The Thread Killer

I have two observations after watching tonight’s episode of Dynamite. Big Cass appears to have improved a metric fuck-ton since the last time I saw him. I just hope for his sake, AEW and/or Impact do not drug test. But still, he looked quite sharp, I thought. On the other end of the spectrum… I had been feeling that in retrospect, I was being slightly unfair in mercilessly roasting Brian Pillman Jr. in this very forum over the last couple of months. I thought perhaps I was judging him too harshly, and I tried to watch his promo this evening with an open mind. As it happens…I went far too easy on him originally. He’s the shits. Seriously, WTF. How is this guy on TV.

I assumed that eventually they would have to get better, but from what I hear they didn’t. I found them painful to watch back in NXT. It’s pretty amazing considering how much experience they have gained since then that they didn’t get much better. No aptitude, I guess?

I don’t honestly know if they are even going to really play into the heel/face thing with this angle. It might just end up being a rivalry between The Elite and The Undisputed and TK lets the fans decide who to cheer for. Look at the BCC. They kind of started out as a potential heel faction, with a Danielson having turned heel on Hangman originally and then acting all aggressive, and insulting the fans etc. But since Regal showed up, they certainly haven’t been getting a heel reaction from the fans, and I don’t know that they ever will. People seem to love Moxley, and honestly what “smart” wrestling fan is going to boo William Regal? TK seems to just let the fans choose who they’re going to boo or cheer based on the scenario. Hell, last week Dan Lambert of all damn people seemed to be getting cheered over Sammy. I am not saying I like that, I prefer when the roles are clearly defined and obvious, but that does not always seem to apply in AEW. There are exceptions, like the Punk/MJF deal, but aside from that AEW seems to be a bit more… nuanced I guess. That’s modern wrestling for you, it has its pluses and minuses.

It looks like in addition to signing with Impact, The Briscoes are now working with the NWA. They have been there a couple of times since the Crockett Cup and apparently last night had an NWA World Tag Title match on Power(rrr) which was pretty good, if you are to believe the reports. I may have to start checking the NWA out again after all this time, if Dem Boys are going to be showing up on a regular basis. That episode debuts tonight on YouTube. I still hope The Briscoes end up figuring into the plans if and when ROH gets another TV deal or has another PPV though. I guess the rumors are true and AEW isn’t going to happen for them. ☹️

I assumed Hangman was the bad guy in this scenario. I can’t believe you guys automatically assumed Good Brother @sek69 is the heel. But if he is…he should get Good Brother @C.S. to be his manager. All C.S. would have to do is cut one of his “Mauro Ranallo is the GOAT” promos, and he and sek would have massive old school heat, brother. They would sell that mother out, lineups around the block.

The man is sick! Hasn’t he already suffered enough? COVID-19 is one thing…but having to go to a Raw or Smackdown taping? Why would you wish that on anybody? That’s just cruel, dude.

Last week @sek69 went to Dynamite. Then he got the COVID-19. Today the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Hangman Page announced he will miss tonight’s episode of Dynamite because he has the COVID-19. I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but this can hardly be a coincidence. It’s clear Hangman Page is trying to keep @sek69 out of circulation. Why? Is Page trying to sabotage PWO for some reason? Is Page afraid @sek69 is planning on challenging for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship? I can’t tell you the whole story here, but you can find out all the behind the scenes details on my exclusive hotline report tonight at 1-900-909-9900. Kids, get your parents permission before calling.

That sucks dude. ☹️ How are you feeling, are your symptoms severe? Goes without saying that I hope you can beat this back easily without too much physical discomfort, hang in there and best wishes brother.

That’s the thing, right? If you accept going into it that the guys are probably going to be lying, or bullshitting, or have faulty memory, or are being general carnies, you can still enjoy the thing for the entertainment value at least. And based on the work they have done together so far for KC, they have great chemistry and it would be extremely entertaining to listen to. I don’t mind being lied to if you are at least entertaining about it! It would be like the exact opposite of Vince Russo, for example. Pretty much everything that comes out of his mouth is total crap, but on top of that he is obnoxious and unlikable. Nash is one of those guys who I probably shouldn’t like, but he is so charming it’s hard to dislike him. Plus he is very funny, and a great storyteller. And as you alluded to earlier @El-P, Sean Oliver is miles ahead of Conrad (and pretty much anybody else you could get to host a podcast.)

Funny timing after all. Sean Oliver just posted a picture on Twitter of he and Kevin Nash setting up what looks like a podcast rig, with the question: “Why are these men setting up a studio?” Kevin Nash is notoriously full of shit, but if you accept that going in, he is also an extremely entertaining and engaging interview. If those two teamed up for a podcast I have to admit I would give it a listen. I wouldn’t believe a damn thing that came out of Nash’s mouth, but it would be a lot of fun to listen to, I bet.

I honestly cannot see any scenario under which FTR return to the WWE. That interview they gave to Jim Cornette after they left WWE was very detailed regarding their grievances with Vince. The bottom line is, tag team wrestling is treated as an afterthought in WWE, and I don’t think that is ever going to change. I think creative is the most important issue with them. They claim, and I believe them, that they were offered a ton of money to stay and they turned it down. After hearing that interview, and seeing things they have said since then, I really don’t think there is a number which would be high enough to get them to go back there. Keep in mind, they only left after they told Vince and Bruce Prichard that no matter what they were offered, they were going to walk out as soon as their contracts expired.

