Episode 413

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Hello again, friends.

The laughter has begun.

Get ready for a rollicking five hours of laughter.

Welcome to another edition of Jim Cornett's Drive-Thru right here here on another fine day, we're feeling good, and we got good wrestling talk for you.

I'm your host, the great Brian Last.

And here he is, the laughter man himself, the leader of the cult of Cornet,

Mr.

Jim Cornette.

See, you've made the mistake, Brian Last.

You've made the mistake.

You're trying to overcompensate.

That's probably the fucking last we'll hear from you for the next hour or so.

You're on mute on a coughing fit right now, I can tell.

Ladies and gentlemen, from the opening strains,

and that word has never been more properly applied, from the opening strains of Brian's organ,

which gets, I understand, strained quite often,

it was

like the fucking Ramones doing Billy Joel.

It was a quicker tempo.

The notes were shorter.

It was like, oh, I'm going to talk myself into heaven energy.

Oh, come on.

That's the same as you.

And then, Brian, and then you screamed, hello, friends.

And

you were trying to artificially pump yourself full of the, you're full of it, but you were trying to pump yourself full of energy because, ladies and gentlemen, Brian last has a fever.

He's sweating.

He's sweating over there, as Chris Candido would say

with his New Jersey twang.

You got a fever.

Fever in the morning and fever all through the night.

And you don't want to admit it because you're a trooper, Brian, is what you are.

Not an actual member of the troops, but a trooper in showbiz terminology.

The show must go on.

You're trying to power through this while the perspiration is pouring down your face and the shivers are coming on.

And you are our friends.

Look, I'm not feeling the greatest today, but I think it's a good idea.

Just come out and admit it.

This could be the last time we hear hear from you.

This could be the end of Little Rico.

You think today's the day we get the song because of how I feel?

No, no, it will torment you to the grave.

But you're, I'm telling you, pretty soon, they're going to be calling the EMS services for you about this time this evening now.

Who else has our work ethic, our output?

Me having holes in my head, teeth yanked from

my cranium, and still I was able to come back and record a mirror four days later, or whatever it was.

And now you powering through that.

I'm in a disaster area over here.

Did you know this?

I did not know that.

I was hoping we'd get the song concerning how I'm feeling, but the fascination is, and

we're receiving dissertations now on this keychain, more on that.

Quite literally.

No, it's look, it's frustrating.

It sits here on my desk.

I know that it has played the song a few times.

It played it when my son was in here like a a week ago.

So now I feel I feel an urge.

So no adults have heard this.

Only I'm an adult.

I feel an urge to

get the song to play knowing it has, but now I can't touch it when we're not recording because I'm afraid it's going to play again when we're not recording.

Damn it.

Tiger.

Put it down.

It is down.

Good heavens.

Anyway, I'll have you know the news update here.

I was about to tell you this.

Not only are we in a disaster area because of the flooding that has come upon us,

they just had a plane run off the runway at Bowman Field right before we started recording.

I wanted to, since I do do news bits from time to time on the local news here,

we had the driest August ever.

Hadn't rained in two weeks at all of any description.

And suddenly in a 24-hour period, much of Metro Louisville is going to get five inches of rain.

And there's a private plane landing at Bowman Field, which is the

airport that the snooty people fly into with their private planes.

They don't have commercial traffic.

But there was a Cessna,

and it ceased.

The runway ceased before the Cessna ceased moving.

It's landing in this torrential rain, lands on the runway.

Runway runs out.

Cessna doesn't stop, goes through a fucking fence, ends up on the goddamn, I think it's the, they said the Shawnee Park golf course or something.

It's on the 14th T.

Just bringing that up.

This is exciting news.

I'm glad you were able to get to that important news here, the top of the show.

Well,

there's strange things that are happening down here.

See, why you've been under the weather the past couple of days.

I suffered another outage.

See if you can make sense out of this, Brian.

My phone went out the other day.

The last person I had talked to was you on, it was Saturday, right?

I assume.

That is the last day that we had talked.

Correct.

And the phone was working just fine.

And then

that evening, I went to pick it up to make a call, but no dial tone.

Phone's dead.

I try to the phone with my cell phone.

All I get is a busy signal.

Bam, bam, bam.

So I call the phone company to report that my phone is out.

And they, guess what?

ATT, this is one of the goddamn

the pillars of United States commerce and industrialism, American telephone and telegraph.

Brian, guess what happens when you call them on a weekend to tell them that your fucking phone is out?

I assume also you're calling from a cell phone.

I guess you get a recording, maybe?

You get a recording saying the hours of our repair department are fucking Monday through Friday from so-and-so.

And then they have limited hours on Saturday.

for a giant corporation like that.

So

the phone doesn't work from all day Sunday.

And then Monday morning I call.

And guess who I get on the phone?

Who?

Nobody.

It's an automated deal.

It's the thing where, you know, they say, what are you calling about?

I'm like, broke phone.

What the fuck?

I'm being put in a position where I'm talking to a goddamn machine and it's answering me.

And we're engaging in a conversation.

It's, oh, I can help you with that.

And you enter or say the things

that it wants you to say or whatever.

And then

it said, well, we're going to send a test signal.

And then the phone rings.

And I pick it up.

There's nobody on it.

They say, oh, yes.

It seems there is a problem with that line.

We will report that.

Thank you.

Our technician will be in touch, blah, blah, blah.

You never get to talk to a human being.

Guess what happened no more than 10 minutes after I got off the phone with the robot?

What?

The phone started working again.

So explain to me.

If I don't, if I didn't even need to talk to a human being to begin with, why do they have goddamn hours?

It's a very good question.

How did you find that it was working again?

Did it ring or did you try to call someone?

No, I look, you can, my cordless handset

has a display on the screen with like the caller ID and all that stuff.

And when the phone is dead, it says check tell line.

And then suddenly it didn't say that.

So I absentmindedly, just, well, I'll see, or not absent-mindedly, but I said, I'll just see, boom, and there was a dial tone.

But the point of why couldn't they have done the same goddamn thing

on Saturday night since I never interacted with a human being to begin with?

Now the robots have hours?

That's crazy.

Who's your phone company?

ATT.

What did I just do?

Yeah, boy, you are under the influence of narcotics

to fight off this fucking viral infection you have.

American telephone and telegraph, and they don't even need to worry about the telegraph anymore.

So they can just concentrate on a telephone.

God damn it.

So you also don't know what caused it and why it happened.

No.

Don't have a goddamn clue.

All right.

Well, let's see.

So it's a man.

minute okay let's see if one of the listeners can write in and explain this maybe there's someone who has a paper on this we'll uh find out well this has been phone talk

ladies and gentlemen and we you know what this saturday is don't you this saturday

crown jewel from perth australia 8 a.m on the east coast

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm talking about the big news.

I'm talking about what's really going on this Saturday at noon Eastern time

in the middle of the daytime, like God intended for people to consume their wrestling fucking memorabilia.

I'll have you know, Cornett's Collectibles begins our holiday sale at jimcornet.com and the official on sale of Heroes and Friends, my new book, which in this format has never been done.

in pro wrestling before in the classic wrestling space, as they say, the, if I do say so myself, the wonderful writing, as well as the stellar photography and the classic images, a treat for the whole family to stuff in anybody's stocking.

Don't roll it up when you stuff it in a stocking.

Get them a stretchy stocking.

But for $24.95 in this day and age, for fuck's sake, buy five of them and hand them out to your friends.

And they're autographed.

But nevertheless, you can click on the banner on jimcornet.com for more information on the book and the 12 wrestling superstars profiled therein.

Also,

speaking of books, wrestling in the garden, we've talked so much about Madison Square Garden wrestling history over the past several months.

The facts and figures we've been using are taken from Scott Teal of Crowbar Press, his fantastic book, Wrestling in the Garden.

And for your one-stop shopping, we've got a limited number, 100 copies for the holidays, the entire history of wrestling in the garden, backstage, and

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And also the Tim 2040 sale, $10 off the Jim Cornette action figures, $20 off the tag team action figures, and $40,

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off of the Midnight Express collectible four-pack with the book certificate of authenticity and autographed photo.

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And we found some more trading cards, but they ain't going to last long.

So get there at noon for all that and more Saturday, this Saturday, October the 11th at jimcornet.com.

Which trading cards did you find?

Like Johnny Bench?

No,

I mean

mine.

I'm not going to sell other people's

effluvia.

I'm sticking with my effluvia.

Yeah.

My emissions,

My inseminations.

My various.

You could stop at emissions.

Yes.

Yes.

But they ain't going to last long.

All the trading cards and the various things are limited numbers.

We found a few more programs, blah, blah, blah.

But you got to be there first in line.

But the other stuff we got plenty of.

So just don't be late.

You'll get everything.

Damn it.

All right.

Well, Jim, let's move on.

