SomethingSavage

There's something so genuine about old people at wrestling events. My grandpa will never be an old man in my eyes, but (to this day) nothing surpasses bringing him to live wrestling. The experience is only always a truckload of fun, and he comes from Watts country where you show you're having a good time by giving the heels pure hell. (2009 Randy Orton did not look amused when it was suggested that he might, in fact, be a bastard.) Historically though, who *were* the elderly darlings?

I'm a big Brock supporter, but I'm over all this already. I was already over it when people were going 'nanners over the shit with Jones. His last actual fight did nothing to excite me either. If he's going back to fight regularly, then yeah. Okay. I can get behind that. But this whole "half fake fighter, half shoot fighter" shit is too contrived for my tastes. Mixing pro wrestling with MMA is unnatural and an abomination. I shan't be swayed.

There are still some gems of insight here & there, but you have to stick around for it. My overall interest is wearing a bit thin with all the numbers talk, but things always liven up when we start to get more candid opinions from Eric about the actual events, shows, performers, etc. I thought Eric did a decent job of deflecting the criticisms & explaining his own logic in the moment regarding the Hogan/Goldberg match in the Georgia Dome. Did it still result in WCW passing up a perfectly easy BIG money payday? Absolutely. But, at least upon hearing his side of things, you can honestly see how he'd arrive at the decision be ultimately did. Nitro *was* basically built on the formula of surprises and big money matches up top on free TV. So I can totally see Bischoff sticking with what he'd known to work. He also pointed out that WCW had a history of operating with that routine - running a really hot "go home" edition of Nitro right before the PPV, and it had always delivered a bigger buyrate as a result. I realize that was certainly the case with Bash at the Beach and this particular Nitro, but what other instances are there that Eric might be referencing here? I'm not calling bullshit or anything - I'm legitimately curious. Although I faithfully followed WCW every Monday night throughout that time, a lot of those nWo era Nitros tend to blend together in my memory. The 100th milestone is the only episode that immediately jumps out at me, so I guess maybe there's that one? Did Road Wild '97 do significantly better business because of the Lex title switch? And are there actually other examples of a really hot Nitro leading to an increase in PPV buys? The TV company talk was less convincing to me. I mean, I can buy Eric believing he should keep doing what had already made him successful in the past. But trying to justify passing up guaranteed millions (by just waiting to run Hogan/Goldberg on PPV instead) for the supposed potential to make even more down the road (by running it on free TV to correct the course for future Nitros) doesn't hold up for me. TV company, wrestling company, or whatever - they're all in the business of staying in business. And profit is profit, period. I couldn't help but crack up when Eric started ranting about the stupid idiots who pay every month for Meltzer's newsletter - mere minutes after Conrad used his usual line about being a lifelong subscriber to the WON. Conrad was much less a factor on this episode, and he chalked that up to being sick. But he did come in at the end with his typical routine, playing the part of diehard fan boy. So apparently the belief is "Hogan was uncharacteristically unselfish by offering to drop the belt to Goldberg, but ONLY because Hulk is ACTUALLY secretly super selfish and wanted people to pat him on the back for being unselfish in this one instance." ... Uhh. Okay then. So it's like this section of fans basically made up their mind that Hulk was going to be selfish either way, and that's that. So stupid.

The story of luring Steve Austin to OVW on his night off with "$25,000 in a brown paper bag and all the beer he can drink" was tremendous. After hearing Corny put it over as his best booking ever and the best OVW product overall, I really wish I could get my hands on that 2002/03-2005 stretch in its entirety.

Just last Thursday, I listened to Jericho's "Marvel vs. DC" comics episode. It was short but still enjoyable enough. Jericho is a lapsed fan (like myself), but you could tell comics were still a big part of his childhood (again, like myself). But the only reason I'm really even bringing it up is because the person Jericho's interviewing brings up Steve Ditko at one point. He tells Chris that Ditko is *the* guy he needs to reach out to & get on his podcast. ... R.I.P. Steve Ditko, co-creator of my first favorite superhero & illustrator of many iconic moments.

Slammiversary looks really fucking solid on paper. The buildup has been fun for the most part. They've arranged some interesting matches that aren't just a bunch of obvious giveaways. I think it could actually turn into a sleeper hit show for them.

