, because you're either unable or unwilling to differentiate between your opinion about something and what constitutes a fact. That's a fact, by the way.

Whether you want to admit this or not, there are a lot of fans out there of traditional Pro Wrestling who don't like AEW and don't like the direction so-called "modern" Pro Wrestling is taking. That's a fact, even if you can't accept it. David Bixenspan wrote an article about it last month when AEW signed Orange Cassidy. I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying it's a fact. You love AEW. You want AEW to succeed. You think AEW is making Pro Wrestling better. You've made that point. And that's fine, more power to you. But if you can't admit that there is a segment of fandom that doesn't like the whole comedy/performance art aspect of AEW, and if you can't see that Cornette has pretty much ended up becoming the spokesman for those types of fans, then you are the one who is being completely ridiculous.

As mentioned above, Kayfabe Commentaries is stopping DVD production, they have started a streaming service and Sean Oliver now has a podcast.

As we discussed in the Shoot Interview thread here, Sean Oliver and Kayfabe Commentaries are getting out of the Shoot Interview DVD business. They are selling all their stock at $5.00 per DVD, and once they have sold them out they are not selling any new DVD's. Kayfabe Commentaries have started an On Demand service called KC Vault, where eventually they plan to have their entire back catalogue available to stream for $14.00 a month. They are still uploading stuff so the entire catalogue is not yet available. You can also still get their Shoots at WWN Live (which is where I purchased a bunch of the "Back to the Territories" episodes when they first came out) but that is much more expensive. For the record, Sean Oliver is not claiming that Kayfabe Commentaries is going out of business, he is just saying they are going on hiatus while they focus on getting the streaming service off the ground. He claims it is still possible that KC will produce new content exclusively for KC Vault in the future. I follow Sean Oliver on Twitter, and over the past few years he has made some comments about podcasts killing the Shoot Interview business, some comments were vague and cryptic and some were quite pointed. A year or so ago, Conrad Thompson replied to one of Oliver's tweets defending the Pro Wrestling podcast (as you would obviously expect him to) and Oliver and Thompson got into a minor back-and-forth regarding Shoots vs. Podcasts. I guess Sean has decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" because this week he launched his own Podcast, "Sean Oliver's Kayfabe Podcast." So far it seems to be available via the usual suspects, Google Play, Spotify and Stitcher. It looks like the podcast will run about an hour and be divided between Oliver (who is flying solo at that point with no co-host) delivering a monologue, then there is an interview, and finally he will be taking Twitter questions. It should be noted that Sean Oliver has written three books over the past few years about his experience running Kayfabe Commentaries: "The Business of Kayfabe" "Kayfabe: Stories You're Not Supposed to Hear from a Pro Wrestling Production Company Owner" and "Fathers' Blood: True Stories of Pro Wrestling Dads Facing Their Greatest Challenger - Parenthood." The main takeaway here is that Sean apparently has no problem dishing dirt on the Pro Wrestlers who he has worked with over the years, who was great to work with, and who was not. So I am betting the Q&A portion of the podcast is going to be focusing on those types of questions. The first episode released this week featured none other than Conrad Thompson as the first guest. For a first podcast, I'd say it was pretty good. During his opening segment, Sean comes off a little rough - it sounds like he's almost complaining about having to do the podcast, and then he gets into a somewhat impassioned defense of Shoot Interviews in general. He makes some valid points, although I suppose you could argue some of his claims. For example, he attributes Jim Cornette's current popularity and profile resurgence to the Shoot Interviews he did with KC. The interview with Conrad Thompson is excellent, my only complaint is that is was short. We already know Oliver is an excellent interviewer, and he proves it once again here. Of special interest is the discussion they have about the financial viability of podcasts, advertising rates and the commitment required to have a successful podcast. Conrad claims that in order to have a financially successful podcast, you need to be doing 100,000 downloads per episode and obviously not many do that, but he discusses the ad rates etc., to back up his claims. It's early days yet, but I've always been a big Sean Oliver fan so I am going to keep listening. I am curious if anybody else heard it, and what they thought.

I don't disagree with you there. I don't even listen to The Jim Cornette Experience every week. If the main topic is something that interests me then I'll check it out, but otherwise I can live without listening to Jim talk about shaving his nether regions and ranting about Trump and Republicans. I never miss Corny's Drive-Thru though, that's probably my favorite podcast.

