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Especially compared to other folks I don't much issue with Conrad.  But after reading about his style for a lot of the shows I just don't have interest in checking them out.  Heck, the last one with him I regularly listened to was the Flair one and I don't remember anything being bad about him.  Maybe he was just being a good boy since he's married into the family.

I also can't hate the guy because while he had no shame in reveling in it he did do the Starrcast shows.  So if he's the main reason why I was able to meet some awesome people and see Mox's interview live then he's okay in my book.

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I would say that Conrad has tone down t-shirt hawking/catchphrase stuff because when he started most of these shows, his co-hosts were either out-of-work (Tony was doing radio for UGA sports but I mean wrestling work) and/or between wrestling gigs. Bruce was with MLW, Eric was just in Wyoming with his wife, and Tony was doing work off and on with MLW. JR was doing whatever the fuck he was doing at the time.

If I'm doing a wrestling podcast early in the morning, I would want to be compensated. All that stuff was a means to compensate his hosts, which is the right thing to do because they bring value to his platform. Now all those dudes (including Eric for the brief time he was back with WWE) are or were with either WWE or AEW. Thus, he doesn't feel the need to do it as much. In addition, he dropped stuff like Tony Reads Rap cause god knows Schiavone would DEFINITELY say something to get fired. 

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2 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Ah, thanks.  I didn't know he'd toned down the constant t-shirt hawking.  I stopped listening long before that!

This is a very weird quirk to have though. I mean most popular podcasts/radio shows have sponsors and they do reads. Just skip 'em. AFAIK, he never did like some weird pitchman shit where he would do it live as he did the show. I mean I only have access on the Patreon to the stuff to about WHW episode 68-ish, which was like May 2018. Lots of those shows would spots inserted into the show which you could easily just FF to the show again. Either that or they would be at the very beginning or end of the shows. That absolutely wasn't the bulk of those shows. 

My only complaint that I really had or currently have with his shows is pushing back on certain things or not cutting folks off when they go on long rants. However, it may be he doesn't want to fight certain battles because he knows can't be won.

For example, during and after he discussed WM IX with Prichard, Bruce maintains they put the belt on Hogan because they wanted him to tour Europe as WWF champion. Well, he dropped the strap to Yoko at KotR 93 and then went on said tour to end his long tenure with WWF. I think Bruce is confusing tours because they did one in spring right after WM, which Hogan wasn't on. He did the one in the summer where he wasn't champion, and he went over Yokozuna every night. However, Bruce maintains that was their thinking. Conrad put up some resistance, but he just said fuck it I'm assuming.

Matter of fact, that's probably Conrad's only blindspot in that he waffles between cornering people and entertaining some of their nonsense. That could be frustrating because I feel like as a fan, we could be the verge of a breakthrough in hearing behind the scenes not even the most hardcore fans know about. However, when it comes to sore spots that his co-hosts have, he needles them and then he backs off. Since I already brought it up, Bruce's sore spot seems to be when he came back after he was fired in 91 I believe, worked for Global IIRC, and then returned in like 92. He doesn't really enjoy discussing the era of WWF when business was down and they were in the midst of the Zahorian trial and then Vince's own steroid trial. I mean anytime Conrad brings up the the idea that Luger was going to be champ based Meltzer hearing about or see Lex with the belt at some taping, I cringe because it's going to set Bruce off and nothing positive is going to come from it. That or he will say they were intentionally trying to trick Meltzer which is super trivial for the biggest wrestling outfit to do. Ironically enough, I just listened to the STW KotR 93 podcast where Bruce talks about the Tom Cole stuff. If you happen to stumble upon that after reading about Tom Cole committing suicide, that's not going to make you a fan of the show and especially of Bruce Prichard. I think Bruce does a great job of his analysis and the logic behind certain creative, but just going through shows from the 92-96 era, you can tell that was when he decided he was going down with the ship cause that's the direction it was going at the time. 

With these shows, it's clear you're going to have to take the good with the bad.

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For me, I grew to dislike him so much I won't listen to shows that I should want to hear, like Arn and I guess now Hero. Same way I gave up on JC's show when Alice was the co-host. I would have a hard time listening again to Fuller's show when the first guy before Brian was the cohost. 

