Shoots Review and Preview thread

[El-P]

Has Kayfabe Commentary stopped producing ? I don't think there has been any new release in eons now. The era of podcasts truly ended the Shoot Interview business (not to mention all these free interviews on Youtube now, some really good stuff on Hannibal TV).

[Migs]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

Has Kayfabe Commentary stopped producing ? I don't think there has been any new release in eons now. The era of podcasts truly ended the Shoot Interview business (not to mention all these free interviews on Youtube now, some really good stuff on Hannibal TV).

I occasionally get emails from them about new releases, but they are much rarer than they used to be.

[rovert]

5 hours ago, El-P said:

Has Kayfabe Commentary stopped producing ? I don't think there has been any new release in eons now. The era of podcasts truly ended the Shoot Interview business (not to mention all these free interviews on Youtube now, some really good stuff on Hannibal TV).

A hiatus. DVD is a dead format and there are a million Wrestling podcasts/Youtube channels. Sean is looking for the next remotely lucrative business model.

[El-P]

4 hours ago, rovert said:

A hiatus. DVD is a dead format and there are a million Wrestling podcasts/Youtube channels. Sean is looking for the next remotely lucrative business model.

I wonder if he ever got proposition from any company. He sure seems like a guy that could be an asset.

[Migs]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

I wonder if he ever got proposition from any company. He sure seems like a guy that could be an asset.

He talks in his most recent book about pitching Impact on using his formats to try and get guys over in a different way, and getting turned down. I think he said this was in the 2010-11 range.

[BruiserBrody]

On 5/30/2019 at 7:06 PM, El-P said:

Has Kayfabe Commentary stopped producing ? I don't think there has been any new release in eons now. The era of podcasts truly ended the Shoot Interview business (not to mention all these free interviews on Youtube now, some really good stuff on Hannibal TV).

http://www.kayfabecommentaries.com/

KC is going all digital.  5 dollar DVD fire sale ongoing to eliminate stock.

[C.S.]

9 minutes ago, BruiserBrody said:

http://www.kayfabecommentaries.com/

KC is going all digital.  5 dollar DVD fire sale ongoing to eliminate stock.

Any recommendations? So much of this looks embarrassing and sleazy. 

[Migs]

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

Any recommendations? So much of this looks embarrassing and sleazy. 

The Timelines are usually pretty good, assuming the subject has a decent memory (i.e. you'll get much more out of a Cornette one than the Sandman).

[El-P]

Yeah, the Corny Timelines are great. Tully is terrific too. 

I'm sure some of the early stuff, especially some Youshoots, haven't aged well at all. Well, I guess Alberto's is good a for laugh or two, as he was played straight family man then.

 

[The Thread Killer]

14 hours ago, C.S. said:

Any recommendations? So much of this looks embarrassing and sleazy. 

When it comes to the Kayfabe Commentaries Shoot Interviews, I break them down into six types: 

1) Guys like Shane Douglas, RVD, and Jim Cornette who seem to legitimately enjoy talking about their careers or specific events, share details and insight and are eloquent, talented storytellers.

2) Guys like Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan, The Honkytonk Man, and Superstar Billy Graham.  These are guys who are good storytellers and like talking (especially about themselves) but they clearly have an agenda and telling anything close to the truth isn't on that agenda.  Their interviews might be interesting, but usually the bullshit meter will explode.

3) Guys like Sabu, Barry Windham, Bret Hart and King Kong Bundy.  These guys want to talk, but they are either ill at ease with the entire Shoot Interview concept and need the host to really pull answers out of them, or their memory isn't all that great so even though they want to talk, there's stuff they just don't remember.  The interviews will be interesting, but not so entertaining.

4) Guys like Hacksaw Duggan, Stan Hansen, Rikishi and Bob Orton.  They want to get paid for doing a Shoot Interview, they just don't want to actually do a Shoot Interview.  Some of these guys are old timers who can't seem to accept that Kayfabe is dead, or they don't want to bury anybody so they say basically nothing and are evasive and annoying as hell.

5) Complete assholes like New Jack, X-Pac, Brutus Beefcake, Marty Jannetty and The Sandman, who take money to do an interview and then show up "in no condition to perform."  Aside from Beefcake and Jannetty, I've seen these guys do good interviews, and bad. Depends on what substance is in their system at the time of the interview.  I don't know why these guys can't be more like The Iron Sheik - totally fucked up but incredibly entertaining at the same time.  These guys are just annoying, it's like hanging out with a drunk person when you're not drinking.

