The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 123: Joey O.

Photo Credit: Joey O.

Episode 123: The McMahon That Feeds

Joey O. from Y-Not Radio stops by to talk the current state of Chikara. We delve into their alternate reality game, compare it to the ones Nine Inch Nails and LOST, bemoan the glacial pace at which their storytelling is moving, and discuss what other baddies might come back to claim Wrestling Is... promotions. I give a primer about some old Chikara stories, including the Flex Express and the Chikara version of the Kings of Wrestling. We talk a bit about current WWE and whether now is the right time for a unification of titles. We also talk about WWE's atrophy of its Championships. I give Joey some choices regarding Christmas, we talk a bit of ROH, and then we end on his career as a DJ.

Direct link for your downloading pleasure

Year Zero ARG
LOST ARG
"The Hand That Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails

The Classical: The Silver Lining of Chris Hero's Release

Her's release has a silver lining
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

The Classical: Developing a Sustainable Relationship with a Man in His Underwear

My latest column for The Classical explores the release of Chris Hero from WWE developmental and the other avenues where WWE gets talent. I argue that while the release of Hero stings, that WWE has hit on enough talent from the indies as well as from other sources that his dismissal doesn't hurt as much as it would have prior.

National Pro Wrestling Day 2014 Will Be in Easton

Via the Against Malaria Foundation

The location for National Pro Wrestling Day 2014 has been leaked via the Against Malaria Foundation website. Next year's event will take place 90 minutes north of this past year's locale, Philadelphia, in Easton, PA. The venue for the 2/1/14 event has not yet been named; however, given the success of King of Trios '12, I can only assume the venue will be the Easton Funplex, one of my favorite places to watch wrestling. NPWD will be partnering with the foundation to help raise funds to treat malaria, as the deadly disease still ravages the Third World.

Easton might seem like a downgrade from Philly in terms of culture, but NPWD wasn't exactly held in Center City like it was scheduled to be originally. The Armory is located in the tippy-tip of Northeast Philadelphia, which culturally is about on par with the surrounding environs in Easton. I am going to withhold any further judgment until I get more information about the venue and other trappings, but I'm excited that NPWD has a city pinned down at least.

Your Midweek Links: The RETURN of PizzaBodySlam

Buy this shirt!
Via International Object

It's hump day, so here are some links to get you through the rest of the week:

Wrestling Links:

- The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 122: Brandon Stroud [WCW Thunder Rolls]

- Since I've Been Gone VII: Adrian's Revenge [PizzaBodySlam]

- I wanna be your WCW ladies tee [International Object]

- Best and Worst of RAW, 12/2: Let's Set Triple H on Fire [With Leather]

- Can indie wrestling survive in WWE? [Grantland]

- A brief defense of Monday Night RAW as canon television [Criterion Cast]

- SHIMMER Vol. 61 gallery [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- Seven things: Favorite forgotten nWo members [Wrestling on Earth]

The Best Moves Ever: Beach Break

Longtime readers oughtta know by now that I'm a huge fan of head dropping moves. Sure, I'm a hypocrite in some regards because I also want wrestling to be safer, but when used sparingly, a good piledriver seems like it wouldn't hurt in the long term too badly. The Beach Break takes the head womp of the piledriver and combines it with over the back innovation to produce a move that looks especially hardcore. The following video shows Fire Ant giving Vin Gerard the what-for with said move.

The Problem with Bad News Barrett

Really, that's what you script for Barrett?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Bad News Barrett debuted on RAW last night. For those who don't know, that version of RED BELLY Wade Barrett debuted and developed on the JBL and Cole Show, WWE's mostly amusing web variety show featuring the two announcers, Renee Young, and a rotating cast of wrestlers, which lately has heavily featured Hornswoggle in a bear suit that looks like the titular character from the movie Ted. Anyway, Barrett's role on the show was to break into the scene at the most inopportune time and remind various wrestlers of the mistakes they were making or the bad fortune that was awaiting them.

The base character was actually quite brilliant. The actual persona would play at the idea of "shooting the messenger" when enacted in an actual wrestling storyline. Barrett's delivery and tone is such that he could play an effective heel while delivering the bad news, i.e. feeling sorry for having someone lash out at him gets harder and harder with how much he seems to revel in delivering said bad news. I was quite looking forward to the time on RAW where they would implement that trait in his character.

Then, they debuted him last night and had him deliver "bad news" generically to the crowd using garden variety heat garnering tactics to do so. So much for making a great first impression.

