The Wade Keller Appreciation Thread

[Bix]

Link?

Herb told me when I mentioned the Keller/Jericho jokes and the believed rationale to him.

[kjh]

BREAKING NEWS:

 

Apparently Sean Waltman has always thought Jericho was awesome.

Of course, what Sean told Dave and what he told Wade could be two completely different things.

[Bix]

BREAKING NEWS:

 

Apparently Sean Waltman has always thought Jericho was awesome.

Of course, what Sean told Dave and what he told Wade could be two completely different things.

 

That is true, but I don't see the reason for it.

[kjh]

Damn you Bix, you intrigued me enough to resub to the Torch for a month! Looking at Sean's Torch Talk with Wade in 2002 it's pretty clear that though he thought Jericho was a "fantastic talent", he was clearly burying Jericho to Wade on his arrival to the WWF. In the interview, he takes credit for helping teach Jericho how to wrestle "main event style". Wade even takes a not very subtle shot at Dave in one of his questions (What do you say "to the wrestling reporters who didn't get it and kept saying it was all politics holding Jericho back"?)

 

Lesson to Bix, trust your instincts, don't let Dave blow smoke up your ass.

[Bix]

Damn you Bix, you intrigued me enough to resub to the Torch for a month! Looking at Sean's Torch Talk with Wade in 2002 it's pretty clear that though he thought Jericho was a "fantastic talent", he was clearly burying Jericho to Wade on his arrival to the WWF. In the interview, he takes credit for helping teach Jericho how to wrestle "main event style". Wade even takes a not very subtle shot at Dave in one of his questions (What do you say "to the wrestling reporters who didn't get it and kept saying it was all politics holding Jericho back"?)

 

Lesson to Bix, trust your instincts, don't let Dave blow smoke up your ass

Oh Keith

 

I'm guessing he himself never heard anything like that from Waltman but yeah that makes sense.

[Guest Dave]

Storm had advised Derek Jeter (the OVW wrestler, not the baseball player) not to abide by the ruling of the backstage "Wrestlers Court".

Says a lot for Keller's "journalism" when he thinks there's a wrestler called Derek Jeter, I mean how hard is it to check someone's first name?

[kjh]

Not Wade Keller, but his assistant editor James Caldwell, annoyingly compares pro wrestling to another entertainment genre: Best pro wrestling booking on Sunday night was on MTV, not on WWE PPV.

[Bix]

I don't even get the analogy...is he saying that the MTV awards stuff was a work? That Kanye went into business for himself to build a money drawing angle based around him as top heel? That he had an interest in Beyonce passing the torch as top babyface to Swift?

 

Also:

The best booking on Sunday night was on MTV, not on WWE PPV for a submission-themed PPV where there were exactly two submissions match.

Yeah, dude. Totally.

[Loss]

I'm surprised that Eric Bischoff agreed to be interviewed by Wade Keller. I thought they hated each other.

[Jingus]

The best booking on Sunday night was on MTV, not on WWE PPV for a submission-themed PPV where there were exactly two submissions match.

Yeah, dude. Totally.

 

Exactly! ...except there were three of 'em. Not that I've come to expect impeccable fact-checking from wrestling journalists, but still, that one's particularly glaring.

 

Hell, considering regular journalists' alarming record of frequent errors, it really says something that the smark reporters are even worse than average. Pro wrestling journalism: the damp, smelly, silverfish-infested basement of the news media.

[Bix]

At least the sense of entitlement and righteous indignation from older newsletter days is mostly gone (ROH fans still had it a little bit, but thankfully ROH is dying), from Dave Meltzer wishing death on Andre & Studd because their workrate is inferior to Steve Sims saying that he doesn't care that Bobby Eaton has a family to support and should've quit WCW w/ Lane and Eaton to Mark Madden's column after Herd fired Flair where he's all "I GUESS YOU DON'T VALUE HARD WORK AND DEDICATION!" while calling Dusty fat several times.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

When did Meltzer wish death on anyone?

