The Thread Killer

I agree with and can relate to what @fakeplastictrees and @Coffey are saying, I feel exactly the same way about this show. Earlier today it crossed my mind: "Today is Tuesday, there's a new episode of Power tonight!" I can't even remember the last time I actually looked forward to a weekly Pro Wrestling television show. I've seen every episode of AEW Dynamite since they debuted, and I've watched every episode of NXT since they've been running in opposition to AEW. Those shows have been technically excellent for the most part, but last week I found both of them to be a bit of a chore to get through. I can't even watch Raw or Smackdown anymore. But I find that so far, Power has flown by and leaves me looking forward to the next episode. When you watch this show, it is obvious that there are some areas for improvement. I feel they need to strike a better balance between the interviews/segments, and the in ring action. I don't think a Pro Wrestling TV show should ever go from an interview, into a commercial and then return and go into another interview. To me, it's a matter of pacing - and editing I guess, since this show is taped in advance. As far as the quality of the actual in ring action, I am of two minds. This show is going for an old school presentation, and old school wrestling shows on television generally featured a bunch of squash matches, interviews and then a television Main Event which more often than not ended up as a DQ or some sort of angle advancement intended to promote house shows or an upcoming Supercard or PPV. So far, I really enjoyed the Aldis/Storm match during the first episode, and I thought the Main Event last week was fair, but the outside interference and general shenanigans happened before I could get a great feel for the match. This week, I thought the Main Event was okay, especially considering how limited the Dawson Twins are physically. The question is, should the NWA be presenting competitive matches between their top talent on Power, and I'm not 100% sold that they should be. Like I said earlier, I have been closely following AEW and NXT over the past three weeks, and one thing that really struck me is that 95% of the matches on television are actually competitive matches which feature lots of highspots, the obligatory dives of course, and lots of near falls. You see guys having trouble beating opponents who are clearly beneath them, and even repeated use of finishing manoeuvres. At least NXT present one or two squashes a week, but those seem to be the exception, not the rule. I know this is looked upon as an out of touch opinion, but honestly I think the Pro Wrestlers on television right now are doing too much. They are giving away stuff on free television which they should be keeping in reserve for big shows or Pay Per View. In my opinion, that's why you see guys having to practically kill themselves to get a crowd reaction on the big shows, because the fans have been desensitized and expect all matches to be competitive sprints. The NWA is clearly building towards their December Pay Per View, and I assume that all the angle advancement they have done so far and will continue to do will build to payoff matches we'll get to see at the PPV in December. I don't know that they should be giving any of those matches away on TV. As far as this week's show, I really liked it. I liked the Eddie Kingston promo to start the show. Power is my first real exposure to him, and I like what I have seen so far, this guy has a great presence. I am well familiar with Homicide from the early years of ROH and his time in TNA, but I seemed to miss Kingston's arrival in ROH and Impact both. I really like the vibe of their team and they have actually managed to get me interested in seeing them fight the Dawson Brothers. That has the potential to be a good brawl. The women's match was misfire, and that's putting it kindly. Like @C.S. mentioned earlier in this thread, let's be honest, WWE/NXT has signed up all the great female talent out there. When even AEW is struggling to put together a strong women's roster, you know that the NWA just isn't going to be able to compete. I don't think the NWA should be heavily featuring their women's division until they actually have a women's division to feature. If this match is indicative of they kind of talent they have in the women's division, then...not good. Who knows, maybe this "Thunder Rosa" they featured in the vignette will turn out to be good, but in the meantime I think the TV matches are too valuable to waste on talent that clearly aren't ready for prime time. Some of the spots in this women's match were cringe worthy. I didn't mind the Dawson Brothers promo, it was passable - as are their ring skills. Let's call it what it is...these are a couple of big fat brawlers. In the territory days they probably would have been regional stars in a small territory, but they'd have been lucky