Grilling JR

[Petey]

On 4/12/2021 at 9:28 PM, SomethingSavage said:

JR's shows have felt like a slog the last few times I've checked in, but I gotta admit - there's something immensely enjoyable about hearing him cut scathing promos on technology and Twitter every now & then.

For me, I find that there's a pretty big difference in quality depending on the era. Whenever they cover something after JR left talent relations and his influence/interactions with Vince declined, I haven't really found there to be a lot of substance to the episodes. It's usually just JR giving his opinion on things but you don't really get too much from it. The NWA/WCW stuff can be hit or miss. I enjoy those episodes just because I don't listen to a lot of podcasts on the subject, so I'm not burnt out on it like Attitude Era/Nitro era stuff, but it's clearly not Conrad's strength in terms of knowledge, so again, you don't always get a ton out of them.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Take a drink every time JR starts a strawman argument with "some people". 
"I like stuffing more than mashed potatoes. Now SOME people are gonna use that as clickbait, ""Oh, JR hates Idaho. People from Idaho are assholes. Like I'd say that, blah blah PUSH!"

It's my only hate listen show. I'm all my years I've never really known an angry stoner, but that's JR.

[SomethingSavage]

JR is now the old guy who learns a new term and overuses it - often in the wrong context. Sometimes it can be amusing, but it's usually just awkward and out of place.

The show will still get a listen from me every now & then, depending on the topic. But I've found that JR's stuff has already hit the same problem I have had with Bruce for a long time - it's just retelling the same stories over & over, again & again.

If Triple H comes up, you're gonna get the anvil case contract story.

If it's Foley, you'll get the meeting with Vince.

If it's Cena, you're going to hear how JR discovered him and then Vince dismissed him by telling him to go home & shower.

Do we really need separate years of Cena profile pieces just to hear JR tell that same gem every time? It's repetitive. There's very little left in the way of personal anecdotes or anything, and that's a shame.

I guess it just feels like these guys often treat things like every episode is designed for brand new listeners. And so we often hear the same tales on repeat. It's one part of the reason why Conrad's formula grows very stale very quickly. Regardless of what paragraph he reads from the Observer, the host will only hear one or two names and then bust out their go-to story for that guy.

Then it's onto the next Observer result.

With all that being said, I am a little curious to find out if JR responded to Jarrett's debut episode at all. Not curious enough to listen to Jim retell his stories about drinking with Herd for the 15th time on that SuperBrawl episode, but curious enough to see if there's any rebuttal on the other side from Jeff this coming week.

[BigBadMick]

Isn’t all that partly on Conrad too, though? When Jim launches into a familiar rant he could stop the recording, tell him we’ve all heard this a few times before and push him for something new. 

[SomethingSavage]

Absolutely.

Conrad is actually a pretty terrible tour guide for these shows, to be honest. The guy has great chemistry with his co-hosts at times, but he rarely even capitalizes on that by dragging any decent stories out of them anymore.

Conrad's follow-through is lackluster, and he never really presses for any deeper answers anymore - the way he would early on with Bruce.

His go-to these days is either referring to a previous episode that covered something, or he'll put a pin in the discussion by saying they'll cover it at another time in the future. Either way, it dampens the discussion and cripples the flow of the conversation completely - leaving us with the same, tired, routine talking points and very little else.

[strobogo]

On 5/5/2021 at 12:13 AM, Johnny Sorrow said:

Take a drink every time JR starts a strawman argument with "some people". 
"I like stuffing more than mashed potatoes. Now SOME people are gonna use that as clickbait, ""Oh, JR hates Idaho. People from Idaho are assholes. Like I'd say that, blah blah PUSH!"

It's my only hate listen show. I'm all my years I've never really known an angry stoner, but that's JR.

JR was real bad about doing this on air for a while with AEW. Like any criticism of him online he'd do the "some people will say X" about that subject for the next 2 months on every show. But really he was doing that at least as far back as the Attitude Era when it came to Foley bumps or ladder match bumps.

