The Thread Killer

So just to be clear...you're suggesting that at points "throughout history" some wrestling companies have given Meltzer money to rate their matches five stars, so they could sell more DVD's?

He was some random dude who was writing about pro wrestling for a couple of thousand people and probably less than 1% of the audience at any given event knew who he was. I've never met anybody who claimed he was a good writer from a technical standpoint, because clearly he isn't. It has been amusing to me to see how little his writing has improved over the years, considering how much of it he does. Having said all that...he was a "renegade" if you want to consider the actual definition of the word: "a person who deserts and betrays an organization, country, or set of principles." He broke "kayfabe" in an era where you didn't do that. On top of all that, he wasn't even one of the "boys" and on top of all that, he had the audacity to make money from it. He was the first person to do that. I personally think that if there was no Dave Meltzer, the industry would look a lot different today, from the outside, at least.

If Bruce Prichard is "opening your eyes" about anything, you should probably be worried about your own judgment, not Dave Meltzer. I don't have a subscription to the Observer, and I never will. However, if you have to classify Dave Meltzer as anything, he has always been a reporter. A reporter with an opinion and bias, sure...but all reporters have that. He reports on the con that is Pro Wrestling, and for the longest time he was the only reliable person doing that. You might not agree with his opinion on the news, but if he was reporting it, there was a pretty damn good chance it was true. Bruce Prichard has made his living selling the con, not reporting on it. Go back and watch any WWE produced DVD since the Attitude Era up until he got fired. There's good old Bruce, front and center, towing the company line, parroting whatever the office endorsed version of the truth is. No matter what, how bad the story was or how wrong WWE was, you could always count on Bruce Prichard to be the ultimate McMahon sycophant. He was part of Vince's inner circle for years. Those guys hated Meltzer because they didn't own him and they couldn't control him. And if Prichard hadn't gotten fired (for whatever reason you choose to believe, be it stealing, repeated drug abuse, or the jealousy of Stephanie) I'm sure he'd still be in Connecticut saying "Yes sir, No sir" to Vince. The only reason Bruce Prichard is trying to sell himself as some sort of former insider with news and views that people should care about, is because he got tossed out of WWE, and then got tossed out of TNA. So what else is he going to do? This has been his whole life. It's sad, really. He can't exactly do anything else at this point in his life. So like Cornette, Russo, and others with a "name" from working behind the scenes in Pro Wrestling he is trying to keep himself relevant by doing shoot interviews and podcasts, where at least he can finally take shots and some of the people he hates. But it won't be much bad about the McMahon family, I bet. I am sure he lives in constant hope for the day he gets called back home to Titan Tower. Of course there is bad blood between Meltzer and Prichard. Prichard was partially responsible for helping produce a lot of the crap that the WWF crammed down everybody's throats. Meltzer reported and told the truth about a lot of what went on with the WWF back in those days, and I am sure he was none too popular for it. And I am sure he did more than his fair share of editorializing on it as well. There are those who complained that Meltzer was clearly biased towards JCP during their heyday. I don't know, I didn't read the Observer then - but if he had been, could anybody really blame him? Whatever bad things Meltzer has said about Prichard now, I can guarantee Prichard has said about Meltzer in reverse. We're not talking about two equals here. One is a reporter, the other is a carny. If you're looking for somebody to "drive you to new heights" I suggest you look elsewhere. The only place Bruce Prichard is going to drive you to is Bullshit City, USA. Population: Him.

Loss, over the years I have come to greatly respect you and your opinion. However, you are speaking about my future wife and the future mother of my children, and I'd ask you to show a bit more respect.

I have no issue with Corbin not being on the SD team, because Corbin is terrible. From a technical standpoint he's probably better than Shane, but not from a storyline or crazy bumptaking standpoint. And if that spoiler is true...and Kalisto could beat Kendrick and bring the Crusierweights to SD? Kickass. SD is so much better than Raw right now, that's one less reason to check out Raw. Really, Jericho (outside the ring) is one of the few reasons I even bother with Raw.

