The Thread Killer

That is a good question. I think if TK really wants to run ROH as it’s own brand, it might be better to keep the title on Gresham, to be honest. It wouldn’t break my heart to see Claudio win, but until ROH get a TV deal I am not sure it does them any good to have him running around on AEW TV every week wearing the world heavyweight championship from another organization.

Or Shane-O-Mac

That’s a great question, although you have to figure at this point pretty much anybody could do a better job than what has been done lately. With that company really needs badly is a creative reset. New ideas when it comes to booking, and a nice bonus would be getting rid of those ridiculous quick cut camera angles.

Like I said, there is a ton of smoke so there has to be some fire. It’s pretty much a confirmed fact that Triple H and Stephanie forced Prichard out years ago. Vince brought him back. If they get rid of him again, and then we know they do have actual power. If they don’t, then it’s a safe bet that Vince is still running things behind the scenes. I think about it, just a few months ago Triple H was doing basically nothing, ostensibly due to his health issues. Vince took NXT away from him and gave it to Bruce. Then they tried to force Stephanie out when she decided to “spend more time with family.” This is quite an interesting internal family power-play.

Rumor has always had it that Stephanie and Trips do not like Prichard and Dunn, and vice versa. I don’t see those four willing to coexist, or even being able to coexist voluntarily. If they do then we know that Vince is still pulling the strings, which is what I assume will happen. I am kind of curious what role Nick Khan will take in all of this as well.

I am very curious to see what happens with Bruce Prichard and to a lesser degree, Kevin Dunn now. If those two end up being shown the door some time in the next 3-6 months, then actual organizational changes might actually be coming to WWE. If not, then it’s a safe guess that Vince will just be calling the shots from afar.

Has anybody been following the news regarding the supposed backstage drama in Corgan’s NWA? Supposedly Nick Aldis was scheduled to face Trevor Murdoch for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at their big upcoming anniversary PPV. Aldis and Corgan have had some sort of falling out and Aldis is out of the match. Corgan has apparently named Tyrus as the replacement for Aldis. Either this is an angle, and a very bad one at that, or Billy Corgan has lost his mind. I have heard rumours online that Aldis is an egomaniac, hard to deal with and unpopular in the Locker Room. I don’t blame Corgan for pulling him…but Tyrus?! In the Main Event of your biggest PPV of the year? Seriously?

I’m not lying, as soon as I read that news item I thought to myself “Boy, poor old @El-P is NOT gonna like this news, one little bit!” I was tempted to open my window and aim my ear in the direction of France, to see if I could pick up the faint sound of French profanity being screamed.

I made the mistake of perusing Twitter earlier today and found it highly humourous that more than one person (quite a few, actually) have taken to preemptively assuming what Jim Cornette is GOING to say about a particular match, angle, wrestler or topic…and then proceeding to tweet a particularly vitriolic and detailed rebuttal to what they assume Cornette is going to say…when he hasn’t even said it yet. I admit there have been times where I have watched a particular segment or match and thought to myself “Boy, this is going to make Cornette’s head explode.” But I have never considered posting a comeback as part of an argument that hasn’t even started yet. This dude is definitely living rent free in a lot of heads.

So apparently Dave Meltzer is reporting that AEW had talks with Mauro Ranallo. I was really worried at first, but when I thought about it I realized that deal will most likely not happen. In his last interview after he left WWE, Ranallo said that one of the things he did not like about working there was the three-man booth. (Which of course he didn’t like it, because that means he couldn’t be the only one talking, all the time. Or should I say bellowing.) So if he hates the three-man booth, I can only imagine he would feel about the four or sometimes five man set up that AEW uses. I just hope and pray he is not going to sign there. That’s the LAST thing AEW needs, is that windbag shouting stupid pop culture references at the top of his lungs.

Tony Khan announced on Busted Open that he has re-signed the Briscoes to long term contracts with ROH, and that he considers them a “key act” and the biggest signing he has made since buying ROH. Thank Jeebus. I was getting a little worried that TK was going to proceed with this relaunch without them, which would have been a mistake, in my opinion. Very happy with this announcement.

I didn’t like Hogan one little bit, either. I think it was partially because a lot of his appeal was to Americans and younger kids in the 1980s and of course I’m Canadian and was in my mid-teens, so the whole “Real American” thing didn’t appeal to me. But I had friends who I used to go to the shows with, and they were diehard Hulkamaniacs. I was a Jake “The Snake” guy. And I am somewhat ashamed to admit, The Ultimate Warrior too. We did not get NWA here, so we had no choice but to watch nothing but WWF. I only knew about the other stuff from the Apter mags. But yeah in general, the appeal of Hulk Hogan was totally lost on me. He was a big part of the reason that as soon as I could watch another product, I did. I only started to appreciate him as a performer when he turned heel.