Conrad made Beefcake's book sound interesting on that particular podcast. When Brutus popped up twice on Austin's show to plug it? Not so much. Maybe the book really is a decent read. But Brutus is still one of those older generation guys that exaggerates A LOT and seems to expect people to simply buy it. I mean, he seems harmless enough with his tall tales. But he had no shortage of them on Austin's podcast - where he talks about working 24 hour days on movies with Hulk, working 45-minute house show tag team matches where all 4 guys got juice in 80s WWF, teaching the "green" Bulldogs how to work main event style, etc.

Oh. And I popped when they read the story with Brutus calling Jimmy Hart a Hulk Hogan stooge. It's dorky as shit, but that one got a laugh from me.

Yeah, I've never heard the accident covered in such (gruesome) detail. I listened throughout my gym session this morning. Fairly good episode, in my opinion. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I think using the book as a guide certainly helped. Even if it is Brutus' viewpoint, it's at least a starting reference point to get things going. I dug the Bob Holly episode for similar reasons. I also found the discussion about the origins of the gimmick to be fun. Bruce is good for these sorts of stories - coming from the production end of vignettes for these various characters, whether it's Double J or the Barber or whoever. The haircut shtick really did elevate the profile of Beefer in that period. It's kind of amusing that he was so resistant to most of that stuff. Things like the haircut, Jake'a snake, etc. really should still have a place in wrestling. Today, in a time where they can't promote a proper baby face to save their life, they really could do worse than to go back to the post-match Mortal Kombat "Friendship" style finishes like this. It *was* interesting to hear how they covered the season/possible series finale of the Network show, too. The Patreon deal seems to indicate that they're perfectly happy to move on & make money elsewhere. Say what you will about Conrad, but the guy keeps busy & knows the importance of monetizing the shit out of everything he can to maintain momentum in the marketplace.

The Punk podcast they did earlier on was horrible - considerably worse than even the Edge episode. It was mostly comprised of Conrad reading results, followed by Bruce knocking ROH and/or Meltzer. Awfully boring with almost zero insight on anything. I'm curious if they take a different approach on the Network. The biker Taker is new material, so I may check that out. This Rock period is a retread though. Skipping that, for sure.

Famous B has been a blast since showing up. The vignettes, the cheesy delivery, and the slick fucking suits are all tremendous. Christ. I've missed Lucha Underground. The emphasis on actual characters and progressive stories was sorely missed. NXT does that stuff in an old-school, more traditional way - which is still a lot of fun. But LU is everything I like about pro wrestling mixed with my favorite action revenge flicks or some shit. I've only seen episodes 1 and 2 from this season. And I won't lie. Nothing's grabbed me so far. I wasn't able to avoid spoilers for episode 3 though, so I know the main event is worth the wait. I'll probably get all caught up this weekend. Here's hoping the stories pick up some steam soon and the writing returns to form.

Famous B is everything the Titus Worldwide gimmick wishes it could be. In a previous era when the Federation took care in crafting its characters & their presentation, that's what it would look like. Instead, they haphazardly put Titus out there doing... whateverthefuck he's been doing for about 3 years.

Yup. Your energy & enthusiasm is so fucking infectious when it comes to this stuff. It's always refreshing when people present unique perspectives on things, and your presentation helps to put it over the top. Really dug your GWE list podcasts, so I'm stoked for this project.

I was surprised to hear Cornette say so clearly that - yeah, Smoky Mountain was his most successful project overall. But OVW was *the best* booking he's ever done. I need to watch this stuff week to week. I have Heyman's OVW run, following Cornette's departure, but it just isn't at all the same by that point. There are still some good things going on - specifically the Punk/Albright program - but it's much more about appeasing the office and fine tuning the acts how they want by then. Going back, it was funny to find out that Corny only ever received one true compliment from Vince for his OVW contributions. Nevermind the fact that Corny was instrumental in teaching, developing, and harvesting the likes of Lesnar, Cena, Orton, Batista, Benjamin, etc. But, in what has to be one of the most Vince McMahon things ever, it was the call-up of Gene Snitsky that got Vince to pick up the phone & personally thank Cornette for his great work on training the guy. I dug Cornette basically reenacting an entire segment - bit by bit & blow by blow - from his OVW television layout. It goes to show how much effort he put into showing these guys the importance of time cues and restraints. But he also seemed to be loose with the promos - essentially just jotting them down as Jim Cornette would say them, but then telling the guys to get the same message across in their own words instead. I'm stoked he'll be covering more OVW. I figured it would be awhile before he got around to it, so this is a real treat.

I'm still a big fan, but yeah. Braun's momentum has slowed wayyy the fuck down since Mania season kicked in. They had no plans for him on that card, and his trajectory has been totally aimless ever since. He does get bonus points for bringing the Pooooounce back to prominence though. It ain't much, but at least there's that.

