Elsalvajeloco

First few minutes of the episode for those who don't.

"So yesterday, I was helping my kids out with their school project..." Bill, ten minutes ago Jim Duggan and Ted DiBiase were sincerely fighting over who was the best dressed in Mid South and using "high tech technology" to monitor crowd response. Let the segment breathe, Cowboy.

Funny, on the heels of THE FOOTAGE in AEW, we're talking about a lot of stuff done on Mid South TV shows that would get you absolutely ridiculed and mocked in today's social media age. To the point where you delete and scrub all your accounts. Honestly, I take a lot of stuff being done by Bill as well intentioned. However, the music video with his kids, putting over local business partners, sucking up to local famous people, etc. is very disarming but somehow very non pro wrestling. It's very local guy made good. Like he should have a bunch of car dealerships around town. It's like an inherent contradiction. Bill Watts is the definition of pro wrestling, but he's allowed to do stuff that definitely ain't pro wrestling. An outsider like Tony Khan cannot do that and it's taken as disingenuous when done cause he wasn't in "pro wrestling" and is a legit businessman. It's an amazing paradox.

Okay it's on the 2/2/85 episode. This wouldn't be the low point for Erik Watts, believe it or not.

I think it's after Brickhouse cause this is when Butch Reed is babyface again. He goes to talk to the kids at a school or something. It's basically his turn to be the new JYD. On that same episode is that video.

Funny thing is...Watts for some reason (hyping up his kids?) months later after Ragin disappears (goes to World Class IIRC) did a whole entire segment putting over his sons' friend being this great break dancer. So it's clear he knows pop culture enough that break dancing is a big thing now. There is a whole five minute music video dedicated to Micah (?), Erik, and their black friend break dancing in some workout room. It's so incredibly wacky and pandering to the younger generation.

Even though he's no longer champ, a guy like Sean Strickland was like weird before he was champ. It's just like Colby Covington, where nobody noticed until he became someone. The counter to that is a Derrick Lewis, who has the freedom to talk about his balls being hot. Still a top 5 UFC moment *non fighting*. I dunno how many fights Derrick Lewis has in the UFC. It's a lot cause he has been around ten years plus and been surprisingly active. However, if he has two dozen UFC fights, he has as many "you can't say that on TV" (or even PPV) moments. He will never be champion, but deserves a job for life.

Mark Ragin: Another wrestler rendered absolutely useless by the WWE Network/Peacock. If you want to talk about the influence of Thriller on sports/entertainment, there was also a guy by the name of Alvin "Too Sweet" Hayes in boxing around the time Ragin was in wrestling. It was the exact same bit except Hayes would do the whole routine and take like six minutes. He was also 6'1" fighting at 135 pounds (lightweight in boxing), which was amazing back then. Just like Ragin though, his career didn't last past being a huge Michael Jackson fan. There is a clip he is most infamous for where he fights on the undercard of Tommy Hearns vs. Roberto Duran, does the whole Michael Jackson bit in a pink Zorro mask for some reason, and then gets absolutely flambéed by longtime contender Jimmy Paul. Probably one of the most embarrassing (and brutal) moments in boxing history.

If they didn't completely nail the landing on the whole brother angle, after six months of buildup, that's WrestleCrap on a much larger level than the Higher Power. It would have destroyed the Undertaker character, which had been extremely pivotal in the worst times for the company.

That is the Mid South thing. Bill Watts is telling you that as you're watching a Private Terry Daniels match. Daniels taking off his uniform would take longer than his matches.

Elix was one of those guys who looked younger than he actually was. He was in his early 30s when started wrestling so it's totally understandable if his actually career was abbreviated. That and I think it wasn't much for him to do after Triple X broke up originally. He just became another guy in TNA. A guy like Jindrak was eventually able to find his footing after his American prospects waned. Even then, physically, he probably would have gotten another chance if things fell the right way.

Elix Skipper? Unlike Bobby Walker, he would actually hit his spots. Also, he would wind up having some match of the year candidates.

Shit, I just noticed the Power Plant Legacy Films part of the poster. So...uh....what? The Power Plant isn't exactly as bad as some of these other places who produced below par wrestlers, and they had one strong success story even if he was extremely flawed. However, I don't think there was a legacy that was left. Was Hard Work Bobby Walker a gaffer or something?

How does that or removing all the context I laid out clear Paul Levesque?

I think people get there is a bit of pro wrestling factor, but he's also the corporate face of a company (probably more Nick but Paul is out there as the creative guy). It's not 1994 anymore and Vince writing letters about people blading on TV. There is no real reason to be out here out working people like you're a carny. It's a different time in pro wrestling. And maybe that's essentially the issue. He wants to uphold this pro wrestling sensibility yet be able to navigate into a more corporate atmosphere. However, if that worked, Vince would still be in charge. He is trying to be of these two worlds, and that's not going to work. Again, Dana White is still Dana White. But he ain't the Dana White Mr. Macho of the old days calling Loretta Hunt a "stupid fucking bitch" and going on transphobic rants against Cris Cyborg. That old carny fight promoter bit is done. He still says stupid stuff time to time, but he is extremely measured with everything he says for the most part.

