The Thread Killer

I’d kind of like to punch Sam Roberts in the face.

I hear you @Blehschmidt, but the problem she, Sandra and Boston Rob are facing is that they're almost too infamous and have huge targets on their backs...in my opinion.

I'm going to be watching this show, but then again I'm a really big NXT fan - although the TV show over the past couple of weeks and the buildup has been pretty lacklustre. A couple of these matches have the potential to be very good, I am especially looking forward to the Tag Team Title match, as long as it doesn't devolve into spot-fu. I'm all over Lee vs. Dijakovic again, I loved their previous matches...I love me a good hoss fight. Both women's matches have promise. I am actually kind of ambivalent about Cole vs. Ciampa and Balor vs. Gargano. I'm not a huge fan of Ciampa as a babyface, and neither Balor or Gargano do much for me. But I'm still looking forward to the show. I'm not going to post along as I watch the show because I just want to sit back and enjoy it and not be typing away furiously while I do, but I'll share my thoughts at some point after the show is over. I'm sure everybody will be breathless with anticipation over that.

Ever since I first saw him, I've always been amazed that WWE hasn't been all over Jacob Fatu.

Too bad he can't work like either of them.

I thought that was really weird too. During Cornette's entire rant, Brian Last didn't utter a word. And it's not like Brian Last is afraid to disagree with or contradict Cornette when Cornette says something he disagrees with. He does that all the time, but this time he was conspicuously silent.

Me too. I couldn't resist seeing all those winners from the past 20 years/40 seasons all playing at once. And I wasn't disappointed, either. #TeamYul Who are you pulling for, @C.S.?

I know nobody here at PWO watches NXT UK or cares about it, but I'd just like to mention that Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch are there now, and fought Gallus in the Main Event this past week...and it was awesome. I'm thrilled that not only did WWE settle with Lorcan, but that they kept him and Burch working together...and then moved them to the one brand under the WWE umbrella that they can actually work to their strengths.

I had posted about this in the Podcasts folder, but I thought I'd bring it up it the NWA thread too. During his News Desk segment on Power this week, Sean Mooney mentioned that he'd be interviewing Trevor Murdoch on his Podcast, "Prime Time with Sean Mooney." I checked it out, and it was an excellent interview. If you are a Trevor Murdoch fan, or if you love Harley Race stories, you should check this out. Murdoch talks about his training and background, his path to WWE, his frustrations with working there and how he had pretty much quit the business because was so disillusioned with Pro Wrestling (specifically the political aspects) and his feelings about the NWA. I was already a Trevor Murdoch fan, but this interview really made me like him even more. During the podcast, Sean mentioned that there was some thought being given to using his podcast as a platform to interview and promote other NWA stars, and he asked for feedback about that idea. I emailed Sean telling him that I had really enjoyed the Murdoch interview and that I was hoping he would continue to use his podcast to promote the NWA and add an extra dimension to the product. Sean Mooney emailed me back, and said that the response to the Murdoch interview had been so positive that he is currently in discussions with the NWA about doing a podcast specifically dedicated to the NWA. I think that is a great idea and I'm really hoping they pull the trigger on this plan.

If PWInsider is to be believed, Tony Khan himself has basically taken over the booking of AEW since January when they came back from the holiday break. He is being called the "primary creative force" behind Dynamite and is supposedly getting input from the talent (especially his Executive VP's) but Tony Khan himself is now the final word, unlike before when the talent were basically booking a lot of their own stuff. That likely explains the improved cohesiveness of the shows, the elimination of "The Nightmare Collective" and the scaling back of The Dark Order to just another midcard angle, rather than a major focus or main event level story. Seems like the ratings are also reflecting the improvement.