to make the mid-card in the WWF or NWA/WCW. That's fine. There obviously isn't a lot of unsigned Tag Teams out there right now, so the NWA is making do with what they have...and like I said, The Dawson Brothers are passable. If it is laid out properly, their inevitable match with Kingston & Homicide could turn out to be a fun little brawl. I loved the Aron Stevens interview. It always bummed me out that he had so much potential in WWE but got dropped after that great run with The Miz. I hear his Impact run was totally forgettable, but I am glad the NWA picked him up. His interviews last week and this week proved he still has a gift for comedy, if nothing else. I did my best to avoid eye contact with him, and I am going to order my Romanian VHS copy of "Tropical Pirates" ASAP. And if you didn't like this interview, then all I have to say is..."SILENCE!" In my opinion, the next match is exactly the kind of match they should be featuring on this show. Caleb Konley is the same kid who got beat by Eli Drake on the first show, but it looks like they are planning on doing something with him. If this venture has a future, it's in the hands of guys like Konley and Ricky Starks. This was a short sprint with a decisive finish and I was reminded while watching it how good Jim Cornette is as a Color Commentator. He is always so great at putting over the talent and the little details that will get the fans to buy into them. I'm really impressed by how well this Tim Storm angle is going. Here's a guy who if he was featured anywhere else, he'd probably get jeered or laughed at. Not only is he old, but he plays such an old school "white meat" babyface (for gawd's sake, the guy talks about his Momma.) But Storm is great as the grizzled old veteran who thinks his time has passed and he is considering hanging up his boots. . But the fans are into him, and I find myself wondering where this angle with him is going. Is Aldis going to offer him another shot, but make Storm put his career on the line? Is Storm going to turn heel, as foreshadowed by the uncharacteristic low blow when he fought Aldis? Or is Drake going to keep on encouraging Storm, only to end up turning on him? I don't know...there are a bunch of possibilities and I really like the way this is playing out. As much as I love this show and am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt a lot of the time, this whole deal with Jocefus has been a big dud, as far as I'm concerned. They've presented the guy as a total doofus and if this is supposed to make me want to see him fight James Storm for the National Championship...it isn't working. And now to top that off, here comes Colt Cabana to do more of his patented unfunny comedy crap. I'm sorry, but as much as the NWA needs all the names they can find...Colt Cabana sucks. His whole tongue-in-cheek comedy shtick annoys the hell out of me, it's always comes across like he thinks the entire sport is a joke. It's no wonder this guy never broke through in one of the major organizations - he clearly doesn't take himself or Professional Wrestling seriously, so why should anybody take him seriously? Last week he was clowning around during his match and this week he's inserting himself into this Jocefus mess, which was bad enough before he stuck his nose in. Ugh. Pass. They've clearly put a lot of thought and planning into this angle with Nick Aldis and Kamille, it has been heavily featured on all three episodes so far. I am getting an early Macho Man & Miss Elizabeth vibe from this deal so far, and it is intriguing. I am curious to see how this plays out, and how and if this story will tie into whoever ends up being the next challenger for the World Heavyweight Championship. I assume Aldis defending the title will be the Main Event of the PPV, and I am wondering who he will be defending against and how the drama with Kamille will enter into it. Kamille is awesome by the way - a classic beauty who has gotten her character across without saying a word. I didn't mind the Main Event. I was a bit shocked at the finish, but I assume that will end up playing into the onging angle with Tim Storm, and maybe now Eli Drake. And what was Nick Aldis doing out there? Plus this helped continue the build for the eventual showdown between the Dawson Brothers and Kingston & Homicide. Another great episode, it really flew by and I can't wait for next week. I am sold on this product for now, and will definitely be supporting them and buying the Pay Per View in December. Based on some of the things I have read, even they are a bit surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to this show so far, and how many people are viewing it. I hope they can keep this up. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy some of The Spiritual Advisor's Invisible Hair Cream. It's only $59.95 (per week) an if I hurry, I am eligible for the free Spiritual Advisor Invisible Voice Cream, too.

This. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY announces a new champion like Howard Finkel.

So is it official that the Jericho/Allin match this week has been changed to a "Street Fight?" I'm still looking forward to it, but that news is a bit disappointing to me, I'd rather have seen them in a traditional wrestling match. That match with Cody proved to me that Allin can work great in a normal match. I have enjoyed watching Allin work his spots into the structure of a match, I am worried that in a Street Fight it will end up just being a same old garbage match.

Really? I never would have guessed that, I don't think you'd mentioned that before.

That's the million dollar question, right there. They themselves seem to know this is not sustainable in the long term. I know Corgan has said a few times that he is hoping the YouTube show will help them secure some kind of TV deal, but what are the odds of that? Pro Wrestling is already a niche market and this NWA project is only going to appeal to a niche within that niche. I absolutely love the concept behind this show, but I don't think it could appeal to enough fans to garner interest from a TV Network that would result in rights fees being paid, or advertising revenue. ROH was a promotion which existed off VHS/DVD sales, but that market is gone now thanks to streaming, so they had to get a TV deal in order to survive. Look at Impact and MLW. They have TV deals and are paying their talent next to nothing and are barely hanging on. The only other revenue source is Pay Per View. Corgan has said they will be having a PPV. I suppose it's conceivable that they could have an iPPV, and I would buy it for sure. That wouldn't pay enough to make it worth it for them. And traditional PPV? Forget it. AEW is the hottest thing going right now, but I still wouldn't dream of shelling out $50.00 to watch their PPV. I know they are hoping to use traditional PPV as a way to generate income, and I don't see it. WWE and UFC are the two biggest names in traditional Pay Per View, and both of them are out of that game now, more or less. WWE has their own Network, and rumor had it that UFC was going to do the same thing with Fight Pass, until ESPN+ came into the picture. Boxing is now pretty much the only sport I can think of that can make money on traditional PPV, and that's because their shows still do monster buy rates. I am going to enjoy this NWA show while it lasts, because it promises to be awesome...but I can't see any way it will be sustainable long term.

That's one of the more hilarious aspects of both the hype and the criticism around this show. Cornette said this past week on his podcast that people have been congratulating him all week on the show, which he himself claims he deserves little to no credit for, because he is just the Color Commentator and nothing else. He had nothing to do with the concept of the show, or the design of the sets, he only saw the studio for the first time the night before the first taping. This is totally a Billy Corgan/Dave Lagana project. Then again, some people wanted to blame Cornette for the weak creative in MLW and he was pretty much just doing commentary there too. He's such a controversial figure now that even when his involvement with something is periphery, he tends to become the focus.

Yeah, if I never hear the word "cosplay" again for the rest of my life - not from the AEW fanboys, not from Cornette, not from anybody...it would be too soon.

I'm sure neither FOX or WWE are thrilled about the decrease, although I am sure they expected some kind of drop-off. What I am sure that FOX is happy about is that Smackdown still won the time slot over NBC, CBS and ABC in the in the key 18-49 year old demographic...although they did come in last out of that group in overall viewers. Damned if I know what those people are thinking. I turn 50 in January and I think Raw and Smackdown are totally unwatchable at this point.

I'm not 100% sure this is true, (because I saw it on Twitter) but apparently in the first 24 hours since it debuted on YouTube, the debut episode of NWA Power has more views than any episode of MLW Fusion ever has.

Yeah, I'm a JR fan but he was off his game this week...and his whole grumpy old man shtick isn't helping. At times he comes across like he's actually trying to antagonize Excalibur.

I'm not arguing that, but it's a fact that Cornette has complained a million times about various different guys being too small, "not looking like professional athletes" or not looking like Pro Wrestlers. Keep in mind this is the same guy who thinks Bobby Roode and Randy Orton are two of the top talents in WWE because they "look like stars."