I've seen you say stuff like this on a couple of occasions about Cornette and MLW, and I don't get it. Cornette was never on the creative team in MLW. From what I understand, Court Bauer handles a lot of the creative, if not all of it. Cornette was simply brought in to MLW to cover for Tony Schiavone during baseball season, and to act as a promo coach. He's part time at best, and the proof of this is the fact that he isn't even working for MLW right now. He's been saying for the last couple of years that he won't go anywhere he can't get to by driving, and he won't go back to New York under any circumstances. He claims he was asked to work the recent MLW tour of Texas and he wouldn't go due to the distance. He hasn't ruled out returning to MLW as a color guy at some point if they're doing tapings within 600 miles of his home, and if they need him - but it's not like the he's the creative force behind MLW. You always seem to give Cornette way more credit than he deserves when it comes to MLW, like just because he worked there he was somehow responsible for the stuff they did which didn't work, or that working there made him a hypocrite when he slammed AEW. Not to mention, Cornette has been openly critical of MLW. He has openly stated on a number of occasions that while he respects the cultural and historical significance of Lucha Libre, he doesn't like it, he thinks it's overly choreographed and too fake looking and doesn't really enjoy calling the Lucha matches in MLW. Not to mention his public feuds with Callihan or most recently Mance Warner. How many announcers have you seen that get into Twitter spats with guys on their own roster, or roast them on their podcasts? I've heard Cornette praise MJF and Jacob Fatu (and a couple of others) to the high heavens, but I never heard him say anything implying that MLW was superior to AEW in any way, shape or form. Face it dude, you just don't like Cornette because he craps all over AEW and in doing so, is verbalizing the opinions of a select group of Pro Wrestling fans who don't like that style. He's pretty much the voice of the resistance when it comes to a certain segment of Pro Wrestling fandom that doesn't care for the so called "evolution" of the sport, and are being vocal about it.

I know I am late to the party, but I finally got a chance to watch the entire NXT Takeover: Cardiff show. I thought the show was very good, although if I never see another Triple Threat Tag Team Match which involves nothing but spots and dives, I would die a happy man. The main thing that grabbed me from this show WALTER vs. Bate. I am not a big WALTER fan. NXT UK was my first exposure to him and I honestly didn't get him at first. I saw the logic in putting him over Pete Dunne (especially since Dunne is reportedly moving to the US to join NXT) but the match where he won the title was okay at best, as far as I was concerned. It was my lack of enthusiasm about WALTER which kept me from watching this show live or making it a priority. Before I saw WALTER vs. Bate, I had heard it was a very long match and I cringed because I was afraid it was another Shawn Michaels inspired "epic" with a million false finishes and needless melodrama, in the vein of the Cole/Gargano feud. That was not the case at all with this match. Firstly, they worked the classic old school "Big Man vs. Little Man" style match to near perfection. Secondly, (and I know this is probably going to be considered a "hot take") this match to me was much more reminiscent of a 90's All Japan Style Main Event. Long match yes, but a slow build, super hot crowd, with lots of hard hitting and high impact moves leading to a definitive finish. I said it elsewhere but I'll reiterate - WALTER vs. Bate supplanted Cody vs. Dustin as my 2019 Match of the Year. If you haven't checked it out, I encourage you to do so. Surprisingly and unexpectedly, NXT UK is becoming my favorite promotion. I've pretty much given up on Impact, MLW is way too hit and miss for me, and I can't sit through Raw & Smackdown. NXT seems to be stuck in a rut, but NXT UK really gives me a great old school vibe. And as a major bonus, the commentary team is outstanding...especially the fact that there is NO Mauro Ranallo.

