The Thread Killer

He was a guest on Austin's podcast this past week, and he talks about that. While with the WWF he was apparently asked three times to move to Connecticut and work for the office writing TV, but he didn't want to so he turned it down. He mentioned that "you know what happens when you say no to them." He mentioned that he already had heat for refusing to cut his hair, too.

Don Callis is a fascinating guy. He's actually incredibly intelligent - like, he's a member of Mensa. I honestly believe he got released from the WWF during the attitude era because his intelligence intimidated people. I'm not the only person who thinks that, I know Mick Foley has said the same thing. After ECW went under he had a good run in TNA as their authority figure, but he quit TNA to get his MBA and was out of the business entirely and was working as an International Management and Business Professor at the University of Manitoba. (He still lives in Winnipeg.) He ended up going on Jericho's podcast and was so entertaining telling the story of his career in wrestling that he ended up getting a bunch of calls to be on other podcasts, and landed the New Japan commentary gig out of that. If you ever have time, you should listen to his interview on Talk is Jericho, it's really interesting. And as I have said elsewhere numerous times, his weekly podcast with Lance Storm is hilarious and pretty insightful as well.

Here's what I don't get. Why did New Japan World use the JR/Barnett commentary team at all for their broadcast? Aren't the AXS show and New Japan World two totally separate deals? Since Kelly and Callis were there anyhow, I don't see why they couldn't have called the shows for the streaming service and let JR and Barnett call the shows for AXS. I listen to Killing the Town with Lance Storm and Don "Cyrus" Callis religiously, and leading up to those shows, it sure sounded like Callis thought he was calling the shows for New Japan World.

So let me get this straight... Issue #1 Observer contributor, reporter and author Scott Williams apparently either co-wrote or ghost wrote JR's autobiography. I guess his wife got wind of a rumor that since Mr. Williams passed away last August, Jim Ross was planning on removing his name (and credit) from the cover of the book. A leaked version of the cover seems to bear that rumor out. The allegation is the widow Williams tried to contact Jim Ross about this, but JR never got back to her despite her repeated attempts. Jim Ross claims this isn't true and that Scott Williams name will be on the cover of the book. People defending JR are pointing out that the book hasn't come out yet, so there is no proof it was ever going to happen, based solely on graphics online. Also, JR has been a little busy lately doing his one man show, his weekly podcast, going to England to work for WWE, working for AXS, and oh yeah...his wife died not that long ago and he himself has openly admitted that he is basically working himself 24/7 to keep from thinking about it. Issue #2 Despite the fact that Kevin Kelly and Don Callis work for New Japan World and were at the G1 in the USA shows, for some reason New Japan World decided to air the shows using the AXS commentary team of JR and Josh Barnett. Not only are JR and Barnett not nearly as familiar with the product as Kelly and Callis, they probably aren't as good a team. A lot of people claim that JR and Barnett did a shitty job on commentary - including some of the talent - and some people are alleging JR was drunk on the air. It is a fact that JR got same names wrong and neither he nor Barnett knew any of the ongoing storylines in NJPW. Dave Meltzer came to JR's defense saying that New Japan doesn't do pre-production meetings for their English announce teams, so JR and Barnett were flying blind. People are criticizing that defense, because JR tweeted pictures of his notes before the show, which included the tournament brackets and pictures of the wrestlers with their names labelled. Of course, having some pictures and tournament brackets doesn't mean you're going to know all the different angles going in, certainly not as well as the New Japan World Team would. Conclusion... The two issues obviously don't have anything to do with each other, not one little bit. Some people really don't like Jim Ross, and they especially don't seem to like the fact that Dave Meltzer likes Jim Ross. A lot of these people will criticize JR when the opportunity presents itself, which it has here. I suppose if you want to criticize Jim Ross, you can easily say: - It looked like Jim Ross was going to deny Scott Williams credit for his autobiography, based on the reported rumors, leaked cover and fact that he didn't answer emails about it. and - Jim Ross did a lousy job calling the New Japan show and he might have been drunk. However, you can also easily say that... - You can't prove Ross was going to deny Scott Williams credit, because the book itself isn't out yet and Jim Ross has an excuse for being too busy to answer his emails and - JR might have had some pictures and brackets, but he certainly didn't have the experience and familiarity with the product that Kelly and Callis do. He could never be expected to do as good a job as they would. The fault for that partially lies with the people who made the decision to put him out there, not Kelly and Callis. Also, Josh Barnett was hardly doing a great job either. I saw both nights. I thought the commentary was weak and JR and Barnett sounded unfamiliar with the product, but he didn't sound drunk to me. I went into that show hoping to hear Kelly and Callis. (Whoever thought I'd want to hear Kevin Kelly over Jim Ross?!) I'm surprised that since JR is back with WWE that he was even able to call that show to begin with. Bix may have some legit points, and he may not. But he certainly does come across like he has an agenda and is on the attack, based on his Twitter feed.

