The Thread Killer

Well, if you can't trust rovert as an unimpeachable news source, then who can you trust.

I saw the extended promo for Simon Gotch's just released RF Video Shoot Interview, and there are clips of him just burying the hell out of Enzo, and giving examples of why he is so hated. One of the most interesting examples is Enzo claiming to be a protege of Dusty Rhodes, while knowing next to nothing about Dusty's career. I'd rather die a painful death than put one dollar in Rob Feinstein's pocket, so I shall not see the interview, but it looks quite interesting.

Did anybody hear the "Paul Heyman in the WWE" episode? I swore I wasn't going to listen to this show anymore, but the fact that the topic was Paul Heyman's time in WWE combined with a killer case of insomnia caused me to go back. It wasn't a terrible episode, I listened to the whole thing, but a few things really jumped out at me. Firstly, despite his claims that he and Heyman are friends, or friendly at least, it's blatantly obvious that Prichard is crazy jealous of Heyman's reputation. (The good parts of Heyman's reputation.) He goes to great length to try and take away any credit Heyman got while he was the Head Writer of Smackdown. He goes so far as to basically say that the title of Head Writer was just a figurehead title, and that both shows were written by the entire creative team, so whatever credit Heyman gets for his time writing Smackdown, the entire creative team should get. He claims he had never heard of the "Smackdown Six" which may be true. Basically Prichard pretty much refuses to give Heyman any credit for the success Smackdown had while Heyman was the Head Writer. Refreshingly, Prichard openly admits that Smackdown was always the "B Show" and was always seen as the "B Show." We all know it's true, but it was nice to hear him talk about it as if there was never really any doubt. Prichard takes great joy in bringing up some stories of when Heyman was wrong about characters or pushes. Specifically, he claims that Heyman lobbied long and hard against Cena getting the "White Rapper" gimmick, claiming it would kill his career and haunt him until the end of his days. He also claims that Heyman loudly opposed Eddie Guerrero being given the World Title, claiming it would never work and that Eddie was only over with the Latin audience. Prichard also claims that Heyman buried and did not support any ECW "original" talents being given pushes in WWE, aside from RVD. For example, he opposed them hiring Sandman, claiming Sandman is an alcoholic. Somebody really needs to get Prichard to do all of his imitations, and then compile a list of which ones are good, and which ones aren't. He should then be forbidden to do the bad ones. For example, his Vince McMahon and Johnny Ace? Great. His Jim Cornette, his Pat Patterson and most specifically his Paul Heyman imitations are AWFUL. And unfortunately, this episode was packed with his Heyman imitation for obvious reasons...and it sounded NOTHING like Heyman to me. Also, we need to pass a rule where Conrad needs to stop asking Prichard questions about how much money guys made. Prichard never knows, and when he does know he refuses to say, but Conrad keeps asking. This podcast is a year old. When is Conrad going to figure out that Prichard won't talk money? I don't want to give the impression that this episode was without good parts. There was good in here. For one thing, I have heard from a variety of people that Heyman's greatest flaw was that when he thought he was right about something he just wouldn't let it drop, and would keep pushing the issue until everybody wanted to kill him. (Actually I think Stephanie talks about that on the Paul Heyman DVD.) Prichard confirms that here, and provides some other insights too. Some parts were odd...like Prichard insisting that Heyman was never really interested in purchasing Strike Force when it was for sale, because how could he purchase it since he had gone bankrupt? Heyman has been pretty clear that he was part of a consortium that was looking to buy Strike Force, not that he was going to buy it out of his own pocket. But like I said...to me it became pretty clear that Prichard doesn't mind Heyman as a human being, but is really unhappy that Heyman has a reputation in the wrestling industry as a creative genius. He trots out the old Heyman talking point that his greatest strength is showcasing a talent's strength and hiding their weakness...but he also claims that Heyman used Meltzer and the internet to pump up his reputation. I really got the feeling that Prichard thinks that he himself should have a reputation like Heyman, or something.