6) Complete assholes like Mike Graham and Greg Gagne who are clearly lying about stuff, stupid basic lies which could be easily disproved - and on top of that they aren't even entertaining about it.

I have not watched any full Shoot Interviews with Vince Russo or Sunny.  I've seen clips and that annoyed me so much, I can't even imagine watching an entire interview. The mere sound of Vince Russo's voice makes me cringe, never mind the ridiculous bullshit that voice is usually spouting.  So sorry, I can't comment on any of his numerous KC interviews.

Generally speaking, you can't go wrong with the "Back to the Territories" series, the ECW, WCW and WWE "Timeline" series, and the Breaking Kayfabe Series.  The "YouShoot" interviews can be interesting, but they are usually filled with more sleazy topics and a lot of the sex and drugs stuff. I'd avoid the "Guest Booker" series, those things are usually death.

The key to the success of these interviews is Sean Oliver.  He's an excellent interviewer, he knows when to ask questions, when to listen, when to follow up, when to let a guest ramble, and when to get them back on topic.  He's personable and very funny.  He's basically the exact opposite of Rob Feinstein, who just reads questions off a piece of paper and always sounds like a first year High School kid giving a report in front of his class.

I've seen a large number of the KC Shoots, here are my personal recommendations.  I'd grab any of the Highly Recommended and Good ones.  The Meh are okay, kind of your mileage may vary.  I'd avoid the Bad, and especially the "Avoid at all costs" category.  If I was you, of course.  Feel free to disagree.

 

Highly Recommended

ECW Timeline 92/93 with Tod Gordon

ECW Timeline 94 with Shane Douglas

ECW Timeline 99 with RVD (I was shocked at how eloquent and thoughtful RVD was, and how good his memory is, considering his drug use.)

WCW Timeline 89 with Jim Cornette

WCW Timeline 90 with Jim Cornette (Love Cornette or hate him, he is an amazing storyteller and he takes notes about every single thing that ever happens to him so his recall is incredible.  He actually has his Day Planners with him for these two Timeline shoots, he can say how much shows drew, attendance, payoffs, everything.)

WWE Timeline 63-69 with Bruno Sammartino

WWE Timeline 92 with Bret Hart (Bret is very laid back and low key, but he gives very detailed answers.)

WWE Timeline 97 with Jim Cornette (You need to see this for the Kevin Dunn story alone.)

Supercard - Wrestlemania 2 with King Kong Bundy (Bundy is HILARIOUS in this interview.  His memory is for shit, but I still loved this interview.)

Breaking Kayfabe with Jim Cornette

Breaking Kayfabe with Scott Levy (Raven)

Breaking Kayfabe with Troy Martin (Shane Douglas)

Breaking Kayfabe with Jerome Young (New Jack)

Breaking Kayfabe with Terry Brunk (Sabu)

YouShoot: ICP (I don't like ICP, but this is one of the funniest Shoot Interviews I have ever seen.  The ring rat stories, the Chris Benoit story and the Evan Karagis/Goldberg stories are all gold.)

YouShoot: RVD (This contains the famous "Pick a Hand" segment and RVD's killer Shawn Michaels impression.)

Back to the Territories: Houston with Bruce Prichard (Get Bruce talking about Houston and Paul Boesch and he's very entertaining, and there are some great stories in this interview.)

 

Good

ECW Timeline 96 with Raven

ECW Timeline 97 with Sabu

ECW Timeline 98 with New Jack

ECW Timeline 2000 with Justin Credible

WCW Timeline 91 with Barry Windham (Barry seems very shy and isn't much of a talker, but he's honest.)

WWE Timeline 84 with Roddy Piper (Poor Sean Oliver has to try and get Piper to realize that Kayfabe is dead, plus keep him on topic.  Very tough job.  This shoot is infamous for Piper's comments about Pat Patterson.)

WWE Timeline 85 with Greg Valentine

WWE Timeline 86 with George Steele

Supercard: Summerslam 88 with The Honky Tonk Man

Breaking Kayfabe with Kevin Nash (When he's talking about his personal life, there isn't as much obvious bullshit.)

Breaking Kayfabe with Lanny Poffo

YouShoot: Tod Gordon (This is good, but his ECW Timeline is much better.)