With 200 unlistened pods across all subjects in my queue, why listen to the ones that will likely aggravate me? ?

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My issue wasn't about ad reads.  I know every show has ads, who cares about that?  My issue was with how Conrad would seize on something organic that happened on a show, make it into a t-shirt, then manage to make that thing into a bit on every single episode in order to promote the merch, and beat that horse dead until it felt like the whole program was peppered with downlow ads for t-shirts.  For example, Schiavone would a make a passing reference to being hung "like a button on a fur coat."  Next thing you know, there's a "button on a fur coat" t-shirt and Conrad is using that line every chance he gets on every show.  Take something that was spur of the moment and funny, then make it a repeating, ongoing bit and merchandise the living fuck out of it.  At best, it's a hacky, inorganic way to do a show.  At worst, he's just spending every show trying to figure out new gimmicks to sell.  I'm surprised they didn't make Fuck Dave Meltzer brand lube at the rate they were going.

It reminds me of Howard Stern commenting on, I believe, Rush Limbaugh (Satan rest his soul).  He disparaged Limbaugh for constantly hawking coffee mugs, pins, shirts, books, etc.  His point was that you can build a relationship with an audience better by selling 1) a minimal amount of  2) good products instead of just going nuts selling everything under the sun, which makes your audience feel like a cash cow you're just trying to bleed dry.

If Conrad has backed off on that stuff since I stopped listening, cool.  But as @odessastepssaid, I too have a lot of other stuff to listen to as it is.

 

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20 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

For me, I grew to dislike him so much I won't listen to shows that I should want to hear, like Arn and I guess now Hero. Same way I gave up on JC's show when Alice was the co-host. I would have a hard time listening again to Fuller's show when the first guy before Brian was the cohost. 

With 200 unlistened pods across all subjects in my queue, why listen to the ones that will likely aggravate me? ?

Dislike him based on what though?

Cornette I could understand. Cornette when he's discussing history (this is funny cause this is Conrad's line when putting over Cornette) is stellar. However, Cornette doesn't seem to know he has this toxic side about him. I hate using the word toxic since I find it to be extremely overused within the last 5-10 years, but I have to describe Cornette that way cause he has to take personal shots at people. I wouldn't have so much a problem with that except his thing is (1) he says I (I being Cornette obviously) never plan to leave the safe confines of my home which is A1 level pussy internet troll shit and (2) he would likely back down from all that stuff if he was working with those people cause he doesn't know them.

In addition, he has this weird thing where apparently Japanese female wrestlers are fetishes and not like real people. He has this thing where he will infantilize them like these women aren't like in their late 20s/early 30s. Like if you worked for WWE or like any reputable company, that would get you fired. IMMEDIATELY. Moreover, it's not like he admittedly doesn't his own fetishes. If folks should not have a problem with him being a swinger, he should be fine with people being attracted to Asian women. He's talking about shit he doesn't have a clue about (apparently he couldn't decide if Omega was dating Riho or Shida so he just went with every Japanese female wrestler), and it's a creepy thing to continue to harp on.

He also has some racial blindspots that doesn't make me feel all that swell about him. As a black person, I'm not too keen about listening to him when it comes to that. 

I can't think of anything regarding Conrad where it's in that realm. Maybe anytime he talks about the confederate flag maybe cause it's not like that shit was cool back in the 80s or 90s. It didn't mean freedom. His answers are always a little weird. Other than that, I can't think of anything.

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10 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

My issue wasn't about ad reads.  I know every show has ads, who cares about that?  My issue was with how Conrad would seize on something organic that happened on a show, make it into a t-shirt, then manage to make that thing into a bit on every single episode in order to promote the merch, and beat that horse dead until it felt like the whole program was peppered with downlow ads for t-shirts.  For example, Schiavone would a make a passing reference to being hung "like a button on a fur coat."  Next thing you know, there's a "button on a fur coat" t-shirt and Conrad is using that line every chance he gets on every show.  Take something that was spur of the moment and funny, then make it a repeating, ongoing bit and merchandise the living fuck out of it.  At best, it's a hacky, inorganic way to do a show.  At worst, he's just spending every show trying to figure out new gimmicks to sell.  I'm surprised they didn't make Fuck Dave Meltzer brand lube at the rate they were going.

