The Thread Killer

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.

Not sure how reliable this is, but PWInsider is reporting that AEW Dynamite will be airing at 8:00 pm live on TSN. They are the all sports network owned by Bell Canada (the phone company) that used to air Raw during the Monday Night wars. I assume that they won't have a problem with preemption since TSN has 5 channels. If this is true...talk about waiting until the last minute.

Victoria looked GREAT in that one video I saw of her online.

I stopped listening to 83 Weeks quite a while ago. As anybody who has read this thread knows, I was pretty much the die hard 83 Weeks fanboy of PWO, but I got behind in listening to it, and then it was announced that Eric was going back to WWE. Once he announced he was joining WWE, I decided I wasn't going to listen anymore. One of the things I liked about Eric Bischoff and this podcast is that he was well out of the business and was pulling no punches, being honest with his opinions. (Kind of how JR is now when he discusses WWE.) I knew damn well that as soon as he was back working for Vince, he was going to be very selective about what he said and who he talked about...or pretty much the way Bruce Prichard was during the majority of his podcast episodes. The idea of Eric Bischoff doing episodes of 83 Weeks but having to be careful about what he said didn't appeal to me at all. I like drunk rambling and slightly bitter Eric, not safe political Eric. However, I noticed that this week he's finally breaking his self-imposed silence about his time in TNA, so I'm going to check that out and see what it's like. Good timing too, since there is no episode of my usual Monday Morning podcast Cornette's Drive Thru today, because he is in Atlanta for the NWA TV tapings. I'll check this episode out and comment after I've listened to it, if anybody cares.

How are you going to watch it (if you plan on watching it?) Do you have the Network, or are you going to have to watch the edited version on Sportsnet? Or are you planning on finding the episode via other means which you're not free to discuss in an open forum?

I'm not saying you're wrong, necessarily. I like anything that will provoke discussion or rational debate here at PWO. I just find that the whole AEW vs. NXT thing seems to really rile people up for some reason. Wrestling fans in general (and I'm including myself in this group) tend to be very vocal and passionate about stuff they really like, which tends to lead to heated debate and people "picking sides" for some reason. We all know there is no reason to be like that, and I'd like to think I can be objective. Who knows, it could work.

I can see a thread like that going very badly, very quickly.

Well, that sucks. They're airing just one hour of the show, two days later?! A 24 hour delay on the show is one thing, but delaying the broadcast by two days is too much, and if they're only showing one hour not both, you know they're going to butcher it. I remember when TSN used to edit three hours of Nitro down to two, and they'd just randomly cut stuff, like a match would be in progress, they'd go to commercial and then the show would come back from commercial at a totally different point in the original broadcast. Screw that, now that WWE is actually producing a show I want to see, I'm not waiting two days to see an edited version - at 7:00 pm on a Friday Night, no less. I just hope WWE continues to show the 2 hour replay commercial free on the WWE Network on Thursday nights, otherwise I will have to resort to other more nefarious means to see the show. EDIT: If my DVR guide for the upcoming week is to be believed (and sometimes it changes) my WWE Network feed/TV channel has the new episode of NXT still scheduled for this coming Thursday at 10:00 pm, right after a replay of last week's episode...so it looks like hopefully I will be able to catch the entire 2 hour episode without commercials, only delayed by 24 hours. I can live with that. I just feel bad for Canadian fans who don't have the WWE Network as a TV Channel, or don't have the WWE Network at all. I'd hate to have to rely on what they're planning on showing on Sportsnet360, it will be literally too little and too late.

