The Thread Killer

By the way...anybody who wishes they could hear the Wrestling Game Rewind podcast, drop me a PM.

You were able to get through that whole thing?! If so, I'm impressed. I usually enjoy Last's roundtable discussions but I had to tap out after getting about halfway through the first episode. I think a 4 hour podcast devoted to nothing else but the Observer HOF is a bit much, honestly. I enjoyed hearing Fumi Saito's perspective because it always interesting to her what somebody who actually lives and works in Japan has to say about how the Japanese fans perceive Pro Wrestling...but I thought guys like Kurt Brown brought pretty much nothing to the discussion and actually took away from it. Cornette usually adds a lot to the conversation due to his encyclopedic knowledge of Pro Wrestling history but obviously thanks to his falling out with Meltzer he didn't even vote this year, so he didn't appear on the Superpodcast HOF episode...and despite what you might think of Jim Cornette, it really could have used him.

Thank you, John. I was a Hyatte fan, and got the impression in his last weeks that it was important to him that he be remembered. I wanted to do my part to make that happen, in my own very small way.

The reaction Prichard had on his podcast the week Howard Finkel died was pretty gut wrenching, honestly. He totally broke down and could barely speak. Considering how close Prichard and Patterson were, and how highly Bruce speaks of him I can't imagine this episode was any easier for Prichard to get through. Especially so soon. I haven't listen to an episode of STW in ages, but when this shows up on my AFS feed I'll probably give it a listen.

It was bound to happen sooner or later, dude. You've lasted a long longer than most of us did.