It reminds me of Howard Stern commenting on, I believe, Rush Limbaugh (Satan rest his soul).  He disparaged Limbaugh for constantly hawking coffee mugs, pins, shirts, books, etc.  His point was that you can build a relationship with an audience better by selling 1) a minimal amount of  2) good products instead of just going nuts selling everything under the sun, which makes your audience feel like a cash cow you're just trying to bleed dry.

If Conrad has backed off on that stuff since I stopped listening, cool.  But as @odessastepssaid, I too have a lot of other stuff to listen to as it is.

Shit, you're talking about wrestling in general when it comes to merchandise. Hell, a good portion of this very forum is people talking about merch. I wouldn't begrudge anyone taking advantage of that because wrestling fans love it. In addition, that's a very, very small part of those shows. It's not hacky at all. It would be different if the show topics were merch based but 95% is talking about the subject of those shows which one specific event/wrestler/time period. This guy is doing 2-3hr shows. If every show was just him reading long ass Meltzer and Keller quotes, it would be boring as hell. He injects some humor into it and then goes back to the show. I don't think you listened to many of those shows based on what you're saying. The older shows I listened to had a little over it, but definitely not to overpower the shows. 

It's very peculiar to nitpick stuff like this because that's not even 5% of these shows.

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2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Take something that was spur of the moment and funny, then make it a repeating, ongoing bit and merchandise the living fuck out of it.  At best, it's a hacky, inorganic way to do a show.

Maybe he's just angling for a job with WWE.  That's very much in their wheelhouse.

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28 minutes ago, Log said:

Maybe he's just angling for a job with WWE.  That's very much in their wheelhouse.

People been thinking that for five years now. Same with AEW now. There is no evidence to prove any of that. If you want a WWE job, you wouldn't have shows with folks that work for AEW and vice versa. Moreover, he made fun of the whole Dark Order thing from the end of 2019. He seems to be very happy with the mortgage world. It sounds like they (WWE at least) tried to make head way with him years ago, but he didn't seem interested at all.

Here I thought people had legitimate gripes against the guy like he fucked over someone on some cash swindling scheme or said something really racist or offensive. If it's over selling some shirts, everyone in wrestling is guilty including all your favorite wrestlers and personalities.

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Just now, Log said:

I’m just making a joke about how WWE takes things that happen organically and run them into the ground. 
 

I’m neutral on Conrad. He doesn’t bother me. I’ve been liking Hero’s podcast. 

Oh, I wasn't directing that second part at you.

But yeah, I'm thinking that was sort of the genesis of them wanting their own podcast network or w/e. And if he would signed some sort of agreement with WWE, he wouldn't be able to say 3/4ths of the stuff he normally says on his shows and they would be able to control who he has on. It's a golden handcuffs thing. If he's making a killing in the mortgage world like he claims, that's something he wouldn't need to do. Hell, I think that's what brought an end to Starrcast or at least the events in connection to these tentpole wrestling shows. He can do stuff on the Jericho Cruise cause I mean even Booker T was there. For a guy people see as money grubbing, he's pretty careful with these conflicts of interest.

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14 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

If it's over selling some shirts, everyone in wrestling is guilty including all your favorite wrestlers and personalities.

Hey man, we're just going to agree to disagree on this.  It's cool.  It's not just about "selling some shirts."  I've tried to get it across but you're ignoring my point or not seeing it, and that's fine.  My point was that Conrad comes across as a guy always looking for an angle, something to sell, which feels disingenuous to me.  I can't personally enjoy a show when I feel like the show is secondary to the host's need to sell me some shit.  Everybody needs to make money, but don't be so overt about it.  That's my whole point.  I'm not begrudging the guy for trying to make money.  I'm begrudging the guy for being so artlessly obvious and distasteful about it.  YMMV. 