That is the most untrue statement in the history of the world. I will go back to my own quote from the "How Important is Commentary" thread in this very forum:

Have you read his first two books? He goes into detail about being friends with Stacey and how her then boyfriend Test was jealous that Foley was trying to seduce her. He talks about how hanging out with the Divas reminds him of the innocence of little children, which at the time I read it, I found highly disturbing. Seriously, he says that. He tells a bizarre story about a scene he wrote for one of his fiction books (about a woman eating a sandwich) which he then gave to several of the Divas to read, and he brags about how it turned some of them on. And that's not even getting into how he felt the need to share the details of how his second child was conceived. Then comes the third book, one of the main points of which is how desperate he is to help Melina and her career. In short...creepy. Since his most recent comeback, he seems to be spending an inordinate amount of time championing the women of WWE, and being quite proud of himself for doing so. When I mention his looks, I'm sorry...but when you're a big, hairy, disheveled looking dude wearing sweatpants and T-shirts of the most popular women in the company...then you look creepy. And I say that as a big, hairy, disheveled looking dude who is currently wearing sweatpants. If I spent all my time swooning over my female co-workers, and extolling their virtues to one and all, you know how I'd look? CREEPY. As far as his wife, I don't want to get slanderous. This isn't DVDVR. But there are issues there, which come across in his book, and even more so on his new show Holy Foley. If you haven't seen them, I'm not going to get into them. But the fact that his wife was once an attractive model really doesn't enter into the situation. If anything, it might be a motive behind some of Foley's creepy behavior. Bottom line is, whether you want to admit it or not, some of Foley's behavior over the years when it comes to female talent appears quite weird. Even if it is perfectly innocent, you have to admit that it looks weird. If you don't want to admit that, fine...but it's hard not to see, in my opinion.

I agree with Matt, 100%. Before I read his post, that was the comment I was going to make. This is probably a topic for another thread, but I find Mick Foley's obsession with the women in WWE to be really creepy. I thought it was mildly weird when he was going on about them in his books under the pretense of trying to be all fatherly and mentor-like, but it really has graduated to full-on unsettling. Like, somebody needs to talk to him, because between the way he acts combined with the way he looks, he has potential psycho written all over him. And seeing the way he acts in his "reality show" did nothing to dispel that impression.

With Ziggler/Miz I am betting we will see a rehash of the Midnight Rider/Yellow Dog/Andre The Giant Machine/Mr. America gimmick. Miz can't win without cheating or getting help from his wife recently, like the whole deal with the perfume in the eyes. So Ziggler loses due to some Russoesque screwjob or outside interference, which is horribly unfair, but he is forced to retire due to the stips. Next week the masked "Mr. Z" shows up, Miz has a conniption as is his wont, and hilarity ensues.