Cornette finished his review and ended up reviewing the All Out Main Event on this week's episode of the Experience. I honestly can't blame him for not doing it last week. I know advertising last week's episode as a review of All Out and then not reviewing the Main Event is a definite "bait and switch" but in his defense, the show was a lot longer than I think he expected it to be. I tried to watch that AEW PPV in one sitting as well, and I couldn't get through it all either. I don't know who the genius is that decided "big" Pro Wrestling shows in 2019 needed to be 4 + hours long, but whoever it was needs a smack in the teeth. All Out was living proof of that. You're not going to find a more rabid fan base than AEW fans, but judging by the crowd noise, even they were burned out by the time the Main Event rolled around. Cornette reviews NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff during this week's Experience. I was really surprised at how much he liked WALTER vs. Tyler Bate. I personally loved that match and have it as my current MOTY, where it bumped off Cody vs. Dustin - but I was caught off guard by how much Cornette and Last liked it as well. The one good thing about Cornette's review of the NXT UK show is that he's never met anybody on the roster, and he doesn't have heat with anybody there, so he went into the review with an open mind - or as much of an open mind as you're likely to get from Jim Cornette.

This is a great idea for a thread. I'm biased of course, but I really hope Maple Leaf Gardens makes your list.

Thanks for the heads up. I've not seen that particular interview. After seeing Waltman's YouShoot I tended to avoid any other interviews he did because of his obvious substance abuse problems. I found his YouShoot to be kind of sad to watch. I love the "Breaking Kayfabe" series so I watched that and was glad to see he was cleaned up. If he is straight for the WWE Timeline Shoot, I will check it out. Although I didn't have a lot of time for Sean Waltman as a Pro Wrestler, he seems like a decent guy and a good interview when not battling his demons. I was totally shocked at how much I liked their YouShoot. I didn't realize they had been trained as Pro Wrestlers before getting into music. They are great interviews, and SO damn funny. The "What a Dick" segment of their YouShoot alone is worth the price, never mind the other stories I mentioned. That might be the funniest Shoot Interview I ever saw.

