The Thread Killer

Absolutely. If I had skipped last week's episode entirely I would probably have a lot better of an opinion about this promotion overall than I do right now. I mentioned it elsewhere in this thread, but it bears repeating...they really screwed up with the spacing and editing of the episodes they had in the can after their first set of tapings. Last week was pretty much a pointless show with nothing of any value. Some people are blaming it on the Cornette fallout, but I don't buy that for a minute. It all boils down to the fact that they didn't tape enough TV to make it to the PPV, and they were trying to stretch it out. Billy Corgan essentially admitted that in an interview (not that they fucked up, but that they were tying to make the footage they shot stretch out.) This week's episode was fine, and the promos are pretty much must see if you want to watch the PPV. If they plan to go ahead with this model moving forward (one set of tapings leading up to a PPV) then they really need to plan ahead better as far as booking and scheduling.

So is the lesson here that both AEW and NXT are doing somewhere in the vicinity of 850,000 viewers a week, but NXT's viewers tend to be older than AEW? To me, it looks like they are pretty much even now ratings wise, but maybe I'm reading things wrong.

I agree, I thought NXT was really solid this week. I'm pretty much over the Dain/Dunne rivalry but that was still a very good opener and a smart way to start the show. I do hope Priest is back sooner than later. I thought Keith Lee came across really well in his confrontation with the Undisputed Era. I think his promos are improving. The Kushida video package was excellent. The Riddle/Ohno match was pretty good, although I think that rivalry has really run it's course (even though we got an extended break from it) because four matches seems like a bit much, especially since Ohno can't beat Riddle. I really liked the Cameron Grimes/Kushida match a lot...and most importantly the Main Event was excellent. I had just assumed that Ciampa would be getting the next shot at Cole but now I'm not sure who is going to win that Triple Threat and the title shot. Keith Lee (whoop whoop) has a ton of momentum right now and they might want to put the championship on him. I wouldn't complain if they did. I can't wait for the Baszler/Ripley match in a couple of weeks either, that has the potential to be very good. And finally, Baszler has a challenger who has a very good chance at beating her.

I absolutely see what you're saying. A big part of me is surprised they didn't just let the whole thing go. Hell, Cornette has already moved on from the whole situation so there was no need for them to say anything - they could have just let the last episode with Cornette air, and moved on. That's why I really think they were trying to get some of his fans to come back, and I don't think it's going to work and it almost definitely wasn't worth the risk. Just bad decision making all the way around.

You can tell AEW really doesn't want people to change the channel during commercials. If I'd have done a shot every time they reminded us about the picture-in-picture tonight, I'd be freaking hammered right now.

I've seen you levy this criticism against the NWA before, that the roster is made up of TNA and WWE "rejects." Even if it's true...what does that prove? Yes, pretty much everybody on the NWA roster previously worked in TNA or WWE...but so what? TNA had a ton of excellent workers over the years, it's not their fault that TNA had some of the shittiest booking ever seen and utterly incompetent management. Are these guys supposed to wrestle under masks for the rest of their lives, or retire or something, just because they used to work for TNA or didn't make it to the top of WWE? Somebody could easily say that some of the biggest names in AEW are former WWE guys...Cody, Moxley, Jericho, Dustin, Spears. Cody was basically a midcarder at best in WWE. So what? He moved on and made something more of himself...guys in the NWA should be afforded the same chance. The NWA is obviously operating on a shoestring budget, so they're not going to be able to afford top level guys. Their best bet is to find guys like Trevor Murdoch and Aron Stevens who only work part time and still have something to contribute to the business. I agree wholeheartedly that the NWA needs to compliment guys like that with fresh, new talent. Absolutely. But I don't see the point of harping on about guys who used to work in TNA. I remember you complaining about people criticizing AEW and rooting for them to fail, while AEW was trying to provide an alternative product and give guys a place to work. You were right, but you sound like you're basically doing the exact same thing when it comes to the NWA.

