The Wrestling Thread is great! The Wrestling Thread is special!

[Keyser Soze]

Brian Kendrick is a guy who I haven't thought much about since his departure from WWE around 2009. And even back in his appearances in the early days of ROH he never jumped out, with his contemporaries at the time impressing me more. But I have to say, he's done the work of his career in CWC, and made me a fan. He's not been the fastest or the strongest in the tournament, but he's been the smartest, using every wily veteran play and sneaky trick in his playbook in his matches against younger, more athletic opponents, brilliantly portraying a man at the end of the line desperate for one last shot at glory on the big stage. Great psychology, with excellent support selling the story by Daniel Bryan's emotionally charged commentary. Even against Ibushi, a guy I figured he had no chance at beating, I found myself WILLING him to win. Fantastic work.

 

[Mani-Man]

I ended up just skimming this stream of nonsense. Russo should never, ever be taken with an ounce of credibility, anymore than we should be asking the guy who produced the Jerry Springer show during its "hot" 1990s period about his thoughts on current TV drama. His thoughts have zero consistency or internal logic beyond hating whatever the "internet smarks" like.

It's hard to zone in on just one thing wrong with his latest rant, but I'll pick a crucial flaw in Russo's logic that he's repeatedly expressed for years. He says Owens isn't over and people don't care about him, despite the huge reactions at live shows and his massive IWC popularity. Because, and this is something he has expressed repeatedly, fans at live shows or talking about wrestling online, don't count. The only "fans" who count are the people who don't like wrestling, who are flipping through channels and whose attention you might fleetingly catch if your show is shocking or audacious enough. They're the only audience that counts, the only ones worth appealing to. That's a logic that has driven much of Russo's disastrous thinking over the last 20ish years. And it's a flawed logic, to say the least, because it's all the fans who "don't count" who actually care enough to attend live events who buy PPVs, subscribe to WWE Network, order merchandise... the stuff that actually makes WWE money. They absolutely are who you should be appealing to rather than the fickle casual viewer.

Pretty much.
This focus on "casual" people is completely stupid.
If someone shows me a picture of the top NHL player, i dont know who that is and it doesnt make me start watching NHL.
You cant bait casual viewers as easy as Russo, cornette etc think.

The people who go to the shows, who watch the episodes, who buy the merchandise...are the ones that count.
This idea that you can get 5-10 million casual viewers to become fans because of one guy...is just stupid.

Especially in this day and age.
You simply cant get the viewers and fans from 10-20 years ago.
The buisness changed, the word changed.

You now have not 2 companys that people can follow.
There is a overexposure of wrestling nowadays.

WWE has 7 hours of weekly shows, you have TNA, ROH, LU...and who knows how many other promotions who give you weekly shows to watch/attend.
Hell, here in germany the WXW has its own network and another league has a tv contract...this would have been unthinkable 10 years ago.
This makes it impossible to get 10-15 million viewers.

 

[LOBO3315a]

Interesting angle if Owens didn't know he was going to win. I'm going to have to find a place online to watch it now.

 

[Slushy]

So many wrestler podcasts out there, its hard to keep up. Haven't listened to Booker T's or Konnan's shows, but I'm really enjoying Bischoff's and Prichard's podcasts.

Definitely the latter since Brother Love's wrestler impressions are spot on and his storytelling is like being in front of the campfire.

Brian Kendrick is a guy who I haven't thought much about since his departure from WWE around 2009. And even back in his appearances in the early days of ROH he never jumped out, with his contemporaries at the time impressing me more. But I have to say, he's done the work of his career in CWC, and made me a fan. He's not been the fastest or the strongest in the tournament, but he's been the smartest, using every wily veteran play and sneaky trick in his playbook in his matches against younger, more athletic opponents, brilliantly portraying a man at the end of the line desperate for one last shot at glory on the big stage. Great psychology, with excellent support selling the story by Daniel Bryan's emotionally charged commentary. Even against Ibushi, a guy I figured he had no chance at beating, I found myself WILLING him to win. Fantastic work.

Londrick was a great tag team. Shame Kendrick threw his WWE career, but he took accountability for his bad decision and redeemed himself becoming an NXT trainer and his CWC performance.

 

[javonstokess]

I think Xavier Woods would make an awesome heel World/Universal champ.

Big E would make a FANTASTIC face World/Universal champ.

 

[_Superman_]

wow. that's pretty awesome, if true.

however, I am legit curious.

if Owens knew he was going to be eliminated, but didn't know the exact booking, how then would he have known when to not kick out of a pin?

I mean, is that something they improvise during the match?

I'm pretty sure that during the match, Owens was hit with some big moves and then pinned. well, if he knew he was supposed to lose but didn't know exactly how, how would he know which pin attempts to kick out and which one to finally take the fall?