And as you said, I'm a little under the weather.

So so I'm going to do my best, ladies and gentlemen, to give you the usual fun show we always do.

So why don't we start with a story

that's in the news, so it's worth talking about.

I have an article here, Jim, from Deadline.

How Dwayne Johnson's smashing machine went down for the count

as star's lowest opening.

The pick will bleed little with $10 to $15 million loss.

WWE.

i'm sorry i did i didn't know you were good but i just i knew this is what you would want to lead with to to perk yourself up a little bit bad news about the rocks misfortunes that's something that always brings a a warm to your warmness to your cockles or whatever that phrase is a little bit of i told you so is always good for the soul i think

and there were people who said this movie was going to be the big movie that gets him oscar consideration and it's the safeties and it's an indie

production company.

So, I mean, that's the move.

They have spent so much money marketing this movie.

Forget about the commercials during wrestling.

I've seen non-stop commercials for this thing all over the place, during the playoffs, all over the place.

And that's just here, not even worldwide.

So, they have spent a ton of money.

Well,

the reports that I saw were that they spent $50 million on the movie, and then the marketing costs on top of that.

And

they said they're going to get tax breaks from where did they shoot?

Did they shoot in Australia?

Wherever they shot, they're going to get tax breaks.

But a tax break is one thing, but my God,

this is the gross domestic product of Nicaragua or whatever we're talking about here at this point.

Originally, they were projecting

that it was going to gross on its opening weekend up to $20 million.

And then

they revised that prediction as it was getting closer to, well, more like 15 million.

And then they were at 8 to 10 million, I think, before the actual weekend.

And they ended up just shy of 6 million, which is apparently, like you said, the worst

rock opening in ever.

So what, but anyway, you were in the middle of reading your thing, but I'm just, I'm flabbergasted that

I'm not flabbergasted that a movie could be a success or bomb, but I'm flabbergasted that all the experts were so fucking far off about this thing.

Well, I think the experts are far off about the appeal of The Rock, and I've been saying that for a while.

He's a major star.

He's been in major successes, although you could argue, what did he draw versus the vehicle?

You know, if he's in a Disney film, is it, oh my God, The Rock's in a Disney film?

Or is it my daughter wants to go see that Disney film?

It's got The Rock in it.

Yeah, he just happens to be in it, but anyone could play that role.

It's not like he's drawing people to that role.

That's not a shot at him.

Literally, you put Robert De Niro in that role.

It wouldn't be like, oh, Robert De Niro in Moana.

It sounds like it'll be great.

No, it's my kids want to see Moana.

That's what it is.

But we hear about the millions and millions of social media followers.

He's everywhere.

They just did another puff piece on CBS Sunday morning.

Coincidentally, the week before they did another one on J-Lo.

He is the male J-Lo in the the sense that we're told that he's a major star.

We see that he clearly is a major star, yet there isn't really,

I don't think, any evidence that people want to go out and financially support that star's vehicles.

Because

this movie is all about The Rock.

And they've tried to say shit like, he's unrecognizable in the movie.

Give me a break.

It looks like Dwayne Johnson.

and a bad makeup team.

Well, remember when we first saw the trailer months ago and we saw here on the program, we said, why did they make him up to look like fucking Andre?

He looks like Dwayne Johnson made up to look kind of like Andre the Giant.

And that's when he has hair, when Mark Kerr shaves his head.

I've seen images of that.

I'm going to go see this movie eventually.

I may have to wait till it comes out.

We'll see how much time I have.

But once he shaves his head, it looks like the rock.

It looks just like the rock.

It looks like someone playing the rock more than it looks like the rock playing someone else.

So the movie Smashing Machine,

again, it's an indie movie.

He has called it a passion pick.

What's the audience for it?

I don't know.

If you want to see the Mark Kerr story, the documentary was fantastic years ago.

I don't even know where it's available now.

But Mark Kerr is a name that UFC fans really don't know, modern UFC fans.

I don't know how much they know about the history of the sport.

There wasn't, I don't think, much appeal for this.

But again, it's been pushed down.

Well, and who was it?

Which WWE Hollywood bigwig?

Was it Nick Kahn or was it Ari Emmanuel?

Somebody said, well, this will fire up more interest in wrestling movies.

This isn't a wrestling movie.

This is a fighting movie with a wrestler in it.

So

is this movie the Antonio Inoki versus Muhammad Ali

of movies where

the wrestling fans, it bombed here because the wrestling fans didn't know who Anoki was and the boxing fans didn't take it seriously?

Do the UFC MMA fans not take

The Rock seriously as Mark Kerr if they remember him?

And conversely,

would the wrestling fans be more likely to go see The Rock in a movie playing a fucking wrestler than a goddamn fighter they've never heard of?

This would be like if Hulk Hogan went to ECW and the fans didn't care.

They didn't draw.

No one extra came.

The people who were there just enjoyed the show as always.

Like nothing about this package

made anyone say, I got to see this.

So much puff came out about this.

The standing ovation, it can.

When like three people saw the movie and two of them like left positive reviews, we started hearing it.

See, Brian, 100% reviews on rated tomatoes or rotten tomatoes, whatever the fuck is that.

Rated tomatoes.

Rotten tomatoes.

I've rated a few tomatoes in my day, but it's been a while since you could use that word in describing them.

And the more people saw the movie, the more negative reviews came out.

WWE vet Dwayne Johnson learned about his Achilles heel at the box office this weekend after his R-rated drama, The Smashing Machine, hit the mat as the Blockbuster Star's lowest opening ever with 5.9 million U.S.

For Johnson, for the story of UFC champ Mark Kerr was a passion project.

The wrestler turn actor announced the movie back at the UFC 244 Card Weigh-In in November 2019.

Jesus Christ.

Well, that's another thing.

You got to remember, I believe Juan Johnson and his team, which would be, you know, his ex-wife, are producers of this project.

It's not just like he's an actor.

I believe he is one of the producers of

the project.

Yes,

they all produce.

That's rough, as Johnson is a tireless promoter who leaves no stone unturned on the PR tour.

Like Taylor Swift, whose movie fared better this weekend.

He has a social media reach of half a billion plus

to whom he speaks directly.

Now, hold on here one second now, because you got to remember, I'm not exactly in the key demo, Brian, for the Swifties,

but she released a movie.

The movie consists of her telling people that she's just released a record.

What is happening?

It's not a movie movie.

She's not starring in a movie.

The movie is somehow tied in with her goddamn new record.

Do you have any further information on this?

The name of the film is Taylor Swift, the official release party for a showgirl, which did $34 million opening weekend.

So it was the release party that she released.

For her record, she just, here's the video of the release party, and it made $30 something million in a weekend.

She's an incredibly successful musician.

I mean, why doesn't she just bottle her fucking bathwater?

Well, that's what I was going to say.

She's also a major worker.

And I don't think there's ever been anyone of the modern era who has worked the fan base up as well as she has.

Was she babysitting for Jeff Jarrett's kids, or was she babysitting for Jerry Jarrett's kids?

I think she learned from the headman himself.

Yeah, she could teach Jeff a thing or two.

I don't think she learned it from Jeff, but let's go back to this.

It's rough as there truly seemed to be awards glow on the Smashing Machine coming out of the Venice Film Festival after its 15 and a half minute standing ovation.

Johnson crying.

Hold on, hold on, hold on again, hold on again.

I know again.

What is it?

Does it that have to be somehow performative from a small insider group in support of something that potentially somebody that they're personal friends with has done to stand if you told Howie the mailroom guy, Howie, you got six weeks to live.

So we're going to let you fuck all three of your favorite porn stars all at once.

After it was over, would Howie

give a 15-minute standing ovation to the porn?

How in the world, what has ever happened in your life that you have ever seen or experienced, Brian?

that you would stand there and applaud for 15 minutes?

You know, I can't think of anything.

I I know celebrating for 15 minutes, you know, you could get really into your team winning, but standing there and just clapping.

But that's what I'm saying.

It starts dying down a little like, no, bring it back, bring it back.

And just keep doing that?

No.

Yeah.

No, it's not just being in a great fucking mood.

Well, I'm just thrilled that this has happened.

It's standing there.

What the fuck?

No.

You know what it is?

You know what I think it is?

Because other movies recently have gotten that kind of reaction.

And that's like a traditional thing, like the ultimate sign of respect.

I said can before, this is the Venice Film Festival, Festival, to get that kind of standing, get any kind of standing ovation.

But it's like when Milton Burrell hosted Saturday Night Live,

and Lauren Michaels said he was like so disgusted when Milton Burrell came up to him.

He's like, Don't worry, the standing ovation's in the can.

Because he had like all these people there.

And Milton Burrell sang some song that no one wanted to hear.

And all of a sudden, there's people in the balcony standing up and clapping.

