The Thread Killer

Between the Wrestlemania Pre-Show, and this episode of Table for 3, I have discovered that Shawn Michaels has apparently lost the ability to finish a complete sentence with any semblance of cohesion.

I'll never forget the time (years ago) that I had purchased a Best of Hulk Hogan in Japan comp for a friend of mine who (for some reason) is a huge Hogan fan. So we're watching the comp, and it's going along good...there was a really good match with Hogan vs. Abdullah The Butcher which was a lot of fun. There is a singles match against Inoki. Then we get to a Tag Team Match with Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami against Hogan and his partner...Iron Mike Sharpe. My friend and I were both all like "WTF?!" Turns out Mike's father and uncle were once a Tag Team in Japan and were pretty successful, so the Sharpe name carried a lot of cache with the fans there. Apparently they worked a bunch of televised Tag Matches against Rikidozan and a partner, and were very well known. But at the time, we only knew Iron Mike as the WWF jobber and were NOT expecting him as Hogan's partner.

Speaking of which, what the heck ever happened to Gran Metalik? IMO, he was one of the brightest spots and breakout stars of the CWC, and they claimed he had signed with WWE afterward, but I don’t recall having seen him on Raw any time recently. (He may have been on 205 Live but I can’t bring myself to watch that show on a regular basis.) If they have Gran Metalik, they should use him a hell of a lot more. He may not speak English but he was awesome. I’d way rather see him over boring ass Drew Gulak or ol’ Big Head Tony Nese, both of whom seem to make it onto Raw all the damn time. Or over Noam Dar, for that matter.

Reigns is going to sleep with Eric Bischoff's wife?

Okay, that made me laugh out loud at my desk. Everybody else in this stupid training course I am taking just turned around to look at me like I'm crazy. Apparently you're not supposed to laugh out loud when reviewing company training policies.

Hey, when he showed up on the Titantron, Wyatt done popped that crowd.

SHADES OF SATORU SAYAMA!!!

The more that comes out about Mauro, the more I tend to agree with that. Although still, there is no justification for JBL bullying anybody, even if it turns out Mauro is a total jerkwad. It does make him less sympathetic, though. Having said that, I'm for anything that exposes and potentially changes the stupid old school hazing culture.

I don't disagree with you regarding Dave, if there is more he can say about the situation, even if it is his opinion, he should just be out with it. There is nothing more annoying than cryptic remarks from a reporter. If he knows more, he should say it, or not bother alluding to it at all. I hate the whole "I know a lot more about this...but I can't or won't tell you" shtick. I would imagine JBL isn't saying more because he either wants to keep his head low, or maybe he has even been told not to comment. In Mauro's case, he might not be at liberty to discuss the situation until his contract expires in August?

I hope it's The Headbangers or The Spirit Squad again.

There are a couple of classic Bas Rutten stories out there, one about him almost punching out Brian Urlacher, another about him knocking out a bunch of bouncers in a bar...one of whom was an off duty cop. There is an animated version of that story on YouTube that is pretty funny. If only somebody had told him that was called assault and that people tend to get arrested for such things.

That's called assault and people tend to get arrested for such things, particularly people who are trained fighters and intentionally try to injure someone. Really?! Thanks for the civics lesson, Helpy Helperton. I didn't say that Bas Rutten was going to hop in his car and go hunting for JBL so he could kick his ass. However, it has been fairly well established that JBL is a bully. He picks on people like Justin Roberts and The Blue Meanie, people who either can't fight back or are afraid to do so. Because he gets away with it, most of the time. Bullies don't usually pick on people who are likely to stand up to them, or who have friends or family who are going to stand up to them. Once in a while, he picks on the wrong person like Steve Blackman or Joey Styles, and gets his ass kicked. I am saying IF JBL was trying to bully Mauro Ranallo, if he ever crosses paths with Bas Rutten, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Bas would want to add to the list of people who have punched JBL in the face. I am close friends with somebody who has trained with Bas Rutten, and he told me a couple of things. Firstly, he's one of the nicest, most unassuming guys you'd ever want to meet, who is friendly, has a great sense of humor, and is a pushover to his kids. Drives a mini-van. Secondly, he is one of those people who are so legitimately tough that they feel no need to brag about it or act like they're tough but he has the aura that if pushed or provoked, he would respond with great vengeance and furious anger. I get the feeling if JBL and Bas actually crossed paths, if Rutten felt like punching JBL in the mouth, the fact "that's called assault and people tend to get arrested for such things" most likely wouldn't prevent him from doing it. Sometimes grown men hit each other outside the confines of a wrestling ring or MMA cage. It has been known to happen.

