BillThompson

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Not really, they both like to talk in circles until they get put in a position where they finally have to fess up. They are who they are, for better or worse.

You're leaving out how both are pretty much as fake as they come, so they have that in common at least.

Examples? First one that comes to mind is his fire Batista idea. Guy was a jerk backstage and said something Kelly didn't like so Kelly equated that to meaning Batista had no talent and was worthless to the business. Lots of money being left on the table right there. He also said the same thing about Shamrock, and there were many others but they aren't springing to mind right now.

Reno Wrestle Factory: Unknown Location (Unknown Date) Timothy Thatcher vs. Will Rood This is very early in Rood's career, but he shows some nice skill for his level of experience. They keep things basic, and they work very methodically. The opening four minutes or so feature both men working through Armlocks and Arm Wringers, and they do so through some surprisingly adept transitional wrestling. I expect Thatcher to be great at that stuff, but he shows a lot here in guiding Rood through the transitions and always putting Rood in a position where he looks really good. That's not to say that Rood doesn't contribute, because he very much does. His positioning is really good, and he sets up his moves in a way that is highly believable. I never got the sense that Thatcher was leagues ahead of Rood skills wise and that speaks to the ability of Rood to do the basics very well and of Thatcher to work to Rood's strengths. The bloom comes off the rose a bit with Rood the longer the match goes. He messes up a reversal Rollup sequence, but to his credit he doesn't freeze but instead keeps going with the flow of the match and is quick to apply the next move. His selling of Thatcher's arm work is spotty, but for someone as inexperienced as Rood it's well within acceptable levels. Rood's very clearly limited in his offensive arsenal, but he compensates for that by keeping his offense simple and working in a way that puts emphasis on the few moves he does know. I really liked this match, it's not great or anything, but it's pretty darn good. There's a real sense of struggle in the opening arm work. The middle section is well laid out and plays to the strengths of Rood. For Thatcher this is the type of performance that makes him look like a top 100 guy because he puts in great effort and makes his green opponent look very good in the process.

He never booked anywhere for real, but listening to Kevin Kelly and his ideas I think it's clear he would have been the worst booker ever, as even in his fantasy dream booking he manages to find ways to inevitably leave all kinds of money on the table.

National Wrestling Alliance Championship Wrestling from Hollywood: #53 (09-11-2011) Mikey O'Shea & Timothy Thatcher vs. Disco Machine & Terex O'Shea is a big fat guy, but Terex is a bigger fat guy with a huge gut covered in an ugly tattoo. Again, there isn't a whole lot to Thatcher's performance in this match, and it appears that he really has problems functioning in tag matches. A lot of nondescript stuff happens, Thatcher hits a decent looking Lungblower, and then for some reason he shows fear of Terex. He avoids a tag at one point, and then when he finally does tag in he hypes himself up and then fakes a dive for Terex's leg where he goes under the ropes and runs away. It's a small moment but it's pretty funny and shows a more comedic side of Thatcher that isn't always present.

All Pro Wrestling: Super Summer Series '10 (06-12-2010) Jody Kristofferson vs. Timothy Thatcher This is a first round match in All Pro Wrestling's Super Summer Series Tournament. About four minutes of really great stuff and two minutes of pretty terrible stuff. Both come from Thatcher, as Kristofferson is pretty much just along for the ride. Thatcher is selling a previous arm injury, and his left arm is heavily taped. For four minutes Thatcher puts on a brilliant performance. He refuses to use his left arm, holding it tightly against his side and wincing when his arm moves in the slightest or is touched. He implements a lot of neat one-arm offense, and it's all very believable. In the final two minutes Kristofferson fires up for his comeback and that's when Thatcher decides to forget about his arm. He's tossed into the ropes via his damaged arm but he doesn't react. When Thatcher runs the ropes he keeps his arm in motion as if it's not injured. But then when Kristofferson hits a Dropkick to the injured arm Thatcher sells it like death again. The finish involves the Thatcher Stretch, which is a big mistake on the part of Thatcher, or whoever planned the match, because it involves him using his injured arm to lock in the hold and violently pull back on the head of Kristofferson. It's odd to see Thatcher sell the arm brilliantly for four minutes and then spend two minutes completely forgetting about the arm. This was on pace to be a match in Thatcher's favor, but as it stands it's a case against him being a top 100 guy.