And everyone's like, oh shit, I guess we're supposed to do this too.

Like, he said it up himself because that's what he wanted.

But Lauren Michaels was disgusted by the idea of this, you know, prefab standing ovation.

Remember us when they made Heyman come down here to Louisville after they ran me off of OVW.

They they made Heyman come down and he was miserable, but he would put the the fans that he even the fans the people affiliated with the amateur class, the smart people that were kind of with it and some of the amateur class.

He'd put them across from the camera and tell tell them how to react all the time to

everything.

And but then other people started noticing, why are they just standing up and screaming when nothing's fucking happening?

Well, again, back to this, it does seem excessive and it does seem somewhat pretentious.

Johnson cry, they're talking about the 15 and a half minute standing ovation.

Johnson crying on a global stage,

Safdie's silver lion win, and a seemingly good 73% Rotten Tomatoes certified fresh critical score.

Who comes up with this terminology?

But it's never a good sign when a movie plummets from its initial projections on tracking.

Three weeks ago, Smashing Machine was forecasted to be one of A24's highest openings ever in the high teens to $20 million

range.

What the hell happened?

Let's stop there for a moment.

God damn.

Again, you know, whether this is The Rock or not, and I don't think The Rock doing a role like this is something people got excited for.

I think people see it as a gag almost because I don't think people take him seriously as an actor.

And I don't think like J-Lo doing her stripper movie, I don't think it's going to do anything to change anyone's opinions.

But again, I don't know if anyone in this role as Mark Kerr

would have widespread appeal right now.

You know what I mean?

Like it's not a story that's women aren't going to really be interested in the story, I don't think, because I think the impression you get from watching the trailers is, oh, it's about domestic violence.

And I don't think that's even what the movie's about.

And I think young men aren't into the rock.

This goes back to what I was saying when TKO gave him everything

because

TKO is run by his agents, the people who have profited the most next to Dwayne Johnson.

Who's profited the most from his career?

Ari Emanuel.

Like next to Dwayne Johnson, Ari Emmanuel's number two, and then Vince McMahon.

So they've done everything they can to try to make this thing happen.

I think there's a mythology around Dwayne Johnson and how popular he is.

And part of that's because the best role he plays is the role of I'm Mr.

Popular Actor when he's doing talk shows or anything.

But box office is box office.

And I'm not giving him credit for animated roles where they use his voice.

Or for being on part of an ensemble and fast and the furious or anything.

Well, that's what I was going to say.

You can't really just because somebody does a voice of someone that I don't think that can be a measure of their box office success.

But

here's the thing.

Also, don't

don't lose track of who the fuck, again, respectfully, is Mark Kerr.

Nobody really knows.

Do you think a movie about Connor McGregor with Finn Balor playing Conor McGregor would outgross

The Rock playing Mark Kerr?

I think so, probably, in today's modern age, because

people know who the fuck he is, especially people that are young enough they're going to go to a movie.

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Downy rinse fights stubborn odors in just one wash.

When impossible odors get stuck in,

you know, another part of the problem is:

look at the way The Rock has been presented on wrestling TV in the last two years.

Has he been presented?

If you're just a wrestling fan who casually watches the show, but you kind of get into it.

Has he been presented as someone you want to support in any way?

He's a dick that comes out and fucks with people.

And he whipped Cody Rhodes with a belt and stole his watch and kicked his dog.

What?

No.

And see,

that's what I was saying about.

I couldn't believe Cena would retire as a heel because of movies, because still

you're creating some type of negative reaction when you're a heel that doesn't

necessarily translate to you being the most popular person in the world if you're doing your job right.

Well, again, let's go back to the article here for a little bit.

Word began to leak at Smashing Machine's Toronto North American premiere that the movie wasn't all that.

And no, not because Johnson was stretching with an edgy dramatic performance.

Rather, Smashing Machine wasn't an underdog sports movie, nor necessarily one about a champ's downfall.

Rather, a very non-traditional, deliberately paced movie about an athlete struggling with drug addiction.

The movie's B-cinema cinema score is on par with A24's cinematic canon, which is known to divide critics and moviegoers.

And also, what was that word?

Deliberate?

Yes.

That was a kind word that...

the old-fashioned announcers like Gordon Soli used to use where he's got a deliberate pace when somebody was just fucking slow and plotting and boring this shit out of people.

And if a movie like that is slow and deliberate, that means it's just the rock.

It's just like watching him in that role without talking and stuff.

So I get, I don't,

I got to see this thing though.

Here's the good news.

The movie has a net $50 million production cost with tax credits from Vancouver and New Mexico.

That's good news.

It won't lose much.

Estimates.

Estimates being in the $10 to $15 million range.

Wait a minute.

Hold

here now, there, young man.

How in the world,

if the movie cost $50 million, did they say that was with promotion?

Is that there?

I think that's just the production.

Okay.

There's no way that's promotion.

There's no way promoting

50, 50 million plus promotion.

Plus 50 million, plus probably 50 million in promotion.

They took in 6 million.

Ah, they got deals.

You know, they know somebody, but they took in $6 million in opening weekend.

It's not going to go up from here.

How big the goddamn tax credit from Vancouver?

What did they just

give them the goddamn city

before that?

They would only lose $10 or $15 million doing that math.

What is going on in the world?

What says here, The Rock and Safety are going to be working again soon on Ishtar 2.

They say they ought to be working washing dishes at a Vancouver soup kitchen to pay the city of Vancouver back.

Let's go back to the article here.

On the low end, that's based on a final domestic between $14 million and $20 million.

How great that loss becomes hinges on how hard A24 wants to push the movie this awards season.

Insiders are telling us that the New York City label continues to support the movie and stands behind the filmmaker's vision.

Smashing Machines' budget is propped by foreign sales, which The Rock lobbied for back at Cannes in 2024.

Oh,

estimated to be in the $35 million range.

Okay.

A24 also has a great pay-one deal at HBO Max.

If you remember the Von Eric movie, The Iron Claw, debuted on HBO Max when it went digital.

But The Rock got him a Howard Brody deal overseas.

Get that international money, baby.

Yeah, he may know a chic or two.

Or at least his friends may.

Smashing Machine was a project foreign buyers liked in qualitative terms, but at the time, sources say they were concerned over its commerciality as a story with unrecognizable Johnson.

He's not unrecognizable.

That's the thing that keeps getting me.

They're like, you cannot even tell it's him.

You can exactly tell it's him.

It looks like only him.

But you know what?

That's goddamn.

It's the best name I've ever heard for an old Western movie sidekick.

Well, there comes unrecognizable Johnson.

Wonder what he's going to say to to the sheriff.

Here's a part of the positive spin they're trying to make.

Johnson took a $4 million

fee, significantly below his historical 20 million plus paycheck plus points.

Sources say he even gave a portion of his paycheck to Emily Blunt and Kerr.

So now the story is The Rock, who again, he's a producer.

He's not just an actor in this thing, so he would make money from the back end.

That The Rock gave away his money or parts of it it to these other people because he really wanted to make this project so bad.

But that's that was easier to do when the WWF, I just said

WWE.

I just saw the other day that the amount of stock and pay that they have given him to drop in every once in a while and fuck up the booking plans over the last few years is past $60 million.

And he just shows up like four days in two years.

So

I guess the WWE is financing his

acting vision.

You know, you may remember I used to complain about the fact that Triple H one day showed up with a crew cut.

Like there was never anything done, which I think would have been the professional thing, the right thing, something that actually could have probably drawn some interest.

If Triple H was against someone, it was hair versus hair, or somehow there was even an angle where someone cut his hair.

Yes.

There's something there, not just he shows up one day in a suit with a crew cut.

Guys, guys didn't even used to.

A lot of times, if they'd buy a new car, they'd make sure the book are new to put it in an angle, like, let me win the car or just anything.

You always were thinking in that direction.

The Rock showed up as pumped up as he's ever been, beat the shit out of the lead babyface, and then made sure that he's not going to return until he looks like a different person who was never going to...

There's never going to be any resolution to any of this.

And it's all because of The Rock.

And now what are they going to do?

Now he's going to have some time on his hands.

Now, this movie's bombing, and they've been airing it or advertising it all over wrestling.

He's got his Moana live-action movie coming soon.

And again, Moana is the draw, not Dwayne Johnson.

So it's going to be very interesting to see how things go in the future.

But let me scroll down a little bit.

Here's where I disagree with this article.

While that net $50 million might be low for a rock movie, it's considerably high for a wrestling movie, which I don't consider this a wrestling movie.

This is in no way a wrestling.

It's a movie with a wrestler in it.

Jared Hess's 2006 Nacho Libre, which opened

post-the-director's fanfare for Napoleon Dynamite back when Jack Black original comedies could debut at 28.3 million and end their domestic run at 80 million.

So, this is the biggest thing since then.

