The Thread Killer

First the Maryland State Athletic Commission robs Lex Luger of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at The 88 Bash, and now this.

I agree. I haven’t watched a full show since the pandemic started. I got two matches in to WrestleMania before I tapped out. I tried watching NXT, AEW and 205 Live more than once since this mess happened but it just isn’t the same. It feels weird. I’ll probably start watching again when (or if) they start running shows in front of crowds again, but until then? Pass.

I may be setting the all time PWO record here for quoting a post, since @SomethingSavage and @El-P made some of those statements above almost a year and a half ago...but there's actually a reason for it, I swear. I'm not one of those guys who goes around bumping old threads for no reason. As is well evidenced by even skimming this thread, I used to be an unabashed 83 Weeks fanboy. For quite a while it was my favorite podcast, hands down. There was the run of shows 83 Weeks had from November - December 2018 where every show was pretty much a home run, both entertaining and informative. The shows after that were still pretty good, but my interest began to wane for a couple of reasons. I found the format to be getting a bit "samey" but moreover I started to go off Pro Wrestling podcasts altogether, I was just getting burnt out as a listener. The main reason I quit listening altogether though, is because Eric went back to work for WWE in October 2019. One of the reasons I liked 83 Weeks is because Bischoff was pretty much out of the business and wasn't all that worried about burning any bridges. When he went back to WWE, I knew that Eric Bischoff was way too political a person to say anything even remotely controversial (and by association revealing) while he was working for Vince McMahon. I knew he wasn't going to bite the hand that was now feeding him, he wouldn't want to gloat about his success beating his new boss in the ratings, and he certainly wasn't going to criticize WWE now. Plus, I figured he'd be too busy working to seriously devote any creative energy to his podcast. After Bischoff crashed and burned with WWE this past winter (or as he and Conrad liked to joke, lasted "83 Days") I gave the show a couple of weeks to let the dust settle, and then I started to check it out periodically again. The show pretty quickly returned to it's tried and true formula, reviewing old WCW shows, doing watch-alongs of WCW shows or the odd "deep dive" on a particular talent. Like a lot of people, (and like the post quoted above) I had always hoped Bischoff would change things up a bit and discuss his time in TNA. He had always claimed that he wouldn't discuss TNA for two reasons. Firstly, he still had friends there and he didn't want to bury the company...but also he had ongoing litigation against Dixie Carter and Panda Energy and it's never a good idea to publicly discuss somebody you're in the process of suing, because that can be brought as evidence into the lawsuit. I suspected the lawsuit must have been settled because they finally discussed TNA in late September with the episode "Eric Joins TNA." Also, I don't think there is anybody left working in Impact Wrestling that Eric worked with, or he's back to not caring if he burns bridges, because 83 Weeks has finally started to cover Eric Biscoff's time in TNA. Or maybe Conrad is running out of old WCW shows and talent to talk about. Either way, on April 13 they covered TNA Lockdown 2010. This is the first TNA show they have covered, and it was a blast. Great episode. Eric is definitely in total NFLTG mode. He just buries the hell out of a lot of stuff in TNA, and goes on an extended rant about the six sided ring. Conrad even comments that he is more used to the careful, thoughtful, political Eric Bischoff and he really enjoys salty, pissed off, don't give a fuck Eric Bischoff. I found that episode to be a lot of fun, a change of pace episode but a return to form for the podcast overall. This week, they covered the period when TNA went head to head with WWE on Monday Nights. Once again, it has been a refreshing change of pace and I am really enjoying it. 83 Weeks seems to be recharged, and it is shooting back up to the top of my Pro Wrestling podcast list. I have to be honest, I don't listen to Bruce Prichard anymore. I find Arn engaging but a little dry and too diplomatic at times (plus I hate the "AMA" format) and JR can have good weeks...but his saltiness and defensive rants at strawmen can get a little old after a while. I am really happy that 83 Weeks seems to be having a bit of a resurgence. If you are one of the fans who used to like this show but quit, or if you wanted to hear him talk about his time in TNA and were disappointed that he didn't, I'd check the April 13 and May 4 episodes out, you may enjoy them.

Oh yeah you’re right. Even Prichard admits that was supposed to be Flair but the deal fell through at the 11th hour.

