Jim Cornette Experience - Episode 617: Impact

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

This week on the Experience, Jim reviews TNA Impact's debut on AMC, and AEW Dynamite! Plus Jim talks about Powerhouse Hobbs leaving AEW, Tony Khan's new signings, his donation to Donald Trump's least ...favorite Ford worker, and much more! Thanks to our episode sponsors: ULTRA POUCHES:  New customers get 15% Off with code JCE at takeultra.com! #UltraPouches  PRIZEPICKS: Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/JCE and use code JCE to get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! SHOPIFY:  Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/jce @TheJimCornette @GreatBrianLast Join Jim Cornette's College Of Wrestling Knowledge on Patreon to access the archives & more! https://www.patreon.com/Cornette Subscribe to the Official Jim Cornette channel on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/c/OfficialJimCornette Visit Jim's official site at www.JimCornette.com for merch, live dates, commentaries and more! You can listen to Brian on the 6:05 Superpodcast at 605pod.com or wherever you find your favorite podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:04 Like the midnight and the rock and roll. He's in a fight for wrestling soul using a racket and some mind control. He's in Kornet. The keys to the future. Help by Annette. Make a donation to someone for doing a public service. I make a mistake trying to give somebody a chance and I make an apology to AEW. All that and more today and joining me.
Starting point is 00:01:18 Hawaiian Brian the podcasting line, the king of the Arcadian Van, Guard Podcast Network, Mr. Co-host to you, the man that made me make a mistake. Be great. Brian Last, everybody. Aloha, Jim. A pleasure to be here once again. I think we're going to have a good time today. A lot of people looking forward to hearing what you're going to have to say about this week's big wrestling shows, a big debut on a new network, and more of the same on the same network. Lots going on.
Starting point is 00:01:48 well there has been some good news but none of that is it but i'll tell you what i'm surprised i'm still speaking to you speaking to you after what you put me through that sounds like a country song i'm surprised i'm still speaking to you after what you put me through because you made me watch that rotten show uh we're gonna talk yeah go ahead don't defend yourself i'm not defending myself i'm not defending myself we'll get there. Everything I do is in the name of the listeners. Let me just remind you of that. It's for them that I do what I do.
Starting point is 00:02:30 I don't know if there was a lot of popular demand for me to do what I did, but go ahead. I don't want to say too much here because we're going to review it later, but often, whenever I talk about NXT or TNA, their fans jump on me like I just said mid-south 84 sucks. They jump on me for every critique.
Starting point is 00:02:56 And I have fun with it because, you know, I like to have fun on here on the show. But to be very, very serious, TNA is a horrible wrestling show. And, you know, again, I don't want to spoil the review, and I have not heard what you're going to say. I'm imagining in my head what you're going to say. But for all the fans, like, you've got to give it a chance
Starting point is 00:03:16 or you watched it one week. No, it's the tone of the show. And by the way, it's not a TNA issue. It's an industry-wide issue where everything just feels like some weird derivative of WWE style wrestling television. Derivative. I like that description. And it's a very derisive derivative.
Starting point is 00:03:41 But with that, with that, I'm not, let's just say when we get to where we talk about TNA, you're going to hear what. smaller groups would have heard in post-production meetings from Jim Cornett on, I don't mean smaller groups, I mean smaller groups than the millions of people we're talking to right now. It was the midgets, folks. No, I'm not talking about small size. I mean, if I was somewhere that was doing a television production and we had a post-production meeting based on examining the fucking program,
Starting point is 00:04:14 today on this program, you will hear what I would have said in that fucking meeting. and or potentially the flavor of the notes I used to send people like Terry Taylor, my old friend in NT&A wrestling. So we'll talk about that. But the good news, Brian, of the whole dagum week, we have a patriot out there, my new hero, a good old American Ford Auto Worker named T.J. Sabula. Not to be confused with old Cat Sabula's for Mid-South wrestling.
Starting point is 00:04:54 And I don't know what dissent the name Sabula is from. The picture of him looked like an average Caucasian fellow from Michigan. But he is the one who made, maybe even worldwide. I noticed earlier it was national news here when our dear. leader took his orange blabby ass through the Ford Motor Plant on one of his ceremonial walkthroughs where he's confused and doesn't know what he's looking at and T.J. Sabula is the guy who screamed, You're a pedophile protector!
Starting point is 00:05:37 And people got it on video. But Trump heard him and looked down and apparently the lip readers and or eyewitnesses in the audience said he said fuck you to the guy twice and gave him the finger to go to old tj and this video went everywhere and blah blah blah and the course then a follow-up is that before he was suspended from his job but to follow up to that is the united auto workers are standing by his american right to free speech and nobody better fire old t j sabula and everybody's and everybody's he's up in arms about it in the in the various camps either pro or con pro tj or convicted offenders of various kinds and and now the bottom line is is that t j subula when people started to go fund me
Starting point is 00:06:45 for him has made like eight hundred thousand something dollars Holy shit. Because they had two fund mees or two entities funding this thing. And the total of them was over $800,000. But I am proud to say also, and this did, this actually made like the Michigan automotive news, not a wrestling fucking site, but reporting on the goddamn poor auto worker
Starting point is 00:07:17 that I was the top donor along with one of non-aubilant. guy, but I guess, Stacey and I gave $5,000. Our name is on there. It's funny, there were a few articles going around, and again, there were several from Michigan specifically, and a few of them had a image of you. One of them had, like, an image of you
Starting point is 00:07:35 and an image of Donald Trump on the other side. One of them just had an image of a stack of money, which I think is the funniest and the laziest of the options. But I have heard from auto workers now say, thank you for supporting our, you know, brother or whatever. But that's the, here's the thing is that, yes, of course, and what he said, and I, oh, my God, I can't, I don't have the exact quote in front of me, but the press asked T.J. Sabula for comment.
Starting point is 00:08:09 And he said, sometimes, a paraphrasing, sometimes fate puts you in a position and you have to rise up to meet a moment. And I did. And I've, I wouldn't take it back, but I am worried about my, you know, my jobs is they're making a big hooh-ha, but this was before the total of the go-foot. How long, even though they do a valuable service, how long would it take a Ford auto worker to earn 800-something thousand dollars? Oh, I don't know. They say Henry Ford keeps all the money for himself.
Starting point is 00:08:43 I'm not really sure how it works. Well, that's the point of Ford had egg on their face, not Henry. himself but them as an entity because that's the thing it got to him and that's what everybody was saying this that remark got to him enough that he the president supposedly of the united states gives the finger to and says fuck you to afford auto work no matter what he said they said obama's been through the ford plan people said some raw things at his direction also, and he didn't sell it because he was Obama instead of man-baby. But it got to him, and that specific remark got to him.
Starting point is 00:09:35 And that's why we say, you know, I'm just saying if that got to him, then, you know, all the stress that you can add to a senior citizen like that, not good at all, not good at all for a person that old to be stressed. But the point being, I brought the reason why when I got up and I saw that news, I said, I got a check for $5,000 waiting on this guy and then everybody sent me to go fund me. Okay.
Starting point is 00:10:02 What was it? A couple months ago, back before people were being gassed and shot in the streets and all that, when the news was just that Trump was calling reporters piggies or fake or fraud or whatever the fuck insulting the reporters trying to make sense out of his drivel and call him to some of his account. I said I would pay $50,000 to the first reporter that on tape, on camera in front of the public that could be replayed would just say, you know what, no, fuck you. you are the fake you're the fraud you're the pig you're the con man whatever the fuck you're
Starting point is 00:10:51 you i'm i'm quit cover your own fucking self but just walk off from me right and you said that well 50,000 dollars wouldn't make up for them losing their their job or whatever now we know that whoever does that will be a multi-fucking millionaire probably have more money than you and i I've ever dreamed of having. But, and people, and remember people scoffed to me when I said that, and you know I was goddamn serious and, man, still am open to contributing. Now that I know I wouldn't be alone, I would still contribute heavily to the GoFundMe. But you were on the phone when I asked Stephen P.
Starting point is 00:11:37 knew if that's legal for me to offer that technically. I don't know if it would do as good. I think more people would support the average person, like the auto worker, than the news reporter who said something. Well, but they would have to they would have to then quit and not just sit there and then be browbeaten by the fucking
Starting point is 00:11:56 felded face piece of shit again. What exactly happened? Because you were telling it, but I actually don't know what the update is. Did he lose his job or did he not? Because you said the union's protecting him. No, that's the thing. They suspended him. And now the union put out a statement
Starting point is 00:12:13 that they are supporting their union members write to free speech and whatever and you know blah blah blah so that no I don't think they can fire him at this point with the attention on it but here's again I'm wondering does he want to go back
Starting point is 00:12:32 he's got $800,000 again in 2020 $26,800,000 is not going to last you forever well god damn at the same point if you're smart and it's going to be taxed isn't it? Oh for having and say you like to take the piss out of everything.
Starting point is 00:12:50 But the point is, even though it wasn't what I asked for, specifically, it wasn't as direct and it wasn't as face-to-face, and it wasn't a confrontation that could be videotaped in a clear fashion of broadcast and blah, blah, blah, I felt the spirit was there. And that's why I put my money where my mouth was, because if I'd give a reporter 50 grand to do it and quit walk off the job face-to-face 10 feet away from him, Certainly, I could at least give the guy that yelled at him from as close as he could get five grand.
Starting point is 00:13:23 And that's what I did. Would he have gotten more money from you if he yelled, fuck you or hey, fatso or just anything like that was more of a... Is there anything he could have done there that would have gotten more money out of you, money bags? No, because apparently, because, I mean, it's not like people don't yell something at this fat, obnoxious fuck everywhere he goes. but pedophile protector got to him and of it got the response out of Trump. It got under his skin. That was worth five grand to me, just vicariously living through T.J. Sabula.
Starting point is 00:13:59 It would be funny if people just started mooning him. You haven't seen a good run of moons in a while. Every time Trump walked by, people show me. I got news for you. As much as I might be in favor of that, I don't trust him to turn my back. so we might have to expose some other fucking part of the goddamn anatomy. But anyway, here's the, so that's that.
Starting point is 00:14:23 But point is, I don't just say shit to say shit. If I say something, I'm going to do something about it. And I've got an email. Hold on. I'm trying to find it. Well, what we talked about the other day going on in Minnesota, and this was a little levity. from Michigan in the middle of all of that, but from Chris, I won't give his last name,
Starting point is 00:14:48 people will be knocking on his door. Dear Jim, thank you for addressing the horrific situation in Minnesota caused by ICE's brutality. The more people around the country and the world who know the truth, the better are our odds of stopping this. It's hard enough for adults to endure this, but I teach in a suburb south of Minneapolis, and I see much fear ICE is creating in our student body. these kids are suffering so terribly. Please don't stop addressing what ICE and Trump are doing. We need all the help that we can get to regain some sense of sanity in Minnesota. So, you know, here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:15:30 It was seven or eight years ago, when did I stop talking to Bruce Pritchard because he lied to me just for no apparent reason whatsoever? about 2017-ish 2016-2017 right you remember that period of time I think he lied to you because he's a liar well there was not a reason never we're not going to go down that road but the point is
Starting point is 00:15:55 before that right before that when I was still speaking to him he said why do you talk about politics on your show you're going to divide the audience you're going to run somebody basically you're to run somebody off and as I talk about politics, like we talk about wrestling, we talk about rock and roll, we talk about comic
Starting point is 00:16:17 books, and we talk about fucking goofy news stories, and we talk about all the goddamn other drivel that goes on in the world, because that's what I like to talk about. But you'll run people up, then I don't want them. But here's the thing, there are some people that want a mealy-mouthed podcast where nobody tells the truth because they either want a job still or have a job where they are are not allowed to talk about. Don't you dare be saying anything like these things or whatever. Or do you want one of the shows where some of these, I guess these,
Starting point is 00:16:56 what do they call them the influencer nitwits and then the right wing pundits or whatever the fuck where they just blurt shit out their ass or the Alex Joneses? It just blurt lying bullshit out their ass anytime they want just to, Killing puppies, I'm in flavor of it. To stir people up so they get their, the clicks or listens, whether they mean it or not, I've always maintained, and apparently it's worked out because people listen to our show and have for a long time
Starting point is 00:17:34 and are now in bigger numbers, that I'm not going to, we have fun talking about bullshit, but I'm not going to bullshit anybody about the way I feel about shit, which is kind of part of the, I don't know, the Jim Cornett experience. Would you concur with that, Brian, that this is kind of,
Starting point is 00:17:56 when you know Jim Cornett, this is part of the experience? Yeah, I guess I'd say that. So, point being, that's why I talk about these things when I get pissed off about them, whether it's a guy's car landing on my fence or people being shot to fucking face.
Starting point is 00:18:18 When I get pissed off, I talk about shit, and when it's wrestling, I critique shit, and when it's other stuff, I give my opinion on shit. But for the people, the people out there, the cult of Cornett, because if you look at just any of these, the tweets or any of the videos, or any of the comments on YouTube or the emails we get, whatever the fuck, it's just like everything else today. It's like half the people, everybody listens to or looks at the same thing. And then half the people say, oh, God, thank you for saying this. I love you.
Starting point is 00:18:56 I wish somebody else would say, I've said this, and I can say that, blah, blah, blah. And the other people are going, you motherfucker, I like that choke you stupid embecile. About the same thing. But that doesn't change the way that I feel about it. Because I do not change my opinions of what is right and wrong based on what makes most people happy or what makes most people listen or what makes most people click.
Starting point is 00:19:26 Sorry. I'm not, I think, I don't know that this is hyperbolic to say I'm not a traditional internet personality. Brian, would you say that's a fair statement? Yeah, that's a fair statement. Okay, so for those of you who love me and I'm a genius and wrestling and we're on the right side of history, I love you too. For those of you who don't, they fall into a couple of categories, the people who don't love me. The ones that have just, I have eviscerated verbally their favorite, goofy, pretend cartoon wrestlers for years.
Starting point is 00:20:11 And they just, oh, God, we hate him. horrible, the most awful person in the world. I hope you muster the same indignation that you got when I said that so-and-so ought to be boiled in oil and have his fat sold for soap. I hope your heads are on fire just as much when people are being shot in the face on the street and babies are being tear gassed. That's what I say to that segment that don't like me. and for the people who say, well, we love Jim's wrestling genius. Oh, my God, he can tell you what Jim Landa said for lunch on June 7th, 1937, and he's a, this guy's just brilliant at his performances,
Starting point is 00:20:58 and we've always been a fan of his, but politics, he's a complete imbecile. Because they ain't your politics, pal. That's like saying you're admitting that, well, this guy over here is brilliant and articulate and knows all this shit but I want to get my political advice from a complete fucking moron so whether again whether people like it or not I'm going to change not change my opinion of right or wrong just to make anybody happy on the internet if you are at the segment of our population that legitimately believes that just because people do not have the proper permit to preside somewhere,
Starting point is 00:21:52 that they should be, have the shit kicked out of them, drugged down the street, shot at, tear gas, beat up and thrown out of the goddamn country, from their job at Target or the family Mexican restaurant, there's something wrong with you. and you're part of the reason why that American society has been poisoned and if you take it further and you take that hatred of people that you have never met as just as a race as a whole
Starting point is 00:22:31 that exist here in the country that it is so pertinent to our national security that you believe the drivel that there's tens of millions these people that are murderers and rapists and cannibals and get sex pests
Starting point is 00:22:46 that they all need to be forcefully removed that you eat if you're in fucking Wyoming or South Florida or the corner of Nevada and you are so mad at these people in Minnesota that you will never see
Starting point is 00:23:07 that you will never interact with that it's okay not only the people treat them that way and round all them up but if they're friends and neighbors, United States citizens get in the way, said, don't fucking do this to our goddamn friends and neighbors in our community. We don't want this.
Starting point is 00:23:23 It's okay to shoot and gas and fucking beat this shit out of them. Then there's something wrong with you. I just want to make that clear. If regardless of what the situation is, the vast majority of these people have no violent criminal offenses. They are not mass murderers and rape. You know, yes, there's some immigrant murderers. And for every immigrant murderer, I can show you a white guy from Mississippi and did the same fucking thing.
Starting point is 00:24:05 Because if you haven't noticed, human beings, a lot of them are fucked up everywhere. but you can't just fucking say well okay let's see if you don't have a fishing license I'm gonna throw a rope around you and drag you down the street and throw you in the goddamn river the fuck there was no tear gas in Minneapolis until Trump decided to make a performative attempt to appeal to the coarsest, basest, low-lifeist part of his base to distract from all the other shit that he's involved in and to get even with the people that didn't vote for him and the governors and the mayors that don't like him. So they're not interfering with law enforcement when there's a bunch of fucking
Starting point is 00:25:07 average people in Minnesota, in Minneapolis, blowing whistles and honking her horns and playing drums outside these people's hotel till all wee hours of the morning. They're not paid protesters. You know, that Carolyn Levin, I'd just like to say she's a douchebag, and that she can stand up there
Starting point is 00:25:32 and say, well, they're paid protesters an outside agitator. She'd get along with Bull Connor in Birmingham in 1964. Google it, kids. History is repeating itself. She lies and people believe the most basic, on-the-face bullshit of it because they want to. Because they want this to happen because there's something wrong with them
Starting point is 00:25:59 that they believe this is justified. So don't try to get me. to smell bullshit and think it's goddamn filet mignon because I don't, I'm sorry ain't going to happen. And the more people
Starting point is 00:26:20 speak out and tell this motherfucker in particular and all those fuckers in general, what's wrong with them, they've got my support. I'm sorry, Brian, did you go to sleep? Yeah, kind of. But I guess it's time to wake up because... All right.
Starting point is 00:26:43 Now we got wrestling talk and fun talk. Well, there you go. I just, you know, I just sometimes get a little perturbed. Speaking of who else is perturbed. Well, see, that's a word also that isn't used that often these days, Brian. The AEW fans are perturbed because one of the, their big stars is, well, the guy that should have been one of their big stars, where they've fumbled him like five years in a row. Powerhouse Hobbs is contract expired.
