The Thread Killer

I felt pretty much the same way as @SomethingSavage up until recently. I finally cancelled my subscription to the WWE Network. I rarely used it, and the thought of any of my money going into Vince McMahon's pocket just makes me feel uneasy. I find weekly WWE programming (including NXT, sadly) to be pretty much unwatchable. When Dynamite debuted last year, I watched AEW for a while and thought it was good to very good at times, and cringeworthy at others. But the last few episodes I saw left a distinctly negative impression on me. The last AEW show I watched in it's entirety was All Out 2020, and after that I swore off AEW for good. I just don't like "modern" Pro Wrestling. I will be perfectly content if I never see another Kenny Omega or Young Bucks match again as long as I live. I don't deny that there are obviously plenty of people who enjoy WWE and AEW and I don't begrudge them that. If you find that kind of stuff palatable then more power to you. I don't, but to each their own. I had been enjoying the NWA, but that is gone and is probably not coming back thanks to the pandemic and creepy Dave Lagana. I have pretty much stopped listening to Jim Cornette, for the most part. I agree with about 75% of his opinions on modern Pro Wrestling, but I don't need to hear it every week and I could not give less of a shit what he thinks about politics. Cornette's shows have become extremely repetitive, to the point where it doesn't even matter if you hear them or not. It's the same crap, every week. Rant about Trump, rant about Republicans, rant about AEW...lather, rinse, repeat. Brian Last has basically helped turn Cornette's shows into the podcast equivalent of a Twitter troll. Cornette used to be a bombastic, eccentric but entertaining Pro Wrestling historian. Now he's just boring. The only form of Pro Wrestling entertainment I was getting was from Conrad Thompson's AdFreeShows service, and even then I found I was listening less and less. I usually listen to 83 Weeks, I will listen to Grilling JR if I am interested in the topic, although I have to be in the right mood for Grumpy JR. Arn just bores me now. I don't listen to Tony really, because I can't do watch alongs anymore without the WWE Network. I haven't listened to Bruce Prichard in years, and I have no interest in hearing him while he is an active employee of WWE. He was bad enough with butt kissing and revisionist history before Vince started signing his paychecks again. I can't even imagine how he'd be now. Surprisingly, it's the "bonus content" that you get as a member of AdFreeShows that has kept me as a subscriber. I find Conrad's weekly Q&A to be more interesting than most of his podcasts. I was actually starting to think that after 37 years I was done with Pro Wrestling. I even stopped dropping by PWO daily, which was unusual for me. My posting here has decreased because I really don't have anything to say. The only thing that has changed my tune lately is surprisingly the rebooted, pandemic version of Ring of Honor, specifically the Pure Wrestling Tournament. I have really been enjoying those shows, a great deal. Between the in depth video profiles on the talents, the increased focus on mat psychology and the lack of highspots and dives, and the match quality...this has been some good shit, pal. Even since the tournament started, I have been eating that stuff up. I don't know how long this will last, and I don't know if this is sustainable as a product, but ROH since coming back has reminded me why I actually enjoy Pro Wrestling.

You might want to check out the episode of 83 Weeks they did on that PPV, it was fascinating.

Tonight it was announced to AdFreeShows members that Gerald Brisco will be starting a new weekly Q&A podcast called "Monday Mailbag." This will be exclusive to AdFreeShows members and will not be available on Westwood One or any other podcast platform. Although he is a WWE Hall of Famer, I don't think this is the mystery podcast Conrad has been alluding to. In fact, based on the wording of the announcement I don't even know for sure that Conrad will be co-hosting the Monday Mailbag with Gerry Brisco podcast, but it will be part of the AFS subscription service. On the AFS feed, they are promising regular major announcements about additions to the AddFreeShows service for the rest of the month. For example, Conrad talked about a major "one time only" podcast he is working on. He says he has no less than three researchers working on the format and questions for this interview, and that when he goes to do the interview he will have to travel a long distance to interview the subject. I have no idea who or what this could be referring to. I get the impression that the announcement of the new podcast might be the grand finale of this series of announcements.

We've been speculating in this thread who might be Conrad's co-host in his new podcast which is about to be announced. The only thing we know so far is that it is a WWE Hall of Famer. Today somebody mentioned that X-Pac's podcast seems to have wrapped up, kind of like how Eric and JR's did a few months before they started working with Conrad. Any chance the new show could be with X-Pac? I have to be honest, at this point if it doesn't turn out to be Mick Foley, I'm going to end up being kind of disappointed. After all the speculating we have done in this thread, everybody seems right...Foley seemed to be the most logical choice. And the most interesting choice, based on his career and storytelling ability. Honestly, despite the fact that I didn't much enjoy most of his career, I don't mind Sean Waltman. He actually seems to be a legitimately nice guy. Hell, he's the one member of the Clique who even Bret Hart and Jim Cornette like, and that should tell you something. And he has had a pretty interesting career, and he is also intelligent and well spoken...but if it ends up being him with Conrad, I am afraid we are going to be be deluged again with non-stop Monday Night War era stuff. Mind you...we probably would be with Foley as well, come to think of it.

You know me, C.S., when somebody asks a question like that, I am usually more than happy to post one of my lengthy recaps (much like the one about Vince Russo in this very thread.) This is a bit different. David Bixenspan is a member at PWO, so if I was to recap the statements Brian Last and Jim Cornette made about him, or if I was to pass my own opinions, it might be construed as my antagonizing another member of this messageboard. @GSR provided a link to the episode of The Jim Cornette Experience in question. I know you don't like to listen to Cornette, but if you really want to know about this situation, I will spare you having to delve through the entire episode to find it. Brian Last airs his grievances with David Bixenspan starting at 25:46 of episode 349 of The Jim Cornette Experience. Or if you want to use the YouTube version you can just click here. You may have to skip a couple of ads. Brian Last pretty much recaps the history of his entire relationship with Bixenspan, the nature of their falling out and the reasons for it. The segment is about half an hour, give or take.