Just finished watching the show, and I loved it. I am sad the CWC is over, it was a fun distraction this summer. Watching the show tonight was the most fun I have had watching wrestling in quite some time. Thoughts... - Mauro Ranallo was annoying as hell tonight. If this is what he's like when he's not being produced through his headset, then I take back every mean thing I ever said about Vince McMahon producing the commentary by remote. Sweet Jeebus, Ranallo was out of control tonight. It's as if somebody offered to pay him $50 every time he worked the name of a Japanese Wrestler or maneuver into his commentary, or called a name in Spanish with a flourish. It's a known fact that Mauro is bi-polar and at points during tonight's show I was starting to wonder if he was entering his manic cycle without the benefit of his medication. Before the CWC, I always thought the worst thing in the world was having an announcer calling matches when they didn't understand, appreciate or respect the sport. (See, Cole, Michael or Whalen, Ed.) I thought the best announcer for a "smark friendly" product would have to be somebody like a Joey Styles...a guy who knew the sport, the history, and would treat it with the respect it deserved. After listening to Matt Striker call New Japan and Mauro Ranallo call the CWC, I am wondering if I got it all very wrong. So help me, I think even Michael Cole being told what to see, think and feel through his headset would have been better than Mauro Ranallo was tonight..may God have mercy on me for even thinking that. - The Metalik/Sabre match was Sabre's best match in the tournament, but that's kind of damning it with faint praise. There were clearly some miscommunications during that match. I lay the blame for that at the feet of Sabre, since Metalik looked a lot smoother against everybody else he faced, whereas Sabre looked awkward in all his matches. And not to pile on, but I do agree with some of the other posters here. Zack Sabre Jr.'s selling is...not so good. Shaking your head, and looking around wildly with a mildly annoyed expression on your face for five seconds does not constitute selling. I have officially seen enough of him to declare that I am glad he did not sign with WWE. To borrow a quote from Seinfeld, Zack...you must go now. - I came away from this tournament extremely impressed with Gran Metalik. I was amazed I had never heard of him, until I found out he was Mascara Dorada. I have seen little to none of his previous work. Here in Canada, we do get the weekly TV shows from AAA, CMLL and an English language NJPW broadcast, but there just aren't enough hours in my week to watch Raw, Smackdown, NXT, ROH, AAA, CMLL and NJPW on top of the CWC. Since the brand split I've mostly been watching WWE content, but I am way out of touch with Lucha. Now I am wondering if I should be making time for CMLL if this is the kind of talent they have. Metalik is so damn good. I can't believe he hits as much of his stuff as he does. His opponents deserve a ton of credit too, but I found Metalik's combination of high flying, funky rope based offense and submissions to be a real treat. He could end up being the breakout star of this new division on RAW. I really hope this new Cruiserweight Division ends up being for RAW what the division was for Nitro back in the day, before it all went so terribly wrong. I see no reason why Gran Metalik couldn't be the next Rey or at least Ultimo or Sasuke. Hell, based on what I've seen so far, he seems better than Ultimo or Sasuke. - Here's a question...why have a translator for Metalik, if her only function is to translate the questions but not the answers? WTF? - I had no strong feelings about TJ Perkins one way or the other coming into this tournament. I remembered him from Ring of Honor but every single match I ever saw him in there, he lost. He did make an impression on me when he wrestled as PUMA in the 2004 and 2006 World X Cup tournaments in TNA, and I thought he was pretty good as Manik as well. It wasn't until I looked into his background that I realized how much experience he has and how long and hard he has worked to make it in Professional Wrestling. It's hard not to root for a guy like him, who has clearly given everything to the sport and up until this point, not had much to show for it. From what I saw up until tonight, his game was solid, too. Good strikes, good submissions, innovative high flying. Then man, did he ever crank it up a notch against Ibushi. They really beat us over the head that Ibushi was the favorite to win this whole thing, so much so that I got to the point where I almost wanted to see him lose. But the fact is, all three of Ibushi's matches leading into tonight were solid, with his matches against Alexander and Kendrick both being two of the best (if not the best) matches. I developed the opinion that Ibushi must be one of those guys who can help bring the best out of the guys he is working with, but they have to have the tools. Ibushi sure helped Perkins, and their match in my opinion, was the best of the night, hands down. I was legit shocked at the submission ending. - I skipped the Tag Match for two reasons. Firstly, I really wanted to see the finals, but also I really can't stand Noam Dar. I figured the odds were pretty damn slim that Cedric and Dar would be beating "DIY" (seriously? who the hell is naming these teams? that's almost as bad as Authors of Pain.) So I skipped it. I may go back again and watch it later. - I had no problem with Trips coming out before the final. This whole thing was reportedly his baby, so if he wanted to come out and get some love, more damn power to him. Besides, even if it had distracted away from the final - which it didn't - that would have been more than offset by the announcement of the winner becoming the new Cruiserweight Champion. That's awesome news, but that belt sucks. They really need to fire whoever is designing these belts for them. - As far as the final itself, I thought it was good, maybe even very good. I think it probably suffered a fair bit from both guys being worn out from their earlier matches, especially poor Perkins. That man is going to be SORE for a few weeks, based on those burst blood vessels on his chest. Ouch. But yeah, I would have liked to have seen it go a bit longer, and it seemed like a bit of a let down after the Ibushi/Perkins match, but just a bit. It wasn't a bad match by any stretch. Both guys looked good, and most importantly, they work well together. I'd really like to see a rematch at the Clash, maybe? - I agree with everybody, that heading into the Final Four, the finals did seem kind of set since Sabre and Ibushi hadn't signed deals to be part of the division on RAW. But on the flip side, I wasn't sure Perkins would beat Ibushi based on how Ibushi had been portrayed this whole tournament. I thought it was likely we'd get a Gran Metalik/Ibushi final, with Metalik winning. So they still surprised me a bit, shows what I know. Bottom line is, in my opinion you can't really complain about much from this tournament, or the results. The positives outweigh the negatives by a ton, and the Crusierweight Division is now set up perfectly to succeed on RAW, with a ton of potential new talents in NXT or already on the main roster, ready to be added to the mix. Now let's hope they don't fuck it up.