Starting point is 00:27:20 He's leaving the company. He's expected soon in the waiting arms of the WWE. This is kind of a foregone conclusion. But I'm sorry it took this long. I'm just wanting to talk now about if you think, did he wait too long or does he still have a chance? that's my question i saw some people say he was 35 other people say 34 so let's say mid 30s it's got a great look i hate to say you have to send them to nxte or anything
Starting point is 00:27:55 well he's got to go to nxties that's the problem no jesus christ you think that's the whole problem did they put them with starks again no i don't i don't i don't i'm not saying that because Starks is there. I'm saying, and what I've said has been the problem for a while. They don't learn anything in AEW. And that's the problem is now he's going to have to go to NXT because I'm not talking about, he hasn't learned how to do a power slam or whatever the fuck. I've said they don't learn how to put matches together.
Starting point is 00:28:38 They don't learn how to do finishes. they don't learn logical booking. They don't learn anything about a risk-reward ratio, although that standard is slipping in the WW these days also. And when is the last time you heard him speak on television? I mean, he must, I don't, nothing stands out. Nothing stands out, but he must have done a promo with the ops. I mean, I don't remember one.
Starting point is 00:29:09 Well, I mean, we watch dynamite every goddamn, week and have for five years. When is the last time you heard powerhouse Hobbs do a promo? I'm not talking about secondary dairy shows or he's a ring of honor six man tag team champion. That's the problem. Whenever they have used him, they've put him in with guys on the top of the card.
Starting point is 00:29:32 He's had some squashes and he's had some big wins. But he's also had major disappearances that didn't, weren't chalked up to injury. It's just Tony's haphazard booking. And he was a baby face and he was a heel. Then he became a baby face again because his manager forgot about him. Remember that one? That still stands out in my mind.
Starting point is 00:29:56 The book is so the point of I'm making is five years ago, if he was 29 years old, that's why I was saying this guy's got all the potential in the world. And for the past few years, I've been saying the same thing about him. as some of these other guy, Kyle, good old Kyle Feltcher. Instead of, it's harder to unlearn bad habits and or learn the right way to do things than it is to learn it from scratch. And to, now you take into, I'm not saying that Hobbs is not capable of being coached, but he's probably going to have to have some things explained to him as why.
Starting point is 00:30:41 that would be fucking stupid because he's done a lot of stupid shit that he's been told to do. And then there's the aspect of just repetition in the last five years. If this was the territory days, Hobbs would have,
Starting point is 00:31:01 if he was working anywhere on the cards of any territory, he would have had 1,500 matches. Do you think he's had in five years has he had 150 with AEW? With just AEW, I don't know. Well, but does he wrestle anywhere else?
Starting point is 00:31:27 Is he a main event player in CMLL? That's what I'm saying, is that he's had few repetitions. He's been in the rig, everything, every kind of style from the buck, to Dick the Boozer to Again, a few guys knew what the fuck they were doing. He was around punk for a while.
Starting point is 00:31:52 But now he's got a bunch of conflicted shit. They've confused him. The booking has been stop and start. He hasn't even had the opportunity to practice his promos in any kind of spotlight or major platform. So he's going to have to go to N. and they're going to have to figure out the things that they can magnify and accentuate and the things that they want to try to hide if any weaknesses and try to get him starting
Starting point is 00:32:28 to talk and with an actual personality gimmick instead of just powerhouse hobbs and he wears the same thing all the time and you would get rid of the name it well i don't think it's essential because it's not like he's a huge star. It's not like, you know, a guy that's been known worldwide suddenly has to change, like when Vader, they wouldn't Vader change his name. Hobbs has been in AEW. That's what people know and that's a small percentage of the overall WWE audience, but they're going to want to own something. But the thing is, remember five years ago, they did some kind of promo where he got shot or his brother was shot or he got shot
Starting point is 00:33:15 trying to protect his brother. I don't, I don't even remember now. Okay, well, there you go. But the point is, at that point, I had said five years, six years ago, maybe almost Jesus Christ,
Starting point is 00:33:30 maybe farther that. There's something there. That's the way you introduce. And they did introduce him and then never mentioned it again. And then three weeks later, whatever he's a heel. and then we died it's just horrible the wwee will at least it's not going to be like vince where everybody had to have a job and somebody was a plumber and somebody was a hockey player
Starting point is 00:33:52 and somebody goddamn whatever the fuck but they're going to try to establish who powerhouse hobbs is and tell part of his story and if they want him to be a baby face then they're going to tell the story of his brother and his toughness and everything one way. And if they want him to be a heel, then they're going to accentuate maybe in another way. He's got to be a heel. He's got such a good look for a heel.
Starting point is 00:34:23 Facially, he's a heel. But you know what? But at the same time, he can be a big time baby face. After being a big time heel. Or he could be a big time. heal after being a big time baby face. The point is
Starting point is 00:34:41 they're going to figure out who the fuck he is. They're going to polish him up a little bit, get him some practice talking, and then, you know, I would think that they would not be real patient at his age because he's still, the good thing is he hadn't had a lot of matches. And the bad thing is he hadn't had a lot of matches.
Starting point is 00:35:04 Yeah. He hasn't had a ton of injuries and just bumped himself to death, but at the same time, he's still inexperienced, at least of his growth potential over the last five years. I don't know. Maybe he's been training in secret somewhere,
Starting point is 00:35:22 and he's going to be a prodigy. But if he just learns what the fuck he sees at those TV tapings, he needs some help down there. But I would think they would want to produce something in the next year or two, of his age. I would think so, too, because of his age. Because of his age, what would you have done?
Starting point is 00:35:42 If you had a chance to go to WWE, and you also had a chance to re-sign with AEW for, more than likely, more money than WW, however, you know that you're just going to be running in place, you're never going to, if there was ever a chance you could be a superstar, it's never going to happen in AEW. You never going to be able to break through that. But in WW, it could happen. Would you have done the same thing, or would you go from it? the money of Tony.
Starting point is 00:36:07 No, that's the thing is, I think that, that shows he has determination. That shows that he still thinks that he can contribute instead of just doing whatever the fuck he's been doing, taking bumps into goddamn, you know, who was it? He got electrocuted, didn't he? Last time we saw him in a big, take a big bump on dynamite, he got electrocuted. And then he came back with the. Oh, against Adam Page. It was him against Adam Page.
Starting point is 00:36:36 but anyway he he still and it's now it's now or never so I think he realizes that he's got to before he gets too old and past his athletic peak he you know there's a chance
Starting point is 00:36:54 he can be real big it's a probability he's going to be big in the WWE I don't think he's going to flunk out of it. So eventually he'll probably make probably as much, maybe more money
Starting point is 00:37:16 as he'd have made with Tony to be guaranteed for the next five years or whatever, just sit out the rest of his career doing the same shit he's been doing with the same people. But it might have actually been easier on him to take Tony's money, which is why I think I'm more prouder of him that he has bet on himself a little bit. Are you surprised?
Starting point is 00:37:36 I mean, we know that Tony in the past traditionally, if he thinks you're going to WWE, you're off TV. Happened to a whole bunch of people. We haven't seen Anna J on TV in a while if you haven't noticed. Are you surprised that he's been using Hobbs? I mean, we just saw him in a, was it a street fight? Him and Hook against Swerve and Adam Page and a week ago? Yes, and well, and he was part of Joe's group,
Starting point is 00:37:59 which has been in this whole, you know, the main event. The main event thing. the main event thing. And of course, if they needed to lose anybody out of that package, it was old Shapoopy. But either Tony was kind of surprised that this happened or, but at the same time, several places are reporting that the WWE has said for months, we think Hobbs is coming here when his contract expires,
Starting point is 00:38:29 sources within. So if I can read about it, if that was a rumor going back for a while, one would think Tony would have known about it. Yeah, definitely. If it was on Twitter, Tony knew about it. So maybe he just figured, well, I've got him in this so far. Or maybe he's scared.
Starting point is 00:38:51 Maybe he was scared like, shit, I don't want to tell him to stay home. I don't know. Who can figure out the way Tony thinks? You know, it'll be interesting to see what happens because Hobbs almost universally has been considered one of the most underutilized or underbooked or wrongly booked guys in AEW. He looks like a star. He's got a story, like you said, if you want to make him a baby face. I think he's a great heel.
Starting point is 00:39:23 You know, he's one of the guys that never got the big push that other people got. Did Powerhouse Hobbs ever get as good a push as Daniel Garcia? Oh, gee. I'm serious. I mean, you know, I guess maybe you could say it's an equal at best. I mean, but... No, no, no. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:39:39 Remember the weeks and weeks we couldn't get rid of Garcia from our TV screen? Much less, much less the fucking idiot with his hands and his fucking nuts. Or Jungle Boy. I mean, all of these guys, they all got better pushes than Hobbs, even though Hobbs had more potential. And look, he's been there. Jungle Boy, all things being... equal. Jungle Boy, if I just looked at a picture and saw him work one time, I would have said, okay, I can, I can hitch a horse to him. It wouldn't become apparent until later he's an idiot.
Starting point is 00:40:14 But the push is that he's given Garcia or any of these broken down Japanese legends that he keeps providing a wrestling version of the motion picture country home for. can do that. In five years. He's been there five years. And we saw him as a heel, we saw him as a baby face. We saw him with Taz. We saw him with, I think, Don Callas.
Starting point is 00:40:40 We saw him with Joe Stable. He's been all over the place. He's never had just a good, concerted, like two-month strong push. Right? They had him work with Moxley, and then he went right back to where he was. I think he won the TNT title at one point, and then you forget about it because he went right back to where he was. he was, he was never in the main event picture.
Starting point is 00:41:01 A guy that looks like that with that kind of potential was never in the main event picture once. You know what? If what he had been doing over the last six months had been the first we saw of him, it would have been pretty good because he's in a group with Samoa Joe
Starting point is 00:41:20 who's the, let's say, Samoa Joe five years ago was the AEW champion. He might have been. But okay, this is five years ago. shows the AEW champion, Hobbs is his muscle, and good Lord Jesus Christ on a cracker, get rid of Shabbata and just put hook in there as a flunky, obnoxious kid. And that would have been a perfect way to start featuring Hobbs as a policeman and an enforcer to the champion. And he would be standing back right behind him. and then at some point there would be some element of
Starting point is 00:41:58 friction that would lead to a guy like Hobbs breaking out and breaking free of his oppressive fucking boss Samoa Joe and then you've got a goddamn baby face or something like that but we've seen him do every goddamn thing
Starting point is 00:42:17 in the world for five years but not for long and then they do this so and again Tony you uses him up till the end, which he never does for any of these people that are going to leave, but there was no breakup, there was no, you're the weak link, there was nothing. It was just, he's now going to be gone. Are they going to say Shabbata and Hook ran him off? He's just gone. And now the stable is Joe and Shabata and a hook. That ain't good. I will say, I think Hobbs was best used and he wasn't used well in this role at all, but he was best used
Starting point is 00:42:52 with Ricky Starks, I wouldn't have the problem with him and Ricky Saints being paired up again. I think Ricky Saints kind of needs a guy behind him who looks like and kick some ass to back up his mouth. I wouldn't be against that in NXT.
Starting point is 00:43:10 Well, say, no, and I wouldn't be against that either except earlier. I was just saying I wouldn't say sending him to NXT specifically to be with him. I would say he's going to have to go to NXT anyway, if Ricky Saints was not there because he's going to have to learn the WW way of doing things
Starting point is 00:43:29 and probably a more restrained and logical way of doing things and how to accentuate the positives in himself to get himself over and how they're going to tell a story about him. That's going to determine, you know, how people start taking to him. Not just, well, here's,
Starting point is 00:43:51 they haven't told us anything in the past four and a half years about who powerhouse Hobbs is or why he wants to do any of the things he's doing he's just doing them. Am I right? For the most part, I think you're right, yeah. We don't remember anything about until I mentioned it about his brother. It said the point is, yes, they're going to tell us maybe who he is, who they want him to be, what we're supposed to fucking like or dislike about him. and how to present him.
Starting point is 00:44:24 And that's going to take some time to get him with it also. I just hope they don't give him a stupid NXT name. That's what I really am like dreading. It's the Marcus Jones! What's he doing here? I just don't want that, you know? That if they're hopefully this interested in a guy, and they know this guy is not just coming, you know,
Starting point is 00:44:46 out of wrestling school, that he's not only been around for some time, but also the clock is ticking. So I think they're going to, if they want him at his age, that means they have some plans and believe they can get something more than just taking any old jack leg off the street, as they used to say. Do you think it's a loss for AEW? And that's a weird question, but this is the last thing about this.
Starting point is 00:45:13 Considering his age, the way he's been pushed, the realities of what any push would more than likely be going forward, who's currently in the main event picture, who probably will be in the next few years. I mean, is it a loss for AEW? Or is it a nothing for AEW because they used them so poorly? Well, that's the thing. It's a gain for the WWE's developmental program
Starting point is 00:45:43 and probably for the not too distant future of its main roster, one would think. But it's hard, it's hard for anybody to be a loss in AEW, except for the very, well, they've lost a couple of the key names. Osprey still, we haven't seen him in a few months now from his surgery, whatever. It's, it's hard for anybody to be a loss because they're all just there. Think about MJF left and did a movie or whatever the fuck he did. and has come back and the
Starting point is 00:46:23 the business and or the numbers and or anything at this point nothing goes up or down at this point no matter who's there or not there am I exaggerating or have you seen evidence to the contrary to what I'm saying where we are today I don't think really anyone is a big mover anymore
Starting point is 00:46:45 but again we don't see quarter hours or anything we're just looking at the big picture I'm not even talking about the quarter hours because those poor glutton's for punishment. They come back the next week and start watching it. They fucking run them off again. But I mean, just on any meaningful basis, when's the last time that anybody coming or going or getting hurt and being out or debuting or whatever just made any real noticeable, appreciable difference in anything? or are they just there for whatever the fuck's going to go on at this point in this promotion? Yes.
Starting point is 00:47:30 Yes. That was so long of a question I forgot. I lost my concentration when I said that. I lost that when I was asking the question. I don't know if I phrased it grammatically correctly or not. But see, you know, Brian, that's what happens when you lose your concentration. You can, you know, sometimes you can just say just jibberish type things. And people don't want to, most people don't want to do that in public, although some people do these days.
Starting point is 00:48:04 But nevertheless, it's a new year, Brian, but we need to concentrate and focus on our future. We need to try to modify some of our behaviors to be more healthy. we need to be more positive, as the Iron Sheik would say, positive. And one of the things that they say now, have you seen this probably on the news, Brian? You've read about this is that people are using a variety of stimulants to get them through the day, whether it be the nicotine or the caffeine. You know, that sent me to the hospital. We've talked about that many times.
Starting point is 00:48:46 I've had a caffeine problem. I also had a sugar problem. A sugar is a, that's why I was so hyper in the 80s. Now that I'm a calm person in my 60s, I realize how hyper I was 40 years ago. They've really calmed down. Well, I'm practically comatose now.
Starting point is 00:49:10 But you know, people are taking stimulants, those are not good for you. You might take them way more than you mean to. Do you just start grabbing one without even thinking? Are the effects of these stimulants, these nasty, nasty stimulants, messing with your health or your productivity? Are you having trouble with your sleep,
Starting point is 00:49:33 your energy, your workouts, your stress levels? Are you a ticking time bomb, Brian, ready to explode? That's a question I'm at. Are you ticking? Can you hear yourself ticking? If I could hear myself ticking, I'd lose my mind to be talking about it on the air those ticking sounds and apologizing for them.
Starting point is 00:49:50 So no, I think I'm okay. No ticking. Well, some people are ticking. And that's going to make your sleep slip and your recovery get harder and your stress feeling higher than it should. And that's why our friends at take ultra. com have come out with the ultra pouches.
Starting point is 00:50:09 Obviously, Brian, this is captivating the medical news across the country. the ultra pouches are completely nicotine and caffeine-free, and they're packed with new tropics, not the old tropics, not those horrible palm leaves and sandy beaches that you remember, but the new tropics that are designed for mental clarity and enhanced focus with the same kick as a nicotine pouch.
Starting point is 00:50:43 It'll kick you right in a jaw. You'll feel like you've been whacked by a mule. But if you like that type of thing. You won't feel like that. That won't be the feeling at all. But it won't have the side effects of a nicotine pouch like buzz, addiction, crash, jitters, vasoconstriction, or gum rot. That sounds like a carlin routine.
Starting point is 00:51:05 Vaso constriction or gum rot. But that's what the nicotine will do to you, but that don't have no nicotine in the ultra pouches. and they elevate all your good stuff without elevating your bad stuff. They don't raise your blood pressure like most pouches or keep your body at a constant stress state. And heaven knows we don't need any of that. No, as a matter of fact, it improves your focus.
Starting point is 00:51:33 You have a calm, steady, flow state focus with enhanced memory, smooth energy. And as a matter of fact, if you pop to pouches, you will have extra clarity. It gives you the little description right on the side of the jar there. Now they've had to modify these instructions somewhat
Starting point is 00:51:56 because early testing of this product saw that if you gobbled like a half a pound of it, you could see through walls. And they were going to market to people who live next door to sexy Diversays and Swedish flight attendants. This is no study that has been undertaken by the wonderful people at ultra pouches or a study that would never be happening anywhere on planet
Starting point is 00:52:20 earth. There were side effects and we don't want to go into, but that's, uh, that's not something we know anything about. That's not something. You see so much of a proliferation of Bigfoot sighting. Can I say, can I jump in and give a personal comment? Yes, please jump in and, and concentrate. I personally have become a fan of these ultra pouches that they sent over.
Starting point is 00:52:41 And in fact, if the fine people from ultra pouches are here today, I think I would just say, send samples of the watermelon. It looks really good. But no, these are great. And I have really enjoyed the wintergreen and the tropical. And one, sometimes two at a time. But it really does give you a little bit of focus. I've been using it to edit.
