The Thread Killer

What Graves said is unprofessional, yes. Not sure how snide criticisms constitute "bullying" regardless of Mauro's mental state. Exactly my feeling.

I am absolutely not against medical marijuana, not even one little bit. In fact, I am an advocate for medicinal marijuana for physical illnesses. Physical...not psychological. Medical marijuana as treatment for bipolar disorder or other serious psychological illnesses is medically unfounded and ethically irresponsible. I know a lot of cannabis advocates love to promote it as a cure for pretty much everything up to and including the common cold, and that's fine. For ailments of the body. Not the mind.

Fuck Frank Shamrock, I hate that guy. He's scum. He abandoned a dog to die and left it tied up in a parking lot during a heat wave and flew away. Nobody should give a flying fuck what he thinks about anything, that fucking asshole.

No, the research really isn't "still out there." It is a clinically, scientifically proven fact that cannabis is not a successful treatment for many mental health issues and it absolutely can exacerbate mental health problems at best and initiate previously undiagnosed or asymptomatic psychological issues and full blown psychotic episodes at worst. Not with everybody, of course but definitely with people who have certain preexisting psychological conditions. I know. I've seen it with my own two eyes, and studied the clinical documentation. I may not know about a lot of topics, but this topic I do happen to know quite a lot about. I have 22 years experience working in the mental health field, and you my friend are clearly talking through your ass.

Now let's find out where @FMKK works, and get him fired from his job for not liking Mauro.

Knowledge of Mauro Ranallo's mental health issues are out there, because he put them out there. You do know he's bi-polar, and had a documentary made about him and his struggles with bi-polar disorder, right? And there absolutely is a clear and obvious treatment for bi-polar disorder...and cannabis use isn't it.

I have generally agreed with Jim Cornette more often than not when it comes to his assessment of the talent in AEW. Specifically about being too small, too obsessed with spots and near falls and not enough psychology, and not looking like traditional Pro Wrestlers. However, I think Darby Allin is a superstar in waiting. I can't even really put my finger on it, but this guy has the proverbial "it factor" promoters go on about. His look, his style and everything else about him combine to make him an exceptionally compelling character that you really want to watch. In his case, I don't care how small or reckless he is...that just adds to his appeal. I first saw him when he fought Cody and after that I made it a point to check out whatever he did in AEW. So far, I'm convinced this kid is money. I really hope AEW listens to the fans (which unlike some other Pro Wrestling companies we could name, AEW actually does) and sees the star they have in their hands, and focus on him. They need to push this guy to the moon. It may not have been a technical masterpiece, but I freaking loved his match with Moxley last week. He has become one of the main reasons I watch AEW and I look forward to seeing more. You guys are right, he really does give off a modern day Raven vibe, and to quote DDP: "That's a good thing!"

I don't think you guys are wrong. Remember we got into this when discussing Mauro Ranallo a couple of months ago in this thread. Firstly, there have been unsubstantiated allegations that Mauro Ranallo is a bit of an asshole, and that has nothing to do with his mental health. Hell, Dave Meltzer alluded to that fact when he covered the whole Mauro/JBL debacle, and Meltzer and Mauro are friends. Secondly, as I ranted about in the thread linked above, Mauro Ranallo has gone on record and is quite proud of the fact he doesn't follow the traditional, prescribed treatment for his mental illness, so I have a hard time feeling a lot of sympathy for him. Let's face it, any time you get me and @El-P to agree on something, as we do about Mauro...then we MUST be right, because the statistical odds of us having the same opinion about something are infinitesimal.

WWE is a company that considers Micheal Fucking Cole "The Voice of WWE." Clearly, their bar when it comes to the quality of the announcing is really not all that high. They don't want good announcers, they want mindless corporate yesbots who will happily spout inane WWE approved euphemisms and approved catch phrases on cue while Vince instructs them in their headset. Or in WWE-speak, they want to ensure the WWE Universe hears the best action about their favorite Sports Entertainers. I love NXT, but I don't think you can attribute their success and ratings to Mauro Ranallo. I'd be more likely to think they've succeeded despite him, not because of him.

