The Thread Killer

Hell yeah. LA Park vs. Savio Vega? That calls for a...

They tape a month at a time, right? I think Aries is booked for the next set of tapings, so I think by August he should be all over the shows. Until he and Low Ki get booked together and they both simultaneously walk out, or something. Savio is definitely up there in age, but he can do those old school Puerto Rico style brawls, and he is also apparently being brought in to work behind the scenes as well.

I don't disagree with you, that Cornette really isn't a great booker or at best his ideas are terribly outdated. There's no way he could book a modern show. I think he'd be invaluable as part of a booking committee, but by himself? Nope. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of wrestling history, and can frequently come up with ideas and angles from the past that can be modified or used again in a modern setting, but his own original ideas...aren't really original. He booked a great old Southern Style promotion in Smoky Mountain but that wouldn't fly today. On the flip side, he thinks that if somebody tried booking a promotion today like vintage JCP was booked, it would still get over. He might be right, and I'd love to see it tried. But to your point, Jim Cornette is out of touch, for sure. Last year Brian Last asked Cornette who he thought should be on top of WWE right now, and Cornette's top two picks were Randy Orton and Bobby Roode. Of all the talent in WWE right now, for him to pick those two is pretty much baffling and shows he literally doesn't understand what modern fans will and won't accept. Or more to the point, he doesn't understand what would actually work and be good. It's also an ongoing joke between Last and Cornette that Cornette hates The Miz and doesn't think he's any good, where even Brian Last can see how good The Miz is as a heel. Part of the problem is that Cornette studied under Bill Watts, who had that whole philosophy that only former jocks could be Pro Wrestlers. For the record, I don't disagree with Cornette regarding his opinion of Steen and Generico. He told them Steen was too fat and needed to lose weight, and that Generico would never get over wearing the mask if fans couldn't see his facial expressions, and I think time has proved him right on both counts. Both of them got to WWE, and Steen lost a bunch of weight before he debuted and was reportedly told to keep his weight under control, and the first thing NXT did was take the mask off Generico. As far as Cornette getting replaced by Russo twice, that's not entirely accurate. He didn't want to be on the WWF creative team anymore, so when Russo gave Vince the "him or me" ultimatum Cornette was more than happy to go, because he hated doing creative for Vince, and he hated working with Russo, plus he hated living and working in Connecticut. He wanted to go home to Kentucky and start a developmental territory and was happy to do it to get away from Russo. And in TNA, Russo literally went behind Jeff Jarrett's back and got Jarrett, Dutch Mantel and Cornette all fired. It was a power play which blew up in Russo and Dixie Carter's face, but I don't think it was as simple as somebody thinking Russo was a better booker than Cornette. But fair point, if Cornette had booked TNA they probably wouldn't have been any more successful than they were under Russo, it probably just would have sucked in a different way. Cornette claims he didn't even want to be in creative there, he wanted Dutch Mantel in charge while he worked with the talent, which is what he claims he loves doing. I think Cornette is being used perfectly in MLW. Like him or not, he can cut a promo and with his memory and knowledge or pro wrestling history he can suggest ideas to guys that will probably really help them. That's the part of his podcasts that I love, when he gives the history of the different territories and recounts stories of who booked what angle, and why. If there was ever a class on the overall history of the sport, Jim Cornette would be the guy to teach it. There are plenty of other guys like Steve Yohe who know all the facts that Cornette does but they don't have the speaking ability and storytelling skills. Hell, I think they should have a class like that at the WWE performance center, except Vince thinks Pro Wrestling history started with the first Wrestlemania. As far as I know, there isn't any actual heat between Conrad Thompson and Jim Cornette, but Conrad has said on more than one occasion that Cornette's podcast is just as popular as some of his, if not more so...and we know how insanely popular Conrad's shows are. Cornette (and Brian Last) sniped at Conrad during the whole Bischoff/Cornette Twitter feud and Cornette has steadfastly refused to appear at any Starrcast events which are owned and run by Conrad Thompson. Plus, Conrad is buddies with the guys who run AEW, so it doesn't take much to guess where that puts him in Cornette's book. Conrad has maturely and wisely sidestepped every opportunity to get into any spats with Jim Cornette, I think he knows that is a no win proposition.

One of the things that cracked me up about that episode was when Conrad accused JR of being a "mean drunk."

