What Happened When with Tony Schiavone

[Victator]

That is good to hear at least.

[Bix]

I dunno, with Nikita *knowing Mandy had cancer when he married her* and Tony presumably knowing that, the attempt at a joke makes even less sense and feels even more fucked up to me.

[Victator]

I dunno, with Nikita *knowing Mandy had cancer when he married her* and Tony presumably knowing that, the attempt at a joke makes even less sense and feels even more fucked up to me.

I mean on Conrad's end. I'm done with Tony.

[Migs]

I did think the Slamboree 1998 show had some interesting backstage talk about the office machinations at the time. A much better episode than the Saturday Night one, which was a nadir show for the podcast, I think.

[BrianB]

Yeah, I still enjoy this show, though it's certainly not for everyone and it is kind of show dependent.

 

I think it's fair to wonder how much this board's favorite The Lapsed Fan has influenced WHW, given the recent crossover (Conrad appearing on their latest ep and announcing they'll be at Starrcast). While Tony and Conrad's humor direction feels natural for the both of them, there's a kind of kinship to the two that hard to overlook (and fits with how JP enjoys Tony's pod more than Bruce's). It's been more noticeable, imo, in particular since WHW ditched the Prichard type format and steered even more into entertainment and jokes while still keeping informative things in there. And I don't know the numbers WHW does, but it does seem like they've pivoted more towards maintaining and monetizing a passionate core audience, which is also in line with TLF.

[BigBadMick]

Query -

 

I'm a big fan of Slamboree 93 (one of the first tapes I ordered way back when). Do they pay much attention to events onscreen in this episode?

[El-P]

After weeks of lay off, I tried the Nitro episode where Hall made his debut. They spend 15 minutes talking about Patreons and shit. Then 2 minutes into the show, Conrad mentions he owns that pink Flair robe. Ok, I'm out. It was really fun for a while, but I don't find enough material worth listening to at this point.

[brocklock]

I dropped it a few months ago. It feels like a shitty shock jock radio show or something and the MST 3000 format doesn't work for me.

[Cox]

Hearing Conrad and Tony discuss the Scenic City Invitational and Nick Gage on this week’s show was surreal. 

[SomethingSavage]

I gave up on this show awhile back when it first became a shitty watch-along comedy routine, but I was urged to give it another chance by a friend. So I gave the two ECW episodes a listen, and I was actually pleasantly surprised.

There's such joy in Tony's voice at the times you can tell he's genuinely surprised or caught off-guard by something. It's like listening to someone becoming a new fan of something they've just discovered for the first time, and that's awesome.

There are some solid laughs along the way, too.

I still have no real interest in following every week or anything, but I'd be willing to listen to any other ECW shows they cover in the future.

[El-P]

Well, apart from Madusa being cool as hell (singing "Happy birthay Mr. Schiavone", showing how to "ride bitch" and being a good sport despite the fact she really wasn't aware of the content of the show), the Starrcast edition was kind of a mess, honestly. Barb did tell the context of the infamous "Tommy Young !" gimmick. Scott Steiner cut an offensive promo to close the show (calling Trip & Steph "cunts", among other things !). And really, watching Conrad basically bothered more by his phone than the show really made him look like a douchebag to me.

[SomethingSavage]

Can't believe I'm even about to say this, but the actual podcast itself has *kind of* turned a corner for me.

I initially found it boring. Then they ditched the original concept & became Mystery Science Theater with unfunny dick jokes & forced laughter. So I tuned out.

But, at the urging of a friend, I checked out the two ECW episodes. Then SummerSlam '89. And now Spring Stampede '99, which honestly had me cracking up at several points.

When they're not trying too hard to be funny, it was great. Conrad has eased up on some of his more annoying tendencies, and Tony is a blast (seemingly without fully realizing it) when he's oblivious & just being himself.

It's still far from a priority, but I'm on board for this podcast again whenever the material is slightly interesting. I wish they'd continue to watch more outside the box type stuff.

[BruiserBrody]

Tony relating the Bill Watts pissing off the edge of Turner Towers reminded me of one of my favorite stories from my father:

He grew up in the boonies of 1950s Wisconsin, without even indoor plumbing, so one winter night he and his cousin decided it was too cold to tromp through the snow to pee. They cracked open their bedroom window and peed out it. FFWD to the morning and my Dad's grandma was prepping breakfast, only to  notice the odd tint of the ice on the kitchen window. She put two and two together and whipped their asses. 