I agree. I can't argue with anybody who criticizes Lawler's work as a Color Commentator, and I would never dream of trying. And I would never try and justify or excuse the allegations about his personal life. I don't know how many of the stories about him are true, and I really don't want to know, to be honest. But as an actual Professional Wrestler, I don't see any reasonable or logical argument against the guy...and I was never even a big fan of Memphis Wrestling. I just can't deny the skill the guy had and I'm not blind. He was a brilliant performer and was pretty much a genius when it came to the "less is more" style, psychology and getting the most of his opponents and feuds. They should force a lot of the younger talent today study Jerry Lawler for a lesson on how to get over, stay over and have compelling matches and angles without having to kill yourself or do a million high risk moves. And yeah, you can't understate the greatness of that punch, either.

If I had only known that was going to happen, I might not have changed the channel to watch the hockey game for a few minutes! I usually tune out during most of the AEW women's division stuff, it really hasn't grabbed me so far. Although Brandi kinda grabbed me a bit tonight. Between her and Lana, this has been a truly epic week for women's wardrobe choices in the world of Professional Wrestling.

I think there are a couple of points to consider regarding their public farewell to Jim Cornette. They could have just said nothing and let that be the end of it, and to a degree I am surprised they didn't. However, let's be honest. They didn't fire him, he quit. It's entirely possible that he was going to get fired, but he walked away because he knew that people who hate him were just going to keep picking through everything he said until he got fired. Since then, he actually has explained his joke. He admitted it was in poor taste, and even offered an apology, although it was conditional. It's not like he doubled down on the joke. Hell, he let his own co-host pretty much tell him off for the joke, on his own podcast. I think Cornette is about as contrite over this situation as he is technically capable of being, so there's really no point in litigating it any further...and I think the NWA knows that. Having said that...I think there is something else at play which explains why they thanked Jim Cornette this week. AEW and the NWA are in a very similar situation right now, albeit on a vastly different scale. Both promotions appeal to a very particular segment of Pro Wrestling fans. Both debuted to a fair amount of positive feedback and good buzz. And both have steadily declined since their respective debuts. AEW ratings are down, and NWA views are down. The difference is, aside from people being turned off by the booking and lack of action in the NWA a lot of people were turned off by the NWA solely based on the Jim Cornette controversy. AEW will survive and thrive because they are levelling out and they will be sustained by their own hardcore fanbase. I do not think that is the case when it comes to the NWA. They need all the fans they can get. A segment of fandom (and I have no idea how big this segment is, but it can't be denied that they exist) were only "hate watching" Power to try and get Jim Cornette "cancelled." They have succeeded, so I assume they have moved on. That leaves Jim Cornette's fanbase, the infamous "Cult of Cornette." On a weekly basis, Cornette supposedly gets roughly 350,000 downloads on his podcast. Let's assume that 250,000 of those are actual hardcore Cornette fans. Cornette repeatedly promoted the NWA on his podcast, but more importantly he extolled the virtues of what the NWA was trying to do...bring back old school studio Pro Wrestling. The NWA really needed that promotion and endorsement. I don't know how many of those 250,000 hardcore Cornette fans were tuning in because of Cornette, but I'd bet it was a significant number. Now they've lost them...and under controversial circumstances. Cornette has repeatedly implored his fans to continue to support the NWA, but it is very clear that many of his most rabid fans are irate that he is gone and circumstances under which he left. Not only have a lot of those fans stopped watching, but they are actually campaigning against the NWA now. One of the talking points I've seen repeatedly that I actually believe, is that a large number of people who were freaking out about Jim Cornette weren't even NWA Power fans to begin with, nor would they watch the show once he was gone. They just wanted to fuck with Cornette because they hate him. So now the NWA is left with no Cornette and a bunch of pissed off old school Pro Wrestling fans. I have no doubt that the segment on this week's show was an attempt to win back some of those fans, or publicly illustrate that there are "no hard feelings." I'm not sure it worked, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was.

