The Thread Killer

Your UFC Middleweight Champion

LOL Israel Adesanya is coming out in The Undertaker’s outfit and is using his music.

I am watching UFC 276, and Vince, Stephanie, Triple H and Pat McAfee are sitting ringside. I guess they must have rushed across the street as soon as MITB was over? Either that, or they skipped their own show to watch something that would actually be good.

So, to the absolute surprise of no one, it sounds like this show is going to turn out to be a fiasco. The former Aiden English went on a bit of a Twitter rant today, complaining that he cancelled a booking in order to work on the show, but never got his deposit and now the guys running the show are ghosting him.

Shelton Benjamin? Could have been, should have been…but didn’t.

This week’s episode on WM20 and Backlash 04 is really good, probably the best one so far. Credit where it’s due, Conrad is settling in and developing a nice rapport with Foley and most importantly, learning to reel him back in when he wanders off topic. I am glad it is Conrad cohosting this particular podcast, if it was one of his other employees I don’t think it would be going as well as it is.

You are not wrong there. The way Rousey has come across ever since she left UFC has been interesting. It just goes to show you how good the UFC public relations department, and Dana White were at hiding how unlikeable she is as a human being. The only mistake they made was letting her coach a season of The Ultimate Fighter because she came off terribly there. By that point the mask had really started to slip. And then the interviews she gave in the press after she finally lost exposed what she is really like to the rest of the world. You would think she would be perfect for WWE because if there was ever a person that should not be giving an interview without a pre-approved script replete with bulleted talking points, it’s Rousey.

I couldn’t agree with you more. Contrived is the perfect word. I would like to go back in time 24 years and nail Mick Foley’s feet to the damn floor that night in Pittsburgh. Thanks to him, every time we have a cage with a roof on it, the fans have been conditioned to expect somebody to get thrown off or some equally stupid stunt. Enough with the damn crash pads already. If we can’t get to the point where a cage match with a couple of guys trying to beat the crap out of each other, and bleeding in the process, is enough then they should stop trying to do them. I blame Shane McMahon and WWE as well for constantly trying to re-create that one moment that cannot and should not be re-created.

Ricky Johnson was a staple of the independent wrestling scene in the Toronto area back in the 90s when I used to go to shows. I knew that he and Rocky Johnson (or he and “Sweet Ebony Diamond”) had been a team in the Toronto territory back in the day and he used to bill himself as “The Rock’s Uncle” at shows, but I always assumed that Rocky and Ricky were brothers in the same way the Valiants or Graham’s were brothers. I met him once, and he was a super nice guy. It was nice to read this article and see that not only was he really Rocky Johnson’s brother, but it sounds like he really is a nice guy, trying to be a family member to all those displaced kids his brother ignored.

Even American Gladiators? American Ninja Warrior? American Idol? America’s Got Talent? Don’t you believe in anything American, bah gawd?

Yeah, Vader really is an interesting case isn’t it isn’t he? Some stories you hear about the guy, like him basically bullying, beating up, and intimidating enhancement talent, or stories I have heard about him treating the production staff backstage like shit, bullying them and yelling at them, makes him sound like a terrible person. A few people have told stories that make him sound like a total jerk. Eric Bischoff basically had no time for the guy because he was so rude to everybody that worked backstage behind the scenes. Arn told a similar story as well. But it also sounds like he was very sensitive and almost insecure in a way. Some of Foley’s stories make it sound like between Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon, people really got into his head and made him doubt his own abilities. The story Mick told last week about Vader obsessing over at the fight with Paul Orndorff years later, was really kind of sad as well. Mick Foley seemed to have an insight into Vader a lot of his peers didn’t have.

Good point. That is entirely possible. I am not American and I am not familiar with the American Libertarian movement. I know that the American political spectrum has more or less been shoehorned into two political parties, one left and one right. Maybe Americans who identify as Libertarians are different than those in other countries. One of the advantages/disadvantages of the Canadian system is that we have several national political parties. It is possible to vote with a bit more nuance here, but it also results in vote-splitting to a considerable degree, at least at times.

I was talking about debating the merits of libertarianism as a concept, not abortion. But I do not wish to discuss or debate anything with you. I am exercising my right to choose by choosing to put you on my ignore list. *Original reply edited due to rudeness and profanity*

I remember that story from when it first broke but it went away quickly, not surprisingly.

