SomethingSavage

Every now and then, Bischoff will deadass crack me up with one of his off-the-wall observations. He's talked before about Jarrett's birdcage gear looking like a dick dancer or airbrushed tights looking like county fair knockoffs, and he got me again by describing Diamond Dallas Page as that fun but loud guy at a house party who you don't want to ask to leave - but you also secretly wish he wasn't there also.

Paul Bromwell trying to bust Jeff's balls about being a faux Horseman is just the dirt worst. Paul is that guy at your job who is vaguely aware of all your good inside jokes and tries desperately to make himself a part of them, which in turn instantly kills those inside jokes. Not sure if anyone noticed, but Bromwell also gave a (weak, limp-wristed) backhand shot about Kurt Angle needing to read his responses from a strict script over on the other show. He doesn't reference Kurt by name, but it's obvious enough to connect the dots.

I gave up listening to the full 4 hour shows around the summer of COVID and Hurricanes Laura and Delta. The negativity was just too compounded for me, and I say that as a huge Corny stan. But yeah. The YouTube clips are much easier to consume and keep track of, in my opinion. The ideal move would be to just streamline the actual pod itself and trim off a lot of the fat, but I don't know the reasoning behind the marathon style shows in the first place. I'll always have a fondness and a curiosity for Cornette's rants and hot takes, but I'm much more interested in hearing him talk history and viewpoints on the past. Either way, I greatly enjoyed the Drive Thru in its early stages - back when it was strictly questions and answers. Even after the linenof questioning became repetitive and you could tell new listeners weren't hearing the older shows, I still found found them better than what we mostly get today.

He said he was in the third grade, and also at six years old was outraged that WWF didn't cancel the rest of a pay-per-view after Owen fell. I don't know. Call me cynical, but I call bullshit on both. No six year old kid thinks that way while watching wrestling. Especially in the Attitude Era. I don't want to speak for the guy, but I figure he would've mentioned having a relative involved or knowing someone personally if that was the case. He didn't. He just kept going back to it being such a trauma that he never properly processed. And apparently someone enlightened him in his 20s that it was the root cause of all these panic attacks. Just eye rolling stuff. He also leans on family trauma and this is a trauma & that is a trauma. I don't know. You get a certain feel for people based on how they talk and present themselves, and he just comes across like he's one of those types. He's a victim to everything, and everyday is such a struggle. So he can relate to everyone and everything. Nothing is "crazy" because that's not PC. Everybody everywhere is just suffering from mental health issues. That sort of thing. It's tiresome and exhausting to think along the same lines as those folks. Alba tried to draw some correlation between Jeff Hardy's alcoholism and vague childhood trauma. But not his - just someone he knew. So he can relate, you see. Not to substance abuse. Just to trauma. Because he can "trauma bond" with everybody. It's just... gross and really repulsive to listen to after a certain point. It screams out for attention and acceptance but in the worst way possible. Matt's mostly great though. He never skims on the details and always offers up entertaining stories. I found Bromwell to be tolerable on the latest Jarrett podcast. I know I'm going to regret saying that, because he always sucks otherwise. But he stayed out of the way, stuck to the script, and mostly just pitched facts and notes for Jeff to react to and recap. There was some overlap with the first part of the nWo coverage, but the fact that Jeff made Paul seem somewhat tolerable is at least a minor miracle of sorts. Jeff has eased up on putting the term "episodic" in every sentence. Now he's using & abusing "cache" to the point where I'm not really sure he knows what it means either.

