The Thread Killer

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.

That’s weird, I haven’t had any trouble at all. Maybe the board is becoming self-aware, like Skynet...and is trying to keep Mauro Ranallo fans from accessing the forum.

I don't see why this story is turning into such a big deal. Marty Jannetty was actually trending on Twitter today because of this supposed story. I mean, who here among us can honestly say that in their youth, they didn't "make somebody disappear" after a drug deal went horribly wrong? It's all part of growing up and being a kid.

I believe the aforementioned interview where Nick Aldis tore into Bruce Prichard was on Busted Open. Something else interesting came up during that interview. Aldis talked about the positive buzz around his match with Cody at All In, the rematch at NWA 70 and that he is constantly being asked by the fans about a "rubber match" between he and Cody. Aldis mentioned that he and Cody are still close and remain in contact. Aldis said that he has a great relationship with Tony Khan, and that there is pretty much an open offer for him to go to AEW, but that he is totally committed to the NWA unless the day comes that Billy Corgan decides it's time to close up shop. So it's good to know that if the NWA does go down, at least Aldis has an offer on the table. Also, if Nick Aldis shows up on Dynamite unexpectedly to challenge Cody for the TNT Championship, then we can pretty much assume the NWA is dead. I'm almost glad Bruce Prichard doesn't like Aldis, because WWE would never use him properly and he'd end up like EC3 or somebody like that.

And having said all that... Billy Corgan just released a statement saying not to believe the rumors, he is not selling or shutting down the NWA...he's just trying to figure out the best way to proceed. Fucking Raven.

Supposedly, after the pandemic had gone on for a couple of months and it became obvious that Pro Wrestling wasn't going back to "normal" anytime soon (if ever) then the NWA told everybody they had under contract that if they wanted to be released from their contracts to work elsewhere, they could be. From what I have read/heard, NWA contracts weren't really like WWE/AEW contracts, or even like Impact. Essentially, the NWA contracts guaranteed the talent a very nominal amount of money per month, but they got a generous amount of the profits from merchandise sales. Anybody under NWA contract was free to work for any other independent promotions, but I think they were prohibited for working from one of the big companies or be on television unless they could still honor their commitments to the NWA. I got the impression that they were trying to avoid a repeat of the Willie Mack situation, where they thought they had him locked up but he just went and showed up in Impact. Aside from Nick Aldis, a lot of the bigger names in the NWA were only really part timers anyhow, and in a lot of cases they already had full time "day jobs." To me, that was a great part of the NWA. You could work NWA tapings 2-3 days every 4-6 weeks, still focus on your other career but look like you were wrestling full time due to the NWA taping schedule. Tim Storm is a full time teacher, Aron Stevens and Eli Drake are both living in Los Angeles and trying to break into acting, Ken Anderson and Trevor Murdoch either own or train at wrestling schools, ODB owned a food truck...stuff like that. These guys could still enjoy being in Pro Wrestling and make a bit of money on the side, while not threatening their main source of income or job security. Guys like Aldis, James Storm, Thunder Rosa and some others might only have Pro Wrestling as their main source of income so I guess this will hit them a lot harder. That's assuming this story is true. As I've said before, if the world ever does go back to normal, Billy Corgan can always try this again. He owns the name NWA and all the associated intellectual property outright, so it's not like he's going to go bankrupt over this. I'd say the whole Dave Lagana scandal is probably what hit them even worse than the pandemic. Billy Corgan may have been the driving creative force behind the NWA but I think Lagana was doing most of the grunt work behind the scenes. I don't know that Corgan would have the time, enthusiasm or inclination to try and find somebody new to replace him. If this project really is dead, then it sucks. I thought the NWA was really onto something and they seemed to be on the right track. The Crockett Cup was going to be their biggest show since Power debuted and the attendance at and reception for that event would have been a really good indicator of where the NWA was going to go. Now we'll probably never know.

