Happy WrestleMania weekend one and all, hope you all make the most of it and have a grand time. Calling my shot right now: Cody LOSES in the main event of night two as a debuting MJF costs him the chance to finish his story. The strong rumor is that he’s signed a multi-year deal with AEW last year, but not sure that’s ever been confirmed. So I am saying this solely on a gut feeling, nothing else. Regardless, you all have questions so I best get to answering them!
Thomas M gets the ball rolling with…”Looking at the WM card, is there anything on there that strikes you as potential Wrestlelrap or even an early Gooker candidate? Or due think we are going to get an “on-the-night” occurrence of WM like the two previous WMs?”
As I look up and down the card, I see nothing that is looking to be induction-worthy, let alone Gooker. And that to me is kinda sad. I know I’m an odd fish, but I want to see a mishmash of good, bad, and downright ugly from WWE. That’s when I think they are most interesting. If I have to sit through Michael Cole commentary, the least they can do is give me something I can laugh at and some fodder for the website!
SPEAKING OF COMMENTARY, Dustin N wants to know…”I have been watching old WCW PPVs lately, anr I had forgotten how great the commentary trio of Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes was. Who are some other commentary teams you think don’t get their just due?”
I’ll go Joey Styles and anyone. He was just so smooth and fun to listen to, dropping in little jokes and innuendos with a masterful touch. That he doesn’t have a job as an announcer in today’s wrestling scene is a crime. I loved him.
Andrew S asks…”Thoughts on the 10 or so wrestlers AEW just laid off?”
Other than Dasha, I wasn’t sure who most of them even were to be honest. And I say that as a guy who watches a lot of AEW. I think Tony is in the process right now of redefining what the company is, and as someone who has had to do that in a business, it’s unfortunately something you have to do. I think a lot of folks want him to just roll over and quit, which would be the single worst thing to happen to the business since WCW and ECW simultaneously died. WWE doesn’t push itself; it’s always outside companies that force their hand out of being in a rut. Right now, AEW is in a tough position – distant number two to a giant they’ve reawakened. So now comes the real challenge – create storylines that folks are into and wanting to see play out. On the plus side, you can tell they aren’t ready to give up, landing talent such as Copeland, Okada, and Mercedes. And of course Ospreay, who is my favorite wrestler today and I’m not sure who is even coming close to second place. Figure it out, Tony – the industry needs you around. Ignore the nerds having a wankfest every time someone posts a picture of a half empty building and keep fighting.
Kendall M ponders…”Any thoughts to the possibility of the world war 3 concept returning?”
No. Just…no. That’s a terrible idea that never resulted in anything positive. NO!
The incredible Jim Valley writes in with…”Fans have had adverse reactions to a lot of wrestlers over the years. Vince McMahon stuck with people like Honkytonk Man and Doink. Why do you think he didn’t try to shove The Gobbledegooker down our throats?”
What’s funny is that he DID try to stick with the concept after the Gooker’s debut! Yes, he gave up on it quickly but it still generated such gems as these:
It’s a crime we didn’t get this for months, nay, YEARS on end. My mind’s eye has the Gooker in a love triangle with Molly Holly and Spike Dudley!
Cyndi S asks…”With Pat Sajak just taping his last episodes of Wheel of Fortune, what was the pop culture moment where you thought to yourself, “Man, it’s an end of an era”.”
I was trying to think of something that wasn’t wrestling related, but the one I always think of is Randy Savage passing away. I just remember when that news hit and I was like, “That part of my life is gone and never, ever coming back.” I’m not sure my wrestling fandom has ever been the same since then to be honest, and Randy was gone from the business for I think over a decade prior to his passing.
Ryan G inquires…”Who do you think should be in the WWE Hall of Fame that still isn’t, outside of Demolition of course?”
I stand by my decades old stance that the WWE Hall of Fame is nothing more than a chance for more content and ticket sales for the company and is no more than that. Has Uncle Fred gotten a payday for it yet? If not, then him.
Simon JL gets on the tin can and string and asks…”After the first WCR April Fools episode, did you and Blade bother looking into the fact that Peter Gabriel is still alive to this day and is even touring?”
Oh man, those April Fools shows were so fun. We’d always attempt to outdo ourselves and after a few years it was a real challenge to do so! Good on Mr. Sledgehammer for being active, even if I far preferred Genesis with Phil Collins. 😉
Jeffrey W ponders…”Which Bret v Owen match was better? The opener at WM10 or the cage match at Summerslam ’94 (which I personally consider the best cage match of all time)”
That’s like asking a parent who his favorite child is. Thankfully, I just have one child (RD Jr. who is GOING TO COLLEGE IN THE FALL), so I have no issue stating it’s the WM10 match.
Rob N wraps us up with…”When you and Russo finished the Batman series, did you two discuss the idea of doing another sixties series like The Green Hornet or Gilligan’s Island?”
Absolutely we have discussed that. I know we both want to do something else, we’re just not quite sure what yet so we’re taking a bit of a breather. Those Batman shows would take hours to do – the eps were only 25 minutes, but we went into so much detail it would take about 2 hours for me to create notes on them, and then another hour or so for us to prep and record. It was an absolute blast though. We’ll figure out something to do in the future I am sure.
That’s it for this week…enjoy Mania, and keep sending those questions in rightchere!