I'm not one of those people who is all gaga over AEW. I don't really care for a lot of the talent who are going to be working there and I probably won't watch the show when it debuts, assuming it is even available in Canada. Having said that, I know a lot of fans (especially WWE fanboys) are calling Tony Khan a "money mark." I listened to this show, and this guy is no dummy. He really does come across as a lifelong fan but he sounds like a good businessman, and most importantly his major advantage is the connections he has in the entertainment and television industry. That's how they were able to get such an excellent television deal. He's smart. I was really impressed with how Tony Khan came across in this interview, and I'm not a guy who is openly slobbering over all things AEW. This guy came off as pretty much the antithesis of Dixie Carter. If Vince McMahon isn't worried about competition from this guy, he should be.

It's being reported that Impact is apparently not happy Killer Kross has been venting about the organization on various podcasts and maybe as a result, they are refusing to grant his release and are making him finish out his contract. Yikes.

I listened to the show, and one of the things I found most interesting was hearing Austin talking about his infamous podcast with Dean Ambrose and the fallout from that.

Like him as a person or not, Jim Cornette is an excellent color commentator. He is able to get wrestlers and angles over through commentary better than pretty much anybody else in the game right now. He's been excellent since he did color back in WCW in the early 90's, and he even did a good job behind the microphone when he was in the WWF. Jim Cornette is one of the few color commentators who truly understands the importance of getting the talent and story over, not just trying to crack jokes and get himself over. If you're talking about overall value to the organization, I'd say that Cornette is worth more to MLW as a commentator and promo coach than Callihan has as a talent. I watch MLW every week now, and I'd miss Cornette being gone from commentary. As others have mentioned, MLW has never really used Callihan in a prominent or key role. I'd say he has a much more significant role in Impact then he had in MLW. I don't hate Callihan, and I enjoy him at times in Impact but as far as his being part of MLW, I won't miss him. Secondly, the whole "irrelevance" talking point regarding Jim Cornette really needs to be put to bed. That's a shot that The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega have both taken at Cornette over the past few years. "Who cares if Jim Cornette likes us, he's irrelevant." That's bullshit. He doesn't like a lot of the facets of "modern wrestling" especially the parts that come across as obviously fake, overly choreographed or unsafe. He sees Pro Wrestling as a sport, not a performance art. Jim Cornette is old school, a traditionalist and doesn't like how Pro Wrestling has "evolved" but that doesn't make him irrelevant. Irrelevant implies insignificant or unpopular. He has one of the most downloaded and popular weekly wrestling podcasts in an exceptionally crowded field. He's incredibly popular. When he does meet and greets and autograph signings at conventions, he regularly outdraws 99% of the other talents. Even Conrad Thompson has admitted that, and he and Cornette aren't exactly buddies. People might not like Cornette's opinions, people might have their shorts in a twist because he used the word "transvestite" or the fact that he hates Joey Ryan, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega or Vince Russo. I get that. As I've said ad nauseam, I don't agree with his opinions regarding a hell of a lot of things, but for people to try and write him off as irrelevant just because they don't agree with his opinion or like his delivery, that just shows a lack of understanding of what constitutes success in Pro Wrestling.

I read the same report, that the ticket sales are so lousy and the interest in Stomping Grounds is so low that they are considering making changes to the card. The source on the story is WrestleVotes, so I am taking it with a grain of salt, but there is no denying that the venue hasn't sold out and last I heard there are actually still floor seats available, which is pretty crazy for a WWE PPV. I have no doubt that there is no interest in the card. That's what happens when you run more than one PPV in the same month, the PPV you already had is going down in history as one of the worst shows ever, and the matches on the next show are mostly rematches from the crappy show you already ran. Duh. Did they actually think that people were going to watch Stomping Grounds based solely on the fact that this time there is a Mystery Guest Referee angle in the Corbin/Rollins match? I can't think of anybody they could get as the guest ref who would make that match any better.

If you don't like Sami Callihan, then there may be good news for you. There have been some unconfirmed reports that the "Loser Leaves Town" stipulation in the Callihan/Warner match was a way to write Callihan off TV and out of the company altogether. I also saw that Callihan allegedly spat at Jim Cornette at some point before/during/after the match, since he was supposedly "defending" Sonny Kiss, and there is legit heat between Callihan and Cornette over the infamous Eddie Edwards bat incident. (Cornette hates hardcore wrestling and loves Eddie Edwards.) Some think it is unlikely that Cornette would be willing to get spat at or spat upon by Sami Callihan and that is proof that Callihan is legitimately gone. Plus I saw that Callihan apparently did some damage to a venue at an MLW event, which MLW then had to pay for. So he may really honestly be gone from MLW. Or it could be a work, who knows. In other news, Savio Vega is coming in to wrestle and be a Producer/Wrestler/Coach. Which is awesome, if you ask me.