Starting point is 00:53:03 They're telling me they're going to send me the banana cream pie, but it hasn't showed up yet. They don't have that yet. Watermelons on the website, banana cream pie is not. Oh, well, I'll tell you one thing. the nicotine pouches disrupt your hormone balance, lower your testosterone, and can shrink your balls. The only thing they don't say there
Starting point is 00:53:24 is that you'll get one of those taint diseases like they talk about on TV commercials, but you don't want that shit. What? Again, zero nicotine and natural neurotropic's smooth energy, mood balance, enhanced memory, and a calm, steady,
Starting point is 00:53:42 editing session for Brian last. Right now, the ultimate guilt-free pouch is the ultra. Get the instant focus, the mental clarity, and the ability to see through walls potentially if they perfect that latest formula. And right now, if you use the code JCE, you can get 15% off at take ultra.com. That's take ultra.com.
Starting point is 00:54:11 15% off with the promo code JCE and please focus enough right now to promise that you will support our show and tell them we sent you whenever you check out of their fine online store. That's right.
Starting point is 00:54:29 A lot of people are just wandering around, Brian. They don't like a chicken with their head cut off. They don't know what they're doing in the world these days. You need to calm down and focus. Once again, I could say these have helped me with editing. they've helped me with my focus. Check them out today. Ultra pouches. And again, if you're over there, that watermelon sure looks good.
Starting point is 00:54:48 I really love if some of that ended up in my mailbox. But Jim, I understand we have a great deal for the listeners with a great promo code. JCE, 15% off and just focus on that. Just hone in. And your mind will take you to places that you've never been before. Like a Hollywood movie. I don't know about that. This is...
Starting point is 00:55:12 Fill the wine. Take that. I'm sorry. I was concentrating. You should not have the burden of Jim singing Eric Burden. Oh, very good. You can get your ultra pouches. Once again, promo code JCE.
Starting point is 00:55:28 More about them in the future. Hey, Jim, before we move on, I know there's still some news of comings and goings. Have you seen this statement that Kota Abushi released? Oh, boy. No, I have not. but is he finally decided to hang it up. I heard he hobbled to the ring
Starting point is 00:55:49 to wave at the fans at Tanahashi's retirement in Japan and no, that's the word that was used was he hobbled to the ring. No, he quite literally did, I saw it. So what's he saying? I can't walk. They made him walk the longest runway. There isn't pro wrestling at the Turkey. That's right.
Starting point is 00:56:10 You're in a Tokyo dome. Jesus Christ. The fuck, they could, got him a golf cart? Well, he put up an Instagram post, and here's what it says. I'm so sorry, Kenny. There's no guarantee, but medically, I have one year and nine months left. Jesus. I'll cure you in nine unnecessary months.
Starting point is 00:56:37 That means I'll be back in 2026. I've caused trouble for Kenny. In return, I can't say for sure, but I'll do it. I've gained the power to send out new energy. Shall I teach you bald guys that you have no chance of winning? Yesterday, for the first time in a while, I was able to enter the Budo Khan in costume for a live performance by the band that plays
Starting point is 00:57:10 my entrance song. I think I've fulfilled another ambition, and to Tony Khan, I'll be making a comeback once again. I'm not sure if my English will be understood, but I'll do my best anyway. Wait a minute, okay. Here's the problem. Is he using one of those auto-translate things, is that is he just is he speaking gibberish in Japanese and it's translating to gibberish or is he trying to speak English poorly and that's what he's writing and thinks it makes sense is that I guess that's more more likely because none of that makes any sense does it what you just said I'm not exactly sure what he said again I'll cure you in nine unnecessary months but then it says I have one year and nine months left so there's a one year period
Starting point is 00:58:07 that's kind of up in the air right now. He's trying to give Kenny a discount or something, and he'll be back at a year instead of a year in nine months, maybe. That's a hell of a way to say, I'll return to help my partner. I'll cure you in nine months. I'll say, maybe they should have said maybe I'll save you.
Starting point is 00:58:24 I'll help you. Hold on. Hold on for just a little under a year. And I'll be there to help you out in this fucking fight. Jesus Christ, they, you know, for real? he's made himself now must watch for me. When Kodabushi returns,
Starting point is 00:58:42 I'm going to be watching his next match like a hawk. He could just drop, just waiting for something. His leg may fall off. He may just, like, take a step and that's it. And then Tony pays him for another two years to go tweet in Japan whatever he's doing. But, yeah, I can't wait to see his return.
Starting point is 00:59:00 I really, really can't wait. But there's a lot of things happening with AEW with terms of talent. lost powerhouse Hobbes. Yes, they've got, they've got some, I heard they have acquisitions, and I don't know who. Well, of course, the word came out that they lost powerhouse Hobbs, and then on AEW Dynamite, the first of the announcements was made, they put up an image on the screen, which actually they never do. They never really announced, like, these people have been signed and they're coming here. Some of that may be because at least...
Starting point is 00:59:30 Well, I bet it's hit a nerve with Tony that, oh, it's going to be in the news that we've lost guy so he's going to sign what six or eight more people make up for it and obfuscate the issue well a ewe has signed the rascals felix and the band will be joining the aege w rosser i was about to say how old is felix cavalery how the he's got to be 80 i can't the rascals are desmond xavier zachary wents trey miguel and myron reed answering the question will there ever be a wrestling star named Myron. And now there is one. Who knew?
Starting point is 01:00:09 Four of them are a team called The Rascal. I recognize a couple of the, is one or two of those guys was on one of the programs we watched for a while that they have prison tattoos and just look sloppy as fuck. Yeah, they're kind of like, if, remember Jack Evans, if Jack Evans met the Young Bucks and then got prison tattoos
Starting point is 01:00:32 and just did a bunch of flips and shit. Yeah, yeah. But okay, so he signed four of them to take the attention off of losing one guy over there. But that's four more guys that honestly are going to do the same shit that they already got a lot of guys doing. And it ain't good already, so they don't need to add to it. And we'll talk about some of the other people they've signed, but in terms of, if you look past who they are and what talent they are or aren't,
Starting point is 01:01:00 the strategic move here in terms of, these are not just four indie guys these are four guys from TNA right before TNA the week TNA got their new TV show where apparently they were figured in at least one of the guys had his match pulled because he signed with AEW
Starting point is 01:01:20 and they didn't know and then that was going to be on the show but Tony got TNA talent who have been featured some of them on NXT so I think this is we always say where's Tony going to get talent I personally am not a fan of the bits I've seen of these guys. But in terms of guys who have been on national TV, they've been on two different wrestling shows,
Starting point is 01:01:43 and now they'll be here, and they could use the name apparently that they use. So in a sense, it's the first time in a while, Tony's had a little bit of a... And I say a little bit. Just a little bit of a win in terms of, hey, we get to announce this and surprise everyone. Surprise!
Starting point is 01:02:00 Surprise! Oh, boy. if that was my surprise birthday party, I'd go back home. It's, that's the problem is that you mentioned that Tony doesn't have anywhere
Starting point is 01:02:12 to get any talent from, but what Tony looks for is four more guys who all look and do the same shit as a bunch of guys he's already got to look and do the same. And what he lost was a guy he's had for five years that nobody in the company
Starting point is 01:02:28 looked like him or could potentially do the things that he could fucking do. So it's, I think it's a net negative at least four on one for Tony there that you lost a guy
Starting point is 01:02:48 that could have been a fucking guy for four guys that can be four of the guys. That's just let, let's let them captivate me with their incredible fucking promos and main event level
Starting point is 01:03:03 performances. And I'll, change my mind. Well, again, those four stars will be added to the AEW roster. I'm sure there'll be some great flipping matches with the Young Bucks at some point in the future. But other names that Tony has signed this week, Hetchacero. He announced.
Starting point is 01:03:20 He's been on the fucking show. He has now signed a, or at least he, it was announced that he had signed, a CMLL-A-W split contract, a joint contract between the two companies. Jim also this week Tony Kahn has locked down Mascaura Dorada 24 years old of course we talked about the top rated matches
Starting point is 01:03:44 of 2025 for Dave Meltzer Mascarra Dorada was in about 150 of them and now Tony Kahn once again working with CMLL working with Uncle Dave and Concord by the Sea Incorporated and of course CML must be happy that Tony's not just taking everyone.
Starting point is 01:04:03 It's a joint deal. Also signing with AEW this past week. Hold on. Hold on now. Hold on now. Let's go back here. Wouldn't you know who won the pony? That Uncle Dave's new crush of the moment, and I'm not talking about Brian Adams, suddenly gets signed to,
Starting point is 01:04:22 and he's already been on the show anyway, but now he's signed to a big contract. But right, How many miscellaneous guys from Mexico under a mask do they have now that do approximately the same shit? Now continue on with the minute. Again, I have what Dave Meltzer wrote here. Mascar Dorada 24, one of the best and most exciting young wrestlers in the business
Starting point is 01:04:48 is also signed to a joint deal. He is the number two baby face behind Mystico in CMLL, and one of the best flying wrestlers of all time already. So again, taking the name and the talent and what you think of them out of the picture, you know WW would be after this guy. Is it worth it? Again, they like Muscarra Derrata much more than you and I ever would,
Starting point is 01:05:17 and maybe they even see a way to make money with them. But just in terms of, again, where's Tony going to get talent? you kind of have to start locking down guys now before WWE gets a hold of them and gets him in the system because they are trying to prevent Tony Kahn from being able to get people. Well, and if the WWE are interested,
Starting point is 01:05:39 and I guess they would be at a 24-year-old guy that can do anything at this fucking point, then I would sign him, and I would give him a big contract. And what I wouldn't have done, is in the previous two years signed Commander and Gravity and Spaceship and Neon
Starting point is 01:06:04 and Joe Fritz and Blue Suede Shoes and 18 other fucking guys including Bandito that we're going to talk about momentutely and I can see getting the two or three or four top guys, especially that might draw a house in Mexico, in Mexico, and especially if they might be guys, the WWE would legitimately be interested in.
Starting point is 01:06:36 Oh, I forgot about vikingu. But just all this miscellaneous that mope-faced midgets that aren't massed, or the just constant array of miscellaneous guys of mass running around every once in a while on the show, he's just muddied the water for legitimate major superstars. Because everybody looks so incredibly same at this point because it's not any novelty on their program. And most of the guys are just booked to be people that run around and do all the fucking swing dancing and docee do.
Starting point is 01:07:20 Well, Jim, two more names that AEW signed this past week. Jesus Christ, he loses one guy and signs 12. Go ahead. Well, one that we have seen previously or he's heard the name of, 24 years old from CMLL, Persephone, aka Persephone. I thought we had decided it was Persephone, and we thought it was Perciphony. Well, we will find out because she'll be on AEW TV in the future. According to Dave Nelson, once again.
Starting point is 01:07:48 Can we make her hometown Parsifone? That would be funny. According to Dave Meltzer, WWE was interested in her since the London match that she was in. So another person that WWE wanted, and the final signing, I may get this wrong,
Starting point is 01:08:05 her name is Tatevik Hunanin. Wait a minute. Tatevik Punani? What are you saying to me? Who Nennon? Who, who knew?
Starting point is 01:08:18 She's 36 years old, and she was a former actress, according to this, with a kickboxing background. A 36-year-old former kickboxing actress. I can't wait to see what... Marina Schaefer better look out. Also this week, Tony signed Cynthia Rothrock to a 10-year deal, my kid, but...
Starting point is 01:08:40 Who the fuck is that? She was a female karate star in the movies that Marty Gorman was obsessed with. But Jim, these signings... I didn't know they let Marty Gorman in movies. Again, you lose Hobbs. You kind of set it there really the best. There aren't guys that look like that.
Starting point is 01:08:59 And in terms of the rascals, you sign guys that kind of just... Maybe if you watch... Yeah, they don't stand out. They don't seem like they're... They have a great look like a Hobbs. And the luchador... Like you said, if Mascauera de Rada is the greatest thing of all time,
Starting point is 01:09:19 You shouldn't flood the show with generic luchadors. So we'll see. When Moscarus would main event in the United States, how many, except potentially in Corpus Christi or whatever, Los Angeles, how many other guys were wearing masks on the card? Not too many, if any. Nobody. Madison Square Garden, anyone?
Starting point is 01:09:46 Madison Square Garden, his opponent wasn't allowed to wear a mask. That's right. He was the first one that was allowed to wear a mask in Madison Square Garden history in 1970 fucking two. And I think he wrestled, I could be wrong, he wrestled El Olimpico. It was either that one or one of the first ones. And you see the video. And he was like, no. One of those masks with the face cut out of it. So you see this face? But no, it was, oh, God damn it. I used to know the answer to this question. El Olympico had to, on another occasion, wrestle another. heel there with his face cut out of the mask. But the guy that was it, it wasn't the golden terror. It was an American guy.
Starting point is 01:10:30 That sounds fairly fucking redne. He's an American guy. But it was a heel that was normally masked. And they made him wear an open face mask when he wrestled in the garden, as opposed to the regular mask that he wore everywhere else in the WWWF territory, but they let Mosker a slide because of his, he wouldn't do it without it. He wouldn't take his mask off and he was so popular. And then they just changed the law, the athletic commission.
Starting point is 01:11:05 How would that even help the mask wrestler if you have to show up and expose your face? And you still, why would you even still wear anything? Just to hide the air? Well, that's, it was, it was goofy, but that's what they were forced to do. But nevertheless, uh, If I would hide my face too if I was some of these people right now. How about that? Well, it sounds like a promising future for AEW Dynamite and collision.
Starting point is 01:11:32 We will cover those happenings when they happen. Well, right now we're going to cover the other side of the coin and go to Total Non-Stop Action Rasslin. Well, Jim, this was the big one. The AMC debut for TNA, which had been on Access, TV, which was owned by the parent company for a long time. And, of course, we've seen many big TNA first night of being on Monday or first time on a new channel. But this one was pretty big.
Starting point is 01:12:04 It's the first real big positive momentum this way for T&A in a long time. It was definitely, I thought, I thought this was worth you checking it out because it should be one of their big shows. Yeah, thanks a lot there. Take Funny McGee. as Mama Cornett would say, their momentum hit a brick wall. Did I curse them?
Starting point is 01:12:27 Because I was watching this. Just at the top of the show, I'm going to say, now this was one of the biggest cluster fucks I've ever seen in my life. For a new network debut, for a, I don't know what the normal
Starting point is 01:12:45 T&A TV show looks like because we haven't watched it in quite a while. So if this was indicative of what they've been, it's just been a mess. But if this was what they did because they tried to be so fancy and so grandiose on their debut that they shit the bed in the completely opposite direction, maybe that's one thing. But this was not, one would think that the reason why they're making a big deal out of going on AMC is because they expect. to be in front of a lot of new eyeballs, a brand new audience, open up a new, a bigger platform
Starting point is 01:13:26 that more people might be seeing this thing. Could they have done a better job out of confusing anybody who had never seen this fucking show before? If they tried on purpose, let's really drive those motherfuckers crazy. Let's get them so confused. They don't know who the fuck they're looking at. Could they have done a better job?
Starting point is 01:13:51 I ask you. thought the show is horrible and we could break it down. I said a little bit at the very top of the show. Confusion really wasn't the issue for me. Of all the many issues I had, it wasn't, you know, I'm confused about things. It does seem to have a little bit of an identity crisis. Are they alternative NXT? Or are they their own company? It's a... Well, I say... Even that guy, the guy in charge, Carlos Silva, it's like if Tony Khan and Harry Silken had a baby
Starting point is 01:14:22 with no charisma. Oh, God damn it. No, I think he might be Carrie's brother-in-law more than, you know, just a guy comes out wearing a baseball cap and a funny coat.
Starting point is 01:14:37 But no, when I say confusion, I'm looking at it from a television producer who is on more than one occasion, several, has formatted a television program that was the first one for that product to reach a wide audience.
Starting point is 01:14:56 Whether it was with Ohio Valley Wrestling, when we went from the low power TV station to the big full cable coverage, WB juggernaut that we had, or a ring of honor at least going on Sinclair, or whatever the case, or when we did a few different things in WCW and WWW, this was, they tried to be everything
Starting point is 01:15:21 and so fancy and it was just it was a mess. And I'm not even talking about the amateur hour gimmicks and the almost parody of some things to the point where it was ridiculous. But when they started the show, they're in Dallas, Texas, right, at that Coal Center. And they've got, from what I understand from the internet, they had somewhere around 2,800 people.
Starting point is 01:15:48 But it's not a big building. So at first, their first show, shot looked good. And I should mention the cold open first. Apparently, Dave Sahadi is no longer working for him. Because they tried to do one of those cold opens with the announcer voice, voiceover with Gravitas instead of a Liv Schreiber type, they got like a fucking YouTube guy.
Starting point is 01:16:21 in his basement growling into a microphone, and the verbiage was hokey and over the top. They did nice editing visually with the video, but again, it was like they were trying to do a great show for the microscopic audience that they have had up till now, rather than trying to do a show that new people could actually sit down,
Starting point is 01:16:51 down and understand what the fuck was going on. Did you even watch the cold open? And if so, do you see what I'm saying? It was just so over the top with the flowery verbiage and the, the growling, trying to simulate an NFL films thing. And it was just meaningless highlights if you didn't know these people were. Well, again, that's, I don't know how much of that is something they do regularly or if that's just a throwback to the old days.
Starting point is 01:17:18 Because when Dave's Addy was doing it for T&A, those were. kind of at the time groundbreaking. Yes, that's what I'm saying. This was, this was the guy's voice was the thing I remember the most. Well, this was let's put it together in the fucking basement, but also
Starting point is 01:17:35 if you're showing this to a new audience, we don't know who any of these fucking people are and you've already lost everybody. And then they come out and they've got a nice hot crowd and you could tell that people were motivated to make it a big deal. They're chanting AMC. They're chanting T&A, whatever. And here comes A.J. Stiles.