[Loss]

One thing I struggle with on this is hearing JR be critical of stuff where he was conveying excitement when he actually called the match. I realize that's his job, but when he bashes something that he called with such emotion at the time, he loses credibility with me. I think it's harder for announcer to do a tell-all than a wrestler for this reason -- you don't want them telling you they were actually lying.

[strobogo]

I don't know why anyone would want to listen to old, jaded, bored, hateful JR talk about anything at this stage in his career. Guy can't even hide is disdain for 80% of what he calls on live TV every week.

[Petey]

I enjoyed this show more early in its run. However, it really has turned into JR complaining about how everything he says gets turned into "clickbait" and ranting about wrestlers complaining about their almighty "push". I know he doesn't care, but the show quickly turned into angry old man yelling at clouds. And when it comes to complaining about stuff getting turned into clickbait, it draws the biggest eye-roll from me. Stop being so sensitive and having rabbit ears about everything every random internet person says. The same goes for when JR rants about people saying he's washed up. He's like an older Kevin Durant.

[WingedEagle]

1 hour ago, Petey said:

I enjoyed this show more early in its run. However, it really has turned into JR complaining about how everything he says gets turned into "clickbait" and ranting about wrestlers complaining about their almighty "push". I know he doesn't care, but the show quickly turned into angry old man yelling at clouds. And when it comes to complaining about stuff getting turned into clickbait, it draws the biggest eye-roll from me. Stop being so sensitive and having rabbit ears about everything every random internet person says. The same goes for when JR rants about people saying he's washed up. He's like an older Kevin Durant.

Hey now, please do not besmirch the name of our lord and savior Kevin Durant.

[SomethingSavage]

Conrad's shows always start with a burst of energy and solid chemistry early on, before devolving into tired retreads. JR was great in those first five or six weeks, but it's become "name a guy, insert a story."

For Triple H, it's the anvil case. For Chyna, it's mocking her crying about Hunter. For Tazz, it's the Vince Russo stuff. For Cena, it's discovering him and Vince recommending a shower and some rest. And on & on.

I tried listening to an episode of Bruce's show at the gym this morning, and I just couldn't bare it. The opening was just an endless, unfunny skit about how Bruce is too busy for the podcast anymore.

I guess diehard fans of Bruce might find it cool that he's kept a sense of humor about it all, but I don't know. It's very WWE of him to troll his own listeners in such a mocking way. Really struck me as odd and off-putting. I don't think I've been able to get through a full episode since Hurricane Laura. Just don't see much reason to tune in for that stuff.

[Gertner]

His "live watch" episodes are unlistenable.

[Petey]

On 5/26/2021 at 5:20 PM, SomethingSavage said:

Conrad's shows always start with a burst of energy and solid chemistry early on, before devolving into tired retreads. JR was great in those first five or six weeks, but it's become "name a guy, insert a story."

For Triple H, it's the anvil case. For Chyna, it's mocking her crying about Hunter. For Tazz, it's the Vince Russo stuff. For Cena, it's discovering him and Vince recommending a shower and some rest. And on & on.

I tried listening to an episode of Bruce's show at the gym this morning, and I just couldn't bare it. The opening was just an endless, unfunny skit about how Bruce is too busy for the podcast anymore.

I guess diehard fans of Bruce might find it cool that he's kept a sense of humor about it all, but I don't know. It's very WWE of him to troll his own listeners in such a mocking way. Really struck me as odd and off-putting. I don't think I've been able to get through a full episode since Hurricane Laura. Just don't see much reason to tune in for that stuff.

I mentioned this in the STW thread, but I couldn't agree more. And this was regarding a show that was recorded a while ago (SummerSlam 1990). Not only is a significant portion of the show centered around Bruce being too busy and tired for the podcast, but now that he's back with WWE, he offers absolutely nothing of value. I used to enjoy when they covered pre-Attitude Era stuff because it felt like Bruce was more plugged in, and it involved people who were mostly not part of modern wrestling anymore, so Bruce was more open. But, unfortunately, that show, which was the one VHS tape I had as a kid and must have watched a zillion times growing up, was so poorly done and a waste of time that I completely quit the show.

[SomethingSavage]

Is there anyone on the current AEW roster that JR hasn't compared to Steve Austin? You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody.