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4 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Hey man, we're just going to agree to disagree on this.  It's cool.  It's not just about "selling some shirts."  I've tried to get it across but you're ignoring my point or not seeing it, and that's fine.  My point was that Conrad comes across as a guy always looking for an angle, something to sell, which feels disingenuous to me.  I can't personally enjoy a show when I feel like the show is secondary to the host's need to sell me some shit.  Everybody needs to make money, but don't be so overt about it.  That's my whole point.  I'm not begrudging the guy for trying to make money.  I'm begrudging the guy for being so artlessly obvious and distasteful about it.  YMMV. 

I'm not ignoring anything as much it comes off as extremely bizarre. It's just uselessly nitpicking shit when that's never been the show at all. It comes as "I've listened to one show and did some selective listening for shit that will piss me off." That shit itself is disingenuous. 

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41 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I'm not ignoring anything as much it comes off as extremely bizarre. It's just uselessly nitpicking shit when that's never been the show at all. It comes as "I've listened to one show and did some selective listening for shit that will piss me off." That shit itself is disingenuous. 

I listened to both the Prichard and Schiavone shows for quite a while.  Probably a year or so, maybe.  I definitely don't have the time to hate listen like it sounds like you think I did.  I just got really tired of it after a while.

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1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

I listened to both the Prichard and Schiavone shows for quite a while.  Probably a year or so, maybe.  I definitely don't have the time to hate listen like it sounds like you think I did.  I just got really tired of it after a while.

I didn't say hate listen. 

There are like 5,000 things you could be mad about those shows maybe when it comes to the actual content of the show. That's a very weird thing to have a problem with especially when originally odessa and myself were talking about people who have DEEP character issues and flaws (staunch racism, sexism, general absurd ignorance and questionable lewd behaviors, etc.), all of which deserve rightful condemnation. Some of these personalities probably deserve their own Viceland Dark Side show.

However, the worst thing about Conrad is...he's a bit of capitalist? Have you seen like 99% of motherfuckers in pro wrestling? Hell, you should erase pro wrestling from your viewing experience. 

I don't really believe you've listened to those shows because if anything, someone who actually listened would be like, "you know Tony is really a giant creep in the ways he talks about Francine, Madusa, and Missy Hyatt" or as I've already mentioned "Prichard kinda derisively dismissed this Tom Cole/ring boy perversion thing and that looks bad in hindsight knowing the guy committed suicide" and not "fuck that three second mention of Doo Doo Trucking.com....I WON'T STAND FOR THIS SHIT!".

The new thing now with wrestling fans must be this anti-capitalism David Starr thing because it's comes off as absolutely nonsensical otherwise.

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Dude, you won't let this go, will you? 

22 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I don't really believe you've listened to those shows because

Dude, what is wrong with you?  Why would I lie about that?  I listened to Conrad's shows with Flair, then the Prichard shows when they started, for quite a while, then the Schiavone shows.  Holy shit, find me a list of shows and I'll tell you the ones I listened to and the ones I skipped.  Jesus.  I got tired of the Prichard shows when it become clear he'd never reveal anything untoward about WWE, nor would he ever say a cross word about Vince, because he wanted another run.  And he got it, too.  The breaking point for me was when he told a story about doing a one man show in the UK and some fan introduced his mother and he yelled, in his Terry Funk voice, "HIS MOTHER'S A WHORRRRRRE!"  Because that was one of their dumbass catchphrases.  And then he led the British fans in a chant of "fuck Dave Meltzer."  That, and the contrived hucksterism, was enough for me  But yeah, sure, I never really listened to the show.  Would you like to quiz me, oh person on the internet?  Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?

So I mentioned something that personally turned me off about the show.  I've said it like 3 times now.  I don't care about capitalism.  Everbody is out to make money.  But when it's crystal clear that most aspects of a show are designed as a money making enterprise and I'm just a mark to the producer of the program, it's not for me. Why does it bother you to the point where you're actually accusing me of lying about how many episodes I've listened to?  What's your goal here?  If you just want the last word, please go for it.  I'm done with your crazy ass.

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2 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Dude, you won't let this go, will you? 

Because you've done an absolutely horrendous job of articulating yourself. Just absolutely horrendous.

3 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

.Holy shit, find me a list of shows and I'll tell you the ones I listened to and the ones I skipped.  

Hell, you find a legitimate reason of what any of this has to do with someone being terrible because it's halfwitted nitpicking that has nothing with do with the overall content of the show. 