When it comes to the Kayfabe Commentaries Shoot Interviews, I break them down into six types: 1) Guys like Shane Douglas, RVD, and Jim Cornette who seem to legitimately enjoy talking about their careers or specific events, share details and insight and are eloquent, talented storytellers. 2) Guys like Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan, The Honkytonk Man, and Superstar Billy Graham. These are guys who are good storytellers and like talking (especially about themselves) but they clearly have an agenda and telling anything close to the truth isn't on that agenda. Their interviews might be interesting, but usually the bullshit meter will explode. 3) Guys like Sabu, Barry Windham, Bret Hart and King Kong Bundy. These guys want to talk, but they are either ill at ease with the entire Shoot Interview concept and need the host to really pull answers out of them, or their memory isn't all that great so even though they want to talk, there's stuff they just don't remember. The interviews will be interesting, but not so entertaining. 4) Guys like Hacksaw Duggan, Stan Hansen, Rikishi and Bob Orton. They want to get paid for doing a Shoot Interview, they just don't want to actually do a Shoot Interview. Some of these guys are old timers who can't seem to accept that Kayfabe is dead, or they don't want to bury anybody so they say basically nothing and are evasive and annoying as hell. 5) Complete assholes like New Jack, X-Pac, Brutus Beefcake, Marty Jannetty and The Sandman, who take money to do an interview and then show up "in no condition to perform." Aside from Beefcake and Jannetty, I've seen these guys do good interviews, and bad. Depends on what substance is in their system at the time of the interview. I don't know why these guys can't be more like The Iron Sheik - totally fucked up but incredibly entertaining at the same time. These guys are just annoying, it's like hanging out with a drunk person when you're not drinking. 6) Complete assholes like Mike Graham and Greg Gagne who are clearly lying about stuff, stupid basic lies which could be easily disproved - and on top of that they aren't even entertaining about it. I have not watched any full Shoot Interviews with Vince Russo or Sunny. I've seen clips and that annoyed me so much, I can't even imagine watching an entire interview. The mere sound of Vince Russo's voice makes me cringe, never mind the ridiculous bullshit that voice is usually spouting. So sorry, I can't comment on any of his numerous KC interviews. Generally speaking, you can't go wrong with the "Back to the Territories" series, the ECW, WCW and WWE "Timeline" series, and the Breaking Kayfabe Series. The "YouShoot" interviews can be interesting, but they are usually filled with more sleazy topics and a lot of the sex and drugs stuff. I'd avoid the "Guest Booker" series, those things are usually death. The key to the success of these interviews is Sean Oliver. He's an excellent interviewer, he knows when to ask questions, when to listen, when to follow up, when to let a guest ramble, and when to get them back on topic. He's personable and very funny. He's basically the exact opposite of Rob Feinstein, who just reads questions off a piece of paper and always sounds like a first year High School kid giving a report in front of his class. I've seen a large number of the KC Shoots, here are my personal recommendations. I'd grab any of the Highly Recommended and Good ones. The Meh are okay, kind of your mileage may vary. I'd avoid the Bad, and especially the "Avoid at all costs" category. If I was you, of course. Feel free to disagree. Highly Recommended ECW Timeline 92/93 with Tod Gordon ECW Timeline 94 with Shane Douglas ECW Timeline 99 with RVD (I was shocked at how eloquent and thoughtful RVD was, and how good his memory is, considering his drug use.) WCW Timeline 89 with Jim Cornette WCW Timeline 90 with Jim Cornette (Love Cornette or hate him, he is an amazing storyteller and he takes notes about every single thing that ever happens to him so his recall is incredible. He actually has his Day Planners with him for these two Timeline shoots, he can say how much shows drew, attendance, payoffs, everything.) WWE Timeline 63-69 with Bruno Sammartino WWE Timeline 92 with Bret Hart (Bret is very laid back and low key, but he gives very detailed answers.) WWE Timeline 97 with Jim Cornette (You need to see this for the Kevin Dunn story alone.) Supercard - Wrestlemania 2 with King Kong Bundy (Bundy is HILARIOUS in this interview. His memory is for shit, but I still loved this interview.) Breaking Kayfabe with Jim Cornette Breaking Kayfabe with Scott Levy (Raven) Breaking Kayfabe with Troy Martin (Shane Douglas) Breaking Kayfabe with Jerome Young (New Jack) Breaking Kayfabe with Terry Brunk (Sabu) YouShoot: ICP (I don't like ICP, but this is one of the funniest Shoot Interviews I have ever seen. The ring rat stories, the Chris Benoit story and the Evan Karagis/Goldberg stories are all gold.) YouShoot: RVD (This contains the famous "Pick a Hand" segment and RVD's killer Shawn Michaels impression.) Back to the Territories: Houston with Bruce Prichard (Get Bruce talking about Houston and Paul Boesch and he's very entertaining, and there are some great stories in this interview.) Good ECW Timeline 96 with Raven ECW Timeline 97 with Sabu ECW Timeline 98 with New Jack ECW Timeline 2000 with Justin Credible WCW Timeline 91 with Barry Windham (Barry seems very shy and isn't much of a talker, but he's honest.) WWE Timeline 84 with Roddy Piper (Poor Sean Oliver has to try and get Piper to realize that Kayfabe is dead, plus keep him on topic. Very tough job. This shoot is infamous for Piper's comments about Pat Patterson.) WWE Timeline 85 with Greg Valentine WWE Timeline 86 with George Steele Supercard: Summerslam 88 with The Honky Tonk Man Breaking Kayfabe with Kevin Nash (When he's talking about his personal life, there isn't as much obvious