Bix

http://605pod.com/2015/12/03/605-episode-2-el-pibe-diez-dos/ 6:05 (the SuperPodcast!) returns as David Bixenspan and Brian Last discuss: Our theme music disaster and the Grab Them Cakes dub mix(!) that it was supposed to be originally. The apparent in-ring death and/or maiming of the second(?) El Pibe Diez in Titanes en El Ring in 1983. (You must watch this.) Vince Russo’s “Vicious Vincent’s World of Wrestling” radio show. Ole Anderson: HOFer? The secret origins of the Team Challenge Series. Wrestling in sketch comedy and talk shows. And much more! Including a trip to the dark side and a special bonus at the end.

They were like that on Classics on Demand, too. Originally it was this song.

http://605pod.com/2015/11/26/605-episode-1-happy-thanksgriving/ 6:05, a new old-school wrestling podcast with David Bixenspan and Brian Last debuts with discussion of (in theory, as you’ll see): Our fandom of pro wrestling on Superstation WTBS (you’re shocked, we know). Terry Funk, and why meeting him is awesome. But really, this show is just an excuse for us to talk about old wrestling each week. Everything from what names we got wrong reading magazines as kids to Titanes en el Ring to the preferred shop for wrestling magazines in our city in our youth to Brian having this painting of Dick the Bruiser created by Wayne St. Wayne/Mike Hammer/Dr. Blood while on acid: It’s the first episode, so be kind. No, we’re not sure why that buzzing appeared suddenly at times. Yes, please disregard the theme song discussion because it had to be changed in editing due to an unforeseen technical issue (really!). But have fun and let us know what you think!

Looks like I ended up at this page somehow.

I forget all of the details but ESPN just wasn't putting forth much of an effort to monetize a lot of the Grantland content. They used regular ESPN ad people selling to regular ESPN sponsors even though the site had a different audience, and they saw nothing in the podcasts so they didn't even really try to sell ads. From the numbers that, say, Midroll gives out publicly, they likely could have at least gotten good supplemental money for the hosts.

How am I the first person to mention Ted Arcidi? Great looking LJN doll, but he's still Ted Arcidi. He's also the LJN doll that looks most like an LJN doll, if that makes sense. I second the SD Jones pick, too.

Well, there's this.

Heyman finding him crying in a broom closet afraid he ended Sabu's career? Or am I forgetting something?

With the gate you also have to factor in the local market. Does it have a large population base? Is it a traditionally strong market for WWE/wrestling in general? Is it a tourist hub? Is it easy to fly to? Lots of variables there. And just how much of a tourist city is it? Are there factors that would turn off or just not appeal to traveling fans? I mean it's not necessarily a demographic at large that you'd expect to want to check out the New Orleans music scene, among other things. Plus isn't New Orleans the smallest market by far to get one of the modern (city bidding/stadium show) WrestleManias? The economic impact studies usually break down local vs traveling ticket sales, don't they? I know the previous year in NY was massive for local sales.

I've been hesitant to buy it because SEVENTEEN DOLLARS on Kindle is ridiculous, is it really worth it?

Yeah, I'm not sure about the subscription service ever happening either, but it always seemed like the awareness of SMW selling the TV blocks was nowhere close to what it should have been. Like I mentioned on the show, I think it was during a Fan Week Q&A where Cornette was incredulous that Feinstein had so much demand for the TV when fans could get them direct off the master tapes. And I think the guy who put together the SMW season sets was the only person I've ever known who had any of the direct from SMW TV tapes.

When it comes to wrestlers I've interviewed, Steamboat us the elite when it comes to explaining in rung psychology, selling, laying out a match, etc. And not in the Raven "do as I say but not as I do" way, either: Everything he'd say, when I visualized it in my head, I could remember him doing it. He definitely seems like a guy who had much more of a "process" than, say, Flair, and you can sort of see that in his matches. The "Training Ground" feature in did in FSM with him a few months ago is a good glimpse into that. With regards to the Cornette garbage films, there are more complete or nearly complete matches on there than people realize. I remember at least one or two 20 minute Steamboat vs. Flair matches on there. I don't think the Muraco matches are necessarily a negative per we, but they stand out because: 1. It was his his first real WWF program. 2. He always lists Muraco as one of his best opponents along with Flair, Savage, Jake Roberts, and the Slaughter/Kernodle team. I haven't seen the Toronto match mentioned above, though I remember kind of liking the Cap Centre tag with JYD and Fuji for the brawling and crowd reactions. Maybe I should find an excuse to ring him up and ask why Muraco over Rude, Austin, Valentine, Arn, or whoever.