Well, it's pretty much confirmed now that Meltzer got at least half this story right. We may never know if Big Cass is a vocal Trump supporter, but the reports of Enzo having major heat backstage and getting booted off a tour bus have been confirmed by no less than JBL and Corey Graves on Bring it to the Table. They also confirmed that Enzo has some major heat on him in general. Sports Illustrated (which is all of the sudden breaking and reporting some stories with a degree of accuracy) reports that the heat on Enzo is apparently due to his being generally unlikable backstage. Corey Graves claimed that Enzo's backstage personality isn't all that different than his on-screen persona, and if that's the case, he must be as annoying as shit. Other claims are that he is partying like a madman. I don't know if anybody here has heard the stories about him going to a strip club in Buffalo all drunk and acting like a jerk to the dancers, one of whom posted about it on Facebook and the stories took off from there. Apparently that story got him some heat as well. Other claims are that he is concentrating too much on projects outside WWE, including music(?!) The main thing that has him heat right now is that he apparently brought some of his party friends backstage and these people were generally unwelcome and taking pictures to boot, which is a major no-no. I'm just a fan and even I can figure out that bringing strangers backstage and letting them take pictures is a really dumb idea. Like a lot of people speculated, apparently parts of Cass's promos during their split were supposed shoots, about how nobody liked Enzo and how Cass was getting sick of defending him and sticking up for him. My question was (and still is) that if he has so much heat backstage and is on the verge of being released, why WWE would let Enzo cut so many promos during the breakup with Cass (which have only helped him) and why they have featured him so heavily on Raw recently. Wasn't he in the closing segment last week? That doesn't seem like a guy who has heat and is getting buried. If they are going to release him for being such a doofus, they should probably just get on with it, unless they are planning on writing him out with a major injury angle or something, at the hands of Cass. The other possibility is that WWE is experimenting with working the fans and so-called IWC by perpetuating these stories on platforms like Bring it to the Table, when they aren't really true. Maybe he doesn't have heat and this is all a work, bro.

Man, if it wasn't for bad luck The Revival would have no luck at all. I think Raw and Smackdown are both in Toronto this week. I wonder how the crowds will be, Toronto crowds are notoriously weird when it comes to who they boo and cheer.

This is really sad. I have read conflicting reports about the cause of the injury. The first report I read about this injury said it was from a DDT spot gone wrong. Turns out no, the injury was the result of a sunset flip, during a match for DDT. I also read that this has caused a big financial burden on his family, which just adds further misery to an already tragic situation. I thought Japan had socialized medicine like we do in Canada, but maybe not? It's bad enough this happened to the poor guy, but for his family to be crushed with the weight of mounting medical bills on top of the accident, makes an already sad situation that much worse. Terrible news.

I guess I got off "lucky." My ex-wife never slapped me, hit me or threw anything at me. She cost me my home and business, bankrupted me, embittered me and disillusioned me toward the entire concept of romantic love forever, sure. But she never hit me.

I should mention that the reason I assume that this is not a standard case of domestic abuse, is that there is ample evidence that Paige poured a drink over Alberto's head, in public. In all of the cases I have ever read about, heard about or seen of spousal abuse, I have never known the victim to provoke the abuser like that. Never, ever. That is one of the things that makes domestic abuse so horrifying - that the abuser usually attacks the victim for no reason whatsoever, except for some perceived slight that only exists in the abuser's mind, which gives them some perverse justification. That is what makes me think they are involved in a co-dependent, mutually destructive relationship. It doesn't make what is happening with Paige any less tragic, it only makes it a different type of abusive dynamic. (And before anybody jumps down my throat, NO...I don't think if Paige dumped a drink over Alberto's head she "deserves" to be assaulted, either. I'm simply saying that in my experience most domestic abuse victims would never dream of doing anything like that, and would be terrified to do so.) The other thing I should have mentioned is, that for what it's worth, if I think Paige should be released by WWE then of course Alberto El Patron should be released by GFW. That goes without saying. I have no confidence it will happen, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I think that GFW is more concerned with having any ex-WWE wrestler with name recognition on their roster than they are with doing the right thing. Secondly, from what I understand Jeff Jarrett is in charge of making those types of decisions and I think Jeff Jarrett is the world's biggest Idiot Savant, minus the Savant part.