Once again there was no NXT Live this week in Canada, as they still don't have a Canadian Network TV deal. (Still waiting for the announcement of the promised Canadian AEW TV deal, too.) So once again this week, I waited 24 hours and watched both hours on my WWE Network TV channel. Actually, more accurately I recorded the show on my PVR and just checked it out now, which I assume is the way I will continue to watch both NXT and give AEW a trial run, if they ever get a Canadian TV deal. So at least in my house, there shall be no Wednesday Night War. There can't be, because #OneChicago would win that war if I could only watch live TV. For what it's worth, I am not bothered by waiting an extra 24 hours to watch the show on the WWE Network because they cut out the commercials, and 24 hours isn't a huge wait. I am able to avoid spoilers for a day or two, no big deal. NXT 09/25/19 Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic I had never seen Keith Lee before, and had only seen Dijakovic during his run in ROH. I was impressed with what I saw of Dijakovic then, and he has improved significantly since. And holy crap, Keith Lee is awesome. This guy is a powerhouse who can do some impressively agile moves for a guy his size. Later in the show the announcers talk about Killian Dain in comparison to Vader but stuff that...Keith Lee reminds me of Vader. This match was a good old fashioned hoss battle. It wasn't always pretty, there were a couple of minor botches but nothing embarrassing. I loved this match and came away very impressed with both guys. My only minor quibble is that the flipping destroyer type move off the second turnbuckle should have definitely been the finish of the match. Having guys kick out after high impact moves like that is doing too much, in my opinion. But overall I thought this match was outstanding and was a great way to start the show. The announcers said these guys are now 1-1-1 against each other, so I need to look through the NXT archives on the Network and see the other two matches, and I assume this means these guys are going to hook up again, and that is good news because this was great. Street Profits Promo Short, sweet and to the point. Did what it was meant to do, hyped up the Tag Team Title match next week. This was well done, both guys seemed relaxed and natural and weren't acting like a comedy act, as they do when I've seen them on Raw. I usually hate WWE produced scripted promos and segments, but this didn't come off as stiff, awkward or stilted at all. This is a classic example of doing more by doing less. Dakota Kai vs. Taynara Dakota Kai is a name I have heard thrown around quite a bit online, but since I am not an avid follower of Women's Wrestling, I'd not seen her before this match. To be honest, I wasn't all that impressed. I assume that is because she is just coming back from injury, but she looked a bit awkward and unpolished to me. Honestly, I was more impressed with Taynara. But this match was fairly quick and to the point, and was clearly intended to put Kai over after her injury. Street Fight: Killian Dain vs. Matt Riddle So this is apparently going to be the culmination of their feud and also determine the new #1 Contender to the NXT Championship. I have never been a huge Killian Dain fan, but Matt Riddle is really starting to grow on me. Having said that, this was definitely the best Killian Dain match I have seen so far. He seems to be getting smoother and better at hitting the big power moves, and Riddle did a great job doing the scrappy smaller guy routine. I found the striking in this match to be especially good. Not a fan of stupid Kendo Stick shots for no reason whatsoever (there just happened to be a spare Kendo Stick under the ring?) and I HATE that stupid spot where a guy throws a chair at his opponent who catches it, and then helpfully holds it up in front of his face so the other guy can kick it. I didn't like it when RVD did it in ECW and I don't like it now. This match was very obviously choreographed, the spot where they smashed through the riser and went through the table seemed really contrived. If they're going to do matches like this, they need a guy like Tommy Dreamer or Mick Foley to help lay them out so they come across as more realistic. That's not to say I hated this match - I didn't. But I didn't love it either, and since it was the Main Event of the USA Network hour, I probably should have. NXT is only going to get so many chances to hook new fans, and they might not do it with matches like this. I found both last week and this week, the second hour on the WWE Network was better than the USA Network hour, and that shouldn't have been like that. Of course, as of next week that will no longer be an issue. Once again, I don't want to sound too negative, this match was okay. It just wasn't great, and for my money it went on too long. I liked the post match confrontation (even though it was blatantly obvious what was going to happen once Adam Cole showed up) and I am really looking forward to the Cole/Riddle match next week. If Cole can keep up with Riddle and their styles mesh properly, I can see that being a very good match. I am generally underwhelmed by Adam Cole, so I hope Riddle is good enough to make that match fun. I loved the Riddle/Strong match on a recent TakeOver, but that was probably attributable to Strong, not Riddle. Next week will really be a test to see how good both Cole and Riddle perform under pressure in big matches. I just hope it isn't laid out by Shawn Michaels and we don't get another Cole/Gargano forced epic, because...ugh. Rhea Ripley vs. Kayden Carter We're done with the USA Network Hour now and into the WWE Network hour. So this was my first exposure to both women, and...damn. Why is Candice LeRae getting the title match next week? Rhea Ripley vs. Shayna Baszler seems like the obvious money match to me. I've been watching Baszler tear through the entire NXT Women's division for ages now, and Ripley looks like the first possible contender who could stand up to her physically and not end up looking weaker or intimidated. LaRae is okay, but I'd really like to see Ripley vs. Baszler for the title now, please. I know they had that DQ match a few weeks ago, but they have to be heading towards a rematch, right? Maybe they're planning on making us wait until the next TakeOver. Kayden Carter looked okay I guess, but this was pretty much a glorified squash. I'll say this for Carter...she sure has a lot of hair. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Ever-Rise I love Lorcan and Burch. I know they're probably never going to win any Championships, but their style is exactly the kind of Pro Wrestling I love. I loved it when they fought each other, I loved it when they teamed up in NXT, I loved it when they won this week on 205 Live, and I was happy to see them get this match. As far as their opponents go...meh. I'm Canadian but I don't have a burning desire to see a new French-Canadian Tag Team, and let's be honest. Martel and Parker did okay here, but they weren't really all that impressive. Martel is pudgy and looks like an enhancement worker at best. Parker is bland and unremarkable, and "Ever-Rise" is a stupid name for a Tag Team. But hey...it means I got to see Burch and Lorcan, so in the bigger picture I'm not complaining. One of the things I love about this show is how they wisely use newer or undeveloped talent to enhance the established guys. It reminds me of when I was a kid and the WWF had an impressive roster of Jobbers-To-The-Stars...guys who had some skill and could get their shit in, but were really there to put talents higher up the food chain over in an impressive way. Cameron Grimes vs. Raul Mendoza I'm digging Cameron Grimes but I didn't love this. Last week Grimes got a really impressive win via squash, this week it takes him almost 8 minutes to beat a guy who is clearly beneath him. Mendoza had a couple of nice moves, but in my humble opinion he is definitely not ready for prime time...to me he came across as too sloppy flippy floppy. I guess the important thing is Grimes gets the win and is put over for the second week in a row. Maybe they're going to have him challenge Roderick Strong or something. Kushida & Breezango vs. Imperium What a great Main Event. These guys were working really crisp. Kushida looked awesome here, like a definite star. Aichner and Barthel also looked really solid. I'm not all that blown away by Wolfe, though. He's kind of flabby and his high impact offensive moves don't look as impressive to me as the other two guys on his team. Breeze and Fandango did a good job holding up their end of the deal, and we got a really fun 10+ minute TV Main Event. It made me so happy to just watch a 6 Man Tag match where guys were actually tagging in and out, we had hot tags and everything. It wasn't just everybody running around doing spot after spot after spot. There were some very impressive and risky spots, sure. But this was more of an old school style TV Main Event and I loved it for that. Kushida gets a big win and then gets laid out by WALTER, so it looks like we're going to see that match for sure, which has tons of potential. Final Thoughts First and foremost, it is very obvious to me that some time in the past week, somebody in a position of authority had a conversation with the announcers because their presentation was noticeably different this week. Don't get me wrong, Mauro Ranallo was still horrible and annoying as hell with his stupid alliteration and ridiculous forced pop culture references, but he significantly cut down on the screaming and shouting this week. I suppose it's possible he was just fired up last week due to it being the Network TV debut, but I think it is much more likely somebody told him to calm the fuck down and let the other announcers get a word in. Speaking of which, I loved the fact that Nigel is showing more and more heel announcer tendencies, going so far as to quote Jesse Ventura's classic "it's only cheating if you get caught" line. Conversely, Beth was playing a clear babyface booster, and she and Nigel got into it, especially during the Main Event, and that was fun. See what happens when you let your coworkers talk, Mauro. I found it interesting that Nigel and Beth do the whole bickering announcers deal about a million times better than Graves and Rene Young on Raw. Anyhow, the announcing was significantly better this week. But Mauro still sucks. Overall, as far as I'm concerned this was the second home run in a row for NXT. What a great show. Outstanding action in the ring, no stupid scripted promos or boring repetitive angles, no evil authority figures or McMahons hogging the spotlight. The NXT roster feels deeper than the roster on Raw or Smackdown to me for some reason. Whenever I try and sit through either of those shows I always feel like I am seeing the same damn thing over and over again. You've seen one boring Seth Rollins promo, you've seen them all. NXT just seems more exciting with a wider variety of talent and action to me. I don't know if that's because this show is new, or what. Bottom line is, this was another great episode of NXT. If you're watching Raw and Smackdown but not watching this, you're missing out in my opinion. This show is rapidly becoming must see viewing for me. This show really scratches me where I itch as a Pro Wrestling fan. Little things like matches one after the other without too many promos. They used the "Tale of the Tape." They actually make it feel like "wins and losses matter" and there are legitimate consequences for winning and losing, without stupid, corny and unrealistic shit going on. I have generally been very, very down on WWE over the past few years but I am loving this brand and this show.