I saw an interview with Flair where he claimed he came close to signing with Vince a couple of times during the WWF’s 80’s boom. I don’t know the dates but I think Vince definitely tried to get Flair a few times and made it pretty clear the WWF door was open whenever Flair wanted to come. I have heard Flair say several times that he regrets not going to the WWF much earlier than he did and that he wishes he had taken advantage of one of those earlier opportunities. The thing is at the time I think Flair was perfectly happy staying with the NWA when the NWA was actually a functioning organization and then later when the territories died and the NWA was basically JCP. My impression was always that it wasn’t until JCP sold to Turner that Flair had any interest in jumping ship, more for creative reasons than anything.

Completely agree. "Dark Side of the Podcast" is pretty much becoming a must listen every week for me. They are always able to add a lot of extra info and insight into the filming of the shows. This week I found the stuff about how hard they tried to get Rick Martel very interesting, for example. I don't really dislike Conrad anyhow, but he is much more "businesslike" when he hosts this show.

Whenever I see him interviewed, no matter the setting or context, Jacques Rougeau always comes across as eminently unlikable.

On Arn Anderson's podcast last week, they talked about The Revival. The Revival have told anybody who listened in the past that they patterned themselves after Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Arn has always been very gracious about this and has stated in the past on his podcast that he thinks The Revival are better than he and Tully were. Arn speaks very highly of their work and their work ethic. He has talked about agenting a series of House Show matches between The Revival and Robert Roode and Chad Gable that were apparently given lots of time and were tearing the house down. Arn has claimed that he advocated for these two teams working against each other to Vince. Anyhow, after The Revival were released, Conrad Thompson asked Arn what he thought about it. Arn said he was very happy for them, and had known the day before it was announced that the release was coming because they had told him. Conrad Thompson then said something very interesting. He said that everybody was just automatically assuming that The Revival would end up in AEW, and that they probably would...but he also wouldn't be surprised if they also worked in the NWA. Last night, Dave Lagana tweeted a question to the fans, asking if they could see any team past or present in the Crockett Cup (once it is rescheduled) which team would they choose? Dash Wilder tweeted back to Dave Lagana "FTR." Lagana replied with a Joey from Friends "How you doin?" gif. Obviously this doesn't mean anything, but at the very least proves that on a periphery level The Revival and the NWA are on each other's radar. If The Revival actually did show up in the NWA, even part time...I just might have a joygasm.

I know in the bigger picture it's inconsequential and irrelevant to the episode, but I had a similar reaction when I saw Irv Muchnick. Dude, you're going to be on national TV. If you don't have a pair of glasses that aren't basically being held together with adhesive tape, then maybe don't wear the glasses for the interview? He looked like a character from Revenge of the Nerds.

That story about Corino's injury, Cornette's subsequent meltdown and quitting ROH is one of those Pro Wrestling stories that sound too unbelievable to be true, but it's been verified by several people who were there. The sad thing is, (if you believe Cornette) that wasn't even the first time that something major happened during a Ring Of Honor show that required management intervention, only for everybody to find out all the office staff had left early and the wrestlers were basically on their own. Cornette claims he had gone out of pocket on several occasions in ROH after Sinclair took over, because people needed to be paid and there was nobody there to pay them. Not to mention the kicker, which was that show had been taped in a hockey area where they discovered that the building staff were refusing to turn on the heat out of fear that it would melt the ice under the arena floor, so the arena was literally freezing and the fans and wrestlers all had to keep their winter coats on during the whole show.