One of Jim Cornette's frequent talking points about Janela that I actually agree with, is that just because you're a fan of something it doesn't mean you should automatically be qualified to do it. Love and passion are great, but there has to be natural skill in there as well. Hell, I love NFL football and am a passionate fan of the Arizona Cardinals...that doesn't mean they should put me on the fucking team. Look at CM Punk. He was a hardcore UFC fan and was more passionate about that than he was his own Pro Wrestling career. Look how far that got him. Only in Pro Wrestling does it seem that if you're a huge fan and really passionate about it, that somehow qualifies you to try it. Joey Janela does not have the body of an athlete, but that's only the start of the problem. When he's not doing stupid hardcore shit, his work clearly sucks. I don't know who the fuck trained that guy, but Janela should ask for his money back. He can't throw a punch...and he's supposed to be a brawler. From everything I've seen so far, he has no goddamn idea how to get his character across and get fans to take him seriously. He makes ridiculous facial expressions and can't convey any believably in his promos...at least none of the ones I've seen. I don't hate AEW at all, they've actually done a lot of stuff I've really enjoyed. I think Darby Allin is one of the hottest prospects in the entire business right now, and I've even started to come around on Orange Cassidy because they're just using him as comedy relief, and it's not like anybody is actually selling his shit. (That segment with him and Pac a couple of weeks ago was awesome.) But Joey Janela is a bridge too far. I don't care how anybody tries to justify him or dress it up...that dude fucking sucks.

From what I understand, the PPV is going to be coming from the same place they film Power, the GPB studio in Atlanta. The only supposed difference is that the tickets were much more expensive and the set is supposedly going to be different. I hope that is the case. I have no major issue with the way the stands are set up, but it wouldn't kill them to have a camera man situated somewhere they could get an elevated shot, and I really don't think they should have the PPV on the Power set.

I have to admit, after last week I was so pissed off at the booking I was pretty much ready to give up on this promotion, but this week's show actually mollified me to a significant degree. All of the highlight clips for the three minutes leading up to the show, in addition to the promos during the episode actually did an excellent job of justifying the reasons for James Storm getting the shot at Nick Aldis at the PPV. It's true that from the moment he showed up on Power, James Storm had been claiming he wanted a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship, I just didn't understand why he got it, especially after he lost the National Title. Now we know, he won a Triple Threat match against Eli Drake and Ken Anderson to win the shot. As an added bonus, that result actually helps explain the rivalry between Eli Drake and Ken Anderson, as well. We even got to see highlights of the match. Plus, Aldis actually wants him to have the shot in order to shut Storm up and they even threw in some allusions to their history in TNA, and hinted at James Storm's reputation for being a whiner backstage...something Storm played up in his own promo. Finally...it makes sense. The big question is...why the HELL didn't the NWA show the damn #1 Contender's match on Power? I have seen people speculate that it was because of the fallout from Jim Cornette's joke, but I don't buy that for a minute. If the NWA was so desperate to erase Cornette from history, then why did they leave his commentary on the Cabana/Starks/Stevens segment and match this week? And why did they leave his commentary on the Main Event, why would they have shown him in the ring celebrating with the RnR's? They had more than enough time to re-dub and voice over both those matches. The NWA certainly never would have publicly thanked Jim Cornette at the end of the show if they were so intent on erasing him. It doesn't make any sense. There has to be another reason the match never aired in full. Lord knows they had plenty of time for it last week, they could have (and should have) shit-canned that awful empty arena match and segment afterwards. I can only assume that something went wrong during the#1 Contender's match that they didn't want to make air, like a botch or something. I think the promos by James Storm and especially Nick Aldis were outstanding. One of my main complaints last week (aside from Storm getting the shot at the title) was that the Kamille and Tim Storm angles had pretty much been dropped. Now we know that isn't true. Aldis is claiming he gave Kamille the night off, but she did whisper something to James Storm so it's safe to assume she's going to show up. And the idea of using Tim Storm as a special referee is actually pretty good...because it's pretty much 50/50 if he's going to call the match fairly or not. So all credit to the NWA, they have managed to turn this match into something I actually want to see now. As far at the Rock and Roll Express winning the NWA World Tag Team Titles...I'm sorry, but I think it was a really fucking stupid idea. I have a ton of respect for those guys, but it doesn't change the fact that they are both in their early 60's, and that's assuming that you believe they're telling the truth about how old they are. (Rumor has it that Ricky Morton is actually significantly older than he claims to be. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt.) All putting the titles on those guys does is send the message that you're either stuck in the past, and/or have a very weak Tag Team Division. Those guys were walking around during that match at stooped over, and that "double dropkick" was hard to watch. The match wasn't all that good, and how could it have been really? There really isn't any upside to this decision. If The Wild Cards win the titles back (which I assume they will) then what have they accomplished? They beat up a couple of old guys, wow. If they don't win the titles back at the PPV, then what does that say about how good they are? It's not like I am salivating at the prospect of this PPV, I'm not. It's still a pretty weak card on paper, but I am inclined to give the NWA the benefit of the doubt now because I support what they are trying to do, for the most part. Now that we are through their first set of taped episodes, I give the concept an A+, but the execution a C-. They badly need to add more talent, including fresh new faces. They need to weed out the stupid bullshit like this whole Question Mark angle, I don't care HOW over it is with the studio audience. I know they strongly hinted at it this week, but they just need to unmask this guy already. And they need to meticulously plan out their booking for the next set of tapings, so there is a more cohesive story leading into the next PPV after Into The Fire (assuming there is one.) I don't want to see the glut of competitive matches every week like we see on AEW and NXT, but I would like to see an improvement on the in-ring action. But I still firmly believe that this promotion and television show is important. It fills a void and carves out a niche for fans of old school Pro Wrestling for feel alienated by modern wrestling. I am going to continue to support them, but I hope they learn from the mistakes they have made so far.

