The Thread Killer

I was thinking the exact same thing myself. It’s not his fault, but Dolph is pretty much ruined at this point, as far as I am concerned. I can’t take him seriously. I don’t even know how they could salvage his character now. I just can’t buy him as a top name, he’s been habitually devalued too long. And I am highly unconvinced that Theory has “it” as well.

I specifically remember that episode of 83 Weeks. Bischoff claimed he had no idea DX were outside the area until after they left, because if he’d known they were there, he’d have let them in. Bischoff claims he was in the ring, live on the air at the time it happened. Conrad claims Bischoff is lying, and that Bruce Prichard (who produced the segment and was there) claims they showed up at the area before the show had even started, while the fans were still outside waiting to be let in. Conrad and Prichard claim the segment was pre-taped and that is proven by the fact that it’s still daylight in the segment, which it wouldn’t have been if the segment was live.

That story was in Foley’s book, plus Foley and Austin rehashed it when Foley was on the Broken Skull Sessions as well. It’s one of Foley’s favourite stories. Foley even admitted during the Austin interview that the story doesn’t hold up particularly well in the current climate. It can come across as homophobic even though I don’t think it’s intended that way.

Okay so here's the deal... Early this morning, I made a post in which I meant to imply that Mandy Rose is so attractive, if I worked with her, I wouldn't be able to resist acting like a loser and whistling at her, or asking her out for a drink or whatever. I used the term "sexual harassment." A couple of people replied and said my joke was inappropriate. I became defensive and said I wouldn't delete the post, and if you didn't like it too bad. I admitted that my post was in poor taste but said I wasn't going to delete it. Since that time, it was brought to my attention that my post could conceivably be interpreted as condoning rape or sexual assault. I also realize (upon reflection) that there is a much finer line between sexual harassment and sexual assault than I'd probably like to admit. I would hope that it goes without saying that I would never actually sexually harass a woman, and I certainly do not condone rape or sexual assault. I have gotten involved in more than one argument around these parts over the past 15 plus years about how people should be able to say whatever the hell they want, and if that offends somebody...well that's just too bad. I know I didn't intend to imply that sexual assault is funny, but what I intended really doesn't matter. That's kind of like throwing a rock into a crowd and then claiming that you weren't aiming at anybody in particular. It was still stupid, you still hurt somebody, and that's not cool. If I wrote something that legitimately upset or offended somebody, then that is on me not you. I don't want to offend or hurt somebody. (Well, at least not the people I actually offended.) So I deleted the post. I am not saying that I am not going to continue to make unfunny comments and observations. I am not promising that if somebody takes offense, I might not tell them I don't care. But in this case, I do care. And in this case I was wrong...so I'm sorry.

I heard Punk is still in really bad shape and could barely walk at some convention he appeared at recently?

Damn you’re right, that was also him. Cornette told that story years ago on his podcast but I’d totally forgotten it. Dude was badass.

Who knows…maybe people in the industry like to play it off like it’s a lot harder than it actually is or something. I don’t know about you, but I met plenty of people in my professional life who claimed it was difficult to do what they do, but when you boil it down and actually take a closer look…not so much. You also make a good point I had not considered, in that the massive influx of MMA being broadcast over the past decade has probably resulted in tons of production staff who could do a good job filming Pro Wrestling. On the flip side of that, I have seen some truly dreadful camerawork on some low level MMA shows. But your point is valid.

Have they tangled before? I assume they mixed it up in Mexico? If so, how were the matches? If not, why not?

I actually heard more about him from the MMA side of things than I ever did in Pro Wrestling. I learned a ton about him from a book I read by Clyde Gentry years ago, tracing the roots of NHB to MMA. Gene LeBell really was one of the forefathers of Mixed Martial Arts and I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for that. He did English commentary on the early Pancrase shows, which I loved. Plus, there’s that whole urban legend about him making Steven Seagal shit his pants…which is awesome. RIP. The man was a warrior.