OMG, the Jarrett/Gulas split resulted in one of my all time favorite behind-the-scenes wrestling stories, as told by Jim Cornette: "Daddy said sell!" If you have a spare 10 minutes, you really need to check that story out.

Edge announced during today's show that he's quitting the podcast. Christian may be continuing the show without him, they were kind of vague about it. I have to admit, I used to love this show but it dropped out of my rotation because I just had too many podcasts to listen to. It's interesting, in this folder alone we've seen threads for Lanny Poffo's podcast, Dinner with the King, and I used to be a big fan of Killing the Town with Lance Storm and Don Callis. Jake Roberts had a podcast which lasted for about a month. All those podcasts are gone now. It brings to mind Conrad Thompson's comments recently when he was interviewed by Sean Oliver. Conrad stated that in his opinion, a lot of podcasts are going to be disappearing because wrestlers got into it thinking there was money to make, but there isn't unless you're getting hundreds of thousands of downloads and have big sponsors. When it comes to Pro Wrestling podcasts, it is getting to the point where you are either doing it because you love it, or you're one of the big podcasts that actually does generate some money, like Jericho, Stone Cold, Cornette or the Conrad shows. Edge claimed he was quitting because he is too busy, but I have to wonder if this hasn't turned out to be as lucrative as he might have hoped. A ton of prep work for pretty much little to no financial reward.