This. I wish everyone the best. Don't be obtuse, both of you. And let's not be naive, either. WWE isn't in the helping Paige business, they're in the making money business. There may well be people who work for WWE that like Paige, but in the bigger picture, they most likely don't give a damn about her one bit, above her ability to make them money. When she can make them money and do them good, they'll love her. Right now she's a massive liability. If you don't think that is the way they see her, then you've obviously never had a job "in real life." In the past year, Paige has been suspended twice for violating the wellness policy, which she publicly denied and tried to deflect responsibility for, using social media. She is engaged to marry a former WWE employee, who is now the main star of their competition, such as it is. This guy, her fiancee, publicly bashes the WWE every chance he gets, insults the physical appearance and personal lives of their owners and top executives, and went on to threaten current employees of the company, inviting them to his place of business so he can beat them up. She has been involved in at least two high profile domestic incidents with her fiancee, both of which involved rumors of drug involvement. She was involved in a sex tape which involved a current and former employee of the company. All of that in the past year, more or less. Does anybody here honestly think that she isn't in a downward spiral, and that WWE doesn't want to wash their hands of her before she ends up on the front page? The WWE is a publicly traded entertainment company. A huge part of their audience is parents and little kids. Paige is a ticking time bomb and a potential PR nightmare. Does anybody remember Vince's infamous "I don't want an Olympic Gold Medalist dying on my watch?" line when Kurt Angle seemed determined to kill himself in and outside the ring? So what did he do? He cut Angle loose. That's the cold, hard, business facts of the situation. But hey, let's say I'm a bad guy for suggesting they release her. They need to keep her on, to "help her." So they don't release her, even though she is clearly saying in this interview that as far as she is concerned, everything is hunky dory. What the hell kind of message does it send to the fans, to the WWE locker room, and (most importantly to them) the WWE stockholders, if after all that has happened over the past year, WWE puts Paige back on TV? "We don't care if you are going down in flames, so long as we can still squeeze another dollar out of you before you croak!" This is the proverbial no-win scenario and Paige and Alberto have made it that way. On an emotional level...do I think Paige is in trouble? Of course. Do I think she should get as far away from José Rodríguez aka. Alberto Del Rio as humanly possible? Of course. Who wouldn't think that? Who wouldn't wish her the best and want her to get away, and be happy? Everybody can see that this situation is going to end badly, except for Paige, unfortunately. The one thing that this interview made clear is that we are not dealing with a "simple" (for lack of a better term) case of domestic abuse, where one person has the power and is victimizing another. It would likely be easier to help Paige if that what this was, you get her away from him (like preferably in different countries for a while) and let the legal system deal with him. (As ineffective as that is, but that's another story.) I'm not convinced she really wants to be away from him at this point, sadly. She should, but I don't think she does. What is happening now (as is clearly evidenced by this interview) is that Paige and Alberto have a co-dependent relationship, likely being exacerbated by drug use. Sadly, a similar type of scenario would be Sid Vicious (the musician, not the wrestler) and Nancy Spungen. I would speculate that in this particular situation, Alberto has the power, but he also likely has a powerful psychological grip over Paige as well. It's one thing to lock a woman in a closet and make her a prisoner. It's another to convince her she can't escape by using fear. Making her feel helpless. But it's another thing entirely to convince her that she wants to be there. That everybody is against them, that nobody understands them as a couple. These types of couples usually end up "loving" each other to death. This is all purely speculation on my part - based on what I have read about their situation, and based on my own experience dealing with other people in very similar situations. I spent a huge chunk of my career beating my head against the wall when dealing with domestic scenarios which were frighteningly similar to the way this one appears. But I'm not there, so I don't know of course. None of us can. I would hope that WWE has tried to help Paige. I assume that they have, not out of humanitarian motives either. If they haven't, then they really need to, now. However, if she doesn't take their help, or even think that she needs it, then yes...I think that they should cut her loose. Lord knows she needs help, but if she doesn't think so, or want the help...then from a business and PR standpoint, it makes sense to let her go. It's not like there isn't countless precedents for situations identical to this throughout the entire history of the entertainment and sports industries. Actors and athletes both have been fired from films, movie studios, sports teams etc. when they are engaged in self destructive behaviors that could cause embarrassment to their employers. I'm not advocating that while dancing around rubbing my hands together, laughing with delight. It's a sad situation, liable to become tragic.

