The Thread Killer

This show is so bad on so many different levels in so many different ways. If this doesn't get better soon...Heroes of Wrestling may have a new challenger.

I can't stand Vince Russo. I think he's the worst pro wrestling booker/writer of all time, and I think he has done permanent damage to pro wrestling. I think it's sad and unbelieveable that despite his prolonged and obviously intimate association with pro wrestling, he still never really understood what pro wrestling is and should be all about. Despite that, when I read one of his blog entries this week, I found myself shocked to be agreeing with something he wrote. As far as I can recall, this was the first time I had ever agreed with anything Vince Russo wrote or thought about anything. But this is what his blog said about Dixie Carter... To me, this is shocking for a number of reasons: First, Russo actually "gets" why Dixie Carter and TNA suck, which I assumed he wouldn't since he seems incapable of understanding other blatant obvious facts which are staring him in the face. (For example: "People hate me because I'm from New York.") Mind you in keeping with his typical Russo denial, he does go on to say "I would have clearly understand, recognized and accepted my limitations, and then hired those who had the know-how and knowledge to help me" when all the historical evidence points to the contrary...Russo does NOT understand his limitations - or even sees his limitations as actually, you know...being limitations. Secondly, TNA must really be going through it's final death rattle if Russo is willing to publicly voice a negative opinion about Dixie Carter. Let's be honest, aside from Jeff Jarrett, nobody did more to help Vince Russo and extend his influence on pro wrestling than Dixie. For him to finally bite one of the hands that fed him, he must be sure that he won't be getting any more paydays from Panda. Thirdly, this does confirm the stories that the Carter family don't want TNA to succeed unless Dixie is at the helm. We've heard stories about why Heyman didn't come in, and other stories that Viacom might have stayed involved or other TV deals or business partnerships would have been possible if Dixie would have been willing to step aside and take a less important role...but I guess the Carter family either thinks TNA can only work with Dixie in charge - or they don't want it to work if she isn't. Which is really weird and shows me it's more about the Carter family than it is about business and making money. Finally, I think it's downright bizarre that Vince Russo of all people thinks Jim Ross could have helped TNA. I had the misfortune of reading Russo's first book, in which he pretty much ridicules JR. And we all know about "Oklahoma." Granted, Russo has since apologized publicly to JR for the book and the gimmick in WCW, and it appears the two are friendly to a degree now...but in what universe would Vince Russo as a pro wrestling writer be able to work in a company which was being run under the direction of Jim Ross, considering his view of pro wrestling? Makes no sense. I now have to go outside and check to see if the world is coming to an end, since Vince Russo wrote something I agreed with...

Exactly. What the WWE is doing is a clear case of prejudice and racism towards orange people. You can't just erase these poor leather skinned people from history. I can only hope that George Hamilton publicly comes out in support of Hogan.

What Toronto arena are you talking about? For huge PPV shows or RAW, WWE usually runs Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) or Air Canada Centre. For house shows, they've been using Richoh Colliseum at the Canadian National Exhibition (which is the arena JCP ran back in the early 90's when WCW came to town.) ROH tends to use the Ted Reeve Arena, but they've also run The Markham Fairgrounds a couple of times (which was awesome for me because it's 10 minutes from my place) and they even ran a show at The Mattamy Athletic Centre, which is the preserved part of the old Maple Leaf Gardens. And DGUSA ran the Metro Toronto Convention Centre a few times. There are a ton of smaller venues in and around the Greater Toronto Area that ROH could run, although Ted Reeve arena seems to be their choice. It's where they've run the NJPW shows the last few years.

Wahoo is a guy I really wish had more footage floating around, especially in his prime. From what I've read and the clips I've seen, he and Johnny Valentine really beat the hell out of each other, but sadly I don't know of any existing footage of their matches.

Does Sean Oliver ask Rikishi what the source of the tension is between him and "Too Cool" (Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor)? I found it really odd that Rikishi never mentioned those guys in his HOF speech, especially since he never would have been anywhere near as popular as he was without them (IMO.) But he never even mentioned them, and afterward the rumor was that he intentionally snubbed them because they had some sort of falling out. As I recall, Taylor even mentioned the snub on his Twitter, but nobody has ever said what the reason for the falling out was. I was curious if Rikishi mentioned it in his shoot interview?