--

Tony and Conrad tackle gun control and racism along the way.  Conrad gets worked up over Tony defending the term "Pearl Harbor job" to describe a sneak attack.  The gun control bit comes from talk of Watts packing heat while negotiating with talent. 

[El-P]

I tried to watch a Nitro 00 watchover just for the heck of it. I didn't get past the first match. The main issue being that real-life Conrad Thompson talking about the stupid shit he does with his friends is fucking unbearable. He really comes off like someone I wouldn't want to spend more than 30 seconds of my life. The whole "I own this robe" stuff was obnoxious enough...

Well, I'm glad Tony is announcing MLW, if anything.

[SomethingSavage]

I tried listening to some of the recent stuff. The December to Dismember one wasn't too terrible, but yeah. The rest are the dirt worst. Conrad is constantly talking about the silly shit he collects and his friends' dicks. Or balls. Or turd jokes.

Conrad is kind of a 40-year old frat boy with sub-Scott Keith-level opinions about wrestling on this show. It's pretty fucking awful, to be honest. And Tony's occasional quip isn't enough to lift it to a tolerable level for me - not with any regularity, at least.

Oh. I did crack up at Tony randomly gushing some love for his favorite Beastie Boys tracks though. Wasn't expecting that.

[Strummer]

Listened to some of the Mean Gene Show.  Have to admit the story of Tony, Jimmy Hart and Gene jamming out to N'SYNC in 1999 on a car ride got a legit LOL from me

[El-P]

I got a kick out of Tony and Gene calling each other "gimmick". This was an excellent tribute show, it's too bad the podcast can't come back to that formula. The audio clips were excellent, the Flair stuff derailed the thing a bit at the end but still, another really cool podcast to honor Mean Gene.

[Petey]

On 12/27/2018 at 10:43 AM, SomethingSavage said:

I tried listening to some of the recent stuff. The December to Dismember one wasn't too terrible, but yeah. The rest are the dirt worst. Conrad is constantly talking about the silly shit he collects and his friends' dicks. Or balls. Or turd jokes.

Conrad is kind of a 40-year old frat boy with sub-Scott Keith-level opinions about wrestling on this show. It's pretty fucking awful, to be honest. And Tony's occasional quip isn't enough to lift it to a tolerable level for me - not with any regularity, at least.

Oh. I did crack up at Tony randomly gushing some love for his favorite Beastie Boys tracks though. Wasn't expecting that.

I think you nailed it right there. The biggest problem with Conrad is his extremely limited knowledge of pro wrestling unless it's WWF/WCW/ECW and as someone who listens to all 3 of his podcasts as well as the Jim Cornette podcasts, the knowledge difference between Conrad and Brian Last is really glaring.

[BruiserBrody]

I have a log jam of these on the backburner, this lead to an amusing little moment recently. In the Starrcade 92 ep, Tony complains that he doesn't have sponsors like Bish and Brother Love. FFWD to a ep from a the Fall of 2018 and Conrad has him do a Blue Chew plug. Tony won't play along with Conrad and tell a sex story like the one's Eric makes up. The next episode...no Blue Chew ad.... 

 

 

[SomethingSavage]

Which episode was it with Tony constantly playing with the doll that makes fart noises/jokes? That was possibly the worst podcast I've ever heard. From any genre. Anywhere.

Survivor Series 96 was alright though. Nothing extraordinary, but Conrad played everything mostly straight for a change. There were a few sidebars so he could humble brag about knowing Tony Khan or hanging with Meltzer, but things mostly remained on topic.

I've said it before, but I'm completely convinced now. Only the non-WCW/JCP shows are worth checking out. Tony seems to express genuine joy in experiencing some of these ECW/WWF shows for the first time. That translates and usually keeps them talking about these actual events.

Anything WCW or JCP related quickly devolves into dick and balls talk, shitty shilling, or humble bragging about buying some dudes shoes & underwear.

[BruiserBrody]

This week's Clash ep is worth it for around the 55 min mark where Conrad tells of how he and Bruce had recently been to a Colorado show where their ride was a former indy geek who was a "dick dancer". The driver got drunk later on and proceeded to tell them about how he sexual dominated an old man after the dude offered him enough money. 