I believe Bruce has said he's posting stuff in the order that the company that he shipped the tapes to is digitizing them. Which hasn't been in any order. So if there's more '80s stuff in the first place (and there might be)...

Like Chuck Palumbo's best right hand in the biz?

I skipped to 13 minutes and yeah, there's a full-on pull-apart brawl that spills on camera right behind Kent Walton. Amazing. Next: The whole match.

Huh? That post is about shorter attention spans in society as a whole and the challenges workers face working in front of modern crowds as a result. I used that WWF 80's house show spot as an example or something you rarely (if ever) see anymore, which to me is a direct result of that type of spot leaving too much room to lose a modern audience. I could have used the long abdominal stretch spot next to the ropes where the heel grabs the ropes for leverage behind the refs back, or hide the invisible chain, or a million other spots that you rarely ever see these days as the example. I wasn't trying to say that the long tease side headlock was held up as the gold standard of classic wrestling. But you're citing examples of wrestlers just sitting and not actually working holds. For all of the shit he got for it, Randy Orton was controlling crowds just fine with his chinlocks until he got lazy with them. When he looked like he was trying to tear someone's head off and mixing that with good body language and facials, it worked. We're also coming off the best and hottest Raw in months where the crowd was actually responding to the work in the ring. Which has nothing to do with the rest hold discussion specifically, but it's a lot more fun than the masturbatory exercises we get from Full Sail etc.

Huh? That post is about shorter attention spans in society as a whole and the challenges workers face working in front of modern crowds as a result. I used that WWF 80's house show spot as an example or something you rarely (if ever) see anymore, which to me is a direct result of that type of spot leaving too much room to lose a modern audience. I could have used the long abdominal stretch spot next to the ropes where the heel grabs the ropes for leverage behind the refs back, or hide the invisible chain, or a million other spots that you rarely ever see these days as the example. I wasn't trying to say that the long tease side headlock was held up as the gold standard of classic wrestling. But you're citing examples of wrestlers just sitting and not actually working holds. For all of the shit he got for it, Randy Orton was controlling crowds just fine with his chinlocks until he got lazy with them. When he looked like he was trying to tear someone's head off and mixing that with good body language and facials, it worked. We're also coming off the best and hottest Raw in months where the crowd was actually responding to the work in the ring. Which has nothing to do with the rest hold discussion specifically, but it's a lot more fun than the masturbatory exercises we get from Full Sail etc.

I use Levelator. I've never not used Levelator. Any audio issues in the last few weeks have been me not speaking directly into the new mic properly because I'm not used to it having a completely different directionality from my old one. I know it happened at the beginning this week. Blue Yeti = speak into the front of the mic. AudioTechnica ATR2100-USB = Speak into the end/tip of the mic. It's just a matter of erasing the old habit. And as we can see, changing patterns of reflexive patterns of behavior like that or an other kind of annoying bad habit can be difficult, Parv.

I didn't get to listen yet but Joe strawmanning about people holding up '80s midcard WWF house show wrestling as something fans into older wrestling hold up as great work makes me hesitant. Even for Kris and Rob's sake.

I do like the clipping-based newsletters (TNT Times, Global Wrestling News Service, Combat Sports, Joe Shedlock's Wrestling, etc.) a lot, too. Those are fantastic resources, just in very different ways from the insider newsletters/"dirtsheets" and the results sheets.

I saw it a long time ago on Ricky Morton's twitter. Really? Well, I guess that answers that.

212-629-1900

Ignoring whether or not the subtitles/captions are part of the problem for a moment (because there's not really any other good reason why the Classics on Demand and Classics Online stuff hasn't been added), we also have to remember that Vince micromanages the network to a point and he was hands off for the two Classics services. They were able to be so eclectic because they were under the radar and the mission was old stuff anyway. I wonder if they've done any research to see how many of the Classics subscribers have been subscribing to the network. ~100,000 homes is not a tiny chunk that they should just ignore, and given the differences between the services, a relatively low overlap wouldn't be that surprising.