I listen to a lot of podcasts already, but I also spend around 120 hours a week at work and podcasts are my listening material while at work, or on my way to/from work. I'm set as far as film, comedy, sports, other podcasts go. I'm looking for any wrestling podcast suggestions. These are what are currently in my feed, Art of Wrestling Justin SHAPIRSHOW Live Audio Wrestling (Although I've been thinking of dropping this one as I really can't stand Jason Agnew) LuchaWorld MLW Radio Off the Top Rope The Place to be Podcast PWO-PTBN Network PWP Podcasts Squared Circle Gazette Radio The Steve Austin Show Talk is Jericho thecubsfan.com Voices of Wrestling Wrestling Culture Wrestling Eye Any other suggestions for good wrestling related podcasts send them my way.

National Wrestling Alliance Championship Wrestling from Hollywood: Unknown Event (Unknown Date) Timothy Thatcher & Drew Gulak vs. Revolution (Che Cabrera & Sasha Darevko) A fun sprint. There's not much to the match beyond quick tags and lots of double teaming, but it's fun to watch. This is the first match where I'd say Thatcher was a non-factor. He did a few things, but overall the bulk of the work was done by Gulak and Darevko. Still, for five minutes all four men move really fast, are in and out of the ring, and present an interesting mix of submission and power wrestling, and the match finishes before anyone gets too tired.

Just when you think W2BTD is the undisputed king of stupid comments, a new challenger appears. This adds nothing to the conversation except a personal insult, which is really not the tenor of this place. It's an astoundingly idiotic thing to say. It's right up there with Mr. "You're making me personally insult these wrestlers!" and why anyone should engage in a discussion with someone who has the same opinions as a 13 year old GameFAQs user is beyond me. It's better to point out the stupidity and move on. Also, personal insults aren't the tenor of this place? You're being called an anti-Semite in the Punk podcast thread. No one called me an anti-semite in the Punk thread. Even if they did that too would be something that I personally don;t think of when I think of PWO. This is a place full of diverse opinions where people hash out those opinions in interesting discussions. If you want to personally insult people that's not the modus operandi of discussion here, and if it is then I won't be sticking around, I assure you.

Just when you think W2BTD is the undisputed king of stupid comments, a new challenger appears. This adds nothing to the conversation except a personal insult, which is really not the tenor of this place.

CZW is still active in that regard, although there's a bit of a power struggle going on in the company between those who want to keep doing death match type stuff and those who want to move away from it completely.

TLC's two main events are Cena-Rollins and Ambrose-Wyatt. Three of the four guys in prime spots are relatively new to the main event scene. The plan for Mania is to headline with a guy who's been in the main event of one PPV previously. There' no indication that those are going to be sustained pushes. Just look at Wyatt who went from mega over act, to jobbing to Cena and then being off of TV for a while. In three months time they'll most likely be back to Cena versus the Authority figure, or versus Orton, or whatever. Vince has proven time and again that unless his back is against the wall he fears changing things up. As long as there is no competition Vince has no reason to change things up and that's why WWE ends up with so many guys with failed main event pushes.

I just want it to not be the same old, same old. I realize the WWE will always be lacking in many areas, but change has to happen at some point and new faces have to be pushed, and remain pushed.

Cesaro is a major point though because he does have the potential to be a major player. The talent is there, the fans were there, and WWE dropped the ball with him. Hearing him talk about Cesaro, the Millennials, and the nature of today's product last night was a clear vision into a man who has lost a grasp of the product he is delivering. Using the, "If he's lost it then why is WWE still making money" argument is empty lip service. WWE is the only major player around, there is no competition, so of course they are going to continue to make money. The fact that they aren't making oodles of money is the real damning evidence against Vince and how out of touch he has become over the last ten years or so.

I think Cesaro is a far better talent than when he was Claudio. There's really no denying how over Cesaro was at the beginning of the year. Cesaro never did anything to change that, the writers and the booking did. Vince doesn't apparently see it that way, as apparently Cesaro doesn't have the charisma to be over despite being one of the most over guys in the company for the first few months of 2014. There are other examples as well, such as the talk of the Millenials and of not pissing people off.

Parv, if you can listen to the Austin interview and not see that McMahon is in decline and completely out of touch with the product, the talent, and his fans, I don't know what to say to you anymore.