I have heard and seen some interviews over the years talking about how having the ability to direct a live Pro Wrestling broadcast takes a very specific set of skills that not a lot of TV directors might have. Jim Herd of all people, talked about how it was similar to directing a hockey game…you have to keep the camera on the puck at all times, while still getting all the surrounding action. Cornette talked about it too, when he talked about producing SMW and OVW TV, how many cameras you need for good coverage and set ups, etc. I get it that it’s probably not easy. I also understand that WWE cranked up the “quick cut” style when HD came in, and they were worried about people being able to see the action closer and not wanting to show the in ring tricks and shortcuts. But clearly there is no need for the ridiculous zooming in and out, and the deliberate shaking of the actual camera. Plus…AEW is in HD and they don’t do all that crap. They have proven you can have a professional, high quality Pro Wrestling broadcast on a major network without nausea inducing camera work. One of the things I respect about Tony Khan is that he went to the trouble, time and expense of hiring Keith Mitchell (who clearly knew how to direct a Pro Wrestling broadcast.) Mitchell was pivotal in getting AEW off the ground from a directing/production standpoint and helped make sure their TV looked great. He obviously helped train guys to do that stuff the right (and non-nauseating and seizure inducing) way before he retired last year. Besides, if you believe the rumours and stories reported, Kevin Dunn isn’t just a problem as the director. Sounds like Vince gave him a ton of influence on the actual creative. That’s why I remain skeptical about real change while he and Bruce Prichard are still around. Even if you believe Vince isn’t secretly telling them what to do, those guys probably only want to do things the way Vince did them anyway. It’s already obvious Triple H is in charge based on some of the changes made over the past few weeks…but I wonder how far those changes can really go with Kevin Dunn around. Anyhow, to my original point, if @sek69 is right…that’s a problem. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but if Vince or Dunn or whoever did stop Triple H from hiring or training new TV production staff, you’d have to ask why that is? Dunn probably only wants his guys working in TV production. Which means that even if they did get rid of him, they’d end up with somebody who worked and probably trained under him. Which means we’d just end up with “Quick Cuts: The Next Generation.”

I have mixed feelings. This does sound interesting, and honestly isn’t the well starting to run dry with the Dark Side stuff? I know there is an endless supply of sleaze in the Pro Wrestling business, but I wonder if there are even enough big stories to justify devoting an entire hour to them. Last season I felt like they were kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel at times. I also wonder if there is any truth to the rumours that guys don’t want to talk to them anymore after seeing Tommy Dreamer almost talk himself right out of the business last season. (That was totally on Dreamer, of course.) Jim Cornette made some sort of cryptic comment about Jim Ross being pissed at the producers as well and not wanting to work with them again, as well. Not sure how true that is, but I think it’s out there. If they really do a series on the history of the territories, I hope they get guys like Cornette and more importantly Tim Hornabaker involved. Guys who actually know the history…and not people who are going to trot out the “smoke filled arenas” revisionist crap.

Yeah, this. I usually check out PWO from my phone, and now since the upgrade, I don’t get any notifications when somebody has quoted my posts (not that it happens all that often) or any other notifications. But then on the rare occasions I log in on my laptop…I get a veritable deluge of notifications. Not that I am complaining about the upgrade, mind you. I think it looks great, for what that’s worth. I am just having issues with my notifications is all.

Just saw an interview posted online where Flair admitted that he passed out not once, but twice during the match due to dehydration. Why, in retrospect you’d almost think that a 73 year old man with a pre-existing medical condition and an alcohol problem participating in a Pro Wrestling match was a bad idea.

Hang on, what? I vaguely remember that match (I saw it a long time ago) but it caused a legit riot? Or am I misunderstanding and we’re talking like a reaction which was a metaphorical riot?