Point well taken. They may have just pivoted with the format of the show, much like they did with Tony Schaivone in the early days of his podcast. Once they realized Regal was going to be incapable to sticking to a topic, maybe they just decided to get rid of the topics. Which is all good and well, so long as it doesn't end up degrading to the point where we end up hearing who is on Regal's "Mount Rushmore" or where his favorite places to eat are. He's already fielding questions about his favorite comedians. It's a short trip from that, to ranking his favorite fast food places or lengthy diatribes about how he likes his steak cooked or whether he puts cheese on his burgers. That's what happened with Arn...I don't want to see it happen to Regal. Hell, stupid Q&A questions (or more accurately the deliberate selection of stupid questions) is what killed Jim Cornette's Drive Thru and basically turned it into The Jim Cornette Experience Part Deux.

That's the thing...normally if a Pro Wrestling organization had as many injuries on their roster as AEW do right now, it would definitely be a reason to panic. Or if not panic, to assume that the next few months were going to suck, while we waited for the top stars to return from injury. But AEW has so much depth that it honestly doesn't matter. They have so many guys who can easily be slotted into a top level program. Yes, it sucks that Cole, Danielson, Punk, Omega, MJF, and Samoa Joe are on the shelf for various reasons right now. (Well...in the interest of full disclosure, I don't really miss Omega, but I can see why a lot of people do.) That's at least five Main Event level guys who are out of action for various reasons and for various lengths of time. But they've got guys like Christian, Darby Allin, Eddie Kingston, Keith Lee, Malakai Black, Miro, Swerve, Ricky Starks, and Brian Pillman Jr. who are already very popular and are more than capable of stepping up and filling those spots. And now you can add Claudio to that equation. And yes, you have midcard guys like Fish & O'Reilly, Bowens, Darius Martin and Jungle Boy who are also on the shelf, but they have so much depth there too. It's pretty amazing when you think about it. Hell, they have perfectly capable lower and midcard guys who barely ever get on TV that can also step up with no problem. I contrast that with WWE, where they lose a couple of guys to injury and have no choice but to go back to Reigns/Lesnar AGAIN because they haven't anybody who is popular enough to step up...all thanks to their own shitty promoting. And on top of that, half the guys I just listed in AEW who are more than capable of stepping up to the next level and being major stars (or are already) are guys who WWE had under contract and let them go. It's absolutely mind blowingly stupid.

I definitely classify myself as a libertarian. And you are right, there are many different subsets, factions and philosophies when it comes to libertarianism. Some of them are actually very far to the left of the political spectrum, some are to the right, and some are…just plain weird. The fact that Glenn Jacobs ran for and holds political office at all was a pretty good indicator to me of what kind of libertarian he is, I think he is basically an anarcho-capitalist. I have to admit, I was actually a bit surprised to see him tweet that statement regarding the recent supreme court decision. I am hardly an ardent follower of his, but he has made a lot of statements in the past that led me to believe he did not believe in governmental regulation over any aspect of what can be perceived as personal liberty. Then again when it comes to him as I said, many libertarians would consider the very act of running for or holding a political office to be an anathema to the “true” libertarian philosophy. I would be happy to discuss the different schools of thought within the libertarian scope of political and philosophical theory, but this is PWO after all. Besides, if the last few days have taught us anything, it’s that it is becoming increasingly impossible to have a civil discussion about any major political issue without it inevitably degrading into name calling and shouting rhetoric. I honestly am starting to wonder if it is even possible to have a debate where you can actually effectively change somebody’s mind through the process of reason and logic.

I think they might be going to the every other week “Ask Me Anything” format like they used to do with Arn. They already have a second one scheduled and he’s only what, five weeks into this podcast? That seems like lazy producing to me, but what do I know.

I couldn’t agree with you more. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to watch this, but I had the chance and checked it out, and am I ever glad I did. I don’t watch NJPW and I didn’t know some of the guys but overall I enjoyed the hell out of that show. The only thing that really didn’t do it for me was the ridiculous comedy and overall nonsense in the YB match. Their whole act is beyond stale. But their lame comedy couldn’t ruin what was one hell of a show. And I am beyond stoked about Claudio showing up.