This is plain weird. Aside from Neville, Austin Aries was arguably the most visible and successful wrestler in the Cruiserweight Division. To my mind, with their rivalry he and Neville pretty much rescued the entire division and kept it from descending into total irrelevancy. What I don't get is that he was off for a long period of time due to his eye injury, during which he debuts as a color commentator, and does pretty well. Then he comes back to challenge Neville, and is over to the point where people are actually chanting his name. Then after losing the submission match, they do that deal where the camera shows him sitting there smiling and laughing. Then he announces that he's burnt out, and needs time off - which is weird since he really hadn't been back on the road all that long. Then he gives an interview where he says he's only taking a bit of time off to promote his vegan book, but he'll be back, and that he never intended to take a lot of time off and that he was misquoted. Then he takes time off. Then he gets released. WTF? I have heard the podcasts and seen the interviews where it is claimed he is reportedly moody, temperamental and difficult to deal with. The thing is, as is mentioned earlier, where the hell else is he going to go? He apparently burned his bridges in ROH and TNA, although there are new people in charge in both places. I'm sure he'd fit right in to the Juniors Division in New Japan, if they would want him. This whole thing just seems weird, I hope the real story of what is going on comes out in time. I don't think it's a wellness thing, though. Unless you can flunk a test due to eating too many bananas.

Apparently it involves Kurt Angle spending all his time either talking on, or staring at his phone and in the process not being even one little bit funny or entertaining. Because, that's not what he was famous for during the Attitude Era, so why would anybody want to see that? I don't know if it's true, but this is reportedly leading to the return of Triple H and a match with him. So we've got that to look forward to.

Cena had been talking for about 30 seconds and I was ready for him to go make another movie or get married again, or something. Anything. Ugh. That guy's act is so stale he can be gone for months and still be boring as shit when he gets back. I'm not saying he can't bring it in the ring, but hot damn is that guy boring on the microphone. A "USA is great" promo followed by a "Bulge Area" joke? Really? I know it's July 4th...but come on. The guy was gone for months and the best thing they can come up with for him upon his return is USA vs. the foreigner who thinks Americans are fat and lazy?

Did anybody see the new Ride Along last night? It was actually really funny. Sheamus is actually pretty humorous, and his relationship with Cesaro is fun to watch, the way they bicker back and forth.

Weren't you pretty much in tears the entire time you were reviewing the Russo era of WCW? And I imagine now that you're viewing his run in TNA, your cheeks are pretty tear-stained as well.

That is what drives me nuts about WWE. They either book a card which looks like total shite, or they book a card that has the potential to be awesome (like this one) but then pull some stupid booking crap and ruin it (see: Money in the Bank.) That's the one advantage to the Network model...for $11 a month I can afford to watch, regardless. I sure wouldn't have ordered half the crap they've done over the past year if it was on conventional PPV. And if I had paid money for MITB, you can bet your ass I'd never make that mistake again. I have the Network, so of course I'll watch the show...besides, I want to see Joe/Lesnar despite having no faith it is going to go well. But it's so frustrating to be a fan of this organization because all the pieces are there, they just don't put them together on a consistent basis. It's not like TNA where it's safe to assume it's going to suck, and then it does suck. WWE teases you by doing stuff that looks awesome and has potential, and then about 3/4 of the time they pull the rug out from under you. Also worrisome is the fact that the arena is apparently nowhere close to being sold out.