bullshit.) Breaking Kayfabe with Lanny Poffo YouShoot: Tod Gordon (This is good, but his ECW Timeline is much better.) YouShoot: The Iron Sheik (I know I shouldn't have enjoyed this as much as I did, but I did.) YouShoot: Lanny Poffo YouShoot: New Jack (He's clearly drunk/high, but in a perversely entertaining way.) YouShoot: Shane Douglas YouShoot: 2 Cold Scorpio Back to the Territories: Puerto Rico with Savio Vega Back to the Territories: Amarillo with Terry Funk Back to the Territories: Calgary with Lance Storm Back to the Territories: Florida with Kevin Sullivan Guest Booker with Dutch Mantell Meh WCW Timeline 96 with Kevin Sullivan (Sullivan is entertaining, but in my opinion he is notoriously full of shit and spends most of his time trying to pin his bad booking decisions on everybody other than him. I really think he does these interviews as an attempt at image rehabilitation and to deflect blame for anything bad that happened in WCW creatively on other people.) WCW Timeline 97 with Kevin Nash (Once again, great storyteller but Nash is ridiculously egotistical and totally full of shit. This is a good watch if you aren't worried about facts getting in the way of a good story.) WWE Timeline 87 with The Honkytonk Man (Same deal, he is entertaining but you can't believe much of what he says.) WWE Timeline 95 with Kevin Nash (See my comments about WCW 97 Timeline.) Breaking Kayfabe with Sean Waltman (at least he's not visibly stoned in this interview, unlike his YouShoot.) Breaking Kayfabe with Francine Breaking Kayfabe with Teddy Annis (Teddy Hart) YouShoot: Scott Hall (this is after he sobered up.) YouShoot: Kevin Nash YouShoot: Al Snow (Al is a good interview, but some of his opinions are just plain odd. Not to mention, he gives the impression that he thinks he's smarter than...everybody.) YouShoot: Jim Cornette (Not bad, but his "Timeline" interviews are his strong point.) YouShoot: DDP YouShoot: Sabu (Sabu still wasn't comfortable doing Shoot Interviews at this point. The ECW Timeline and Breaking Kayfabe interviews are much better.) YouShoot: Ken Anderson Back to the Territories: All Japan with Stan Hansen (I was really disappointed with this interview. It was interesting and good at times but it could have been so much better if Stan Hansen would have actually been willing to give something even closely resembling details during most of his stories.) Back to the Territories: Georgia with The Masked Superstar (Equal parts informative and boring.) Back to the Territories: Indianapolis with Baron Von Raschke Bad WWE Timeline 78/79 with Superstar Billy Graham WWE Timeline 80 with Larry Zbysko WWE Timeline 81 with Rick Martel (Martel seems like a nice guy, but this was SO. BORING.) WWE Timeline 83 with Don Muraco (See above, but add the fact that Muraco's memory is spotty at best.) WWE Timeline 90 with Bruce Prichard (Basically a bad episode of STW hosted by Sean Oliver.) WWE Timeline 2001 with Ivory Supercard - Royal Rumble 88 with Hacksaw Duggan Supercard - Wrestlemania with Bob Orton YouShoot: Sean Waltman (Poor Sean is clearly fucked up during this interview.) YouShoot: The Honkytonk Man (Honky is in pure asshole mode during this interview, sometimes it's interesting - mostly it isn't. He did two YouShoots, based on this one I skipped the second.) YouShoot: Perry Saturn (I don't think poor Perry was the sharpest knife in the drawer BEFORE he fried his brain with drugs. Now it's kind of sad.) YouShoot: Shane Helms (Shane is one of those guys who just doesn't want to say anything bad about anybody, which makes him a nice guy but an annoying interview.) YouShoot: Balls Mahoney (Please see my comments above about Perry Saturn.) YouShoot: Alberto El Patron (I'll say this about Alberto, at least he seems quite impressed with himself.) Back to the Territories: Mid-Atlantic with J.J. Dillon Guest Booker with Al Snow (See my above comments regarding Al Snow. He's obnoxious and oblivious. Having said that, he's not stupid.) Avoid at all costs ECW Timeline 95 with The Sandman (this is a total trainwreck, he's clearly high/drunk, slurring his words and can't remember anything of significance) WWE Timeline 88 with Hacksaw Duggan (just like with every other Duggan "shoot" he wants to get paid for the interview but doesn't actually want to say anything of any consequence about anybody or anything - plus he's a boring interview to boot.) WWE Timeline 2000 with Rikishi (This is one of the worst "shoots" I've ever seen. This should have been called "a trip to the dentist" because getting an actual answer or entertaining story out of Rikishi is like pulling teeth - and then afterwards you're in pain.) Breaking Kayfabe with Mary Jannetty (he is FUCKED UP on something during this interview.) YouShoot: Dixie Carter (Avoid this unless you want firsthand evidence of how stupid this woman really is.) YouShoot: Danny Doring (aka: "An obnoxious, obviously jealous total nobody spends over an hour burying everybody he ever met.") YouShoot: Rikishi YouShoot: Vampiro YouShoot: Manny Fernandez (Manny might just be tied with Greg Gagne for the most bullshit ever that could easily be disproved, in the history of Shoot Interviews. Keep in mind this is a guy who claimed for years to be a Viet Nam Vet. He is not.) Back to the Territories: Mid South with Jim Duggan (Even Jim Cornette can't make Duggan give an interesting or informative interview.) Back to the Territories: AWA with Greg Gagne Guest Booker with Kevin Nash (Watch this if you want to hear Nash try and explain how you could basically run an entire organization, just using members of the Kliq! This is Nash at his most delusional.) Guest Booker with Greg Gagne Guest Booker with Mike Graham (Graham might be one of the most deluded, obnoxious and unpleasant interviews I have ever seen. Never before has a man who thought so highly of himself actually accomplished so little. This might be my least favorite Shoot Interview that I've ever seen.)