Uh...what? I'm as big a Cornette fan as you're likely to find (especially here at PWO) and even I don't think he has a high IQ. He's one of those people who knows a ton about one particular subject, but outside of his comfort zone he really isn't all that much smarter than your average man on the street. In fact he's probably dumber, if it comes to that. Jim Cornette is pretty much a savant when it comes to his knowledge of Pro Wrestling history, due to being an accomplished and experienced archivist. But get him talking about pretty much anything else and it becomes clear he really isn't of above average intelligence. He is famous for his political rants, but his overall understanding of politics is incredibly two-dimensional and frighteningly simplistic.

His enthusiasm isn't the problem, dude. I could almost handle the screaming and shouting and jumping out of his seat. I can almost deal with that, although it's fucking annoying. His enthusiasm I can at least appreciate and understand. The problem is that much of the time he seems more concerned with shoe-horning his stupid pop culture references and allegories into the match than he is with actually you know...calling the match. It's never natural when he does that, it always sounds incredibly forced and corny. Whether he means to do this or not, he sounds like he trying to get himself over as some sort of character, not be the play-by-play guy. Secondly, he's unprofessional. He doesn't let his fellow announcers talk, he is constantly cutting them off and interrupting them and there is literally no excuse for that. I know there are plenty of people who like the guy, and that's fine. But even his biggest defenders would have to admit that he interrupts Nigel and Beth all the time, and like I said there is no excuse for that shit. Secondly, for those that don't like him he actually detracts from the show. I've lost count of the times I've read about people either not watching NXT or having to mute the volume because they don't want to listen to Mauro Ranallo bellowing nonsense at the top of his lungs. He doesn't add to the product, for a lot of people he actually takes away from the enjoyment of the product. That isn't made up or imagined. I can't stand Josh Mathews as an example, but I've never let him get to me so much that I have to turn the volume down. But I habitually turn the volume extra low when I watch NXT because I literally can't stand listening to Mauro Ranallo's nonsense. I've never tweeted something negative to the guy, and I personally could care less if he uses Twitter or not. But if he didn't call NXT anymore I wouldn't shed a tear and I honestly think it would make the product considerably better, and I'm not going to feel guilty or apologize for that either.

@Slasher you're the man and you're one of my favorite posters here at PWO...but in this particular case I believe you're wrong brother. As I have ranted about previously, Messiah has two literal definitions: 1) "The prophesied king and deliverer of the Jews" which does not apply here, unless Roderick Strong is planning on delivering the Jews through the use of the backbreaker? or... 2) "A professed or accepted leader of some hope or cause" which would imply that the backbreaker is a "hope or cause?" It doesn't work. As I've bitched about previously, there is no earthly reason that they can't call him "The Master of the Backbreaker." Otherwise it's a stupid nickname and it makes no sense. And it's mildly sacrilegious, to boot.

One of the things that struck me when I listened to the podcast was that Cornette seemed uncharacteristically calm about the whole situation. He got a little fired up, but I expected him to go into full on insane rant mode. I thought his apology was actually fairly reasonable. If he had done that on Wednesday this might have actually blown over, but from his perspective I can see why he didn't. He was right about one thing, this kind of thing was just going to keep happening until he got fired, so it's just as well that he quit. There were two things Cornette said that I liked. Firstly he talked about how this whole controversy was overshadowing the NWA and taking attention away from the promotion and the workers and one of the reasons he quit is because he didn't want to do that to them. Secondly, he encouraged his fans to continue to support the NWA and he even reiterated that point at the end of the show, so that was good I thought. One thing that really surprised me was Brian Last during that podcast. He told Cornette flat out that he thought the joke was inappropriate and he could absolutely see why people would think it was racist. He did say that he doesn't think Cornette is a racist person, but the joke was bad and he never should have made it. I respect Brian Last for being so blunt about that. I can only imagine how Alice Radley would have reacted. Well, I guess I don't have to imagine that...when something similar to this happened when she was co-host, she quit.

I only want to see an AEW version of War Games if one of the teams is made up of Marko Stunt, Michael Nakazawa, Peter Avalon, Sonny Kiss, and the fat guy from The Dark Order.

Finally got around to watching NXT last night and saw this match. It did not disappoint, one little bit. In fact (and I know nobody will agree with me, but I'm going to say it anyhow) I think I would go as far as to say it was a MOTYC. They wisely gave it around 25 minutes and let it breathe, and I thought it was outstanding. Agree/Disagree anybody?