I couldn't agree with you more. The whole "Jim Cornette ruined ROH" talking point is just flat out false. Jim Cornette was (and still is) close personal friends with Cary Silkin. Silkin was hemorrhaging money running ROH and was seriously considering shutting the company down, because it wasn't financially viable anymore and was going to personally bankrupt him. After Cornette got fired from TNA (thanks to Vince Russo, by the way) Cornette agreed to try and help Silkin recoup his losses and avoid going bankrupt. Cornette personally wrote up a detailed business proposal for Sinclair Broadcasting. He proposed making radical changes to ROH, including establishing a home arena and wrestling school, he basically used the same business model he and Danny Davis had proposed to WWE when they first established OVW. He knew it would work because OVW was functional and self-sustaining aside from the money WWE was investing. ROH would operate primarily out of this new location, where they could also have their own television production equipment and studio. He submitted the proposal to Sinclair hoping to get them to invest in the company. They liked Cornette's proposal so much they bought ROH. Cornette basically brokered that deal and saved Silkin from going broke and shutting down ROH. I honestly believe if it wasn't for Cornette ROH wouldn't even exist right now. When Sinclair hired Cornette, they didn't hire him to be in charge of creative. They hired him to produce TV and basically be the liaison between Sinclair and ROH. Hunter Johnson was in charge of creative. Cornette had a lot of input and say in what happened creatively, but at the end of the day the main force behind ROH creative was Johnson. Cornette really likes Hunter Johnson but he has openly stated that he didn't agree with a lot of the creative decisions Johnson made. His decisions regarding talent have also taken a lot of criticism, some of it is absolutely justified but a lot of it is unwarranted. Both Kevin Steen and Sami Zayn have claimed that Jim Cornette didn't like them so he wouldn't book them in ROH, and that isn't true. Cornette has repeatedly stated that he had three issues with Kevin Steen. Firstly, he wanted Steen to lose 30 pounds and get in better shape. Secondly he wanted Steen to stop taking so many insane bumps and high risks because he thought it was overdoing it, and desensitizing the fans...not to mention putting himself at unnecessary risk for injury. Cornette was always maintained that Steen was an excellent worker, but he was "doing too much." Finally, Cornette claims Steen was basically a pain in the ass backstage and wanted to book his own angles and only work with his friends. Cornette wanted Steen to stop arguing with creative all the time, and do what he was asked. Steen wouldn't do any of those things, so Cornette stopped using him. As far as "El Generico?" Jim Cornette had two really unreasonable requests for him, both of which Generico refused to do. Cornette wanted him to unmask, and stop being silent. He wanted him to cut promos, because in Cornette's words "the kid could talk his ass off." As soon as Steen and Generico got hired by WWE and had some success, a lot of ROH fans (and Steen himself) took that as some sort of vindication and tried to rub it in Cornette's face, claiming he had missed the boat or been wrong about them. Cornette pointed out that it was he who had been vindicated, since WWE had made Steen get in better shape, tone down the pointless high risk stuff and he was damn sure not booking his own angles. Meanwhile, Generico had unmasked and started cutting promos. Cornette claims that if they had been willing to do that in ROH, he wouldn't have stopped using them. The whole Young Bucks deal has also been driven into the ground, and a lot of the popular narrative about that situation is bullshit. Which makes sense, because a lot of the popular narrative about the Young Bucks comes from them. Cornette freely admits that he didn't think the Bucks were all that great. He says they don't look athletic enough, they don't sell enough and they're too reliant on doing spots. But he also admits they were popular with the ROH fans. The problem was that one of Cornette's main jobs was to keep costs at a minimum. The Bucks had to be flown in from California to work in ROH. They weren't local, and that was costing ROH a ton of money. Cornette would have kept using The Young Bucks if they had been closer, but they weren't so he didn't. Granted, he didn't lose any sleep over that decision because he really didn't see much in them, but he has repeatedly claimed that the main reason he stopped using them was due to travel costs. The Bucks got butthurt when Cornette stopped using them. Even their biggest fans have to admit The Young Bucks are notoriously thin-skinned and sensitive to any perceived slight or hint of criticism. So they started slagging him in interviews. Cornette slagged back. He ran into them at an indy show and made a joke about the fact they'd be better off working an angle because at least people believed in the heat they had with each other. The Bucks grabbed that and ran with it, telling anybody who would listen that Cornette didn't see anything in them and talked shit about them, but then wanted to work with them when he saw how popular they'd become. And now they have a book coming out, so I shudder at the commencement of fresh hostilities. You know The Bucks are going to eviscerate Cornette in their book and you know Cornette will respond in kind on his podcast. The main voice behind the whole "Cornette ruined ROH" mantra is Austin Aries. He's the one who has told anybody who would listen that Cornette ruined ROH and tried to turn it into "Smoky Mountain of Honor." And why? Because Cornette fired him. Austin Aries was the highest paid member of the ROH roster, but he wanted to stop wrestling and become a manager...and he apparently openly slagged the company every chance he got in the locker room, and encouraged dissension among the other wrestlers. Cornette and Hunter Johnson asked him to stop doing that, and Aries himself admits that his response was "you're not paying me enough to be quiet." So they fired him. Look, I'm not going to deny that Cornette has made some questionable decisions when it comes to talent. Hell, in ROH he basically wanted to focus a lot of the attention around Eddie Edwards, Davy Richards and Michael Elgin. Are they Main Event level guys, in my opinion? Edwards, not really. Richards, no. Elgin, you've got to be fucking kidding me. Cornette is absolutely still stuck in the mindset from the 70's-80's where guys had to look a certain way to be big stars. A lot of his worst decisions have been based around that dated perception. If you watch the "Breaking Kayfabe" shoot interview Cornette did with Sean Oliver he goes into precise detail regarding what went wrong with ROH. @Big Pete is right, he basically ended up quitting because Sinclair bought the company based on his business proposal, and then proceeded to basically ignore 95% of the stuff Cornette recommended in that proposal. But bottom line is, you can't lay any of ROH's current day problems at the feet of Jim Cornette.