Pretty much what @rovert said. Plus, I think the important thing when you look at the falling out between Cornette and Meltzer is the context and the history and depth of their friendship. I remember reading Larry Matysik's book where he talked about the time in Professional Wrestling when Dave Meltzer first arrived on the scene. "Kayfabe" was alive and well and the reaction to Meltzer and the Observer was apparently pretty vitriolic. One one hand, a lot of people in the industry reportedly absolutely hated the guy for "exposing the business" (back when that was really a thing) while at the same time, Jim Ross has pointed out that half the guys who outwardly claimed to hate Meltzer's guts secretly subscribed to the newsletter under different names. The point is, when Meltzer first arrived on the scene it, behind the scenes in Pro Wrestling it was not considered to be a particularly wise move to admit that you read the Observer, never mind admitting that you actually talked to Dave Meltzer. Remember Mick Foley even mentioned that in his first book, that he thought Dave Meltzer was so hated in the Pro Wrestling business that Foley joked that he assumed Meltzer had to stay in hiding like Salman Rushdie. There were guys who did talk to Meltzer, of course. He got his information from someplace, obviously. Larry Matysik was one of those guys, as was Bruiser Brody (which probably helps explain why Meltzer deifies Brody to this day.) There were plenty of others. But there was a big difference between the guys who would talk to Meltzer and those who would admit they talked to Meltzer and even go so far as to defend the guy. Jim Cornette is one of the few guys who was pretty much open about the fact that he subscribed to the Observer and moreover he was friends with Dave Meltzer. Cornette has said he would talk to Meltzer all the time. They apparently shared an enthusiasm for Pro Wrestling history and traded tapes. Hell, it is a fact that Dave Meltzer got his famous "star rating system" from Jim Cornette. Jim Cornette really legitimately liked Dave Meltzer and considered him a personal friend. This became obvious several times over the years when Cornette would leap to Meltzer's defense when other names in the industry would bash Meltzer and try and discredit him. I don't think this was just a casual friendship, I think Cornette had some loyalty to Dave Meltzer and legitimately liked him and respected his work. Their friendship appeared to be intact up until very recently. Once Cornette more or less retired from any significant active participation in Pro Wrestling, we all know he started venting about "modern" Pro Wrestling in countless Shoot Interviews and his podcast. Around the same time, Dave Meltzer was getting into PWG and then established his presence on Twitter. It's pretty obvious that the PWG crowd embraced Dave Meltzer a lot more openly than he had historically been received behind the scenes. I don't know if that was the reason why, but like rovert pointed out, Meltzer started taking shots at Jim Cornette on Twitter and defending the PWG crowd...ironically much in the way that Cornette had used Twitter to defend Meltzer against guys like Bruce Prichard and Eric Bischoff. Periodically on his podcast, Brian Last would ask Jim Cornette about something Meltzer had said about Cornette on Twitter (usually pertaining to his being out of touch with the modern product or something like that) and usually Cornette would either laugh and shrug it off, or at worst he would say something mildly antagonistic back. But you could tell they were still friends. Like I said, Cornette even had Meltzer on his podcast in the last couple of years to "debate" modern Pro Wrestling with him. Apparently, the issues that caused the permanent rift between Cornette and Meltzer was two-fold. Firstly, I guess Brian Last is a member at Dave Meltzer's messageboard that is attached to the Observer. (I don't know much about it, I do not subscribe to the Observer but I've heard people refer to it as "The Board.") Dave Meltzer supposedly made a couple of sharply worded comments or statements about Jim Cornette on that board. Brian Last is friends with Dave Meltzer but he is obviously also friends with Jim Cornette. Last supposedly contacted Cornette and asked him if there was legit issues between Meltzer and Cornette. When Cornette asked him why, Last told him what Meltzer had said about Cornette on his messageboard. I assume Cornette does not have a membership at that messageboard, so he was unaware that Meltzer had said anything derogatory or insulting about him. Cornette claims that he contacted Dave Meltzer and asked him if they had a problem. Meltzer reportedly denied it. Cornette reportedly asked Meltzer to lay off the insults towards him out of respect for their friendship, and the inference was that Cornette would refrain from bashing Meltzer for his opinion on modern Pro Wrestling (although he obviously wouldn't stop bashing modern Pro Wrestling.) Cornette seemed to think they had a gentleman's agreement not to antagonize each other in public anymore. Whether or not that is true is up for speculation. It was apparently not too long after that when Dave Meltzer Tweeted his infamous statement that The Young Bucks were the modern incarnation of the Midnight Express. Obviously that antagonized Jim Cornette, and Brian Last has said that he feels that it was clearly intended to do so. Regardless, Cornette didn't flip out on Meltzer for making the statement about the Midnight Express (although he would have done so anyhow) but he was pissed off because they had supposedly just privately agreed not to publicly bash or antagonize each other. Cornette has claimed (right or wrong) that Dave Meltzer was basically trying to ingratiate himself with the "cool kids" by deliberately pissing off one of his oldest friends. The straw that broke the camel's back was the situation regarding Jim Cornette's infamous "Fried Chicken" joke on NWA Power which resulted in his quitting the NWA and retiring from any active participation in modern Pro Wrestling at all. Dave Meltzer reported on the situation in the Observer. Cornette had no issue with that, because it was news. However, Meltzer wrote the story and supposedly got a number of details wrong because (in true modern Meltzer fashion) he couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone to call Jim Cornette and get his side of the story or verify any of the details. Which means one of two things...either Meltzer thought Cornette would lie to him, or he was just being lazy and couldn't bother to do his research. I guess the other possibility is that he knew Cornette was pissed at him for violating their agreement about taking shots at each other, and Meltzer wanted to avoid talking to Cornette because he knew Cornette was going to give him an earful over the whole Bucks/Midnight Express thing. Either way, Cornette felt that the fact was that his friend of almost 30 years couldn't even be bothered to pick up the phone and check on the details of a story that directly involved him. Jim Cornette claims that he sent Dave Meltzer an email and told him that he was not interested in being friends with him anymore. His reasons were that Meltzer insisted on taking shots at him, and wasn't showing him any respect. You could tell when Cornette discussed it that despite all his bluster, his feelings were hurt. I think it's pretty obvious that Cornette thinks he had done a lot to help Dave Meltzer over the years, and defended him when a lot of other people wouldn't. Despite what some people might like to claim, I don't think Cornette begrudges Dave Meltzer his opinion on modern Pro Wrestling...although he clearly doesn't agree with it. But like I said earlier, look at Jim Ross in comparison. Jim Ross and Jim Cornette have been friends for years and have both said that they "love" each other. They have both said that when they have interacted, they have just avoided the topic of AEW and modern Pro Wrestling altogether, out of respect for their friendship. Both guys have sniped at each other on their respective podcasts, but their friendship is intact. Ditto Arn Anderson (minus the sniping) and Tony Schiavone and several others. I think making a general statement implying that Jim Cornette hates modern Pro Wrestling so much that he stopped being friends with Dave Meltzer just because he likes it is a gross oversimplification of the issue between those guys. It is sad that their friendship ended. Brian Last has stated more than once that he doesn't understand why Dave Meltzer couldn't just agree to disagree with Cornette and let the issue go. I honestly think if Meltzer had laid off the cheap shots on Twitter (and on his board supposedly) then Cornette probably would have as well. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that he has done that for his other friends. But for some reason, Dave Meltzer insisted on working his "Twitter Dave" gimmick when it came to Jim Cornette. A theory is that Dave Meltzer knew that Jim Cornette is considered "toxic" by modern Pro Wrestling fans and most active Pro Wrestling organizations, so he wanted to distance himself from Cornette because it would hurt his reputation. I can't help but wonder if Meltzer stayed friends with Cornette while he was a source and useful to him, and also his defender. Cornette opened doors in the Pro Wrestling business for Dave Meltzer and made it okay to read his newsletter, talk to the guy and believe what he said. But once Cornette was no longer active in the business and had a lot of bad publicity on him, all of the sudden Meltzer is taking shots at his friend in public. That's certainly plausible. But it's a little sad. I saw an interview with FTR where they said they got the cold shoulder when they first came to AEW because they had appeared on Cornette's podcast and were friendly with him. It really does seem like Meltzer pretty much chose to try and ingratiate himself with the guys in AEW at the expense of his friendship with Jim Cornette just as much as Cornette chose to say shit that he knew would upset Dave Meltzer about his opinions. That's on both of them, not just Jim Cornette.