Yep. I think Conrad is at his best with Jarrett, and vice versa. Early on, I thought Alba could be the answer as Conrad's eventual successor, but I'm a little less convinced now. I find Alba enjoyable enough as the Matt Hardy super fan, but I don't know how well he'd do crossing over with others. I guess he's taken over the DDP Snake Pit, but I haven't listened to any of that lately. I hit a tipping point with Alba on the addiction episode. I both love and hate finding out personal insight with some of these guys, because it can give you a clear indication of their personalities that you'd otherwise never know about. Particularly, hearing Alba talk about how it traumatized him to see 9/11 in the 3rd grade, to the point where he's having panic attacks in his late 20s due to the "unprocessed trauma". ... of September 11th. ... ... when he was a third grade student. Okay. Or the time he was 6 years old and supposedly got outraged that the Over The Edge pay-per-view didn't stop because of the Owen tragedy. ... ... ... Riiiight. I don't know. I still dig the guy on Matt Hardy's show for the most part. Those guys have good chemistry. But yeah. The whole victimized, everything is trauma mentality of guys around his age group just irritate the piss out of me. I'm only a few years older than Alba, but I can't imagine living in that headspace and just being constantly traumatized and victimized by every little thing in existence like that. I know folks like that in real life, and it's just annoying. Not everything is a symptom or in need of a diagnosis. There's supporting mental health and positivity, and then theres... whatever THAT is.

I actually think Jarrett is hurt the most by the absence of Conrad. I guess you could argue Bruce or Tony, but I haven't heard any of their stuff in years I think, so I don't really recall. Sean Oliver is tremendous and almost always strikes up instant chemistry with these things. I really regret offloading my old Kayfabe Commentaries collection now. Good times.

I like how adamant Mick is about sticking to his guns on being dissatisfied and disappointed in the Mania handicap tag. They never fully crack that nut, but I do believe they were on the right path when the subject of the action not matching the story and the build came up. Mick is big on storytelling, so it's only fitting that it doesn't sit right with him when you build toward this blood feud and then blow it off with a feel-good celebration of character moments and comedy spots. This is perhaps a broader talking point, but is there a greater kingmaker in all of pro wrestling than Mick Foley? Historically, is he the most efficient? The dude went above and beyond to legitimize Hunter (at least twice), Rock as a top heel, and Orton as a rising star. Edge could fall into that category, although to a slightly lesser extent. He showed the capability as far back as the program with Sting, but that honor actually tips more in Vader's favor. He did wonders for Taker's perception. The Mind Games match gets lots of love for being awesome, but it's also the style of match that could've greatly benefited Shawn as champion. There's a reason people point to the Diesel match and the Mankind match, and that's because they painted Shawn in a light that looked less like "Brutus Beefcake escort cosplaying as main eventer" and looked more like a defending champion being pushed to his absolute limits, beyond his comfort zones. But I digress. The thought just occurred to me when listening to Mick talk about the match with Orton and its aftermath. I realize the topic has been talked about before, but hey. It's been awhile. And I think it's still worth mentioning.