Yeah, the whole issue between Brian Last and Conrad Thompson seems kind of goofy, and appears pretty much one sided. I noticed that Brian Last tended to take thinly veiled shots at Conrad and his shows several times on the Cornette podcasts and on Twitter. I never heard Conrad say anything disparaging about Brian Last...in fact Conrad has always been quite complimentary towards him. I have seen fans point out stuff Brian Last has said to Conrad, and Conrad always seems puzzled as to why Last has such a problem with him. Conrad addressed it on an episode of WHW, and it has come up on "Ask Conrad Anything" but Conrad has never risen to the bait by insulting Brian Last back. Then again, that is probably smart. Getting into a back-and-forth with somebody associated with Jim Cornette is pretty much a no-win situation. You risk Cornette going mental on you, and bringing in his brain damaged "Cult of Cornette" for good measure. Why do anything to provoke that kind of insanity? I said it before elsewhere (I think on another messageboard) but if I had to pick who to talk Pro Wrestling with, I'd probably pick Brian Last. If I had to pick who to have a beer with, I'd pick Conrad. Brian Last definitely knows his shit, but he can really come across as an arrogant jerk. Anybody who wants proof of that needs to look no further than Brian Last's recent tirade against David Bixenspan on The Jim Cornette Experience. When Jim Cornette of all damn people has to try and calm you down, get you to stop ranting and get you back on topic...you've got yourself a problem. Don't get me wrong, Bix totally brought that whole thing down on himself and I have zero sympathy for him (especially taking into consideration some of the details that came out) but the way Brian Last reacted to the situation was absolutely venomous and gives you a good peek into what kind of person Brian Last really is. Very spiteful. At first I thought Brian Last had an issue with Conrad Thompson because Last doesn't like Bruce Prichard, Eric Bischoff and especially Jim Ross, but as time has gone by it has become pretty obvious that you are right, @Petey. Last is quite jealous of the success Conrad has had in both popularizing but more importantly monetizing Pro Wrestling podcasts and Brian Last acts like that should somehow be his exclusive domain or something like that..because he was there first. The whole thing strikes me as unnecessary. But when you think about it, really Brian Last has gotten sucked into the same vortex Jim Cornette is in. At one point, they were both respected for their knowledge and understanding of Pro Wrestling history, but now they have created and have to cultivate a fanbase which is more interested in stupid insult humor and pointless online feuds. The actual Pro Wrestling content (especially the historical stuff) has become almost secondary.

I've seen the RVD documentary. It's a bit disappointing. It's partially about his problems with concussions but it's also about his attempts to break into stand-up comedy. Also. it's just barely an hour long. The kindest way to put it, is that it's obvious that the people who made it weren't experienced documentary filmmakers.

I forgot to mention, Conrad also announced a new podcast. I don't think this is one of the shows we discussed previously in this thread though...this is something different. This will be hosted by Conrad and will be using the "Conrad Thompson formula" so it will be a show focusing on particular events or talents...but it will be constantly rotating topics and co-hosts. For example, they are going to do a World Class themed episode or episodes, with Conrad and Kevin Von Erich. Then they might cover another particular event or match, with Conrad interviewing the participants (much like what Edge and Christian did on their podcast, when they had Bret Hart and Steve Austin review their WM13 match, and Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels review Mind Games.) Somebody suggested that they might do a couple of shows with Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat discussing their matches, for example. If you look at some of the individual shows Conrad has done at Starrcast the past couple of years, you'll get a good idea of what this new show will be like. Conrad was able to convince Jim Crockett to make his first public appearance and give his first interview in ages, for example. Conrad's list of contacts has grown so much now, that he has people who wouldn't be an ideal subject for a regular weekly podcast, but would be able to do individual shows that could be very interesting. This new show is going to be monthly, not weekly. The other problem for a lot of fans is the fact that it is going to be an AdFreeShows exclusive. The reasoning behind this is pretty simple, purely business related. Obviously, Conrad will be paying these people for their time...much like a themed Shoot Interview. Conrad's other co-hosts get paid based on weekly paid advertising, but if you're not doing the same guest every week that financial model is impossible, obviously. The only way to afford to hire these guests is subscription based, so that is how it is going to be done. On the positive side, that means no annoying ad reads interrupting the show. The name of the new show, the first guest and topic and the release date for the debut will be announced shortly.