Yeah plus sometimes the new names are better. I'd take Finn Balor over Fergal Devitt and Aleistar Black fits him way better than Tommy End, just for an example. Sometimes the names they pick are dumb, but not always.

So according to spoilers, Killian Dain and Apollo Crews (who apparently got his last name back?) returned to NXT tonight. Also, Fandango returned and reunited with Tyler Breeze. But most importantly, the Adam Cole/Johnny Gargano rivalry continued and looks to be the Main Event for the next Takeover special in Toronto before Summerslam. Because what we all need in our lives is ANOTHER Cole/Gargano match.

Unfortunately, what's happening is that when Cornette gets cranky and goes off on somebody, be it Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Joey Ryan or whoever...word tends to spread online, especially on Twitter. People then react about it either positively or negatively on social media, but then everybody goes and downloads or listens to the podcast to hear what Cornette actually said. According to Brian Last, the episode where Cornette reviewed the AEW PPV and the subsequent follow-up response to the Sonny Kiss/Joey Ryan controversy were their most downloaded episodes in the history of the podcast. That means money for them, because all of their shows are posted on YouTube within a day, and their YouTube channel is monetized. During the whole Cornette/Bischoff feud recently, Brian Last commented that he doesn't know why 83 Weeks needs "Blue Chew" as a sponsor because the Cornette podcasts are making tons of money and he basically implied that if Conrad Thompson knew what he was doing, Conrad's podcasts would be too. So basically, I think in Brian Last's mind, Cranky Cornette = Money because the shows where he blows a gasket are always the most popular ones. I am definitely not one of those people who thinks Cornette is working a gimmick. I think he 100% means everything he says. I also don't think he wants to be considered "relevant" by today's wrestling fan, like Omega and the Bucks have claimed. He's quite proud of the fact that he's old school and out of touch with today's product for the most part, but I guess based on the reaction to his shows, he is appealing to a large segment of wrestling fandom that feels the same way he does. He mentioned on this week's show that he really does the podcasts as an afterthought, he never puts any effort or pre-planning into them (and it shows for the most part.) He still considers himself semi-retired and makes his money from his Cornette's Collectibles business and occasional convention appearances, provided they are within driving distance of his home and he doesn't have to fly, which he refuses to do. According to him, Court Bauer had to make concessions to get him to work in MLW as the Color Commentator and Promo Coach, because he isn't willing to commit to any Pro Wrestling job full time anymore. I guess Jim Cornette is basically just being Jim Cornette and getting paid for it, which is a nice gig for him. He gets to be miserable and rant about modern wrestling, and he gets paid for it. Most of us are doing that for free.

Yeah, this week's episode kind of stunk. I guess some people love Jim's road stories but I really don't need to hear a play-by-play account of all the places he went trying to get a burger every damn week. I also find it ridiculous that Jim and Brian spent weeks ridiculing Conrad Thompson's podcasts and Bischoff in particular for promoting "dick pills" but now Jim's new sponsor is a company that sells specialized equipment so you can shave your balls, taint and asscrack...which Jim then proceeds to talk about in horrifying detail for 15 minutes. That's so much classier. At least Eric's "dick pill" spots are fairly quick. Seriously, Cornette went on for a ridiculous amount of time this week talking about "manscaping." Then he finally gets to the NXT review after about 40 minutes of nonsense, and points out that he didn't have time to watch the whole show. Maybe he would've had time if he didn't spend all of his time talking about shaving his body. His review was pretty much what I expected, he loved Riddle vs. Strong (mostly because he loved Strong in ROH), he loves Shayna Baszler but didn't like the hardcore stuff, and then because Adam Cole was an ROH guy he praises him in the Main Event, but spends the rest of his time complaining about the modern wrestling style. I don't disagree with him that the Main Even was too many spots and not enough psychology, and I especially agree with him that Johnny Gargano needs big time work on his facial expressions, promos and overall character. A lot of his criticisms about the match were pretty much right on, but his dumping a lot of the blame on Gargano while praising Cole was a bit much for me. The other thing was...why is Brian Last even there? He literally doesn't speak at all during Jim's entire NXT review, and when Jim finally stops talking and asks Brian his opinion, Last replies: "I didn't see it, I don't watch NXT." To which Jim replies: "Then why did you ask me to?" Just confirms that as a host, Brian Last is pretty much a smug, arrogant, condescending jerk.