The most recent episode is tremendous and by far my favorite of the bunch, for sure. The name-dropping can be egregious, of course. But some of those stories are truly heartwarming and endearing. I'd much rather have them there than not. The buildup to Orton versus Foley felt special in its own time as it was happening, but man. The strength of it really shines through on rewatch just as well. I loved hearing alot of the details that went into crafting it. The references to Shane, Rocky 2, and The Longest Yard weren't something that immediately struck me before, but I absolutely see all the ingredients as they were laid out. Pro wrestling almost always functions best when it is aware of its own pop culture influences and trappings. I couldn't help but crack up when Mick pitched the unification Mania match, and imagining Vince's instant reaction is gold. Also glad they didn't skip right past the Shawn triple threat talk. It's ironic, and the coincidence is at least worth discussing. So that was appreciated. I do think tradition and sacred cows in wrestling should still be a thing, as conservative and antiquated as some of those things may be. I sort of wish Mania main events were still strictly one on one, and I don't buy the idea that multi man matches were bound to headline Mania once they were successfully introduced and embraced. It's not a hill I'm going to die on or anything, because that ship has long since sailed. But it's like saying it's only a matter of time before they let greyhounds run in the Triple Crown. No, ya dummies. This is a controlled environment. People arrange this stuff. It was only inevitable once they made it so. It could've just as easily been a traditional staple that was never broken and always adhered to, but moving on... I think there's a much larger conversation to be had about Vince being tone deaf when it comes to babyfaces and the inherent value of consequences in storytelling. The idea that Vince didn't think fans would stay with the story after Mick suffered a setback is very telling. To this day, I still think Vince chases after Bruno and Hulk in every top tier babyface without realizing these guys are anomalies. You can't just cast anyone as Superman. It's the exception. When you try to make it the rule, you do a damaging disservice to guys like Daniel Bryan and Foley. Stories need stakes and tangible consequences. Heroes need to fall to rise again. Fans WILL get engaged. When everything is brushed off, you're educating people that it's all irrelevant and welcome to modern wrestling, everybody. What's perhaps most fascinating is how troubling it is that they don't seem to recognize or distinguish the difference in how to book top babyfaces versus top heels. They still realize that top guys need to win. Unfortunately, it's almost exclusively top heels who win, which makes them babyfaces in short order. Take Roman for example. He's a dominant heel and the biggest babyface they have as a result. When he was groomed as the top babyface, the guy literally lost three or four consecutive title shots against Brock, who was also their top heel at the time and thud actually their top face in reality. Roman also lost a title match to Kevin Owens, came out later the same exact night as a final entrant in the Rumble, and got tossed out. It's wild and a total failure to comprehend when wins and losses should matter. How they apply the most basic storytelling devices are baffling. Very human, instinctive elements and arcs are so foreign in the way they book these guys. Their booking actually just feels more like a long line of mistakes, followed by a series of overcompensating for said mistakes by swinging the pendulum too far in the opposite direction. But yeah. The crisis of confidence was such a crucial element, so it was neat hearing how Foley fought for it.

The way the first episode took a little while to get going, I was worried all the side stories and name dropping would annoy me. I've actually come to really enjoy those though. Foley still delivers the wrestling talk and insight along with all those side bars, so I don't mind it. Thus far, this project feels like an authentic representation of Mick as a person. The Cameo stuff still feels tacked on and the least appealing, but again - it's very Mick. Greatly enjoying every episode so far.

I especially enjoyed the little story of Kevin Sullivan using a painting as a weapon so the red paint would give the same visual as blood, during a time when blood and blading were banned from the television shows. That is such a clever, creative workaround that not just anyone would conjure up. And I don't know, but the whole Owen rib on Vader at the Slammy Awards just bummed me out. It made me a real sad panda. Whether or not the joke was purely in jest is irrelevant. Something about Vader then directly losing out on those paydays and looking like a big goof just completely deflated me there. The disparity between things like the sweet tea slip and fall against his spotlight performance at Final Four pretty much illustrates his WWF run in a nutshell.

I mean, it's bound to happen with almost any host or co-host. Eventually these guys run out of stories they want to tell. Yes, it's easy to point at an event or a show and say these guys were physically present, therefore they should produce entertaining stories. But having them actually and openly recall interesting, specific details is another thing entirely. Regal is enjoyable in back & forth conversations on other people's podcasts. He's a little different in this long form setting. Regal's slow, deliberate, molasses method of drip feeding out a story CAN be especially engaging. But it can also drag, and I find it best in small doses. I can probably listen to one of these every two weeks or so. I enjoyed his breakdown on comedy wrestlers and comedic spots in wrestling. I thought he tackled the topic from every facet and thougroughly explained good comedy versus bad, how integral it is to be over when attempting comedy, and the effectiveness of making your opponents look foolish for the sake of comedy versus making yourself look like the fool. Very cool stuff.