Well, and also, Nacho Libre, to be perfectly honest.

Did wrestling fans go see that, or was it Jack Black fans?

because i guess it was a for some for the

really die-hard wrestling fan

but it was a it was again incidental to the plot yeah that he you know he it was not like this was a wrestling movie about the current of united states wrestling scene involving other wrestlers and things that the wrestling fans

would say, oh, I got to go see that.

It's a Jack Black comedy.

You know, that's a movie that introduced people who don't like wrestling to Lucha Libre, actually, more than anything.

Anyone who saw that, that was the first they probably ever heard of that and understood what the mass wrestling was all about.

Here are some previous films: A24's 2023 Iron Claw, three-day opening, 4.8 million, ended up at 35 million domestic.

Darren Aronofsky's two-time Oscar-nominated The Wrestler, its highest-grossing weekend was 3.7 million.

And that was Jesus Christ.

And that was only its sixth week out, and it ended with 26.2 26.2 final domestic box office.

Okay.

And

that surprises me because especially it surprises me that the Iron Claw

grossed more when it debuted than the wrestler did because you heard so much about the wrestler for so long.

And secondly, the domestic grosses total that they're getting when they open so.

is surprising to me also.

Maybe this thing does have a chance of only losing 10 or 15 mate.

Bennett Miller's 2014 Foxcatcher, which again, that's about amateur wrestling, not necessarily pro wrestling.

1 million in its widest break, final of 12 million.

Heck.

Even Peter Fox starring in the 1981 nudie comedy, All the Marbles.

Wait a minute.

Nudie comedy.

That wasn't.

No, there was, was there nudity in all the marbles?

I have to go back and watch it now.

I don't remember that.

Me too.

I don't remember it either.

I might have liked it better.

That was,

he managed girl wrestlers in a show biz.

None of these are actual movies about professional wrestling.

And that one finished with 6.1 million domestic.

Again, that's 1981.

You know, real quick here as a aside, part of the issue is, and we may never see a good wrestling movie because who's going to make it?

you know, in the current system.

But if you look at the movies that have come out, you know, I've always been a big fan of Body Slam, but that's not even a good example because they couldn't even get into theaters.

They had some kind of legal issue where by the time, you know, if it had been released right away, who knows what it would have done with Roddy Piper in a starring role?

But they had to wait like a year and a half or whatever it was, and then it just went on to HBO where it aired endlessly.

So people like me could watch it.

But Grunt didn't do any business, and it's not necessarily the greatest movie.

Vern Gang is the wrestler, maybe the I don't want to know if I should say it's the best movie.

See, the problem is all the examples they gave are all like sad sack films other than all the marbles the wrestler this new rock movie well and then the ones that you just talked about grunt and the the all the marbles this it's either

a comedy movie where wrestling is all silly and and they're not really any of the wrestlers that the fans would know in the particular era that are in the movie and it's not really about wrestling it just kind of makes fun of it so wrestling fans don't really go to see it or the sad sack stuff.

I'm sure all the indie fans went to see the wrestler.

And there's a guy's falling asleep at a fucking autograph table in front of nobody.

And it's, you know, that's why

I got an advance, not an advance.

It wasn't legitimate.

Somebody bootlegged a DVD before it came out on DVD.

And I've told the story before.

I watched it while Stacey and I were in Orlando for TNA.

And it pissed me off so bad and depressed me so bad, I threw the DVD out the car window.

We were going over a bridge into the water on the way back home

the wrestler vern gagna's the wrestler

i think you're trying to say

not that it was the best one because it wasn't that big budget or that accomplished of a movie but it was the only one that actually had wrestling stars in the wrestling business and it was a movie about current day wrestling current day being 1974 when it was done it didn't treat everything silly it treated wrestling as something that existed in the real world with these characters.

And there was the funny scene with Bruiser and Crusher in the barroom fight, and there was elements of humor and,

you know, that type of thing.

But

it didn't treat the business like it was either silly or like

what was the WCW movie?

Ready to Rumble, one of the worst movies.

Ready to Rumble.

Yeah.

They treated it like a silly.

But they made fun of their own fans in that movie.

So why does the fan want to go sit there and watch himself be made fun of?

And so it's all been silly or blah, blah, blah, or so depressing.

And Queen of the Ring

is

the closest thing to a serious fucking movie about wrestling of one era.

Another sad movie.

Sad, sad movie.

There's no positive happy wrestling movies.

But she didn't lose the belt in the end.

She persevered and then it didn't go into when she then lost the rest of her business and blah, blah, blah.

But nevertheless, and it had me.

So that was a starring turn.

But

but there is,

I guess, Vern Gagne's the Wrestler was the only

legitimate movie of any type that got theatrical release that's been done about the current wrestling business.

in the United States with current wrestling stars in it ever.

Well, I'll bring up one because I saw it in the theater when I was nine, No Holds Barred, which which again, it was a horrible script and a really bad movie.

But you would think if there was ever going to be a wrestling movie to succeed, a vehicle starring Hulk Hogan at the height of Hulkamania would be something.

But again, word got out pretty quickly that it was an awful movie.

The clips they showed on TV made it apparent that it wasn't good.

But,

you know, it's hard to compare all of these things together.

They're all kind of just sad.

The ones in the recent years, the Von Eric film and this and the wrestler, it's just all about how awful the wrestling business is.

You want to stay away from it or you're going to die.

Yes.

They could come do a movie about me.

I'm out.

He's out in the yard feeding the deer.

I have here an Instagram post from The Rock.

It's him sitting there dressed as Mark Kerr.

It looks like The Rock wearing a wig.

Doesn't look like anything different than that.

From deep in my grateful bones, thank you to everyone who has watched The Smashing Machine.

In our storytelling world, you can't control box office results, but what I realize you can control is your performance and your commitment to completely disappear and go elsewhere.

You should commit further to that, Rock.

Is this a suicide note?

And

I will always run to that opportunity.

It was my honor to transform in this role for my director, Benny Safdee.

Thank you, brother, for believing believing in me.

Truth is, this film changed my life.

With deep gratitude, respect, and radical empathy.

DJ.

See, that's the problem.

He's so full of shit, he can't just write something that doesn't come across like he's fucking workshopping it.

What is radical empathy?

In our storytelling world, who talks like that?

In our storytelling world, you've done a bunch of shit fucking movies.

You're not a serious actor, you fucking doofus.

Now, calm down now.

In our storytelling world, come on.

Is that what Corey Feldman would say?

In our storytelling world, I was in Goonies.

The fuck?

It sounds like lyrics from Tambourine Man.

In our storytelling world, we'll go holler.

Johnson has been in this slump before.

The $17

budgeted, I never even heard of this movie, the $17 million budgeted 2006 Gonzo movie, Southland Tales, grossed under $300,000 at the domestic box office after a Cam Finn Festival world premiere.

Not to mention, the audiences weren't really in their seats for his last R-rated movie, 2013's Pain and Gain, which earned a C

despite Michael Bay, bodybuilders, and drugs, it opened to 20.2 million.

But he has nothing to worry about.

He'll be back in the Victory Belt Box Office Glory.

Is that what it says here?

He'll be back in all Victory Belt Box Office Glory.

What the fuck are the sentences?

He'll be back in All Victory Belt Box Glory soon with the openings of Disney's live-action Moana on July 10th, 2026,

and Sony's Jumanji 3 on December 11th next year as well.

Well, there it is, Jim.

Not a surprise, but a lot of people thought, because I call out The Rock the way people would if they were paying attention to things, that I was being unjust when I laughed about this movie from the very jump, laughed about the idea of it being a serious movie of people really wanting to see it.

And here we are.

Once again, where's The Rock's fans?

Where are they?

If it's not just about the movie and it's about this guy being a major star with a major reach, where are his fans?

Where are all the people?

He was saying, hey, I've never been to In-N-Out Burger before.

Where are all those people?

Did they go to In-N-Out Burger?

Did they go to this movie?

Do they do anything he says to do?

Do they buy that shitty tequila?

Do they buy his hair care products?

Telling you, he's the male J-Lo.

We're told he's a major star and he's a star, but he's part of a package on his own.

He's not the guy people want to see, not anymore.

Not Not now.

Not young people.

Not men.

Not wrestling fans.

There are no people, Jerry.

Where are the people?

Well, this has been box office news.

Jim.

Yes.

The Rock can't sell any tickets to this movie, apparently.

He couldn't sell pussy on a troop train.

But perhaps The Rock has another idea.

I mean, he's got so much money and obviously lots of family.

around him to carry his piss bottles or whatever it may be.

Maybe he can come up with a new business plan.

Maybe The Rock

in his storytelling world could come up with a story that people would want to buy or maybe a piss bottle branded by DJ.

Who knows what it could be?

I said Taylor Swift could bottle her bathwater.