Oh yeah...his old friend Dusty Rhodes has only been dead for 3 weeks, but that hasn't stopped Graham from publicly asking for his job. Yeah Billy, I'm sure the reason you haven't heard back is because Vince has been busy.

I agree that Abdullah is a total scumbag...or as New Jack so eloquently put it " ." (I can't help myself, I laugh my arse off at that rant..."you got a rib shack in a chinese restaurant you confused-ass motherfucker!") My issue is that Graham may have started off being upset about the Hep C issue, but since then he has expanded his criticisms to Abdullah cutting other wrestlers without permission...something he knew Abdullah did WAY back before he knew he had Hep C. Like I said, Graham had no issue with Abdullah in his book (and we know Abdullah has been cutting people since pretty much day one) but now that he can get some publicity out of it, he's not just outraged about the Hep C, he's outraged about the cutting and the bleeding and the horrible violence in general.

The book is equally full of funny shit as well. The "face turn that never happened" (a/k/a Stone Cold Superstar) and it causing Billy to become a complete addict was perhaps the funniest one. I agree. While I found his book interesting to read, he does not come across as the slightest bit sympathetic, and he does exactly what you mentioned...basically he tries to justify his own behavior with some real stretches. His hatred and jealousy of Backlund borders on obsessive. I don't even really like Backlund all that much myself, but even I think Graham is nuts with his Backlund bashing. The other problem is, the man is a notorious attention whore. The second half of his book is pretty much a love sonnet to the McMahon family - who he promptly turned on (again) about a year after the book came out, giving interviews to anybody who would listen to him, blaming them for every thing under the sun, and selling his beloved WWE Hall of Fame ring on eBay. And of course when Bruno got in, Graham had to do the rounds with his opinion on that. He talks in his book rather fondly about Abdullah the Butcher, whom he has now spent the past few years since slagging every chance he gets for cutting people with blades. He didn't seem to have an issue with it in his book, but now all of the sudden that there is a lawsuit and press coverage, he thinks Abdullah is despicable and is happy to tell you all about it. Rock bottom to me (right along with falsely accusing a man of being a child molester) was pimping upcoming convention appearances, claiming they would be his final appearance, since he'd be dead in a year from liver failure. (These appearances happened a few years ago, FYI.)

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This sounds interesting, but I'm always wary of anything from SBG because the man is a notorious liar. I understand that all Pro Wrestlers are full of shit - it comes with the territory and is part of the job description to a degree - but even for wrestlers, Graham is a horrible liar. He even admits in his own book that he lied and basically slandered Pat Patterson, trying to paint the guy as a child molester...just because he was bitter about Vince Jr. firing him. I own the "20 Years Too Soon" documentary that WWE put out with Graham's book (which isn't a bad read) and even his own damn wife basically admits that half the industry hates the guy for being such a liar.

I went back and watched The Dream's brawl with Abdullah The Butcher from NJPW, it really took me back and made me feel like a kid again.

Yeah Will, but in Daniels's defense, Russo didn't like him and claimed he worried too much about having good matches and not enough about his "character." They didn't share the same sediments, in other words.

Sadly, I've become a little numb and even desensitized to wrestler deaths over the years, when I see a headline that somebody passed, it's getting to be like "Oh look, somebody else died." I feel bad that I feel that way, but so many of these guys have passed over the years I've been a fan, it's like I said - you almost get numb. This feels different though. This is really hitting me - the last time I felt like this is when Misawa died. Dusty Rhodes wasn't just a wrestler, he wasn't just a great wrestler, he was a legend. He left such a mark on the sport, it's hard to put into words. Ever since I heard the news, I've been walking around my job, and favorite promos and matches and angles keep popping into my head. What a loss. There will never be another Dusty Rhodes. He really was a true original and we'll never see another like him.

There was one year in the 90's, in AJPW where it was mind blowing how high the quality of their television was. Bit by bit I ended up buying almost the entire year - not by design, but I just kept getting tapes based on match recommendations from people I trusted, and then when I sat back and indexed my stuff, I realized that I was getting close to an entire year of TV. Off the top of my head, without going back to check my VHS tapes and indexes, I'm 90% sure it was 1993. So I'm going to say 1993 AJPW.