YouShoot: The Iron Sheik (I know I shouldn't have enjoyed this as much as I did, but I did.)

YouShoot: Lanny Poffo

YouShoot: New Jack (He's clearly drunk/high, but in a perversely entertaining way.)

YouShoot: Shane Douglas

YouShoot: 2 Cold Scorpio

Back to the Territories: Puerto Rico with Savio Vega

Back to the Territories: Amarillo with Terry Funk

Back to the Territories: Calgary with Lance Storm

Back to the Territories: Florida with Kevin Sullivan

Guest Booker with Dutch Mantell

 

Meh

WCW Timeline 96 with Kevin Sullivan (Sullivan is entertaining, but in my opinion he is notoriously full of shit and spends most of his time trying to pin his bad booking decisions on everybody other than him.  I really think he does these interviews as an attempt at image rehabilitation and to deflect blame for anything bad that happened in WCW creatively on other people.)

WCW Timeline 97 with Kevin Nash (Once again, great storyteller but Nash is ridiculously egotistical and totally full of shit.  This is a good watch if you aren't worried about facts getting in the way of a good story.)

WWE Timeline 87 with The Honkytonk Man (Same deal, he is entertaining but you can't believe much of what he says.)

WWE Timeline 95 with Kevin Nash (See my comments about WCW 97 Timeline.)

Breaking Kayfabe with Sean Waltman (at least he's not visibly stoned in this interview, unlike his YouShoot.)

Breaking Kayfabe with Francine

Breaking Kayfabe with Teddy Annis (Teddy Hart)

YouShoot: Scott Hall (this is after he sobered up.)

YouShoot: Kevin Nash

YouShoot: Al Snow (Al is a good interview, but some of his opinions are just plain odd.  Not to mention, he gives the impression that he thinks he's smarter than...everybody.)

YouShoot: Jim Cornette (Not bad, but his "Timeline" interviews are his strong point.)

YouShoot: DDP

YouShoot: Sabu (Sabu still wasn't comfortable doing Shoot Interviews at this point.  The ECW Timeline and Breaking Kayfabe interviews are much better.)

YouShoot: Ken Anderson

Back to the Territories: All Japan with Stan Hansen (I was really disappointed with this interview.  It was interesting and good at times but it could have been so much better if Stan Hansen would have actually been willing to give something even closely resembling details during most of his stories.)

Back to the Territories: Georgia with The Masked Superstar (Equal parts informative and boring.)

Back to the Territories: Indianapolis with Baron Von Raschke

 

Bad

WWE Timeline 78/79 with Superstar Billy Graham

WWE Timeline 80 with Larry Zbysko

WWE Timeline 81 with Rick Martel (Martel seems like a nice guy, but this was SO. BORING.)

WWE Timeline 83 with Don Muraco (See above, but add the fact that Muraco's memory is spotty at best.)

WWE Timeline 90 with Bruce Prichard (Basically a bad episode of STW hosted by Sean Oliver.)

WWE Timeline 2001 with Ivory

Supercard - Royal Rumble 88 with Hacksaw Duggan

Supercard - Wrestlemania with Bob Orton

YouShoot: Sean Waltman (Poor Sean is clearly fucked up during this interview.)

YouShoot: The Honkytonk Man (Honky is in pure asshole mode during this interview, sometimes it's interesting - mostly it isn't. He did two YouShoots, based on this one I skipped the second.)

YouShoot: Perry Saturn (I don't think poor Perry was the sharpest knife in the drawer BEFORE he fried his brain with drugs.  Now it's kind of sad.)

YouShoot: Shane Helms (Shane is one of those guys who just doesn't want to say anything bad about anybody, which makes him a nice guy but an annoying interview.)

YouShoot: Balls Mahoney (Please see my comments above about Perry Saturn.)

YouShoot: Alberto El Patron (I'll say this about Alberto, at least he seems quite impressed with himself.)

Back to the Territories: Mid-Atlantic with J.J. Dillon

Guest Booker with Al Snow (See my above comments regarding Al Snow.  He's obnoxious and oblivious.  Having said that, he's not stupid.)

 

Avoid at all costs

ECW Timeline 95 with The Sandman (this is a total trainwreck, he's clearly high/drunk, slurring his words and can't remember anything of significance)

WWE Timeline 88 with Hacksaw Duggan (just like with every other Duggan "shoot" he wants to get paid for the interview but doesn't actually want to say anything of any consequence about anybody or anything - plus he's a boring interview to boot.)