He absolutely shouldn’t be doing it. He doesn’t want to do it, and he even quit doing it at one point, very briefly. He openly discussed this on the show a year or so back, that Brian Last talked him into going back to doing the AEW reviews because that’s what people wanted to hear. Last is so desperate to maintain the listener numbers that he doesn’t care if Cornette wants to do it anymore. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Cornette has openly discussed retiring from the podcast over the last few months. I think he is well over all of this stuff and just doesn’t want to do it anymore. Ultimately the responsibility for what Cornette does falls on him of course, there is no two ways about that. But it is pathetic to see how desperate Brian Last is to have a successful podcast and he basically keeps nagging or begging Cornette to keep doing the endless AEW reviews because that’s what gets them listeners. Cornette is at the point now where he is skipping matches or fast forwarding through them because he knows he’s going to hate them. But Last wants him to watch stuff he hates, just so their “fans” can hear Cornette lose his mind and swear and insult the talent. Then his “cult” goes and parrots everything he says on Social Media and the dollars roll in. I really believe that one day soon, Jim Cornette is either going to put his foot down and say he isn’t watching any more modern wrestling, or more likely he is just going to quit the podcast altogether, regardless of how much money it is making him. He has joked about it several times over the last few months, but there is some truth to it. He is making enough money from his memorabilia business, and his other investments. He is starting to really think about retiring from all of this. I would not be one little bit surprised if a year from now Jim Cornette is 100% retired from the pro wrestling business, aside from his memorabilia sales.

I don’t mind this show, but I am pretty sure it is going to go into the category of a podcast that I will only check out if I have an interest in the topic that week. There have been some shows that I will listen to regardless of the topic because I really like the host. I don’t think this is going to be one of those shows. I really like and respect Regal but he seems to have a standard set of responses for pretty much any question and it’s going to get really old, really quickly if I am not selective in which episodes I choose to listen to. If they start to cover his years in WCW or his European career I will definitely check it out, but I can’t see myself sitting through a two hour episode about NXT or the Attitude Era.

Foley really does have a tendency to go over stories that not only has he already covered in his books, but even on the first few episodes of this podcast…so that’s a bit irritating. But the show is still a winner for me, and after a few episodes it has definitely become my favourite current podcast already. The newest episode covers Wrestlemania 13 and has a couple of real gems… - Mick talks about the first Buried Alive match with himself and The Undertaker. He talks about how long it actually takes to bury somebody with dirt, and that the process was taking so long that they sent out extra heels to help him cover Taker up. He talks about how one of the heels that comes out to help is none other than Triple H, and he jokes that it is the first documented case of Triple H burying another talent. - He tells a story about Kevin Sullivan getting an interview with the WWF during the height of the Attitude Era/Monday Night Wars. He says that Vince knew who Sullivan was and had Stephanie interview Sullivan for a position on the creative team. The only problem was that Stephanie had no idea who Kevin Sullivan was and actually asked him for a résumé. That reminded me of a story I heard about Stephanie talking to Jeff Jarrett one time, and not only being unaware that he was a third generation talent in the professional wrestling business, but that his grandmother was one of the most successful promoters of the territory era. Great stuff.

Yeah, it’s kind of ironic in a way. Conrad resorts to doing watch-along episodes pretty much out of laziness or when he has run out of topics or ideas. The end results are generally not great and I end up wishing he’d do less watch-alongs and just do his normal show. With Cornette, I am so over listening to him criticize the modern product, I end up wishing he’d do less of his normal show and focus more on doing a watch-along, where he is so much more interesting and insightful. Not to mention, you can just tell by the enthusiasm in his voice that Cornette finds doing a watch-along more interesting as well. You can tell he is so much more engaged in the process when he does that, focusing on what he is really good at. I said it much earlier in this thread I think, or the Cancellation of Jim Cornette thread, but he has become trapped in a pattern. He has become famous and is making a lot of money off ranting about the modern product. You can tell if he was left up to his own devices he probably would not watch it at all, but he has to for this podcast and all he ends up doing is saying the same thing over and over again. Hell, he has been reduced to reviewing Raw at this point. And the blame for most of that, and the fact that he does not do more watch-alongs falls squarely on the shoulders of Brian Last.

It is also one of those stories that is so incredible, if you read it as fiction you would think it was implausible or unrealistic, but it really did happen. A man with six sons who lost five of them…three to suicide? It’s still mind boggling.

That’s a “controversy” that’s existed for a long time and not just regarding Omega. I remember Jim Ross talking on his podcast about how Flair used to get hassled by bookers because if he really liked an enhancement talent, he would give them a chance to shine during what was supposed to be a squash match. I think Flair once let George South get the upper hand on him for a few moves during a TBS Studio match. I recently heard Jake Roberts say the same thing about Joey Maggs…the guys liked him so much they would sometimes let him get a lot of offense in, much to the chagrin of the booker. Hell, even Jim Cornette has admitted the Midnight Express would do the same once in a while. Kind of the opposite of what Brody or the Road Warriors would do.