flyonthewall2983

Don't know where else to ask this, but do the Turner networks still have rights to the WCW footage? I seem to remember during the Benoit stuff that CNN and Headline News would go to WCW footage of him occasionally and then hearing something about how they still had some rights because it aired on their networks. Same with ESPN and AWA stuff that aired on one of their offshoot channels. I have no idea if that footage will be beneficial at all to AEW but I imagine this question is pertinent to what's going on now that TNT has wrestling again.

I didn't watch the show, and heard about it on the radio the following morning. It was the top story of the national news, which in itself was a shock because even during this time of heightened popularity a wrestler's death barely registered on such a level. I didn't watch a lot of the WWF's programming at the time, but I knew enough to think when I heard the particulars that it was meant as a stupid comedy stunt related to them reviving the Blue Blazer gimmick. This is a tough listen, I'm about an hour left on the episode and will pick it up later but you can tell this is hard for Jim to process in terms of being reflective on his process that night. At one point he deflects any pity towards his direction, but you have to feel bad for the guy who had to tell the world this awful news only 10 seconds after being told himself.

Was Andre set to be in the Road Warriors match?

This week's upload is a 2-hour GCW show from the Omni

Conrad stopping JR during the middle of his Ahmad Rashad tangent was funny. I really really want to like that show, but how the hosts are marks for themselves (and have cultivated their own marks) is a little unbearable. I really got the impression they had a lot of sour grapes over the Von Erich episode of Dark Side Of The Ring because they basically did a day's worth of podcasts covering it all, like somehow two guys with a lot of basically second-hand knowledge (because they weren't of age during that time) and bad jokes somehow trumps a major television production with many of the actual people involved. I never saw a thread for their show here, and didn't go looking out for one so I don't know the room temperature on those guys here. Anyway... This week's show will be interesting for a number of obvious reasons, but I will be most interested in how Jim participates in a deep dive in perhaps the hardest moment of his professional life, and likely one of the top ones for him personally too. I don't think he'll walk on eggshells, but I think he'll employ some diplomacy with his words and be careful with what he'll try to say. He talked about it in this interview with Sam Roberts, and the way he describes being told that Owen was dead is obviously heartbreaking and it must have been extremely awkward given the circumstances he was in at the moment.

Is there much footage of Studd and Flair as a tag team?

Well this should at least be good fodder for his roast

https://www.tmz.com/2019/05/16/ric-flair-hospitalized-medical-emergency

I've heard that characters on Billions made some rather inside references. Showrunner Brian Koppleman is a life-long fan, talks about WWE on his Twitter account and actually was going to create a show about the territories for HBO I think and even talked to Vince in that process.

I suspected as much, not thinking much of his book. The full interview he did which that clips comes from is great, though. He said something about Vince Russo that really turned my head about what kind of person he is.

It picks up a little interest for me towards the end when he talks about the heel promo he cut on Vince McMahon the night he introduced fake Razor and Diesel. I think it was a significant turn in his time in the company, as it helped shape the kind of announcer he would be for the company when the time came for him to be lead announcer. As is pointed out, a few things he actually said in the promo got cheers from the audience so in terms of turning him into a heel announcer it didn't work but it was a building block to who he would be in the WWF/E from then on. I've heard the Bischoff/JJ story before and it honestly doesn't surprise me that in the midst of all this ship-jumping he'd get a bit paranoid. He makes it sound as if he was on pins and needles every day for a certain time because of how low the company was considered in the hierarchy by everybody but Ted. Anyway, this is Dillon's response to those accusations, which given his stature in wrestling in terms of longevity and friendliness, I'll give more credence. I guess he has a podcast too (why not, everyone else is doing it). Can anyone vouch for it's quality?

2nd episode was okay, mostly a lot of regurgitated points that have been well-covered in podcasts and other shoots and with Hall, Nash and all involved with "The Curtain Call".

Gino would have been a better Horseman than Lex Luger, he might not have been as great as the other three were in the ring but he had more experience than Lex certainly. I feel like the inaccuracies about the autopsy mentioned makes me think the fact that he "had enough coke in his system to kill an elephant" might be one too. I'm surprised they didn't mention the rumors of him being bisexual and would be essentially pimped out to rich, gay men at times (if I remember that right).

No memory of this. Any video evidence?

The irony there is that Bischoff is a dyed-to-the-wool Republican . This week's episode is about Hall and Nash leaving and the fake Diesel/Razor.

I completely forgot he was in a tag team with Terry Funk for a little bit in 98.

I'm on the fence about curses and such but in such an extreme case as theirs something like this doesn't surprise me. I wonder about this especially in thinking about Fritz's whole Nazi gimmick, and how extreme his heat would have been. It's not impossible to consider someone could have put a gypsy curse on him, and his family.

I have never heard this before. I figured him as more a good ol' boy drinking type (before he got religion). I wonder if Ted Turner himself ever smoked with any of the wrestling people he was in contact with. I read the book about the beginnings of MTV and someone in it wrote about dealing with Ted, saying he had the best weed of any millionaire.

Not really. I think with Bruce he knows to leave that stuff well alone sometimes, because Bruce has gotten personal but not as candid as Ross did. I would guess that she is a regular topic of conversation between the two off-mic and that there is a more of an aim with this show to his personal side in tandem with his professional one. I think he was respectful. I also have to say I didn't really notice Jim rambling off-topic from the questions as Thread Killer did. I think he answered everything to the best of his ability, and painted a good look at his view of the business as it was in 92 and 93 and in general too. Some of the revelations like his marijuana use and disagreements with Watts were extremely enlightening, and I suspect we are going to see him in more of a "no fucks" mode regarding the people he worked for. Not to the point of throwing them under the bus, but able to speak more freely and not having to toe the company line like he might have before. His stories about Bischoff were interesting, especially when Watts wanted Jim to fire Eric at a PPV "just to get people's attention". I started watching WCW during the Watts era and am still fond of that era, and for the longest time it didn't make a lot of sense to me that such a good product could have come from such lousy leadership. I sensed how bad it was in Mick Foley's first book and in later interviews, but I get a feeling Jim has the best point of view to how bad it was and his estimation that he knew it was a bad idea before he even started says a lot.

They talked about Jim's radio show, and about how someone taped all the shows and still has them. I think some point down the line a Patreon account like Conrad's other shows have would greatly benefit for having those shows on it as a starting point. I would especially like to hear the interviews with Nash and the announcement he made on air that he was going to the WWF. I was 9 so I was not smart to anything at all and I remember how shocking it was to see Ross at WM 9.