The Thread Killer

What?! No. Just... No.

I usually have quite a lot of respect for Dutch Mantell but I'm not sure what the hell he's thinking here. It's natural people are going to ask him about the Broken Hardys Lawsuit on Twitter. It's even to be expected that Reby Sky will bait him...but he really ought not to have responded. Anybody who has ever been involved with any kind of litigation will tell you that once lawyers and court appointed arbitrators are involved, you don't say a damn thing, because anything you say or do becomes grist for the mill. There's a reason that "my lawyers have advised me not to comment due to ongoing litigation" is pretty much a catch phrase. I expect idiots on Twitter to bait him, and based on what I've seen, I expect Reby Sky to take shots. I never would have expected somebody who has been around as long as Dutch Mantell to take the bait. He's really risking stepping into something by doing that.

Does anybody know if Tommy End/Aleistar Black can cut a half decent promo? I was unfamiliar with him prior to the most recent Takeover, but based on that, and his recent appearances on Main Event and NXT...I kind of like the guy. He has a unique look, and a great theme/entrance combo. I am sure his in-ring style isn't for everybody, but it appears to be somewhat like Nakamura? By that I mean a lot of kicking and strikes. All that stuff combined...along with a great name to boot, that guy could be money. If he can cut a half decent promo. Assuming WWE doesn't screw it up and turn him into Bray Wyatt version 2.0. Which they probably will.

Yep, that pretty much sums up my feelings on the situation perfectly.

Okay, so Luke Harper loses cleanly to Eric Rowan? Really? So much for that push I was hoping Harper was going to get. When you're positioned as what appears to be the least successful former member of the Wyatt Family...I don't think you're going far.

Chuck Liddell is reportedly going through something similar now. After years of having a chin of iron and knocking everybody the F out, he suffered a couple of brutal knockouts of his own, and sadly, by the end of his career, he was pretty much getting knocked out when a stiff breeze came along. Rumor has it that he apparently feels all better now and wants to fight again, despite the fact that he is the only person on the planet who thinks that is smart, or safe.

Bill and Erik Watts.

I'm not getting the hate I'm seeing for Rollins vs. Joe. I don't think it was a 5 star classic or anything (I'm not entirely convinced Seth Rollins is capable of that feat) but as far as I was concerned, it held my interest and was a perfectly acceptable wrestling match. Not great, not bad. Fair to good.

I absolutely expect it to reinforce WWE talking points and don't really expect any real "shoot" comments. It doesn't make it any less cringe-worthy though. The absolute passion and vehemence with which JBL defends anything and everything WWE does...he's basically the Smithers to the WWE's Mr. Burns. My whole point in my original post is that I fully expect JBL to be aggressively bashing anybody who dares criticize the House of Horrors match. I'd like to be wrong about that, but I seriously doubt I will be.

Interesting point. I know it is supposed to be a panel discussion show, but the first episode with JBL and Heyman really came across as a "WWE is great, really great, or really amazingly great...which do you think is most accurate" type of discussion. No real controversial opinions were expressed, nor did I really expect them to be. On the next episode, Graves briefly became my hero when he said that he didn't really want to see AJ Styles wrestle Shane McMahon. Then on the Wrestlemania Week episode, he admitted that Shane had pulled him aside to discuss that opinion, but he wouldn't expand on what was said between them. I got the impression it was tense...but that was very likely for dramatic effect. I'm curious if he'll continue to say whatever is on his mind, or if he was politely told to keep any opinions that didn't toe the company line to himself. Based on Graves actually making not-so-thinly-veiled references to the Tom Phillips’ Sexting Scandal on 205 Live this past week, maybe he will continue to say whatever he wants. You never know how that kind of thing will go over. I think sometimes Vince thinks it's funny, but if somebody convinces him otherwise...look out. JBL has apparently decided the safest bet is to just blindly and emphatically support whatever WWE does.

Prepare to see JBL explain how the House of Horrors match was brilliant, and everybody who didn't like it was an idiot.

You're saying those were two of the greatest individual championship reigns in the history of wrestling?

I am not saying this isn't a legit thing, but that article was written by Jake Chambers, who has the dubious distinction of being one of the two worst wrestling writers at 411 (the other being Justin Watry). And trust me...that is one hell of a field to choose from. There was a time, long ago, where you actually had to show a degree of ability to have a column and write for a wrestling site. Now, sites like 411 will literally take anybody who is willing to submit a column to them, and Jake Chambers is one such writer. He is essentially unreadable. So I wouldn't necessarily judge what the entire "Internet Wrestling Community" is thinking based on the "writing" of Jake Chambers.

No love for the Neville/Aries match here? I thought it was pretty damn good on first viewing, probably as good as their Wrestlemania match.

I really enjoyed the Cruiserweight match, and that Tag Title match was pretty choice. Poor Jeff at losing that tooth, though. I would like to arrange for Michael Cole to receive a painful electrical shock every time he utters the word "Vintage."

I'm a big fan of the comment Corey Graves made while Cesaro had Matt Hardy in the Mormon Swing. "Matt Hardy is gonna think he was in a different universe when this is over."

I assume this leads to a rematch with a Loser Leaves Town type stipulation. I can't imagine Owens would have the "new face of America" gimmick if he wasn't going to be the US Champ long term, and I thought it was pretty much established that Jericho is going back on the road with Fozzy?

You said it, dude. That's what happens when one wrestler moves at half speed due to age and accumulated injuries, and the other is out of shape.