On this week's episode of "Ask Conrad Anything" somebody asked Conrad about doing an SMW podcast with Cornette, and Conrad shot the idea down. Conrad confirmed that he and Cornette and on good terms and are "friendly" but it is highly unlikely that they would end up working together. Conrad said that he honestly has seen very little Smoky Mountain Wrestling and doesn't know enough about it to host a podcast focused on just SMW. The other problem is that Cornette sold the entire SMW library to WWE, lock stock and barrel. He retained the rights to sell a couple of the shows on DVD at his own website, but that's it. That's because there was per-existing commercial agreements to sell those shows in place on VHS when SMW was still active, so Cornette retains the ownership rights (most notably Night of Legends.) Cornette has speculated in the past that WWE knew exactly what Cornette's financial situation was when he closed SMW, and knew that Cornette could sell the footage to make enough money to get himself totally out of debt, so they bought it - partially to help Cornette because he worked for them at the time, partially to obtain content for the WWE Network (which was being planned, even back then) but mostly they did it to prevent Cornette from selling the rights to somebody else. WWE has only chosen to put up a small handful of SMW content on the WWE Network, for whatever reason. Lack of interest, I assume. There is a lot of SMW footage on YouTube (which WWE doesn't seem to care about) but if Cornette and Conrad were to do a podcast, there would be no way for them to do any of Conrad's infamous "watch along" episodes. That's the reason Cornette and Brian Last haven't done a lot of SMW watch along shows as well. Since Conrad knows so little about SMW, you'd have to assume they'd rely heavily on that formula. Especially since Conrad's other main source of info for his podcast is reading back stuff from The Observer, and I don't know how much coverage Meltzer gave SMW. The other main issue is that Conrad has hinted at the fact that Cornette may have an exclusive contract with Brian Last and the "Arcadian Vanguard" Network which would prevent he and Cornette from working together. A lot of people have suggested (rightly so) that Cornette's podcasts would benefit greatly from the "Conrad Thompson formula." Cornette would be a lot more interesting if he avoided talking about the modern product altogether, quit ranting about politics and other current events, and focused on reviewing historical shows on a match-by-match basis and individual talent themed episodes, especially from JCP. His weekly Q&A show would be a lot more interesting if somebody other than Brian Last was screening the questions. But it won't be happening. For his part, Conrad is quite complimentary towards Cornette and Last. He claims he is a regular listener of Cornette's Drive Thru, but says he avoids the Jim Cornette Experience. (No point in that anymore, they've basically become the exact same show.) Conrad has said that what Cornette and Last has together works for them, so more power to them. As I've said elsewhere (and as Conrad has confirmed) Brian Last does not much like Conrad Thompson, even though they've never met in person. But the animosity seems to be one sided, at this point. Bottom line is, we won't be seeing Cornette and Conrad working together any time soon, which is a shame in my opinion.

I am sure this isn't going to be a popular opinion here, but I can somewhat see WWE's side of this issue. And some people (on Twitter, not so much here at PWO) are acting like policies like this are totally unfair and absolutely unheard of. My most recent job was working as a "Production Technician" for a major pharmaceutical company. (Basically, I operated a computerized machine that produced medication.) I didn't work in the office, I didn't work in the lab and obviously I didn't have any contact with the media. I didn't know the scientific formula of the medication we were producing, that was already compounded before it got into my hands. But when I got hired, the company made me sign a rather comprehensive document saying that I was not allowed to speak to anybody under any circumstances about the details of my job. Which was fine, because who would want to hear about it, honestly. A few months later, the company came out with an addendum to the policy regarding Social Media. The policy stipulated that employees were forbidden from representing themselves as employees of the company on Social Media like Facebook and especially Twitter. Employees were strongly discouraged from even identifying the company in their profiles and were informed in no uncertain terms that any violation of the policy was grounds for immediate termination. Once again, that didn't seem like a big deal to me because I hate Facebook and deactivated my account years ago, and I rarely use Twitter. And when I do, I don't talk about my job because once again...who cares? My point is, my feeling was always that the company was paying me, providing my medical insurance and coverage and my (incredibly meager) pension plan...so if they wanted to legally forbid me from identifying myself as an employee of theirs on Social Media, that was their right. My feeling has always been that if you are being paid by a particular company, they have a right to exert a level of control over how you conduct yourself in public forums...since how you act will reflect back on the company. With WWE, the issue is intensified because (rightly or wrongly) WWE actually owns the intellectual property of the names and characters and has every legal right to exert control over how those names and likenesses are being portrayed...especially if the individuals are using those tools to generate revenue for themselves. Put it this way...if the company I worked for was paying for my car, like they owned it and paid the gas and insurance and maintenance but allowed me to drive it - it wouldn't be unrealistic for them to not allow me to use that car on my own time to be an Uber driver or deliver pizzas. They own it (right or wrong) they get to dictate how it is being used. Having said all of that...here is where I think WWE is totally full of shit, and are totally out of line: Everything I just said applied to me because I was a paid, full time employee with full benefits. I was not an "Independent Contractor." I have a buddy who is an Independent Contractor, he works in I.T. and he gets hired by companies to work on their websites and especially online ordering systems. They pay him an hourly rate for his work. They don't pay him for transportation, they don't pay his insurance or medical benefits (which sucks because he has three kids, all of whom have serious medical issues) he has no pension plan. But then again, they don't care what he does on Social Media, and they don't care who he works for, as long as it doesn't interfere with the work he does for them. My friend can also terminate that agreement whenever he feels like it, and go work wherever he wants. There is no ridiculous "90 Day No Compete" clause. What he does for each company becomes their Intellectual Property...but that's the only control they have over him as an Independent Contractor. WWE can't have their cake and eat it too. The feeling I get when I see how some people (especially younger fans who have clearly never actually had a paying job) react is that employers have "no right" to tell you what to do when it comes to independent platforms and Social Media. That's totally wrong, employers absolutely DO have the right to dictate that kind of stuff, if you're actually an EMPLOYEE. My feeling is that if WWE wants to exert this level of control over people, then they need to stop being such cheap assholes and actually hire these damn people as employees. Then, WWE can pretty much dictate the terms of employment. If WWE is not willing to do that then I really think these guys should take CM Punk's advice and tell Vince McMahon to stick his policy in his ear. If they don't actually legally work for him in the strictest definition of the term, then WWE can't tell them what to do. But if they did, then I think Vince would absolutely have that right. If Andrew Yang is mainly concerned with the Independent Contractor aspect of this policy, then he's absolutely right. If he (or anybody else) thinks policies like this are unheard of or shouldn't be applied in general to actual employees, then I don't agree.

