The Thread Killer

I agree with everybody who is expressing the sentiment that Smackdown seems to have a weird rotating visibility/TV time policy. At one point, Mojo won the Battle Royal at Wrestlemania, and seemed to be heading for something bigger, then he kind of disappears. Bennett comes in, then all of the sudden he is inexplicably off TV for a few weeks. (Which I am not personally complaining about, but it is symptomatic of the larger issue.) Luke Harper and Erick Rowan both seemed to be getting some exposure, and then they vanish from TV. And I actually forgot Becky Lynch was on Smackdown for a bit there. I thought the same thing was happening with Gable and Ziggler, but now both are back on TV again. I don't know if the issue is that the writers can't find enough time for everybody in the two hours they have, or if they just don't like the people they aren't using, but the whole thing is weird to me.

You are right about that. I don't do this all that often, but I am admitting publicly that I was wrong about his podcast and I am officially reversing my position. Much to my surprise, I have to say that I have become a fan of this show, despite declaring earlier in this thread that I was giving up on it. I get terrible insomnia, and over the course of a couple of weeks, I have been amusing myself in the wee small hours by listening to the archives of this show. I found that after a while, I began to really enjoy the show. It boils down to a combination of two things...firstly I enjoy the topics, and secondly I have discovered that after a (admittedly prolonged) settling in period, I am enjoying the dynamic between Bruce and Conrad. Conrad still annoys me by asking questions about money all the time, when it couldn't be clearer that Bruce just won't discuss that. I still think about half of Bruce's imitations aren't anywhere near as good as he obviously thinks they are. And it still bugs me that Bruce tends to toe the WWF line all these years later. But even still, there is a lot more good than bad there, when you look for it. This show definitely requires a while to get used to and is an acquired taste, to be sure. The Macho Man episode was an interesting listen. I freely admit that I laughed more than a bit, at Bruce's story of ribbing Macho by moving his stuff around while he was in the shower. His imitation of Macho's reaction to people touching his towel had me laughing my ass off. I was also almost moved by his recounting of the discussion that Savage and Prichard had, where Savage used a line from the movie "Mr. Saturday Night" to describe Prichard. Bruce claims he has never forgotten it, and quoted it to his kids. "Yeah...but you could have been nicer." I am slowly starting to see that with age, Prichard has been able to look back at his career in the WWF and admit that he was an asshole to a lot of people. I think in a lot of ways he probably still is an asshole, as evidenced by the way he acts on the show. But the way he reacted to being given that feedback from Savage, and a bunch of other things he has said sprinkled throughout the episodes in the archive, makes me believe there might just be a pretty decent guy in there somewhere. I think he is clearly the kind of guy who isn't going to apologize for anything he has said or done in his life or career, but I am always a fan of somebody who shows that level of introspection and self awareness.

Finally caught the episode with Shane Helms and thought it was excellent. That guy is so damn funny, they need to make him a regular like Tommy. (Tommay. TommayTommayTommay.) Looking forward to catching up on the episode with Shelton Benjamin.

Yeah, I actually knew who he was when he showed up in the WWF. Back in the 80's there was a terrible wrestling show on TV every Saturday afternoon called All-Star Wrestling. I'll never forget it, it was SO bad. It was filmed in a TV studio in Vancouver in front of around 50 people. The ring was huge. It was run by a promoter named Al Tomko. The announcer sounded like a game show host. Man it was BAD. I first saw Tenta there. After I wrote this, I looked it up and found it on YouTube! Check out how skinny Quake is. It's from 1986. This clip is hysterical. EDIT: Found another one. With 16 year old Mauro Ranallo on color commentary.

Yeah I can't wait to listen to this week's episode. I'm on a stretch of 4 day 12 hour night shifts, so it will be a while before I can listen to it, probably Tuesday at the earliest. (I like to listen to the entire show in one sitting and I can't do that when I am basically working, coming home, sleeping, and going back to work.) As soon as I saw that Shane Helms was the guest I was IN. That guy is legitimately hilarious, I've never seen or heard a bad interview with him. He is an incredibly entertaining guy. He was a guest on Killing the Town a couple of weeks ago and that interview was great too. Really looking forward to this episode.

The weirdness with the Jarrett/GFW story continues. Apparently he updated his Twitter and Instagram profile talking about how he has new projects coming and is looking forward to things to come. He also posted a bunch of inspirational slogans about working hard, etc. Basically all giving the general impression that he is moving on to a new project or projects of some kind.

I have every show from the first few years of ROH on 1st Gen VHS in a big box in my closet, and then another huge box of DVD's from their next couple of years (some of them unopened.) I never watch them and likely never will. I should catalogue them and sell them on eBay, I might make a couple of bucks.

Ah yes, the brilliant Mr. Ed Nordholm. This is the business and legal genius who decided to release evidentiary documents via Twitter while he was in the middle of litigation and a potential settlement to end said litigation. First Dixie and now this yahoo. Where does TNA manage to find these people?

According to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated... No idea if this story is true or not, but considering the history of this company, I wouldn't be surprised. It wouldn't be the first time that Anthem/The Fight Network made some weird business decisions that put them in financial jeopardy, I know that much. That company has been in serious financial peril before and has even teetered on the brink of collapse themselves.

This is unexpected and seems to be totally out of the blue. Just this morning he tweeted about all the stuff that was going to be happening in Global Force this month and how excited he is about it. Something strange seems to have come up out of left field all of the sudden?