The Women's War Games was far and away the best match on the show, and since it was the opener all the other matches paled in comparison...but having said that, I agree with you. I still enjoyed the Men's War Games and overall I thought this was an excellent show and very enjoyable. Except the commentary of Mauro Ranallo, who I hope gets a terminal case of mouth herpes.

An "Archer of Infamy" is a lot like a "Messiah of the Backbreaker." Namely, a nickname which makes literally NO FUCKING SENSE and was apparently created solely so Mauro Ranallo can bellow it at the top of his lungs approximately 37 times every match.

The board is starting to refuse to recognize his bizarre South American political non-sequitur thread titles.

Yeah, you're right. If you watch the Breaking Kayfabe shoot interview Cornette did with KC, this is the exact kind of thing he was going insane over in ROH when he worked there around 6 years ago. He had the exact same complaints about lack of medical care for the wrestlers as well, and this kind of stuff is why he quit ROH altogether.

I'm just guessing here, but it might be a Canadian thing. As you probably know, historically there has been a fair bit of tension in Canada between Quebec and the rest of the country. It's nowhere near as bad now as it used to be, but of course at one point Quebec actually wanted to separate from the rest of Canada, and some parts of the country (especially the Western Provinces) can be resentful towards Quebec for getting what is perceived to be preferential treatment. It has also chaffed a lot of people historically that the entire country is required to be bilingual, with French on all government signs etc, when only one province is predominantly French. This led to a bit of a cultural thing where sometimes, people from the West or kids would put on a mocking French accent or deliberately mispronounce French words, or over exaggerate certain phrases. It happened a lot when I was a kid, and Jericho is pretty much the exact same age I am. He grew up in Winnipeg, so it could be something he picked up there as a comedic affectation, I'm not sure. As I said, it's just a guess.

Well, if Meltzer is to be believed (and in this case he probably should be, because he and Cornette are still friends despite their sniping at each other over AEW) then this answers a few questions. Reading between the lines, it sounds like they might have given Cornette a pass on this situation if he had been willing to apologize, which he apparently isn't. That doesn't surprise me, but it makes me think maybe he did resign rather than apologize, instead of them just firing him. I guess we'll get Cornette's side of the story later today, which I'm betting a hell of a lot of people will be listening to. I know I will, it's like a car crash that I can't look away from. I'm weak, I know. Also, this story seems to confirm that it was Lagana's fault the joke stayed on the show. Also, in context the line: "Justin Roberts looks like he ought to be registered somewhere to be around children. He’s so happy. You see a fucking guy dressed up like that, with that big smile coming across his face, coming towards your kids...run." made me laugh. That probably makes me a bad person, but I don't care.

I admit, my French may be somewhat rusty, and those are pretty much the only words I remember. Which is a shame, because if I had paid attention and applied myself it would have helped. You can get some very high paying government jobs in Canada if you're bilingual.

They made me take French in Grade 9, let's see how I remember it: Maître, je dois tailler mon crayon puis aller à la salle de bain. J'ai mangé ma moto dans le hall avec un pamplemousse.

It's always sad when guys who were popular years ago get stuck in a rut and refuse to modify or update their act. There was nothing at all racial about it, but in a somewhat similar vein I remember when Roddy Piper made his comeback to WCW in 1996. He was cutting one of his nonsensical, rambling promos and he insulted somebody (I forget who...Hogan probably) by comparing them to Punky Brewster. Naturally, the crowd didn't react since they most likely had no idea who or what Punky Brewster was. I remember thinking "Punky Brewster? WTF, that show got cancelled 10 years ago! Get some new jokes, Roddy!" But nope, there he was recycling the same lines he used in 1986 to great success but now...not so much. As much as I loved him, close to the end of his time in WCW Bobby Heenan could be guilty of the same thing, using the same old jokes we'd all heard a million times. Jerry Lawler too, come to think of it.

I'd say it's probably a little from column A and a little from column B. I know a fair number of people watch the show when it debuts live at 6:05 pm Eastern (like me for example, which is why I heard Cornette's joke before the episode was pulled down) so none of the numbers of the people who watched it in the first couple of hours will be reflected. However...the bad word of mouth about this episode spread so quickly that I have no doubt that a lot of fans decided not to watch the episode after they heard about it.