Starting point is 01:17:58 And it gets a big pop. And you can debate that they were calling A.J. The original face of TNA or whatever. When AJ was there, just like Joe and Rude and so many of those guys, the ex-WWF guys were presented over them, but AJ was synonymous with the best period of T&A at that point, at least in the fans' minds that are left, and he's a star, and they loved him,
Starting point is 01:18:34 and the AJ Chance, and he did the big introduction to the house that AJ Stiles built, but he put T&A over and on AMC and got him to chant again, and when AJ got in after that entrance, the announcers are talking, and that's the problem. One of the problems this show's had,
Starting point is 01:18:56 the announcers talked. Whoever the fuck these two are, they're doing the old thing that everybody does and you do it better than I do, Brian, where they're playing announcer and talking like that just all the time. This is one of the greatest nights we've ever seen. Look at this match.
Starting point is 01:19:12 This animal is just out of control. What do you think? Well, they were talking, but we never, we don't know what these motherfuckers look like. It's not even like it's Jim Ross or, you know, whatever, where everybody knows. They could have done a 10-second swing around with a handheld and given them a graphic with their names and just put their faces on it. So we know who's speaking. It's a brand new show. We've never seen these people before.
Starting point is 01:19:41 They did it later on, but they could have done it then. but then AJ did it could have done his promo but then after the AJ promo and he's got him chanting T and A TNA T and A then they went to the show open an animated show open and it's nicely edited and it has more highlights of people that we still don't really know who these motherfuggers are and if this was the animated open that they're going to use on the show going forward every week well I think it's just swell but they had the people up and chanting and then they go to that
Starting point is 01:20:22 and then when they come out of that Brian did you love the shot of the vacant outdoor Curtis Colwell Center after dark did you pay attention to that even there were some interesting shots there were times where the crowd looked really good
Starting point is 01:20:42 and then there were other times I'm talking about the outdoor. I saw the outdoor shot, sure. The drone shot. There was not one living human being. It's the building. There's no cars in the parking lot. The only show is the handicapped spots.
Starting point is 01:20:59 There was no cars in the parking lot. There was nobody in the lobby. You could see through the building, the glass or the front of the lobby. There's nobody in the lobby. There's nobody walking on a sidewalk. You kid, there's not a fucking, it looked like the walking dead.
Starting point is 01:21:13 after the zombie apocalypse. And it was just a slow 20 degree pan of a fucking elevated drone shot of this empty fucking building. They couldn't send some wise ass with a handheld out there at 536 o'clock when all these 2782 people are trying to get in this place
Starting point is 01:21:35 and say this was the scene earlier tonight. And there's more of the announcers that we have not goddamn seen yet. that is talking about the Curtis Cowell Center. And then, now that they come back in the building, they've turned the lights down and settled everything down. So guess who's the first person you see on this show? Elijah, when I read it, I thought, oh, Elijah Burke is there?
Starting point is 01:22:09 Elijah used to be Elias, who had the brother named Ezekiel, who sat there with that stupid fucking guy. guitar and asked us to take a walk. And then the WWE asked him to take a walk. And now he's here. And he's doing the same
Starting point is 01:22:28 goddamn thing. I know I'm moving in quick succession, Brian, but I'll stop here because we're about to get into a match. But the point is they didn't need the drone shot. But they do it because the WWF does it. But they did it at the
Starting point is 01:22:46 worst possible time. live when everybody's in the fucking arena and you're shooting the outside. You simpletons. You couldn't foresee that. So you've had a cold, you've announced you're in Dallas, you've gone to a cold open,
Starting point is 01:23:03 you've come out to a hot crowd, you gave them a star, then you went to a pre-taped show open, then you went to a shot of a fucking empty parking lot, then you came back into the goddamn building and settled everybody down for this, goddamn James Taylor want to be with a fucking beard
Starting point is 01:23:21 how many opens to this show do they need to do? I'm talking about the formatting here most importantly, Brian, so now your thoughts. Wow. You know again, I keep going back to the same thing. It's a bad show. I know the TNA
Starting point is 01:23:40 fans always get honest that you have to give TNA a chance, watch it. When I watch it, the first thing I see is AJ Styles is a star in another company. who's coming out here, just to do a quick rah-rah thing and get out of there. And we never saw him, well, we saw him in the back, but the people in the arena never saw him again. And by the way, he's there, and we'll talk about Dixie and everything else happening. You think Jeff Jarrett felt left out?
Starting point is 01:24:04 No, I think he felt safe. Safe at home. Very good. Well, they go from AJ to Elias, who again, if you are someone watching this. Oh, no, Elijah. Well, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're someone watching this, you're familiar with him probably from WWETV.
Starting point is 01:24:23 You probably haven't said, hey, I really miss that Elias guy. And when he shaved and he was his own brother and he's here doing the exact same gimmick. And to me, that's the problem with TNA. They have no identity for themselves. It's like a WWE Little Brother show, but not like in a good way. NXT should be the Little Brother show. It's almost like the outcast cousin. But like there's elements of what WWE does that they do.
Starting point is 01:24:57 Is this show like a Randy Quaid? This is the cousin Oliver of professional wrestling shows. And, you know, the commentators are doing WWE style commentary, which shouldn't surprise you because the main commentator is a guy who probably trained under Michael Cole and the Kevin Dunn-WE announcing system, which sucks, which is, talking a disingenuous way
Starting point is 01:25:19 and think that people are really going to pay attention to anything you're saying. It's completely not effective. Wrestling needs a host, but that's a whole other issue. But there's no... There's no identity. It just, it looks cheap.
Starting point is 01:25:34 I'm sorry, it does. It looks so cheap. Let's... Let's hold on before we... I'm getting ready to shit on it all. Just whatever you want to talk about. Before we judge too harshly, let's get into this fucking match.
Starting point is 01:25:45 Again, I'm talking about... presenting, you don't want to just start from scratch, disregard all your angles and who is done what and what everybody's relationship is when you start on a new station with a wider reach. But what you do want to do is you want to start out with the thought that we are going to maintain the stories as best we can that we have been telling for our. existing fans while trying to slow down for a few weeks and tell the new people enough to catch them up without bombarding them with enough just nonsense that they can't keep track up.
Starting point is 01:26:34 Do you see what I'm saying? See, I guess that's part of the problem in my eyes. And I don't own TNA. So it's easy for me to sit here and say that. But I would almost, if I did want to run off the fans I have and start a new, because that's part of the problem. They're accepting of this. The people who defend TNA seriously watch it and say, that's a good show. What kind of problem do they have with these shows? These nonstop women's segments with bad acting, these WWE outcasts
Starting point is 01:27:04 doing shit I don't care about. It seems like WWE is not even the big thing. NXT. It's under the thumb of NXT. NXT is like the big overriding thing on this whole show. Well, But still, boy, when I'm trying to be the voice of reason, I know it's gotten you, you're just trying to make up for it driving me crazy. No, it didn't make me happy either. But that's the thing is that you, again, you need to, they gave them a big star at the beginning. They had them hooked.
Starting point is 01:27:35 What about if the fucking top baby face had it come out and joined AJ for a promo, a rah-rah, to give them a little rub, or what about if the top heel, whoever that might be? had come out to fucking verbally joust with him or whatever, but no, they got them up, then they left them. Okay, now who are we going to see next after the exterior and all the other shit? And here's Elijah, and then suddenly, who wants to walk with Elijah? And then the lights come on and here's the guitar player and the Hardee's come out and there's
Starting point is 01:28:10 random people, civilians coming down the stage with cell phones and Matt's character. carrying two belts and Jeff's got one. And all these people suddenly burst out and are making noise. And now we see the announcers. When we only had one fucking guy that we knew who the fuck he was walking out before. We didn't see the announcers. But now that there's 16 and we don't even know what we're looking at, here's the announcers too.
Starting point is 01:28:40 And they give us a ridiculous amount of information about what the matches are going to be. again amongst people we've never heard of before and are seeing for the first time as a new audience and then they introduce the baby faces and then it's time for the heels to enter for the six-man tag Matt and Jeff and Elijah against and here comes
Starting point is 01:29:05 what are their guys the groups name order for clean up in aisle six the group's name is order for and guys start coming down the entranceway in suits and Mustafa Ali who we used to know is Muhammad Ali over there in Titan land he's one of them but there's other guys in suits there's a manager or security force guy but as soon as they're coming down the ramp they fly in a box from the last big payper view where there's Elijah is riding a horse inside the arena behind Mustafa Ali and hog ties him with a rope and drags him out of the arena.
Starting point is 01:29:55 This is in a double box they've flown in while these people are making their entrances with and there's a girl in the group. But as the ring announcer is about to introduce them, they jump into the ring and jump start the match and cut the introduction off. and I wrote, I can't write this fast. But again, with these, they started coming down the ramp and suddenly they fly in a double box with its bigger with a picture of a guy riding a horse indoors. It just looks fucking ridiculous.
Starting point is 01:30:30 All of it, it's just coming at you. Isn't it amazing that this happened that we heard nothing? Like no one said, how come you guys haven't talked about him riding into town on a horse and lassoing his opponent? to drag it about of the building.
Starting point is 01:30:43 Not one word from anyone about this. And I want to thank all those people who didn't tell us. And then the announcer started saying it, I wrote one of the heels in white, the heels were all dressed in white. And one of them is John Schuyler, who didn't, he used to be somewhere. Was he in the dark order?
Starting point is 01:31:05 Was that John Silver? Yeah. Or I don't, I don't know. And they just, they went no tags with a six-way. Elijah suplexed one of the heels off the top rope while he was standing on the backs of two of the other ones. They've got a girl referee that has a ponytail. Never seen that before. And they went a minute and went to the fucking break.
Starting point is 01:31:31 And I'm like, Jesus Christ, thank God they stopped. I was getting seasick. They've lost everybody by that. point that's like what is going on here then they came back from the break i swear to god the hearties were on the floor for some reason they'd been wiped out and elijah foiled the heels and hit a hot tag to jeff and right as he hit the hot tag the camera was showing the celebrities in the audience looking bored and when i say celebrities i'm talking about people on amc shows that we have never fucking heard of.
Starting point is 01:32:14 And they weren't even jumping up and down. They were just like, yeah, we're here. And they missed the hot tank. Jeff made to come back. The heel girl got in the ring. The referee was just looking at it. And Jeff ran one of the heels into the heel girl. And then the girl was on the heels back.
Starting point is 01:32:34 So Matt gave a twist of fate to both of them. And then cover and the referee counted a cluster. fuck, save, the heels tagged again. And then Jeff Swanton, one of these guys with every bit of his fucking weight right on this guy, one, two, three. And I have heard people say that maybe Jeff is doing that because he can't, he's heard, he can't take the bump on the mat anymore. Then don't do the goddamn move.
Starting point is 01:33:07 We are going to have a serious fucking issue. if you jump off, I'm laying there on purpose waiting for you and you jump off the top rope and land on me in that manner. We have a serious fucking problem to discuss. Fucking hell. Do you have any comments here because there's more? Keep going. Well, Special Agent Zero popped up and got in.
Starting point is 01:33:36 This fucking guy that they were trying to sell like, my God, he's a walking deadly weapon like he looked like Batista or something. He looks like, I don't know, he looks like a fucking guy with a kind of funny haircut and a suit. And he beat up all three
Starting point is 01:33:55 of the baby faces. And then Vincent and Dutch from the righteous, remember them from years ago somewhere. AEW. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:34:09 Well, they came out in their white suits to save the Hardys and make Special Agent Zero and the rest of his zero teammates get out of there. And then they helped the Hardys up and beat the shit out of them. And they padlocked the gross fucking hole that Jeff Hardy has in his fucking ear. They put a padlock in that and chained him to the turnbuckle and beat. up Matt and said they were going to win the belts at the at the pay-per-view this and then all that didn't take 10 minutes it was just what the fuck is happening and who are these people
Starting point is 01:35:01 and they they ran off and left everybody after a.J they again if they had one of their talents to come and join him in festivities in the ring then couldn't they have started with a single match for eight minutes between two of the used people in this organization, where then the announcers could have had a little more time to talk about the big main event and all the things you're going to see and a AMC and all those type of things and have two athletes that looked like they were halfway competent. Give us a little fucking action in the ring and then start going into,
Starting point is 01:35:47 give me your thoughts so we can move along. Again, this isn't even about the hearties at this point. I've said my piece about them when they were in AEW. Nothing changes. The whole thing just feels minor league, to me. The look, the ring ropes, I mean, just everything
Starting point is 01:36:09 about everything there just looked cheap. There were some shots where the crowd looked really good and then other ones where, whatever they call it, Hollywood Row. on celebrities. No one in the second row. But in terms of who's in this,
Starting point is 01:36:25 you know, if I was watching TNA, maybe I would give the righteous a chance. I saw enough in A.E.W. to know that they're in like a Wyatt wannabe gimmick or just some sort of wacky gimmick that, you know, it's too wacky for wrestling. They're wacky. Yeah, they're wacky.
Starting point is 01:36:42 The Hardys are the Hardys. Elias wasn't a gimmick I ever wanted to see again. You know what? he of all of them has a physique and size and did some nice athletic shit. It's just the rotten gimmick and the presentation that he's always in the middle of fools. And at this point he'll never be able to outrun that gimmick. That's the gimmick. That's it forever.
Starting point is 01:37:06 And then the other guys, the, you know, the wall and whatever else was happening there of that team all in their suit. Again, who cares? Every now and then we hear from people like, oh, you have to give Mustafa Ali a chance. chance, he's really good, and he does him passion promos, and every time I check at anything he's doing, it's some sort of fucking indie-level comedy group or just something that, not for me, not for me at all. He takes a good bump face first into the turn buckle. But you talked about Hollywood Row, let's go to Hollywood Row. They had nice crowd shots at the beginning of the program, these wide sweeping shots of the stands where all these people
Starting point is 01:37:45 it looked like something. And then they show a boxer that nobody's ever heard of that apparently was part of the flea weight category. He looked like he was as big as cowboy laying. He's holding a belt. No pop.
Starting point is 01:38:00 No pop. No pop, because who knows who the fuck this guy is? And then they show a row of content creators. What the fuck is a content creator? And not only that, but they have put these content creators and this goddamn unknown boxer
Starting point is 01:38:20 in a completely empty ringside section in front of a section of the building that's empty. There's no people in the stands on that side of the building and they've just revealed that. We wouldn't have known it except for the shot they took on purpose. Then we would have never seen that. We wouldn't have seen it on any shot of the ring or the entranceway but because they had to show content creators.
Starting point is 01:38:48 And then they went to another shot of more empty seats and not just because they're in a empty section of ringside, but you see in the back half the building, the bleachers are empty. And they had to do that to show flop dollar. Like that's in a track, look who's here, flop dollar, he's a rapper and a wrestler. doesn't do either one very well
Starting point is 01:39:14 and so they show more 500 more empty seats and then they have a girl announcer who is horrible hold on what kind of problem did you have with her no she's grim death on the fucking microphone
Starting point is 01:39:31 no she was rotten rotten rotten to the core and they put her in front of the empty seats to talk to the stars of AMC that nobody knew who the fuck they were. And then Ryan Nimeth, not even Nick, but Ryan
Starting point is 01:39:52 comes out to do the deal where he interferes, where interrupts the stars. And apparently they were running along because he just had to go into it. He'd go, fuck you. And there was a shove. And then he goes to jump the rail. And he crouched himself on the rail,
Starting point is 01:40:09 jumping over it to attack. the celebrities and made a funny face and one of them hit him and he fell down and it was bad comedy is so fake and they go from this now just think about this this is their debut on amc they've shown three giant sections of empty seats in the building that they didn't need to except they had to shoot the people that nobody's ever heard of to illustrate that they have no celebrities that are known on a national basis in their fucking building,
Starting point is 01:40:47 they could have put these people in front of the front row that was full and gone to them quick with the announcers at ringside instead of this fucking girl who shrieked through the whole thing. And after they take those unnecessary shots, then they go to a clip of Santino Morella's daughter, kicking him in the balls in a cage match, and just said, I like him.
Starting point is 01:41:14 Yeah, yeah, and here, unfortunately, Santino's daughter has turned on him. He's lost at what the fuck? Most of these people might remember, if you've got it, again, in any new audience, is going to remember Santino Morella as the comedy idiot with the sock on his arm 15 years ago.
Starting point is 01:41:39 Instead, they show his daughter kicking him in the balls in a cage match like he's, he must wrestle here regularly. God damn, how old is he? And then they bring him out, he's in a sweatsuit, and he's the director of authority. With funny music doing his funny accent,
Starting point is 01:41:57 wearing a badge on a chain around his neck, like a fireman's badge, and the announcers even reference his quote unquote brand of entertainment while he comes out and does a promo about his daughter turning on him while still doing a comedy accent and this is the guy that's supposed to be running the show they sold this to AMC to Brian is this is this is some cable
Starting point is 01:42:34 access shit if I ever saw it. Yeah. And again, I talk about you watch this show, it's WW Outcasts, and it's people that still enjoy that shit. There was an audience that liked the Santino stuff. And then there were a lot of us, and when I say us, I mean, people like me, people who became AEW fans,
Starting point is 01:42:57 who said this specifically is the kind of shit I don't like. And although you may make some of the kids in the crowd happy, or you may make someone laugh with your sock on your arm being a snake to a lot of us is the exact example of everything that's wrong with modern wrestling wrestling can have crazy characters
Starting point is 01:43:18 it doesn't have to be over the top silly in a way that entertains Vince McMahon and it feels like across the board it is still that and when you see this when you tune into this and you see Santino Morella And obviously, I don't know if he owns that name or if they allow that to be done because it was a WWE created name. But he's a WWE guy doing the same WWE gimmick.
Starting point is 01:43:45 His daughter that turned on him, apparently is the daughter he was with at OVW when you... His daughter slapped him the same way you did actually now that I think about it. There you go. He spends his life getting slapped. But, you know, again, if it was him, even with that name and it had been an evolution of the character, without saying I was a comedy figure for a long time, all of a sudden it's the real guy. Obviously, he could talk.
Starting point is 01:44:10 Just the real guy being the commissioner, it'd be one thing. But it's a comedy commissioner. Why not just have Jameson as the commissioner? Why not have a bushwhacker as the commissioner? You know what I mean? It's just like, what the fuck? How are you supposed to take this company seriously when they got this guy as the commissioner?