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 I don't care about capitalism.  Everbody is out to make money. 

"I don't care about capitalism."

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But when it's crystal clear that most aspects of a show are designed as a money making enterprise

Proceeds to talk about capitalism. 

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 I'm done with your weird ass.

And I'm the weird ass? You couldn't come any logical conclusion that made sense. You're the person who brought this issue up and then failed to know WHY you had this issue. You agreed to disagree and then dove in even more. That itself is baffling.

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I said in like my second post on the matter:

"Don't be Gene Simmons just constantly trying to take your audience for every dime, you know?"

I made a clear delineation between trying to make money and constantly looking for something to sell.

But you keep falling back on "He's jUsT TrYiNg To MaKe mOnEy wUtS WrOnG wItH ThAt?"

Shit, I even backed off and said that I'd stopped listening a while back and if he'd toned that stuff down, cool.  I was done and you kept pushing and talking shit.  I personally don't like the guy's approach to podcasting.  I LITERALLY said, in about 10 different ways, "I can't personally enjoy a show when I feel like the show is secondary to the host's need to sell me some shit."  Why are you arguing?  You're not changing my mind.  This is like me saying I don't like deathmatches, expressing a reason why I don't, and you go on for pages and pages harping on how dumb it is that I don't like deathmatches and telling me how I'm wrong.   Please just fucking drop it.

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41 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I made a clear delineation between trying to make money and constantly looking for something to sell.

No, you didn't. Like not at all.

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Shit, I even backed off and said that I'd stopped listening a while back and if he'd toned that stuff down, cool.  I was done and you kept pushing and talking shit. 

You were the only one name calling. I was actually explaining why folks might have a legitimate gripe against the people odessa mentioned because that's the crux of what were we talking about. All that shit is a drop in the bucket compared to people who have:

1. Made racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic statements (Corny, boy, has went on LENGTHY tirades of such)

2. Have got fired, reprimanded, or called out for said statements or even actions.

3. Done various unsavory things that would get you dismissed at any reputable place of business

So it makes absolutely no sense that's the gripe you have when you stated also REAL claims against his co-host(s). Cause I would have an issue with them and not Conrad. It's not a case of with Cornette and Last, where Last is also in some of this bullshit and kinda gets away with because it's Cornette going full blast 75% of the time minimum. It's absolutely lame Conrad would be the one you would blame because that's the LEAST objectionable thing someone who puts these programs can do. Most co-hosts just serve in a position to just gaslight folks in a very negative way that could hurt others.

He tried to sell me some shit. Oh wow. Hopefully, the girl scouts don't come your way. Those girls put the pressure when it comes to those trefoils and Samoas. Little goddamn venture capitalists in the making if you ask me. Can't respect 'em.

Quote

Please just fucking drop it.

You said you dropped it five replies ago.

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I tend to enjoy STW except when Bruce goes on his utterly fake anti-Meltzer rants and acts like he's deeply insulted and hates Dave and Dave made everything up... And then confirms 95+% of what Dave said. (And the video of the two of them being friendly that floats around.)

Mostly though, Bruce is a fun storyteller as long as you mentally prepare yourself that at least half of what he says is probably bullshit.

Bischoff's show bounces back and forth between some really interesting business talk and a perspective that nobody else really gives, and then into being the most whiny little bitch you'll ever hear.  He's a smarmy opportunist, and he can't always hide it.

I'm not a regular listener to any of Conrad's shows and certainly will never pay money for his subscription service, but if the topic is interesting I'll usually give them a listen. Less Tony because it's almost all watch-a-longs and I listen to podcasts while I'm at work.

I listen to more of Cornette than I should, but God the history stuff is just so much fun. And some of his criticisms of current shows are very valid. But the deep sexism (constantly calling it "girls matches", all the women's names he constantly mispronounces, and not the insult names he gives to men, just flat out saying their names wrong, etc) the more than occasional casual racism, the constant use of homosexuality as an insult, and his inability to not make "I don't like the way this person performs in pro wrestling" a personal vendetta. He's just not emotionally healthy. And the way Brian Last goes off on Bix on occasion is hilariously self-delusional if you remember the early 605 pods.

 

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