I'm thinking Triple H told him he was going to be the guy when he helped him up in the corner. Till then I think they were just telling him to kick out unless told other wise.

 

[TheFuture]

Russo is such a clown. You don't get the consistent reaction that Owens does if the "casual viewer" doesn't know who you are. No doubt he'd claim that the live audience is full of smarks in response to that.

Seriously, it just goes to show how much of a muppet he is with his "stop tweeting/contacting me because your opinion is worthless" schtick as he's obviously getting roasted for his ********, and simply can't handle it.

Why would I listen to his podcast to hear his opinion when here's a guy clearly incapable of handling the opinion of others? That to me is a true sign of a proper egotist.

 

[chamber-music]

David Arquette was never that relevant. The only thing people knew him from being married to Courtney Cox, playing a dimwit in The screams films and coming from a family of actors that are all far more successful than him. Casual viewers having heard of you and causal viewers giving a damn about you are not the same thing.

Russo talks about wrestling fans as if they are a niche audience. The WWE isn't some small eighties territory. They are a global company with audience of millions. All those 'fans' he complains about are the reason why the wrestling business still exists. Casuals audiences are less invested in wrestling which means they are less likely to give a damn or spend money on wrestling in general.

Mocking a 8 year old kid who is proud of their dad just makes you look like a ass****. If your the type of moron that can't tell that stuff isn't acceptable then you probably shouldn't be on twitter.

 

[chamber-music]

Seeing as Daniel Bryan can't wrestle anymore they could of had Kendrick step in and wrestle Miz on his behalf in the continuation of their feud.

 

[MMMMM...Pancakes]

AnOwens/Jericho feud would be great, but Chris's heel work right now is too good to turn him. Obviously can't turn Owens.

 

[SuperBatman]

Just Read that Tweet from that ESPN broadcaster? Really so a 8 year old kid can't be proud of his father just for winning a title because Wrestling is Fake? Ugh some times people frustrate me.

 

[SpideyVille]

Just Read that Tweet from that ESPN broadcaster? Really so a 8 year old kid can't be proud of his father just for winning a title because Wrestling is Fake? Ugh some times people frustrate me.

I've been reading his feed since learning about that, and it sounds like he's a complete troll.

The ironic thing is that if the rumors about KO not knowing are true, then he can't really mock it because it was a legit surprise for a lot of people.

 

[WereCoyote]

Which ESPN guy is it?

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I don't buy Owens didn't know. He's an actor in a show, he's supposed to know the script and he was supposed to be surprised; it was a surprising moment.

 

[Xrated48]

AnOwens/Jericho feud would be great, but Chris's heel work right now is too good to turn him. Obviously can't turn Owens.

Ikr I really want them to fight each other for the title but Jericho and Owens as heels are too good to turn.

 

[SpideyVille]

Which ESPN guy is it?

https://twitter.com/AminESPN

 

[SuperBatman]

Can somebody remind me didn't David Arquette pretty much get no reaction from the crowd if anything he was booed when he won the WCW title because it was so stupid. The Worst WCW Champion ever was David Arquette and Russo has this Delusion that he was more over than Kevin Owens is right now? This is why I never listen to what Russo had to say his finest moment is writing in the attitude era.

 

[JabarR]

An Owens/Jericho feud would be great, but Chris's heel work right now is too good to turn him. Obviously can't turn Owens.

Jericho's much more entertaining as the face Y2J, or have you forgotten that already?

 

[Keyser Soze]

I think Jericho is always at his best as a heel. He continually reinvents his heel act to be like 3 steps ahead of what anyone else is doing.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Let's not be too hard on Vince Russo, he must be having a rough time of it. His 3 big predictions for WWE this year were:

1. AJ Styles didn't have the charisma to get anywhere in WWE and would sink post-debut.
2. Kevin Owens would never be World Champion.
3. Samoa Joe will never make it to the main roster.

And he's already struck out on 2 of those. He'll be ready for putting his head in an oven when Joe appears on Smackdown.

 

[runawayboulder]

Emma's recent photoshoot =

 

[OnTheAir]

I think Jericho is always at his best as a heel. He continually reinvents his heel act to be like 3 steps ahead of what anyone else is doing.

Agreed...Jericho is much better as a heel

 

[javonstokess]

IMO, Rollins, Owen and Jericho are all much better as heels than faces.

Unfortunately, RAW is kinda lacking in "Main Event" Faces at the moment. Now would be great time to really elevate Sami Zayn and Cesaro.

 

[SpideyVille]

Jericho is one of the few heels that people want to love and cheer, but also love to boo because he knows exactly how to gain some heat.

 

[X Knight]

I'm thinking Triple H told him he was going to be the guy when he helped him up in the corner. Till then I think they were just telling him to kick out unless told other wise.

oh.

so that's how they do it?

when Reigns pins Owens, for example, he might whisper to Owens that this is the pin to take the fall.

something like that?