I agree. Anybody who has listened to a Jim Cornette podcast knows exactly what he means by "cosplay" wrestlers. It refers to people trying to be something that he thinks they are not. In his mind, all wrestlers should look like professional athletes - they need to be tanned, muscular and over 6 feet tall, or if not they need to look like a monster or an ass-kicker. This cannot possibly be a surprise, since one of his early mentors was Bill Watts. To his mind guys like Orange Cassidy, Marko Stunt, Darby Allin, and Joey Janella don't physically look like his definition of what a Professional Wrestler should be therefore they're "cosplayers." He also applies that label to Death Match guys who don't actually know how to wrestle, and finally to guys who have done something blatantly unrealistic like suplexing somebody with their penis or taking a bump for an invisible man. He always calls that "play wrestling." If you don't look like what he thinks a wrestler should look like, if you don't know how to wrestle or if you participate in obviously fake or theatrical spots, you're a "cosplayer." On the show last night he made an offhand comment about there not being any "cosplay" wrestlers in the NWA and that is clearly what he was referring to. I am not saying I agree with him, but that is obviously what he meant. Some people are trying to say the show last night was "cosplay" because it was deliberately designed to look like the TV studio set from Georgia Championship Wrestling in the 70's or JCP in the 80's. That's exactly what Billy Corgan was going for. He wanted to recreate the type of Pro Wrestling he loved as a kid, and bring it back. He thinks there is a market for that, for people who miss that kind of stuff and might be alienated by the "modern" product. It certainly appeals to me, and judging by the overwhelmingly positive reaction so far online, it appealed to other people as well. Maybe there is a market for nostalgia. I would never go to one of Joey Ryan's Bar Wrestling shows and then act shocked and appalled when he did his dick spot. It would be my own damn fault for going to one of his shows and expecting anything different. I know I'm not going to like that stuff, so I don't watch it. This was a Pro Wrestling show under the banner of the "NWA" and filmed in a TV studio with Jim Cornette doing commentary, which was promoted as a return to traditional studio wrestling. If you watch that and then act shocked or outraged at what you see, I have to wonder...what the fuck were you expecting?

I agree that this NWA talk should be spun off into it's own thread. Based on the reaction here at PWO and elsewhere online, this show might end up being more worthy of discussion than I would have guessed. Like @El Dragon pointed out, even The Rock watched it...and I would have assumed he'd have been busy doing something else.

I loved the show, it was unabashedly old school. I haven't had that much fun watching Pro Wrestling in a long time, it was such a throwback and an enjoyable experience. I'll definitely be watching for a few weeks to see how the show progresses. I hope this episode was a sign of things to come. As far as the negative reaction to the show...who really cares? This show clearly wasn't produced to appeal to fans of so-called "modern wrestling" any more than AEW is produced to appeal to fans like me. It's a niche product.

Nice, thanks for the heads up. I am going to try and check that out at some point today.

It won't. Fury apologized back in 2017 for all the controversial stuff he said, and as @FMKK pointed out, he's now seen as a Mental Health advocate and charitable ambassador. He's already undergo extensive image rehabilitation. If none of the other shitty stuff WWE has done over the past few years has stuck, I highly doubt this will. No way Fox would have let him on Smackdown if they hadn't vetted him and anticipated any backlash. I'd be shocked if there was any reaction, aside from general apathy.

I keep reading that Fox wants to make Smackdown as "sports oriented" as possible, which explains why the show is being presented as part of and under the Fox Sports banner, rather than just another TV show. Or remember when they used to promote Raw as an "action adventure" series? I am betting Fox wanted to get some sort of mainstream athlete on the premiere episode to get publicity and maybe some new eyes to the broadcast, people who wouldn't normally watch WWE. Like if I was a big boxing fan (which I no longer am) that I'd say "hey look, the World Champion is going to be a Raw, I'd better check it out!" I knew who Tyson Fury was when he showed up, simply because I read the sports section every day and have a (very limited) awareness of who's who in combat sports. Having said that, it's hardly like this is going to be a repeat of when the WWF got Mike Tyson for Wrestlemania 14. I think there are seriously like, five different recognized World Heavyweight Champions in boxing right now, so being called that isn't really all that prestigious.

Said the Joey Ryan fan.