The problem is, Conrad Thompson has pretty bad taste when it comes to what personalities to bring into his shows. Let’s be honest. This is a guy that thinks The Casio Kid is funny and a good personality to be a guest on his shows at times. Paul Bromwell just strikes me as bland, unremarkable and uninteresting with a kind of easy listening FM radio DJ type of vibe. Whereas The Casio Kid is…yeesh.

I was all in when Sean Oliver first debuted his new podcast, but that thing ran out of steam really quickly. His heart just wasn’t in it, you could tell. He is now a published author, in addition to his nonfiction books he has written about pro wrestling, he has also written several thriller novels which have apparently sold fairly well, so I think he just doesn’t care about pro wrestling as much anymore, which is a shame because I agree with you, he would be great hosting some of those shows on AFS. I was always a big fan of Sean Oliver and would have loved to have seen/heard him on some of those podcasts.

I am not an AFS subscriber anymore, but back when I was, I used to listen to the monthly Q&A podcast that Conrad did with the members. He was asked just that question at one point. I don’t know if his attitude has changed, but back then Conrad made it very clear that he will never give up on his mortgage company. He very honestly pointed out that he actually got into the podcast business to help promote his mortgage company. He has been able to use the publicity from these podcasts to expand his business into practically every state. I know he acts like an “aw shucks” country boy, but his business is so successful that he is a legit millionaire at this point. He made it pretty clear he is never walking away from that. Plus, I remember he and Bischoff candidly discussing the fact that the whole Pro Wrestling podcast bubble is bound to burst sooner or later, so he doesn’t want to hitch his wagon to that at the expense of his family business. As far as new co-hosts, he seems to be trying to do that with Paul Bromwell, but I am not sure the fans are crazy about that.

So it sounds like Conrad is starting a podcast with William Regal. I am all over that sumbitch. I know Mick Foley is going to be starting a podcast soon as well (“Foley is Pod”) but I don’t know if it’s with Conrad’s company. I know they have both mentioned working together in the past, but I don’t know if they have made a deal. By my count, that’s… - Prichard - Schiavone - Bischoff - JR - Jarrett - Angle - DDP & Jake Roberts - Flair And now Regal for sure and maybe Foley. That’s nuts. No wonder Conrad has been handing off co-hosting duties to Paul Bromwell on a lot of these shows lately. That’s an insane amount of content, not even including all the stuff he is doing with AFS.

They are teasing an FTR vs. Von Erich Brothers match on Twitter, and MLW is offering to host it. I know FTR are taking independent dates, but I don’t know if MLW counts as an indie because they have a TV deal, so TK might not not let them do it.

Well, you are not wrong there. FTR are definitely on top of their game right now, no doubt about it. And I agree that Fish and O’Riley are a little bit lacking in the charisma department, but I am very hopeful that those two teams will still end up facing off in AEW and I have high hopes for the resulting match.

They fought once in NXT, it was after The Revival had been on the Main Roster for a while, they came back to NXT for one night to fight Fish & O’Reilly. The date was 11/20/19, and the match was excellent For The Record (see what I did there?) For all you people who think ReDragon aren’t exciting enough or aren’t a good team? I humbly submit that you’re smoking the crack cocaine, because they’re awesome. Their matches in ROH with the Briscoes were outstanding and that’s not just because of The Briscoes. Wait and see, if FTR and ReDragon end up having a match in AEW it will be excellent.

Braun’s message to the IWC after making a colossal douche-nozzle out of himself:

Quick note to anybody who is planning on recording tonight’s show on their DVR and watching it later, there is apparently supposed to be an overrun so set your timer accordingly! I used to get burned by my cable company on a fairly regular basis when Raw and Nitro ran over and I was recording it for later because I wasn’t around to watch it due to work or whatever.

Sounds like The Briscoes are coming in full time as of the next set of TV tapings after the PPV.

I don’t know about you @sek69 but he was one of the first Puro guys I was exposed to back when I started buying tapes in 99. First tape I ever got was Super J Cup 94, and there he was. Then I saw him in J Cup 95, he was all over the best NJPW Juniors stuff, then I saw him in Zero 1, he even popped up in NOAH and of course Hustle. Before my taste changed to Shoot Style and eventually King’s Road, he was one of my favourites for sure. Hayabusa, Misawa, Takayama and now Otani. All my favourites from my early days as a fan are crippled or worse. Tragic as hell and goes to show what that insane style can do, especially if you stay with it too long. I hope he’s going to be okay but right now it doesn’t sound good. ☹️

Via 411: Japanese legend Shinjiro Otani has been hospitalized after he was stretchered out of the ring from a serious injury at Pro Wrestling ZERO1’s Sunday show. BBM Sports in Japan reports that the main event of the show saw Otani facing Takashi Sugiura for the latter’s ZERO1 World Heavyweight Championshp. During the match, Otani took a German suplex into the turnbuckle that rendered Otani unable to move. The match was stopped and Otani was stretchered from the ring and taken to the hospital. Tokyo Sports spoke with the match’s referee, Katsumi Sasazaki, who said, “He was conscious. He could hear [his own] voice and he could clearly see where he was. However, he complained that he couldn’t move his hands and that he couldn’t move, and he said, ‘I can’t feel my hands.'” Otani is believed to have suffered a cervical spine injury.

I hear that. if the library back catalogue was comprehensive enough, I’d be all over that in a heartbeat. And if there is ever was an AJPW streaming service with the whole 80’s/90’s library? Let’s just say I would have to say goodbye to my family for a couple of years because nobody would ever see me again.