In one episode, I know he mentioned Adam Page and Moxley to be "Schtone Coled like."

... No. Just no.

He followed up by comparing a Young Bucks tag match to the first Hell In A Cell between Taker and Michaels, and I promptly changed the episode to... Anything else.

[SomethingSavage]

Well, I enjoyed the hell out of last week's episode with Bischoff serving as host. Super easy listen. Eric stuck to some cues and notes as guide posts, but the conversation flowed naturally. Eric's line of questioning felt more like his own words than something totally prepared and prompted.

Eric drawing parallels and leading the discussion into a compare and contrast centered around McMahon, Watts, and Verne doesn't sound like something Bromwell would EVER ask. Conrad maybe, but unlikely.

But I think the real highlight was hearing about the mood and atmosphere of plane rides with Vince versus plane rides with Shane. Good stuff.

[Gertner]

Fantastic episode

[Johnny Sorrow]

If you want to hear Ross say over and over again how much he didn't care that Khan didn't have him call the second half of the Full Gear PPV, tune into this weeks episode on the British Bulldog. It's an incredible bit of passive aggressiveness. 

[El-P]

On 11/27/2022 at 1:55 AM, Johnny Sorrow said:

It's an incredible bit of passive aggressiveness. 

More than when he actually calls matches he doesn't understand ? I for one am glad to see JR phased down. He's got a drunken Gordon Solie in 1990 vibe. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

“Bah gawd, I wasn’t even mad. I was actually laughing!”

[Petey]

JR's had such a fascinating career, but listening to his podcast makes me wish he had Cornette's recall. Half the time it feels like he's giving his opinion on something that he has no recollection of occurring.

[SomethingSavage]

Was the Building Developmental episode any good? Certainly seems like a rich subject, but yeah. I could imagine JR just coasting through the talking points whereas Cornette's OVW Omnibus is super detailed and interesting.

[Johnny Sorrow]

10 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

Was the Building Developmental episode any good? Certainly seems like a rich subject, but yeah. I could imagine JR just coasting through the talking points whereas Cornette's OVW Omnibus is super detailed and interesting.

It's fine for a long drive and JR finding ways to wish death on Johnny Ace a few times.

[The Thread Killer]

So apparently the most recent episode of JR’s show ends up being a bit of an unexpected shock. The topic was supposed to be how JR broke into the business, but during the episode Jim Ross decided to basically spill the beans and name names…and he supposedly tells some harrowing tales about Mid South in the 70’s.

The episode apparently deals with racism and sexual assault, and it is so shocking that Conrad Thompson had to introduce the episode with a disclaimer.

I am listening to it right now, and I want to get through it, because rumour has it it might get pulled down due to the controversy.

They ended up calling the episode: “The Dark Side of Mid South.”

[Petey]

35 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

So apparently the most recent episode of JR’s show ends up being a bit of an unexpected shock. The topic was supposed to be how JR broke into the business, but during the episode Jim Ross decided to basically spill the beans and name names…and he supposedly tells some harrowing tales about Mid South in the 70’s.

The episode apparently deals with racism and sexual assault, and it is so shocking that Conrad Thompson had to introduce the episode with a disclaimer.

I am listening to it right now, and I want to get through it, because rumour has it it might get pulled down due to the controversy.

They ended up calling the episode: “The Dark Side of Mid South.”

I listened to it casually last week. It was better than the average episode since JR seemed to have better recall about that era than a lot of the Attitude Era stuff. I didn't find it to be overwhelmingly controversial, although again, I listened passively. I'd guess that it's more that Conrad was surprised at the nature of some of the content as opposed to it being so over the top. Granted, I also listen to Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru and I feel like he's talked about similar items, so perhaps it didn't faze me as much as it might someone else.

[Al]

I think all the stories are out there. Certainly Grizzly Smith, Sweetan, Murdoch's little adventure, etc. The interesting thing is the reaction. To Ross it's an indication of the people you have to deal with to get in the business and not a clue that you're in the wrong business, but that's tough to figure out when you're in your 20s and breaking into the business world. Conrad wonders if word got around among promoters about these sleezebags and all I can think is, "you naive fool."