I didn't mean that The Rock might be able to market his urinary ambitions, but

If you do have some type of idea on how to sell yourself or someone else to the public.

I mean that in the entertainment fashion, not the carnal knowledge fashion.

That's illegal, even with our friends at Shopify and they'll do almost anything.

But if you want to make some money with it like that, just hear those cash registers ring-a-ding ding.

If you want to make some money with an idea, a concept, yourself or someone else that you know as a product or service that you want to get behind, you got to have the big boys with you.

Brian, that's first of all,

you got to have the Ariamanu

and the Nick Cons and the people with those other names that I would have trouble pronouncing at this point.

You got to have people like them behind you.

Shopify is the commerce platform on the interwebs that is the equivalent of the big Hollywood studio.

That's see, that's the way you ought to think about it.

They're the big big Hollywood studio behind you.

They got the wardrobe.

They got the costuming.

They've got the camera department.

They've got the, they got the guy that comes around and makes sure when you get caught fucking around on your wife that it stays undercover and doesn't go to the National Enquirer.

You're going to need that, folks.

If you make money with Shopify, first thing's going to happen is you're going to start screwing around with young harlots.

Well, no, well, that's not.

That's a big jump you just made out of nowhere.

I was sitting here enjoying the dings, the cha-chings that we hear.

Well, what do these big billionaires do?

They're older.

They're 90 years old.

They're injectifying stuff into the side of their members so that they can screw Marilyn Monroe in a bungalow.

But James Bacon's going to find out about it.

But I'll tell you what, folks, with Shopify,

you can get started with your own design studio.

They'll furnish that to you there.

You can accelerate your content creation.

You can get the word out like you've got a marketing team behind you because Shopify is going to be telling everybody, hey,

so-and-so's on our side.

He's figured in.

You better do business with him.

And you know, when

people get to the level of Shopify, who are responsible for 10% of all the e-commerce in the United States, well, then when they throw their weight around, people listen.

Every once in a while, they have to rack somebody up and put them in the hospital for a couple of weeks, but it's never anything that can be proven.

They don't put anyone in the hospital.

They don't put anyone in a rack.

Again, this, nothing will be needed, nothing will be needed to be proven because nothing like this will happen but jim

well save oh you hear some funky sounds you know what that means jim it's time to get funky with that promo code yes save all the receipts there you might need to prove where you were when it goes to court turn your big business idea no into

money right now With Shopify on your side, you can sign up right now for a $1 a month trial period, just $1

to let you know how integral they will be to your life and commerce.

And you can start selling today at shopify.com/slash Cornet.

That is, it is a different code, I'm told, from the Jim Cornet Experience Show, which we will say

JCE, but on this program, we're going to say Cornet.

I don't know why, but that's the way it is, folks.

Shopify.com slash Cornet.

And you can get the $1 a month trial period at shopify and and turn your dreams into reality build up a bail money fund

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to be fair we keep a good eye on them

ever since we that's a no-kid saying thank you we got to thank the listeners and give them that promo code one One more time.

Play the song.

One more time.

Ever since we hired the private investigator, things have been right as rain.

That's shopify.com/slash cornet.

$1 a month trial period.

Shopify.com slash cornet.

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Of course, Jim, that connotates it's time to get serious

and talk about WWE, a very serious.

How serious are you?

Well, I got some serious stuff going on here in the real world instead of WWE.

We can do that in a second, Brian.

Because have you heard what Robin Williams's daughter Zelda

is saying?

I don't know anything about Robin Williams', the late Robin Williams's family.

No, I don't know anything about Zelda.

Well, he's Zelda Williams is her name, I presume.

Zelda Williams.

That would be her name.

Well, it's his daughter Zelda.

She may have a different last name if she's

legally married.

I wasn't sure.

That's why I asked.

But well, don't disrespect this woman.

She's on the ball.

Here's what she has said

about AI,

because apparently people are making AI images of Robin Williams and mega memes or doing whatever the fuck, right?

And she says, please stop sending me AI videos of dad.

If you've got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even.

Full stop.

It's dumb.

It's a waste of time and energy.

And believe me, it's not what he'd want.

To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to this vaguely looks and sounds like them.

So that's enough.

Just so other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop.

Puppeteering them is maddening.

You're not making art.

You're making disgusting, over-processed hot dogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else's throat, hoping they'll give you a little thumbs up and like it.

It's gross.

AI is just badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be reconsumed.

You are taking in the human centipede of content.

from the very, very end of the line, all while the folks at the front laugh and laugh, consume and consume.

You think she's for it or against it, Brian?

You think she pays for Twitter premium or not?

That's a lot of words.

No, this is this is a clip from variety.

Oh, it's she's in variety saying these things.

It's very interesting you bring this up today because I saw something this morning when I was looking through the pending post from the Cult of Cornet Facebook group.

There was an AI video

that on its face is ridiculous.

And then I started watching it and I couldn't stop.

It's Michael Jackson as a pro wrestler, Michael Jackson in the WWE.

Oh, good lord.

And it's ridiculous and it looks as real as anything from that era does.

You know, again, we're talking about AI.

This is something you're going to see a lot more of.

I want to say it's George Carlin.

And now I'm not certain.

Now I'm not certain about anything about this story.

But I want to say it was like George Carlin's family were upset that someone was making new George Carlin comedy sets with AI.

Because although you could say,

well, although you could sit there and say, you know, I love George Carlin.

I wish he was still here.

I wonder what he would say about things today.

Actually, creating it is another story because you're creating it.

It's not the real thing.

And

it's going to be a growing concern.

AI is,

I mean, look at where we are today from where we are last year, from where we were a year before that.

It's getting better and better and more and more realistic looking.

It's why knowing history is going to be very important because

there are going to be kids who go on TikTok and see Michael Jackson doing a moonwalk in a WWE ring while beating Goldberg.

I think it happened.

Jesus Christ.

What are your thoughts?

Because it'll affect you.

You know, in 100 years, someone will be like, hey, what would Jim Cornett think about this moon wrestling?

Well, let's find out.

I'm leaving instructions with the descendants of Stephen P.

New that if anybody tries to create me artificially or otherwise, they're going to be sued into oblivion.

When I'm gone, I'm gone.

So get your Cornett's collectibles now at jimcornet.com.

Except for the potential sale of my estate, which will be handled through, I'm sure, some

type of large auction house,

there ain't going to be no more stuff after I'm gone of me.

Well, we will see what happens with AI, or as Linda McMahon, wrestling legend, calls it Al

or A1.

She called it A1.

That's what it was.

She called it, I called it Al.

She called it Al.

She called it A1.

Yeah.

And I'm calling in sick today.

But I didn't, I didn't ask to be the secretary of education either when I called it fucking Al.

And you can call me Al.

One day, like someone, one day, I hope someone does a book on her and just discovers how much money her and her family have spent for her to have political jobs.

Because nothing came.

I go, oh, wow, she's a really talented, smart lady.

Let's get her.

No, it was, I'll give Sacred Heart University this amount of money and they'll name a dorm room after me.

I'll give this politician this amount of money and they'll let me do this.

She bought her way into politics.

Why?

Like, why?

Well, the two runs for Senate was, what, $60 million together?

$60 million for the people of Connecticut to say, no,

not you.

And we got that vision of Vince McMahon crying on stage that night.

One of the funniest images ever, because he had that little, that's when he had like the little twerpy haircut.

That's because he realized that he'd spent $60 million for nothing and that she wasn't going to quit.

And this was, this was before he

was the multi-billionaire now that he

could still feel $60 million.

It was at that point that he pledged, I'm going to spend $60 million on head shitting.

Well, that was from what I understand, part of the deal was, well, we won't have the public,

you know, D-I-V-O-R-C and all that stuff.

But just here, Linda, here's unlimited funds to run for Senate.

And I'm giving you the state of Florida.

Go there.

But, Jim, let's stay on the topic.

He got it in the settlement.

Everything south of Tallahassee.

They didn't want to panhandle.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

I believe they're still arguing over the custody of Shane, actually, as we speak.

But, real quick, Jim, before we get to, once again, before we get to what you watched,

let's go to AEW news real quick.

This broke, I have a press release here.

Uh-oh.

D.C.

and all-elite wrestling join forces for groundbreaking comic book crossover.

The Justice League meets AEW in a two-issue comic book event with an exclusive preview debuting at New York Comic-Con.

August 1st, 2025,

DC and All Elite Wrestling are teaming up for an electrifying crossover that unites two powerhouse universes in a bold new storytelling experience.

This unprecedented collaboration will bring the Justice League and AEW's top wrestling talent together in a high octane two-issue comic book event.

High Octane.

Launching with a special preview edition available exclusively to fans at Comic-Con.

DC and AEW will also co-promote DCKO,

the DC Comics event launching in October from Acclaim creators Scott Snyder and Javier Fernandez across AEW linear broadcasts, digital platforms, and social media channels.