I thought this week's episode of Power was another very solid effort from the NWA. We're now three episodes into the shows they taped at their third set of TV tapings in January, and it struck me tonight that the NWA appears to have listened to the feedback of the fans. The three biggest complaints I heard after the first "season" of Power from the first set of TV tapings were that the matches were too short, the roster was too thin, and the creative was inconsistent or complicated. Billy Corgan had given interviews before and after Into The Fire and before Hard Times, where he said that the NWA would be making some adjustments based on feedback, and it seems to be pretty clear that they have listened. The matches are definitely longer, the roster has expanded with some great additions, and the major storylines seem very clear. - We didn't have to wait long to see The Dawsons vs. The Bouncers. I thought they'd be slowly building to this fight after last week's excellent confrontation between Pope and Kingston, but here we are. @Migs was right, The Bouncers were much better than I had expected. And all credit where it's due...they weren't exactly The Midnight Express out there, but The Dawsons didn't suck in this match. This was a textbook "big man" match, and I had no problem with it. They didn't go too long, but it was hard hitting and both teams looked good. That Milonas is a monster. Migs was also right, I look forward to seeing what The Bouncers can do against a smaller team that can bump around for them. Good stuff. I also enjoyed the segment afterwards when everybody poured their beer in the Crockett Cup. - They did a good job of keeping the fans up to speed on the ongoing Scurll/Aldis rivalry and using Aldis's appearance in ROH last week to further to story. I am actually going to seek out that ROH Tag Team match with Scurll and PCO vs. Aldis and Rush. Seems like the terms are set for "Aldis/Scurll II" and next week they are announcing the date and venue. - I thought the promo from Thom Lattimer (with Kamille) was excellent. ("He's pants! He's rubbish!") This guy has a ton of potential to do a lot in the NWA, if and when they break him away from Aldis and Royce. He's perfectly fine in his role as one of Aldis's henchmen, but I think he has potential to do a lot more down the road, if they choose to do that. - The Lattimer/Tim Storm match was really good. I was very surprised to see Storm lose, considering he still kind of feels like the #1 babyface in the NWA right now, I was really kind of shocked to see him lose clean to Lattimer. I'm not sure what that means for their long term plans. I hope Tim Storm is not getting pushed down the card, but the post-match appearance of "Mama Storm" seems to indicate that they have something planned for him, at least. - Just when I thought Trevor Murdoch was free and clear of The Question Mark, here we go again. To me, The Question Mark is like a song that you didn't mind the first time you heard it, but now its been so overplayed that you just want to cover your ears. Even the fans in the NWA arena seem to be cooling off to him a bit. Either that, or he isn't getting the reaction from the fans he had been because he's interacting with Trevor Murdoch, who the fans also love. Either way, I can only hope that this whole deal is their way of continuing the Aron Stevens/Trevor Murdoch angle over the National Title, because otherwise I never want to see The Question Mark anywhere near Trevor Murdoch again. Murdoch is taking off, get him away from this guy. - I was really surprised at the TV Title match between Matt Cross and Ricky Starks. These guys had a very good sprint of a match at the Hard Times PPV, and this match was totally different, it was much slower and much more standard Pro Wrestling stuff. I don't know if that was a deliberate choice, or if one of those guys is injured, or what. I love Matt Cross, but he wasn't wrestling like a guy who only had 6 minutes and 5 seconds to win the match. The Zicky Dice promo cracked me up. Not sure what's going on there, Starks has already beat him so I am not sure if Dice is trying to angle his way into a rematch, or what? - The Marti Belle interview and Allysin Kay interruption segment was actually much better than I expected, to be honest. - Then there was something that was just as bad as I expected. I feel bad for Tasha Steelz having to lose to Melina. They should be getting behind Steelz and getting Melina out of the ring, because Melina just sucks, I'm sorry. She's fine as a manager/mouthpiece but when you put her in that ring...ugh. I can only hope that once she gets the shot at Thunder Rosa that they're obviously building toward, that Rosa murders her and puts and end to the days of Melina as an in-ring performer in the NWA. Not good. - The Main Event was what it was. The match was actually a pretty well laid out, standard old school TV Main Event type match, but I'm way over seeing The Rock & Roll Express featured in high profile or even remotely important TV matches. They did the best they could here, and I know they have to stretch the storytelling out all the way to April for the next PPV, but I'm not sure using the Rock and Rolls is the way to do it. I'm a lot more interested in the Lucky 7 stipulation for the TV title. Last month, Nick Aldis couldn't beat Ricky Starks and went to a draw with him. Now if Starks wins five more matches, he gets a shot at the World Title. That to me is a much better story to tell while we wait for the Crockett Cup. My only other observation is that I'm not sure where the hell they're going with this whole May Valentine/Saul Rinauro deal. This can't really be leading to a Sal Rinauro feud with Royce Isaacs...can it? - No new episode of Power next week, because they're debuting the NWA version of Tough Enough, "The Circle Squared" where they will be showing the tryout matches featuring the guys trying to make the NWA roster. So that would be interesting to watch, because it will mean fresh, brand new talent for the NWA and I think that's really important. Anyhow, as almost always, this was a really fun hour of old school Pro Wrestling that was well paced and smartly laid out, it really flew by.