FTFY

If you are putting together a "Best of Stone Cold" compilation, I would imagine you'd have to include one of his matches with The Undertaker, considering they fought approximately 957,000 times during The Attitude Era. Problem is, most of the matches are underwhelming. For whatever reason, those two guys never seemed to click and Lord knows it wasn't due to unfamiliarity or lack of practice. If I had to pick one Austin/Undertaker match, I'd probably pick the Main Event of SummerSlam 98. I know both Austin and The Undertaker weren't happy with that match, but to my mind it was the best pick of a bad lot. A lot of people prefer their match in 1997 at "A Cold Day In Hell" because it was before Austin's injury and they actually wrestled during the match. I remember the finishing stretch of that match being really good, but there was a ridiculous amount of outside interference and shenanigans. EDIT: Also, people tend to disagree with me about this one, but don't forget the infamous "Three Stages of Hell" match between Austin and Triple H at No Way Out 2001. I really liked that match, although I admit I seem to enjoy Triple H's ring work a hell of a lot more than most people around here. But if you're going to include an Austin/Triple H match, I would definitely pick this one.

I looked into it, and the dates on the Stone Cold/Savio Vega feud are: The Bodydonnas vs. Steve Austin & Savio Vega (Superstars) 03/10/96 Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega (Raw) 03/11/96 Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega (Wrestlemania 12) 03/31/96 Steve Austin vs. The Caribbean Kid (Superstars) 04/02/96 Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega (Raw) 05/27/96 Steve Austin vs. Savio Vega (Beware of Dog) 05/28/96