Full disclosure - I've never heard Foley's speaking gigs or stand up routines. I've also only read his first book (along with Jericho's first two and JR'S latest), so I haven't heard a lot of these stories before. I've seen elsewhere that Mick is retreading some territory (which is to be expected, come on) but I'm thoroughly enjoying this podcast so far. I love the little side bars. I could do without the silly Cameo stuff that's tacked onto the end, but it plays into the kind of human being Foley is at the end of the day. It doesn't take away from the actual wrestling discussion at all. I love little tidbits like Mick recalling how he would pause the VHS tape and watch frame by frame to fully study the Hangman spot from Muraco. Also cool to hear him gush over the Adonis spot & how none of the boys could crack the code on exactly how he pulled it off. Tiny detail, but very cool to hear about. I love stuff like that.

Even though I never bought Bully as the attractive bad boy to lure Brooke Hogan away from daddy's 24 inch pythons, I still ultimately enjoyed the hell out of his work during the time. And I will say this - as wonky as it was, I'll gladly take Bischoff's Aces and Eights in TNA over Prichard's knockoff version of the group in WWE that featured the likes of Slapjack and Tire Iron and Jumper Cable and... oh I don't know, whoever the fuck they had attack a generator on TV that time.

I dug the Roode reign on top, and I love that they played the hot hand by going with Aries as opposed to the more predictable option in James Storm. I think Storm had a window there, but he's a guy who already got a cup of coffee with the belt and could've gotten back there the following year. I actually think Storm going BACK heel and being revealed as the Aces and Eights second in command (eventually surprising Bully) wouldn't have been the worst decision. Totally agreed on all the reveals. One or two of those guys would've been acceptable, but overall it felt very disappointing, flat, and underwhelming. I still get the idea that Bischoff was going for anticipation and suspense. It wasn't entirely successful, especially the longer they drew it out. Agreed there. But I get the seed of his idea. Again, that goes back to him being AWARE of an element without ever really understanding how to harness it. The nWo was a perfect storm that he's chased again and again ever since. Right place, right time. Aces and Eights wasn't that. I dug the Brooke Hogan story, too. Billy being the bad boy at the center of it was a little baffling and a bit of a miscast for me. That's all I'm saying. Anderson had the brash arrogance to fit the bill for that part, but he was so diluted by then. A dickhead like Aries or maybe even a dance hall cowboy like James Storm could've done that, but neither guy was in a position to be a heel right as that thing was taking off. So I don't know. I'm just spitballing. Sabin felt like a desperate attempt to recapture the Aries moment from a year before, but yeah. Good call on the Luger throwback as well.

Also, if we're going with the Sons of Anarchy analogue (which Bischoff blatantly admits, and rightfully so), then I think it it's ultimately bad casting that hurt and hindered the group. Some of the storytelling and the pacing was well done, but yeah. The casting and the reveals were one misfire after another. Bully was put into the Jax Teller spot almost as a given or an afterthought, but really he was fit for the Clay mold. The group still called for a younger, dynamic guy to break out. Ken Anderson was eventually put in that spot, but he wasn't the guy. Garrett and Wes Brisco weren't equipped for it. But they could've really used someone, and THAT person should've been the one to swipe Brooke Hogan away from Hulk, etc. Bully, as much of a tremendous heat magnet as he was, just seemed like a strange pick for that whole angle. I dug the dynamic he had with a smoking hot Brooke Adams, but the thing with Brooke Hogan was just... I don't know. Weird.