Yeah of course we all know that…but this kind of thing seems especially egregious. Just because horrible things happen in this company all the time, it doesn’t make it any less disgusting or excusable when it gets brought to light. I forget the name of the individual, but I remember reading during the pandemic about a person that they hired to work at the PC. This poor person uprooted their entire life and moved halfway across the country, including pulling their kids out of school if I recall correctly. As soon as the pandemic hit, WWE fired the person, who had barely been there for a significant amount of time. Not to mention, they were releasing talent who did not have a visa to stay in the country legally if they were not working, so they were at serious risk of being deported. But WWE didn’t care, they just wanted to save money…to hell with what havoc they were wreaking on the lives of their employees. It’s not like these people were being fired for cause, it was supposedly being done for purely financial reasons. But they apparently had a limitless amount of money to pay to cover up Vince’s behaviour.

The fact that WWE has been paying out this obscene amount of money over the years because of Vince McMahon’s lecherous behaviour, while at the same time firing people (especially during the pandemic) for so-called “financial reasons” is just unconscionable and morally reprehensible.

I just saw an unconfirmed report on Twitter that the internal investigation being done by the WWE Board of Directors has uncovered an additional two previously unreported payments from 2007 and 2009 equalling an additional $4 million paid by Vince McMahon in hush money?! EDIT: Yep, Meltzer is confirming the story. According to him, they are now up to $19.6 Million in Vinnie Mac Sex Hush Money Payouts.

So this week’s episode is a Q&A and I had some time to kill, so I checked it out on YouTube. It was okay, but I’m not loving Jon Alba as the cohost. There were a surprising number of audio issues and video lags, as well. Poor old Jake has COPD so he’s on oxygen while doing the show, plus his voice is so shot from years of smoking (tobacco and other things I assume) that you can barely hear him when he talks. I had to turn the volume up to hear him, but then the volume level for Alba was way higher so that got annoying pretty damn quick. Another highlight was when DDP decided to break out the Tupperware and have himself some lunch while he was recording the podcast. Apparently his schedule is so packed that he can’t wait an hour to record to the podcast without eating. Professionalism! Most of the questions in these Conrad shows are pretty damn cringeworthy too. I did enjoy Jake saying that he loves doing Q&A shows, he wants to do more…but please don’t ask stupid questions like where his snake is now.

If you believe PWInsider, it sounds like Johnny Ace got the chop, not that everybody didn’t see that coming.

Actually, come to think of it, NXT and NXT UK used to be a “must see” for me as well, but after the first year or so of the so-called Wednesday Night War I gave up on NXT. NXT 2.0 has pretty much guaranteed I am never going back. And after I got rid of the WWE network, I never bothered to hunt down NXT UK, too much hassle. The pandemic kind of killed that show for me.

I submit that FTR and Dax especially belong in that all time tier already. Might be a hot take, but I believe it.

I only watch Dynamite at this point. I selectively watch Rampage, which is a pain because it’s not on TV here so I have to stream it. I gave up on MLW, Impact and the NWA ages ago. I decided to watch an entire episode of RAW this week to see how it was, I don’t know I’d do it again. There is no chance of me ever watching SmackDown during baseball season. Come to mention it, if there had been a baseball game I wanted to see on Monday, I never would have watched RAW either. Basically, I will watch Dynamite no matter what, but nothing else. For any other show I would have to have a significant reason to plan to watch it ahead of time. Like, I will probably try and watch Lashley vs. Ciampa, but not the rest of the show. I think the Jays are playing Baltimore that night, so I might watch the whole show if the ballgame gets boring. Once Monday Night Football comes back…I will be much more selective as well.

There was a Tiger Chung Lee vs. Jose Luis Rivera match which went to a time limit draw, which I still have nightmares about to this day. That match made me question not only my desire to remain a wrestling fan, but my desire to continue living.

I missed the Transformers thing, I was too old to play with toys by the time they became popular I think. My kid brother had a million of them but all I can tell you about Transformers is that they hurt like hell when you stepped on one accidentally.

Yeah, the episode that just got released today was recorded on April 5. They really do record the show far in advance. Great episode though. Sad story from today’s podcast…when Vader died, the only two people from the entire Pro Wrestling industry who bothered to make the trip to Colorado for his memorial service were Mick Foley and Sting. I’m not sure if that is a sad statement about what kind of business it is, that nobody cares about you after you retire or if it is a sad statement about how Leon White’s peers viewed him due to his reputation as a bully.