/Wrasslin! 

[SomethingSavage]

I dug the Survivor Series '96 episode awhile back, so I thought I'd check out the Mania X8 offering. It was actually another enjoyable listen. Like I said before, the show seems to be MUCH more tolerable when they do these shows unrelated to JCP or WCW.

Conrad is still in wannabe comedian mode for the most part, but he's sort of forced into acting as the tour guide and the host a bit as well. Tony tackles things with a total openness and willingness to immerse himself in the shows too, which helps a lot.

There are few things as fun as hearing Tony being swept up in a good wrestling match. His reactions during the Flair/Taker match are pure joy.

Man. I feel like I've heard that Rock promo at least two dozen times in my life, but holy shit. When he hits that go-home stretch and delivers that "Good God Almighty..." line?

Goosebumps. Instant. Literal. Goosebumps. Simply amazing when you get a FEELING off a piece of audio like that.

I generally find Conrad's sense of humor unfunny about 70-80% of the time, but yeah. I'll give it to him. He cracked me up with the shot at Kane. Something to the effect of...

"Can you believe it? We're getting paid for this. Like, we're getting paid to watch a Kane match.

... Which is certainly the best way to watch a Kane match, really. My apologies to everyone out there who ISN'T getting paid to watch Kane matches."

Tremendous.

[SomethingSavage]

I normally don't care for his frat boy humor, but Conrad got me a few times on the Mania X7 episode.

The "This is the greatest night in the history of my great shorts!" line popped me.

[The Thread Killer]

On 8/13/2018 at 4:50 PM, SomethingSavage said:

I gave up on this show awhile back when it first became a shitty watch-along comedy routine, but I was urged to give it another chance by a friend. So I gave the two ECW episodes a listen, and I was actually pleasantly surprised.

There's such joy in Tony's voice at the times you can tell he's genuinely surprised or caught off-guard by something. It's like listening to someone becoming a new fan of something they've just discovered for the first time, and that's awesome.

There are some solid laughs along the way, too.

I still have no real interest in following every week or anything, but I'd be willing to listen to any other ECW shows they cover in the future.

 

On 9/1/2018 at 6:54 PM, SomethingSavage said:

Can't believe I'm even about to say this, but the actual podcast itself has *kind of* turned a corner for me.

I initially found it boring. Then they ditched the original concept & became Mystery Science Theater with unfunny dick jokes & forced laughter. So I tuned out.

But, at the urging of a friend, I checked out the two ECW episodes. Then SummerSlam '89. And now Spring Stampede '99, which honestly had me cracking up at several points.

When they're not trying too hard to be funny, it was great. Conrad has eased up on some of his more annoying tendencies, and Tony is a blast (seemingly without fully realizing it) when he's oblivious & just being himself.

It's still far from a priority, but I'm on board for this podcast again whenever the material is slightly interesting. I wish they'd continue to watch more outside the box type stuff.

I got bored and decided to watch some old ECW on the WWE Network.  I remembered these posts from @SomethingSavage (who I miss seeing around here, by the way) so just for shits and giggles, I decided to watch the ECW PPV's in "watch along" form with What Happened When.  I have been pleasantly surprised so far.  I think you guys kind of hit the nail on the head earlier in this thread.  It's pretty obvious that Tony has no interest in watching old shit that he has already seen or was directly involved in.  It clearly bores him, which leads to nothing but stupid jokes.  But it has been really fun listening to Conrad introduce him to ECW, give him some of the background information, and hearing Tony mark out for it like a new fan.  His enjoyment of Heat Wave 98 seemed totally sincere, and it was fun re-watching that show (which I had previously seen several times) in this context.  I think the whole format of Conrad and Tony watching stuff Tony has never seen before is actually a good fit for this show.  I know I am very late to the party on this (I'm almost two years behind) but I am going to continue to do the ECW watch-along episodes.  As long as there are no Casio Kid appearances. 

[SomethingSavage]

I'm still around. I can't remember why I stopped logging in and posting. But eventually, life priorities just took over. And now I've been working an insane schedule for about 6 weeks due to the virus. I'm an essential, y'all. 

Anyway, I randomly thought to swing through and see what y'all have thought about any of the more recent podcasts, and I saw your post. Just wanted to say I appreciate the shout-out and hope all is well with you & yours, man.