Ugh, Kevin Owens is so terrible. He can't string together more than two moves without leaning over to grab his knees, or lean over the ropes and start sucking wind. And I don't give a crap what the announcers say about Owens having a "strategy" and being a "back to basics" wrestler - he HAS to keep going back to the side headlock so he can lie down, because he's winded. Hey it's cool, you don't want to be a muscle guy. Then don't lift weights...but do some goddamn cardio, for fuck's sake. Have some professional pride. Jericho might still have a couple of good matches left in him, but he's not going to have them when he has to drag that big bag of crap Kevin Owens around with him. Gah.

Vincent D'Onofrio could make anything that wouldn't otherwise be good, at least watchable. So if he played Vince, I would see it. That's another great casting idea. Yo, they should hire Vince Russo, bro. I bet he has already emailed the studio and offered his services, too. To bring logic to the script. If you see that excellent documentary "Team Foxcatcher" you will see that he played John du Pont fairly realistically. Like KawadaStyle said...creepy as hell.

I can't stand Shawn Michaels, and I honestly think he is one of the most wildly overrated Professional Wrestlers in the history of the business (although, not around here thankfully.) With Angle popping up again all this talk of his WM match with Michaels being one of the greatest matches of all time has made me want to weep for fans that believe that. But most of all, for years I especially couldn't stand the stories of his backstage political hi-jinks, and was firmly in the Bret Hart camp when it came to the Bret vs. Shawn debacle. Quite a while back, I ended up catching that "Greatest Rivalries - Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart" special hosted by Jim Ross. I watched it, and actually came out of it a lot more sympathetic to Shawn (as he is now) than I was towards Bret. At the time, of their backstage problems, I do think Bret was probably in the right most of the time, but Shawn appears to have actually experienced a degree of wisdom and personal growth with age. Whereas even during the documentary and sometimes uncomfortable interview with JR, the tension, bitterness and refusal to let go by Bret (despite his claims that he has) made Bret come across as quite a bit of a tool. Maybe it's the former Social Worker in me, but I really want to believe Shawn Michaels has changed as a person and isn't the same guy who got sent home from his aborted comeback in 2000/2001. I especially enjoyed the fact that he clearly doesn't give a crap what anybody thinks or says about him. He's not a dick about it, but he claims he isn't that guy anymore and his life no longer revolves around the business so what people inside it think doesn't affect him. Contrast that with Bret, who is in some ways obsessed with his legacy. I can't believe I am saying this, but I am actually hoping Shawn is just rusty on the microphone, and not fallen back to his old substance abusing ways or even worse, suffered some sort of permanent neurological damage from his career either in or outside the ring. Not that I would wish ill on the guy regardless, but I never once cheered him on as a wrestler, I still can't help but cheer for him a bit as a human being. I really have bought the idea that he has changed. Maybe I'm just a big sucker.

If Vince is even remotely involved with the script, I shudder to think what version of history we're going to get. Vince saving the world from "smoke filled arenas" no doubt.

But it's not just me, right? Other people noticed that he has seemed to have trouble expressing himself verbally recently?

Thank the good Lord we were spared the infamous shorts. I still have nightmares about those .

There is considerable evidence to suggest that wasn't necessarily NOAH's fault. I think Misawa knew that both he and Kobashi couldn't stay on top forever, and tried on a couple of occasions to get the fans to accept other faces as the company ace. Let's not forget the failed Takeshi Rikio experiment. Kobashi put Rikio over huge when he lost the GHC Heavyweight Title to him after his 2 year run, in 2005. The fans wouldn't buy Rikio as the #1 guy, and I don't know what else Misawa and Kobashi could have done to make him seem like a big name. That didn't work, so they put it on Taue and eventually Misawa ended up with the title again, only to end up putting it on Morishima in 2008. From what I recall, die hard NOAH fans refused to buy anybody not named Misawa, Kobashi, Akiyama or Sasaki as the #1 guy. I always thought NOAH were way too slow to pull the trigger on Go Shiozaki, but I remind myself that this is Japan, and Misawa did come from the Baba school, which wasn't known for rushing...anything. At the time, I remember speaking to a friend of mine via email about this very issue. He lived in Japan and taught English and had plenty of friends who were fans. He actually used to use Pro Wrestling as a teaching tool and it helped him learn Japanese and his students learn English. Anyhow, from what I remember him telling me, the consensus of those in the know seemed to be that Misawa knew as early as 2004 that he was living on borrowed time (not literally) only that he was so banged up he was a shadow of his former self physically and if it was up to him, he would have been exclusively wrestling much lower on the card in tag matches with Ogawa. I really never saw Misawa as one of those guys who didn't want to relinquish his spot on top and held on at the expense of younger, up and coming talent. I think that narrative gained a lot of traction online among people who were upset that Kawada never seemed to get ahead in the Misawa rivalry in AJPW, and somehow they assumed Misawa was holding him back and was like a Japanese Triple H, or something. That rep among some American "Puro" fans dogged Misawa online, but I don't think that's true at all, and if you go and look at the history of the GHC Heavyweight Championship, if you check out Green Destiny and look at the cards from the first 8 years of NOAH, you can see Misawa trying to push himself down the card. I am not sure he ever felt that the Jr. Heavyweight guys like KENTA and Marufuji could carry the company, but I don't think it was so cut and dried as his not wanting to try. I have always felt that Misawa basically worked himself to death, trying to keep NOAH afloat, and if he had been able to take more time off and heal up, or even better - retire, then he'd still be alive. You'd have to check the attendance figures to bear this theory out, but I always got the impression that if Misawa or Kobashi weren't on top, the fans stopped coming out, so Misawa felt trapped and obligated to keep wrestling when it was unsafe for him to do so. I could be wrong, of course.