I would agree with you normally, if it was just about anybody other than Punk. I would applaud anybody who had the courage to give up a high paying gig they hated, to follow their dreams. But Punk took a shortcut. Punk went from one high paying gig into another one. I don't know how much he made for this fight, but I'm betting when you factor in base pay, sponsors, merchandise and PPV buys, he'll end up making a nice payday. There are countless fighters out there who deserved that chance more than him. He had no business in the UFC, and it showed tonight. This is a guy who trained his ass off, full time for a year, with an established camp - and he still got his ass kicked in under three minutes. He basically could have spent the last year sitting on his sofa watching TV and eating Potato Chips, and the result really wouldn't have been that much different. He might have lasted a minute less. Granted, his name probably sold the PPV to a degree. I will be very interested to see how much, when the numbers come out. However, when it comes to using a "name" to sell a PPV, Punk was the first one to bitch when he was in WWE that guys like The Rock, and Undertaker (or part timers who weren't there day in day out) waltzed in for major paydays like Mania, over guys like him who he felt deserved it more. How is The Rock using his celebrity to cash in at Mania any different than Punk using his to cash in for the UFC? In both cases, guys who were more deserving, paid more dues and worked harder earned those spots. In fact, as a fan of both sports, I have way less of an issue with guys like The Rock coming back for Mania than I do with Punk earning a shot at the UFC. At least The Rock has experience as a wrestler. As Punk showed last night, he is no fighter. I think the biggest issue is that Punk can be a bit of a douchebag. There are countless stories about him being rude and dismissive with fans and a jerk with his co-workers. Punk admitted himself in his podcast interview with Colt Cabana that he was abrasive and hard to work with at times. (I wish I had a link to the story Edge and Jericho told on Jericho's podcast about Punk being a dick to them at a house show, it was hysterical.) People like to see jerks get their asses kicked. It's human nature. It takes balls to fight, I'll give him that. But really, that fight was an embarrassment for everybody involved, and I think people are going to be laughing at Punk for this for quite some time. If he really wants to bounce back, he needs to get on some semi-pro shows and fight guys at his level.

I don't follow EVOLVE, but I'd heard buzz about ZSJ. I'd never heard of Noam Dar before the CWC. To be honest, I haven't been one little bit impressed with either of them. I was somewhat relieved to see that I am not the only one who finds Dar awkward and rather lame. I have no idea why WWE signed him. Based on what I've seen of him so far, I could never see another Noam Dar match again and live a long, happy life. As far as ZSJ...yes, it doesn't help that I had read/heard good things. But I'm pretty sure that even if I had never heard tell of him before, I still wouldn't have been impressed with him based on his performances in the CWC. With all honesty, what has there been to be impressed about? He has been lackluster and uninspiring at best. I'm certainly not going to go and seek out more of his work based on what I've seen. In my opinion - and this is just my opinion - Sabre dropped the ball so far in the CWC. He shit the bed. This tournament has been an opportunity for those booked to really grab people's attention and make a name for themselves. Some have succeeded. Look at Cedric Alexander. I can't count the number of Cedric matches I saw in ROH, and he never impressed me. I thought he was bland and average. In the CWC he took the once in a lifetime opportunity combined with quality of opponent, and RAN with that mofo. Ditto Kendrick. He grabbed the audience, and shook them by the neck, screaming "I CAN STILL GO DAMN YOU." Ciampa and Gargano similarly took their shot with gusto. Jack Gallagher is a guy I am now seeking out. Hell, I might even go to one of his last indie bookings here in Toronto next week. Other guys have been just good, or have performed to the level they were more or less expected to. Some guys were not so good. (I'm looking at YOU, Ho Ho.) But Zack Sabre is one of the rare cases of a guy coming in with a rep and for my money, he hasn't shown me much except that he needs new tights, he has a bright red nose, and he could probably stand to spend more time in the gym and less time trying to come up with cutesy counter holds. There, I said it.