So apparently Vince Russo has started his own pay site again. How does this keep happening, and who would actually pay to hear what Vince Russo thinks about anything? Now if there was a kickstarter campain to pay Russo to stay AWAY from Pro Wrestling and to pay him if he agrees to NOT share his opinions...that is something I could get behind. So he posted a blog entry last week bemoaning the fact that whenever he points out what he sees as flaws in modern Pro Wrestling people get after him, but JR can say the same thing and people respect JR's opinion. I think it's hysterical that Russo can't understand why people respect JR's opinion and not his. (They share the same sediments, dammit!) Yes, Vince. It's because you're from New York, or that people confuse the real you with the character you played on TV. (Who you obviously must have been playing in your shoot interviews too. And I guess your television characters wrote your books as well.) The fact people don't respect you has nothing to do with the fact that you're the worst writer in the history of wrestling, and you helped drive WCW into the ground. This week, he has posted an interview with Billy Corgan on YouTube. I was going to watch it, but I'm afraid that the combination of ignorance and ego would melt my brain. Has anybody here been brave enough to watch the interview?

A few historic moments from Maple Leaf Gardens history: March 15, 1956: Whipper Billy Watson defeats Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Thesz will regain the title later in the year, in St. Louis. November 14, 1957: Dick Hutton defeats Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. June 30, 1961: Bruno Sammartino defeats Buddy Rogers in a match that was originally announced as being for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. However, Sammartino refuses the title as Rogers is injured during the match, so the NWA does not recognise the victory. January 24, 1963: Lou Thesz defeats Buddy Rogers for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in one fall. Several NWA promotors claim the match was intended to be a Best out of Three Falls Match, and refuse to recognise the title change, since only one fall was contested. As a result, Buddy Rogers is named and recognised as the first World Heavyweight Champion of the new World Wide Wrestling Federation. February 7, 1963: Lou Thesz defeats Rogers in a Best out of Three Falls rematch, solidifying his claim as NWA World Heavyweight Champion. August 11, 1974: Andre The Giant becomes the first person in over 100 matches and 5 years to defeat The Sheik in Toronto. February 6, 1977: Harley Race defeats Terry Funk for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. March 25, 1979: AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel and WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund fight to a double countout.

I might be biased since I saw so many shows there, but the old Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto had a long history going back as far as the 20's. Even though it has been converted to an athletic centre now, they hosted an ROH show last fall.

I have a question... What is the actual difference between Evolve and DGUSA shows? Are they only considered DGUSA when wrestlers from Dragon's Gate in Japan are on the show, otherwise they are Evolve? And is it true that the two promotions are starting to merge, or that DGUSA is basically starting to fade? Is it true that one of the champions on the show last night announced that their DGUSA title is now an Evolve title?

I think if there is one thing that has become clear over the years, it's that we should never underestimate the stupidity of Dixie Carter. I think pretty much anybody can distract her with shiny objects and convince her that they are the one who knows exactly how to make TNA succeed. First it was Russo, then it was Hogan/Bischoff, then it was Pritchard and now it's going to be Corgan.

In Dynamite Kid's book, DK mentions that Funk was bragging about his friendship with Stallone, and offered to get DK cast as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, but that DK never got the part because he was too short.

A lot of people can't do that, for medical reasons. As we age, the bladder loses it's elasticity, as well. Besides, didn't you watch Seinfeld? If there is one thing George Costanza taught us, it's that it is bad to hold it in. He read that in medical journals.

The financial woes news continues... 70 days late gets into "WTF" territory. If this is true, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they are out of business soon. When you're that far behind on paying people you're in Heyman territory.

Why wouldn't I get the news at 411? It's reliable, true, sourced, free, and easy to access. What an odd thing to care about.

I wasn't sure there was an Elder Statesman Vince, but then I was shocked when I saw the Ultimate Warrior tribute special they did on the WWE Network. When they interviewed Vince he got choked up and cried. It came off as totally sincere and legit, too. I've seen my share of crocodile tears in my day, and I don't think Vince is that good an actor. It shocked me for two reasons: 1) After all their history, I assumed Vince hated Warrior and only made nice with him because it was good for business. I never expected him to care that much. 2) I assumed Vince was some sort of uncaring cyborg, fueled by a combination of cocaine and testosterone. This is a guy who doesn't like people yawning around him and doesn't believe in illness, because he sees both as a sign of weakness...but he cried!