Cornette didn't get fired for making that joke. He quit. Cornette admitted that the joke (while not intended to be racist) could be perceived as racist. He was willing to apologize to those who were offended by the joke. His issue (and the reason he quit the NWA) was that Dave Lagana was there when Cornette made the joke, had no problems with it, and never even mentioned it to Cornette. Cornette was clear that if Lagana had said to him that the joke was inappropriate and wanted him to call the match again, or if Lagana had taken the joke out in post-production, Cornette would not have taken any issue with it. But the moment the controversy erupted Dave Lagana was more than happy to try and put all the heat on Cornette. Dave Lagana basically apologized on Cornette's behalf without talking to him first, and even acted indignant and apologetic about the joke, when in point of fact Lagana hadn't had any problem with it before people complained. Cornette quit because he thought Lagana was being a hypocrite. It's possible the NWA might have fired Jim Cornette for that joke, but I am fairly certain (based on the way the NWA reacted to his resignation) that if Jim Cornette would have apologized for making that joke and been willing to publicly accept blame for the situation, at worst they would have just suspended him. The big issue here is that Cornette is either unable or unwilling to understand the difference between intent and perception. I fully believe that Jim Cornette did not make that joke with the intention of saying something racist or offending people. I believe his sole intention in making that joke was to try and promote Trevor Murdoch. But he continues to be indignant about the fact that people were offended, and he doesn't get to decide what does and doesn't offend people.

Ignoring the fact that Jim Cornette on his worst day is about a million times more creative than Vince Russo could ever be on his best day...making the statement that Russo has "a grip on reality" is laughable on it's face. Or maybe you agree with him that Hillary Clinton shouldn't have been President of the United States because she was a woman, and after all...women are meant to be subservient to men because they're designed from the rib of a man? Cornette has some absolutely ridiculous, outdated and in some cases totally ignorant opinions. But to act like Russo isn't just as bad...or even worse...is just letting hatred of Cornette cloud basic common sense.

I got bored and decided to watch some old ECW on the WWE Network. I remembered these posts from @SomethingSavage (who I miss seeing around here, by the way) so just for shits and giggles, I decided to watch the ECW PPV's in "watch along" form with What Happened When. I have been pleasantly surprised so far. I think you guys kind of hit the nail on the head earlier in this thread. It's pretty obvious that Tony has no interest in watching old shit that he has already seen or was directly involved in. It clearly bores him, which leads to nothing but stupid jokes. But it has been really fun listening to Conrad introduce him to ECW, give him some of the background information, and hearing Tony mark out for it like a new fan. His enjoyment of Heat Wave 98 seemed totally sincere, and it was fun re-watching that show (which I had previously seen several times) in this context. I think the whole format of Conrad and Tony watching stuff Tony has never seen before is actually a good fit for this show. I know I am very late to the party on this (I'm almost two years behind) but I am going to continue to do the ECW watch-along episodes. As long as there are no Casio Kid appearances.