I was thinking the exact same thing after watching SDL last night. I wonder who the respective creative teams are?

I thought the opening segment backstage with Foley and Stephanie was pretty good. Easily the best thing Foley has done since his return as GM. Foley actually conveyed emotion well, and Stephanie reacted believably. And the fact that it was backstage and not in front of the crowd helped, I think. And then the show happened... Owens was awesome with his reaction to the fans and their chants. Rollins was really good against Owens with his "shut up, this isn't even about you" routine. So we're getting Owens vs. Zayn. Again. After their last PPV match which was supposed to be the last time they faced each other. WTF, really? Whoo-hoo to Jack Gallagher being featured in the Crusierweights ad. If that means he's coming to RAW, then sign me up. Bo Dallas gets a squash match? Really? Hasn't his ship kinda sailed already? If they want to rehab that character, it's going to take a hell of a lot more than a squash match or two and a promo. So Jericho vs. Rollins happened. On the mic, I am really enjoying Jericho since Wrestlemania. In the ring, not so much. WTF? The Shining Stars beat Enzo and Cass? Really? What kind of insane booking is that? First they get beat by Owens and Jericho at Summerslam, and now this. It's like WWE doesn't want them to be as popular as they are right now. What the hell are these people thinking? Enzo and Cass are crazy hot right now, but if they keep getting booked like this... Okay seriously...that Anderson & Gallows (who are apparently not the Club anymore?) and New Day segment was fucking painful. I've had more pleasant trips to the dentist. Whoever was responsible for that needs a good slap in the mouth, stat. That was fucking horrible. Man, this Darren Young/Titus O'Neil angle is awesome, said nobody, ever. As far as the rest of it all, meh. I have no strong feelings either positive or negative. But all in all, that was not a good episode of RAW at all.

Uh, wrong. He was from Planet Stasiak.

I can't stand Stephanie McMahon's onscreen persona. When she is on TV, I usually either change the channel, or at the very least mute the volume. I asked myself honestly why that is. I wondered if maybe it was some underlying subconscious misogyny on my part. But after thinking about it, I realized that wasn't the case. I don't hate female authority figure characters. I thought Vicki Guererro was outstanding in her role as Manager and GM. She was vicious mean spiteful and annoying as all hell - and she was supposed to be. But I liked how she did it. Firstly, the mere sound of Stephanie's voice, the pitch, tone and octave are just highly unpleasant to the ear - the nasal whining sneer sound. Even compared to Vicki's. Secondly, I think it might have more do with the fact that I just don't think I like Stephanie McMahon's ascent to the top of the most powerful organization in the history of Professional Wrestling. Remember her infamous comments on Smackdown right after 9/11? Those comments, while made years ago, encapsulate what I don't like about Stephanie McMahon. She was born, raised, and currently lives in a bubble. She only sees the world as it relates to her, from a McMahon perspective. I don't think she has any clue what it's like to have to struggle or suffer for your living. She might like being the Executive Vice President of WWE. She might even love it, but she is who she is, and has what she has, because of who her father is. She was born into privilege, and I don't care that her father might have made her work summers fetching coffee or answering phones in Stanford - the fact is she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and as soon as it was feasible, she was given the keys to the kingdom. I have to admit, I just don't like rich people who are handed massive amounts of power and have never had to pay serious dues in life. I don't care if they're male or female.