Nobody is holding anyone accountable for anything here though. It's all just lip service. This story isn't "big" news. It's just this week's thing to talk about. It isn't on anyone's radar in the outside world. The *only* people discussing it will gladly move on when the next hot Omega match hits. Because they might care enough to be offended by this shit, but they don't care enough to get left out of the loop on that next six star match. It's that fear of missing out. Right now, they're really outraged, but not really. They'd rather watch & rate and review that next Omega match than stay upset about this stuff. In what way is this a big deal to anyone outside of the niche-within-a-niche New Japan fans? It's not. And no one is going to boycott NJPW or stop supporting Omega, so it's all such a pointless exercise. The guy likely made an honest mistake. He tried to talk his way out of it and either lied or misremembered details. Either way, he admitted fault and tried to move on. A bunch of people pretending they'll stay mad at him over it is just silly. "Screw Omega! He's such a scumbag! There's just no way around it. The next time I pay to see him wrestle, I'm going to have to personally enjoy it a half star less!"

^^ I fucking love that Steiner/Savage scenario. That's a perfect way to propel Big Poppa Pump to the next level. I also wanted to do something with Meng, but I couldn't quite find the right place for him. Ideally, I'd like to see him flirt with the upper mid-card more often. I'm thinking less Faces of Fear and more Tongan Death Match vs. Benoit type stuff. But the roster is so stacked. After just recently listening to Meng on an old episode of Jericho's podcast, I'm almost convinced he could serve as Jericho's heater for a short time. Eliminate Ralphus from the equation to dissipate any chance of cheers there, and replace him with a more no-nonsense Meng. Maybe have Jericho convince him that there's a conspiracy against the island boys to keep them off TV (and he's TV Champ, so he would be in the know!) Barb doesn't buy it, but Meng does. Split the team there, and have Meng link up with Jericho. Have Meng be the instrument that helps Jericho stack up some serious wins as TV Champ, en route to the impending clash with Bret. Meng is the muscle and the excuse to appease the fragile egos of some of the boys who would otherwise scoff at the idea of taking a loss to Jericho. From there, you've got options. Either split them prior to the Bret feud - which frees up both of them, with Meng likely taking the TV Title off Chris and going his own way. This also allows all the focus to fall squarely on Jericho and Bret by themselves. OR you can keep the act intact, with Meng and Jericho eventually becoming more of a buddy duo once the Bret feud has finished up and the inevitable baby face reactions begin (because you know they're coming). I actually think there's more money in splitting them sooner, but it's whatever. Meng being the guy to beat Jericho doesn't hurt Chris at all, and it could set Meng on a path toward some fun hoss fights as TV Champ for awhile. Either way, there could be some tremendous entertainment value there. Imagine Jericho trying to make Meng hold up a Jerichoholic sign or something at ringside - with the islander simply standing there stone-faced, totally no-selling it. Or Jericho could try to dress him like various other bodyguards from wrestling's past, with Meng half-assing it and absolutely failing to get the "proper" look right, with the gear fitting poorly or mixing up certain getups. I'm just tossing shit out here, but surely Jericho would find some creative ways to spin gold out of this deal.

Not sure why I skipped it way back when it originally came out, but the Haku episode is tremendous. Fun, fun, fucking FUN all the way through. Haku is a witty, charming, upbeat conversationalist from start to finish. The discussion on sumo culture was all kinds of awesome, too.

Yeah. He was on Jericho's podcast the week of Greatest Royal Rumble, and he mentioned how they just started booking him on every live show & tour shortly after Mania - like it was no big deal. Surely this is a special kind of Hell.