Must-Listen Alert: Daniel Bryan on The Steve Austin Show

Best in the world at being a podcast guest, too!
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Episode 69

I love the Steve Austin Show, and I try to listen to it as much as I can. Today's show, as advertised on RAW last night, features Daniel Bryan. This episode is probably the best one he's had that I've heard yet. Bryan actually gives a lot of insight into what his early career, his training, and some of his non-wrestling life. He actually reveals a lot about his time in the Texas Wrestling Academy with Shawn Michaels, and actually describes why Randy Orton, yes, Randy Orton, is the guy who takes the best care of himself in the company. Again, this show is a must-listen.

The Past is Prologue: Total Divas Episode 13

The new power couple of Total Divas?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Five minutes into the latest Total Divas, true magic recycled from the sitcom playbook began to form on my television screen. Before this point, Total Divas had been extremely sluggish upon its return. The heavy focus on plots that are less humorous has run with mixed results. I can buy the weirdness of some people, but not the (mostly involving Nattie and Eva Marie) cattiness. And I guess that's fine, because I'm probably not the target audience for the program to begin with. Still, the last few weeks had actually been harder to watch. Then this moment happened:

Oh, wait, that's from 30 Rock. But the plot is just as ridiculous. We find out that Ariane is recording a song called "Bye Bye." This is mentioned and we see Ariane in the studio. And then never again. It is as if I had a fever dream that reality star and also sort of wrestler Ariane was Angie Jordan (thus the clip above). Ah well, people do like the way she says "girl bye."

Look Who Got Ink Done

Photo Credit: WWE.com

Sin Cara made his return to Monday Night RAW last night sporting some new ink on his right shoulder and pectoral area. I got excited for ol' Mistico until I was informed that Hunico was seen recently on NXT with the same kind of tattoos. I guess the original Sin Cara experiment is over. Such is life. Anyway, whoever was under the mask did pretty well last night. My affinity for masked wrestlers compels me to root for Sin Cara, so I'm glad the character is back.

Instant Feedback: Bratty Orton

Bratty Orton is the best Orton
Photo Credit: WWE.com

John Cena, the character, was right.

Randy Orton has mostly been a disappointment in his WWE career. The fans never took to him like they took to Cena, despite WWE hammering his square peg ass into every round hole they could find. Hey, that method worked for Triple H, didn't it? He was cantankerous and had an affinity for controlled substances. When his ship had sailed after Mark Henry made him the highest-profile inductee into the Hall of Pain, he coasted on his laurels, in character of course. He was the guy who won, which made for a boring selection for consumption for a fan like me. As long as he did RKOs out of nowhere, though, the live crowds gave the reactions Vince McMahon craved.

For as much as I've hemmed, hawed, raged, and sighed quietly about Orton's burgeoning malaise, his general yuckface bringing had a sterling silver lining. It set the table for the utter brilliance he's been projecting since he became the Face of WWE. Would a sulking, attention-starved Orton elicit as much a reaction if he had been lighting the world on fire in the years prior? Would his over-explaining have carried as much weight if the general consensus on him as a performer wasn't that he was lacking? Would his utter entitlement be as stark if the Wellness violations and the rumors of his maltreatment of women in WWE ended up keeping him in the back of the pack with the Mr. Kennedys and MVPs of the world?

The Wrestling Blog's OFFICIAL Best in the World Rankings, December 2

HOSS HOSS HOSS HOSS HOSS HOSS HOSS HOSSSSSSSSSSS
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Welcome to a feature I like to call "Best in the World" rankings. They're not traditional power rankings per se, but they're rankings to see who is really the best in the world, a term bandied about like it's bottled water or something else really common. They're rankings decided by me, and don't you dare call them arbitrary lest I smack the taste out of your mouth. Without further ado, here's this week's list:

1. Mark Henry (Last Week: 5) - Mark Henry tagging with Big E. Langston shows he has great taste in hossy tag partners. I'm not saying I started a Tumblr shipping their partnership, but I'm also not saying I didn't.

2. Rachel Summerlyn (Last Week: 3) - She sent me brisket. Bribes work, guys!

3. Daniel Bryan (Last Week: 1) - He was apparently dumped off in the parking lot in Long Island after being abducted by the Wyatt Family, which means the stink of being left outside in Long Island for more than a few minutes has dropped him a few spots. I KEED, I KEED! Long Island's not that bad. I mean, it's not New Jers... [REDACTED]

From the Archives: Trevor Lee (c) vs. Chiva Kid

Andrew Everett has taken the indie world by storm, but he had humbler beginnings as a wrestling goat in a futbol kit. As Chiva Kid, he made his impact on the wrestling world at large at National Pro Wrestling Day in a tag team match. Across the ring from him was Trevor Lee, against whom the Kid faces off in this week's selection. The match, for the CWF Mid-Atlantic Television Championship, took place at "Chinlock for Chuck," a co-promoted charity event with Matt Hardy's OMEGA promotion. The match is pretty spiffy, so watch it, please!