I think that is the one. There are 11 matches on that show, and if you count every talent under contract who was involved in that show in a visible role, (managers/seconds, special guest referees, and the color commentator that night) you get... Hercules Kerry Von Erich Curt Hennig Sherri Martel Sapphire Crush Bad News Brown Big Bossman Randy Savage Dusty Rhodes Earthquake Dino Bravo The Ultimate Warrior Rick Rude Roddy Piper That's 15 names. You're right about Wrestlemania X, there are 10 matches and 10 of the actual wrestlers on that show are gone. That is depressing.

Watching old wrestling can be incredibly depressing, especially old ECW or even Attitude Era shows. It's shows what a sad state things are in, when a few weeks ago I was watching a match on the WWE Network and exclaimed: "Hey! Everybody in this match is still alive today!" My roommate looked at me like I was insane, and asked if that isn't the case with most matches? I had to explain that frequently that doesn't happen. Just off the top of my head I told her about the main event of Canadian Stampede. 10 man tag match with 4 of the stars gone well before their time. I don't know which show it is, but a friend of mine told me about a major WWE PPV he saw on the network where thought there might be more deceased wrestlers on the show than those who are still alive. (Deceased now. They were alive at the time of the show.)

I respect Bobby Eaton, but I can see how some people think he might be over-praised. I enjoy RVD in the same way I enjoy Bruiser Brody, Abdullah The Butcher and Sabu. Fun to watch in the right circumstances, enjoyable...but that doesn't make them "good." It's like watching a stupid "popcorn" movie that you have fun watching. That doesn't mean it's an all time great or it should win an Academy Award.

I didn't mind Raw so much this week, but man...that three hours can be a chore to get through. I know it will never happen, but I really wish they would go back to two hours. I can't believe how hot Enzo and Cass have become in such a short time. I wonder if it's true that they are moving tons of merchandise. Based on the crowd, it seems they are. I hope they are allowed to have a good run before they get broken up for Cass's inevitable singles push. Since the company is going with The Club vs. New Day for the titles, I am glad Enzo and Cass are working with Jericho and Owens at Summerslam. The mic work in this rivalry has been fun so far, especially the interplay between Jericho and Owens. I have to admit I always end up laughing my butt off when Jericho does this new routine where he tells an obvious lie and then can't back it up with any details and he gets all shifty eyed. Ugh...Foley is so played as an on screen character at this point. He was gone for so long, yet not long enough. And back in the day, I used to love that guy. Now he just makes me half sad, half bored, with a side order of mildly irritated. Hooray for the continued Strowman squash matches. I have come around on Seth Rollins when it comes to his mic work. He actually comes across as convincing to me, but that promo he cut tonight still seemed pointless and boring. Will the Cesaro/Seamus rivalry ever end? Will Seamus ever be enjoyable to watch? All signs point to no. Seriously? A post wedding celebration with like...three cakes in the ring? Well I for one did NOT see Lana getting pushed into that cake, because that has never ever happened in wrestling before. A better question would be, has there ever been a cake on television that did NOT end up in somebody's face? I'm all for Reigns and Rusev for the U.S. title, but this was just stupid beyond the realm of stupid. I don't care what anybody says, I like the Dudleys, I was glad they were on RAW, but I was sad to see them job to a thrown together team like Neville and Sin Cara, especially since Sin Cara looked unimpressive to me during that match. Everything else on the show was pretty much just there, to me. As far as the Ambrose interview... Every time I see one of these things, as soon as somebody says or does something that comes across as legit, some fans always react with "that was a work you got worked lol." With this interview, I dunno. First off, if I didn't know better I would have sworn that Ambrose was taking the marijuana pills or something, because he was sitting there with his eyelids drooping and acting all mellow to the point where Austin kind of called him out on it. I guess Ambrose likes to keep a "chill vibe." Okay...but you do know you're giving an interview that a ton of people are going to be watching...right? Secondly, was it just me or was getting any details or exposition out of Ambrose about his life before wrestling kind of like pulling teeth? He was being so damn vague it was kind of annoying, really. Also, I have to admit that I have a pet peeve with people who basically brag about their lack of education while implying that they were smarter than their teachers, didn't need to learn, could have achieved straight A's if they wanted to, but didn't want to end up with dead end jobs like their teachers. You can tell from listening to Ambrose that, while he may have street smarts, it probably wouldn't have killed him to pick up a book. He might be as smart as he apparently thinks he is, but I doubt that. I don't understand people who gleefully brag about their lack of education or worse - their lack of desire for an education. He talked later about how kids look up to him now, he might have remained mindful of that fact when bragging about how he dropped out of school. But whatever, not a huge thing. The interview kind of picked up from there...although it seemed a bit uncomfortable when Ambrose claimed he never quit the business to work in a health club and asked Austin if he was getting his information from the internet?! Awkward. I found it very interesting that he claims he can't remember scripted promos so at this point Vince lets him say what he wants. Especially if you look at the promo he cut on Ziggler last week on Smackdown, it was some of the best mic work I have ever seen out of either guy. You have to wonder how scripted it was, and if it wasn't, would somebody backstage clue into the fact that sometimes promos are better when they aren't written out ahead of time? Also found it interesting that he was okay with The Shield being broken up when they were, since they were on top and hadn't gotten stale. Interesting perspective. I'd love to know what the producer he was talking about said to him, and what agent it was. On my feed, the whole thing got beeped out on the time delay, so he must have said something they didn't want out there. To me though, the jewel of this interview was his statements about Lesnar. This is where I think he was being honest, but I am sure there are those who will claim it was a work. He basically admits their match at Wrestlemania wasn't as good as it could have been because Brock is Brock...and that he's lazy? GOLD. I was so happy to hear him say that, and I hope he doesn't get heat for it. It just confirms what so many people suspect, and what Brock has basically confirmed, it's just a job that he wants to do with the minimum amount of effort. The vibe between Austin and Ambrose at the end seemed really weird to me, but I'm interested in seeing what other people thought of the interview.