I remember Jericho and Steen talking about that when Steen was on Jericho's podcast. Steen is obviously one of Sami's closest friends and even he admitted that Sami is annoying as hell a lot of the time.

The good thing about Cornette's podcasts is that they get broken up into individual segments on YouTube, and before he posts the clips Brian Last edits a lot of the most inflammatory nonsense, and the majority of the political rhetoric as well. This way, a few days after the podcast has aired, you can just check out YouTube and peruse the individual topics, rather than having to listen to 3 plus hours of Cornette going insane. I have been a Cornette fan, but I can't sit through his entire podcasts anymore. It's just the same shit, week in and week out, over and over. I know Joey Janela sucks, and I agree that Kenny Omega looks and acts like a pretentious dork, but I don't need to hear it every damn week. I agree though, his Bob Armstrong tribute was very good. Obviously, Cornette knew the man very well and it was moving to hear how choked up he got discussing him.

So there is an update on this story. Today Conrad did another episode of "Ask Conrad Anything" and unsurprisingly, one of the questions was about the two new podcasts he has coming up. The question was if Conrad could give anymore information about the new upcoming podcasts. Conrad repeated the story that he had been contacted by three WWE Hall of Famers about doing podcasts, and he had said yes to two of them. The news is that WWE has (in Conrad's words) "put the kibosh" on one of the shows, and will not allow it to proceed. The way he worded it made it sound like whoever the potential host was supposed to be, they are not only in the HOF but they are somehow active in the company, and WWE do not want the person doing a podcast with Conrad. Keep in mind, Bruce and Eric had contracts with Conrad before they came back to WWE, otherwise it is unlikely WWE would have allowed them to do the show. Working for WWE seems to be what has prevented both Paul Heyman and Jeff Jarrett from signing deals with Conrad. I think if an active WWE employee (I mean independent contractor) is going to do a podcast, WWE wants to control it. Apparently, WWE is trying to start a podcast network of their own and Corey Graves and The New Day already have podcasts. (I was totally unaware of this.) However, Conrad said the other potential podcast is still a "go" and he will be announcing the details "as soon as he can." He has mentioned that there is a fair bit of legal stuff to do before starting a podcast, that he and all five of his co-hosts have actually individually incorporated independent companies for each of their shows. It sounds like this is helpful for accounting and tax purposes, but it also means each individual show has to negotiate their own individual ad sales, etc. Also of note from today's show... Conrad said that he was very close to signing a deal with Jerry Lawler to do a podcast using "The Conrad Thompson podcast model" like all of his other shows. However, this whole thing got scuttled when Lawler returned to active commentary duty in 2019. Conrad says that when Lawler finally steps back from an active role in WWE, it is quite likely they will end up working together. Conrad mentioned that due to Lawler's 50 years in Pro Wrestling there could be no end of topics they could discuss. (Hopefully lots of classic Memphis and not so much Attitude Era "puppies" shows.) Conrad said that Lawler has an excellent memory and is one of the best storytellers he has ever met, and all Lawler needs is the right co-host and format in order to have a successful podcast. Conrad was asked if he had ever considered using his business plan/format to do a podcast outside the world of Pro Wrestling. Conrad says he has, and in fact he anticipates launching an MMA themed podcast and a College Football podcast at some point in the New Year. Conrad said that the MMA podcast would not be with an active fighter, but with somebody who would be known to any serious MMA fan, and has worked behind the scenes in MMA for years. So the bottom line is, we are only going to be getting one new podcast from Conrad that is Pro Wrestling themed, and the more I think about it and the more I hear from Conrad and read between the lines, the more I think it is going to be Mick Foley. Foley doesn't care what WWE thinks of his outside projects, he has proven that twice...once when he refused to sign the book deal they wanted him to and signed one on his own, and secondly when he refused to give them permission to use his likeness for something unless they paid him more than they were offering. Also, Conrad has spoken glowingly of Foley in the past, said he'd love to do a show with him, Foley's books and stand up tours have already shown he has a knack for this kind of thing...and Lord knows Foley loves to make money, which he undoubtedly will if he does a podcast with Conrad.

