The Thread Killer

I think his post is actually an improperly formatted haiku.

It's not just Loss that pushes this idea, though. The one thing that has cemented me on the "Vince McMahon is behind everything" theory, is listening to Something to Wrestle with...Bruce Prichard. Nobody has had more experience working with Vince, nobody has had more exposure to the WWF/WWE creative process and nobody has told more of the secrets about what goes on behind the scenes than Prichard has. If I've learned anything about the way that organization works (aside from the fact that Hogan Must Pose) it's that what Loss says is true. Nothing makes it on TV unless it has Vince McMahon's fingerprints on it somewhere. Sometimes it's minimal, sometimes it's total, but it's always true. Just last night I was listening to Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru, and Cornette (another person who has experienced Vince's management style up close) was talking about the three month period in 1995 that Bill Watts worked in the WWF. Cornette claims that everybody was told that Watts was brought in to run the "wrestling" end of business to free up time for Vince to run the business end. Apparently this is not the first time Vince has been convinced to try this, in order to avoid spreading himself too thin. Vince supposedly just couldn't resist micro-managing Watts to death, to the point they both agreed to get the hell away from each other ASAP. Loss is 100% correct on this theory. There are too many former talents and agents/producers who have confirmed this theory for it not to be true, in my opinion.

Oh my brother...

The whole "availability of the WWE Network in Canada" issue was quite a debacle for a while. We discussed this back here if you check that post and read onward, you will see that as a Canadian WWE Network subscriber, I too thought that I was limited to just the TV channel, (which for a long time, I was.) Then WWE finally got off their asses and made the full Network available to all Canadian customers just like they do for everybody else, with the added bonus that the live stream is available as a TV channel via your cable provider. So I get the normal network through my laptop, the stream as part of my TV service, and some (very) limited On Demand content via my cable box. I never even knew they upgraded the service for Canadians until a fellow PWO member (The Duke) let me know in that thread. Now I watch whatever is on the live stream live on my TV when it happens, but for most of the On Demand content or to do a watch-along with a podcast or whatever, I use my laptop.

Did you hate it so much that you're doing a live blog about it over at Segundo Caruda?

I am pretty sure Meltzer also made a specific quote in 1994 that Sabu was better than Bret Hart (at that time) which I remember upsetting a lot of people.

Thanks. I don't mind a watch along once in a while. One of my favourite thus far, because it was one of the funniest to me, was actually the XFL. If you say it is good El-P, I will go back and check that one out. I am still slowly working my way through the archives, and I tend to shy away from the earlier episodes. I have listened to a lot of the older episodes, but not all. The XFL is one I have not yet heard. If you say it was funny, I am going to check it out.

You know what, you may be right. I assumed that I ended up seeing it on Coliseum Video (as I did with a lot of big shows back then if I couldn't see it on Closed Circuit we had to wait for the video) but in retrospect, thinking back I'm pretty sure I remember what happened. Of course, this is 30 years ago now. Damn, I'm old. I remember reading in the newspaper (no online news back in 88) about the Royal Rumble being in Hamilton, plus they talked about it on the syndicated weekly WWF TV shows, but we couldn't see it in Canada, and I specifically remember myself and my friends in the time bitching that we couldn't see it. I had a friend in High School who had a Satellite Dish, which was crazy rare back in 1988. This was back when having a dish took up half your backyard, seriously. He was a fellow wrestling fan (we met because he came up to talk to me when he saw me wearing a Jake The Snake t-shirt) and told me that because his family had a satellite dish, he could get wrestling from all over the United States. He used to lend me tapes of World Class and Mid-South (UWF) which was amazing at the time, because the only exposure I had to them was through the Apter mages. I remember how awesome it was to see the Von Erichs live for the first time, World Class was so different from the 80's WWF. You're right, I'm pretty sure the way I ended up seeing the first Royal Rumble was through him lending me a tape of the USA broadcast, not from Coliseum Video. I do know for sure there was no way to see it on television here in the Toronto area.

This is embarrassing. Turns out it was a Firefox problem. There was an automatic update, after which I could no longer view art19, and (as it turns out) the WWE Network for some reason. Wasn't even my ad blocker either, I already had those disabled on those sites. I'm not even sure what extension or add-on is doing it, but when I checked art19 using a different browser, it worked fine.

I disagree with your opinion that the show hasn't changed, and I disagree that 205 Live was as good as the CWC, but I concede your point regarding Neville. His reign was not only a high point for 205 Live and the Cruiserweight Division, it was a high point for all of WWE. I agree his matches with Gallagher and Aries were outstanding, but I guess I kind of lumped them in as WWE PPV matches in my mind, not 205 Live. One of my issues with 205 Live was Gran Metalik's pointless banishment, and the overuse of Noam Dar, Tony Nese and the other Daivari. The division did badly need an influx of new blood, and it appears to be getting it - starting with Itami, and it appears to be growing on a weekly business with this tournament. If Gargano ends up here, he could easily carry this show on his back like Neville and Enzo did. I do wish they'd tape the show at Full Sail or somewhere else, but I understand why they do it after Smackdown logistically.

