PTB Episode 269: PTBN Summit - Spring of 2001

[Bigelow34]

In this new episode of the PTB Podcast, Scott and Justin welcome in Scott Keith, Matt Peddycord and Will H to talk about the Spring of 2001 in the world of pro wrestling. The boys chat about the death of WCW and ECW, WrestleMania X-7, Paul Heyman replacing Jerry Lawler, the greatest PPV trilogies of all time, Vince McMahon's business decisions plus much, much more.

 

So fire up this action packed episode and join Scott, Justin, Matt, Will and Scott because it is time for another edition of the PTB Podcast!

 

http://placetobenation.com/place-to-be-pod...he-spring-2001/

 

Check out more from the Place to Be Podcast right here at Place to Be Nation including interviews with Kevin Kelly, J.J. Dillon, Scott Keith, Christopher Robin Zimmerman, Christopher Daniels, Brian Shields, Gary Michael Cappetta, Scott Hudson, Bruno Lauer, Stevie Richards, Eddie Edwards and many, many more.

 

Also, the PTB Podcast is now available on the Stitcher Radio app! Visit www.stitcher.com for more information!

 

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@Place2BeNation

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Excellent episode, guys.

[Bigelow34]

Excellent episode, guys.

Thank you! Appreciate it.

[JerryvonKramer]

This show was really really good, actually a contender for best episode of PTB ever, you guys are on a hot run at the moment.

 

Will was fantastic on this episode, very incisive and brought up a lot of good points. But Scott and Justin have somehow managed to get the best stuff out of Scott Keith in over a decade. He was great on this show and funny! Him and Peddycord were actually my own "go to" guys back in the day -- I used to cross check Keith's WCW reviews with Peddycord's, so to hear them both on the same show is something. Thought Justin raised some really interesting points throughout and held things together in the chair.

 

I do have a little tidbit regarding the Bagwell story that Keith brought up: it's actually a point raised by Meltzer back in 1990, but I assume the ruling never changed. Basically, in WWF the house rule was that no one acknowledges the camera or the existence of the camera ever. Think about it for a moment ... when did guys in WWF ever look down the barrel of the camera on the way to the ring? It was one of the things Vince always insisted on, he didn't like it. In WCW, they were allowed to play to the camera and it's easy to think of guys doing that every week on Nitro. I think Chad and I talked about this with Loss on a show before (my memory is shot so don't ask me which one).

 

What I think happened in that moment at the Gorilla position is that the agent was reminding / telling Bagwell "do not mug for the camera". Not a change in the booking, but an enforcement of a house rule. Bagwell has spun that later as them trying to fuck him. I'm about 90% certain that's how it would have gone down and why.

[Bigelow34]

Thanks, JVK, much appreciated. It was a lot of fun to do and I really loved the flow.

 

Interesting stuff about Buff, you couldn't tell he definitely looked lost out there.

[The Chief]

WCW wrestlers in general talked to the camera as part of their act (those long Harlem Heat rants come to mind) but Bagwell did it non-stop. Watch the 1997 War Games for a good example. I can see how he would be lost in WWE.

[bradhindsight]

I'm siding with the WWE on this Bagwell stuff. Buff planned a match for 30 minutes that was completely scrapped because he couldn't posture to the camera? So just do it to the crowd in the arena instead. How hard of an audible is that? I'm not wrestler but what the heck did he have planned for the actual wrestling that was so flipped by this that it turned into such a shit show?

[bradhindsight]

I thought Will and Scott Keith were great guests here and Justin and Scott let them showcase their stuff while steering the conversation very well.

 

Will brought some fresh ideas (to me) around the end of WCW and how poorly they executed the seeds of the Invasion. They could have kept WCW at the top of mind of those now-missing viewers with the DDP idea although I think the big obstacle to that was that the WWF was actively trying to find a spot for a separate brand at the same time - including having tapings scheduled for a strictly-WCW show. The whole invasion thing would have been different had they secured that Friday 11pm timeslot on TNN.