I had a girlfriend who lived in Japan for two years for work reasons. By the end, she could read and write kanji, but her conversational Japanese was still very basic, and it wasn't from a lack of trying on her part. She loved the culture, the people and the language, and she made a concerted effort to learn to speak Japanese, but she found that it is actually a very difficult language to learn to speak. In the end, she learned the most useful phrases and responses, but she couldn't have a detailed conversation. She had coworkers tell her that English was fairly easy to pick up so they preferred to speak to her in English, but it was a common complaint that even conversational Japanese is extremely difficult to learn. In the case of most pro wrestlers, you have to wonder how hard they even try to learn the language. Apparently, it is very easy to get by in Tokyo with English only. Having said that...I'd like to think that after 15 years I'd be fairly fluent. Isn't there a regular poster here at PWO who lives in Japan? Is it Ohtani's Jacket, or am I mistaken? Perhaps he could contribute to this point.

I was just looking around, and another rumor I read is that his contract was up and he wanted to leave. Yet another claimed that VP in Charge of New Media or whatever position Joey had (basically in charge of WWE.com) was the job Shane used to have, so maybe Styles got nosed out so Shane could have the job back? Not sure of the reliability of either theory. Will be interesting to see what Mr. Meltzer comes up with. I can see sek being right, though. Even if his contact wasn't coming up, Styles always struck me as a guy who had no issue speaking his mind, regardless of the consequences. Even though he looked like a bit of nerd/geek, he wasn't S-A-W-F-T. Hell, this is the guy who knocked out JBL.

I didn't see the video in question, but rumor has it that he did video Q & A on Facebook a while back where he made some shooty shoot comments which may have upset the WWE office - including some statements about Vince's stubbornness regarding the Reigns face push. As I said, I didn't see it, but that's the big rumor as of this moment. Anybody see the video in question? It has apparently been yanked from FB and YouTube, which seems to lend some credence to the theory that it upset somebody.