I haven't listened to Bischoff's podcast in a good while, but the recent Aces & Eights episode caught my attention. So I gave it a go. They had Bully Ray on as a guest, and I've mostly enjoyed his takes on Busted Open as well. The disparity between the peaks and valleys of Bischoff's podcast have been incredible, looking back. All the highs were amazingly engaging - the AWA stuff, the Collision in Korea, the early TNA topics, etc. - but the lows have been fucking dreadful - the weird Pillman takes, the Bret talk, the faulty memory, etc. Anyway, just for context, I was watching TNA fairly faithfully around the time of the Aces & Eights angle. I won't retread all that here, but I mostly enjoyed it for what it was. WWE wasn't doing much for me in 2012 and 13, and I was getting my modern wrestling fix from TNA, PWG, and NWA Hollywood. Say what you will, but TNA felt like they had momentum with some things. The Jeff Hardy redemption saga, the Austin Aries rocket to the top, the Roode turn, James Storm as a hot singles act, and yes... just what the hell were the Aces and Eights going to be. This podcast was a little all over the place, but I didn't mind. There's a 20 minute chunk (or more) wherein they just discuss the modern stuff with Vince and Roman coming up. Still, they do a serviceable job covering the stable itself. I forgot just how many scrubs and scabs they put into the group. That's definitely one aspect that made them appear second rate and somewhat out of place. Eric tried to defend it as going for "intimidation", but I'm not sure Garrett and D'Lo quite match that description in 2012. Bully Ray talks about them originally building to an in-ring showdown between him and Hogan. I absolutely thought that was the direction at the time, but i don't mind that we never got it. I think a ten man tag or something similar to highlight Hulk getting his hands on Bully could've worked, but I'm not entirely sure it was ever necessary. The angle and the story was leading there, but Hogan at that stage only had a finite amount of magic left to administer. And, for anyone doubting that Hulk could still command a crowd or work a passable match, check out the Sting blowing from Biund For Glory 2011. I know it's not technically Hulk's last match, but it exists as such in MY head canon because *chefs kiss*. It was brilliant. And tremendous. It's very much everything people wanted from the Hogan/Sting WCW showdown. And they pull it off with diminished resources in front of a much smaller audience. But i don't care. I unabashedly loved it. Bischoff lets Bully and Conrad do most of the lifting here, which is probably for the best. Eric does get in a good point about ANTICIPATION being the secret sauce of pro wrestling, which I wish more people would adhere to, if I'm being honest. He's referenced it before, but it's totally true. It's the art of promoting. I'm not sure Eric himself ever quite mastered it either, but I do believe he's at least always AWARE of it. Without going into too much of a tangent, it's something I feel lacking in today's product. When you've got to force out so much content, where's the anticipation? When it's just an endless treadmill of rematches (and the drive is to get ANYTHING out there to fill time), then where's the focus? What's the hook? Is it good wrestling matches? Is that enough? For some people, I guess it is. But the vast majority don't give enough shits about a high spot or a cool move to watch the actual shows for them. They'll just watch the clip or the isolated GIF instead. I just don't feel like the anticipation of anything being treated like a big deal anymore. I have gotten inkling of it with AEW (but only recently, and only since the Punk return). I've caught their last three big shows in succession, and inalways find myself excited for them when they come around. But yeah. I never find a rhyme or a reason to watch any of the shows in between. Maybe that's a symptom of just being an adult with other priorities. Or maybe it's a side effect of there simply being too much repetitive, monotonous wrestling out there. It's all very samey and all very irrelevant. I still get excited to watch that one show every two or threebmonths, but that's enough. And yet still I'll gladly spend my two hours a day in the gym with shit like this in my ears. So I don't know. I'm still weirdly fascinated by it all, I guess. Anyway, this was a solid listen. It doesn't match up to some of the early episodes, and I can definitely understand how Bischoff's podcast has fallen down the charts. He doesn't seem that dialed in, and his topics look really redundant. Oh. There's an awesomely awkward moment where Bully is his usual self and puts Conrad on the spot. He days today's business is full of YES MEN and tried to get Conrad to admit it. The Alabaman Dream crawfishes his way around the question, but I cracked up. They also talk briefly about the Chris Sabin title run. God, I remember hating that when it happened. On the surface, it felt like a total try-hard moment wherein they were attempting to force Sabin into the same spot Aries got himself the year before. It just didn't click. Aries' rise felt natural and organic. Sabin's felt super contrived and artificial. But here, Bully suggests that it was done strictly to keep the peace with Sabin after TNA wouldn't pay for his back to back surgeries. I never heard that. Was it covered in the newsletters of the time? Because the timeline matches up (they were under fire for the Daffney Unger stuff, as well as the Jesse Sorenson treatment), and I could totally buy it as being true.