WWE Timeline 2000 with Rikishi (This is one of the worst "shoots" I've ever seen.  This should have been called "a trip to the dentist" because getting an actual answer or entertaining story out of Rikishi is like pulling teeth - and then afterwards you're in pain.)

Breaking Kayfabe with Mary Jannetty (he is FUCKED UP on something during this interview.)

YouShoot: Dixie Carter (Avoid this unless you want firsthand evidence of how stupid this woman really is.)

YouShoot: Danny Doring (aka: "An obnoxious, obviously jealous total nobody spends over an hour burying everybody he ever met.")

YouShoot: Rikishi

YouShoot: Vampiro

YouShoot: Manny Fernandez (Manny might just be tied with Greg Gagne for the most bullshit ever that could easily be disproved, in the history of Shoot Interviews.  Keep in mind this is a guy who claimed for years to be a Viet Nam Vet.  He is not.)

Back to the Territories: Mid South with Jim Duggan (Even Jim Cornette can't make Duggan give an interesting or informative interview.)

Back to the Territories: AWA with Greg Gagne

Guest Booker with Kevin Nash (Watch this if you want to hear Nash try and explain how you could basically run an entire organization, just using members of the Kliq! This is Nash at his most delusional.)

Guest Booker with Greg Gagne

Guest Booker with Mike Graham (Graham might be one of the most deluded, obnoxious and unpleasant interviews I have ever seen.  Never before has a man who thought so highly of himself actually accomplished so little. This might be my least favorite Shoot Interview that I've ever seen.)

[clintthecrippler]

Not listed in the above breakdown but I would put WWF Timeline 1994 with Sean Waltman in the Highly Recommended grouping. Lots of good stories and it's from around the time when Waltman was coming out of the fog so he is alert and engaged the entire time. 

[sek69]

ICP are always great. No matter if you like their music, Violent J in particular is a great interview, really smart guy, and funny as hell. Not to mention they "get" wrestling more than most of the people in the business. 

[The Thread Killer]

6 hours ago, clintthecrippler said:

Not listed in the above breakdown but I would put WWF Timeline 1994 with Sean Waltman in the Highly Recommended grouping. Lots of good stories and it's from around the time when Waltman was coming out of the fog so he is alert and engaged the entire time. 

Thanks for the heads up.  I've not seen that particular interview.  After seeing Waltman's YouShoot I tended to avoid any other interviews he did because of his obvious substance abuse problems.  I found his YouShoot to be kind of sad to watch.  I love the "Breaking Kayfabe" series so I watched that and was glad to see he was cleaned up.  If he is straight for the WWE Timeline Shoot, I will check it out. Although I didn't have a lot of time for Sean Waltman as a Pro Wrestler, he seems like a decent guy and a good interview when not battling his demons.

6 hours ago, sek69 said:

ICP are always great. No matter if you like their music, Violent J in particular is a great interview, really smart guy, and funny as hell. Not to mention they "get" wrestling more than most of the people in the business. 

I was totally shocked at how much I liked their YouShoot.  I didn't realize they had been trained as Pro Wrestlers before getting into music.  They are great interviews, and SO damn funny. The "What a Dick" segment of their YouShoot alone is worth the price, never mind the other stories I mentioned.  That might be the funniest Shoot Interview I ever saw.

[El-P]

I pretty much agree with most of the selection here. I do think Duggan is actually a pretty good guest, he's easy going and tells some good stories. I enjoy Sullivan and Nash too (although the later is amazingly full of shit). The Windham Timeline to me was a complete bore and waste of time. And the Francine episode of Breaking Kayfabe I thought was excellent, I love that girl, she seems so adorable for real.

I would not recommend any shoot interview involving Sunny.

 

[CarpetCrawler]

15 hours ago, clintthecrippler said:

Not listed in the above breakdown but I would put WWF Timeline 1994 with Sean Waltman in the Highly Recommended grouping. Lots of good stories and it's from around the time when Waltman was coming out of the fog so he is alert and engaged the entire time. 

100% I cosign here.  Waltman's great in this shoot, big time highlights being his Hall of Fame story and his brutal, brutal honesty with having to wrestle Nikolai Volkoff during the house shows.