People always go on about the Submission Match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13 - and rightly so. Jim Cornette has called that the greatest WWF match of all time, and he might be right. However, some people tend to forget about the Austin/Hart match at Survivor Series 1996. In my opinion, that match is almost as good, but people tend to sleep on it for some reason, probably because it wasn't quite as dramatic as the WM13 match. I know some people claim the WM13 match gave birth to the Attitude Era, and I don't know about that, but the entire Bret Hart/Steve Austin feud is classic. It is a multi-man match, but no Stone Cold collection would be complete without the Main Event from In Your House: Canadian Stampede. Similarly, In Your House: Final Four is a Fatal Four Way, but it is another must see Austin match. Also, Austin's match with Shawn Michaels at King of the Ring 97 is excellent, and is everything their WM14 match should have been. You'll notice most of these matches are before Austin had his neck broken in the match with Owen Hart at Summerslam 97. That match seemed to severely limit what he could do, after he recovered. After he came back he had that excellent match at Over The Edge 98 with Mick Foley, and that brawling style pretty much became the in ring style he used from that point onward. If you want to talk really under the radar stuff, I have a couple of suggestions for you. You remember that Austin came into the WWF as "The Ringmaster" and he was managed by Ted DiBiase. Eventually, he transformed into Stone Cold, but there was a brief period there while he was Stone Cold but he was still managed by Ted DiBiase. During that brief period, he had a feud with Savio Vega which I thought produced some really solid matches. Austin himself has said that his feud with Vega was what he felt finally kickstarted his WWF career after he had been floundering. The feud started on WWF Superstars in March 96, when Austin teamed up with Vega against the Bodydonnas for the Tag Titles, and the pairing did not go well for Vega. That led to a match between Austin and Vega on the 03/11/96 episode of Raw, then they fought again at Wrestlemania 12. In April 1996 on Raw, Austin cost Vega the Intercontinental Title by bashing him in the head with the Million Dollar Belt. They fought again on the 04/02/96 episode of Superstars, when Vega donned a mask as "The Caribbean Kid" to screw with Austin. The feud culminated in a Strap Match at In Your House: Beware of Dog. There was some kind of stipulation where the loser had to be the other guy's chauffeur or something. All I remember is that after the feud DiBiase left the WWF and went to WCW, Stone Cold went on by himself, went on to win King of the Ring 1996, and the rest as they say is history.

I pay attention to ratings when it's the first season of a network television show that I like. There's nothing worse than getting into a new TV show and then all of the sudden they pull it because of low ratings. For example, I've never totally gotten over Fox cancelling Firefly 16 years ago...those low-down-no-good-dirty-rotten-filthy-stinking-sons-of-bitches.

Yeah, you're not wrong about that...it's never wise to put too much stock in ratings during the holidays.

Yeah, but Janela is now squawking to anybody who will listen to him that he wants to be taken seriously as a Pro Wrestler, and not just as a hardcore guy. Which is a big ask, considering how much he sucks.

If nothing else, these ratings prove to me that the viewing public don't value the same things I do. I thought AEW made some positive changes this past week (namely the inset promos for the Diamond Dozen Finals, more character vignettes not just long matches, etc.) and they had the superior show over NXT...so of course NXT wins in the ratings. Most of the weeks when AEW won in the ratings, (with the exception of the first two weeks) I generally thought NXT put on a better show. So basically, everybody is stupid except me...and they're all wrong. There, I said it.

Yeah, if Vince "doesn't believe" in getting sick and doesn't allow people to yawn or sneeze, God only knows what he must think of mental health problems.

A lot of AEW fans have been complaining about JR, but I don't see AEW pulling him out of the booth any time soon. From what I understand, Cody Rhodes is a friend and admirer of Jim Ross so barring some major incident, I don't see AEW putting JR out to pasture. One of the funnier things I have read recently was when some AEW fan was bitching about JR on Twitter, and asked Cody Rhodes why AEW had even hired him. Cody responded "because he's Jim Fucking Ross."

A guy wearing a monocle, managed by a woman wearing a bunny mask? I dunno...seems like cosplay to me.

Ugh. I just googled "Jim Cornette Banana" and now I really wish I hadn't. I want to take a steel wool pad to my brain to get that story out of there. Although having read that...it still doesn't explain what the hell Janela was talking about.

Tonight's show really showed how much they need Tony and what a valuable role he plays on that broadcast team. As bad a "Grumpy Old Man" JR can be at times, that's not the only problem. Excalibur talks too damn much. He's not up there in Mauro territory, and at least he isn't shouting all the damn time...but he still doesn't seem to understand how to let the action speak for itself during key moments. It's like he thinks he's calling the match for radio, or something. Having Tony in there really gives that group more personality and makes them much easier to listen to...I think it helps break up the discussion a bit. Besides, Tony's enthusiasm really adds something to the overall dynamic.