The collaboration will culminate in DC Comics serving as the presenting sponsor for AEW's marquee pay-per-view event, Full Gear, Gear, live from Newark, New Jersey.

There's an image here of,

I see Batman, I see the Green Lantern, I see Adam Page and Kenny Omega and Moxie.

Oh, good Lord.

Oh, good lord.

I'll come to this.

I'll send you this.

Jesus Christ.

Before we go any further, what are your thoughts on a crossover event uniting DC

and the Justice League specifically with AEW?

Well,

before I heard about the Green Lantern and Batman and Kenny and Paige, I think Batman's the only one that can't fly under his own power.

The thought that first entered my mind

was, how is DC Comics doing these days?

Because I know.

All print publications are drastically reduced in their print run from the heyday of when people actually read things.

And I know that kids can't read comics anymore because they're God, they're too expensive for them.

And it's not the 12-cent days when they'd sell 4 million issues of Fantastic Four of 72 or whatever.

But is Marvel, I guess what I'm saying is: is Marvel got a deal with WWE or why?

Why would DC Comics, one of the big two in the comic publishing publishing industry,

deal with AEW instead of WWE unless

WWE was already spoken for?

Otherwise, how did they land a big fish like DC Comics to get in the Justice League Superman Batman universe?

That was my first question.

Marvel is owned by Disney, according to this about DC.

DC.

Part of Warner Brothers Discovery.

Oh,

okay.

Creates iconic characters and enduring storylines and is one of the world's leading publishers of comics and graphic novels.

So it's no longer national periodical publications in

an office in Midtown Manhattan with Carmine, Infantino, and the gang.

It's now part of a big.

It's Zaslov.

It's Zaslov.

Zaslav's over everything.

So they've got the same parent conglomerate.

They came from the same sperm bank.

Okay, that explains that.

I mean, they've done

wrestling comics before.

The WWF in the 90s and WCW had had comic books of various kinds.

In the 70s, DC did

Superman versus Muhammad Ali.

There was a, in, in, what is that issue, 1960 or so, there was a

Superman versus Raqqa cover, which I

possess.

Raka did better than Al Lee.

Well, but Superman's powers had been hampered.

So he was,

or something happened.

I can't remember now.

Point being,

they've done crossovers with comics and wrestling

through the decades in a variety of ways.

I just,

just to me seeing the silliness of

you could

you could buy hulk hogan standing there next to fucking captain america or whatever the fuck but kenny and paige and some of these other nimrods well you can see the picture and apparently this is the cover of the first issue you'll see swerve and mercedes monet

and wonder woman oh she she had to be there Mercedes and Wonder Woman.

Boy, howdy.

Is Darby holding his flamethrower?

He's holding something, but there is no flame visible wait a minute i've i've got this uh now that you've sent me this i'm looking for this image oh good heavens

tony storm looks more jacked up than pockets though in this picture

where's pockets you see pockets oh there's pockets oh he's he's right behind tony storm he lays he's stuck in there in between in batman's armpit or wing pit That's an interesting way of flying that Orange Cassidy has there.

Do you remember the Von Ericks comic book where it was like, Yes, the Von Ericks go to outer space?

Yes.

Well, they spend a lot of time on Neptune.

Yo, Moxley.

Moxley looks,

Moxley not only is way more jacked up than he is in real life, but it looks like his head's growing out of his left tit.

The only one I think could be a superhero is Darby.

Well, I think Darby's more of a sidekick.

He's the sidekick that gets thrown around a lot.

And then,

you know, the big boy comes to the rescue.

Swerve's looking pretty badass there.

I could buy Swerve maybe as a superhero in a comic book.

But I guess the question is looking at this cover, what are your thoughts about the idea of people, the likes of Mercedes-Monet, Will Ospreay, Darby Allen, Jon Moxley, Swerve Strickland, Hangman Adam Page, Tony Storm, Willow Nightingale, Orange Cassidy, and Kenny Omega teaming up.

It'd be one thing if they were fighting, but teaming up with Aquaman, Batman, Nightwing, Green Lanterns, Guy Gardner, and Jon Stewart, Hawk Girl, Zatana, Wonder Woman.

Wait, is that Hawktua Girl?

And Harley Quinn.

No,

Hawk Girl, not Hawktua Girl.

Wait a minute.

Where's Harley Quinn in here?

They need to clear that through me.

Yeah,

I don't know.

I guess that's the thing is they're marketing comics to who they perceive to be the now juvenile-minded but adults with disposable income

AEW audience.

So, I guess I can say it, but I think Aquaman, unfortunately, as always, is fucked.

He's going to have to do the job for Mercedes.

Do you think Mercedes would put Wonder Woman over even with the golden lasso?

No.

But who knows?

But more about this in the coming days.

And of course, if you are a comic collector, get a copy for yourself.

Or if you're an AEW fan, get a copy for yourself and all the people chained up in the basement oh but jim let's get to wwe tv what did you watch on smackdown this past week well you've said that now and i've got to grab my my pad here there we go

again it's jesus

it was they were from cincinnati on October the 3rd.

And I know people are going to say, well, that was several days ago.

Well, yes, it was, but don't worry, nothing earth-shaking happened.

But this is the story now.

I think they have fallen into a pattern here

where

it's just a long entrance, the start of an interview.

The interview is interrupted.

A bunch more people say shit and then they just walk off.

And I know that I always say, well, they get in an angle, they get in a fight every time.

They can't do it angle angle.

Well, on AEW, they do, but in WWE, now they just all leave.

But it'd be nice if there was some break from this pattern the first hour.

Right at the top of the program, Cody makes an entrance for over three minutes,

says, What do you want to talk about?

That's the last words he said.

Here came instantly, Paul Heyman interrupted with Bronson Reed and Braun Breaker.

And then Orton ran in to back up Cody.

And Orton never said a word either.

Paul talked to him.

We're here to talk to Randy Orton.

He wasn't out here when you came out.

And then

he said, we knew that if you corner the champ, the viper will appear.

Okay,

thin reasoning.

Paul cuts promo where he starts to sow seeds of dissension between Orton and Cody, and he tells them their team can't last.

And then the heels left.

And then they played music and went to break.

Cody never, Cody, it was Cody's promo.

Why did he come out there if he was not ever going to say anything?

I'm talking in the Kayfabe breason now.

They've got to the point where a guy will come out, apparently, with something important enough to say,

to take the ring on national television get interrupted never say a goddamn word get told off and then just leave

am i being too dramatic here well again they were building up or heyman was building up the dissension or

trying to create dissension between randy and cody that's a story cody's

seemingly done very little over the last several months.

And we've said it before, he's become an afterthought there.

But he's got the Rollins match coming up.

They've got this tease with the Orton stuff here on SmackDown.

But yeah, he didn't say anything.

I know they're telling the story, but the point is, it's like everything else on this program.

They take 15 or 20 minutes to tell you fucking three or four minutes a story.

And they just blow off.

They also, they blow off any goddamn pretext that somebody is coming out to do anything other than what actually happens, which is they get interrupted and told off.

Like any good advocate, Heyman probably said, schmuck, shut up.

Let me do the talking.

To the opponent?

Again, I don't know why.

I can't explain.

These shows have become awful.

That's not to say there aren't stars.

They're not to say that the fans there who are spending all this money aren't into it.

It's just me.

But yeah.

These shows have become hard to watch.

Nothing happens.

And it takes forever for the nothing to happen.

By the time it's over, sometimes you're not even sure.

Like, was that the end?

Was that it?

Yeah, like, nothing happened.

Like, there's no resolution to anything.

Was that it?

Will there be more?

I just don't know.

Well, see, that's their strategy.

Uh,

Sami Zayn wrestled old Malachi Black for almost 20 minutes.

So the AEW doesn't have a premium or a monopoly on long matches.

But then

I can tell you the finish.

Damian Priest distracted Malachi Black, and Sammy beat him one, two, three.

And then Priest gave a razor's edge to Black through the announce desk.

Boom, the end.

This was the week that Dave Meltzer brought up that Malachi Black wouldn't do jobs in AEW and he did for, you know, for WWE, a pretty clean job for Sami Zayn here.

He didn't move from the mat.

Well, but also,

why wouldn't he?

Sami Zayn's a big star.

They've given him a goddamn goddamn job where he doesn't have to work in a children's daycare center.

And he gets to go 20 minutes on TV.

So he's fine.

And he's got the thing with priest going on.

But

he'll go down like a circus seal if they tell him because it's a professional environment.

He has to be professional.

But

besides that, which was a fine professional match, and Chelsea Green and Alba Fire going three minutes with Saul Ruka and Zarya.

That was the first hour of the show.

The promo, the match, the girls, and it's nine o'clock.