Starting point is 01:44:25 And then again, the bootleg Carrie Silken coming out there later on as the president looks as sad as could be. Well, and that's where I was going with this, because again, for formatting and for a new network debut and a new audience, not only do they present, okay, this guy is a goddamn complete imbecile, and he's also the director of authority,
Starting point is 01:44:48 so this is kind of a comedy show anyway, and then he introduces his new assistant, and she comes out, it's Crewe Ellen DeVille from the WWE. Oh, Sonia DeVille, she comes. I'd miss her. She can talk, but she comes out in a like a Matador miniskirt. It looked very nice. One of the only star-looking people on his show gave a big r-rah-rah speech and put all the
Starting point is 01:45:18 fans over how great everything was. And then said the only thing at TNA doesn't need is you, Santino Morella, she turned heel on Santino. and then had a meltdown on him and the fans. So on the network debut, we've met the fucking general manager or director of authority, whatever they're calling on this program. And then he's introduced his new assistant, and she's turned on him,
Starting point is 01:45:46 and then she introduces a new girl. She's just signed. And she's, and please welcome. And then she never says the girl's name. It just, I've never, please welcome, and it's like they cut her mic. And out comes a girl and the announcers say,
Starting point is 01:46:05 oh, that's Elena Black. So did they just do three months of shit in that 10-minute segment? Three months of shit. Yeah, shit, quite literally. We meet the guy. He introduces his assistant. She turns fucking heel on him. and the fans and introduces a new talent in 10 minutes.
Starting point is 01:46:31 And by the way, she's only known from being on WWTV. She's not using that name. So it's a brand new name for her. Going back to what she was doing on Smackdown being a commissioner character. I don't know, again, whether she could talk or not, that's not something I want more of. Like, I wouldn't say, hey, someone signs Soraya so she could be a commissioner. Like, I don't want that.
Starting point is 01:46:53 And then she brings out Elena Black who was, she was one of those NXT girls. let go. I think was she Cora Jade or something where like all the pervert fans like, oh, she's great. And then like, you know, she's just there. Well, that's what, Cora Jade, Cori Apple, something like that. And Sonia is Daria, Daria Ray, Daria Earl Ray, Andrew Windsor, Mountbatten. I don't know what the fuck. But that's the point is nobody recognizes the names. They all know who she is, but you can't call herself that. But
Starting point is 01:47:26 they've sped through weeks of story development in one segment and yeah and everybody it's it's the w-wee you know cutting room floor here but i'll tell you what i was about ready to be fed up but i said no i promised brian but the next one just about broke me and it i think that's what turned the tide on the hot crowd. It was like a bucket of ice water on their hot throbbing manhood. This could have been the worst thing of the night. The personal concierge of this, what is this elegance brand thing is apparently
Starting point is 01:48:20 these three girls with this fucking twit that's their personal concierge, is the elegance brand is what I'm gathering from trying to pick this up as we go. They opened in the ring and the guy introduced himself as the personal concierge. He's doing the talk and there's three girls in the ring. Jesus Christ, what a lineup this was. And a giant, what looked like a chicken with his back to the fucking, but a big white feathery creature with his back to the,
Starting point is 01:48:57 the camera and a guy in a green shorts and a Hawaiian shirt outfit with purple hair, who was introduced as Perez Hilton. Not Paris Hilton. They wouldn't have put Paris Hilton in the ring with these shovel-faced wannabes. Good Lord, they put their poster in prisons to cure the sex offenders. But this, Perez Hilton has not been on television in 15 years, has he? and he shouldn't have been on this. They're making a big
Starting point is 01:49:33 hoop-de-do about fashion or whatever, and Perez Hilton sucks, and it's very amateur. And then the concierge says they're soon to be crowned the tag team champions. So we're going to introduce our new edition, the greatest makeover ever, Mr. Elegance!
Starting point is 01:49:57 the chicken throws off his cape and that's Mr. elegance and the crowd is fucking farting at all this and this guy can't talk and he looks like a fucking douchebag and they're getting the cat calls and booing and supposedly he was like a fat guy
Starting point is 01:50:21 last week but they pulled a switch but they expect us to believe it's the same guy this looked like one of those fucking sketches on Fridays that went south. At this point, I quit. I said, I'm going to give it one more segment. Because then they played music and two other girls came out who were the inspiration. And I was inspired to skip that whole thing and say I would give the show one more segment before I gave up completely because this was driving me out of my mind. Brian, what do you think about the elegant angels there?
Starting point is 01:51:03 Those specifically are Ash by Elegance, who's the former whatever she was in WWE, that's one of the ones we hear from people. How could you not like Ash by Elegance? Or you have to see the... No, I don't. It's not good. None of this is good. This is bad gloat.
Starting point is 01:51:22 Well, they didn't do anything anyway. They were standing out wearing stupid outfits and little teeny hats. And then you see the segments. This was glow. This was bad glow wrestling. And it's not good. And if someone really wants to make a difference with a wrestling company, don't have a women's division.
Starting point is 01:51:40 Yeah, there you go. Seriously, just someone have a company without a women's division. Horrible. This whole show is horrible. TNA is horrible. Let's talk about the rest of it. All right. Well, I said I'm going to give it one more segment, right?
Starting point is 01:51:57 So I zip ahead. and guess what the next segment Santino was back who introduced two more girls with gold club stripper gimmicks and a choreographed dance entrance and then they came out and this is on fast forward by the way
Starting point is 01:52:14 I'm watching this and two other girls came out and signed a contract to rest of it. So I said I'll give it one more chance let's just give me something the next segment was the system on stage. The system was three guys
Starting point is 01:52:34 wearing t-shirts and jeans and matching green jackets a girl and moose who I recognize have even met once before in a past. And the announcer said
Starting point is 01:52:47 they have been the dominant group in T&A. Is this like the four horsemen? What the fuck? But apparently they're the baby faces. Even the girl talked first she shouldn't talk at all. She should be seen and not heard also.
Starting point is 01:53:04 But apparently they are the baby faces. And then, to my shock and surprise, one of them is Eddie Edwards. I know Eddie Edward didn't recognize him for a minute, different physique, different hairstyle. I haven't seen him in 15 years. But as they're talking, he turned to the guy next to him and they're having a match.
Starting point is 01:53:30 And the guy in the dirty dango t-shirt, I don't know who he is. I didn't hear them say his name. He used to be Fandango in WW. Oh, Christ. He was a dancer. I know, I remember that. Who wanted you to pronounce his name correctly?
Starting point is 01:53:47 Fandango. Well, he's there. And even though they're apparently all friends and baby faces, he's retiring at their next pay-per-view, and it's going to be a match against Eddie Edwards for reasons that I don't know were explained and don't really give a shit to begin with.
Starting point is 01:54:13 But here's the thing. Okay, this dango fellow, he starts talking, I'm grateful to finish my career in TNA. It's the best locker room I've ever been in. Like anybody gives you shit, about that, right? And thanks for being a great crowd. Okay, that's a baby face statement. And then he says my last match is Saturday against my good friend Eddie Edwards. Next week, I'm going to be here to announce my replacement in this group. But in the meantime,
Starting point is 01:54:46 he turns to Eddie and he says, he actually says this. They wrote some stuff for me. This motherfucker, if I could have just put a goddamn spear. through the TV screen. They wrote some stuff for me, but I'm going to tear up when I tell you this. I love you like a brother, et cetera, et cetera, but I ain't going out like a punk. And then they just stood there,
Starting point is 01:55:14 and it looked like for a moment they were going to tongue kiss. And I'm a what the fuck? I'm confused. Who the, why? What is fucking going on with these people? But they wrote some stuff for me. He better be glad Saturday's his last match because I'd fire him on Sunday.
Starting point is 01:55:38 And that's the top baby face stable. Yes, who looked like a bunch of fucking goofs and Moose didn't even speak. No, Moose has talent. I've seen Moose wrestle. I know he's the goddamn star. Yeah, he's got talent. So anyway, then,
Starting point is 01:55:55 well, give me any of your thoughts before we talk about the big return and the huge pop The system promo You know, I had not thought about what has happened to Fandangle I forgot all about him Took me a few seconds after seeing him to realize that's who it was He's having his big retirement match
Starting point is 01:56:16 Why is he fighting his friend in a retirement match The whole thing is You know again, there are issues I just want to say there are issues I have with TNA Some of them are about talent But by and large, it's the creative It's the tone of the show, it's the feel of the show. This is not a current thing under Carlos Silva.
Starting point is 01:56:38 It's something that goes back from Scott the Moore to Jeff Charette, the Bruce Pritchard, the Russo. There's just something that smells like death about TNA. And I think more than ever before, even with the AMC deal, I've said it before, it's wrestling purgatory. It's a bunch of guys waiting to. see if they're going to be scooped up to go to heaven? Or if they're going to get stuck in hell? That's all TNA is.
Starting point is 01:57:07 If you want to go to heaven, you gotta raise a little hell. Will Uncle Paul, well, St. Paul, reach out his hand and take me with him? Or will I stay here? It's just, it's not a good show. Nothing feels fresh. But there's more. There's more show. Yes, there is.
Starting point is 01:57:28 in this next part, and you talked about Carlos Silva. And all through the show, that's the one thing that I guess that we haven't made the point before we get any further, is that they have been, it's been so over the top. AMC, AMC, how great it did it. They introduced the non-celebrity celebrities. And they've, everybody's mentioned it in the promos, and they've got the people to chant it. and it's not it passed the level to where
Starting point is 01:58:01 that it was oh isn't it great we're on this wonderful new network and we've got this great partnership to oh my God thank these people came along and sent us a lifeline we've been floating in the fucking ocean for so long and the sharks were circling type of attitude it was it not that they went so far with it
Starting point is 01:58:20 it was like by God life and death gratitude rather than a major announcement of expansion. This is the way I took it. Well, there may be a reason for that. They didn't have to do that. I mean, they on their own show. But then here's this Carlos Silva fella.
Starting point is 01:58:41 And I was thinking Carlos Santana. I don't know why. But he looks like some random guys, you said, like Carrie Silken's brother-in-law. and he introduced, I swear, I'm not lying, Dixie Carter. And as soon as she walks through the curtain, the people started booing. And they continued booing. They didn't give a shit and they didn't want to listen to her.
Starting point is 01:59:15 And she's trying to do, oh, isn't this great speech? And thank you for all being here and thank you. Who was watching A.W or A.W. Who was watching T&A 20 years ago or whatever, that glorious time? And they were just going to go, boo, hug you, we don't want to see you, we don't like you. And she didn't sell it. She was waving and everything. She even said it's like, she's like, this is a really emotional night for me.
Starting point is 01:59:47 Why? You have nothing to do with this. emotional in one way to see I own this when it had a bigger TV show and more viewers than it has now and I bungled it. And now it's a miracle that has been resurrected and I'm out here for you to boo me and remind me of how bad a job I did the first time around.
Starting point is 02:00:12 So maybe that did make her emotional. But I'm just, and before we, analyze this. She did the speech and then Bubba Ray Dudley's music played and out he comes and they have a stare down and she's holding her back like one
Starting point is 02:00:31 thing that she ever did in her life if people remember her for. But it was like a tense moment according to the announcers that is he going to power bomber again? Everybody, no, nobody gives a shit. Hardly anybody remembers that and it's still the most well remembered things she ever did.
Starting point is 02:00:47 That's what they should have done. It would be great. No one would have expected. Oh, they're going to reunite. Oh, no, he's going to do it again. They would have carried Bubba Ray Dudley out of the building on her shoulders if he had, but instead they hugged. And then he got heat for hugging her. And she left and he went to the color position.
Starting point is 02:01:07 But I'm just, she has, as far as I know, no interest, no financial. I'm not talking about she's not interested. It has no financial interest, no ownership. anymore at this point, does she? Does she still have 2% where they have to acknowledge her existence? I don't know. What did they think
Starting point is 02:01:30 kind of response that they were going to get when they brought her out? If these are the people that like TNA and that are glad that T&A is prospering, she'd be the biggest heel
Starting point is 02:01:43 in the history of company besides maybe shit stain for damaging it and getting it kicked off TV and fucking stars leaving. So why and why would they think it was a good idea if she has nothing to do with the company anymore to bring her back?
Starting point is 02:02:01 It's not like a beloved talent from the past. It's the stumbling block that sidelined them for 10 years. Her family's money saved the company, but her constant involvement and interference is what, led to its not demise, but purgatory. And remember when her old man flew J.R. to Dallas to talk about him running the company, but Dixie has, she has still had to be figured in because it hurt her feelings.
Starting point is 02:02:35 When Jeff Jared had the country music star that wanted to buy the thing, oh, but you got to keep Dixie on in some kind of role. It hurt her feelings. When Billy Corgan thought that he had bought the fucking thing. I forgot about that. Yeah. Yes, the whole idea was to get Dixie out of it. Everybody that's ever tried to fucking do anything with for the company and buy it or do anything to improve it.
Starting point is 02:03:04 Dixie was the stumbling block. And finally, when she had no choice but to give it up, when Anthem ended up having advanced them more money than they could pay back and they got it. So she has been the hang up in every transaction up until then to try to help the company prosper. So they bring her, why? Because it was Dallas. Does she live there now? Was she downvist and Ma Ma'all and Pawpaw?
Starting point is 02:03:37 Or what? They should have introduced them so they can get booed too. I don't know that has anybody ever even seen a picture of them? I know they don't want to show their face now. But did you think she called up and asked because she still, she's a wannabe real housewife of something? And she always wanted to be on TV. Did she call them up and offer to show up?
Starting point is 02:04:03 I don't know. Who knows? Do you think she should have ended her promo with, I'll see you at the bar later, boys. Yeah, who's going to pour the wine? It's a puzzling decision because she was not a popular figure. And everyone knew that she wasn't just an on-air character. Everyone knew she actually owned the company and controlled its fortunes and misfortunes.
Starting point is 02:04:28 You could blame Rousseau for so much. But at the end of the day, she was the one who said yes to everything. Yeah. I mean, it all goes back to her. And every mistake the company made. She was somewhat of a hindrance even in times when Rousseau was not around. You know, you say people only remember the Bubba Redd I remember her holding on the Hulk Hogan's leg
Starting point is 02:04:51 when he walked off the show. Never to come back. But yeah, it's a puzzling decision because there's no way she would get cheered. It'd be one thing if she just came out and waved or sat in Hollywood Row with the boxer and the little guy and whoever else was there.
Starting point is 02:05:07 And the fucking... The old gardener that started something. I don't know what that guy. The influencers, all the random... Here are some wrestling influencers. Look, we see lots of things that people say, I've never seen any of these people before in my life.
Starting point is 02:05:22 I don't know who they're... I've never heard of any of the names. I don't know who they're... Yeah, they don't have a lot of sway over a lot of people. So they bring Dixie back. It is a cool moment that the fans get the booer. I mean, maybe it was for that. Maybe they realized we got to do something for the fans.
Starting point is 02:05:35 Let's give them Dixie to boo. But you have to expect that. I mean, I don't think anyone reasonably going to thought, oh, they'll give a polite applause to this woman. Again, everyone's looking at AMC right now us this big success. I look at it the other way. This company has fallen so low that this is the big moment for them and it didn't have to because they, TNA was a lot more popular 15 years ago than it is now. And to be honest with you, I think that's part of the problem they had in this
Starting point is 02:06:10 show also in that they relied, especially in the confrontation between AJ Styles and Kazarian and we got one more match we'll talk about in a minute but they relied on everybody remembering what happened in TNA 15 years ago also back when it was more popular instead of bothering to remind us first they had too many people and too much shit going on with trying to explain too much or not explaining enough and just all over the place and just this visually
Starting point is 02:06:45 ridiculous nonsense instead of starting to try to ease us into the goddamn thing so that we could be able to retain some of this and some of it was shit you wouldn't want to ever think about again. So, but yeah,
Starting point is 02:07:02 Dixie was not ever going to be popular by any means and I don't know why they wanted to, it gained nothing for him to bring her out and it was kind of embarrassing that everybody booed her. so I don't know who is you know what would have been better Brian
Starting point is 02:07:24 well go ahead what were you going to say no I would like to know what would be better because I think maybe that's what I was going to talk about well I know what would have been better is if if back in the old days when T&A was much more popular as a business and a brand than they are today if they'd have had a good partner
Starting point is 02:07:41 to help them get to the next level not Dixie Carter, not some want-to-be real housewife of Hendersonville, Tennessee that was just always wanted to be on camera, but a partner that would give them a platform, that would give them experience, that would give them a heavy hitter in the business world to take them to the promised land and show them how to build their dream business. That's what they should have had. Do you agree with me there, Brian? I agree with you there, Brian.
Starting point is 02:08:15 Well, in that case, then you'll agree with me that Shopify are the people that should have done that thing there that needed done. Because if Jeff Jarrett had had Shopify in his corner instead of having to go to some off-brand public relations twit, why then Shopify would have given him all the tools that he needed to build his dream store. he could have chosen from hundreds of beautiful templates that customized and matched his brand. He could have used the built-in AI tools to write the product descriptions and the booking instead of the tool that he was using to do the booking. And the marketing. He could have created the email and social campaigns that reached the customers instead of these off-brand interns straight out of college that Dixie would hire because she could pay them cheap. And as T&A grew, that's right, more money coming in, see all the time, as T&A grew, Brian, Shopify would have grown with it. Whereas Dixie Carter just grew stale, tired, and bored, Shopify grows like a giant mutant carbuncle on you.
Starting point is 02:09:31 It's part of you. And you expand with it until you're an all-encompassing, star-eating blob with a great, gravitational pull. And that's the way that you slowly creep over the landscape and take over the world. All with Shopify. I don't know. Again, Shopify is a great partner. We, of course, work with Shopify for arcadian vanguard.com.