Here is my understanding of what happened between Conrad and Russo, based on Conrad's side of the story... In the Spring 2018, Vince Russo had a podcast on Podcast One called "Castrating The Marks." From what I understand, the show basically consisted of Russo ranting about current events in the world of Pro Wrestling. (Not unlike The Jim Cornette Experience, ironically). I guess one of the major features of the show was Russo taking shots at various Pro Wrestling fans, journalists and internet columnists (and of course at popular target Dave Meltzer) most especially at those who dared question the brilliance of Vince Russo. One of his favorite targets was Ryan Satin, who had a well established antagonistic relationship with Russo. Satin had apparently cost Russo some advertisers by going to them and telling them some of the unsavory things Russo has said and done over the years. So Russo said all sorts of mean things about Satin on his podcast, and pretty much sicced his fans on Satin. Ryan Satin claimed that as a result, his girlfriend had received some death threats. Ryan Satin made a huge stink about the whole thing so Podcast One decided to dump Vince Russo, partially due to the controversy and partially because apparently his podcast really wasn't doing all that well anyhow. Even Russo admitted he was making barely any money from it. Russo launched a new podcast which you had to pay for, called "The Russo Brand" on something called The Relm Network, but around this time he contacted Conrad Thompson asking for help with his podcast. This was right around the time Eric Bischoff had ended his "Bischoff on Wrestling" podcast and joined Conrad, and Vince Russo pretty much wanted to do the same thing. Russo was also interested in getting booked at Starrcast, which of course is also owned and booked by Conrad Thompson. You could tell at the time that Conrad was considering working with Russo, because he mentioned him frequently and even promoted Russo's new podcast on his own shows. A couple of things happened which derailed the thing. I guess Russo tweeted a couple of things implying he was going to be at Starrcast and apparently even said things which may have alluded to the fact or hinted that he was going to be at "All In." I guess Cody and The Young Bucks wanted nothing to do with Russo and told Conrad that in no uncertain terms. Russo later claimed he was "working" (bro) but regardless, the idea of him showing up at Starrcast was pretty much off the table. The main thing that ended the possibility of Russo working with Conrad was the fact that Conrad asked the guys who he was already working with at the time what they thought about it, and Bruce Prichard and Eric Bischoff both told Conrad they weren't crazy about the idea of being associated with Vince Russo in any way. That might sound unfair, but I don't really blame Prichard and Bischoff. There are a number of confirmed stories about Russo going behind people's backs, lying and being manipulative. Of course, that seems to be a prerequisite for working in that industry, but I guess Russo is apparently a standout in that regard even for the scuzzy world of Pro Wrestling. Stuff like the way he tried to take credit for work he didn't actually do in the WWF, how he quit WWF with no notice and without even going to tell Vince McMahon in person, his creative and personal meltdown in WCW (including the lawsuit by Hogan and the Racial Discrimination suit which Time Warner had to pay to settle) and especially his conduct when he was working in TNA. Apparently, a lot of documents that were made public when Konnan sued TNA helped illustrate how duplicitous Vince Russo really is. This is a guy who is so toxic that Viacom basically told Dixie Carter that they weren't going to continue to fund TNA if Russo was involved. (So of course Dixie Carter kept him on, tried to hide it and it all blew up in her face.) Conrad decided to respect Prichard and Bischoff's wishes, so he decided against co-hosting a show with Russo. However, Conrad liked Russo as a person, so he decided to try and help him in other ways. Anybody who has listened to one of Conrad's shows knows that he has a tried and true formula. He calls it his "podcast business plan." Conrad has somebody research a particular topic, and then he basically interviews his co-host about that particular topic. Conrad felt that Russo would be successful if he quit "freestyling" about everything under the sun, and instead focused on his own career history and individual topics from his own past. Conrad felt there was a ton of material to draw from, the birth of the Attitude Era, Russo's time in WCW, and his time in TNA. If Russo followed the same template Conrad's other shows did, Conrad thought it would be successful. Since Conrad wouldn't be co-hosting the show with Russo, he did the next best thing. Conrad brought in Matt Koon (who at that time worked for Conrad in ad sales, promotions and music...Koon created the musical theme songs for Prichard's podcast and even sings the theme for Schiavone's.) Instead of Conrad, one of his right hand guys would host Russo's new podcast, and they would follow the Conrad Thompson podcast business plan. The new podcast was called "Truth with Consequences" and in an impressive feat of negotiating, Conrad actually managed to get Russo and Koon a deal with Westwood One. That's impressive when you consider the fact that just a few months before, Russo had been booted off Podcast One. The show debuted in Autumn 2018. At first, the show was apparently somewhat successful. (Whether it's true or not, Russo told Sean Oliver that he was making a lot of money from the new podcast.) Koon and Russo followed Conrad Thompson's blueprint and the episodes were themed around Russo's career. The debut episode covered the time Russo made himself WCW Champion, and Koon and Russo did episodes on Russo's relationship with Hulk Hogan, his feud with Jim Cornette, leaving the WWF for WCW and a profile episode on Chyna. They did individual show reviews like Wrestlemania 14. The problem was, Russo couldn't follow the Conrad Thompson format they had agreed upon. Russo insisted on doing "rebuttal" shows about Eric Bischoff and Dave Meltzer. At Vince Russo's insistence, he started using the podcast as a platform to "defend" his reputation and (just like with his "Castrating The Marks" podcast) the show soon became nothing more than Russo ranting about his critics and defending himself against every perceived slight. Russo started using the new podcast as a forum for his own fantasy booking of current Pro Wrestling and as a pulpit from which he would point out all the mistakes Vince McMahon and WWE were making, plus his criticisms of AEW. (Including his hysterical conspiracy theory that Vince McMahon was secretly running AEW.) The low point may have been when Russo resurrected his "Vic Venom" persona from his days as a writer for WWF Magazine, and actually hosted an episode of the show as Vic Venom. After only six months, Matt Koon quit the podcast, reportedly because he was frustrated with Russo's refusal to follow Conrad Thompson's format and proven blueprint for podcast success. With his new podcast now basically nothing more than a carbon copy of his old unsuccessful podcast, "Truth with Consequences" was removed from the Westwood One podcast schedule after less than a year. Vince Russo continues to host a podcast on "The Relm Network" once again using "Castrating The Marks" as his "brand." However, he has reportedly changed his contact information and cell phone number, and has told people within the industry NOT to give his number to Conrad Thompson, as he is apparently quite bitter over the whole experience. I assume he is upset Conrad would not book him at Starrcast, and that Conrad would not produce and co-host his shows personally. I don't see how Russo could blame Conrad for the fact that he himself refused to cooperate the co-host Conrad set him up with, or follow through with a show format that has proven successful with other hosts. But that's Vince Russo for you. Screw something up royally, and deflect the blame. Not Russo's fault. He's misunderstood...bro.

Conrad has claimed he couldn’t do a podcast with Austin without a lot of legal wrangling, due to the nature of Austin’s contract with Podcast One. Conrad has mentioned that he thinks Austin might even have ownership interest in that company. Conrad has done 10 episodes of his “Ask Conrad Anything” podcast and it has actually been very interesting and informative when it comes to information like this. Although, about half of the answers are about financial advice and mortgages.