Years ago I worked with abused women. I ran a shelter/group home for abused girls and did counseling and support work with their families. It's scary how about 75% of the lines used in that interview are lines that I literally heard women or people in dangerously abusive and co-dependent relationships use. You add any sort of addiction to that mix, and you have yourself a recipe for repeated domestic violence at best, and a homicide at worst. The whole "We're passionate people, we fight like cats and dogs and say and do horrible things to each other but then make up 20 minutes later" line has been used in pretty much every domestic violence intervention, ever. That kind of fighting - even without drugs - is usually a sign of Borderline Personality Disorder. Considering Paige's tumultuous family history on top of all that, there is very little chance this ends well. I feel horrible saying this, but she's pretty much a textbook case. I know it sounds callous, but if I was WWE I'd cut bait and run, at this point. I don't care if she is "physically" able to wrestle again soon.

HoHo vs. Ohno! Or HoHo could have teamed up with Ohno, against The Fashion Police, Hoho & Ohno vs. Po-Po. With special guest referee, Koko.

Uh...what possible dream match would have involved HoHo Lun? HoHo vs. Xanta Claus? The Godfather vs. HoHo?

Okay, so they're going to have another Styles/Owens match at Summerslam? Another one? But the twist is that Shane is the ref, setting up the rumored Shane/Owens angle? Seriously? Another Styles vs. Owens match? How many of these damn things do I have to sit through? Who am I, Job or something? All of the sudden I'm starting to wax nostalgic for the classic Dean Ambrose/Miz feud. Oh by the way, that Rusev/Gable match was excellent. Rusev's selling is outstanding. He was still limping to sell the anklelock in his post match promo. Seth Rollins should be forced to watch a bunch of Rusev matches while somebody pokes him in the ribs every time Rusev sells something.

Ugh, I frickin hate Mark Madden more than I frickin hate anybody else in the history Pro Wrestling with the possible exception of frickin Vince Russo.

So Neville is going to end up facing either Tozawa again, or the other Davari brother at Summerslam? Ugh. The Cruiserweight division really needs some new blood, or they need to give Gallaher another shot at the title, stat. Johnny Sorrow suggested this... This needs to happen, ASAP.

I know you're all going to throw vegetables at me for saying this, but I liked the Wyatt Family, dammit. I don't like Bray on his own. He needs new followers, they should call all of Sanity up from NXT and make them his new Family. That's a reboot I could get behind. For a while there, it actually seemed like they were turning him face, but then they dropped it. Part of Wyatt's staleness is absolutely due to his being competent but unremarkable in the ring, but an even bigger part of it is the bizarre way they've booked him, pretty much from the git go.

Oh hell yeah, I loved that too. I assume this is leading to Ambrose turning on Rollins, but I'd much rather see them fight Sheamus and Cesaro. That's a Tag Title match I could get behind, and an actual good use of Ambrose and Rollins, too.

So I have been watching NXT pretty faithfully over the past few months, and this was actually my first exposure to Drew McIntyre. I was not watching WWE from 2009 - 2014 when he was previously there, although I think I may have seen him as part of 3MB. I did not see him in TNA, because I'd rather smash myself across the bridge of the nose with a hammer than watch TNA. So here is what I've seen from Drew McIntyre so far... He's big He's in good shape He is at least passable in the ring (this is where I am not 100% sure if I am getting the full picture) He can cut a decent promo He's marketable. By that I mean, he's tall, good looking, and combining that with his Scottish accent, I am sure he is quite popular with the ladies, while not being seen as purely a pretty boy to the men. He would look great on a poster. Hell, just watching him cut a promo in the ring, I find myself questioning my own personal preferences and I get a strange stirring in my area... Perhaps I've said too much. Anyhow, WWE seems to be getting behind McIntyre to a degree, since they are giving him the NXT title shot at Takeover Brooklyn III. So what I don't understand, and what I am hoping some of you will explain to me, or share your opinions about, is what went wrong with his first run? Was his ring work lousy? Were his promos too weak? How the hell did he end up in 3MB? Did WWE drop the ball, only now they realize it, or is he not all that good? Did they only bring him back because TNA made him World Champion, or do they actually think they made or mistake? Did he just need some time out of the WWE system to get some seasoning and improve, or was the mistake on WWE's part in letting him go in the first place? Did he just badly need a reboot? This guy seems to check every box and has a huge upside and a ton of potential, so I'm just very curious what went wrong with his initial run with WWE and am curious to get your opinions on who dropped the ball, him or WWE, or did he just need some time away? Opinions, please.