Maybe, maybe not...but he's over. You can't lay any of the problem from last night at the feet of Bray Wyatt. To be fair, you can't even blame Seth Rollins too much. I watched that match and (even though they did that stupid red lighting) the match was going fairly well up until they started with the ridiculous segment with the infinite curb stomps. Even though they couldn't see the action very clearly, the fans were still pretty engaged and into that match. They badly wanted The Fiend to win. The segment with the giant mallet was deliberately campy, I am sure it was intended to play off the juxtaposition between goofy kiddie show host Bray Wyatt and The Fiend. Like people have pointed out, the mallet was right out of Firefly Funhouse. That segment of the match didn't bother me at all. Wyatt seemed to deliberately drop the mallet on the overturned steps, which made a loud booming noise and then Dio Maddin immediately mentioned that fact, pointing out how heavy it was and getting across that it was a serious weapon. You can love Wyatt or hate him, but I can't see anybody arguing that The Fiend isn't crazy "over" with the fans. For gawd's sake, the crowd was loudly chanting "Zowie Wowie" during this match. I think that once again, WWE had a preconceived notion of how the fans would or should react to a certain angle or character and they are either unwilling or unable to pivot and adjust the crowd reactions. I think in their minds, The Fiend is supposed to be a scary bad guy and Seth is supposed to be a hero, so that's how we should react. The problem is, people don't like Seth (for good reason) partially because he sucks, but partially because they've written his character to look like a geek and a chump. Conversely, most people love the Firefly Funhouse segments and they think The Fiend is a really cool character, so SURPRISE...the fans like him. I remember vividly being at a WWF house show at Maple Leaf Gardens in the early 90's. It was around December 91. The Main Event was Randy Savage and Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Jake Roberts and The Undertaker. When The Undertaker made his entrance, the fans went bonkers...even louder than they had for Savage, and definitely louder than the reaction for Duggan. Every time The Undertaker was in the ring (especially against Duggan) the fans cheered for Taker and some actually booed Duggan. When Taker did his magic sitting up spot, the place went nuts. It didn't help that Duggan was constantly trying to get the fans to chant "USA" and we're in Canada...but I remember saying to my friend that it was weird how popular The Undertaker was. My friend commented: "Of course. He's cool and Duggan sucks. They're either going to have to make The Undertaker do something really bad to somebody really popular to get the fans to hate him, or they're going to have to make him a good guy." Within two months, The Undertaker turned by saving Elizabeth from an attack by Jake Roberts. The HITC Main Event reminded me of that. The Undertaker was meant to be evil and scary, but the fans were drawn to him because he's cool. The exact same thing appears to be happening with Bray Wyatt, except now WWE seems determined not to listen to their fans. If they had half a brain (which they don't) tonight on Raw they'd let Rollins come out and be his natural whiny, entitled annoying self - complaining about the fans not supporting him last night and cheering Wyatt. The fans would officially turn on him, because that's what they want to do anyhow. Bray Wyatt can host another Firefly Funhouse segment talking about how Seth almost escaped The Fiend but next time he won't...and presto. Double turn. The fans can cheer Wyatt and boo Rollins and WWE can keep their stupid angle and listen to the fans at the same time. But they won't. This is WWE: "You don't tell us what you want, we tell you what you want."

Not for nothing, but having a PPV without even bothering to announce the full card was something WCW did during their dying days. It might be a "Heyman thing" but it's also a stupid thing. I am home and have full possession of the TV this evening, but three things are giving me serious pause regarding watching this. Firstly, the undefeated Chiefs are playing the Colts in a rematch of last year's Divisional Playoff on Sunday Night football. Secondly, tonight is the Season Premiere of The Walking Dead, and as much as that show has fallen off, I really want them to release Negan from custody so he can smash The Whisperers over the head with a barbed-wire baseball bat, and finally... I did the PWO watch-along for the Hell In A Cell PPV the past two years, and both years it freaking sucked. BAD. In fact if I remember correctly, last year they did a non-finish in the Main Event. A screwjob, inside the structure which was supposedly designed to prevent outside interference. The booking of Hell In A Cell 2018 pissed me off so much, I quit watching WWE PPV's for quite a long time. In fact, I only started watching them again when I got sick and was confined to the house, and had literally nothing better to do. On top of that, I agree with @sek69, they pretty much have to put Wyatt over here because if they don't it kills his momentum, and because Seth Rollins is a total failure as the Universal Champion. But like sek, I get the strong suspicion that they won't do that, because hey this is WWE - why would you make the right decision, listen to the fans and book something intelligently? I see either Rollins retaining or another stupid inconclusive finish, and that would annoy the hell out of me. I might just record The Walking Dead, and flip back and forth between Sunday Night Football and Hell In A Cell, I'm not sure.

