The Thread Killer

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.

Who was this? I get the feeling that NXT is very backward and bush league when it comes to certain expected standards of quality backstage. For example, I heard Tyson Kidd's injury was handled very poorly. I can't remember where I heard that though - maybe a bitter Bret rant? But still. Consider the source and treat this with the credibility it deserves - but Ryback claimed that Kidd had an undeserved reputation backstage for being a complainer, so when he got injured Mark Carrano (the current head of Talent Relations) thought Kidd was either faking or exaggerating it. Kidd apparently got the whole "be a man, take a salt tablet and walk it off" treatment until somebody finally realized how serious the injury was. At that point, they realized that they were legally liable, so they started taking Kidd a lot more seriously. Ryback also went on to say that after WWE found out that Kidd almost died from the injury (reportedly it was a small miracle that he wasn't paralyzed) they went into full damage control mode, circled the wagons, got out the checkbook, and now you'll never hear Kidd complain about it, because he has money and a job for life. If Kidd ever tells the whole story of what happened in that situation, it's safe to assume his medical coverage, salary and new job goes bye-bye. But this is all from Ryback, who is notoriously full of shit. You really never hear anything remotely good said about this Mark Carrano guy. Then again, JR, Bruce Prichard, Johnny Ace and others have claimed that whoever is in charge of talent relations is always going to be hated because you're always put in the position of being the bad guy and delivering the news nobody ever wants to hear. On the flip side of that - WWE always seems to pick people with prickly personalities or who are already unpopular for that job, so who knows.

Really? I had heard his ego was a problem as far back as the very beginning of ROH. I remember he got the win in the Main Event of their first show, he became the first champion by winning that Fatal Four Way, he had one successful title defense against AJ Styles, but then ended up losing the title unexpectedly to Xavier of all people. I know he had that one singles match against Joe a while later, but that was pretty much it for his first ROH run. It had looked like he was pretty much going to be the #1 guy in the company, and then...we got Xavier. I remember the rumor online at the time being that Low Ki was really difficult to deal with when it came to creative and finishes, so they took the belt off him. Plus he was is and out of TNA multiple times for the same reason, no? I know he has since claimed that he never wanted to be famous in North America anyhow, he only ever wanted to succeed in Japan. Not sure I buy that.

That will be awesome. *crickets* Mad Dog: "BENNETT!!!" *crickets*

I caught 205 Live this week, and it was actually a pretty good show. The No DQ/Street Fight/Hardcore Match with Kendrick and Gallaher was excellent, which you would expect from those two. I didn't much care about the whole Swann match and TJP angle, I don't even get what they're going for there, nor do I care. But the backstage segments about and featuring Enzo were actually entertaining (to me) and the Main Event was a fun 6 Man Tag. I am happy whenever I get to see Gran Metalik who I think is awesome and terribly underused. Judging by the crowd reaction, moving Enzo to the Cruiserweight Division was right choice. Of course, he's glaringly bad in the ring and noticeably less skilled at even the fundamentals than his teammates and competitors, but he will probably get more eyeballs on the product. And yeah...I laughed out loud when he called Drew Gulak "Captain Underpants."

I caught this week's NXT show, and to echo the sentiments of other people in this thread, at elsewhere at PWO... NXT really needs to get out of Full Sail. That crowd has become way too jaded, quiet and reserved. They don't make half the noise they used to. Now they really only seem to get excited for whoever the latest new face is. I know WWE is in serious cost-cutting mode, and taking TV on the road is probably a lot more expensive, but I wish they'd do it.

Good post. You have encapsulated everything that once was right and seems to slowly gone wrong for Smackdown since the draft. It's pretty infuriating, since there is no good reason for it. The talent and resources are all there, as are guys (coughLukeHarpercough) who are being criminally underutilized. Very frustrating to be a fan right now, more often than not.