Most people are aware that Sean Mooney is now doing interviews, and a News Desk segment on NWA Power. On this week's episode he promoted the next episode of his podcast, featuring Trevor Murdoch as a guest. I checked it out, and really enjoyed it. If you have time, and especially if you enjoy Trevor Murdoch (and great Harley Race stories) I highly recommend this episode. I am excited as well because he says he is going to have more NWA stars on his podcast in the future, and is also considering an NWA themed podcast. Thought some people might want to check this out.

For those who missed it last week, here is a link to part of the promo we've been talking about. This isn't the whole segment (Pope was excellent during this segment as well) but this little clip is a great indicator of how great Eddie Kingston has been in the NWA so far. They really need to get behind this guy more, they could really do a lot with him.

You're not wrong about his temper affecting him, but I don't think is a new phenomenon or that it's getting noticeably worse. It's getting reported more, especially as he makes enemies out of modern Pro Wrestling fans who want him "cancelled." But at his core, I think he's pretty much always been like this. It's just now he has a podcast and uses Twitter, so his ridiculous temper is on public display for all to see. Like I said earlier, Cornette is unquestionably an asshole and his temper is legendary. But I also don't know that his temper has negatively affected his career. After the whole NWA Power/Fried Chicken Joke fiasco, one of the popular talking points going around on social media was that Cornette had been fired rather than quitting, or just what you said...that his temper and bombastic outbursts had negatively affected his career. On an episode of the Drive-Thru (#116 back in November) by way of a rebuttal he actually went through his entire career job by job and listed what jobs he's been fired from and which jobs he'd quit. The "fired" list is actually a lot shorter than I would have expected, considering his history. I would think his getting fired by WWE for slapping Santino Marella was probably the worst example of his temper costing him work. As far as the effect of his temper on his personal life? He's admitted in the past that he's on medication for his temper...at one point they had him on Lithium which is no joke. Now I think he's on some other form of anti-anxiety medication, he's mentioned it but I forget which one. Most Pro Wrestling fans have heard or seen the infamous Dairy Queen video, which has become legendary. Hell, on the Drive-Thru this week, Cornette tells a story about how his wife Stacy wanted to make some potato salad, so she went to the local convenience store and bought a jar of mayonnaise. (First mistake.) She made the potato salad and when they ate it, the discovered that it tasted terrible, so they looked and discovered that the mayo was expired. Cornette's wife went back to the store to get her money back. The clerk in the store refused to give Mrs. Cornette her money back. She went home and told Jim, who grabbed the jar of mayo, returned to the store and asked for his money back. The manager refused to refund the money, so Cornette ended up picking up the "Take-A-Penny-Leave-A-Penny" tray and literally chucked it at the guy's head. The story is actually really funny, as are most of Cornette's stories...but it's pretty clear that if the story is true (and I believe that it is) then Cornette continues to have problems with a seriously short fuse. That is one of the things that bugs me about how people react to Cornette. I'm not specifically talking about you @C.S., and I'm not singling you out. But a lot of people tend to judge Jim Cornette on the whole based on things they've "heard." Hell, I have a very good friend who is a hardcore AEW mark. He has some peripheral connections to the Pro Wrestling business, and as a result has had occasion to meet several of the Pro Wrestlers who are Cornette's usual targets. I wouldn't say he is "friends" with them, but they've socialized. For example my friend has had dinner with Joey Ryan. So naturally, whenever I mention Cornette or something he said, my friend freaks out and goes on and on about what a great guy Joey Ryan is, and how Cornette is an out of touch asshole who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. My friend doesn't ever listen to either of Cornette's podcasts, but he's one of the first ones to react to re-tweets or stuff reported on "newz" sites about Cornette. On the most recent episode of the Jim Cornette Experience, Cornette actually praised AEW and said their show was better than NXT last week. My friend barely believed me, because he bases all of his opinions on Cornette on stuff he reads online, and I think he was under the impression that Cornette blindly hates AEW and won't say anything positive about them at all...and that his entire shows are based around nothing but bashing modern wrestling. That's just not true, but that's the impression you get from a lot of people who don't actually know what he's talking about. Now of course, I'm not saying that if you already don't like Cornette that you should listen to his podcast. That would be stupid. For example, I can't stand Vince Russo so I would never, ever listen to his podcast, no matter what. Having said that, I don't think you can judge somebody as a whole, based on specifically selected comments they've made or especially by things they've said on Twitter. People who are predisposed to hate Jim Cornette and everything he stands for have been known to go out of their way to comb through every thing he's ever said or done, just looking for ammunition to help "cancel" him. Imagine if people judged Dave Meltzer solely based on his Twitter feed? People would look at him a lot differently. My point still is that if you solely base your opinion on what you read online, and you've never actually heard him talk, you come away with the impression that Cornette does nothing but scream insults at AEW for two hours every week. He does do that, but he does a lot of other stuff too...he is actually quite constructive in some of his criticisms of the modern product and most importantly, a lot of his criticism is 100% spot on...especially when it comes to stuff like booking continuity and the technical aspects of formatting a weekly Pro Wrestling show for television. But nobody ever focuses on that stuff, they just isolate the insults and report them. As a result, you get a picture of Jim Cornette that is either badly skewed or in some cases factually inaccurate. Cornette frequently irritates the hell out of me, but he does represent the opinion of a lot of old school Pro Wrestling fans and in a lot of cases when he is talking about certain aspects of modern Pro Wrestling, he's quite accurate in his criticisms.