During his "Ask Conrad" podcasts at Ad Free Shows, Conrad has said that Bruce has no intention of quitting the podcast, but has admitted that he is looking forward to Bruce either retiring or getting fired from WWE, so the show can "regain it's original form" and Bruce is more free to be critical of WWE. (I don't see either of those things happening, but whatever.) Conrad claims that Bruce knows he has a limited shelf life in WWE (especially considering what happened to Bischoff and Heyman) but he'd be a fool to walk away from it right now because he is making much more money than he ever has made in his life. Conrad pointed out that Bruce now owns homes in Houston and Stanford Connecticut and that ain't cheap. Conrad claims that STW is still the most downloaded of his five shows and it is still making money. I don't see Bruce quitting STW because I think he likes the money, not to mention the fact that Conrad has contracts with his sponsors. During one of the first Ask Conrad Anything shows, he was asked straight out how much money the hosts make, and he said it varies from host to host based on download numbers and advertising rates, but he said that Bruce, Eric and JR are all making six figures. I was skeptical of that, but in a later episode Conrad explained that when STW first started, Conrad himself had to stump for advertisers, and eventually they hired Matt Koon to solicit advertisers to bring in revenue. Eventually, their download numbers got high enough that they signed a contract with a "Madison Avenue advertising firm" which assigned them a rotating stable of advertisers and pays them quite a large dividend. You can tell Jim Cornette and Brian Last have done the same thing, because their sponsors vary from week to week now, just like Conrad's do. Conrad claims that if you can get your podcast to 200,000 downloads a week or more, a major advertising firm will sign you and you can make a significant amount of money. He claims that 83 Weeks is making enough money to support Eric Bischoff financially as a full time gig. If he really is making six figures, then I don't doubt it. I am betting word has got around about how much money you can make doing a podcast with Conrad, and that explains the original post about three Hall of Famers contacting him and asking him to do podcasts. Keep in mind, Bischoff and JR already had podcasts, but once they found out from Bruce Prichard how much money he was making with Conrad from advertising, merchandise sales and live event tickets, they scrapped their original shows in order to go with Conrad Thompson. Conrad has admitted he has been approached by a large number of Pro Wrestling talent and personalities begging him to partner up (including Vince Russo) but he is clearly being very selective regarding who he will work with. Basically, if the thinks the talent in question isn't likely to bring in the type of downloads his other shows do, he probably won't do it. I know Conrad is acting as a "podcasting consultant" and helped give advice to a number of other Pro Wrestling podcasts and help them devise a business plan. (I believe The Blue Meanie, The Good Brothers and Ryder and Hawkins are examples of that.) Conrad turned down Vince Russo out of respect for Bruce and Eric who did not want to be on the same team as Russo, but Conrad did set up Russo with Matt Koon and helped them plan and execute Russo's "Truth with Consequences" podcast, which in true Russo form Russo then fucked up, and blamed it on Conrad, so they are supposedly no longer on speaking terms.

Next week's episode of Grilling JR is about Jim Cornette. I got the advance release today. I'm only about a third of the way into the episode and they've already gotten the facts wrong about something, due to Conrad's lousy research. Conrad asks why Cornette and the Midnights left Mid South for World Class at the end of the 1984, and JR says he doesn't know. Conrad asks if it is because Cornette and the Midnights were tired of the schedule or upset about the pay, and JR agreed that it was probably one of those reasons. Which is a great theory...except it isn't true. When they came to Mid South from Memphis, Cornette and The Midnight Express had been told they would be working in Mid South for one year, basically all of 1984 and then they would be moved out. During their year they had worked with Magnum TA & Mr. Wrestling II, The Fantastics, Bill Watts and JYD, and they had of course worked an extended program with the Rock and Roll Express, twice. By the end of the year, they had basically done everything they could possibly do in Mid South, and Dennis Condrey really wanted to work for JCP, so Jim Cornette spoke with Jim Crockett and Dusty Rhodes, and they verbally agreed to a deal where they would finish 1984 in Mid South, take the Christmas Holidays off, and start with JCP in the New Year. Bill Watts is the one who asked Cornette and the Midnight Express to go to World Class, because he had made a working agreement with Fritz Von Erich. Watts told them that they could make decent money in World Class, and after a few months he would bring them back into Mid South, especially for the big shows. They didn't really want to do it, but out of loyalty to Watts they called Crockett and reneged on their verbal agreement. Crockett was apparently more upset with Bill Watts than he was with Cornette and The Midnights, and told them the door was always open for them to come in later (which of course they did.) Cornette and the Midnight Express took some solace in the fact that although the money wasn't great in World Class, the travel would be somewhat easier (always a big issue for Cornette) and besides World Class was super hot in 1984 thanks to the Von Erichs vs. Freebirds feud. The only problem was, The Midnight Express never got anywhere near the Von Erichs (which is insane when you think about it, imagine how great a Midnight Express vs. Kerry & Kevin feud could have been) because the Von Erichs were feuding exclusively with Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez. Finally, the deal with Watts and Von Erich fell apart, leaving The Midnight Express free to go to JCP. The thing that annoys me is that this information is all out there. I assume Meltzer knows all this, since he and Cornette were close at one point. Not to mention, Cornette has discussed their brief tenure in World Class several times on his podcast, and Conrad listens to Cornette's podcast...he admits that during this episode. Cornette did one of his famous "Deep Dives" on this very topic, and it's on YouTube, very easy to find. I like Conrad Thompson, but he really needs to get somebody better to do his research for him. So far, this episode has been a wasted opportunity.

