The Thread Killer

Well, Jon Jones called out Lesnar tonight after he won his fight, so I guess this goes from a rumor to a possibility. Thing is, if Lesnar really is interested in fighting Jones, he is going to have to resubmit to USDA testing, and finish out his suspension very soon. They're saying that UFC would want this fight to happen in December, and for that to happen, Lesnar would have to re-enter the testing pool in the next couple of weeks, and he'd probably need at least 8-10 weeks of serious training in order to be ready to fight Jones - which means no more WWE after September. Which means supersonic is right, no Lesnar at Survivor Series, if WWE would allow that. We don't know the conditions of his WWE contract, of course. It would also mean that as far as I'm concerned, Jones vs. Lesnar might go down in history as the biggest fight between two people who appear to be genuinely unpleasant human beings. I'm not sure who I'd pull for in that fight, I don't care for either guy one bit. Kind of reminds me of Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGreggor.

IIRC, Real American wasn't even meant to be Hogan's theme, it was meant for the U.S. Express, but after Windham left the WWF, they gave it to Hogan. THIS was on the same album as Real American, and was supposedly meant to be Hogan's new theme after Eye of the Tiger. It's kind of a pseudo-Rocky training montage music rip-off.

Bischoff talked about that on his podcast, it was really interesting. He said that he got a really good deal from the Hendrix estate for using Voodoo Chile, but that if you were to try and use the same music now, it would cost millions because of all the different platforms that the song would be heard on - he basically said it would be impossible. Of course, there was the way Paul Heyman got around that, he just used music without permission.

I am no Reigns fan, but he has a good look and can more than carry his share in the ring. Fans being that pissed off about him need to find a new target, dammit. I find the fact that Randy Orton is continually at the top of the card to be way more insulting to my fandom than Roman Reigns.

How do you make a comeback when you were FORCED to retire in the first place? Unless he's gonna wrestle somewhere else and I don't get the sense he would want to go slum it in GFW or ROH, especially considering how unhappy he looked when he got inducted into TNA's Hall of Fame. I thought he was pissed because WWE forced him to go there, in exchange for TNA allowing Ric Flair to go to the WWE Hall of Fame and be inducted as part of the Four Horsemen? Basically, I thought Dixie Carter made the deal with WWE that if they wanted Flair, they had to give her Christian - despite the fact Christian apparently had no interest in being there. (Even more humorous was when Flair came out and said he didn't give a shit what Dixie Carter allowed or didn't allow - the Horsemen weren't getting inducted without him being there, and if she sued him for going, then she sued. We all know Naitch isn't afraid of a lawsuit.)

I know you're joking, but in reality Edge and Christian are pretty far off the WWE reservation at this point. On their podcast they make no bones about criticizing WWE if they feel it's warranted - they took great delight in mocking the Great Balls of Fire name, for example. They still have a lot of friends in WWE and are complimentary on occasion, but they don't usually just blindly praise the organization, or avoid criticizing it like some others do. The weird thing is, I remember Edge giving a couple of interviews here in Toronto after the first season of their TV show wrapped. He talked about how much insider stuff they got away with joking about, and he said that he is pretty sure Vince never actually watched an entire episode of the show. He also mentioned that it was incredibly time consuming to write and act in, and he honestly didn't think there would be a second season, and at that time he himself was ambivalent about the idea. Then a few months later, I saw/heard him talking about how they had assembled a writing team and were working on ideas for the second season. He has even joked with guests on the Podcast about being on the second season, and gave the impression at times that it was definitely a go. So if it is really cancelled, I would assume that it is for the same reason as Legends with JBL and Talking Smack, that the network is getting away from original programming. Which I hope means that there will be no second season of Holy Foley. Because if that show gets another season after Legends, Talking Smack and Unfiltered got cancelled - I shall be pissed. UPDATED: Some sites are even reporting that half of the second season has already been filmed?! As far as Christian goes, I am pretty sure he was in the same boat as Daniel Bryan. He was under contract and had several concussions, and the WWE basically told him that they were not going to allow him to wrestle, but he was still under contract until some time last year, I think. I don't know if Edge and Christian are under those so-called "Legends" deals, but as far as I know both of them are not under contract and are free to do what they want. Edge can't and won't wrestle again, nor does he apparently want to. Christian is a different story, I think he still wouldn't mind wrestling now and then. He's only 43 which isn't really all that old in wrestling years, depending. A Christian comeback could happen, just not in WWE. Hell, he and Jarrett are friends, I guess it is conceivable that he could end up in Global Force, although it's unlikely. It's possible the only thing that kept Christian from wrestling elsewhere was his off and on relationship with WWE. If the show really is cancelled, we may yet see him wrestle.