Jesus Christ.

And then we had a contract signing with Tiffany Stratton and Stephanie Vacare.

Vacare, Vacare.

Do you care?

Vacare.

Yes, you care.

I vacare.

Vacare.

They didn't do any favors for Stephanie.

The Tiffany was wearing like nine-inch heels on her boots, and she's in her tights and her whole outfit and her protuberances and everything.

And Stephanie was standing there in flats and street clothes.

It looked like Wonder Woman standing next to an Uber driver.

They couldn't get on the same page.

I'm not even,

I'm not knocking Stephanie now,

but if

she was going to dress business casual, why didn't Tiffany come out?

And, you know, it just,

it was a major visual

contrast.

Anyway,

Stephanie's comment was,

and I wrote this down, I won't be losing any much.

So next week, may the best woman win.

Tiffany's promo was memorized and recited, but at least she got all the

whole of words out.

I know Stephanie's English is her second language, but why do they give her a goddamn live contract signing

where

she fumbles a line, looks like a milk sop, Tiffany steals the show

and

then they leave.

Except there's a little afterbirth here with other people, but did this do any favors for Stephanie?

Is what I'm asking you?

Because you're her fan club president.

I'm not her fan club president.

I do think she's very talented.

I enjoy her matches.

I enjoy her

presence because she doesn't act like a goose.

She doesn't act.

She just kind of goes out there and portrays someone who's a wrestler.

Eventually, they're going to have to have her do angles.

And be able to talk.

What did you say she said?

What was the exact same thing?

I won't be losing any much.

So next week, may the best woman win.

Yeah, again, eventually it has to be: I hate you, I'm going to beat you, but this is a crown jewel.

It just crown jewel.

It doesn't really matter.

She got shown up

visually and verbally by this other girl, which she could have at least

again worn her tights like Tiffy was wearing to look like somebody.

Instead, she's dressed like a cashier at Target.

And if they know English as her second language, then still it was very pushover babyfacey.

And these people don't like that anymore.

They want the babyfaces with a little piss and vinegar.

But then

Julia

came down the aisle and leveled Tiffany.

when she was walking back.

And then Kiana James did a pro a long promo

about wanting to manage Stephanie and made a big pitch to Stephanie.

All the time, Tiffany is there laying on the floor, thinking, Will they ever shut up so I can get up?

And then Tiffy finally gets up and pulls Kiana out to the floor.

And Stephanie tried to beat up Julia, but Kiana pulled her out too, and

they all left.

I

So, big match at Crown Jewel.

It'll be interesting to see.

I guess you have to.

I'm going to watch the match.

You have to do a finish, right?

You can't do some kind of fuck thing where Kiana James and Julia beat up both girls and there's no finish.

You need a finish for a match like this, right?

The way it's built up.

One would think.

And they're going to be.

Tiffany has already kind of established herself.

Stephanie needs to have some some balls to her to stand up to Tiffany a little bit there.

If she's going to, and then the other girls, I don't know.

They're just kind of clogging things up, getting in the way to me.

But nevertheless.

Have you seen any of the stuff with Kiana James as the manager of Julia?

I wasn't too familiar with her until I knew the name, but I didn't really know her until

I knew this because the announcers were calling them by their names.

She's like a foot taller than Julia.

That's the thing that keeps throwing me off.

But, you know.

Well, she used to be a wrestler, but I bet she got hurt.

Now they're just having her manage.

And then we saw the lost Garzas.

They've been lost.

You don't see them much anymore against Javon Evans and Phoenix, who won that match.

And then it was time for the fucking main event.

No thoughts this week on Javon Evans.

A lot of people were surprised by your positive reaction to him last time.

When he's working with somebody else like Sami Zayn that knows what the fuck they're doing,

then I wasn't going to suffer through.

He's not Braun Breaker yet to me.

I wasn't going to suffer through the rest of these imbeciles to keep an eye on Javon.

I'm sure we'll see him again.

But

that was the whole fucking show, what we've just said, except for the main event,

which

it was Bronson Reed and Braun Breaker against Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton.

And obviously,

that's a main event in any arena in the country.

But then the first entrance started at 9:30

and the bell rang for the match at 9:42.

They had a minute of action and went to the break.

What the?

They came back and they had four minutes of match and they went to another break.

And then they came back and

it was a long heat on Cody

and a cold tag to Randy Orton who made a cut i don't know they don't even care anymore to set up a tag they do okay it's time king

and

i'm loving the bronze right they're multi-generational heels they could have been over in any territory anytime

But they do some back and forth and Braun Breaker drives Cody through the barricade and Orton hits the DDT on Bronson Reed and goes for an RKO.

And Paul Heyman gets up on the apron.

And did you see what he was doing, Brian?

He started trying to like he was going to climb to the top rope.

He almost tipped the ring over.

Well, I mean, think about it mathematically.

If he's standing on one ring post and the other one opposite him is going to fly up in the air and hurt somebody.

What was he going to do?

He was drawing the referee and having fun with himself at the same time.

But as the referee goes over to him, because he got to the bottom rope, right?

He didn't get up on the top rope.

Seth Rollins comes in, stomps Randy Orton, and rolls out.

Bronson Reed splashes him off the top rope, one, two, three.

It was another good win for the bronze, which, as we said,

tag team wrestling, you got to have two guys they think are main event guys in a team, and they got to win, and they got to beat people who are main event level stars in a fan's eyes.

So that's great.

Great finish.

And then Seth tells both of the Bronsons, Bronze,

he's mine.

Like, don't beat Cody up.

He's mine.

And then Seth starts making a face.

And Paul's like, don't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't fall in a trap.

And Seth goes back in the ring to stomp Cody and misses the stomp.

And Cody hits him with the crossroads.

And there was two hours of your life

on SmackDown.

So we've talked a lot about the issues with the ratings and how it's affecting all of wrestling.

SmackDown's not immune.

And again, at the same time, it's not exactly the hottest show.

It's not a must-see show.

No one's clamoring for, oh my God, I have to see anything on SmackDown.

It's just, you know, the stars are going to be there.

And they'll be interacting and chatting and doing their things,

but there's nothing big that gets you excited.

Do they need that?

I mean, is this just

a natural wrestling thing?

You can't hot shot forever.

You can't stay hot forever.

We need to have a cool down period.

Or do they not even see this as that?

Because the TV shows, again, you said it, main event anywhere in the country.

It could be a main event of any of their pay-per-views, Cody and Orton versus Braun and Bronson, the way they do things.

But by the time you get there, it's just, it's a whole lot of like

sitting in place, it feels like, to get anywhere.

It's hard to do.

Well, and also, and I understand why, and rightfully so, in most cases, the matching, you don't see a lot of those main event matches.

By the time they're in break and they start late with half the matches, the introduction or the entrance.

But at the same time, they don't want these guys to go out there and work 30 minutes and get fucking hurt when they cost $50 million apiece to replace them.

We did that math, remember?

When I said, What is the pressure on Cena with 10 dates left?

It's going to gross $50 million for the company.

He doesn't want to turn his ankle.

Or when you got to pick one of these guys up and put them down anymore.

Be careful with him.

So I understand that part of it, but everything takes so fucking long.

Even the

middle card talent takes so fucking long.

They've got a lot of people

it the the the and especially on raw it was even more profound because they've got two and a half hours where between the entrances and milking for the chants and milking for the singing

and the long monologues at each other or dialogues with each other

it it takes 15, 20 minutes to impart what in the in the days of the attitude era would be a four or five minute live interview in a fucking ring with guys applying themselves because up and down the card, the names, it was moving.

It wasn't just

limited to the attitude era.

Territory wrestling, if you had any kind of good territory, the TV kept moving.

You didn't have

just endless shows per week and three hours each.

You know, you had to get your point across.

You had to get

You had to keep people's attention.

You had to sell shit and blah, blah, blah.

It's just the fucking pace is brutal now

in the WWE.

And it's the antithesis

of AEW, which they will not fucking stop.

So nothing registers.

One won't start, the other won't stop.

I know it's one won't start, the other won't stop.

Finish in WWE.

Draw the referee.

Nutshot.

Super kick.

Cover.

The end.

Finish in AEW.

16 people run in.

Four other fights start.

Something gets set on fire.

We come back from the break with other people in a match.

We don't, where did we start?

Yeah.

Kick out of everything also.

Just everything, no matter what, endlessly.

Kick out.

No matter how big you are, no matter how small you are, kick out.

But that's, I mean, it's just where we're at.

But

the slow stuff is making more money because at least they can understand it.

If they're

if they're hardy enough, bored enough, interested enough to sit through the whole thing.

They understand what they saw.

What do you think?

One last thing about all this.

What do you think about where Cody is right now?

They've done a really good job of getting Braun and Bronson over with Heyman.