Here's the problem with that. If you don't agree with him, you had three choices: 1 ) Say you don't agree with him, and explain why. 2 ) Decide that his opinion is so off-base that there is no point even arguing with him, and ignore the post OR 3 ) Make a rude, insulting and (most importantly) pointless comment that adds nothing to the discussion - other than making you look like a dick. Which means either you're not capable of forming a coherent argument against his point or... You're so thin-skinned that you can't let an opinion be expressed here that you don't agree with without adding your two cents or... You're just a dick. I've read your posts plenty of times. I don't always agree with you. I often don't. But there's no reason to be a dick about it and screw the thread up for everybody else. So disagree if you must. But please...don't be a dick.

Well that escalated quickly. Always great to see enlightened debate here on the ol' Pee Dub Oh. Yes, his insightful, reasoned, well thought out and eloquent rebuttal of your post really made me stop and consider his position. This is just like the Gore Vidal/William F. Buckley debates.

I've read this quote several times and I'm having a hard time figuring out who you're angry with. Internet fans for speculating on the "real reason" JBL is leaving? Internet fans for pointing out Taz is bitching about the fans? Taz for bitching about the fans?

Exactly. For the past who knows how long, the guy wrestled 3-4 times a year. Who cares if he wants to come back and wrestle in some sort of special attraction type match, or whatever. Your garden variety WWE fan would probably want to see it, just not the hardcore fans who care more about the quality of the in ring product.

And Nigel is replacing Graves on 205 Live and Main Event. Hmmm. So it that story is to be believed, JBL quit because they were pressuring him over making his own travel arrangements and not wanting to spend as much time on the road? Plausible. So this means RAW will be Cole, Graves and King Bookah, and SDL will be Phillips, Graves and Saxton? They're really going to be working Graves into the ground. Which from a selfish perspective is great, because he's excellent. I especially enjoy he and Phillips working together. I have no issue with Nigel working 205 Live because Graves was wasted there anyhow. Your #1 color guy shouldn't be on your C show.

Please expand. Although, as soon as this story broke I thought it smelled highly fishy. I wouldn't at all be surprised if this actually was a result of the Mauro Ranallo situation - like Vince asked for his resignation at the time but agreed to put it off for a couple of months so it didn't look like they were caving to pressure from the outside. At the very least, I don't think he's really quitting to devote more time to charity. I think he's quitting or being forced out for reasons we don't yet know. Just my opinion.

I agree with Mad Dog. They've made incredible advancements when it comes to hip replacements for athletes over the past 20 years. There is a special type of artificial hip that has been designed, which (once the patient has recovered from the surgery and done the required rehab) is actually superior to a normal human hip joint, and can actually absorb more punishment. I saw a documentary about it on television, it was designed for players in the NFL. It's almost like a shock absorber grafted onto human bone. I remember the guy saying that if this hip replacement had existed at the time, Bo Jackson never would have needed to retire and could have come back better than ever. Also, not that I doubt the story of The Undertaker returning, but has anybody reputable actually reported it? Anyhow, my feelings on this are that if he actually did get the surgery and can go, I don't care if he comes back. More power to him. If he's going to be in the physical condition that he was in at Wrestlemania, I don't see why he should come back. He has a young family, I highly doubt he needs the money and he has nothing else to prove.

Anyhow, as much as I enjoy discussing how misunderstood Big Show Low Ki is, I have a question regarding Global Force. They have posted this preview for the next episode of Impact: I don't watch Impact (nor do I intend to) so I'm not sure I understand this. Does Sexy Star even work for GFW? If not, why are they promoting this episode like this? Is Rosemary a big name for GFW? I hate to be cynical, but to an outsider it almost looks like Global Force is exploiting this situation to try and get attention for themselves. More power to them, I guess. It just seems kind of odd that Global Force is planning on addressing the situation in such a sensational looking way.

Good Lord. If I had to listen to that, I'd... Well, I just couldn't listen to that. EDIT: Anyhow, I thought Lenny Leonard was Gabe's on air persona, wasn't it?

Yeah, all of that...plus he's really, really short. Like, tiny short. Like, he's probably not allowed to go on a lot of the rides at Disney World, short. Like, he can probably still order from the kid's menu, and the waitress doesn't bat an eyelash. He is as tall as Bryan Danielson and Eddie Guerrero and taller then El Hijo Del Santo and Rey Mysterio. He is the same height as Floyd Maywether and only an inch shorter then Connor McGregor and they just had a fight that made an estimated $500 million dollars. There haven't been any smart arguments in this thread, but this is an especially dumb one. You're right. I was wrong. I see that now. Not only is Low Ki an artiste who never compromised his principles for stupid reasons like wanting to be a success, he's also a giant among men and could well make $500 million dollars before his illustrious career is over. I think I love him as much as you guys do now. We should all get matching Low Ki tattoos.

Sure, if after having a 19 year career getting booked to wrestle in a high school gym in front of 75 people is your definition of "getting work." He's an unparalleled success an artiste, with standards of the highest order that we could only aspire to.

Yeah, all of that...plus he's really, really short. Like, tiny short. Like, he's probably not allowed to go on a lot of the rides at Disney World, short. Like, he can probably still order from the kid's menu, and the waitress doesn't bat an eyelash.

Hey, some people just love midget wrestling and get defensive when you criticize the midget.

Great episode this week. Edge goes on a rant about why WWE is rushing the Reigns/Cena angle, they talk about Sexy Star, we get Tales from the Indies with Tommy Dreamer. (TommayTommayTommay. Tommay.) Plus there is a fun interview with the Usos. The interview turns into a bit of a mutual admiration society, but it no less entertaining to listen to.

That whole situation was really sad. I once saw a clip of an interview with Ric Flair where he was talking about how he and Ricky Steamboat had discussed the dream of one day seeing Reid Flair vs. Ritchie Steamboat, with their fathers in their respective corners. Now Reid is gone and Ritchie is injured for life and will never wrestle again.