If he was in WWE or NXT I agree that might be a problem, but AEW isn't exactly the land of the giants. On a roster that includes major stars the size of Darby Allin or Jungle Boy (not to mention Marko Freaking Stunt, who had a competitive match on Dark last week and pinned a guy twice his size) or workers with killer physiques like Joey Janela and Chuck Taylor, I don't think MJF sticks out all that badly. To me, he's a modern day Roddy Piper. During the height of the Hulkamania era when the WWF roster was populated primarily by giants and steroid monsters, Piper still managed to distinguish himself and he was average sized and had a rather normal physique. In Pro Wrestling (and MMA, actually) an average body and height but a big mouth can carry you a very long way, I've always felt. Not to mention, MJF seems to be one of the few heels in Pro Wrestling right now (Aron Stevens is another) who doesn't mind doing old school stooging, acting like a coward, begging off, etc. One of the many things I hate about modern Pro Wrestling is "cool heels" who we're supposed to hate, but they wrestle the exact same way they would if they were babyfaces. MJF actually acts like a cheating weasel when he wrestles, so that makes up for any lack of high impact moves in his arsenal. I'd actually prefer that he cheats rather than doing a bunch of NJPW "Strong Style" moves. Everybody in AEW does that stuff. MJF actually stands out and works differently.

Jim Cornette does not have a cognitive condition, and he especially doesn't have dementia. If you know the diagnostic criteria for most cognitive conditions (especially dementia) and you listen to one episode of his Drive Thru podcast, you would see that he exhibits literally none of the symptoms of a cognitive disorder. Not a one. Jim Cornette's memory and ability to recall details are legendary. He can remember dates of shows, towns he worked in and even ridiculous minutiae like what color blazer he wore at a particular event. He can remember where he ate after shows that took place over 30 years ago, and can say what he ordered and how the food was. (A topic that comes up with strange regularity on his podcast, for some reason.) Just a couple of weeks ago on the Drive-Thru, Brian Last asked Cornette about a particular promo he had cut when he was a rookie in Memphis, (when Cornette was starting his first stable) that Last had seen on YouTube. Without seeing the promo again, Cornette was able to recall exactly when he had cut the promo, who the promo was directed at, and he even recited it again from memory, practically verbatim. Brian Last was amazed, and that happens on an almost weekly basis - his incredible memory for detail is one of the main features of his Monday podcast. Jim Cornette is an asshole. He might be an exceptionally unpleasant asshole, even when compared to other assholes, but that doesn't make him mentally ill. It just makes him an asshole.

I've found that in AEW a lot of the time people get used on TV a couple of weeks in a row and have big matches and some momentum, and then all of the sudden they're off TV and not even mentioned for some reason. It feels like one step forward, one step back. (Darby Allin and Private Party come to mind.) I'm not sure AEW is the place to be "used consistently."

Maybe I should wait until I actually see them wrestle before I pass judgment. But you have to admit, based on appearances alone and the previous work of the Dawsons, there is some reason for me to be skeptical about the potential of a Dawsons/Bouncers match.