Yeah, I was thinking that too. I'm surprised JBL messed with Mauro at all since he is friends with Frank Shamrock and Bas Rutten. Both of those guys could seriously fuck JBL's shit up. Especially Bas. He'd do it, too.

Speaking of WWE Trios, I am hoping Bo Dallas ends up going to SDL and teaming up with Bray Wyatt, The only reasons I think this is a possibility is because in the lead up to Wrestlemania, Wyatt gave a press interview where he was asked about it and said he'd love to work with his brother. Secondly, Bo has started growing a mighty beard, which leads me to suspect it might be in the offing. That. or he's just given up on shaving. It's not like they're doing anything else with him, may as well stick him with Wyatt and Rowan. And I don't care what anybody else here says, I like The Wyatt Family as a stable, dammit. I think Harper is better off without them, but I still like the concept.

Hang on a minute...what possible issue would he have with guys working for indies? How else are they supposed to break into the business, if he doesn't like indies and he doesn't like NXT? (Or maybe he doesn't mind NXT, but if you really like it, that means you're gay, bro.)

Which is why I said sad, not surprising. The only way anybody will ever do anything about this is if it comes from attention from outside the industry, of course. If Vince gets even a tiny bit of bad press that might cause WWE stock to go down, I have no doubt that he'll drop JBL like a hot rock. But as you guys have all pointed out, no reputable media outlet gives a crap about WWE, which is why they got away with doing stuff like posting a glowing tribute to a murderer just a couple of months ago. I hope and pray this story gets mainstream attention, but I have no faith that it will.

Since this thread is pretty much the de facto Vince Russo thread here at PWO - I know we have this thread too but I think the Worst Booker thread is better - I wanted to share the newest gem I read today about Russo online. I was going to say it was a new low for him, but when you have a body of work like his, that's a very tough call. I wish there would be some kind of backlash against him for this, but I fear there won't be. And I know he's just trolling for attention at this point, but still I would love to see somebody call him out for his nonsense. Aside from Jim Cornette.

Jim Cornette and his podcast cohost debate JBL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR8dqFFSN3Q&t=73s Sad to see Cornette as a JBL apologist...

What?! NO! No Mauro Ranallo on NXT! I'm kind of hoping Mauro doesn't come back, or if he does, they give him some office job like they gave Joey Styles. I can't stand JBL, there is no excuse for his ridiculous behavior and history of bullying and I hope he gets fired. But Mauro Ranallo is terrible and his voice and commentating style make me want to stick something sharp into my eardrums. When you're so bad that your commentating makes me wax nostalgic for the smooth tones and eloquent verbiage of Michael Cole, then that means you suck.

I don't much like Aiden English's odds of having a successful career in WWE without Gotch around. Not that he had much of one with Gotch around. I wonder if they're going to reboot the Vaudevillians, or just let him languish in some new lower card stable like 3MB or The Social Outcasts or something.

I couldn't help but laugh at... "That's not how you spell soft!"

I loved both incarnations of Doctor Who, as well. I have a massive collection of the Classic Series on DVD, and loved the return - until Series 5 of the new show, when Steven Moffat starting ruining everything. And I enjoy TOS and TNG pretty much equally, although Season 3 of TOS is pretty much crap, and TNG had a much longer run of good episodes.

Yeah, I hadn't watched any NXT in quite some time, and the first thing that struck me was how the quality of the commentary team had dropped drastically. Nigel is not so good and Percy is pretty much useless. One of the things I liked most about NXT was how good the commentary was thanks to Phillips and Graves. Now, not so much.

I agree. They remind me a bit of Raven's Flock in WCW. It's not like any of the guys in that stable are being held back or would be better served in another role. They're being used pretty much perfectly based on their level of skill and ability. I thought that opener was fun, although the girl on the face team struck me as green.

That sounds like it would be a waste of perfectly good cocaine. I am going to watch the show live, but my expectations are very low based on the card and quality of the buildup over the past few months on Raw and SD. I just don't get some of the booking decisions they have been making. I can see their point with the whole Lesnar/Goldberg feud, even if I don't personally agree with it. But wasting AJ Styles in a match with Shane McMahon, the ridiculous buildup to Orton/Wyatt, and the fact that guys like Joe and Harper aren't on the show, and Stroman (who they've been pushing like mad) is all the sudden in a Battle Royal on the pre-show...the decisions this company makes just make no sense to me at all.