This is sad news. My first exposure to Harley Race was during his WWF run in the 80's, and I didn't like him at all. Later I saw him show up in Stampede and the AWA and I still didn't "get him." As I got older and was exposed to more of his work from the NWA and Japan, I really grew to respect, appreciate and actually enjoy his in ring style and aura, and especially how he carried the NWA World Heavyweight Championship during the territory era. He was a badass heel but he didn't mind bumping or stooging for babyfaces, which is a lost art. As sad as his death is, (especially his illness) at least he lived a long life. Harley Race was clearly widely respected by his peers and most importantly he lived his life on his terms, his way. RIP.

It's funny you know, a lot of the rabid AEW fans who are hanging all their hopes on AEW like to imply that fans who dare criticize them want AEW to fail. I have been critical of AEW for a lot of their roster signings,and for some of the goofier and insulting to the intelligence content they've vomited up so far, but I don't want them to fail. I just want them to produce a good product. Conversely, as a lifelong Pro Wrestling fan, if something bizarre or catastrophic was to happen and Vince McMahon and WWE were to go out of business, I wouldn't shed one tear. I'd feel bad for some of the people who worked there for losing their jobs, but screw Vince McMahon and screw that organization for some of the truly horrible shit they have done over the years. Yeah Vince has tried to re-write history, sanitized the product to the point of total blandness, and at times has tried to take the Wrestling out of World Wrestling Entertainment. That's bad, but not "he deserves to go out of business" bad. But he's also done such unethical and in some cases outright immoral shit, that if he somehow lost WWE it would be karmic justice as far as I'm concerned. In that sense, I'd rather see AEW succeed over WWE.

I have watched AEW but I don't know yet if I will watch AEW. That depends on what they're planning on doing. I have seen every AEW show so far, although there have been a few matches I couldn't sit through so I hit FF. And who knows, maybe they will be wildly successful. They have been so far. What remains to be seen is if they can attract and maintain a large audience with the roster they have, presenting the style of wrestling they have. There is no doubt there is an audience for the Marko Stunt and Orange Cassidy types, but you know that is going to turn off a lot of "traditional" or old school fans. I don't know if it will appeal to new or returning fans or keep them hooked. They seem to be inclined to try and offer a little bit of everything (hardcore, lucha, comedy, old school) all at once. I don't know what the mix is going to be on TV. Based on the roster they have right now, they sure look like they're going heavy into the goofy stuff, but it's way too soon to say. For every Jon Moxley you have two comedy guys. We need to see who else they sign, and how they use the guys they have signed. We need to see how good the booking is week to week, and how they balance their TV. If I am going to get stuff like Cody vs. Dustin (or hell, even Cody vs. Darby Allin) I can either sit through or change the channel during the comedy and goofy crap. But if the show is heavily balanced with the goofy stuff, then I don't really want to watch. I am legit curious to see if other people will. I have never once said I don't want AEW to succeed or I don't think they will. Like Cornette says: "For people who like that kind of thing, this is the kind of thing those people will like." The million dollar question still is will people like it once the novelty wears off. The other major factor is how much people will automatically flock to AEW just because it isn't WWE and they're tired of having their intelligence insulted and want to make a statement. I don't for a minute discount how much that will factor into things. If you offer somebody who is dying of thirst a drink, they take it no matter what it is.

Did you see the video for that? That whole thing screamed "work" to me, but either way I didn't get the whole thing. Enzo is basically a little annoying yappy dog, nipping at your heels - and Janela (who I assume is supposed to be some sort of hardcore tough guy) doesn't throw a punch and basically backs away from the confrontation after Enzo "threatens" him. If it was real, I assume the reason neither guy actually threw a punch is because they didn't want to get thrown out of the concert, arrested or sued. Either way, it confirms Enzo is an annoying little shit, but like I said, it didn't do much for Janela's rep.