Here is my big question pertaining to why WWE broke them up: Why? I want to believe that they have ideas & directions for them both but I think we all know that isn't true. WWE doesn't exactly do a lot of long-term planning, thinking or booking anymore. So after Enzo/Cass feud with each other, then what? Cass gets fed to the top face and Enzo does nothing? It just seems exceptionally short-sighted to me. That being said, yeah, that Enzo promo was money. I watched it on YouTube and was like "this dude gets it." I always knew he was a good talker, I was just concerned that he was going to get shoehorned into just being repetitive catchphrases. Maybe that's why WWE pulled the trigger on splitting them up, because they were concerned that they would grow stale way too quickly? A lesson that they never seemingly learned from the New Age Outlaws. I still believe that Enzo's true calling in the world of professional wrestling is being a Jimmy Hart style swarmy, chickenshit heel manager that can take bumps when needed. I couldn't agree with you more. Why break them up? I have to admit, I really liked Enzo and Cass. I know it's not a popular opinion, but for some reason, something about them really entertained me. I don't know why they never got a run with the titles, because based on crowd reactions and merchandise sales, they were red hot for a while there. Even a token run. Hell, Gallows and Anderson got one, and Enzo and Cass were undoubtedly bigger than them. I think around the time they had the feud with Rusev and Jinder Mahal, it became pretty clear that the creative team was running out of ideas for them, and their popularity started to wane. I was still hopeful that they were going to win the titles at Wrestlemania, but we all know how that worked out. I read somewhere that WWE only wants one popular babyface tag team per show. I didn't think that theory was true, but if you look at Raw having the Hardys and SDL having New Day...maybe it is true. Maybe creative didn't see a place for them. Which I think sucks, because I don't think they ever got their chance to be all that they could have been. We all knew they were going to break up eventually, but I think this was way too soon. I think it's possible Cass will go on to a moderately successful singles career, since he is a hoss. And it turns out he can cut a decent promo after all. Enzo is more problematic. I don't think he has much to offer as a singles wrestler. He can bump his ass off, but the only offensive maneuvers he ever had that I thought were impressive involved Cass hurling him at people. By himself, I'm not sure how that's going to work. The way I see it, there are a few options. They either find him another hoss as a partner, which is possible. Or they send him to the Cruiserweight Division, where he wouldn't be so small, which isn't a bad idea, since they could use a good talker/bumper on 205 Live and he would add some star power to that division. They could make him a commentator/manager which would work, I'm sure he'd be passable...he'd be better than Otunga or Percy Watson. But we all know how Vince feels about managers. Most likely is that he ends up as a scrub, losing on TV to big guys for the foreseeable future, until he gets future endeavored. I hate it when an act is crazy over in NXT, only to come up to the "big roster" where they manage to stay over, but still get flushed for unknown reasons. I can't help but wonder if there are forces on the main roster creative team who are sabotaging NXT guys when they come up. I know, it sounds like a stupid smark conspiracy theory, but I recently read an interview with Bruce Prichard who had this to say about CM Punk... I don't think it's unheard of for certain forces in creative to sabotage certain acts for reasons that have nothing to do with their abilities. I can't help but wonder if that is what happened with Enzo and Cass, since they were one of Triple H's pet projects.

Hot damn. That Enzo promo wasn't half bad. The "You're a catch-phrase that I wrote" line was gold. Finally Enzo is scoring back after being the victim two weeks in a row. I really wish they hadn't broken up Enzo and Cass so quickly, but I have to admit they have both done pretty damn well in the promo department with this story. I wonder if that teardrop tattoo and "New Life" tattoo of Enzo's are real, and if so I wonder if he got them because he and Cass broke up, and if so, I wonder if he's mental. Also, if I never ever saw Noam Dar again as long as I lived, I'd be A-OK with that.

Easy answer for me. Misawa from June 1990 up until the AJPW/NOAH split, really. An argument could be made that his peak was pretty much over up by 98, not to mention that I think it was around 97 when the match style in AJPW started to shift into an over-reliance on head drops...so if pressed I could scale it back to June 1990 - November 1998. I know, that is 8 years not 3-5...but this is Misawa we're talking about.

Dave Meltzer added his two cents on the Russo restraining order against Cornette, and confirms exactly what Bix said. Meltzer talks about how Cornette has every reason to hate Russo for screwing him out of his job in TNA using dishonest and scuzzy tactics. It's nothing Cornette didn't say himself, but Meltzer adds an interesting (and calmer, more rational) take on the issue.

Boy, is Enzo ever gullible. That's the first time I've ever seen a guy have the same partner turn on him...two weeks in a row. He should call Sting so they can commiserate about what it feels like to be betrayed - repeatedly.

Mr. Wrestling II never looked that good in tights, either.

You might not care, and that's fine. I don't care in the sense that I have any sort of personal investment in the situation, but I freely admit I find the situation extremely humorous. Listening to Jim Cornette berate Vince Russo is never not funny to me. Maybe that means there is something wrong with me, I don't know. If so, that's fine. I don't think anybody is (or could) argue that either Cornette or Russo are acting like mentally well adjusted individuals. I believe that Jim Cornette legitimately hates Vince Russo, and I think Vince Russo honestly doesn't understand why. That is one of the most fascinating things to me about Vince Russo. I've never seen anybody who (albeit briefly) ended up becoming as powerful as he did in the world of Pro Wrestling, while at the same time seeming to have a total lack of understanding about the basics of the business. He never got it. He still doesn't get why people didn't like him, why he didn't succeed, and why somebody like Jim Cornette would despise him for what he did to the business. I don't think anybody with as little talent has ever done as much damage as he did. I think part of why I find his situation so amusing is simple. I am sure many of us at one point or another, have found ourselves working for somebody who was in a position of authority over us, that either got their position based on something other than skill, or clearly didn't know as much about the job as the people they were in charge of. Regardless of the line of work, that kind of circumstance is fairly commonplace. I just find somebody who is obviously and blatantly incompetent at something getting called out on it to be really funny. It's not the kind of thing you get to see or do in your day to day life. Plus, as a fan who hates what Vince Russo did to the business of Pro Wrestling, I enjoy seeing his bullshit exposed. It makes me sad that there are still lemmings out there who defend Russo, so I like to see people in the industry tell the truth about Russo. I don't like Jim Cornette and I don't like Bruce Prichard, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy seeing Cornette, Prichard, Bischoff and Meltzer call Russo on his bullshit.