See, now that makes sense and that is an angle I can get behind - in the sense that I don't give a shit about either guy and can totally ignore it. Owens is a perfect guy to wrestle Shane. They can both take stupid pointless bumps together.

Wouldn't you think that Karen Jarrett would have said who she was when she introduced herself? Or is the idea that Strowman blew her off because she was married to Jeff Jarrett, before he knew she used to be married to Angle? Either way...weird story.

I forgot about Graham. Boy, there was a guy who was crazy bitter about practically everybody and everything, too. Sadly, I wasn't surprised how he met his end. He seemed so damn angry and unhappy every time I saw him interviewed. Tragic story, that family. His dad commits suicide, his son commits suicide and he ends up committing suicide. Very sad.

Of all the notoriously full of shit shoot interviews I have ever seen, I think Manny Fernandez, Greg Gagne and Black Bart (of all people) win the awards for most ridiculous nonsense spouted per minute.

You take that back. That's Canada's Greatest Athlete you're talking about there, pal.

One of the things (perhaps the only thing, actually) I think WWE has done right with the Cruiserweight Division is how they have booked Neville. He went from being an afterthought on Raw, to an absolute killer who has been pretty much unbeatable. How they have booked his title reign has a lot to do with that, IMO.

If you do that EVERY time with EVERY title it'd be pretty damn boring. I disagree, but I readily admit that my tastes when it comes to things like that are pretty conventional (if there is such a thing.) I'd just much rather see a championship "chase" with long reigns and even multiple title shots by one contender, than the title switching back and forth like a pendulum. I think they could have easily booked this entire angle between Owens and Styles and made it just as effective with only one title change. In fact, I feel the title change would have been a lot more effective if Owens had thwarted Styles at every turn only to have Styles win the title once and for all in the triple threat with Jericho. Owens could have whined and bitched that he got cheated and never really lost the title, and Styles would have been champ with a title that hadn't been all over the map recently. But YMMV.

I couldn't agree with you more. The quicker this angle ends, the better. I strongly dislike seeing one of my favorite wrestlers being wasted in a stupid angle with one of my least favorite. I usually skip anything involving Kevin Owens, but when it's AJ Styles, I end up being compelled to watch.

I don't hate title changes at all, but they lose their significance if they happen eight times in seven months...especially when most titles are defended monthly. Having something happen that often makes it seem far less special or eventful. Also, it's hard to get excited about a title change or be happy when one of your favorite wins a title, when you assume they're going to drop it in their next match. Building up a successful title reign and defending the title on multiple occasions helps make the champion more popular and adds to their mystique, as well. That way, when somebody finally does beat them, it makes whoever did it look more impressive. If you just randomly trade the title back and forth, why should anybody care that you have it at all?