For the record, I don't think AEW hiring Enzo and Cass is really a good idea. But if they did, I'd laugh my ass off at the entertainment it would provide. There are certain fans who trumpet every single thing AEW does as brilliant - whether it is or not. Watching AEW fanboys twist themselves into pretzels trying to justify AEW signing Enzo and Cass would likely entail lots of "they might not be good wrestlers but they're entertaining" and "they don't fit the prototypical old school model of a wrestler but Pro Wrestling has evolved" arguments, which I find endlessly amusing. Similar to those ridiculous comments that Jordynne Grace made on Twitter lately that have gotten her so much attention. Hell, AEW signed Marko Stunt to a contract and they already use Sonny Kiss, The Evil Librarian, Evil Uno, Michael Nakazawa, Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor, why not go all in and sign Enzo and Cass? If you're not going to take the sport seriously, why not sign all the clowns? They could actually have an entire Clown Division and instead of a title belt, if you win you get to wrestle in big floppy clown shoes and a rainbow wig. Realistically, the mystery partners most likely won't be Enzo and Cass, if for no other reason than what @sek69 said. Enzo's reputation is so toxic at this point, I can't see anybody wanting to work with him. In fact, a story came out a couple of months ago regarding how he had serious heat with Jericho when they were with WWE, so I especially don't see him showing up as a surprise partner for Jericho.

I'd mark out so hard if it was Enzo and Cass.

Agreed. That guy is a scumbag of epic proportions, even by Pro Wrestling standards.

Growing up in Toronto, I was actually pretty lucky because we got quite a variety when it came to televised Pro Wrestling. Of course, the majority of the content we got was the WWF. Jack Tunney was the on-air authority figure for the WWF, but in reality he was the co-owner and promoter of Maple Leaf Wrestling which was based out of Maple Leaf Gardens. For years they had wrestling there one Sunday a month. When I was a little kid, Maple Leaf Wrestling was actually part of Jim Crockett Promotions believe it or not, from 1978 - 1983. But after Jack Tunney's uncle Frank died, Jack switched allegiances to the WWF. As a result, Maple Leaf Wrestling started hosting a ton of TV tapings for the WWF from the Brantford Civic Center. A lot of the matches shown in the States on the USA Network by the WWF were taped in Brantford. Those were the TV tapings where Jesse Ventura hosted "The Body Shop." Plus we got the WWF show that was taped from the Mid-Hudson Civic Arena in Poughkeepsie. So the schedule was basically at noon every Saturday we got the WWF show from Poughkeepsie, then at 1:00 pm we got a second hour of WWF Wrestling from Brantford. Later, that changed when the WWF took the tapings on the road and the Noon show became WWF Superstars and the 1:00 pm show became Wrestling Challenge. On top of that, every Saturday Night at 7:00 pm there was another hour of WWF content which featured exclusive matches from Maple Leaf Gardens, usually the preliminary matches from the monthly house shows. Later in the afternoon, we got an odd little hour long magazine type show, hosted by Joe Pedicino. This show featured clips of matches and news from all over the NWA. That was my initial exposure to Ric Flair and a lot of the smaller southern territories. The problem was, it was hard to follow because the matches were always very dated and they never followed any particular feuds or angles, it was always like: "And now here's Ric Flair vs. Magnum TA" but then the next week they'd show you a match from Continental or something. It was hard to follow. Later Joe Pedicino stopped hosting it and Angleo Mosca started hosting it and they called it Pro Wrestling Canada, but it was nothing but really old out of date NWA stuff. After that at 4:00 pm we got the extremely lame weekly TV show produced by Al Tomko's Vancouver territory called "All Star Wrestling." It was studio wrestling and the show was pretty awful. The only thing of note I ever remember from that show is seeing John Tenta years before he became Earthquake. Plus Mauro Ranallo was a mainstay on that show as an obnoxious teenager. *shudder* Once Mid-South changed it's name to the UWF for a time we could get their weekly show using an antennae, from a UHF station in Buffalo. Once the UWF merged with JCP, the show disappeared though. Later, we could get the NWA Power Hour Saturdays at Midnight. I distinctly remember the UWF guys showing up there and that was the first time I heard Jim Ross as well. On Sunday afternoons we got a show called "International Wrestling" hosted by Gino Brito and a guy named Milt Avruskin. That was the weekly television for the Montreal territory, and I used to love that. That was the first place I saw The Road Warriors, Steve Strong, The Great Samu, Rick Martel, Dino Bravo, the Rougeau Brothers and most importantly Bruiser Brody and Abdullah The Butcher. That was a great show. As soon as we got basic cable and The Sports Network and ESPN Canada launched, we also started getting Stampede Wrestling every Monday at 4:00 pm on TSN, and the AWA five afternoons a week. Then when TBS was made available in Canada, we started getting WCW Saturday Night at 6:05 pm, but that was quite a bit later. So yeah, in short we got: WWF Championship Wrestling (later "WWF Superstars"): Saturdays at Noon WWF All-Star Wrestling (later "WWF Wrestling Challenge"): Saturdays at 1:00 pm NWA Joe Pedicino's "Pro Wrestling This Week" (Later "Pro Wrestling Canada" with Angleo Mosca, Milt Avruskin and Danny Johnson): Saturdays at 2:00 pm All-Star Wrestling from Vancouver: Saturdays at 4:00 pm WWF Maple Leaf Wrestling: Saturdays at 7:00 pm UWF (Later NWA Power Hour): Saturdays at Midnight International Wrestling from Montreal: Sundays at 1:00 pm AWA on ESPN: (Monday to Friday at 5:00 pm) Stampede Wrestling: (Mondays at 4:00 pm) You know, between the fact that I religiously collected every Apter Mag (Pro Wrestling Illustrated, The Wrestler and Inside Wrestling) from 1983 to 1987 or so and looking at this TV schedule now...I can kind of see why my parents thought I was too obsessed with Pro Wrestling.