I don't hate the Phil Collins era of Genesis, "Turn it on again" and "Abacab" still feature heavily in my playlists. It was more that I was with them up until "Invisible Touch" and then they got a bit too Top 40 for me, and lost me. That may have also had something to do with my dislike of the stuff Phil Collins was doing in the 90's with all the sappy, schmaltzy Disney songs. I liked him a lot up until he got grossly overexposed and the teeth seemed to come out of his music. I loved it when Genesis re-recorded Carpet Crawlers in 1999 with both Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins, though. And yeah, I never got the Joel vs. Mike debate either. I really liked Joel a bunch but after he left, the second half of Season 5 and all of Season 6 are my all time favorites in the entire history of MST3K.

I think you hit it on the head there. JR has been publicly saying in interviews for some time now that Lawler's contract with WWE is almost up and that he really wanted him to come to AEW. (No word on if that's what Tony Khan and company wanted, but that's besides the point.) You have to know that with Vince's obsession with the Attitude era, the last thing in the world he would want is to have the two broadcast voices of that era working for the competition. Even if he doesn't want them, I'm sure he doesn't want anybody else having them. Since AEW already seemed set on JR/Excalibur, I never saw AEW hiring Lawler anyhow. Hell, I would not be surprised if Jim Ross gave those interviews mentioning Lawler to help him leverage a new deal with WWE, since Ross and Lawler are legit friends. That Maddin guy has been on 205 Live for the past few weeks, replacing Nigel who now has two hours of NXT and NXT UK to deal with. Not that it's important in the grand scheme of things but I wonder who the new team for NXT UK and 205 Live will be. Maybe that's where Tom Phillips will end up. I am surprised to see Vic Joseph leapfrog Tom Phillips in the WWE Commentary pecking order. Then again, I've been trumpeting that guy ever since he showed up on 205 Live last year, and he's awesome in NXT UK with Nigel. The problem is that he wasn't being produced by Vince McMahon or Michael Cole on either of those shows. He'll probably start to suck now, since he'll have those two in his ear telling him to shout more and stop calling the action. And Vic Joseph doesn't even have a fake, unconvincing laugh! That will have to change once Vince and Cole find out.

Not a bad episode of 205 Live this week. I really enjoyed the Burch & Lorcan vs. Nese & Gulak match. I freely admit I am a Burch/Lorcan mark and it was great to see them get a match outside NXT.

Good point. I had totally forgotten about that until you mentioned it. I remember Cornette making some rather blunt comments about Sean and KC on Twitter and his own podcast, but not getting into details. I think I assumed at the time Cornette was sore over Sean Oliver promoting Russo, but I never got any solid confirmation of that fact. Wasn't it just when Cornette agreed to come back to KC for the "Back to the Territories" series that Sean and Cornette patched things up? I know they are on good terms now, because Cornette is going to be a guest on the Kayfabe Podcast at some point. By the way @CarpetCrawler on an unrelated note, I am a big fan of your username. That's one of my favorite Genesis songs, before they went all Top 40 mush during the 80's.

I don't know if it's because they're both from the New York area or what, but Sean Oliver has always seemed to have a soft spot for Russo, for whatever reason. You make a good point about Russo not needing any exposure, but as we all know Russo will talk to pretty much anybody who will talk to him. The extra funny thing is that this is the promo for the episode: "Coming this week on the podcast....”The Many Lives of @THEVinceRusso” Get ready to talk Bischoff and Prichard's hirings, Trips and Steph “cock blocking” his return, and hear how Vince broke the bank with podcasting, going from nothing to six figures." If you listen to Conrad's interview during week one of this podcast, you'll hear why the likelihood of Russo making six figures from his podcast is extremely low and his claim is highly suspect. Even worse, Sean announced that Russo is on next week's show as well. Ugh.

Last week's show, the second episode of this podcast was pretty good, and the interview was interesting. The guest was Tod Gordon, and they focused a lot on Tod's exit from ECW. We've all heard the various versions of this story from the talent's perspective and Paul Heyman's version on the WWE produced DVD about him. Tod provides a much different version and some interesting insight about his departure. I'm not sure about some of the narrative presented here...I'm pretty sure if Paul Heyman had never taken over booking in ECW that Tod Gordon's version of ECW would not have risen to the level that ECW eventually did...but regardless this was a good interview. Funny story about this week's show...Sean announced on Twitter that his guest was going to be Vince Russo. He immediately started taking shit from some fans who aren't interested in hearing from or about Vince Russo, and Sean got a tad touchy about it. Of course, some of Russo's fanboys interjected themselves too, but Sean seemed a bit taken aback by the fact that people aren't going to listen to an episode because of the guest.