[rovert]

On the topic of the Torch during the Monday Night Wars Era would a geniune case be made that the Torch was better and that it broke more stories than the Observer? I know the whole Fusient deal is a rod you guys like to whip Dave with but besides that.

[Bix]

When did Meltzer wish death on anyone?

There's an '85 Observer where he wishes death on Andre and Studd because they're having such bad matches.

[1004Holds]

When did Meltzer wish death on anyone?

There's an '85 Observer where he wishes death on Andre and Studd because they're having such bad matches.

 

Who needs a newsletter? The Internet is the perfect place to engage in fan entitlement.

[kjh]

I'm surprised that Eric Bischoff agreed to be interviewed by Wade Keller. I thought they hated each other.

Like most carny promoters Bischoff hates the dirtsheet writers until they become useful to him. I think he's irked about how his revolutionary contributions to the business have been marginalized over the years through WWE DVDs like The Rise and Fall of WCW and Bryan Alvarez's book The Death of WCW. Being interviewed by Wade allows him to get his side of the story out there. I also think most of Bischoff's heat with the Torch would be with Bruce Mitchell, not Wade Keller.

[Bix]

On that note, the Mitchell-Bischoff lawsuit settlement is one I'd really love to hear more about.

 

For those unfamiliar with the story: Mitchell wrote something, Bischoff made a reference to Mitchell, who's a school teacher, "graduating from the Jim Thompson school of journalism" (in the same tone/cadence as "the Terry Garvin school of self defense") shortly after Thompson (who wrote a wrestling newspaper column as "M.L. Curly") was outed as having molested children for the previous 30 years. Mitchell sued, Bischoff and/or WCW settled for a decent sum.

[rovert]

On that note, the Mitchell-Bischoff lawsuit settlement is one I'd really love to hear more about.

 

For those unfamiliar with the story: Mitchell wrote something, Bischoff made a reference to Mitchell, who's a school teacher, "graduating from the Jim Thompson school of journalism" (in the same tone/cadence as "the Terry Garvin school of self defense") shortly after Thompson (who wrote a wrestling newspaper column as "M.L. Curly") was outed as having molested children for the previous 30 years. Mitchell sued, Bischoff and/or WCW settled for a decent sum.

I only knew that story from your Eyada phone call Bix but I never knew Mitchell actually sued. When and where did Eric say that?

[Bix]

On that note, the Mitchell-Bischoff lawsuit settlement is one I'd really love to hear more about.

 

For those unfamiliar with the story: Mitchell wrote something, Bischoff made a reference to Mitchell, who's a school teacher, "graduating from the Jim Thompson school of journalism" (in the same tone/cadence as "the Terry Garvin school of self defense") shortly after Thompson (who wrote a wrestling newspaper column as "M.L. Curly") was outed as having molested children for the previous 30 years. Mitchell sued, Bischoff and/or WCW settled for a decent sum.

I only knew that story from your Eyada phone call Bix but I never knew Mitchell actually sued. When and where did Eric say that?

 

Dave mentioned the suit in the last couple years in the Observer. Not sure when, but he said that there was a settlement over a suit filed by Mitchell over comments Bischoff made. Bischoff said it in an interview right before that WOL show.

[Guest Iron Chad]

Bischoff has an overpriced foreign has-been tour to promote, he needs all the publicity he can get.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

You just have to understand where it’s coming from and who it’s coming from. Guys like Bruce Mitchell, who comes from the Jim Thompson School of Wrestling Reporting. My understanding is that they have a lot more in common than a lot of people know. A lot of very similar hobbies, if you get my drift.

[Bix]

Ah geez, I totally forgot about the other 2 sentences. THAT was what totally put it over the top as defamatory.

 

So where did he actually say that?

[Guest Iron Chad]

Wasn't that on a Prodigy chat?

[Bix]

Prodigy was still around in 2000?

[Cox]

Prodigy Classic was not - it died off at Y2K. Prodigy Internet was around, but by that time Bob Ryder had long moved on to 1wrestling.com.