Works for me

Which probably means that he's off the juice, which probably means that he's going to submit to USDA testing, which probably means he's going to take the fight with Jones in December, which probably means the whole reason for the Fatal 4 Way at SummerSlam (aside from it being a good match-up) is so Brock can lose the title without getting pinned. Probably.

It's fun for about 5 seconds and then it's played out. The sussing, or the gimmick?

Boy you said that a hell of a lot more succinctly than I did. Brevity really is the soul of wit.

It is weird to think Internet wrestling fans suck at understanding wrestling. There are plenty of people that get annoyed about excessive PDA or couples that are incredibly involved in themselves. This is an incredibly common trope in Sitcoms and common thing for people to BITCH about. Thus it is an easy way to get heat. This is NOT difficult to get There are two problems with your theory. Firstly, we all know there are two different kinds of "heat" in Pro Wrestling. There is the intended heat, kind of like New Day have with me. I hate them with a passion, and live to see them get beat up. They annoy the hell out of me with their stupid outfits and their butt shaking and their catch phrases and their 3 on 2 advantage and their stupid trombone, etc. etc. etc. However, I can readily admit that they are talented, good performers, and objectively admit when they have a good match - like they did at Battleground against the Usos. Plus I'd be an idiot to deny that they are popular with a large segment of the WWE audience. Most importantly, they seem to be popular with the demographic that the WWE is aiming for...the part that chants things and buys lots of merchandise. That's good heat. Mike Bennett and Maria have shitty heat, in my opinion. They weren't any good in ROH, I can only assume they weren't any good in TNA, and they really aren't any good in WWE. Yes, they are annoying as hell, but Mike Bennett has never shown me the ability to follow that up in the ring to any significant degree. They're annoying at best, and they have "change the channel" heat. When Bennett's match came on at Battleground, I got up to take my dog out into the yard so he could pee, I went to the washroom myself, and I got myself a refreshing beverage from the fridge. When I returned, I was happy to see the match was over. I really like Sami Zayn but not enough to watch Mike Bennett. Judging from what crowd reaction I heard, I am not alone in my feelings. Just because something is annoying on a sitcom or even in real life, doesn't mean it will work as a wrestling gimmick. Shane Douglas is very talented on the mic, and there is nothing more annoying than a know-it-all, but there is a reason Dean Douglas tanked. The second problem with your theory is that even if Mike and Maria do get over as heels, there is even more reason to hate this gimmick, because heels in this particular era of WWE never seem to get what they have coming to them. Yes, Mike Bennett smashed Sami Zayn over the head with a bottle and then beat him in a match on Smackdown, and Sami got a win back here...but I don't consider winning a wrestling match to be adequate payback for being knocked out and humiliated. If I was a betting man, I'd bet that in the long run Sami Zayn comes out on the losing end of this rivalry. The only way he doesn't is if WWE realizes that this gimmick is stupid and either changes it or decides not to get behind Bennett and Maria based on their crowd reactions. In the long run, I am worried we are going to have to look forward to lots of annoying bullshit from Bennett and Maria on TV with no face ever truly getting the better of them or humiliating them, which should be the payoff to this kind of gimmick, in my opinion. Unless they end up in there with Cena or somebody of his stature. Miz and Maryse managed to get a similar type of "power couple" gimmick over to a huge degree, but they were a lot more multi-faceted than Bennett and Maria. Miz had his whole "A-List" gimmick and the faux movie star thing going on, it wasn't just "I love you baby" all the time. If it had been, I am hoping the fans would have reacted to it with disinterest as well. And as I said, Miz can do a hell of a lot more on the mic to get the fans to hate him than Mike Bennett has ever been able to do. So I don't think Mike Bennett getting over as a heel just by swooning over his wife is a particularly good idea, nor do I think it will work in the long run.