Starting point is 02:09:54 And everyone out there, if you have a business and you're online, if you need easy commerce, easy checkout, get your products everywhere. Shopify is the partner for you. Well, that's right. You can handle more order. expand to new markets. Poland will fall. That's not, that's no, it's not, that's not how it works, though.
Starting point is 02:10:17 Well, you'll be expanding and other people better get the heck out of the way because Shopify is a steamroller waiting to mow you down and take your money and give it to the people on their side. Wait, what? So be on their side. That's not how it works, and I don't know who the they or you or whatever in that situation is.
Starting point is 02:10:35 It's rolling down the hill. It's a giant boulder rolling, down the hill gathering moss and speed as it goes be swept up in it or be crushed by it in twenty twenty six stop waiting and start selling with shopify sign up right now for your one dollar per month trial period and start selling today at shopify dot com slash jce shopify dot com slash jCE that's where you get the one dollar a month trial period using that code and then world dominance is within your grasp
Starting point is 02:11:14 as long as Shopify's got a finger in your pie not exactly once again not exactly how we should put it but Shopify is the partner you could rely on we do and you can as well one more time Jim that wonderful promo code for a great deal for the listeners for the finger in their pie, Shopify.com slash JCE. Well, we still had the main event of this thing to go,
Starting point is 02:11:47 and my, it hadn't taken a lot of their gravy to go all over my plate. I was not in any way looking forward to anything else, but I thought Santana and Frankie Kazarian, it's got to be better than what they've done so far, and it was, but that's faint praise. Both these guys, they're in good shape, they look like athletes, they tried, they worked hard, Kazarian has plenty of experience, is excellent in the rings, Santana ain't bad, but this show was snake bit, and I mean, they had, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the
Starting point is 02:12:28 match, to be honest with you, because I was just done with this thing by that point. they did a bunch of modern style shit, but again, they looked more professional than everybody else on the show. But then the goddamn finish just fell apart. And it was the point where I was like,
Starting point is 02:12:49 oh, geez, I feel bad for these guys. They were going to do a deal where Santana almost ran into the referee and they stopped and they were supposed to look at each guy, other so that Kazarian could come with the drop kick. But they botched that spot to where he didn't really almost hit the referee. And then the referee, and they weren't in the right place. So the referee had to look at him like, why did you almost hit me? And he had to stand there and get in the
Starting point is 02:13:20 right place while saying, I didn't really. And then Kazarian went for the drop kick. And I don't was, I guess Santana was supposed to move. or maybe he was supposed to drop kick Santana and Santana would hit the referee, but I don't know, Kazarian goes for a drop kick, Santana doesn't move, Kazarian puts his foot right past, I mean, it was a great shot right past Santana's chest and kicked the referee, but from the camera shot, it looked like Kazarian kicked the Santana and the referee flew off the other side of Santana, and they both fell on either side of him and he was just standing there.
Starting point is 02:14:06 And I'm like, what? So then now the referee's down. So then they start doing other stuff and suddenly Kazarian gives Santana a Canadian destroyer and Santana just pops up to his feet without selling it and hits his big clothesline and covers him. One, two, and Kazarian kicks out. referee counts three.
Starting point is 02:14:35 And then they just went on and ignored that he had counted three because in a minute, the clothesline's going to be the finish. He counted three on the first clothesline. They just pop up, they go for another thing, which is supposed to be a roll up into some kind of ankle lock, but they just fell in a heap on that. And then Santana hit another clothesline that didn't look as good as. is the first one, one, two, three. Even them, even the new champion,
Starting point is 02:15:14 but even them, it was a mess. And they had, the referee shouldn't. I know a lot of people are going to say, we always say the referee to count. Not when the guy kicks out. He kicked out. The guy counted on the first clothes line instead of the second one. But when they were walking through this thing,
Starting point is 02:15:37 I don't know why the second one was needed. They had it. It looked good. That was going to be the finish anyway. They should have just, but they had to pop up and do more. And that was the climax of one of the rottenest wrestling television programs that I have seen since we've been doing this.
Starting point is 02:16:05 And that's why I have to make a public apology to AEW as an entity and as a television show. I said that AEW was the worst television wrestling show with a budget on the air in the world, and I take that back. This has a budget of some description, and it made me want to see some AEW. So for the people who say I never apologize, never admit when I was wrong, I just did and I apologize to AEW. You're still rotten,
Starting point is 02:16:48 but you're not anywhere near this rot. So I do apologize. We do get feedback often after a dynamite review. Well, why don't you give TNA a chance? Why don't you give NXT a chance? Why don't you give Ring of Honor? All these different things. We watched NXT and that was insufferable.
Starting point is 02:17:08 NXT is, it's kind of similar to T&A if everyone was young and had a future. It's just, you know, like everyone may be going somewhere still. But it's still childish Vince McMahon's style wrestling. When people tell you, oh, you didn't give the girls a fair chance and you watch it, it's like girls who have been taught
Starting point is 02:17:30 how to go through the motions, but have no idea how to work, had no idea to react to a crowd. And it's not even their fault. I mean, it's just not the way they're taught, not the world they're exposed to, and they don't get the matches that other people would have gotten in the past. The bookings childish. Gimmicks. I don't know.
Starting point is 02:17:49 The gimmicks in the 80s, as much complaining as people do about them, guys were either committed enough to make it work or just work. You see, like, the NXT fans that like the Tony DeAngelos stuff, I see this. I'm like, this is the silliest gimmick I've ever seen. Sillier than anything, sillier than Outback Jack. Like, this is just silly. But it's like that everywhere. I said it's a infection everywhere.
Starting point is 02:18:14 It's different degrees of Vince McMahon-style television, Vince McMahon's style commentary, Vince McMahon's humor, Vince McMahon's style segments. AEW feels more lively because everyone just does whatever the fuck they want. And when you watch a show that's not like that, you kind of do, I don't know if appreciates the right word,
Starting point is 02:18:38 but you, man, you appreciate it a little more. I'll say, whatever you want to say about AEW, AEW is world's better than TNA. And for every fucking person that gets in touch and says TNA is better than AEDA should give it a chance. It's not. It's not. The TV show isn't better.
Starting point is 02:18:53 The roster isn't better. Not that they don't have some talent on that roster. It's nice to see Mike Santana getting a chance because he never got that in AED. But AEDD dynamite is better than TNA impact. Every week, I'm sure. Because this was a bad show. and this was their big debut.
Starting point is 02:19:12 You would think this would be the show that, you know, the raw after WrestleMania has to be good. At least someone new will come out. Do you think, did they try too hard? Is it not normally like this? Or are we just, again, try to give them the... Every time that somebody says,
Starting point is 02:19:30 oh, watch this promotion, if we watch it, and it's a crummy show where it's just our timing? You know, of all the different wrestling companies out there that do wrestling or wrestling they either do wrestling TV on TV or on the internet even no one just says how can we do this
Starting point is 02:19:49 so that it's serious how can we do this so the commentators have credibility how can we do this so that even if we have extraordinary characters that you don't normally meet in everyday life we're not telling you they're bullshit before you ever even see them
Starting point is 02:20:06 they're committed to what they're doing The booking makes sense. We have good guys against bad guys. We have logical fucking progressions of stipulations and matches. We concentrate on who we want to get over and who we just want on the card because we have that plan for the next three to six months before we start. Things like that. Precisely. Instead, we get everyone doing what WWB does.
Starting point is 02:20:35 You come out in your entrance while you do your special pose, like you're on a fucking. runway or something. And then you walk to the ring. The other person does that. No one has a fucking hometown or whatever. Whatever WW does, everyone also copy. The commentators are so disingenuous. You don't believe anything they're saying.
Starting point is 02:20:52 They just seem like they're performing as commentators. And the booking and just everything. The Ashby Elegance segment, what the fuck was that? They're little hats. The little hats they wore. And I appreciate the best of women's wrestling. And there are women's wrestlers who I say good things about before they've really done much.
Starting point is 02:21:12 Everyone's like, oh, you must think they're good looking. No, I actually think they have talent. But besides all that, there's way too much fucking women's wrestling on American wrestling TV. There's never been a sign that there's a demand that meets the quantity that's being put out there, just nonstop segments in women's wrestling. Give them their own show. Treat it well. book it well, put money behind it. But don't flood every American wrestling TV show with women's matches. There's no demand. I demand something.
Starting point is 02:21:50 What's that? I demand they do what you just said because I'm sick. I'm sick. I'm fed up, Brian. If I only had time, imagine what Thunderbolt would say. But, you know, that's the thing. Like, everyone, whenever we talk about mid-South or mid-Atlantic, or Florida.
Starting point is 02:22:11 You know, you're talking about Bill Watson, Boyd Pierce, you're talking about Bob Cottle and even David Crockett. I told my Gordon solely, no one condescended you. Like, no one talked down to you. It never felt like that. And the host of the show, and I used the word host. With David Crockett, you could feel like he was talking up to you. I got to fuck with David.
Starting point is 02:22:35 I like David. But they were hosts. like they were the glue of the entire show. They held the microphones for the interviews. They explained what happened. They didn't go usually over the top for baby faces or heels, even if they called out heels when they did dastardly things. But you don't have that.
Starting point is 02:22:55 You just have a bunch of screaming heads doing WWE style commentary. And none of these shows connect. One of these shows could be a serious wrestling show. If everyone's doing the same kind of adult. acting like they're trying out for the high school play wrestling stuff, wrestling scenes, skits. Someone go the other way
Starting point is 02:23:18 because there is a demand. But whatever. This show sucked. TNA sucks. For everyone who says TNA's better than AEDW, AEW kicks TNA's ass. Oh, now wait a, you're turning on our principals even here. Well, I will say, but goddamn.
Starting point is 02:23:38 TNA, or I'm sorry, A.W kicking TNA's ass is like a paraplegic taking advantage of an embryo, isn't it? You know, Tony has little periods where it happens, and we'll see what happens now, in terms of the talent they have and what they're going to be able to have access to going forward. But it just never is outright stale. And TNA, it felt stale. It felt like it had been an out of it. on the counter too long. Was that the smell that I was detecting, wafting through the breeze? AW, I have no idea what's going to end up on my plate.
Starting point is 02:24:18 I have no, I have no idea what I'm going to eat. I have no idea how I'm going to get home. With T&A, it's, it's not good. You'd rather go on a hunger strike. Yeah, not good. Well, Brian, what is good before we go any further in the Arcadian VATTS? Vanguard Network World of Classic Wrestling Podcast this week that we can listen to as a palette cleanser. That's right before we get to other things we hate. Let's talk a little bit about the Arcadian
Starting point is 02:24:48 Vanguard Podcast Network. Wherever you find your favorite podcasts, of course, on Twitter, at Super Podcasts or on Facebook. Facebook.com slash Arcadian Vanguard. Each and every day, get the wrestling news, get your wrestling news. Direct from the wrestling news.com, wherever you find your favorite podcast. No opinion. No clickbait, no paywall, no star ratings. Just the news from the wrestling news. I want to make mention of Shut Up and Wrestle with Brian Solomon. The NWA Champions series continues.
Starting point is 02:25:22 George Shire joins the show to talk about Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. Hear that today. SUAWPod.com. Or look for Shut Up and Russell with Brian Solomon, wherever you find your favorite podcast. And on Stick to Wrestling with John McAdam, 40 years ago in 1986
Starting point is 02:25:39 hear what was happening McAdampod.com or stick to wrestling with John McAdam wherever you find your favorite podcast and of course the 605 super podcast The Mothership!
Starting point is 02:25:54 That's a new one. I'm losing my voice that's kind of how I sound at the moment. Go through the archive, 605pod.com or wherever you find your favorite podcast. My voice really is going. The mothership.
Starting point is 02:26:07 The mothership. All right. Well, actually, where I usually say I'm dreading this, now it's like, well, this may pick us up a little bit. To play us out, Johnny, it'll take us up a little bit with AEW is not looking. I can't actually remember after the last debacle we just talked about the T&A thing. I can't remember what happened. I have my notes here. I'll refresh myself.
Starting point is 02:26:36 So I don't remember You're going to keep punching the table Well, I'm just, I'm goddamn vehement about this. I don't remember. Can I say something about the dynamite you don't remember before we start this review that you'll recall once we start going through your notes
Starting point is 02:26:49 and I'm sure it won't be as pleasant as you think? It just, it seemed like it wasn't as brutal and experienced, but go ahead. I love the way Dynamite looked this week. It was a theater. So as opposed to being in an arena where you have like, you know, an empty side because you're not selling those seats
Starting point is 02:27:04 and that's the camera side. like AMC and T&A showed us. Yeah, well, this one, you know, there was an empty side necessitated by the fact that it's a theater. So everyone was on the one side and it made the crowd look great. It looked like it went back endlessly. Yes. And the way it was lit.
Starting point is 02:27:21 I love the way dynamite looked this week. I would love them to have room and something like this to put a few seats on the other side of instead of just having the ring right up against the screen and everything, but I've, a small complaint, but I agree with you that it looked expansive and massive. They were in Phoenix and it's a theater, but I didn't jot down the name of the place. They had what, they only had like 3,000 people like usual, but it looked massive in that respect. how what do they usually put in that fucking theater in phoenix in cinema scope i don't know i don't know what they do there
Starting point is 02:28:05 but it looked great yes and unlike tna which had half a building's crowd and and showed us both sides when only the crowd was only on one side they had a crowd on one side and it looked great and it just i don't have any idea of you know, that big of a theater in Phoenix, I wonder what normally plays there.
Starting point is 02:28:31 Possibly they have a local drama society that's very popular. How the West was won. But anyway, it did look good and again made it look like a thing without, they didn't have to shoot around empty seats because they only had the theater setting rather than an entire arena.
Starting point is 02:28:54 So that was. It looked great. A plus. It looked great and it looked different. You don't see that look. You'll never see that look from WWE more than likely. Maybe from a TNA, but A.E.W, if they can run theaters and get that look, that may be something to look towards. Because then the argument about, well, there's no one on the other side.
Starting point is 02:29:13 It doesn't even matter anymore. Because there is no other side. Yeah. And it looked great. I thought it looked great. But here, the problem is if they're going to run buildings like this, they might. better, I don't know, produce their matches or walk through them or tell the guys don't fight in the building in the crowd because it's so dark you can't see what's going on that their own
Starting point is 02:29:40 self-inflicted wounds like T&A's was with showing the empty seats was as soon as they start to first match Darby and Pack and you know Darby can't help himself but Darby jumpstarts it with a dive to the floor during the introductions, they went over the rail, they fought up into the crowd and all the way to the back of the building, and they had no lights. Did they not know they were going there? Did they just, oh shit, we'll just fight to the back
Starting point is 02:30:10 of the building on live television. Because if they knew where they were going, why didn't they light it? And if it wasn't lit and they didn't know they were going, why were they allowed to go there? All of those questions. none of those answers. We don't know.
Starting point is 02:30:26 I mean, it's AEW, so the lack of production wouldn't be surprising, but you would be kind of surprised at the opening match with Darby that they wouldn't know they were going to do something like that. I don't have an answer for you. Well, anyway, so they fight in the back of the building in the dark. They go back to ringside, still didn't get in the ring, pack belly-to-belly overhead suplex, Darby onto the sharp edges of the steel stairs.
Starting point is 02:30:52 and so they fought for five minutes, did that move, then rolled in the ring, and the referee rang the bell start to match. That was the first big laugh of the night for me, when the bell rang after all of that on the floor and all the beatings and everything that happened when the bell rang I laughed.
Starting point is 02:31:12 And then the hospitalization angle and it, okay, he says he's all right. So anyway, I was done at that point. You know, the main event on, this show is MGF and Bandito, and I do have a variety of thoughts, but I was, you know, more or less suffering through much of the rest of this. But they went 10 minutes after that. And then bumped the referee, had a run in, and then Darby put the chair on Pack's leg. Actually, he put it on the wrong leg first, and Pack had to say, switch, wrong leg, switch it. That's right. And,
Starting point is 02:31:53 then pack lays there not moving so that Darby can climb up on a top rope and cough and drop the chair, which one would think there's another hospitalization angle. That's the end of it. But no, then he shoved the chair out of the ring and got a sharpshooter and the referee revived and saw Pack tapping out. Why? They can't, the guys, Darby Allen, again, has the, you. unique, weird charisma.
Starting point is 02:32:32 But he just can't be trusted with any kind of position because you never know what stupid shit he's going to do and he might paralyze himself at any minute. And at this point, it's just taken away from, I don't know what it's taken away from, but nothing can hurt this little freak. So why should anybody else sell anything? at this point it's just it's it's comedy well beyond the selling aspect of it
Starting point is 02:33:06 in terms of the actual injury part of it that's the thing that kind of pulls you into the derby matches but it's also the thing that makes you wince and look away and not want to see any more of the derby matches there's always I winced look away before he does the horrible bumps there's always at least one horrible bump I mean when was the last time you saw Darby and there wasn't one, oh shit moment. And I don't mean like in like a big like, oh, it's WrestleMania. Oh shit. I mean like, oh, he's fucked off.
Starting point is 02:33:35 Oh shit, he's fucked up. Yeah. And it happened with the stairs here. That would bad. That would take a bad idea. Who pitched that? I know who pitched the idea. Who said, he did?
Starting point is 02:33:45 Yeah, who said we should do this? Why did they do that? Again, just on the chance something goes wrong and his neck snaps. It's not. they tell anybody beforehand that they're going to do some of these things and if so do they then listen when it and Tony could tell them I don't know whether anybody else has the power around there to tell them that they're stupid and take that out in a normal company it would be whoever the producer was but Tony could tell them what are you fucking doing just you're stupid but Tony's the the same
Starting point is 02:34:25 he's got live action action figures. When I was 11 using the fucking Viking warrior and the goddamn GI Joe with Kung Fu grip to have wrestling matches because they didn't have action figures. He's got live action figures. And he thinks that all of his can do the same things all of mine could do. See, that's why the G.I. Joe's are the 80s were the best because they could do everything. They can literally lock up and you start doing every move and they're still the best. You know, the other issue is maybe best exemplified by the Death Riders,
Starting point is 02:35:05 although it's a overall thing with AEW, especially as the heel stables have grown. I think the Calais family has 14 members now. AEW fans grown at a run-in like no other wrestling fan ever. And, you know, that is something to be said. AW fans expect quality wrestling, quality matches. Why? You know what I'm saying? Why would you expect it after all this time?