Jim Cornette and Dave Meltzer's friendship did not end just because Meltzer praises Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. That is an oversimplification of what happened. Cornette has alluded to some of the reasons on his podcast, but it was more Brian Last who was a lot more open about it when it was pretty clear Cornette didn't want to discuss it. The details are out there, but you have to know where they are, and finding them involves listening to Cornette's side...which of course a lot of people understandably don't want to do. It was just a couple of years ago that Cornette actually had Meltzer on his podcast and they had a spirited debate about Omega and "modern wrestling." They ended up agreeing to disagree. The Cornette/Meltzer relationship ended after that and not just because Meltzer likes AEW. That is certainly a factor and it plays into the falling out, but it is not the primary reason. Both Cornette and Jim Ross have publicly stated that clearly they don't agree on AEW and modern wrestling, and there has been some sniping back and forth, but they have both said they are still friends. Cornette is also still friends with other people in the industry who like or even work for AEW. There's more to the Cornette/Meltzer relationship ending and in some ways it says just as much about Dave Meltzer as it does Jim Cornette.

I agree. It is funny and ironic that the booking team of McMahon, Russo and Cornette actually created a significant amount of memorable stuff in 1997. It was only after Russo forced Cornette off the creative team and Cornette left to start OVW that things really started to get stupid during the "Attitude Era" in my opinion.

I remember sneaking into to see Blade Runner in the theatre when I was around 13 years old. I loved that movie so much, it was one of the first movies I ever bought on VHS, and then DVD and then Blu Ray. I am a Blade Runner mark. When they announced they were making a sequel I was so pissed, but yeah...that movie was awesome. Visually stunning and artistic, and Ford did a great job of playing the character again.