That's a good point. It reminds me of that ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Ric Flair, and the comments Shawn Michaels made about Flair, that upset Flair so much afterwards. Michaels talked about how Flair is so wrapped up in the Ric Flair lifestyle and gimmick so much, that he doesn't even know who Richard Fliehr is anymore. That really stuck with me, and I think in interviews like this one you really see how wrapped up in his gimmick Flair is. I wonder if there even is a Richard Fliehr anymore, and if there is one...he isn't a very confident person. By the way Charles, it is great to see you back here regularly at PWO and posting more regularly. Always great to see your contributions. :)

Yeah, I was really looking forward to the Crockett Cup. I also miss watching Power every Tuesday. This totally sucks. I just hope the NWA doesn’t end up having to close up or something because of the extended layoff. I feel for the guys on the NWA roster too, I doubt they are getting paid right now and it’s not like they were making WWE or AEW money to begin with.

I listened to the interview. Since the podcast came out on Friday, some Pro Wrestling "news" sites have posted recaps or summaries but in true fashion either missed the entire point of the interview, or just highlighted the most sensational soundbytes without getting into detail. I'll post my own recap here, but I'm not going to go point-by-point and I'm going to skip some of the irrelevant stuff. (Mostly about Benoit's wrestling career, and the whole deal with Sullivan putting the WCW World Title on Benoit after he and Nancy were divorced. It's not relevant to the Dark Side of the Ring stuff and no new ground was covered there.) Also, it should be noted that the interview was not exactly linear...they discussed some stuff early and then would get off topic and go back to it later. You couldn't exactly recap this interview in bullet points, because it was all over the place at times. The whole reason behind this interview was that Jim Cornette feels that Kevin Sullivan got a bad rap from the Dark Side of the Ring episode and that after seeing that episode, people are coming away with a false impression of Kevin Sullivan and the nature of his relationship with Nancy and Chris Benoit. Cornette wanted to use his podcast as a platform for Sullivan to set the record straight, or at least present his side of the story. It should be noted that Jim Cornette is a big supporter of the Dark Side of the Ring and the show's two main producers Evan Husney and Jason Eisener. He has helped them with research, he is obviously heavily featured in several of the episodes and he has had them on his podcast several times to discuss and promote the show. Cornette has no problem with the show, he just doesn't like the way Kevin Sullivan came off in the Chris Benoit episode. Cornette says he has voiced his disappointment to Husney and Eisener and gave the impression that they regret how Sullivan is portrayed in that episode. Sullivan discussed how he has always been reluctant to discuss the murders in any detail out of respect for Nancy's parents. Sullivan spoke very fondly of them and says that when he was contacted by Vice about doing the show, he said he wouldn't do it without Nancy's family's approval. The producers told Sullivan that they had Nancy's sister Sandra's approval, but Sullivan said that wasn't good enough for him. Sullivan reached out to Nancy's parents but never heard back from them, so the producers went ahead and shot the episode without him. The impression the show gave was that Sullivan refused to participate but that wasn't the case. Cornette and Sullivan got into detail about how the episode gives a false impression of the whole Sullivan/Nancy/Benoit triangle. Sullivan says that he and Nancy got married in 93 but were together for years before that. However, at the time Sullivan booked the angle with himself and Benoit, he and Nancy had already been separated for six months. This is the first time I had ever heard that, as I had always been under the impression that Sullivan and Nancy were still together when the Benoit angle began. They discussed how Sullivan was quite a bit older than Nancy, and how she had been with him for most of her younger years and they apart, giving the impression that Nancy really wanted to be more independent of him. Sullivan says that the couple owned two properties, a condo in Daytona and a home in the Florida Keys. Sullivan says that at the time of the on-screen Sullivan/Benoit angle, Nancy was living in the condo in Daytona and he was staying in the Keys and they did not have much contact with each other. Sullivan claims that they had tried a couple of times to reconcile but it hadn't worked, and that at the time of the Benoit angle they both already knew they were heading towards a divorce. So basically, according to Sullivan the popular narrative that Sullivan and Nancy were in an abusive relationship and then Nancy left Sullivan for Benoit isn't entirely true. Sullivan says that when he booked the angle with himself and Benoit, Benoit was actually reluctant to get involved because he was married and his wife was pregnant. Sullivan says the possibility of Benoit and Nancy getting involved never crossed his mind because Benoit was so concerned about his pregnant wife. The main bone of contention here is the impression given by the Dark Side of the Ring episode that Sullivan and Nancy were still together at the time of the Bash at the Beach PPV in July 1997 and that the Benoit/Sullivan match that night somehow escalated into some sort of shoot fight which continued backstage. Also, Sullivan takes issue with the story that Nancy had been planning on going home with him after the show but