My top two answers are going to seem hilarious, because they're both with guys who aren't considered great wrestlers by any stretch. I watched both of these shoots for different reasons and found them to be extremely compelling. Kayfabe Commentaries has a series of shoot interviews called "Breaking Kayfabe" where the idea is to not necessarily talk about particular territories, eras of wrestling, or even wrestling itself, but to get to know the guys behind the characters. The first one I saw was with . I was always fascinated by him because I am a big fan of his uncle, plus for many years he never broke kayfabe and refused to give any interviews of any kind - even in character. This is partially because he stutters, but also because he seems obsessed with carrying on his uncle's legacy and his uncle notoriously never gave interviews. It was only when Sabu hit tough financial times years back and needed the money that he consented to a shoot interview with RF video. Of course, that interview was a total shit show because Sabu was nervous as hell and gave brief answers. As anybody who has seen an RF shoot knows, Rob Feinstein is a dreadful interviewer. He has no idea how to draw his subject out, how to make them comfortable or to follow up on a comment which might lead to an interesting revelation. Feinstein reads questions off a piece of paper: "What are your memories of Barely Legal?" Sean Oliver of Kayfabe Commentaries is pretty much the total opposite of Feinstein, and it shows in this interview. Sabu is totally at ease with him (they had done two previous interviews by this point, an ECW timeline and a YouShoot) so there is a visible rapport. Sabu talks very candidly about his relationship with his uncle, and more interestingly, about his addictions and the death of his mother, his divorce and his stint in rehab. The thing that made this a must see for me was the conversation they had about how much longer Sabu is going to be able to abuse his body. Oliver asks him if he resents the fans for expecting him to almost kill himself in the ring every night, and Sabu's answers are extremely honest. He says that he dug that grave for himself, and he's trying to stay out of it, but he probably won't. It's extremely sad when he talks about Misawa dying in the ring and how he thinks that is the best way to go. Even sadder is when Oliver asks him if he'll know when it's time for him to quit, and Sabu gets teary eyed and admits that it's past that time already. Obviously, if you dislike Sabu or are unfamiliar with his work then this interview hold little interest for you. But even if you aren't a fan, but have seen his work, you might find it really interesting. I found it much more interesting than the standard "What was it like to work with so-and-so" shoot interview. The next Breaking Kayfabe shoot I saw was with . Anybody who has ever been on YouTube knows that New Jack has given multiple shoot interviews with just about anybody who will put a microphone in front of his face. His interviews are always entertaining because he's usually tuned up on something, and basically does the shoot in character, yelling, threatening and making wild claims and accusations. They usually aren't informative but they're pretty much always funny. This interview starts with the tag line: "Do we really need another New Jack interview? This is the first interview with Jerome Young." Don't get me wrong, Jack is his normal over the top self, but he is much more subdued at times. He discusses some amazing topics, like his childhood (his father was an abusive alcoholic who shot his mother. She retaliated by trying to poison him to death.) his criminal history including his incarceration, his substance abuse problems and yes...his reputation in the industry. Special attention is given to racism in wrestling and why Jack never went to WWE. Sean Oliver even revisits the Mass Transit incident to see if there is any remorse on the part of Jerome Young. Highlights of the interview are the revelations that he had never been in a gang in his life, and had never even been to South Central L.A. before he was billed from there. The gang signs he threw up on TV were all fake and he doesn't even listen to gangsta rap. One thing that struck me with this interview is that Jerome Young is not a likeable person. He talks about how he is alienated from his son and only talks to his daughter and how he probably has quite a few children that he's never even met from his days in ECW. Like Sabu, he also sheds some tears at one point, when he talks about everything he has put his wife through (alluding to the infamous affair he had with Terri Runnels) but that she never gave up on him and took him back even after everything he put her through. I'm not saying that this was a "good" interview but it certainly was fascinating to watch. I was more inclined to believe that Sabu was being truthful in his interview, whereas New Jack is notoriously full of shit. However, I appreciated the effort made by Sean Oliver and Kayfabe Commentaries to do something other than the standard Pro Wrestling shoot interview, and to go deeper into the personal lives of the people who portray these characters. They were both very compelling interviews, if nothing else. I don't know that they were informative or broke any new insider information, but they were memorable to me, and that was something.