I strongly disagree. I've seen other Pro Wrestling messageboards where people can't stand him as well, and on Twitter the reaction to him seems to be 50/50 at best. And you don't even want to know what most MMA fans think of him. In that case, I'd say it's about 90% against him. It's not like we all got together here at PWO and decided "hey, let's hate on poor old Mauro for no reason at all." If the general consensus around here is that he's not a good commentator, then that is what it is. I have no earthly idea what the hell the GWE poll would have to do with that, either. It's fine if you like him, but objectively you have to see how constant shouting, interrupting, and pointless alliteration and pop culture references might not be something everybody will enjoy. Different strokes for different folks, right? Hell, @KawadaSmile actually thinks Michael Cole is a good commentator. You know what they say about opinions...they're like assholes - everybody has one. I could scour other messageboards and twitter etc. looking for quotes from random people saying they hate Mauro Ranallo, but what would be the point of that? It's not like I'm going to convince anybody else that he sucks, any more than you're going to convince anybody that he doesn't. But let's say you're right. Let's say that outside PWO, everybody thinks Mauro Ranallo is the second coming of Gordon Solie. What then? If Nickelback and the Kardashians have taught us anything, it's that just because a lot of people might like something, that doesn't mean it's actually good. Popularity has never been indicative of quality. Hell, up until recently Avatar was the #1 grossing movie of all time, and yet I personally have never actually met anybody who even liked that movie. Sorry, C.S. but you could show me a video of Terry Funk himself saying he thought Mauro was a great play-by-play guy, and it wouldn't change my opinion of him one bit. I'd still think he's one of the worst Pro Wrestling commentators I've ever heard.

Well that settles it, obviously. Mauro must be the best commentator ever, then.

Even if the plan ever had been Enzo and Cass (which I don't really think it was) Cass's recent mental breakdown and hospitalization probably would have put an end to that idea, anyhow. I think the only reason their names came up is because aside from Punk, they are two of the few "names" who had been in WWE that are out there and aren't currently working anywhere else and are technically free to sign somewhere. Plus as @C.S. pointed out, I had thought Jericho had hinted that his partners were going to be surprising or controversial in some way, which LAX really aren't. Who knows, maybe their original plans for somebody else fell through.

I guess either nobody is listening to this podcast, or nobody wants to talk about it. Or maybe nobody wants to talk to me about it, because they don't like me. No, that couldn't be it. Anyhow, the first episode dealt with Arn's entrance into the business and his days in the Territories. It wasn't exactly a thrill ride or anything, but it was pretty good. Arn didn't really hold anything back, but then again there wasn't much he could have considering the topic at hand. The highlight was his discussion of dropkicks, specifically his doing a dropkick, and the dropkick of Steve Austin. I laughed out loud at that portion of the show. He is an excellent storyteller, if not a little on the dry side. It is kind of surreal to hear Conrad Thompson conducting an interview where he isn't just mindlessly reading out results and stories from the Observer from 1997-1999. This week's episode covered Arn's departure from Crockett Promotions and his decision to sign with the WWF. Once again there was nothing necessarily groundbreaking here, but it was amazing to hear from Arn's perspective how little Jim Crockett seemed to think of Arn and Tully, when he was handing out guaranteed contracts to Luger, The Road Warriors and The Midnight Express at the exact same time. From where Arn was sitting, Crockett seemed to value those guys over the Horsemen, which to him was a major slap in the face. I'm sure if you asked Dusty and Crockett there is another side the story of course, but it was interesting nonetheless.

As of right now, according to my DVR program guide, here is what is scheduled for TSN Wednesday Night at 8:00 pm: TSN1: World Series of Poker TSN2: Major League Soccer - Toronto FC vs. Chicago Fire TSN3: Bull Riding TSN4: 2019 Rugby World Cup TSN5: UFC Main Event (Classic/Old UFC fights) I might watch AEW if TSN changes this schedule and adds AEW, but NOT if they preempt Bull Riding, dammit. Some things are sacred.