I still consider myself a Jim Cornette fan. I pretty much agree with his opinion on Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. But between the incessant ad reads, the interminable political rants and the repetitiveness of his reviews, his podcasts have become an absolute chore to get through. Lately, it hasn't been unusual to have to sit through almost an hour of him doing ads and then ranting about Donald Trump and Republicans before he actually starts to talk about Pro Wrestling. That's nuts. Say what you want about Conrad, but at least he gets to talking about Pro Wrestling pretty much right off the bat. He gives his co-hosts a few minutes to ramble, then they get down to business. I agree with @khawk20, using YouTube to listen to the individual segments/questions is pretty much the only way I can handle listening to Jim Cornette at this point. And as much as I respect his knowledge of the history of Pro Wrestling, his fantasy booking ideas are generally total shit. I have come to understand something about Jim Cornette, and it is a distinction I never really made until recently. Cornette understands Pro Wrestling psychology better than pretty much anybody I have ever heard. The mechanics of how, when and why Pro Wrestlers do things during a match...he is almost peerless in that department. But on the flip side, he has woefully outdated, simplistic and quite frankly unimpressive ideas when it comes to actual storytelling and booking outside the ring. The distinction is really quite remarkable. If I ran a Pro Wrestling promotion, I'd hire him in a minute to plan and layout matches and help the talent tell the story once the bell rang, but he's the next to last guy I'd ever pick to actually book the angles. (Vince Russo would be the last.)

So the first episode of "Conversations with Conrad" featuring Jim Herd was released this week. It seems to be getting some attention since this is the first interview Herd has given in over 20 years, I've seen some of the "newz" sites reporting on some of the stuff Herd said. It was moderately interesting. Jim Herd is now 88 years old and is understandably a bit feeble and frail, but he is still pretty sharp mentally and has a better memory than guys 20 years younger than he is. I am betting Jim Cornette is going to blow a gasket when some of the stuff Herd said about him and The Midnight Express gets reported. Conrad did a decent job with this interview, considering he is not a professional reporter. You could tell he was trying very hard to walk a fine line between going easy on an 88 year old man while still asking him about some of the ridiculous decisions Jim Herd made while running WCW.

Just saw this now, for some reason, sorry for the delay. I was scheduled for surgery on November 25. I went into the hospital this week for all the standard tests they need to do before a heart surgery and they found some additional issues. so the operation is being rescheduled for some time in March. Thanks very much for your well wishes, brother.

Just saw some really sad news. Sabu's manager/valet/girlfriend Melissa "Super Genie" Coates just had to have part of her leg amputated. That's terrible.

They do a lot of Crockett watch-alongs, but unfortunately they are kind of uncomfortable to listen to. Arn has a creepy habit of breathing really heavily into his headset when he does a watch-along. It ends up sounding like an obscene phone call and it's very distracting.

It was a rib on Cornette by Vince and Bruce, according to Cornette

What if you’re hoping for Last Tango in Paris

If you start using the Metric system here at PWO, the skies will darken, a giant crack will appear in the earth and Vince Russo will rise from the pit to destroy us all, bro.

See? That’s what happens when you don’t speak American, by gawd. It breaks the whole damn board.

Conrad announced the monthly special event podcast this morning. It is called "Conversations with Conrad." The first guest is Jim Herd of all people. If you listen carefully, you might be able to hear Jim Cornette's head exploding. If my math is right, Jim Herd is in his 80's now and he looks every second of it in that clip. I'm not sure how viable he is going to be as an interview subject, but I guess we'll find out on November 10.

It depends I think. I know New Jack talked about how when he was asked if he wanted to come back for the WWE version of ECW, one of the conditions was that you had to sign the rights away for your name. That’s why after the whole ECW experiment ended a lot of those guys couldn’t use their names anymore on the Indies. I think it’s possible that a lot of talent signed agreements with WWE allowing use of their names in perpetuity in exchange for WWE selling merchandise with their name on it. Of course, you would think that the death of the person would end that agreement, but maybe not. We don’t know what Dusty signed in order to work with Vince. Jim Cornette says Dusty used to say all the time that Vince was lucky Dusty never saved his money...implying that Dusty took the job for the money so who knows what he signed.