That is one of the things about him which I find hilarious. He's about as politically liberal as you can possibly get, (he is vocally pro-gun control, pro-socialized medicine, pro-abortion, pro-union and anti-big business...plus he never shuts up about how great Obama was) but at the same time his comments on Muslims are infamous and resulted in his previous co-host quitting the podcast. And he reacts to criticism exactly like somebody who is alt-right.

I feel bad if last week's episode was @KawadaSmile's introduction to the NWA or Power, because it wasn't a very good episode and wasn't an accurate reflection of what they're capable of doing, in my opinion. I found this week's episode to be a far superior show. - The Tim Storm promo was good, but it veered into cheesy territory with the whole fake Mama Storm deal. The guy playing the fake Mama Storm had a couple of pretty funny lines, but Storm didn't react all that great to it. He really should have either smacked the guy, or lost his temper and he didn't do either...he just kind of acted confused and indignant, so the segment didn't come off as well as it could have, in my opinion. Having said that, I am looking forward to Storm vs. Lattimer next week. - I thought Matt Cross vs. Caleb Konley was great. Starks was really good as a guest commentator and it was a really fun, well executed match. I hope we continue to see Matt Cross in the NWA. I think Konley is being underused. He's pretty solid in the ring and the fans seem to like him, but he rarely wins matches and that seems to be a waste to me. He held his own against Starks here. By the way, I really like the whole "Lucky 7" stipulation and hope it leads to Starks vs. Aldis down the road. - The highlights of the Aldis/Scurll face-to-face from last week was a lot easier to sit through than the whole segment last week, which dragged on way too long. The subsequent Aldis promo was also pretty good, although his verbiage tends to meander at points and some of his metaphors about wolves climbing mountains and stuff like that seemed really unnatural and forced. - The next segment was the definition of good news/bad news. The good news was that The Pope and Eddie Kingston are outstanding and are cutting some of the best promos not just in the NWA, but in all of Pro Wrestling right now. The entire NXT locker room only wishes they could cut promos like those two did tonight. However, the subsequent showdown became the answer to a Pro Wrestling riddle: What's worse than having a big fat midcard Tag Team that can barely wrestle on your roster? Answer: Having TWO big fat midcard Tag Teams that can barely wrestle on your roster. Never mind the Dawsons, here's the Bouncers. Ugh. If we have to sit through the Dawsons managed by The Pope against the Bouncers managed by Eddie Kingston...that may be asking too much. I don't mind The Pope as a manager - his promos are gold - but they really need to find somebody better than the Dawsons for him to manage. - I thought that May Valentine vignette was great. Nothing is more annoying than a so-called social media "influencer" and this played off that great. They're actually managing to make Royce Isaacs interesting. - I thought Aron Stevens vs. Trevor Murdoch was pretty good and fairly entertaining. Stevens did some decent wrestling rather than all stooging. It went on too long, until I figured out that Stevens was deliberately trying to eat up time to get to a time limit draw and save his title. Stevens was hilarious as always and Murdoch came off great, so I have no major complaints about this match. Sounds like we'll be seeing more of them, which works for me. - The Storm & Drake squash was good, they need to do more matches like that to help get people over. That finish they do of the fireman's carry into the backstabber came off a little rough, though. That might be too complicated for James Storm to do at this point, he barely got his knees up. - I really liked Sean Mooney's new news segment. - The Main Event was really good. It obviously wasn't as good as their match at the PPV, but it was a really good TV Main Event. I can't believe how popular Thunder Rosa is getting. You can tell they see that and are about to split her and Melina up, which is the smart thing to do. - One complaint I had about this show is the fact that they changed the theme music to a really heavy Pantera song and got rid of all the cheesy old school imagery and fake commercials and stuff like that. It's almost like they're starting to take themselves more seriously and I'm not sure I like that, but I'll give it time. I'd still say this was an excellent episode and big improvement over last week.

There is no doubt that Cornette's real anger about most things ends up being absolutely disproportionate. He was ranting about Donald Trump this past week, and went on some diatribe about how all people who voted for Trump should be tattooed with a letter "T" on their foreheads so people can identify them and blame them in public. He further went on one of his typical two-dimensional, overly simplified political tirades about all Republicans, during which and he strongly implied that he doesn't want anybody who is a Republican or who is politically conservative listening to his shows - while Brian Last frantically tried to contain him. Last tried in vain to dial Cornette back by pointing out that many of Cornette's fans were people who might be conservative or vote Republican but are not Trump supporters...but Cornette was in full insane mode and wouldn't hear it. Most of Cornette's responses are not rational or proportionate, but much like his infamous joke on NWA Power, I also don't think they reflect his actual beliefs. I honestly believe it's part heat of the moment tirade and part shtick. And I honestly don't know where the line is, but I still think a large amount of the stuff he does and says are him working both his own fans and the people who hate him.

