The Thread Killer

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.

I liked the Biker character, as a concept. Taker was beyond stale at that point, and needed to change things up. I just think that it was poorly executed at times, and like his previous incarnation, he outstayed his welcome. I don't think it should have lasted nearly as long as it did. But I don't think Taker would have had the run he did throughout his career, without taking that break from the traditional "Dead Man" version of the character, and breaking things up. Let's be honest, a lot of the annoying shit the Undertaker did, he was going to do regardless of how he was dressed up. At least the Biker gimmick gave him a lot more freedom on the microphone, and he didn't have to rely so heavily on all the gimmicky language, etc.

Larry Csonka (who I know is hardly the most reliable source in the world) reported this today... This means one of two things. Either the WON did provide more details and Csonka isn't passing it on (possible) or more likely, Dave Meltzer is doing another one of his famous "I know the real reason something happened, and I'm going to tell you that I know, but I'm not going to actually report on the details of what I know" deals. I HATE when he does that. He's done it several times over the past couple of years, and it drives me nuts. If you're a reporter, and you have a story, then report the damn story. If you can't report the story for whatever reason (don't want to give a source, can't confirm the story, whatever) then DON'T SAY ANYTHING. The whole topic of Baron Corbin's suddenly aborted push and speculation regarding whether or not John Cena is the reason is a very hot story right now. To me, nonsense like this report is the equivalent of a little kid dancing around chanting "I've got a secret, na-na-na-nana."

If Mad Dog was a real Japanese type fan, he'd wait until it was dead quiet and then shout out just the name of his favorite wrestler, at the top of his lungs. And then go right back to being quiet again.

In my opinion, Low Ki is one of those guys that belongs in a very select group - a wrestler who could have actually gone on to have a noteworthy career based on his skill level, were it not for his ability to get in his own way politically.

Yeah but now Joe is injured so who knows when he'll be back. I think we're all grasping at straws trying to come up with theories and reasons why WWE wouldn't be so stupid as to hotshot this match. We're giving them too much credit, I think they're just rushing the match because they're stupid. Also, Roman already signed the contract on Raw so they have to fight. Those contracts are legally binding.

I don't understand why they are rushing this Reigns/Cena program. Maybe it's just me, but this feud has Wrestlemania written all over it. This should be a big money angle, no? It should be (in theory) be a passing of the torch from Vince's previously untouchable #1 guy to his new untouchable #1 guy. For them to not even feature it on one of the big four PPV's and not even in the Main Event is really strange to me. In other news, Samoa Joe is reportedly injured and out for at least a month, which sucks. Hope he's okay. Considering their history, there is a guy I was hoping to see work with Cena before he went off to Hollywood to make Transformers movies.

Yeah, really hot women don't normally show interest in the dumb jock, muscle-head types. They usually go for the quiet, bookish, intelligent guys.

I remember that blog. It went like this: "WWF real hard and stuff. Some doors you have to push to open but others you pull. Steroids friend me good."

I'm not surprised at the reports that he got a big head when he got his push. Not to speak ill of the dead, and I'm not trying to be mean either, but Andrew Martin was reportedly really dumb and had quite the ego long before he ever got famous. I knew a number of people who knew him very well, and I encountered him myself on a peripheral basis as he bounced at a number of bars I frequented in my younger carousing years. I also drank with a bunch of guys who played hockey with him, and as I said, this was long before he got famous. He was a tough guy, but a bit of a bully and the unanimous consensus is that the poor boy had an exceptionally low IQ. Mick Foley even alludes to that in his second book, as I understand most of Foley's jokes went right over the guy's head. Having a big ego whilst being somewhat of a dimwit is usually not a recipe for success.