I like NXT UK, screw you guys.

Those are good guesses, and you are probably right...but I hope you're not. I don't know if anybody ever saw the episode of "Legends with JBL" on the WWE Network that featured Sting but if you didn't, let me tell you...it was not so exciting. Sting seems like a very nice, sincere and humble guy...but as we've learned with Arn Anderson, that doesn't necessarily make you a good candidate for a weekly podcast. Based on everything I have ever seen, when he is "out of character" Sting does not come across as a compelling interview or interesting character. Not to mention, I honestly don't think Sting was always paying attention to what was going on around him during his career. During that Legends episode, he draws a complete blank when it comes to the question of him being the infamous "Third Man" in the nWo. Everybody I have seen interviewed about this topic (Bischoff, Nash, Hall and Sullivan) all agreed that if Hulk Hogan had refused to turn heel, Sting was their "Plan B" to form the nWo, and that it had been discussed ahead of time with Sting. Sting doesn't deny that, but he claims he has no memory whatsoever of the entire situation. I think if Conrad did a weekly podcast with Sting it would probably end up being like the first few months of "What Happened When" with Tony Schiavone. Conrad clearly wanted to repeat the success of Bruce Prichard's podcast only to discover that Tony Schiavone had little to no recollection of anything that was going on behind the scenes in WCW. In many cases he admits he had deliberately not been paying attention. That is why they were forced to "pivot" and go to a weekly watch-along format for his show, otherwise it would have pretty much died on the vine. I think if it ends up being Sting as the subject of one of the new shows, we're going to get a whole lot of "I don't recall" stories. As far as Angle goes? There was a time that might have been a good idea, but I think that time might have passed. I remember @SomethingSavage mentioning in this post after Kurt Angle's return to WWE that his verbal abilities seemed to be declining, and a bunch of us ended up discussing how Kurt Angle's overall presence and presentation seemed to be a lot less impressive than it had been. At first people were speculating that Angle was having trouble doing the scripted WWE promos, but as we surmised later in that thread, it appeared (to some of us at least) that Kurt Angle seems a little slower now than he used to be. Maybe that's an unfair statement to make, and none of us are qualified to diagnose something like CTE or cognitive damage due to substance abuse, but if you're being honest you have to admit that Kurt Angle did not seem the same in 2017 when he came back, as he had when he left WWE in 2006. I honestly don't know how interesting a Kurt Angle podcast would be and if he'd even be capable of being entertaining, telling good stories or being verbally engaging at this point in his life. I am not trying to insult the guy, but I just don't think Angle is as quick as he used to be. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows. Foley is a whole other deal. He has certainly proven that he is an excellent storyteller, and has an outstanding memory (even though he openly admits that he has cognitive issues of his own now.) Mick Foley can be personable, engaging and funny. He had a storied enough career to provide a long list of potential podcast topics. My big worry with a Mick Foley podcast would be Conrad's contribution. You could discuss Foley's time in the dying days of the territories in the late 80's, his time in WCW or even better his time in Japan. However, you know Conrad. He's basically obsessed with the "Attitude Era" and if it was up to him I'm sure we'd be getting the story of Hell in a Cell 98 again, even though Bruce and JR have already pretty much driven those mid 90's topics into the ground. I don't know if Conrad could make a Mick Foley podcast original or interesting, but I guess we'll see.

As I have mentioned in a couple of other threads, I am a subscriber to Conrad Thompson's "Ad Free Shows" service. For a monthly fee, I get all five of Conrad's podcasts released up to a week early and with no ad reads of any kind during the episodes. Also, there is a significant amount of bonus content. Each host either releases a Ad Free Shows exclusive "bonus episode" every month, or does something else exclusive for Ad Free Shows subscribers. Sometimes it is an interview discussing something that they do not feel comfortable discussing on the standard public podcast. An example would be Eric Bischoff and Conrad did an extensive, in depth episode covering Eric's hiring and firing from WWE last year. Some times it is some other kind of bonus content. For example, Conrad and JR have been doing "watch-along" shows on classic Mid South, which has been outstanding. Conrad and Arn have done some JCP watch-alongs which have been interesting, like the original War Games. Sometimes Conrad will watch something with his co-hosts that they had never seen before. For example, he and Tony watched the "Boneyard Match" from this past Wrestlemania. My personal favorite has been the "Fires Back" series, where Conrad will play clips from Shoot Interviews for the hosts and gives them a chance to respond. They have done two episodes of "Eric Fires Back" where Bischoff responds to all the shit people have said about him over the years. They have also done "JR Fires back" and "Tony Fires Back." The JR episode was actually kind of sad because it featured a lot of people making fun of his facial paralysis. Eric usually goes deep into detail and gives a point-by-point rebuttal about why everybody is wrong about what they say about him, whereas Tony seems to give zero fucks and basically just insults the person back and cusses them out. Conrad has even done a bunch of "Ask Conrad Anything" episodes and his wife (Meghan Flair) and Eric's wife have done Q&A episodes too. Conrad has said that he also plans to move into some exclusive video content, and is hoping to do limited series podcasts with people like Kevin Von Erich, where they do a six part series on World Class, or something like that. I am a lower tier member. Apparently if you belong to the more expensive tiers, you get free T-Shirts, free tickets to their live events (If those ever start up again) the hosts will actually call you at home and they are planning on regular events at Conrad's house, believe it or not. They also do regular Zoom Chats with the higher tier members, but I don't know anything about those. I just wanted to hear Conrad's podcasts without all the ads, and I was interested in the bonus content. I'm not really interested in wearing a STW T-Shirt, chatting with JR on Zoom or getting free Starrcast tickets or stuff like that. Plus, those higher tiers are expensive. Anyhow... Conrad Thompson announced to Ad Free Shows subscribers yesterday that in the past couple of weeks he had been contacted by three WWE Hall of Famers with requests to do podcasts, and he claims he said yes to "more than one of them" so we should expect a couple of new shows to be added to the Conrad Thompson podcast schedule in the near future. Conrad admitted recently during one of his own Q&A's that he has been shot down three times in the past when trying to do a new podcast. Conrad really wants to do an ECW show and spoke with Joey Styles, who refused. He wanted to do a TNA focused show, and was close to making a deal with Jeff Jarrett but then Jarrett signed with WWE which killed that plan. Conrad also claims that he has had in depth discussions with Paul Heyman on more than one occasion, and that they have been very close to making a deal for a Paul Heyman podcast. Conrad says that he is optimistic that will still happen at some point in the future. He kind of implied that Heyman's employment with WWE was getting in the way...so maybe that is no longer an issue. I am curious as to which Hall of Fame talent are about to be added to Conrad's schedule. We know it won't be Ric Flair (been there, done that.) I think Mick Foley might be a good possibility. Anyhow, I guess we'll see.