Yup. Create an assembly line of heels and just feed 'em all to Goldberg. Eric had a such a hard-on for the stars of 80s WWF, so convince him to get behind the idea that Goldberg is the new Hulk. Just run that formula 'till the wheels fall off. Underneath, you can build credible second-tier babyfaces in the shapes of Booker, Benoit, etc. Give Jericho his own mini-program with Bill, for fuck's sake. Let him get his shit in & get speared out of his shoes on some lesser pay-per-view. Find a way to trim the fat within the Wolfpac. Get Nash to reunite with Hall as soon as humanly possible. Let them embrace the love that fans had been showering them with for two years by that point. End the war between the two World Orders quickly and effectively. Make it a War Games, but keep it brief & violent. Spare Hogan by having him literally retreat from the cage like a coward, while one of his underlings surrenders in defeat. In the aftermath, have Scott Steiner rise from the ashes of the splintered nWo Hollywood faction. Big Poppa Pump was finally putting all the pieces together with his heel act by late '98. Have him continue to wreck & ruin jobbers and mid-carders on television. Keep Bagwell in his corner as the loudmouth lackey. Buff can mug it up for the cameras and basically serve as Scotty's hype man. As Goldberg continues to dominate as World Champeen, let Big Poppa Pump bulldoze members of the Wolfpac one by one - on his own, now detached from the nWo black & white. The design should be to build to Steiner/Goldberg. They had a hell of a fun powerhouse sprint in real life (as late as Fall Brawl 2000), so maybe I'm banking a bit on them pulling that off here. But it's probably their best shot from what they've got. I would keep an eye on Steiner's development and tentatively have him penciled in as "the guy" to end the streak. Pile the heat on him, carefully craft his character, and sharpen the edges along the way. If he flakes out, then have Goldberg mow him down & move on. But if all goes right - if the stars align - then you've got a ready made monster in Big Poppa Pump. You've got a memorable moment when Goldberg finally goes down in defeat. And you've got a big money rematch that *should* have the fans lining up. Hmm. This pitch is far from perfect, because plenty of big players are left out of this scenario. I'm not sure what you do with Bret, Sting, Luger, Flair, etc. Maybe crown one of them (Bret?) as king of the mid-card for awhile. Make them US Champ to function as sort of a gatekeeper. Bret would actually be perfect to help usher along some developing performers. In fact, yeah. Go with Bret. When did Eddie have the accident? Because, if you can, run a program between those two for the US Title at some stage. Keep Jericho winning with the TV Title at the same time. Plan to have them collide, possibly in '99, with Jericho targeting the Canadian hero ("You were never MY hero, Bret! I'm from Winnipeg, you stupid idiot!") and basically doing an updated hybrid of both the Malenko and Stone Cold stuff. Jericho can unleash gold on the mic, until Bret responds, and they kick off a series that ultimately serves to elevate Jericho up the card. Konnan is a guy that probably doesn't warrant a long-term plan or whatever, but the guy *was* incrrrrredibly over at this point. I wouldn't be totally opposed to him sticking with the Wolfpac - although I'd prefer to keep that group more streamlined with three to four members only. Flair's return with the Horsemen reunion would go unchanged. I'd continue to build the animosity with Bischoff and play that up heading into Starrcade. Have Eric try to strut & peacock around on television at first - basically lifting the stuff he was doing when he challenged Vince at Slamboree. Then, as Starrcade approaches, Eric's true colors bleed through & he begins to crawfish away from the challenge entirely. Instead, Bischoff seeks legal advice or whateverthefuck - which gets us to the revelation that Eric has actually decided that The Giant will accept the match and wrestle in his place. Giant is obviously on his way out, so this sets him up for his final program. Flair rejects the offer at first & reiterates that he only wants to get his hands on Bischoff - Ric won't even consider "wrestling" anyone until he FIGHTS Bischoff. But then the Giant targets his fellow Horsemen, attacking Arn off screen or Benoit backstage or whatever. Giant puts resident PWO guilty pleasure Mongo out for good. Finally, the Nature Boy has had enough & accepts on one condition - he'll get his fight with Bischoff if he can beat the Giant. Now there's no guarantee the match will be anything stellar, but I'm optimistic they could put together something. I'd sit Giant down and show him Vader/Flair '93 as the blueprint to build from, then just hope it comes relatively close enough. Basically the Giant batters & ragdolls Ric for the majority of the match, until Naitch fires up and ultimately takes out the knee to earn a decisive win. Post-match consists of Flair ripping Eric to shreds. Bischoff's a bloody mess, his clothes are tattered & torn, and Slick Ric is slicker than owl shit & in top form on this night. I can't decide what to do with Raven following the Flock disbanding. Originally, I thought to go to the often speculated Sting program. But nah. That one can wait. First up I'd remove him from TV until Starrcade has come & gone. Then he shows up in some dramatic fashion and sets his sights on the Nature Boy himself. This is around the time Flair is bringing David in, etc. I'd have Raven taunt Flair's legacy, his lavish lifestyle, and basically just do Raven shit - rattling off the numerous ways Ric has embodied the seven deadly sins or some shit. Get them in a cage. Illustrate some iconic images & stamp those visuals into people's minds. Let Raven tie or cuff Flair to the cage and beat him unmercifully in front of David or whatever. Maybe use this as a vehicle to briefly bring Hot Rod back into the mix as Flair's grizzled buddy cop. Eventually, Piper or Flair can make the discovery that Raven actually comes from a wealthy family & is just a spoiled kid doing the grunge deal. This embarrasses and unhinges Raven further, which (down the road) sets him up to possibly cross paths with Sting - obviously dependent on whether any of this wacky shit gets over or not. Kidman looked like money for a short time there after the Flock split. Run with him as the new Cruiserweight king for awhile. Keep Rey actively involved as a friendly rival, allowing them to dip in & out of the tag division as they eventually did in real life. I would try to create the Jersey Triad earlier, if possible. Have Page turn immediately after a loss to Goldberg. Use that as the catalyst to bring in Bigelow, and just develop it from there. Give them the tag belts fast, and let them fend off a laundry list of hungry baby face teams. This scenario could offer a direct contrast to Goldberg dominating up top. I'd run an angle with Lex, who was super over just a year prior. Try to recapture a bit of that glory by having him go on another "Rack the world!" spree. He continually racks the Triad members in singles matches and assorted ten man or six man tags - but never in title match situations, because he has no reliable, consistent partner. It's a revolving door in Lex's corner. Rick Steiner. Wrath. Curt Hennig. Whoever. They all fall short. Sting has returned to his brooding ways in the rafters. Luger, having exhausted his options and feeling increasingly frustrated, turns to his longtime best friend in the business. But, for weeks on end, he receives no response. Eventually, maybe in World War 3, there's an extended beat down segment where the Triad overwhelm & brutalize Lex. Then the music hits. The lights dim. Sting storms the scene & cleans house. Reunite the original Big Boys of WCW and book their shot at the tag belts. ... Still nothing for Warrior. Or Hogan really. Or various others. But hey. It's a general outline & somewhere to start.