Pretty fun Main Event on this week's episode of NXT UK, it was a 6 Man Tag with British Strong Style vs. The Imperium. I like the Imperium and think they have a great look and aura, although I'm still not entirely sure I "get" Walter. To me, he still comes across as a tall pudgy guy with a bad haircut that mostly throws chops. One thing I really noticed was how much better the commentary was, with just Vic Joseph and Nigel, as well. When you have just a two man booth as opposed to three, people aren't always talking over each other. Nigel's personality and character come out much more on NXT UK and Vic Joseph shockingly concentrates on calling the match, and doesn't spend most of his time screaming at the top of his lungs, trying to come up with clever rhymes or spouting off stupid hip hop references. Quite refreshing.

I watched the match and it was as good as advertised. I don't know if the finish got botched. If it did, they sure covered it well. That was a fun show to watch, overall. I still think they need to get that title off Nese and onto Gable ASAP.

So Impact try and force Eli Drake to take part in an Intergender match, which he refuses to do. He then gets released. Killer Kross's contract comes up, and they make him a lowball offer, so he refuses to re-sign...and he's gone. The Lucha Brothers are no longer being booked by Impact and are gone. Impact's reaction to losing that kind of young, exciting talent is signing Michael Elgin and a 48 year old Rob Van Dam, in addition to doing shows featuring Sabu and The Sandman on a presumably part time basis. What the fuck is wrong with these fucking people? Just when it looks like they have their shit together, they pull a bunch of moves like this. I love RVD, and yeah he has looked great so far...but he's 48 years old. I am one of the biggest Sabu marks out there and I love seeing him on TV again, but isn't this company supposed to be planning for the future? How long do they think they are going to be able to milk the ECW nostalgia thing, seriously? And they couldn't even sell out ECW arena when they ran there. They need fresh, new talent that aren't viewed as WWE rejects. They had that, and they either release them or let them walk out the door. I had high hopes for Impact when D'Amore and Callis took over, and at first they were doing great - but I can't see myself spending a damn nickel on them at the rate they're going. And it sounds like they need my nickel.

As everybody here has discussed at great length, WWE has way too many wrestlers signed. If 205 Live didn't exist, it's not like these guys would be getting featured on Raw and Smackdown, they'd just be buried and not be used. Remember when Raw was supposed to be "home of the Crusierweight Division?" They'd have a Cruiserweight match, change the lighting, the color of the ropes and a special graphic, etc. How long did that last, 6 weeks, maybe? Now, even though people have to suffer through 3 hours of Raw every week, they can't find time for the Cruiserweights. I'm just glad these guys have somewhere to work where people can actually see them if they want. Hell, I hope Eric Young gets sent there, it's his only chance to get on television, probably. The hilarious thing is that the guys who do distinguish themselves on 205 Live and really stand out like Murphy and Alexander get sent to Raw or Smackdown as a reward, I guess? And that reward is...nobody ever sees you again.

So they finally grew a brain and put Gable on 205 Live? I need to check that out ASAP, especially if he's fighting Gentleman Jack. Gable is easily talented enough to carry that whole show and division on his back. They need to get the Cruiserweight Championship on that guy and far away from Tony Nese, ASAP. Now maybe we can get good CW matches on the PPV's unlike that Nese/Davari classic we got treated to at MITB. I see they were finally smart enough to put the Singh brothers on 205 Live as a Tag Team as well, instead of just being Mahal's lackeys.

Way back in the early nineties when I worked as a Corrections Officer in a Detention Center for Juvenile Delinquents (criminals aged 13-17, or as we called them in Canada "Young Offenders") I worked with another C.O./Counsellor who had been a Nazi Skinhead earlier in his life, an actual member of the Aryan Nation and he had done prison time for some of the shit he did. He reformed while he was in prison, ended up getting a pardon eventually and swore to spend the rest of his life trying to help kids avoid that life. He was covered in these awful scars from where he had all his Nazi tattoos removed, which he said hurt like hell but he felt he deserved it. In those days there was a minor epidemic in the Toronto area of gangs of Nazi skinhead kids "swarming" minorities on the subway and beating the hell out of them, stomping and kicking them, etc. A number of kids who were arrested for that ended up doing time where I worked. This guy helped turn a bunch of them around and get them out of the organizations they were in before it was too late. I remember I once worked an overnight shift with the guy, and he told me he would be haunted for the rest of his life by some of the shit he said and did. I got the feeling that no matter how many kids he helped he was never going to be at peace. So yeah, I believe people can change, for sure. However, I am also cynical when it's a celebrity or somebody who gets caught and then turns around and claims they have changed, I am less inclined to believe it.