I also quite liked that Black/Ohno match. As far as Mauro being in NXT...ugh. I was really excited that we were past the Ranollo era. I can't believe WWE is letting him work for Bellator and them at the same time.

As I'm sure some of you have heard, there have been some highly entertaining happenings in the world of Vince Russo over the past few weeks. As we discussed here, when Bischoff and Cornette were on Table for 3, they took some shots at Vince Russo. The fallout from this show has been pretty epic, and I daresay it garnered more of a reaction from Russo than Cornette or Bischoff could have hoped for. Russo apparently didn't much care for his name being brought up on Table for 3. In addition to reportedly contacting WWE to complain about it, he also allegedly took issue with the photo they used of him on screen when he was referenced on the show, as it was unflattering. The crux of Russo's issue is that Cornette and Bischoff "had no balls" because they would never say those things to his face. He made these statements in a couple of interviews he gave, on Twitter and on his own podcast. After hearing Russo's response, Bischoff tried to somewhat take the high road, and simply mentioned on his podcast that he doesn't hate Russo but also doesn't want anything to do with him and doesn't want to engage with him, because he's basically a pathological liar and there is plenty of documented proof of that. In response to what Bischoff said, Russo recorded a where he publicly "apologized" to Bischoff in what seemed like an attempt to be funny or clever. Of course, Jim Cornette wasn't quite as magnanimous. Upon hearing Russo's "say it to my face" speech, Cornette offered to do it and . This particular segment is so...venomous. In response, surprisingly, Russo didn't take Cornette up on the offer, and instead recorded another for Cornette, "apologizing" to him too. Cornette by "conceding defeat" to Russo. Russo apparently felt threatened by this particular podcast, and responded by . The thing I love most about this, is that Jim Cornette is going to be selling personally autographed copies of the restraining order on his website. This has all been hysterically entertaining, but even more hilarious is that while all this is going on...Russo has been embroiled in a huge podcast war with Bruce Prichard! Prichard recorded an epic length podcast critiquing the booking era of Vince Russo which seems to have unhinged Russo even worse in . Apparently, Prichard rebuts a lof of claims that Russo has made over the years, (including in Russo's book) where he has taken responsibility for certain things creatively which Prichard now claims are not true, or only partially true. Part of Russo's comeback was to call Prichard an alcoholic and pill addict. Dave Meltzer is apparently of the opinion that Russo is engaging in these podcast wars for publicity and attention, so I guess in one sense posts like mine are giving him the attention he wants...but I still find it really, really funny.

Am I the only one who thought the Ziggler/Nakamura match tonight was better than their match at Backlash? I thought Nak looked sharper tonight.

I will openly admit that I used to actually pay for the weekly Pay Per Views, during their entire run for the most part. (In retrospect, I feel terrible about that, as it means I was inadvertently responsible for putting money in Vince Russo's pocket. I feel so dirty, and the dirt won't wash off.) When they stopped doing the weekly PPV shows and switched to Impact, I couldn't watch anymore because we didn't get Fox Sports in Canada. (We still don't, actually.) So that was the end of that, and by the time they got on Spike TV it was a;most 18 months later, by that time I no longer had any real interest in TNA.

I wonder if it's true that the Angle/Graves thing is leading to the return of Triple H? Because if it is...meh/bleh. (Meh being I partially don't care, bleh indicating that of all the people I was hoping to see Angle mix it up with upon his return, Triple H wasn't one of them. And I don't even dislike Triple H, but we've seen him and Angle already.)

I was somewhat surprised to see Enzo and Cass split up so quickly. I always figured they'd get at least a token run with the titles, since they seemed popular and from looking at the crowds, it appeared they were moving a ton of merchandise. I assumed this day was coming, just not so soon. I don't much like Enzo's chances from here on in. I wonder if maybe this was because he really isn't the most popular guy backstage. I read somewhere he rubbed some of the trainers the wrong way in NXT by refusing to listen to advice.

WWE would kill to have a midcarder as versatile and permaover as Disco today, you prick. So this guy shares his opinion about Booker mentioning Disco and gets called a prick for it? That's bullshit. He's entitled to his opinion, and as far as Disco Inferno goes, Glen Gilberti is an egotistical moron, who isn't anywhere near as clever as he thinks he is. You know...like you, you dumb shit.

Shit, you're right. I meant to say Kayfabe Commentaries, I don't even know why I said Highspots. Brainfart.