I don't know how reliable he is as a source, but Raven apparently stated in an interview yesterday that he has heard Billy Corgan is planning on pulling the plug on the NWA. Corgan and Raven are friends, so who knows if Raven heard this directly from Corgan or it is just gossip. Raven claims that between the COVID-19 shutdown causing the NWA to lose talent like Ricky Starks and Zicky Dice, and the whole fiasco with Dave Lagana, Corgan has grown disillusioned with the whole project and is basically going to throw in the towel. I wouldn't be surprised if that is true, but I would be very disappointed if it is.

Because I love him.

I don’t. I’m in awe of how badass you are. You’re like a one man army, crusading for justice. You SHOULD be in charge here. It would just like that movie Walking Tall. (The Joe Don Baker version, not the one with The Rock.) Nobody would mess with you, and everybody would know how tough you are because you keep saying “Fuck.”

I'd just like to say that this is hands down the funniest post I've read here at PWO and I want to put it in my signature.

You're the man, @Blehschmidt. I am so ordering that shirt.

But he ain’t gonna stand for no alt-right horseshit and he’s gonna call it whenever he sees it, though.

I'm more concerned they're going to book him the way they booked Asuka on the Main Roster. But I guess not until he gets there, maybe.

Okay listen, I know you're from France so I'll chalk what you just said up to a cultural misunderstanding...because that is Iron Mike Sharpe you're talking about, mister. As in "Canada's Greatest Athlete" Iron Mike Sharpe. The man wrestled for 15 years with a forearm injury that would have crippled anybody else, but all he needed was a leather forearm brace and he was still twice the athlete anybody else in the WWF was. He was robbed of the WWF Tag Team Championships on multiple occasions because they kept sticking him with inferior partners like Steve Lombardi or Terry Gibbs. Hell, the man had the greatest set of lungs in the history of Professional Wrestling. As Gorilla Monsoon used to say, if you could win matches verbally or judged the winner by volume, Iron Mike would have been undefeated. So I'll thank you to keep your snide comments about Iron Mike Sharpe to yourself. If you think @C.S. is out of control with his blind love for Mauro Ranallo, you ain't seen nothing yet. Just wait until you see what happens if people keep besmirching the good name of Iron Mike Sharpe.

I am looking forward to that. With Cornette right now, we're definitely in a "good news/bad news" situation. The bad news is he basically admitted the majority of his new fans only listen to hear him rip on modern wrestling, so he bowed to fan pressure and is reviewing Fyter Fest and The Great American Bash. (I suspect Brian Last had a lot to do with that as well.) The good news is, they apparently got a ton of positive feedback for the old school watch-along, so as @NitroFan says, they are doing another one. I am all for that. A lot of that was deliberate though. I used to go to WWF House Shows at Maple Leaf Gardens religiously from 86-91 or so, and usually there wasn't any great matches until after intermission. Hell, it wasn't even unusual for the first two or three matches to feature enhancement talent, and for those matches to be LONG sumbitches. (Hence my love of Iron Mike Sharpe.) Arn and JR have both talked about how on house shows or even the big events, the opening and even midcard matches were discouraged from being too exciting because that would take away from the upper card and the Main Event. Which is a kind of dumb philosophy in some ways, but then again having all your talent doing insane shit from the opening match and playing "top this" can burn the crowd out and actually does make big spots in the Main Event matches less special, so I guess there are arguments to both sides. That is a massive generalization, and isn't provable one way or the other.

So I guess comprehending blatantly obvious sarcasm is not your thing, then?

Pete Dunne has already relocated to the States and is part of the NXT roster now, from what I understand. I'm not sure what the full story is with Tyler Bate. The worst I heard about him is that he made a pass at a married woman. Call me immoral but I'm not sure that makes him worthy of banishment, but I guess we'll see. WALTER is an interesting case. I got the impression from a couple of interviews I saw with him that he was pretty happy to remain the big fish in the small NXT UK pond, making the odd flight Stateside for an occasional appearance. If he can't do that, I don't know how interested they'd be in using him full time. Not to mention that as soon as Vince and Bruce get their hands on him, they'll fuck him up and try to get him to breakdance while wearing a tuxedo, I'm sure.