Oh, I agree. I mean, it's a tradition for them by this point. But traditions can be stupid, too.

I realize he has plenty of detractors & critics, but Cody probably never should've dropped the belt anyhow. I really feel like they waited way too long to pull the trigger with Castle in the first place. By the time he got the title, it felt more like a make-good than a true crowning achievement. Maybe that's just me. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad he got to hold the gold, regardless. But the whole thing just carried a sense of "too little, too late" to me.

I'm sorry, but that's hilarious. Either you hold the guy accountable, or you don't. Choosing to keep up with his matches for fear of missing out on what your wrestling circle is rating six or seven stars that month is just silly. If you're really, truly, actually offended then there wouldn't even be a compromise. This is why it's actually *not* a big story. Because nobody is prepared to hold anyone accountable for any of it. Who is the offended party here? Diehard NJPW fans? Okay. I can buy that. But who are they outraged at? Omega? They can't exactly avoid him, because they are going to choose to keep up with the product above all else. This isn't the mass general public we're talking about. This is the most niche of the niche. They're not going to give up their G1 fix over Kenny fucking Omega booking some asshole this one time. And they aren't going to boycott NJPW. So, if nothing is done to make a dent in their business, how exactly is this meant to be this great "big story" again?

What were the women even doing at this point? I can't even recall. What did you think about Jarrett returning in the baby face "Founder" role? I dug his fiery in-ring performances against Angle, but the story itself was a little wonky. I *hate* it anytime a heel is given obstacles & hurdles to overcome en route to "earning" a rematch with their baby face rival. But it's TNA under Russo, so of course that's what they do. Outside of the last few months, 2009 is fucking rrrrough to get through.

I like Lethal well enough, and I actually believe he's excelled more after his big run with the belt ended. He seemed to shine as a blood feud, grudge match worker in my view. Those programs with Cody and Silas produced pretty strong results. Lethal's title reign featured some solid matches, too. But the entire exercise almost felt like running in place. It just felt like such an aimless period with zero forward momentum for months & months on end there. I'm not exactly opposed to them giving him another shot up top. Like I said, I've enjoyed his work for more than a year now. But I *do* hope they sidestep some of the mistakes from before and, ya know, actually give the guy some kind of story or issue to sink his teeth into. Overall, the company seems to be suffering under the weight of its New Japan/Bullet Club ties. Yes, it's been extremely beneficial for ROH to feature and use these guys. But they can't go all in with any of them, because they're otherwise committed elsewhere the majority of the time. ROH is in this funky purgatory where their big hitters can only be used sporadically. So their champions are almost always made to look like inferior runner-ups to the real major players, who can only swing by occasionally.