Yeah I was really excited about this podcast when it was first announced but it has ended up shitting the bed, for the most part. The first couple of episodes were okay, but the formula got real tired, real quick. As far as Conrad's podcasts go, I'd rank this one next to last, above Bruce but below Eric, JR and even Tony. The problem is twofold. The every other week Q&A format only really works if they get good questions, which they generally don't. The fans who listen to this show very rarely submit interesting questions about JCP or stuff like that. It's always the same old shit. Fantasy booking, and I swear if I never head another "who would be on your Mount Rushmore" question I will die a happy man. There are also a surprising number of questions about exciting behind-the-scenes issues like which hotels are best and where is the best place to get a steak or hamburger on the road. Riveting. The other problem is that Arn seems loathe to say anything bad about...pretty much anybody. That might make him a good person and a trustworthy employee, but it makes him a pretty shitty podcaster. You can tell (based on various times that the issue has come up) that Arn pretty much hates Vince McMahon. I've lost count of the number of times that Conrad has asked Arn a Vince related question and Arn has replied with a terse "no comment." Here's the problem with that...if you're literally getting paid to discuss WWE but you won't share your opinion of Vince McMahon, then what the hell good does that do? I swear, the only talent I can ever remember Arn burying is Enzo and Cass. Aside from that, he either loves everybody or is vague and non-committal. Not to mention the fact that he usually tries to use most questions as an excuse to pimp AEW. And as other people have pointed out, the alternating weeks that aren't Q&A shows seem to focus exclusively on WWE PPV's from Arn's time as an agent/producer. I didn't care about that shit then, I care even less about it now. I am a subscriber to Ad Free Shows, so I get all of Conrad's podcasts usually a week early, and with no ad reads. I do a ton of walking during the day, so I end up listening to most of them, but if I am short on time the Arn podcast is usually one of the podcasts I'll skip.

Yeah your first instinct was correct lol. As I said, they answered that very question very early in the episode, and go back to it repeatedly. ”Yes, that gimmick/angle/match was pretty bad, but Vince really liked his size and look, plus he was a nice guy and really good friends with Taker, so...” Repeat x 1000 This was one of those episodes where I kept waiting for it to get to an interesting part, but it never did. The frustrating part was that Brian Adams’ arrest in the early 90’s is only briefly touched on, and JR is unable to provide any insight about it all, not by choice but simply because he just doesn’t have any. One of my biggest pet peeves with the Conrad Thompson podcasts is when he covers a subject that he clearly isn’t all that well informed about, so they just kind of skim over those parts. A good example would be the episode they did about Dr. Death Steve Williams, and it is very clear that not only does Conrad know nothing about AJPW, but he never get anybody who did know about it to do any research for him or provide any questions. I’d be willing to bet based on that episode that Conrad has never seen one of Williams matches from Japan. As far as this episode, if I hadn’t been stuck in a waiting room for hours with nothing else to do, I probably would’ve given up on it. It was either that podcast, or read a 15 year old issue of People magazine. In retrospect, I may have made the wrong choice.

I'm probably the biggest Corgan era NWA mark I know, and even I can't honestly see myself paying to watch the NWA TV show, at least not the way it has been presented up to this point. I paid for the first two PPV's, but that was a different thing. I can't see paying for weekly TV. I generally loved Powerrr, but I wouldn't have paid to watch it. I question the logic behind this business decision. And PPV or no PPV, what are they planning to do about fans? Even if they go back to taping at the "NWA Arena" at GPB Studios, has Georgia allowed public gatherings again? I can't see this working as an empty arena type deal, and I thought Corgan was firmly opposed to running with no fans in attendance.

Yeah, I watched the weekly PPV's when TNA first started as well. Until Vince Russo put himself on TV, because it will be a cold day in hell before I pay for seeing Vince Russo. Or anything he's even remotely involved with, for that matter.

I'm a member of "Ad Free Shows" so I heard an advance episode of this week's show on Brian Adams. Quite honestly, it was a pretty unremarkable episode. I find JR's podcast pretty hit and miss, and the Brian Adams episode is a miss in my opinion. There really isn't enough compelling content there to justify an entire show about Crush. The main talking point seems to be that Adams was extremely popular backstage with everybody, as he sounded like a legitimately nice guy with the right friends with political pull (namely The Undertaker and Randy Savage.) That, combined with Adams size and look, afforded him a number of chances that other smaller, less connected guys would not have had. That talking point gets pretty much beat into the ground. So listen at your own risk.