National Wrestling Alliance Championship Wrestling from Hollywood: #74 (02-12-2012) Brian Weston vs. Timothy Thatcher A sprint squash, but a heck of a fun squash. Thatcher is absolutely vicious in attacking Weston. He nails him with every move and lays in all of his European Uppercuts as stiff as can be. He goes to town on Weston's arm, and when he does his neat Arm Wringer Stomp, I oohed with enjoyment. Only real negative in this match is the weird move where Thatcher runs into the corner and Springs off the ropes and runs back across the ring at his opponent who is in the opposite corner. This is the second time I've seen Thatcher pull out that spot and I'm really not a fan. Most impressive spot of the match belongs to Weston though who answers Thatcher's stiffness with an Elbow strike to the side of Thatcher's face that lands with an absolutely sick smack. Weston plays his part in this match really well. He takes a beating and puts over the impressiveness of Thatcher in fine fashion. When he has his brief moment for a comeback he nails all his moves crisply and builds the sliver of hope in the audience that he's not going to get crushed. Alas, crushed is the end result for Weston. A well done sprint squash, when Thatcher is beating fools down I'm a happy camper.

It's not really shoot strikes I'm looking for, but something that looks like it connects and does damage. All of Tanahashi's offense is as light as a feather, but his strikes are especially offensively light. He keeps engaging in the "I elbow you, you elbow me, I elbow you, repeat ad nauseum*" exchanges in the matches I've been watching and his elbows are always woefully inept. They don't get much better when he's throwing them just to throw them either. *In the interest of full disclosure, I've been watching a lot of 2010s puro the past few days and I've grown to absolutely hate that idiotic exchange, no matter who is doing it.

Pro Wrestling Revolution: John A. O'Connell High School (02-22-2014) Timothy Thatcher vs. Blue Demon Jr. Whenever I see a Blue Demon Jr. match from now on I'll forever be haunted by Matt Striker saying De-moan over and over again. That's okay though, because watching a Blue Demon Jr. match is usually a horrific experience to begin with. As far as Demon's involvement in this match goes there's certainly a lot of horrific wrestling taking place. He's really slow, really lazy, out of position all the time, and constantly trying for sequences he can't actually execute. In short, Demon is awful, and brings nada to this match. The match itself is pretty awful as well, but that doesn't mean Thatcher's performance is awful. I'd actually pick this match over most of Thatcher's MOTYC to highlight why he's such a talented worker. He shows true versatility in employing a different bag of tricks to counter the awfulness of Demon. Thatcher plays the whiny and cowardly heel. He's damn good at it too, getting the crowd riled up at will with his antics. There are so many times during this match when the crowd is about ready to give up thanks to how bad the actual wrestling exchanges look. Now, one could argue that Thatcher needed to try something different on the mat to aid the slow Demon. Problem with that idea is that it assumes Thatcher is calling this match, and I highly doubt anyone besides Demon is calling a Demon match nowadays. Since his hands are tied with Demon himself, Thatcher resorts to playing to the crowd and in general being a complete goof. At one point he ties himself up into a pretzel so that Demon can sit on his back and flex. The idea is supposed to be that Demon did the tying, but essentially Demon stood there and put a hand on Thatcher a couple of times while Thatcher did all the pretzel work himself. Heeling away is Thatcher's modus operandi against Demon, and it makes a horrendously worked match from Demon somewhat watchable. Don't get me wrong, anytime they exchange holds the match is awful. When Thatcher is messing with the crowd and being the best coward he knows how to be, awfulness turns into fun pretty quickly.

Don't you have to hit someone so that it hurts in order for there to be fight? I'll be honest Joe, I find it very odd that you like Tanhashi so much. In every way he seems like the opposite of what you usually espouse in a pro wrestler. As for this match, your five star classic nets probably around a *1/2 from me. We're on different planets with this match my friend.

Only a few matches.

Watched his G1 2013 match versus Okada. I'm sorry guys, I'm really trying but Tanahashi just isn't very good at the pro wrestling. The same problems I listed earlier were present in this match, only now you can add in ridiculously bad choreographed counters, and a complete lack of selling on his part. Worst offense is that the match bored me to tears, probably the most boring match I've seen in some time.

National Wrestling Alliance Championship Wrestling from Hollywood: #76 (02-12-2012) Ricky Mandel & Timothy Thatcher vs. Hector Canales & Pinky A nothing match, with three guys who are really awful and Thatcher who does very little in the match. Only real takeaway from this one is that Thatcher didn't take the night off even though he could of. It would have been very easy for him to ease up on his facial expressions and just run through the motions. But, he doesn't, and watching him on the ring apron was far better than what the other guys were doing in the match. Some truly awful wrestling, from everyone but Thatcher that is, but not even he can do anything to save this match.