This. I've heard Tony Schiavone say in multiple interviews and podcasts that calling baseball is his main passion and #1 priority. I think he really likes Pro Wrestling, but he loves Baseball. I can't see him taking a gig that wouldn't allow him his summers off to work for the Braves Triple A team. Having said that - to quote Ted DiBiase, everybody has a price. I'm sure if Vince backed up the old Brinks truck, Tony would listen. However, if Bruce Prichard is to be believed (and that is a big if) Vince didn't even like Schaivone, Tony only got the job because Linda hired him and Vince was glad to see him go. Apparently, he was too "southern." So I can't see Vince paying Tony enough to get him to quit doing baseball when Vince didn't even like him to begin with. Then again, this is 2019. If you'd have told me a year ago that Bruce Prichard, Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff would all be working behind the scenes again in WWE, I would have laughed in your face. So anything is possible, I suppose. I can see Schaivone doing some sort of gig on the WWE Network that doesn't take up too much time. I've heard him say he'd love that kind of job. Moreover, if hiring Tony Schiavone meant we might get Michael Cole or Mauro Ranallo away from the microphone, then in the name of all that is good and decent, pay that man whatever he asks for.

I would love to see some of those infamous Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert matches in decent quality. I don't know if their match from the 09/15/90 show ("Autumn Armageddon") ever made tape but if it did, I haven't seen it. I know their Falls Count Anywhere match from 03/02/91 ("Winter Challenge II") is available online, but the VQ is pretty bad. Their Barbed Wire match from 05/18/91 ("Spring Spectacular II") is also available online, but the VQ is really bad.Then there is the infamous three fall match from 03/08/91 ("Summer Sizzler II") where the first match was Falls Count Anywhere, the second was a Stretcher Match and the third was a Cage match. I have seen really bad VQ versions of all three matches. The versions of those matches that are posted online all have John Arezzi doing commentary. I'd love it if somebody had the raw footage or at least something of better quality.

Yeah they showed up when I accessed the Network on my PC today. They weren't there when I looked Monday, but they are now.

All those ECW Supershows from 1994 they promised were added to the Network on Monday morning, they just haven't been added to the Hidden Gems or ECW PPV menus. You have to search for the specific event by name, and then it will show up. I am hoping they get added to the menu later on, but they have been pretty lax in added stuff to the Hidden Gems menu for a while now. If you don't know what match or specific event you are looking for, it is really hard to find.