Cornette's got a wicked temper and says a lot of outrageous shit, but he is not mentally ill. That's ridiculous.

I've seen people here at PWO say that the Omega/Okada matches are better than the Flair/Steamboat Trilogy as well. I guess it's a matter of taste, but I totally don't get that at all. I don't give a crap about the "drawing" aspect of the argument, (I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that the Flair/Steamboat matches really didn't draw all that great) but I sure don't think the Omega matches are actually better Pro Wrestling matches.

I don't blame Cornette for breaking ties with Kenny Bolin. Kenny Bolin had been friends with Jim Cornette and his family since they were children. Then a few years ago, Bolin made friends with Vince Russo and tried to broker some sort of deal on Russo's behalf where Cornette and Russo would have a worked podcast "debate" or something. Of course Bolin would financially benefit from the whole deal, even though he knew that Cornette hated Russo for getting him fired twice. It was Cornette's reaction to that whole fiasco that caused Russo to file the restraining order against Cornette, and (if you believe Russo, which is a big "if") Russo has claimed that it was Bolin who convinced him to get the protection order because Cornette was legitimately violent and would really attack him, if given the chance. The whole breakdown in the relationship with Cornette and Meltzer has been coming for some time. It's been funny, for years Jim Cornette has been the one Pro Wrestling insider who loudly praised Meltzer's work and defended him to the hilt when guys like Bischoff and especially Prichard ripped on him. Cornette has loudly called Prichard out for bashing Meltzer in the past, and vehemently defended Dave. Cornette had Meltzer on his podcast as a guest last year where they basically "agreed to disagree" about PWG, modern wrestling and the Bucks and Omega. (AEW wasn't a thing yet at that time.) So I don't think that you can lay all of the blame on this relationship going down the tubes on just Meltzer being an AEW fanboy. Their relationship seemed to start to get rocky when Meltzer made the statement that the Young Bucks are the modern equivalent of the Midnight Express. Cornette was already pissed off at Meltzer about that when the whole deal happened with Cornette's infamous joke on NWA Power that culminated in his quitting the NWA. Meltzer did a major story on the whole thing, but never even bothered to call Cornette and ask his side of the story or get a quote from him. That seemed to pretty much be the straw that broke the camel's back on that relationship. Of course he's just like those other guys, that's the whole point. For people that think Cornette is actually upset that AEW is having a degree of success, I would disagree. Brian Last has come out and admitted that ever since he and Cornette have been reviewing Dynamite every week on The Jim Cornette Experience, their numbers have gone up and stayed up. Last claims (and I believe it) that they keep setting new records for how many people are listening to them. Proof of that is the fact they actually changed the day they record and release the show, just so they can rip on AEW every week now. I remember when Bill Clinton was elected to a second term, and somebody in an interview said to Rush Limbaugh that he must be really upset about it. Limbaugh just laughed and pointed out that his ratings had never been higher than they were when he had the Clinton Administration as his punching bag. Cornette and Brian Last probably danced a jig when Dynamite got renewed for 3 more years. That's three years of easy material for them, now they don't even have to plan out anything for Friday podcast like they used to...they just review Dynamite and that's all they need to do.

I'm listening to the Royal Rumble 2005 episode which debuted today, and it's pretty hilarious but a bit in a sad way at the same time. JR admits early on that he's drinking screwdrivers while they record. By the time they get to reviewing the matches, it sounds like JR is maybe a bit toasted. When they're discussing the Flair/Guerrero backstage segment, JR goes off on some totally out of left field rant about the developmental system and how you can't teach having "it" (which is true) but it seems like he's angry and having an argument, even though nobody is disagreeing with him. Then while they're discussing the Undertaker/Heidenreich match, JR goes off into another tangent and ends up complaining about Donald Trump and media coverage of the Impeachment Trial(?!) Poor Conrad is having trouble keeping him on topic. There's still around an hour to go, and I feel for Conrad trying to keep this thing on track. Also, one thing that seems weird to me is that it feels like JR's show has more ads than Bischoff or Arn? Either that, or it's just not as noticeable on those other shows as it is on this one.