The other thing is, it's a common misconception that all people who identify as conservative/right wing/Republican share the same ideology as the religious right. An equal if not greater number of right wing conservatives have libertarian leanings, believe in the separation of church and state, and strongly feel that morality cannot be legislated. Anyhow, as people have pointed out...opinions can change. I know my political leanings have change significantly over the past few years. As I said earlier, there is evidence to suggest the JBL we see now is not the same guy who soaped up Brian Christopher or gave a cheap shot to The Blue Meanie.

Legends is an excellent show. The interview with Booker T was very good. You can tell that JBL (or somebody who works for him) did research, and his strength is clearly drawing information out of his subjects about their early lives before wrestling, and their personal lives. He does a very good job at that. On the negative side, he tends to be pretty leading with some of his questions, almost inserting his own opinions in their answers, or making it blatantly obvious what he wants their answer to be, or what point he wants them to make. That's a tad annoying, but you can see that there has been definite improvement as the show has progressed, so there is every reason to believe that he will continue to refine his interviewing skills. I think a lot of people don't appreciate the art of being an interviewer, how to use silences or properly worded questions. Just look at the differences between the RF, Highspot and Kayfabe Commentaries shoots. I'd say JBL is already a million miles ahead of Rob Feinstein and whoever does the Highspots interviews. With experience, he could be as good as Sean Oliver, who for my money is an excellent interviewer. My only other complaint with Legends - and this could be the production, not JBL - is that they tend to jump around sometimes in the timeline of the interview. But that could be because of editing or time restrictions. The Brian James interview was pretty good, but I thought the Ron Simmons interview could have used a second hour, there were a lot of questions that went unasked due to time, I think. The Eric Bischoff interview was very well done. JBL got way more out of Bischoff in terms of details and opinion than any other shoot or podcast I'd ever heard him do, with the possible exception of when he was on Stone Cold's show. After I saw the Michael Hayes interview I liked Hayes a lot less than I did before I watched it. It had nothing to do with JBL. As I mentioned earlier, at times JBL can be ridiculously leading when he asks questions, and it was totally obvious that JBL was asking certain questions to help Hayes rehab his image. The problem was, JBL led him to the water, but Hayes went way overboard with his answers. I once saw RVD describe Shawn Michaels as "dripping with insincerity" and to me, that describes how Michael Hayes came across in his interview. To a degree, every guy JBL has interviewed has been working the interview, for sure. But in my opinion, Hayes was so obvious about it, and he just couldn't pull it off. Rather than say: "Back in my day, we all used the N Word. I'm not racist, but I used it. Times have changed. I got drunk, I said something I shouldn't have said, and I got demoted and suspended for it. Mark Henry forgave me, there are no hard feelings, and I'm never doing that again" we got a convoluted half explanation/half justification with a side order of apology, sort of. All that nonsense about the Confederate Flag and Richard Prior and his ex-wife's stepdaughter just came across as sadly out of touch. Anybody who doesn't agree with me is free to watch the interview and judge for themselves. I actually feel sorry for Michael Hayes. He reminds me of Jake Roberts and a lot of other old school guys. So used to trying to work everybody at all times that he might not even know who he really is. Hell, maybe he is so clueless that he actually believes some of that crap he said. Either way, it was Hayes who came across as looking totally out of touch in that interview. He seems to be respected by a lot of the people who work with him, so he obviously has something to offer to the business, I guess. But that interview just made me shake my head at how out of touch he seemed. As for JBL, don't even get me started. There is a staggering amount of evidence to support him being a horrible bully and all around awful person to be around when he was an active wrestler. Rumor has it that his getting KTFO by Joey Styles coupled with his retirement helped make him a much more likeable guy backstage. A lot of people now seem to give him credit for the work he does as a color commentator putting guys over. And so they should. But don't act like people like JBL or Michael Hayes are disliked for totally unjustified reasons, due to "smarks." There is plenty of reason to not be a big fan of either of those guys.