Even though I am a member and it might seem like I am promoting it here in this thread, there is absolutely no denying the AdFreeShows community is a little...strange. There are four tiers. If you pay $9.00 a month you just get all of Conrad's podcasts a week early and with no ad reads at all. The next tier is $29.00 a month. That's the tier I am signed up for. I get all the shows with no ads, plus one bonus episode a month from each host. Plus they are converting all the old episodes of all Conrad's podcasts and removing all the ads from those, and you get access to those which is great. They are also converting all the special events, panels and guest appearances from all of Conrad's Starrcast shows into video and podcast format, and you get access to those. (This past week they released an audio version of the RVD and Jerry Lynn special event and Q&A from Starrcast II, for example.) You also get 10% off anything you buy at Box of Gimmicks (the merchandise site for all of Conrad's shows) or Pro Wrestling Tees. To me, the main selling point of this level was all the content with no ads. I literally can't keep up with the amount of stuff they churn out. I have to pick and choose which shows and what bonus content I want to listen to, because I'd never be able to listen to it all. From where I sit, the two lower tiers are pretty standard, and not unlike most Patreon services where you can pay extra to support your favorite podcasts or whatever. The tiers above that are where things start to get a little cult-like and weird. The next level is $49.00 a month, and you get all the same stuff I get, but a bigger discount on the merchandise (20%) and you also get a free shirt every three months and an autographed picture of all the hosts and Conrad. You also get special access to the "AFS Community" on Discord where a bunch of the members chat quite a bit, from what I understand. On top of that, you get rotating monthly Zoom Chats with all five of the hosts (except Bruce) and Conrad. The top level is $99.00 a month. You get all the stuff that the $49.00 a month guys get, plus free tickets to all live events and Starrcast. Plus, Conrad will be hosting an annual weekend long get together at his house with at least two of his co-hosts in attendance. He will also be hosting regular PPV Watch Parties. So basically a couple of times a year you get to go to Huntsville and hang out with Conrad and at least two of his podcast co-hosts. It is my understanding that members who sign up for the top two tiers have a fair bit of interaction with Arn, Tony and Eric. I know all three of those guys routinely call the members on the phone, and participate in Zoom chats with the members. Eric Bischoff is especially active, because of the five hosts he is the only one not actively working in the Pro Wrestling business at this time. If you are signed up for a lower tier, they are constantly trying to talk you into upgrading your membership. I get emails and Twitter DM's at least once a week trying to entice me into bumping up to a higher tier. Their main selling point they push at you is the increased amount of interaction with the hosts, and they really go on and on about how when you sign up you are part of a "community" or even a "family." I get the impression that the top level members socialize with each other a fair bit via Discord and Zoom. But it's a bit weird because all the members of the top two tiers are constantly promoting how great it is and how more people should sign up. It's a little off-putting to be honest, it's a constant barrage of messages about how great it is to be "part of the AFS family" and stuff like that. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was great getting a phone call from Eric Bischoff. But I have no burning desire to participate in regular Zoom chats with those guys, or to go hang out in Huntsville with the hosts and Conrad. And I really don't have any interest in getting to know the other members and chatting with them all the time and being part of the "family." I just wanted to listen to my favorite podcasts with no ads and to get the bonus episodes. Plus, I really can't see paying $50-$100 a month for that service. Hell, what I pay right now seems a little high and once I go back to work full time I am going to cancel that.

Not to be a thread bumper, but I found myself thinking about Chris Hyatte today for some reason. Surprisingly, if you Google the name Chris Hyatte, this actual thread is one of the top results which shows up in the search. It has now been almost five months since he passed. I remember in the days leading up to his death that there was some speculation among Chris Hyatte fans that perhaps, he was playing some sort of joke and faking the whole thing. After all, there was a precedent for that, Hyatte had faked his death before. I saw some Hyatte fans on Twitter and Reddit hopefully speculating that he really wasn't sick or dying...maybe it was all part of some elaborate joke to get publicity for a planned comeback. Hyatte himself knew that his past antics would lead some to believe he wasn't really gone, which led him to say this... After thinking of Hyatte this morning and remembering his suggestion, I did indeed Google his real name. Sadly, it appears this really wasn't a trick and he really is gone. Either that or he has gone to greater lengths than you'd expect to make this a truly epic gag. It reminds me of the legacy of Andy Kaufman. Kaufman succeeded so often in sucking people into his mind games that even those closest to him hard a hard time believing he really died. To this day, there are fans who believe he's alive. But Chris Hyatte wasn't Andy Kaufman. He's gone and I know it. It just sucks.