The Becoming Broken series was a ton of fun and extremely comprehensive. I hear this show isn't doing great numbers, but I have been thoroughly enjoying it. Some of the Michael Hayes stories circa 99 are just tremendous, too. Beyond the Gadzooks shopping trip, there's a hilarious bathroom stop story, the tale of the Freebird trying to springboard off an air conditioning window unit, and of course the great Gangrel shoot fight in the Outback Steakhouse parking lot. Matt singling out his most memorable, most obsessive female fan from that early run was quite something. She sounds stereotypical goth girl but takes the whole deal to ANOTHER LEVEL. Also cracked me up to hear Matt refer to Broken Matt as a Transformer and Woken Matt as a GoBot. Good stuff.

Jarrett's new Q&A episode is solid stuff when it's just Jeff answering, but buyers beware. It's Paul Bromwell with the hosting duties, and oof. Nothing sums up Paul Bromwell better than him referring to the concession stand brawls as the Wayne Ferris "cafeteria brawls" and causing Jeff to scoff and correct him. It truly takes an actively bad personality to bother me as a host, because it's mostly just a matter of guiding the conversation along. But this goof just comes across as such a try-hard. Listen to anytime he tries to involve himself with an inside joke or something & you'll know exactly what I mean. Jarrett continues to do well here though. I thought the AJ episode was great, and I'm looking forward to the Monty Brown coverage in similar fashion.

I've been meaning to sample some of the revamped format shows, but there's just so many other pods popping up left and right. I haven't heard anything significant come from these shows, and they all sort of sound like retread material to me. Again, I have no idea, but at a glance I feel like we would get a ton of overlap.

Haven't even attempted to tackle this one just yet. I don't know. I was fairly satisfied with what we got from the two recent appearances on Jericho's pod, I guess. I did leave with the impression that Regal needs a tour guide to sort of draw him back to the specific topic or question at hand. He's a rambler and an engaging speaker, but yeah. Dude's a faucet and just opens up. I'll give this one a shot soon. Here's hoping Regal takes plenty of time to tell personal stories and not just reflect on rumors of the time, hearsay, etc.

I both love and hate how many side bars and detours he took. I find him to be a mostly fascinating storyteller though, and - for that - I plan on doing my best to stick with this one. The first episode takes a little while to get going, but it never looks back after that.

It's amazing how much Jarrett has managed to babyface himself through this podcast. Say what you want about Conrad, but the guy has been career CPR for so many of his co-hosts in recent years. Still digging Jeff's show the most though. He's really rewriting and reshaping his image, which is a pretty neat thing to see in itself, but we're also getting wonderful shows along the way with the USWA and Memphis coverage. It's not peak PWO for me, but it's mainstream and isn't that far off the mark. I ain't mad at it. But whoever taught Jeff the word "episodic" should be forced to crab-walk on their hands and knees through broken glass and a dozen dirty dumpster fires, because whew. He looks for ways to say "episodic" in damn near every response, even to the point where I'm not sure he ever even knows what it truly means. "Episodically. Episodic storytelling. Episodic nature. Episodic booking. Episodic episodes. In so many ways, the episodic shows..." blah blah blah. Play a drinking game with the word and you're guaranteed to get sloshed before they reach their first ad read. Fun shows for the most part though.

Jon Alba is doing a decent job with his duties on the Matt Hardy show. The new Road Dogg show is off to a solid start, too. But yes. Nothing compares to Stories With Briscoe & Bradshaw. Even when it's an unremarkable episode, the atmosphere and the energy surrounding their banter and their reminiscing is pure joy. But usually you'll get a guest with surprisingly awesome stories and fun times to be had.

Really dug this series overall. Sounds like guys are going to keep it going into 92, which is awesome. I'd love to hear other transitional years tackled at some point (if possible), but this whole project has been very enjoyable. Great work, guys. It feels like you really leave no stones unturned when going through these things.

And part 2 of Jericho with Regal has dropped now, too.