Starting point is 02:35:35 Why suddenly would they start doing that now? They expect work rate. So there you go. And they were spoiled the last or the first few years with the lack of run-ins and the lack of ref bumps. But the way the fans groaned when the death riders got involved. involved. That was telling. It's telling that that's how the AEW fans react to this stuff and they should cut down on it. It can't be every death rider's match they run him.
Starting point is 02:36:06 See, that's the problem is you can't never have run-ins, never have disqualifications, never have interference, never, you can't never have that. And you also can't have it all a fucking time. And they've gone from one extreme to the other and shit to bed in both places. But nevertheless, you say to yourself, you say after an opening match like that, maybe
Starting point is 02:36:33 maybe we can have one of the big top stars of AEW come in and save the day and give a professional performance. And up next was hang nail Adam Page against Brian Keith. And of course
Starting point is 02:36:49 this is a Samoa Joe's told Brian Keith fuck up, Adamated, blah, blah, blah. The bell rang and they botched the first spot. Big Bill still with Brian Keith, for, I guess,
Starting point is 02:37:07 for what reason I have no idea. Yeah, why wouldn't Samoa Joe hire him? We've, and we've forgotten about him with somebody that could actually do something somewhere, it looks like, but not there. but anyway
Starting point is 02:37:22 Big Bill is on the apron and Paige is staring at him and Brian Keith is going to run from behind to close line Adam Page in the back of the head but Adam Page is going to duck and I bet you that Brian Keith was going to continue
Starting point is 02:37:42 on a couple feet and run into old Big Bill and then they were going to start to match but somehow when Brian Keith Keith ran with the clothesline and Adam Page ducked, been over to duck, because Keith is coming from behind. Brian Keith tripped and fell down over Adam Page's body.
Starting point is 02:38:04 Did you see that? Of course I saw that, yes. And then Big Bill stood there and looked at both of them and just jumped down on the floor. And the match was on. I said, how could he have tripped and fallen over a man that just been over? So they went 10 minutes.
Starting point is 02:38:33 Adam Page is supposed to be the big baby face, big main event star just trying to win the world title, and it takes him 10 minutes to beat this fucking fellow. And Bill interfered and swerve came down and glommed him, and then Paige hit the buckshot one, two, three. and then any comments on this match before we go into this next soliloquy?
Starting point is 02:39:02 I mean, the match was what it was. We haven't seen Brian Keith or Big Bill in forever. I guess we could say this one final time now that it looks like he may do something else. Did Chris Jericho do anything to help these two guys? Oh, Jesus. They were tied to Chris Jericho. Did it elevate them?
Starting point is 02:39:19 Are they seen better off today than they were when Big Bill was teaming up at Ricky Starks? I don't think so. Why wouldn't Samoa Joe hire Big Bill to be the bounty hunter? Even though Brian Key's nickname is the bounty hunter, I get it, but Big Bill's like seven feet fucking tall. Why would you hire him? He was all jacked up.
Starting point is 02:39:40 And secondly, you know, it's one thing for MJF or, you know, an MJF type character to hire a bounty hunter to stop Adam Page. Why is Samoa Joe? It doesn't fit, I don't think. Well, because they had to have the match, and there has to be an angle behind the match, so they can go 10 minutes and have interference and fucking, yeah. Anyway, then Paige got to microphone and growled the same promo and then swerve.
Starting point is 02:40:10 Cut a promo on MJF says, we're coming after you, and then music played, and it was Kenny! The return of our friend Twinkle Toes McFinger Bang. He has arrived and his duchiness is here. And he did a long, it seemed long, I don't know how long it was. The promo, the phone sex voice, the breathiness, he's going for the belt too. He's going to have to beat a few people. It's all their baby faces.
Starting point is 02:40:49 And they're all, all their baby faces appear to be idiots. because and one of these guys at least at one point didn't they hospitalized Kenny and one of these guys the one of the people that hospitalized Kenny
Starting point is 02:41:03 that he never gets even for I know Swirb burned Page's house down or Page Bird Swet all that other shit Well Paige and Kenny were partners and then that was when Page's alcoholism really got out of hand and it really hurt their friendship I believe
Starting point is 02:41:17 There you guys Was Kenny laid up by the Callis family? I'm not sure actually Now that you say this, I don't remember. I believe he was at one point. Whoever was in the Cowus family at that point. Yeah, because half the members of the Cowus family at that point are probably gone. It's replaced by 20 other guys.
Starting point is 02:41:33 All their baby faces are looking sideways at each other and having an issue with each other because they all want the world title. And all their heels are arguing with each other later on in show because they want the world tag title. So the baby faces are usually only mad at baby faces and the heels are usually. usually only mad at heels and they wonder why nobody gets over around here. So Page said, may the best man win and he left.
Starting point is 02:42:01 And swerve stared at Kenny and he left. And then Don and his fallous family came out. And I'm like, what the, Jesus Christ. And then he cut a promo on Kenny and challenged him for a match with Josh Alexander. and Kenny again meandered around in a mealy-mouthed milk toast way to accept the match, okay, I'll face him tonight. And then Don said, no, next week. And I'm like, Jesus Christ, nobody will care by then.
Starting point is 02:42:37 At least they've got him up a little bit here. And then the heels left and Kenny went on more like he was talking in his sleep. and then blew the kisses and bidded us adieu and good night and good luck and bang bang what good god this nobody would stop and it never ended am i correct in this you are correct in this yes so again this it's just it's the same bunch of people just arguing with random people all the time. But at least they didn't show the empty seats. Did you like the way that they settled our discussion
Starting point is 02:43:30 on whether MGF should use old Jonathan Cruz as his stooge or flunky or whatever? They like the way they put that out of its misery? How disappointing was this? Not that I expected this guy to be, you know, the next Count Rossi or anything. but that's a deep cut he's been good in his role it's been good in his role he's been good in his role we literally were just talking about the idea of him being more involved with mjf being maybe his
Starting point is 02:43:59 valet this guy got away with dressing like abraham lincoln in mexico and then they immediately killed all that for no reason i mean i don't think it helps anyone here but why would they kill all that like that one segment i don't have any idea but Brody King comes out and cruises out there in street clothes and he just beats him up and beats him in some kind of
Starting point is 02:44:27 little match there but again why do the in week two and why not at least get something out of it by having MJF sacrifice him or whatever but he's done now it's meaningless now
Starting point is 02:44:44 MJF if they wanted to put any interest in this, MGAF should be one that abused him, and he should interfere on MJF's behalf or try to do good things for MJF, but any retribution that comes back on him should have been because MJF sacrificed him to get out of the way of harm. And then over a period of time, the people would have got behind this guy to see want him to break free. But now that they just beat him up and fucking stood on him
Starting point is 02:45:24 and wiped their feet on him, who gives a shit? Yeah, this was a bad move because you actually had a character that was at least a little bit interesting that you had time to do something with and ten steps back here. Besides that, what are your thoughts on the push that it seems they're giving Brody King?
Starting point is 02:45:42 They've had a few videos on TV of him lately. they're actually doing vignettes what do you think of him getting a pusher I mean if he had he looks like he's giant but he looks like shit but if he had
Starting point is 02:46:00 some type of gimmick where he was supposed to look like shit that would you know it wouldn't be bad he can do some stuff but he's always in the middle of the children to where
Starting point is 02:46:17 and the thing with Brodito or whatever I guess if they're using Bandito more as a single now maybe they're going to break Brody King free and remember he was a part of the
Starting point is 02:46:31 what they call him Malachi Black and his spooky folk yes when did Buddy get hurt was it a year ago at the Australia show yeah I I guess
Starting point is 02:46:46 Can I Bushi donate him a leg? But anyway, again, with some gimmick and some type of proper sustained push in that company, at least he does look different. You might could do something with him, but I think he's kind of like luchosaurus and that he's just a big, dumb tattooed fuck that does moves
Starting point is 02:47:13 because he can do him. doesn't understand why. But maybe he can break that impression I have of him. You know what I think is a boring trope? And it's not even him. It's a lot of guys, but it's him too. The big guys that have to do some version of, huss!
Starting point is 02:47:31 Huss or, they're barking. Yeah, just any version of that, stop. Please stop. Yeah. Well, I mean, Brody is half his name. So it's obvious there's kind of a tribute homage going on there. And Moondog King is part of his name, I guess, too.
Starting point is 02:47:50 Yeah, so he should bark and chew on a bone. But anyway, we'll see what happens, but I don't know why that they, unless maybe John Cruz is about to be deported. And they say, oh, we got to finish you up. Because they finished him up all right. Did you love the recess match? Brian, when all the kids get out of class
Starting point is 02:48:17 and get to go out in the, in the grounds and play on the swings and the slide and the balance beam and the parallel bar and all that stuff they do. The four-team eight-man winners are number one contenders to the tag team title match match. let's see we had there's a new wrinkle in this we have all the children the Hardley Boys
Starting point is 02:48:48 Hong Kong Fooey and Kevin Knight Ricochet's Stooges Stooges and now Fatass Davis and his brand new friend Jake Doyle have been added to the mix and I know it's going to be hard for you to believe folks but the Hardy boys
Starting point is 02:49:07 the Hardly boys, they wish they still had the Hardy the Hardy Boys jump started this one with two dives out of the ring because Darby could only do one. So they said, well, 30 minutes later, we'll goddamn do too. Again, and it's, it was the kids playing for 15 minutes. But remember I said Davis has a really good pile driver. he's actually winning with it now. They're still beating Kevin Knight.
Starting point is 02:49:48 Every time that they miss a chance to beat the shit out of fucking spitball and pin him in the middle of the ring of a fucking angel and wrestling heaven loses its wings or some shit. But at least Davis is winning now with his pile driver that I guess looks so good because of his giant fucking ass. Your thoughts on his giant ass. I have no comments on his ass. You know, this,
Starting point is 02:50:19 it's a pattern with the Young Bucks now, and they can't escape it at this point, obviously. But every match they do is like a fucking Dave Meltzer Slambery match. It's the same kind of shit they were doing 10 years ago. They're doing it now to smaller reactions. And, you know, the video went around. people highlighted it, the docey-dose segment. We're a speedball and the butt.
Starting point is 02:50:44 They were all doing everything in sync with each other. Because that's the way any kind of thing would ever happen. Yeah. But you've seen that happen multiple times with Bucks matches. Their layouts are lazy at this point and boring. And there's nothing special for them to do. This match was an eight-man match with lots of high spots and it was nothing but run of the mill.
Starting point is 02:51:09 And it didn't stand out. And I don't think anyone's going to remember it tomorrow. And, you know, maybe a jet speed in the bucks or a natural opponent for the rascals who are coming in. Rascals versus Youngbucks and Hong Kong Foui, that may be a dream match for virgins all over the place. Well, but it wasn't over,
Starting point is 02:51:32 because now that Davis and Doyle have won this thing, and they're the number one contenders, FTR came out and had a big face off with Davis and Doyle and it got in a big fight. And they're fighting and security's running out and it's going on and it's heels mad at other heels and the people were not giving a shit.
Starting point is 02:51:57 It was like, and if you're having a big four-way fight with security pulling you apart and the people are just, bleh don't do any more of it but they did a lot of it and why do we
Starting point is 02:52:14 want to see FTR with their comedy manager in a wheelchair against Davis and Doyle with their comedy manager that wears no socks that's there isn't the demand for that at all and that's what
Starting point is 02:52:31 the remark I made earlier the baby faces are all mad at the other baby faces and the heels are fighting the heels over the top titles, why do they not understand that people don't give a shit about that? Because why would they?
Starting point is 02:52:51 Is there anything they could do, Jim, to fix this tag team division? I mean, they've got tag teams there, but nothing ever gets going. FTR won the belts back. What have they done since? The fans care less about FTR now than at any other point
Starting point is 02:53:07 in their history in AEW. they just came out there to go after the heels who are clearly established as the heels there's no misconception there so two heel teams went at it with each other at Edge has to come back at some point Christian has to come back you would think
Starting point is 02:53:24 with Edge to get FTR but it's not going to mean anything I forgot they still haven't got even for FTR assaulting Beth Phoenix Did Christian get hurt too or did it do an angle or I have no memory of how he left TV or where he went.
Starting point is 02:53:44 He's a star. Do you have any idea where he is or what happened to him? Hold on now. He would, remember Edge told him when he was packing his bag? Wasn't it Christian that he told I got to go home, I got to be with Beth or whatever? Yeah. So Christian said, well, fuck, I'm not going to take a chance two against one. of getting even with these guys that just assaulted my best friend's fucking wife,
Starting point is 02:54:13 so I'll just hang out and let Tony send me a check. I guess. They finally did the angle where Christian and Edge make up. And they had already blown it with them having a match earlier because they rushed to that and there was no feud and it didn't have any importance. At least there was a little bit of something left for them to make up. To the big angle, Edge is gone and Christian's gone. Nothing else happens again.
Starting point is 02:54:37 I mean, it doesn't make any sense. But you asked me, revamp the tag team division. Again, you have the bucks. Whatever we say about them, they are a tag team. I'm just talking about actual tag teams. Yes, but I mean, my God, if human beings could go stale like bread, you'd have to eat the bucks in the rain. They're way past stale, and I mean, it's the same.
Starting point is 02:55:05 They have to have one of their other childish team. teams to work with because they had the Hurt syndicate and the company that could have built the tag team division around them, but somehow or another, they had to lose the belt so it could go back into the friends pool for more of the recess matches somehow. I can't even remember now what happened there. But the bucks are a non-inity. FTR was the most talented in-ring team. and they had those great matches with the briskos and with gin and juice and blah, blah, blah.
Starting point is 02:55:43 But they've been just rendered meaningless. And now it just people say Dax is whiny on the internet and they do nothing and they have a comedy manager and it's just it's over. They would have to go away for a long time somewhere. So that ain't going to, they can have matches. I'm not saying they could never have another good match, but it ain't going to mean anything. The hurt syndicate
Starting point is 02:56:11 it is over, but now I guess Lashley's hurt. And they fucked around and made Shelton do goofy things like going competitive one-on-one with fucking spitball. But they had something going there with the tag team division.
Starting point is 02:56:32 I'm trying to think of it. while we've talked about it, I'm sorry, but they need to face somehow this indie wrestling-minded bubble of individuals needs to face the fact that any regular wrestling fan that ever looked at Mike Bailey would blow snot laughing. It's just, it's comedy. It's a comedy fucking deal. And he's not a baby face.
Starting point is 02:56:58 And you could probably make him a mid-card heel if his job was to come out and be himself and let people kick the shit out of him so the fans would cheer. But otherwise, this is strictly one of these fucking indie things like pockets and the legless boy or whatever. Other tag teams, the gun boys had potential, but one of them and both of them have been gone.
Starting point is 02:57:28 Now one of them back, one of them's still gone. Gin and Juice have potential. Juice now has the least marketable look he could have, and gin is gone, injured. He'll be back at some point to come back with another awful promo, and then he'll get hurt again and disappear again. The conglomeration must have some tag team in their mix. Well, but if Mark Briss goes in it, he needs to get out of it,
Starting point is 02:57:53 and nobody else in it is worth a shit. Here's a bigger question. With the rascals coming in, and all of these groups, the Bucks have lots of friends, Calas has 20 people in his group, do you think Tony will introduce, I don't know what you would call it,
Starting point is 02:58:12 the quadruple title? Oh, good God. Do you think Tony, do you think Tony Con will introduce a tag title for four-man teams? Jace, edit that out. No? Edit that out.
Starting point is 02:58:23 You're going to give him an idea and then we've got to watch it. Do you think he's going to do it? Do you think we will see four-man tag team championships within the next 18 months? Now that you've said, oh, it ain't going to take that long. Within the next 18 months,
Starting point is 02:58:40 Tony Kahn may be hooked up intravenously to some kind of solution. The fucking pressure he's going to have on him. But, and you said, the rascals, the rascals, where have the rascals been? What shows were these folks on? Did they ever, they were in in nxte at one point did they ever make the main roster you may be confused because
Starting point is 02:59:05 before they were the rascals they were called our gang oh okay it's sort of like the east side kids the bowery boys no wesley remember they signed wesley and his partner i forget which one was his partner then his partner's like ex-wife or ex-girlfriend put out photos of him dressed like hitler no he had a hitler mustache doing a sigile so w w wgd got rid of him quick and then some other people came in to join i believe the rascals and they've been between TNA and NXT, so to have a little bit of exposure, and that's enough for AEDA.
Starting point is 02:59:39 Again, that's this, they made this announcement, like, we've signed all four of the rascal, like we got all four of the Beatles. Ringo agreed to work for 75%. It's, they've been on NXT a while back and TNA a while back, and there's four of them,
Starting point is 02:59:57 which is in this, a group of four is one guy six foot three and two hundred and forty pounds and the other ones are five foot seven and one ninety because then you might be able to make a star out of one of them because elsewise all four of them are the same fucking size with the
Starting point is 03:00:14 prison tattoos of the two we know about then you've just you've just brought in a bunch of fucking miscellaneous munchkins well we shall see what happens with the tag team division as well as the trio who has the trio's titles now I don't ring of or A.W?
Starting point is 03:00:33 No, no, no, the AED ones, because it was the ops with powerhouse Hobbs. They lost them, though, right? I don't know. Well, we have tag titles, trios titles, and we'll see what else Tony Khan. You know what? Look that up. I'll, I tell you what, I will, I'll bet you that you can't look up and find who the AEW six-man trio tag team champions are? The current champions...