AdFreeShows has announced their latest two additions to the service. Neither one of them seem particularly impressive. Rebel from TNA/Impact (aka Brit Baker's assistant Reba in AEW) is going to be hosting a monthly Zoom chat with the higher tier members. The combination of an attractive woman who works in the wrestling business and a bunch of guys who are willing to pay up to $100.00 a month for a Pro Wrestling podcast service seems like a recipe for one hella creepy video chat, but who knows. I can't imagine what she would have to say that I would find all that interesting, but to each their own I guess. The other new addition to the schedule is a new podcast called "ManceSplainin with Mance Warner." "Wrestling's most ridiculous, outlandish matches and moments are explained to non-wrestling fans like never before, as AFS introduces "ManceSplainin" with Mance Warner! Mancer sits down with a light beer in hand AND a wife/girlfriend/partner of a Top Guy (top tier AFS subscriber) as his guest every week, as they try to make sense of it all. Who else can say "Mance Did My Wife"?! But he will, AND when he does, you'll get a free t-shirt to make it known to everyone!" Uh...yeah.

Thanks guys. Honestly, I am so ready for this whole deal to be over with. I have been off work and dealing with this stupid never ending heart condition for almost two years now. I have an arrhythmia which landed me in the ICU a couple of years back. One minute my heart would be beating 170 bpm and I'd feel like it was about to explode but then the next it would drop down and beat so slow it would make me feel faint. After trying about a million different treatments and medications, they managed to shock my heart back into a normal rhythm and keep it that way with a cocktail of medications, blood thinners and beta blockers. The problem is, the arrhythmia is doing serious damage to the structure of my heart, and the medications are toxic if you take them long term. I have been in Congestive Heart Failure for a long time now. But there is a surgical fix. They have isolated the chamber of my heart which is causing the problem, so they are going to insert a catheter directly into my heart (going through my groin?!) and use a camera that they are going to insert down my throat to guide them. (And yet this surgery is somehow classified as "non-invasive.") Then they are going to cauterize the damaged section of my heart, and they tell me afterwards I will be 100% healthy and as good as new. Ready to go back to work, exercise...everything. No lasting side effects. I would have had the surgery in the Spring, but all "non-invasive" surgeries were indefinitely rescheduled due to the pandemic. But now they have to do it, because these medications they have me on are trashing my kidneys, and my heart can't take much more...so they are doing this on November 6, come hell or high water. If you remember when Ric Flair was hospitalized due to a heart condition back in May 2019 and required emergency surgery but he bounced back afterwards? He had the exact same condition I do right now. (Not to be confused with the time he was in the coma and almost died in 2017. That was something different.) But Flair had emergency heart surgery and missed his "roast" at Starrcast II as a result...and there was the whole controversy and back-and-forth between Ryan Satin and Conrad Thompson about how serious the situation actually was. Hey look at that...I actually managed to make my post about Conrad Thompson again, even though I was discussing my stupid heart surgery!

So here's something...I just got a phone call from Eric Bischoff. So today, there I am...sitting around watching Futurama, when my phone rings and it's Eric Bischoff. He tells me that he's calling to thank me for being a subscriber to AdFreeShows, and also to wish me all the best with my upcoming heart surgery. (I had mentioned to some of the other members I have gotten to know that I am due for surgery in a couple of weeks. Obviously, somebody told him.) He was really nice and came across as super sincere. I'm not one of the upper tier members who pay $50 - $100 a month, either. I know part of being on that level is interacting with the hosts but that wasn't something that interested me for a couple of reasons. He wasn't trying to sell me on anything...he just wanted to say thank you and wish me the best. And he didn't rush me off the phone either, we spoke for over 20 minutes. And then at the end of the phone call, I told him. "Eric, over at Pro Wrestling Only myself and @SomethingSavage have always said good things about you and your podcast even when guys like @sek69 and @El-P criticized you." And he said: "Dave, that's okay. And you tell sek and El-P that I forgive them for not appreciating how awesome I am." Okay...that last part didn't actually happen. But he really did call me and we really did talk for 20 minutes, so that was something. He did say he was going to call me again, and if he does maybe then I'll tell him about sek and El-P and all the rest of you who have said bad stuff about my new close personal friend Eric Bischoff.