I don't always buy everything I read online for obvious reasons, but this story about a change of control and a in direction is making sense, especially if you watch the show. I tuned into 205 Live the week Enzo was fired, and was very surprised about the quality of the matches. It was a marked improvement over the last time I had seen the show. The matches (with the exception of Itami/Gallagher) seemed different somehow. Faster paced and more action, I couldn't figure it out. Now they are saying that there has been a change in creative and the CW's are being told to just go out and do their thing unencumbered - the timing lines up and it makes sense. If you don't believe the theory, go back and watch an older episode of 205 Live (if you dare) and then watch one from the past couple of weeks, and you tell me if you don't notice a significant difference. My complaint with 205 Live was always that it existed because of the CWC but seemed nothing like the CWC. That first show after Enzo and the shows since seem much more in the spirit and style of the CWC. If it really is true, thank goodness. I will see that there have been more high quality "must see" matches on 205 Live in the past three weeks than I can remember in the entire run of the show so far. Maybe it will finally end up being the wrestling focused alternative I always hoped it would be, rather than bland generic matches with plenty of restholds, and pointless backstage skits. I'd love to see this brand succeed. I don't know if there is a big enough audience for it, but I hope there is.

Sure El-P, if you have time I would do the watch-along for the Royal Rumble 1988. It's fun. It's not their best episode (I personally think Episode 46 on WWECW might get that nod) but it's entertaining enough. I would NOT recommend the Survivor Series 1987 watch-along episode. There is nothing all that interesting revealed, Bruce and Conrad do a fair bit of bickering (and not in an entertaining way either, just annoying) and at times there are actually periods of silence where they obviously can't find anything to say. And having watched SS87 along with them, I can say honestly that sumbitch was BORING. When Bruce and Conrad are talking about how bad the show is, (not the PPV but their podcast) you know it's bad.

I did the watch-along episode for Royal Rumble 1988 last night. I was reluctant at first because the Survivor Series 87 episode was pretty awful. I am not all that big on the watch-along shows in general, since I like to listen to shows when I am doing other things and don't like to be stuck sitting watching a monitor while I listen. I understand why Conrad pretty much has to go that route with Tony on What Happened When, but I wasn't thrilled when they did it on Something To Wrestle. Hell, even Conrad said during the watch-along for Survivor Series that it was the worst show they had done since "Austin Walks Out." I found this episode a lot more entertaining. Firstly because the entire show wasn't a watch-along, just the Rumble itself was. Secondly, they seemed to be a lot more funny and relaxed the second time around. There was a couple of things I found surprising about this episode. Firstly, the fact that Bruce openly and freely admitted that the main reason they even had the Royal Rumble 1988 was to counter-program JCP and the Bunkhouse Stampede. Everybody knows it is true, but that is the kind of thing that in the past Bruce has tried to deny or downplay. The way he made it sound, USA wanted them to do a show, they wanted to have a televised contract signing between Hogan and Andre, and this seemed to be a great way to do that, and screw with JCP at the same time. I agree with Cox when he says the actual Rumble almost seems like an afterthought. The second thing I found amusing upon seeing the Rumble again, was how little was made of The Ultimate Warrior. He had just barely joined the company I guess? He appears in the match, exchanges some pretty lame looking chops with some guys, and gets eliminated. He's pretty much a non-factor. You could tell that they didn't know what they had at that point. Funny sidenote, by the way. I live in the Toronto area. This show was filmed in Hamilton, which is pretty close to Toronto (within easy driving distance.) It was shown live in the United States on the USA Network, but even though it was shot in Canada...we couldn't watch it. The USA Network wasn't available in Canada at that time. The WWF was red hot in the Toronto area (remember, 74,000 fans had gone to see "The Big Event" when Hogan fought Orndorff just a couple of years prior) so it was a bit of a slap in the face that the WWF would film a major show like that in the area but not make it available for viewing until it came out in VHS.

I have a question... I use the site https://art19.com/ to keep track of most of my favorite podcasts and access the archives. They had homepages for Something to Wrestle, E & C's Pod of Awesomeness, Jim Cornette's Drive Thru, and What Happened When. Basically, I think they had archives for anybody who was hosted by MLW and not Podcast One. I found this site really convenient because the archives were listed and you didn't have to be a member to get to them. Also, I don't use iTunes so for me, this was pretty much the best way to get to all my favorite podcasts. I know the individual shows must be okay with this site, because in Conrad Thompson's case, the URL for SomethingToWrestle.com actually redirected to art19. The site is still up, but all the individual pages and archives appear to have vanished since the weekend. I checked art19's Twitter feed and there doesn't appear to be a mention of any problems. Does anybody here have any idea what is up? If art19 is no longer an option, does anybody have a suggestion regarding a good way to access podcast archives? Most of my favorite shows have YouTube Channels so I may end up going that route. Just wondering if anybody knew anything...