You’re the man, brother. You found that fast! What a great thread.

I vaguely remember that thread and I wish I knew where it was, because I remember agreeing with it at the time.

I agree. I never liked Hogan to begin with, but I found it highly humorous at the time that even in the storyline, Orndorff had perfectly valid issues with Hogan. Quite honestly, Hogan was a terrible friend to most of his allies in storylines.

So today is 36 years ago to the day that Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff turned on Hulk Hogan. And now I feel very old, because I remember that angle vividly.

I have to admit, I kind of lost respect for Titus O’Neil when they suspended him for having the audacity to lay his hands on Vince McMahon in a joking manner, and O’Neil just took it and went right back to being a PR guy for WWE. I know the man has a family to feed and it’s probably not my place to judge him for what he decides to do, but I have to be honest, if I was in a similar position and I was humiliated like he was, I cannot see myself going back there. I remember Bautista publicly saying at the time that he was shocked Titus did not quit after that mess.

There is a 90 minute segment on the most recent episode of The Jim Cornette Experience which covers Cornette’s early years as a fan and tape trader, and his friend Norman “Weasel” Dooley who had one of the very first newsletter/dirt sheets. He also discusses the creation of the “star rating” system and the first match to ever get a 5 Star rating. It’s absolutely fantastic stuff. This is the Jim Cornette I love listening to. Highly recommended.

I listened to the whole first episode because I wanted to give it a chance. There was some good in there for sure, but there was a lot of…not so good stuff, in my humble opinion. I always knew this, but this podcast pretty much confirmed that Kevin Nash doesn’t really care about pro wrestling all that much. And I don’t blame him for that. He has always viewed it as a business first and foremost, which is why he is doing this podcast. To make money. But he doesn’t really follow the product right now, and I really don’t want to hear any more old Kliq stories…especially ones which have been told a million times in shoot interviews or other podcasts. One episode in, and we are already rehashing the curtain call, and the time that Vince had to fly halfway cross the country to meet with them and hear their demands. I also really don’t want to listen to a professional wrestler opine about politics. I didn’t like it when Cornette used to do it, and I don’t like it now. To his credit, Nash is definitely more intelligent than your average pro wrestler, but I really don’t want to spend my time listening to him and Sean Oliver discussing abortion, gun control, the 2024 presidential race, or any of that other stuff. I have a limited amount of time to listen to podcasts and there is a lot of competition for that time. I can’t see myself carving out two hours every week to listen to this show. It’s too damn long. Nash came across as very sincere and heartfelt when he was discussing the last days of Scott Hall. That was very moving. And Sean Oliver as expected, was outstanding. He is so much better at this than any other possible host it’s not even close. I was on the fence about listening to the second episode, when I saw what the topic is for this week. “Who would play the Kliq in a movie?” Yeah…hard pass.

I find the announcement about Honor Club to be confusing. I guess I can see paying 10 bucks a month for access to the complete ROH archive, but the fact that current PPV’s are not going to be included in this until 2 months later, seems like a bad decision. Unless, by the time the new service launches…Honor Club includes the COMPLETE archive and a new weekly TV show as part of the package. I guess I could see that. Mind you, as a Canadian this means I would end up paying almost $14 a month when you factor in the currency exchange rate.

Holy crap…this Lee Moriarty/Jonathan Gresham ROH World Title match on Rampage is outstanding.

I agree. He has alluded to being close to a TV deal, but nothing yet. Maybe there will be an announcement at the pay-per-view? But you are right, there’s no reason why they couldn’t do a free show on YouTube or FITE in the meantime. They already pretty much have the infrastructure in place.

So Briscoes/FTR II is going to be 2/3 falls. Between that and the tentative World Title match, this card just keeps getting better.

There's no way they push the envelope that far this time, I don't imagine. Even though TV has become a lot less PG in general since the Attitude Era, I don't see a lot of that risque stuff flying now. People are too easily offended, and any kind of public backlash would screw with their stock price, and you know they're not having that. Besides, my main point in making that snide comment is that their creative is terrible right now in WWE. Adding a risque element isn't going to make the creative any better. It's just going to make it bad creative but with more swearing/booty shorts/whatever.

WWE: We still suck, but now we suck with cussing, blood and scantily clad women. Plus now with even MORE scatological non-humor!