@The Thread Killer your list of what to recommend and not recommend is essentially spot on.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun Greg Valentine's 1985 timeline was, especially surprised at hearing he was completely down with the Rock'n'Wrestling idea and that he was already a fan of Cyndi's music at that point.  I was completely expecting his to be as disappointing as Bob Orton's Supercard one (MAN I am so bummed I spent actual money on that one) and came out of it liking it a lot.

Muraco's Timeline would've really benefited from being done later on when Sean's interview style got better and the production values got better.

[The Thread Killer]

On 5/30/2019 at 8:06 PM, El-P said:

Has Kayfabe Commentary stopped producing ? I don't think there has been any new release in eons now. The era of podcasts truly ended the Shoot Interview business (not to mention all these free interviews on Youtube now, some really good stuff on Hannibal TV).

As mentioned above, Kayfabe Commentaries is stopping DVD production, they have started a streaming service and Sean Oliver now has a podcast.

[flyonthewall2983]

The Jim Brunzell RF shoot is pretty good. Some good AWA stories, Barnett calling him "Jimmzy", and how him and Vince didn't really get along at all throughout his whole run. 

[BruiserBrody]

On 4/7/2020 at 7:20 PM, flyonthewall2983 said:

The Jim Brunzell RF shoot is pretty good. Some good AWA stories, Barnett calling him "Jimmzy", and how him and Vince didn't really get along at all throughout his whole run. 

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/shoot-interviews-reviewed-jim-brunzel/

My review from 7(!) years ago for those interested. 

[flyonthewall2983]

 

[C.S.]

On 4/12/2020 at 12:33 PM, BruiserBrody said:

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/shoot-interviews-reviewed-jim-brunzel/

My review from 7(!) years ago for those interested. 

"Brunzell faded into retirement in the mid 90’s and is now selling toilet paper in Minnesota."

If he's still doing this, I imagine he has suddenly become a lot richer and more successful.

[flyonthewall2983]

(paraphrasing) Bill Watts: ...this was around the time JFK was killed and the territory just went into the toilet

(actual response) RF: What year was that?

[BruiserBrody]

 

My co-worker Frank Hill/Jules Strongbow/Chief Running Hill/Francis Huntington was interviewed today. 

[BruiserBrody]

I listened to the Renee podcast with Flair.
Flair says he was recently so hammered he wasn't allowed on a plane. He also paid to keep a bar open so Renee/Moxley and himself could keep drinking. The night ended with him falling in his hotel room in a drunken haze.
Flair's wants to keep bumping and is annoyed WWE wouldn't let him do anything other than stand in the ring.
Flair's doc cleared him to bump. He has a pacemaker but the doctor told him the longer he has it in that the more the muscle grows around it and keeps it locked in place.
Flair's ex-wife Tiffany watched a show on the History channel and became convinced Flair had "the gene" that prevents him from getting AIDS and STDs.
Flair has his own wine coming out in October.
Ric does his usual spiel about not being able to tell all the 4 Horsemen sex stories because Arn is still married, as if Arn's wife wouldn't be able to read between the lines of a comment like that.
Flair laughs at the "Plane Ride from Hell" and is ready to come back on the pod and clear his name.
Tony Khan texted Flair and said he was going to "Naitch" it up for his birthday a few years ago. Khan blew 8 grand. So the next 3 years Tony sent Flair 8 grand to celebrate instead.

---

Lawler did a pod on the Plane ride a few years ago too:

 

Lawler's take starts around 28 min mark.

- Lawler was sober as he doesn't touch alcohol.
- He says JR was drunk early in the ride, so he lost control of the situation.
- Jerry Brisco was also drunk and trying to kiss everyone as a happy drunk.
- HHH and Finlay broke up the Brock/Hennig fight.
- As expected Lawler laughs as he talks about Dustin's singing and spittin' stories and Flair's naked adventures ("Ric was just having a good time, jeez")
- Lawler doesn't recall Linda being on the plane so he can't confirm that Hayes almost pissed on her. Lawler says Hayes was ready to fight Brisco as he thought Brisco had cut his pony tail.

 

[El-P]

2 hours ago, BruiserBrody said:

- He says JR was drunk early in the ride, so he lost control of the situation.

Well, if that's true, it's another crappy tidbit about our friend JR.

I guess the flight attendants were too old to get any attention from The King though, so there's that...

[Alucard]

Great to see this resurrected with almost a mini-shoot review !