There is already a thread for this podcast, but I don't blame you for missing it. I was the only person who replied and it hasn't been bumped in ages. The Pod of Awesomeness has now worked it's way onto my "must listen" list along with Killing the Town and Jim Cornette's Late Night Drive-Thru. (Not to be confused with The Jim Cornette Experience, which I can't stand.) The question of whether or not you will like the Pod of Awesomeness depends on a couple of different factors. You don't have to be a huge fan of Edge and Christian to enjoy the show. To be honest, I never really cared for Edge as a performer all that much. But there are some things going for this show, for sure. 1 ) It is refreshingly candid. Neither host seem to care if they ruffle feathers or offend the WWE. It is obvious that they both still follow the product and are quick to praise what they like, but they are also more than happy to slag what they do not like. One of the things I am starting to really dislike about Killing the Town is the fact that because Don Callis works for New Japan World, he spends an exorbitant amount of time pimping New Japan and will absolutely not say anything even remotely critical about them. He is also personal friends with Kenny Omega, and his constant praising of Omega as the greatest wrestler in the world is getting nauseating. You don't get that with E & C. They are surprisingly objective and call it as they see it. I don't always agree with them, but I never get the feeling that they are holding back or being political or diplomatic in their choice of topics or criticisms. 2 ) High quality guests. It is an running joke between the two hosts regarding who they can land as guests. So far they've had a who's who. Goldberg, Shane McMahon, AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, Drew McIntyre...these guys are definitely able to get interviews with the kind of guests other podcasts could only dream of. If you look at who they've had on the show in their brief existence, it's quite remarkable really. 3 ) Good interviews. It's one thing to land a good guest, it's another to actually have a productive conversation with them which is worth listening to or that is interesting, compelling and informative. (Ask anybody who has ever watched an RF Video Shoot Interview. Just getting the interview is only half of the process. You actually have to ask smart questions, follow up, put the subject at ease and draw them out.) The advantage Edge and Christian have is that they have mostly landed interviews with guys that they already have a relationship with, so there is never any real awkwardness or formality to the interviews. I would especially point to the Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan and Drew McIntyre interviews as being segments where it came across as just friends having a conversation, but in all three interviews the subjects were refreshingly candid and discussed things that you can tell they probably wouldn't have discussed elsewhere. Another huge highlight was when they managed to get Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley on together, to discuss their classic Mind Games match in detail. This was an amazing segment they call "Anatomy of a Match" and they plan to do this with other wrestlers in the future. They have the connections to pull this off, and it's really awesome. (Pardon the pun.) 4 ) Knowledgeable and Experienced hosts. They're not experienced as hosts, but they have a ton of experience in Pro Wrestling, and that helps this show a lot. Like I said, I was never a huge Edge and Christian fan, but you can't deny that they were both very successful during their careers. They are both happy to talk about experiences they had before, during and even after their careers. They weave this into their interviews and it gives an insight that other interviewers might not have. They also have a deep reservoir of backstage and road stories that they are always happy to share, which you can only get from a host who has experience in the Pro Wrestling industry. One thing that has really impressed me about this show is that it is obvious that (despite how incredibly goofy they both act) both these guys are actually quite intelligent. 5 ) It's Fun. Now, here is where Your Mileage May Vary. These guys have been good friends since they were kids. They talk quite a lot about their teenage years, growing up as fans, and their formative years in the industry. Like many friends who have known each other for years, they are extremely comfortable with each other. This means that they have pet nicknames for each other (Edge calls Christian "Birdman" or "Bird" for example) but they also have a ton of other running jokes with each other. One thing they love to do is threaten each other with physical violence, where they go into ludicrous over the top and extremely detailed threats of what they plan to do to each other. They also have a running gag with Tommy Dreamer, where just for the sake of irritating him, they repeat his name over and over (TommyTommyTommy) to drive him nuts. They have a Stone Cold impersonator who comes on to sing the theme song of their guests, prior to interviews. Their interview with Pete Gas of the Mean Street Posse is an example of them basically doing nothing but joking around and riffing on the poor guy. Another fun ongoing joke is their use of backstage wrestler banter "Brother brother" or the ongoing saga of Edge's inability to change the battery in his smoke detector. I happen to find this stuff hilarious and it is one of the things about the show I enjoy the most. It is not formal or overproduced. However, it can be quite juvenile and if this type of humor is not for you, or if that kind of stuff annoys you, then I can see where you would not like this show at all. I was once listening to the show when my roommate was in the room, and she finally asked me who these guys were, why they kept insulting each other and why they were threatening to mutilate each other. Like I said, it's most definitely a YMMV situation. If you do not like goofy humor, this is not the show for you. But I feel that they are having fun doing the show, they don't take it too seriously, and it comes across as fun for them and the listener. One thing about this show is that it has only been around for 5 months. It's actually pretty impressive the quality of guests and the good shows they have had over the past 5 months, and they are really getting hitting their stride now. I think it is probably only going to get better.