That was my thought too. There is no way there could ever be a real payoff to this, so why do it? Then again, this is WWE creative. I've given up trying to figure out why they do (or in many cases, don't do) things. In furtherance of this issue, Corey Graves took a thinly veiled shot at Booker on Twitter today.

I heard Corey Graves on Edge and Christian's podcast and while he was complimentary to Booker, it was also pretty obvious that he was making fun of his commentary and if you read between the lines, he was implying that Booker isn't all that great at his job. You could even make an argument that it sounded like Graves was implying that Booker isn't all that bright. Lord knows, he wouldn't be the first person to imply that. Here is the clip from Booker's podcast, it's around 4:00 minutes. After hearing it, I lean towards thinking there may be legit anger there (at least on Booker's part.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSLKrXfrLk

So apparently on his podcast, Booker T claimed that he has a beef with Corey Graves. He apparently blames Graves for his being removed from the Raw announce team, and says if he ever sees Corey on the street, he's coming for him, sucka. Is this a work, and leading up to something? Is it legit, and if so has anybody else heard anything about it via a reliable source?

I actually watched 205 Live last night for the first time in a very long time. I was curious if they were going to announce the new GM and the plans for the title. (Which they didn't, but whatever.) I kept watching because Gran Metalik was wrestling in the opener and I love that guy. The opening 6 man was okay. Nothing exceptional, but solid action. Then Hideo Itami fought Jack Gallagher. Oh boy. First off, I don't know why Gallagher is wrestling in street clothes, just because he is a heel now. Secondly, I don't know what happened, because the last time I paid any attention to Gallagher (which would have been during his angle with Neville, I guess) he seemed pretty popular and was getting some noticeable crowd reactions. We're not talking Road Warrior levels here, but he wasn't getting crickets, either. Now he is getting nothing. And I don't think it's just because he turned heel, either. He's not getting a negative reaction, he's getting nothing. I think this heel turn was a dumb idea, personally. I don't think people are going to buy Jack Gallagher as a "bad ass." Finally, I figured even though he has lost a step or two, KENTA would still be able to have a good match with Gallagher, considering the talent of both guys. Not so much. This match was boring, and the crowd was dead. There were some pretty loud BORING chants. I don't know if it is because of Gallagher's heel turn, I don't know if it's because KENTA has really gone downhill worse than I realized, or what the problem is...but this match was not so good. By the end of this, the crowd was pretty much out of it, so I thought. I kept watching, because I really like Cedric Alexander. I wasn't disappointed. Man, Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali did something I have very rarely seen two wrestlers do. They pulled a dead crowd back to life. By the end of this match, there were "This is awesome" chants, and loud cheers. On 205 Live! I was pretty shocked, to be honest. This was definitely the best match I remember seeing by the WWE Cruiserweights in a very, very long time and was probably the best non-CWC. non-PPV Crusierweight match I've seen in WWE. Definitely the best 205 Live match I remember seeing. I expected it to be okay, maybe even good...but this exceeded my expectations. This was a very, very good match. I am going to watch it again, because I am not sure if I am over-rating it because it surprised me. Sometimes, when a match I wasn't expecting too much from exceeds expectations, I tend to overrate them. So I want to watch it again, but if you can I would go out of your way to check this match out. It was damn good.

That was awful. I haven't watched Raw in months, but I thought I'd check it out due to all the nostalgia acts and it being the go-home show for the Rumble. That show was a mess. If I was a fan who bought a ticket for the Manhattan Center I'd be wanting my money back too.

I thought the Rockers episode was somewhat dry, but I did end up laughing when Conrad recapped the number of times Marty Janetty was fired and re-hired. Even Bruce said only The Iron Sheik nears Marty's record for comings and goings. Also thought the 98 Royal Rumble episode from this past week was pretty good. I found it humorous that they spent 75% of the episode discussing the episodes of Raw before and after the actual PPV, and very little time re-capping the actual show. Next week is a watch-along, which I will probably skip.

Gotta love Vince being able to turn "Thank You Vince" chants into "Asshole" chants on a dime.

I would like to officially reverse my position on Enzo living his gimmick.

I am a big fan of the Breaking Kayfabe series, as I discussed earlier in this thread. I actually paid for the episodes with Sabu and New Jack, but you couldn't pay me to watch that crap. He's basically trolling people at this point. At least Oliver calls him on it, to a degree.

Exactly. If there was ever a guy in this "new era" that lives his gimmick, it's Enzo A'more. I think wrestling could use more of that, actually.

I always thought Seth Rollins kind of deserved the shit he got for being reckless and injuring people (including himself, I guess.) He broke Cena's nose, he gave Sting the turnbuckle bomb that ended his career and threw Finn Balor into the barricade and fucked up his shoulder so bad he was out for 9 months. (Which looking back, kind of ended up being the end of Balor's main event push.) I know "it's not ballet" and accidents happen, and okay once or even twice is a mistake but three big injuries involving the same guy? Not sure I buy that as a coincidence. All three guys (Cena, Sting and Balor) were quick to absolve Rollins of blame, which seems to be standard practice...but Bret Hart was one of the guys who came out and said he thought Rollins was too reckless.