that Benoit got Nancy's sister Sandra to take her away instead. Sullivan claims that he wasn't even living in Daytona at that time, Nancy was. Sullivan claimed he was living in the Florida Keys but had a Hotel Room rented for that night in Daytona and never had any plans to go back to the condo as he wasn't living there...so he doesn't know why Sandra and Benoit would have to rescue her from him. Sullivan and Cornette discussed that this match took place just a few weeks after the infamous Tyson/Holyfield match when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear. Sullivan claims that he and Benoit planned for this match to be violent and put in a spot involving ear biting, but the fight never devolved into a real "shoot." In fact, Sullivan claims that after the match, Benoit came and thanked him for putting him over and for everything he had done for him. Sullivan takes issue with the claim that Benoit ruptured his eardrum during the fight as well. Sullivan pointed out that he went diving in the Florida Keys a few days after the Bash at the Beach PPV, which would have been impossible if he had a ruptured eardrum. Kevin Sullivan went to great lengths in this interview to say that he has no problem with Nancy's sister Sandra, they got along in the past and have even been in contact over the past couple of years. However, he suggested during this interview that either Sandra got "worked" by some of the stuff he and Benoit were doing, or she is not remembering things accurately. For example, Sandra has claimed in the past that she attended the Bash at the Beach 97 with Kevin Sullivan's daughter and was backstage with her, but Sullivan claims his daughter wasn't even at that show. Sullivan pointed out that Nancy was very "old school" and never discussed angles with her sister. Sullivan also claimed that Nancy did not bring Sandra backstage. Sullivan even claimed that Nancy's relationship with Sandra wasn't quite as close at times as Sandra likes to portray now, that the two had problems in the past stemming from Sandra's jealousy of Nancy always being the focus of attention. The big issue obviously is the allegations that Kevin Sullivan was beating Nancy and that Benoit basically "rescued" her from that. They discuss some comments that were made about the Sullivan/Nancy relationship by Dean Malenko's wife, which Sullivan pretty much shoots down claiming he's never even met her. Sullivan confirmed (at Cornette's insistence, Sullivan actually seemed kind of uncomfortable talking about it) that the only time he and Nancy had a major domestic dispute and the police were called, it was Nancy who was actually charged for stabbing him. Sullivan claims this was the end of their relationship for all intents and purposes. Sullivan claims that Nancy ended up going to jail for three days but he bailed her out and that is when he moved to the Keys and she went to Daytona. Sullivan claims that he never gave Nancy a black eye and at the time he is reported to have given it to her, he hadn't seen her in months. Sullivan reiterated that he is not accusing Sandra of lying but that it has been 13 years and maybe she is conflating some memories of different events. Finally, they discussed the whole ridiculous conspiracy theory espoused by hardcore Chris Benoit fans that Kevin Sullivan was somehow involved in this murders. Sullivan says that those claims used to really upset him, because he has kids of his own who have heard those stories. He says that he has even seen some fans tell David Benoit that he was lucky he wasn't at his Dad's house that weekend or he would have been killed too. Sullivan says that those types of claims used to really bother him but now he has learned to just ignore them. Cornette and Sullivan discussed how some insane fans actually bought Sullivan's devil worshipping gimmick and believed he was actually capable of committing those murders. That was the basic gist of the interview. The main points seemed to be that Sullivan didn't refuse to participate in the Dark Side of the Ring out of fear of being confronted on his abusive relationship with Nancy, he was trying to get permission from her parents to speak before they shot the episode. He feels he was unfairly portrayed in the episode and a lot of stories in the show involving him are provably inaccurate. He also seemed to want to reiterate that he wasn't involved in the actual murders, although how anybody with half a brain could think he was, is beyond me. Kevin Sullivan is right up there when it comes to Professional Wrestlers who are famously full of shit when it comes to interviews. Some of the claims he has made over the years about his time booking in WCW have been laughable. Does that mean he's lying in this interview? I don't know. Obviously, I don't believe Kevin Sullivan had anything whatsoever to do with the murders. I also tend to believe that he didn't refuse to participate in the Dark Side of the Ring out of fear, either. It was obvious from listening to this interview that he is extremely uncomfortable discussing this and I get the impression he wants to put it behind him (and so he should.) As far as the nature of his relationship with Nancy? Nobody can say for sure what is true and what isn't. Only Sullivan and Nancy knew that, and she is gone. I note that he was careful not to say that he never hit her...he just said he never gave her a black eye. I am guessing there was physical violence in the relationship and it sounds like it went both ways since she was charged with stabbing him. Sounds like their relationship got pretty toxic and was pretty much over before Chris Benoit ever got involved. The sad thing is that she clearly went from a relationship which was bad into one which ended being even worse.