Starting point is 03:01:06 Wow, there's been ten different champions. The current champions... Wow, I had no idea that there were this many people who held the title. They won it on collision on the 14th, so I'm... Literally on Powerhouse Hobbs' last night, apparently. It is the team of Dead Eye Velocity. Hangman Adam Page, speedball Mike Bailey, and Kevin Knight. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 03:01:31 so now they've got one of their alleged main event baby faces teaming up with this fucking putrid piece of shit and they've put under card belts on Adam Page what the Hobbs was nice enough do a job on his way out and they didn't say again if he did the job I don't know what the result of the man how they won maybe they beat Shabana well but I mean He was there, he showed up. Yeah.
Starting point is 03:02:05 So this is what you do? When they introduced the trio's titles, a lot of us said these will be meaningless titles, and that's exactly what they've been. And it's actually, I would argue, a negative title, because we've seen too many times where a champion, whether it's Samoa Joe or whoever, comes out with a title that's a mainstream title, a world title. And they have a six-man title with them.
Starting point is 03:02:32 it just takes down the world title. It doesn't do anything to lift up the six-man title, which is meaningless. And remember when out of Mick Foley or Steve Austin back in the attitude era was put into six-mans with his partner's Kai and Tie? So they became Kai and Mick. I don't remember this. Or Austin Tie. And they won the six-man belts.
Starting point is 03:03:00 You know what? just pick, say, what three titles? For example, what three titles is Spitball Bailey going to win in AEW next week? I wonder, would they take that with our friends at prize picks? If you went to prize picks and you downloaded the app, Brian, and you said, I'm going to pick Spitball Mike Bailey, Hong Kong, Fooey himself to win three different fantasy titles in AEW next week. Do they cover this type of fantasy, the type of fantasy that Tony has with lotion and Kleenex late at night when he's coming up with different belts. Is that the kind of fantasy they cover? They may cover Tony's football fantasies. I don't know if they would cover these fantasies for Tony. And considering it's
Starting point is 03:03:47 Tony and there are so many belts, it's probably a hard thing to make a prediction on. But there's a lot of listeners out there who have their own picks, football, basketball, baseball, whatever it may be. And you can, of course, take those picks and win some prizes. Or you can take those picks and you know what you can do with them. You can head over to prize picks and win some prizes with your picks and ultimately make some money. You know what they've done is they've started actually giving you little tokens that you can turn in for cash and currency in various places
Starting point is 03:04:19 because they don't want to be confused with counterfeiters over at prize picks. So they'll give you a big round thing with a guitar pick on it. And that's worth $5. That's not exactly. And then you go down the street. No, you go down the street to this panel van, and then you give them that, and then they give you the money and change. And then you have to take it to the cash machine at the local discount store,
Starting point is 03:04:45 and you put all that change in, and it gives you dollar bills. Again, none of this is anything that's applicable to what we're talking about here, but what we're talking about is a place to take your picks, Jim, let the listeners know what they could do at prize picks. Well, the shovel is my pick. No, folks, I'm telling you, there's no better way to cash in during America's biggest sporting event season. The big event, the big games almost here, you know what I'm talking about?
Starting point is 03:05:09 That's right, the Super Bowl. And it always feels good to be right at prize picks. And if you're right about the Super Bowl, holy mackerel, well, you could just be living on an island into Pacific with topless native women peeling you grapes. But it's your last chance to get into the football action. before next season, so close the season out right with prize picks. You will get $50 instantly, instantly, pronto when you play your first $5,
Starting point is 03:05:41 when you download the prize picks app today and use the code JCE, $50 in lineups after you play your first $5. That's 10 times, Brian. That is a multiple of 10 that you will receive. just gratis, which means you pay nothing after you play that first $5 lineup. And you know about all the features. They got the early payouts. And again, I'm telling you, you take that early payout.
Starting point is 03:06:14 And then if a bus runs off the interstate into the stadium and runs over your player and you've still got the money, just make sure you've got some type of identification in an assumed name and a place to go. to lay down the Le Hits off, because they will have people looking for you. If you take off boom and nevertheless, so Brian, you know what to do? Download the prize picks app today.
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Starting point is 03:07:00 Maybe Tony can go there to what you said earlier, but let's go back to AEW Dynamite. Yes, let's go back to Tony Khan's weekly fantasy. Oh, and they had a girl's six-man tag.
Starting point is 03:07:15 That was interesting. And then MJF and Bandito. And this is a world title match. And I'm thinking, okay, can MJF work his magic and get a logical match out of this guy? Because I will explain.
Starting point is 03:07:36 And remember when I said a show or two ago, I said, what is Bandito's backstory? What is, who is he? Why is he Bandito? Why is it just that we're to accept that all Mexican wrestlers dress up in the flamboyant costumes and adopt a personality and go with that, or since he can't really talk to the American audience, is there some way you could explain why he's bandito?
Starting point is 03:08:10 Did he grow up as a poor teenager and he stole food from the markets to support his family and or the neighborhood kids or a school? And that's what they called him the bandito. or you see what I'm saying here. Who is this fucking guy? Well, yeah, I don't know how much you have to do that versus just use him well. They did some vignettes that they shot apparently here in New Jersey at some old Westtown, but that didn't help anything.
Starting point is 03:08:38 Well, that's, that's what I'm, that's what I said before is we got, we got clowny of him fast drawing the gunfighters at fucking Guntown Mountain instead of who is this guy, what is his life story that we want him to have? How are we going to merchandise him? How are we going to present him? As Finkel used to say, what's his motivation? So that's the problem is with Bandito as a single star
Starting point is 03:09:15 of any consequence in the United States, if he can't talk, he's got to have more clearly defined story and personality and gimmick and the ways that they can sell him as a person rather than just, oh, well, he does all kinds of cool moves because all the rest of them do that too. And he's also the problem is, is that the best guy that I ever saw do, Lucha Libre wrestling moves and maneuvers with American wrestlers was Hector Guerrero because he did this shit to the guys and he did it around them, but they didn't jump in
Starting point is 03:10:11 and start doing it with him. And that's what made a lot of the Hispanic guys stand out in the territories as their style was different. And they were exciting and they were usually baby faces unless it was like an old fucking crusty gordon and goreth you know blah blah blah but when bandito's got to do his shit that's because he can't talk and you know he needs to perform in the ring but when the guys start doing his shit with him does it look right for mjaf to be doing lucha does it look right Right? Does it look for it?
Starting point is 03:10:56 Does it look like anything he would want to do if it was up to him? Possibly not. For the spinning head scissors. He's good at it. He's good at it, but it doesn't look like... He can do it, but does it look like shit that he would do? On purpose, if this was, if he was really doing only shit that he would choose to do, would he MJF choose to do any of that shit?
Starting point is 03:11:28 Probably not. If he was working with Adam Page, we may not see that stuff. Okay, so the point is, Bandito should be different and should be as a baby face, should be exciting in the high-risk moves and the flying and all that stuff.
Starting point is 03:11:43 But it actually, to me, it just makes it look bleh, hokey, and also, unfortunately, brings MJN, J.F down when he's doing the choreographed shit that is clearly set up, predetermined, blah, blah, blah. MJF is so good at psychology of a match and it being a heel. And there's a clear heel and face here. But the unfortunate part is that Bandito cannot have MJF's match. He can't have a regular pro wrestling match because as I'll,
Starting point is 03:12:23 Tell you here at a second, his basics suck. But Bandito also relies on the American guys to do his shit with him because it's so complicated rather than having the flashy shit that he can do to other people that they're confounded and don't have a counter and fucking surprised and flummoxed to buy. And he, it's all the impression is on the baby face rather than the heel just suddenly breaks out into goddamn, floor exercise gymnastics. Do you see what I'm saying?
Starting point is 03:12:57 I do. So, but MJF grabs a headlock. Bandito is going to shoot him off for a shoulder tackle. Bandito not only doesn't back him up, he doesn't even fucking lean back and rare. He just shoves him one-handed and MJF has to run from scratch to hit to ropes. That's what I'm talking about with the basics. Bandito can't have a credible, realistic-looking American-style pro wrestling match because with most of the Lucha guys these days, most the American guys these days.
Starting point is 03:13:37 It basics suck. But yet he can put all this effort into the goddamn cartwheels and roundoffs and everything that go on endlessly. But that's just another, when you've already made to shift. it look phony and that's not like it's making it look more like the UFC and there's a timing thing they milk more apparently these days in Mexico because at one point bandito does the thing where he points at the guy's head like he's going to shoot him in a head which also in today's climate may not be a great thing to do for the kids but he won't stop pointing they never stop
Starting point is 03:14:23 It's like the fucking, which one was the, was it Penta that took the glove off and the heel or the baby fate? No, the heel is supposed to stand there and wait till this fucking goof takes his glove off and does all of these gyrations again. It's just, it's a different, at least at one point, MJF put emotion in and some oomph in the middle of one of the lucha spots when he foiled something and yelled dumbass. And at least, because elsewise, it's the, the lucha guys together just go through the thing by rote. At least MJF is able to put some facial expression and some personality into it. But then MJF starts getting heat.
Starting point is 03:15:15 And he starts working bandito's left arm, which again, how much simpler can you get, but Bandito doesn't know how to sell and fight from underneath. When he fires up, he'll do seven or eight little things instead of one or two, boom, boom. And he spoils the heat because now he's just making a little mini comeback. And at one point, he made a little mini-combeck.
Starting point is 03:15:49 come back and did the macarena and a flip and then remember that his left arm hurt. It's not like he, you, you can see when Ricky Steamboat sells, yes, you can see his face because he's not wearing a mask, but you can see or Riggy Morton or any of the classic baby faces, you could see some distress in their body. And when they're fighting back, they're still, they're. worn down, but they're trying valiantly to fight, but they're weakened. It's not like, okay, I pop up, I do these three things, and he's stop me again. He needs this type of shit to get over on a larger level in this country.
Starting point is 03:16:44 MJF would keep going back to the arm. But then at points, did you see this? when Bandito would fight back, sometimes he's selling the arm, but then he'd fight back and do some shit, and he's fine, and then he'd remember to sell the arm. Yeah.
Starting point is 03:17:00 And it, also, here's a programming note for them. They didn't shit to bed as bad as T&A did, but when they have, because they had the setup they had here, was a ramp going to the ring and was at the same level as the apron. on the side of the entrance way.
Starting point is 03:17:22 So having a handheld camera, stand on the apron and shoot over the top rope looks like a cool up-close shot, except it makes everybody look three feet tall and all the bumps look small because the camera is looking down on them. When the camera is on the floor looking up, the backdrop looks bigger, the suplex looks bigger.
Starting point is 03:17:50 Anyhow, Bandito makes comeback, hits a big dive. MJF tries to avoid the second one by going to the other side of the rail. Bandito gets on the top rope and dives off over the rail into the crowd. His arm was wonderful, but they get back in the ring. MJF hits a move on the arm. Seconds later, Bandito leaps to the top rope and hits a corkscrew cross-body. I was figuring MJF was trying to remind him, hey, you know, your arm, you sell that.
Starting point is 03:18:29 MJF is trying as best he can here. I'm not trying to downgrade the whole thing, but I just, I think Bandito may have been best in a tag team situation where he could just do some snazzy looking stuff because as a single, Jesus, and whoever he's working with has to assume that position for his goofy looking little, there is no reason for the German
Starting point is 03:18:57 suplex to be executed like that, except that he can do that little flip. But it's, if you have to stand there in the, I'm about to be butt fuck position and support him while he does the whole thing, it's just, so anyway, he tried that, MJF held on. Bandito got lost on a spot. MGF went for the heat seeker and hit a cutter. And Bandito hit a shooting star and got a two count. MJF assumed the position again, but landed on his feet.
Starting point is 03:19:39 I know he can do a backflip. And that was a pretty cool spot. But again, it just because you can't, cut your ear off doesn't mean your Van Gogh. I don't know why MJF is suddenly the human cannonball.
Starting point is 03:20:04 What got to people more than anything was the quick roll-ups when they started doing the fucking jack knife and the small pack and the roll-up and the blah, blah, blah. That was a nice little spot that gets everybody going. And then at some point,
Starting point is 03:20:22 Bandito hits, hit a go to sleep and MJF assumed the position again and Bandito hit the German and they both sold, Bandito covered, got a two count. And then MJF spun into the arm bar and then got the Label lock and Bandito passed out. Brian, is, as MJF defended the title since he won it, I'm trying to think. I don't think so. Off the top of my head, I don't think so, because he won it at the end of the year. Okay.
Starting point is 03:21:03 Last week was the promo segment. I think this may be the first defense. So he wins his first title defense by out-wrestling the baby face and fucking not choking him out, but passing him out. How much heat did that get? is MJF supposed to be a heel? Why wouldn't he be since he's God, that's his whole thing, but I know that I'm so confused.
Starting point is 03:21:37 It would seem like he just, he was a non-entity in the fucking, well, and he's a guy, he's a heel because he's about to kick the shit out of the guy. There's more to this story as there always is. but he was a non-entity in the four-way where he just pretty much stole the thing and everybody else, you know, was featured. And so in his first defense, which is on television,
Starting point is 03:22:09 not even pay-per-view, wouldn't this be the time for him and bandito's fairly popular and been used in this environment as a name? go I fucking not only beat him but fuck him and beat him and get your fucking hand raised while you're standing up but instead MJF turned around and was selling in the corner after Bandito had passed out because the heel out wrestled a baby face
Starting point is 03:22:40 and then MJF got the microphone and put him over say you know what they said you're going to be a world champion and I agree you're going to be a world champion in AEW one of these days. So it means I have to do this. And then he hits him with the belt and gets heat on him and goes to pop the hood. And Brody King comes out spoil things. And apparently they're going to have MJF interact with Brody King in some kind of way. But to point is, wouldn't it, to beat this fucking guy is your new world champion and the guy that
Starting point is 03:23:21 still gets more response from the people and reaction and has more logical matches when he has people that can follow goddamn basic principles. And he, again, by the skin of his teeth, beats this guy and that beats him clean. It's all right. I just, I'm confused. Again, I can't.
Starting point is 03:23:51 I'm not the soothsayer who could explain Tony's booking or philosophy behind these things. Obviously, they want to keep MJF busy while Kenny Omega has to go through Adam Page and swerve until they get ready for that because all those three, they're going to kind of have to go through each other. So while that's happening, MJF has to do something. Beat Bandito here. For AEW, maybe they consider that clean the way it went down. I don't know. That's what I'm saying. it was going to, why do you beat, if they like Bandito and they want to use him as baby face,
Starting point is 03:24:25 why does the heel beat him clean? And if MJF's the world champion and he's supposed to get some heat, why didn't he fuck him and beat him convincingly? And obviously they're setting him up now. It would appear for Brody King. I don't know if that's just going to be another one and done. They've been building up Brody King for a few weeks now. But I think the end game is still get MJF in there with Kenny Omega. And unfortunately, everyone has to do a bunch of stuff until we're ready for that, which will, well, probably not be until the late spring, I would imagine, maybe summer. Jesus Christ.
Starting point is 03:24:57 But MJF versus Brody King will be worlds better than this. Really? I will say, of course. World's better. Okay. World's better. Because number one, Brody King's first language is English, so they can call shit on the fly. And secondly, I would assume Brody King was trained.
Starting point is 03:25:19 trained in the United States. So he's probably, even if he overdoes it sometimes with the big man doing little man stuff, he's still, it's the same product. If MJF is calling it and featuring
Starting point is 03:25:35 the greatest hits of Brody King's repertoire and MJF leads the psychology of the thing, I will probably like it. But it would be worlds better than what this was because MJF's having to work around
Starting point is 03:25:53 the guy who has to, he has to do some of Bandito shit and he has to, he can't control bandito's timing. But I'd say this MJF and Brody King will be much better. One last question about all this. Considering what happened earlier in the night,
Starting point is 03:26:12 would it have had more impact if John Cruz was somehow at ringside for MJF and Brody King got his hands on him after this? as opposed to just beat him earlier and it almost was detached from all this? If boom, boom, boom, Bandito is making a comeback on MJF and they've had whatever match they're going to have
Starting point is 03:26:34 and Jonathan Cruz was at ringside. And Bandito's little flippy suplex has already not worked. At one point that fucking Bandito could put MJF down in the middle of the ring with a big move and go to the top rope and let fucking crews jump up behind the referee's back and just shake the rope enough that fucking
Starting point is 03:26:58 bandito gets crouched or fucking whatever and MJF somehow run up there and hit him with that fucking package goddamn DDT thing he does. It looks so devastating. Boom, one, two, three.
Starting point is 03:27:17 Then you fucked the baby face that could have won if he hadn't been obstructed by the manager, but that fucking heel took advantage of it. And then here comes Brody King, the partner of Bandito, goddamn pissed off and going to kick the shit out of MJF. But guess what, MJF? Ducks past Jonathan Cruz and shit cans him in his way as he dives through the ropes, and Brody King hits that big black hole slam on fucking.
Starting point is 03:27:48 and Cruz and is standing in the ring telling M.JF to get back in there. And M.J.F. is outside. And maybe he could even grab Cruz's foot and pull him out and pull him down the aisleway to get out of that. And there you've set it up. Am I, crazy? Well, certainly. But you're also a brilliant wrestling mind. All right. Well, I'll take that away from you. That's right. Well, that was another AEW Dynamite, whether Tony's crazy or not, I guess more evidence next week. But at least he's more professional at it. Tony Kahn is crazy, but he's more professionally crazy
Starting point is 03:28:30 than the folks over at T&A who are still doing cable access television. We've established that. Yeah, we're going to hear from people that are going to say that we're being unfair, that we have to give TNA more of a chance. No, it's that kind of wrestling show that is a negative for wrestling. We need something serious, not something that wants to be WWE. It's the same shit with different people and varying degrees of budget. But you know what we're going to do?
Starting point is 03:29:00 We're going to come back next week with the same people and the same budget and varying degrees of dipsets right here on this show. How about that, Brian? Sounds great, Jim. All those dipsets. All those dips shits. Here's the story. of all those dipsets that were sitting all in a row. They were all there and we talked about them
Starting point is 03:29:24 on this podcast show, the Jim Coronet Experience. Oh my God. And until next week, we will see you then. Thank you. Fuck you. And bye-bye, everybody.

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