So regarding AJ Styles and the US Championship...to borrow a line from The Rock (which I'm pretty sure he stole from my Uncle Roger), what in the Blue Hell is going on? First he wins the title at a house show that he and Owens weren't even supposed to be on. Some people speculate that Owens is injured (which he probably isn't.) Some people speculate that Vince thinks that between Jinder, Rusev and Owens, that's three anti-American gimmicks on one show, so he wants to scale back on at least one. Whatever the reason, the title is now on AJ. Then there is speculation that their match on Battleground is scrubbed, because for a couple of days after the title change, there is no mention of the match being on the card anymore. But then SDL happens and it turns out that Owens is not injured, still the New Face of America, and the match is still on. Fine. Then they have the match, and it really isn't all that great...and from all accounts the finish gets botched. Whether it did or didn't, you have to admit that the end of that match was strange. This is where things get really weird. I've seen some sites claim the finish got fouled up and Styles was supposed to retain. Some people that were there live claimed that Styles looked legit pissed off after the match and kicked the stairs or something. (Although how they can tell that was legit and not just him selling his loss, I have no idea.) But THEN...they pull a Russo on SDL and switch the title AGAIN, back to Styles? In theory, you could speculate they brought Jericho back in to take that pin to protect Owens from another loss to Styles...but was this always the plan, and Jericho was always coming back now? If so, what possible good did that title change do? (The one at Battleground, not the one at MSG. I get that one. I think.) I am legit confuzzled. If they really did plan all this out to happen this way, then I think they are nuts with all this Russoesque hot-shotting of the title. I thought WWE had done a good job recently of making their titles seem a bit more important and not flinging them all hither and yon, but this whole thing has been really odd to me. Anybody have any theories or heard any believable reasons for all this stuff?

That opening segment was pretty damn good, and you know what I liked most about it? It advanced the angle, but it wasn't agonizingly long. Five guys in the ring, everybody made their points, got their promos in, but they did so expeditiously. I appreciate that. Hey, Balor is pretty damn popular, huh?

Point well taken. You're right, Heyman's performance during the buildup to Brock vs. Joe was pretty damn good. I just hate the promos where it seems like he does nothing else but announce his name, and then screeches out Lesnar's name. It seems like pandering to me, like he just wants to get the crowd to go along with him.

I could not disagree more with the above. And I'm saying this having seen my first live NXT show very recently. Hey were you at the Vancouver NXT show? How was it? Was Aleister Black there? I am still back and forth on whether or not I should go to the Toronto show. I am curious how the Vancouver one was...

I could not disagree more with the above. And I'm saying this having seen my first live NXT show very recently. I usually agree with you on most issues, El-P. I am especially a big fan of your views on Vince Russo. However, in this case I agree with Mr. Shrike. (If that even is his real name

That promo was dope Which one? Heyman has cut about 493 "My client retired the Undertaker" promos, all of which are pretty much the same. I think Lesnar has rubbed off on Heyman (eww that sounded wrong). What I mean to say is that I think Paul Heyman has adopted Brock's attitude towards putting in an effort. Like: "Why work hard when I can get the crowd to chant along with me just by saying my name and Lesnar's name? Who needs to cut an original sounding promo?" Listening to Heyman now, it's hard to believe he's the same guy who cut some of those blistering promos during the Invasion angle. Were I going to bet on the reason, this would be where I put my money.

I really agree with you about this. I think the show has been really good the past couple of months, but that is all on the in ring stuff and the natural innate talent of the roster. The creative team is doing them no favors. They really don't seem to know what to do with Aleister Black, which seems insane to me. I might be wrong (after all, I like Bray Wyatt) but based on his look, entrance and work, I think that guy has a huge upside and could be big money for WWE, but they really haven't done squat with him since his NXT debut. He's half the reason I tune in, and a lot of weeks they don't even mention him. It makes no sense. I won't even get into the weird stop/start push of a guy like Almas. I still love NXT but somebody needs to give their creative guys a bit of a kick in the pants.

I remember part of the angle at the time involved Jimmy Garvin losing some match where he had to go to David's farm and do chores for the day, like wash his dog, etc. I remember thinking it was hysterical at the time...but I was about 15 when I saw it, so it's likely one of those things that you look back and remember as being great, but may not have aged well. Then again, this was over 30 years ago and I still remember it quite vividly, and I've not seen it since - so who knows.

Like that weird club that ROH runs in New York? (I forget the name.)

As I said, I know that Conrad and Prichard are friends and business associates, so I know that for the most part, any tension between them during the show is either inconsequential, or yes..."a work." But if it is a work, then it's a really stupid work, in my opinion. Having a gimmick that gives listeners the impression you don't even want to be doing the show, or giving straight answers to questions isn't exactly going to inspire listeners to want to keep coming back. Then again, even Vince Russo can get weekly listeners for his stupid crap, so what the hell do I know? I guess there are fans for just about anything.