If only Russo had known that if he wanted to see JBL get knocked out, all he had to do was get Vince McMahon to hire Joey Styles. Think of all the needless trouble that could have been avoided.

I'm sure the pandemic is hurting the Khan family plenty, and even before this there were reports that Tony Khan had decided to put the brakes on any big AEW signings...but saying they "don't have money" is a bit of a stretch. Put it this way...if The Revival's contracts expire during this pandemic (which they might) then you can pretty much bet AEW is going to sign them, pandemic or no pandemic.

Conrad Thompson did a podcast with the producers of the Dark Side of the Ring today. Turns out, they filmed a lot of content for the Brawl for All episode last year, including the interviews with Russo and Cornette...but then their episode order got cut from 10 to 6, so they decided to put a lot of the stuff between Russo and Cornette into the Montreal Screwjob episode, where it had not been originally intended. They really wanted to use a lot of the footage because they thought it was good TV, but didn't know if they'd have the chance to use it otherwise. That makes a lot of sense now, because at the time the Russo/Cornette stuff seemed kind of pointless and shoehorned into the Montreal episode. Turns out it was originally intended for this episode, where it makes a bit more sense.

I listened to the recent episodes of Talk is Jericho with Matt Hardy and then Brodie Lee. Very interesting insight into this whole question. Both guys had the exact same story...Vince offered them huge amounts of money, up until the very last minute their contracts expired, to try and get them to stay. And in both cases, they both knew they weren't going to be used and "creative had nothing for them" but Vince just didn't want anybody signing with AEW after losing Jericho and Moxley. Brodie Lee made it sound like Triple H told him that the WWE's main concern was how it would look if all sorts of people started asking for their releases and going to AEW. I think that's why they refused to even give a guy like Mike Bennett his release when he asked. They have no intention of using a lot of these guys, but they just don't want them going anywhere else.

You know, I never would’ve figured that there would be a way to make a Baron Corbin match even less enjoyable…but here we are.

The important thing is that Mauro couldn’t make it.

I guess maybe it was naïve of me to hope that because of the empty arena they wouldn’t do their normal routine with switching camera angles every 3 seconds.

I couldn't agree with you more. That Mike Mills segment was the kind of thing that shows Cornette at his best and highlighted why I listen to his podcasts to begin with. I couldn't care less what Jim Cornette thinks of Legend's House, for fuck's sake. Conversely, that little history he gave of the Texas wrestling territories on the Drive-Thru last week was very interesting, informative and entertaining, in my opinion. But I'm afraid that type of content is becoming less featured on Cornette's show. After Cornette signed up for the WWE Network. Brian Last posted a poll on Twitter, giving fans a choice of what content they wanted Cornette to review first. There were some decent choices in the poll, but Legend's House actually won the poll. I was actually really surprised at first but I guess this just proves something I have suspected for a while now. Cornette is playing to his Twitter fans more and more now. Cornette's newer fans don't want to hear about classic Pro Wrestling history at all, or hear his match reviews and constructive insight on how the modern product could be improved using lessons from the territory days. These newer fans just want to hear yet another version of the "Dairy Queen video." We all know how Cornette will react to this stuff, there's no surprise there. There has been a noticeable decline in the quality of Cornette's Drive-Thru since he started to grow in popularity and gain new listeners after his infamous review of AEW's Double or Nothing last year. There used to be some really interesting questions about historical stuff or Cornette's time in the territories. Now it's stupid crap like "what would you think of Orange Cassidy as AEW Champion?" or questions about who should be in the WWE Hall of Fame. And a lot of that is on Brian Last. But both he and Cornette obviously know what helped these shows gain in popularity, and they are playing to that crowd...not the old school fans who used to be his fanbase.