I know they've been running "house shows" and probably plan on continuing to do so in near future especially if they continue to do well in terms of attendance. But it’s one of the things that I saw when I saw when the sale first happened (might have been Nick Khan IIRC) is they're going to continue reassess what makes sense for them in terms of live events and that nothing is off the table when the question came up in terms of house shows. I basically interpreted it as for right now that there would be shows in your B and C towns and even TV shot in certain places in terms of routing. However, if you're in one of these small towns they hit every once and awhile, you're essentially screwed.

Flimsy, you say? No.... I love when Bill Simmons got into boxing for a bit about ten years ago and started being really excited about Triple G. Uh Bill, you do know Triple G is already 33 and had like hundreds of amateur fights going back to when he was 11. So in boxing years, Golovkin was like a ripe 39 years old. So when Golovkin finally looked his age and lost to Canelo, he stopped talking boxing. He is a casual fan's casual fan.

Ali's estate, god bless 'em, will sign off on anything between being in WWE and UFC video games and the grandsons whose surnames aren't Ali using the Ali name (to be fair, the one in MMA is MUCH better than his brother in boxing). They are trying to get that paper.

I agree with some of that to a certain extent, but everyone ain't working like Ospreay. It wouldn't be possible just because Ospreay, no matter where you fall on is he overrated or not, can do shit only other freaks of nature like Ricochet, PAC, etc. can do. To quote Patrice O'Neal talking about the NBA Slam Dunk contest in 2010ish or so, "There only but so much centrifugal force for a ***** to spin in the air." When Amazing Red showed up in ROH and TNA, I am pretty sure he influenced a whole bunch of people. Same as Jody Fleisch and others. However, only so many guys could do that. There were just a bunch of pretenders. However, there were a bunch of people pretending to be the next Stone Cold or the next Rock or this guy or that guy. There was a balance. That balance still exists, and nothing is going to upset that. Only but so many men and female are extremely athletic. There are but so many women as absurdly diesel strong as Chihiro Hashimoto or Rhea Ripley or Bianca Belair or Jordynne Grace. That's the beauty of pro wrestling. Your strengths are your strengths. Your weaknesses are your weaknesses. You have to work towards the former. A guy like Ospreay got that notoriety before Meltzer even knew who he was or heaped effusive praise on him. At the same time, how many folks have torn down Ospreay for his style? Like no one is stopping people from criticizing him. Early Ospreay as a Jr. Heavyweight got on my fucking nerves. At some point, I took the good with the bad. However, I look at his praise and criticism the exact same way. They are opinions.

Waiting for the ghost of Lou Thesz to chime in and say he isn't coming back for one more match. That said, some billionaire whose grandad was a fan back in the day is going have AI Lou Thesz wrestling AI Buddy Rogers. However, they will demand you pay real money for it.

How many wrestling fans actually read Dave's newsletter though? Like roughly 5% of the people who watch now. Like the style is the style. Who now wouldn't be at their level if Dave wasn't around? Like I am not a big Bill Simmons fan, but I am not about say, "man, yeah Steph Curry or Luka Doncic wouldn't be stars if Bill Simmons didn't kiss their ass." That would be absolute fantasy if someone said that. When ROH sold out MSG, that was the wrestlers, not some old dude in Campbell, California. Same with the first AEW shows. No one in New Japan or All Japan in 1993 was booking based on Dave Meltzer's opinion. He liked what he liked and that was it. You cannot destroy organic movements. You can add to them. Now if you wanna say that, then be my guest. However, you cannot contribute any of these changes to Dave Meltzer or Keller or anyone else.

The House of Gullen: Nick's uncle Teijo Khan, Yomamba the Jungle Beast, and Mantaur.

The highlight of the week was SLK and Momo in their ring gear in broad daylight, and Momo having to run across the street and try not to get hit. That's what happens when you're wrestling in the middle of the afternoon and not from this country.

It's a newsletter written by a single person. If you were looking for objectivity in the first place, that's on you. As an aside: I was reading a back issue from 1995 the other week, and the issue ended with one of those long ass fan letters to Dave. It basically went on and on about how wrestlers of that generation weren't tough (lol fast forward to 2024, buddy). This guy's main target was JIM DUGGAN. Like 1980s Mid South Jim Duggan wouldn't rip both his eyeballs out and feed them to him. Hell, WCW 2X4 Jim Duggan would whoop his ass.

No, that is a Coliseum home video release in 1994 with 5 Mantaur matches on it. I checked.