Gene Simmons has stated in several interviews over the years that KISS has taken a ton of shit over the "SS" in their band logo, and have been accused of being Nazis or sympathetic to Nazis because of it. (Which is rich considering his and Paul Stanley's background, but whatever.) That double S is the exact same design as the Nazi SS, and during the heyday of the Moral Majority Music Censorship movement in the mid-eighties I specifically remember fundamentalists and other concerned parental types accusing KISS of being Nazis, especially around 1983 when their stage set was a giant tank that fired pyrotechnic shells into the crowd, and because they call their fans the "KISS Army." To some (and more than a few people) that meant they were Nazis. I know this because I was a KISS fan at the time. (I was 13 years old, give me a break.) Of course it's all bullshit, it defies all logic and of course I don't buy any of it...but the accusations were made nonetheless. It is a leap of logic to compare the KISS logo to the picture of The Undertaker, but my point is that people are quick to point the finger and make accusations even if they don't know the whole story. The photo was allegedly taken in 1995 or 1996 at the latest, around 24 years ago. It has an SS logo on the chest, and a slogan mentioning customizing Harley Davidsons. Me personally, even if I was a Biker, I would not wear a T-shirt that could be mistaken for anything that might give people the impression I had Nazi sympathies. I absolutely think that it was stupid and in terrible taste for him to wear that shirt 24 years ago. Hell, maybe he IS a damn Nazi, I don't know. That's the point. We don't know if was a Nazi then. We don't know if he's a Nazi now. We don't know how close he is to the Harris Brothers now, and if he is friendly with them or does that mean he shares their views. Jeff Jarrett loves those guys and got them jobs in WCW and TNA. Does that mean Jeff Jarrett is a Nazi, or does he get a pass because he didn't wear the T-Shirt? All we have is a photo from 24 years ago...but all of the sudden that is more than enough evidence and because people have been spreading it online...The Undertaker is a Nazi. I don't feel right about declaring somebody a Nazi because of that, but if other people are...that's your opinion and you have a right to it. To me, that is one hell of an accusation to throw around based on such little evidence, but that's just my take.

I don't deny that for a minute. Dick Murdoch was reportedly a proud card carrying member of the Klan, and there are countless other examples of wrestlers being overtly racist and pretty much getting a free pass for it. I just don't think there is any credible evidence The Undertaker is a Nazi, and in general I hate seeing that term get casually thrown around like it's nothing. Even if it is a "joke" I think it's in bad taste, even for a Pro Wrestling message board. Maybe I'm too easily offended, but my Grandfather died in the Second World War fighting ACTUAL NAZIS, and I hate this trend that has developed over recent years of the people using the term as nothing more than a label or insult. Like I said, I think it diminishes the term. Show me some actual evidence The Undertaker is a White Supremacist or a Neo-Nazi and that's a whole different matter. I just don't think saying somebody is a Nazi or making jokes about it is a decent thing to do. Sure, I know Mark Calloway isn't going to browse PWO and see this and get offended, but by the same token it's because a couple of goofs posting nonsense on other messageboards and Twitter over the past week that caused this "story." Ironically, I don't even really like The Undertaker all that much. I'd say the same thing if it was Joey Ryan being called a Nazi.

Well, if anybody knows how funny Nazis and Nazi jokes are, it's the French.

Ugh. I know you're a big fan of making hysterical political comments (regardless of whether or not people want to hear them) but that comment is beneath even you. For those who don't know what this nonsense is about, a picture surfaced of The Undertaker which was reportedly taken over 20 years ago. He is wearing a T-shirt for a (now defunct) Motorcycle shop, in which the logo features the two "lightening bolt S" symbols. This picture, combined with the fact that he is (or was) friendly with one of the Harris brothers, clearly means he's a Nazi, because one of them are. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that he's a Biker who is wearing a T-Shirt from a bike shop and is friends with other Bikers. Nope. He wore a T-Shirt and associated with somebody who either is a Nazi or is related to a Nazi. Therefore, he must also be a Nazi. By the way in the interest of full disclosure, when I was younger I owned some KISS albums which had the same symbol. Therefore I must also be a Nazi. Also, when I was a little kid I was taken on a trip and toured some Civil War battlefields and museums, and actually bought some memorabilia which featured the Confederate flag...which I then wore. Therefore, I must also be a member of the Klan. Seriously dude, don't be a goddamn moron. People who go around randomly accusing people of being Nazis actually dilute the seriousness of the term and make it less difficult to take it seriously when somebody actually IS a White Supremacist. That was a stupid post to make, I hate it when people throw that term around like that. Grow up.

Yeah, those are both excellent signings which will really help Impact in the long run. I am really digging The North as well, even though they are affiliating themselves with Moose.