The Divestiture of Chikara, the Release of Thom, and a Bleak Crossroad

Why do they want full divestment?

The high noon showdown Saturday wasn't really a showdown at all, or at least, it didn't start out as such. The CHIKARmed Forces Ustream page streamed the event at FDR Park, which at first seemed like a non-starter. The Condor emissaries dropped off the impetus for a scavenger hunt, which was broadcast off-and-on all day, thanks to the providence of the recording apparatus' battery and the lack of a secondary charging source. Basically, the hunt culminated with Condor exchanging the release of Thom, the hostage they took at the last Chikara event at FDR Park, for the contents of a folder which contained a rezoning request for the Charles Chirin Community Center of Palmer Township, better known to you and me as the Easton Funplex.

Then, this morning, I woke to find an e-mail from the Titor Conglomerate in my Gmail inbox. The missive announced that they were putting up all intellectual property associated with Chikara up for sale with a deadline date of December 22.

First off, I'm glad Thom is okay and that those monsters at Condor Security, who were all to eager to bust skulls at the Trocadero on June 2, didn't hurt him. Kidnapping obviously carries a certain weight of trauma, but his recovery means that maybe he has some information, a thread to their undoing. Regardless, Thom's safety is the paramount thing to worry about here. Hopefully, he hasn't suffered too much mental stress.

Twitter Request Line, Vol. 55

Part of a great year in WWE
Photo Credit: WWE.com

It's Twitter Request Line time, everyone! I take to Twitter to get questions about issues in wrestling, past and present, and answer them on here because 140 characters can't restrain me, fool! If you don't know already, follow me @tholzerman, especially around Friday night after Smackdown, and wait for the call. Or don't wait for it actually. I'll try to get everything for this feature no matter when in the week you shoot me the Tweet. Anyway, here we go.

First up, @KillFriskey asks if this year is the best I've seen in WWE since I've been a fan.

This year has been quite the whirlwind, hasn't it? My knee-jerk reaction would be to say no, because of the way the company has jerked around Daniel Bryan in favor of telling a story that so far has ended in apparent unification of the titles between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. However, personally speaking only, if I were to judge WWE's quality by how they booked my favorite wrestler, then I would be praising 1997 highly. To be quite honest, 1997 didn't hold a candle overall to what this past year has beheld. Sure, they got Steve Austin right (in spite of themselves), but they screwed Bret Hart out of the company, Shawn Michaels got packed in mothballs for eventual repair, the wrestling on TV was short and marred with awful finishes, and the gimmick roll was still pretty embarrassing.

Brandon on the podcast this week relayed that WWE just isn't good at following through on stories, and they never have been traditionally. With that in mind, is their failure with Bryan enough to cancel out the rise of The Shield, the ancillary Rhodes Boys Tag Team Championship run, the actual treatment of Bryan as a big fuckin' deal, and most importantly, the absolute treasure trove of excellent matches on both free TV and pay-per-view? I'd say no, it's not. For my money, the last year in WWE has been the best since I've started following it.

Best Coast Bias: All The Feels, All The Stars

Me after another episode of the best wrestling show in the world
gif via Know Your Meme

Forget being reasonable, so long to objectivity, and matriarch-fornicating neutrality: if you don't like NXT--especially this week's episode, I will fight you in the street. With everybody you care about watching, too. Do you understand me? Fisticuffs in the road with witnesses and I'll do it gleefully and lie, cheat and steal Eddie style to win, too. That is the exact amount of bothers I give.

There's been a popular meme going around that people should spend more time bigging up the things they like rather than the things they hate. That seems pretty myopic, especially given the fact that the average person has 8 tabs open on their browser at any given point (note: number not officially verified by science or facts but seems about right, so could you just be cool for once?). Hatred and love don't exist in vacuums, usually are justified, and both are wholly valid emotional reactions to have to things and events. That said, blind hatred is squirm-inducing; justified criticism is different. The "botching" of the main event angle up on RAW and Smackdown has left everybody in the net world frostier than usual, and rightfully so, assuming what they want is WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and not "WWE Champion Daniel Bryan for the next 1,482 days".

When I hear friends say they've given up on the product, it always makes me laugh and cock my head like a confused doggie's. Hell, my old favorite wrestler in the world offed his wife, his kid, and himself. That only kept me away for a few years. And for all the sturm und drang people offer up, what they're sick of is the big show (not the Big Show, though sometimes that applies as well). And you know what they always love despite the fact they've Cena nuff and they'd make RKZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ signs if they'd care enough?

NXT.