Randy Orton is a legendary character, and if he turns at some point or whatever happens, there are some fans who who think Cody may turn on him.

But I don't know about that.

No.

But Randy is where he is.

What do you think about Cody, his current usage and where he is right now, coming off a big PWI 500 number one placement?

He should be the guy going into Crown Jewels, the defending Crown Jewel champion.

He's had a weird year.

What do you think about where he is right now?

Well, he still is the guy.

Punk has louder fans.

Roman has some devoted fans, but there weren't as many of them in Dallas as there were Punk fans, apparently, from the noise.

Roman's part-time.

Punk is

he's more of in the

hacksaw-duggan position in mid-South now, where he's a guy, even without a belt, that draws.

Cody is still the babyface champion

and

the

kind of face of the company, Eddie should be for all the work he puts in.

The whole thing

with the, you know, the rocks booking and et cetera, and

that thing with Cena was a distraction, but the people still like Cody.

And

I would think with he and Orton, with this being the first week of October,

they're right around the point where, and they got to get, they got to get rid of Cena first.

They're not going to do something while a lot of attention is going on Cena's last matches.

So I'm thinking by Royal Rumble time,

something may happen with Cody and Orton, and

Cody ain't going to be the one to turn.

And Orton also is closer to the end of his career than the beginning, and he's not a guy that minds a little heel run toward the end.

He doesn't, you know,

take it so seriously.

He's just a lovely babyface now that he wouldn't want to turn heel.

And it would, it would probably help

cement Cody coming out on the

top of a program with Orton, is what I'm trying to say, and a WrestleMania match or whatever the fuck.

Well, we'll see what happens.

That was SmackDown.

Jim,

perhaps Cody Rhodes's biggest is

he has horrible musical taste.

The music he listens to is just garbage.

You could tell by the theme song, he's just into inspirational, almost like Christian rock, whatever that is.

But what if Cody Rhodes had a way to listen to good sounds, to discover everything from punk rock to jazz?

Again, with good sounds, a comfortable fit, a stylish look, all from our friends at Raycon.

The Everyday earbuds classic is what you're talking about where and and of course you've programmed cody's taste to your own brian with the punk or the jazz but you could listen everything to a little bit of country i said in between two i included in between

well that does that means they're on opposite ends of the spectrum and i would say that you are wrong about that i would say that they're offshoots of a spectrum on the left

While at the same time, you could be over on the right-hand side with bluegrass and potentially experimental space music.

Also, there's Bach and Beethoven to worry about.

But all in all, I think Cody probably inherited a love of country music from Dusty.

So maybe there's a little David Allen coe in there.

Some whaling.

Yeah, he'd get into where he'd just start whaling.

Boy, he would be whaling.

You could hear him a mile away.

Delbert McClinton.

Delbert McClinton killed the house in Pennsylvania, didn't he?

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Jim, let's get away from purple blood boils and let's get back to finishing our talk about modern WWE, WWE Raw, which aired last night as we are recording.

Well, they were in Dallas, Texas, and they had 12,913 people there, according to the announcers.

And

Roman Reigns.

Roman, Roman Reigns.

Roman Reigns came to the ring, Brian, to top the program off.

They had the replay of his return last week and the slow entrance and the slow walks around the ring.

And he milked the fans for the cheers.

There was light singing of his name.

There was an okay

OTC chant, but it was not

thunderous.

And when he finally spoke,

Dallas, Texas, acknowledge me.

He got a pop, but that was eight minutes into the show.

And yes, they showed the tape of the return from last week or whatever.

But

do you think his

heel entrance with the slow walk and the din and

it worked with the bloodline.

It worked with the pageantry.

It worked with

the

minions behind him and the fat wise man with the bald head and

the Ulafala was involved.

That was a procession.

This is not a babyface entrance, is it?

I know he still wants to be cool Roman Reigns, but

there's no reason to jump up and throw the babies when Roman Reigns is coming to the ring, is there?

You know, it's a weird reaction.

And then you start thinking about it and you ask yourself, what's the appeal?

He doesn't talk like a babyface.

And again, heels get over too, but

he's still kind of talking the way he did as the head of the bloodline.

Heyman comes out, and I don't want to get ahead of you, but

Heyman almost exposes him for real.

He says, Let me show you how this is done.

And then he does it.

And Roman's standing there with his dick in his hand.

And you're like, man, it really was all Heyman.

Heyman really was the guy who set the presence.

There's something

there is something missing right now with Roman Reigns, it feels like.

But that's that's the thing is that we talked about SmackDown.

Cody, the top baby face on that program, comes out and says, what do you want to talk about?

And gets interrupted.

And

here comes the heels.

The same thing here.

Dallas, Texas, acknowledge me.

After this whole procession, we're going to hear what he has to say.

And boom.

Music interrupts.

And here comes Paul and Bronson Reed to the entrance, not into the ring.

But

they can't even let them say something

to

acknowledge the pretext why they were out there so that these people can interrupt them.

And they milked the booze and they stood there long enough that Roman asked, Did you come out here to just stare at me?

And then Paul spoke.

Now we're almost 10 minutes into the show before

anything has happened.

And Paul,

as you said, did that.

Let me show you how it's done.

And gave the big intro as the tribal chief to Bronson Reed.

And part of that was Paul the hype man building the thing up and then Roman Reed being the Roman Reed.

Roman Reigns.

Robert Reed.

Or Robert Reed, who apparently never fucked Florence Henderson.

But the point being,

it's so just blah when Roman says, yeah, he's got the badass

aura and persona, but it's slow.

And Pauli put Reed over for being the first guy to make Roman leave on a stretcher.

He was carried out.

He was taken to the hospital.

And then Bronson Reed asked for the microphone.

Oh, bad move.

But he was brief.

And he told Roman, he's like, what would Affa and Sika say?

They never got stretchered out.

How would they feel now?

And then Roman Reigns said, well, my dad would say, fight them now.

So let's do it now.

And Paul talks Bronson Reed out of it.

And

Romans trying to goad him, says, okay, whenever, whatever, fashion, et cetera.

So Paul then turns around and says, well, we're going to make it.

So now Paul can make the matches, not only agree to a fight, but a specific date,

five days hence, and

specific rules and blah, blah, blah.

Saturday in Australia, in Bronson Reed's specialty that he's never lost,

the Australian street fight

from the mean streets of Sydney, from the ghettos of Perth.

I'm not trying to disrespect our Aussie fans, but

are the streets in Australia known for being violent, or is that more of the outback?

Do they fucking have knife fights in the outback like Crocodile Dundee and et cetera?

Have we ever seen an Australian street fight before, Brian, to know that this is Bronson Reed's big match?

Where the fuck did this come from?

It's what I'm asking you.

It came out of Paul Heyman's ass,

would be my first guess.

We have not seen it.

Geez, he'll never notice it's missing with all the storage space he's got.

Makes you wonder what would it be if Crown Jewel was an Akron?

Would it be an Akron street fight?

I guess they would have something

an Akron rubber fight.

Hey, listen, I've seen enough Roman Reign matches.

Roman Reign.

Roman Reigns matches.

A street fight may be the best thing because otherwise it's going to be slow and deliberate, like an A-24 film.

It's going to take forever.

It's going to slow down.

Eventually, they'll turn up the mic so you can hear him giving his speech in the middle of the match to the other guy a street fight may be the best bet

it'll keep him busy is what you're trying to say so finally the heels are going to leave and roman says ah you're leaving like a couple of little bitches

and that's all that bronson reed can stay and he turns around and charges to the ring they get in a fight They go to the floor.

Roman hits him with a Superman punch.

Security and the agents and everybody come out.

They have a big pull apart.

He hits him with another Superman punch.

And they played music and everybody left.

So

we were almost 20 minutes into the show for talk that could have been

talked in four minutes and a one minute fight.

And it just,

again, I think back to we had a two hour show

when we'd write raw and Vince would fucking freak out if, God damn it, you're wasting time here.

Let's get into action.

Get him in the ring.

What the fuck is taking so long?

And now it's just,

but nevertheless,

your thoughts on your predictions on the big Aussie street fight.

Is somebody going to get hit with a kangaroo or walla be darned?

I don't have any prediction.

It's weird.

I can't tell you who's going to win.

I also can't tell you I'm going to care.

I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

But again, there's an apathy that's setting in because of the pacing of these shows and just nothing happening.

And then just the similarity in what happens from one show, I mean, from SmackDown to Raw.

Again, same kind of opening segment.

And,

you know, you just know it's going to be a long ride to get wherever you have to go.

Well, we rode past Becky Lynch versus Maxine Dupree, old model girl who apparently got a count out victory over Becky.

And then the next match was Lyric against Roxanne.

And then they had miscellaneous packages and spots and backstage promos.

And so an hour and 10 minutes into the show, this is without commercials.

I'm watching the replay without commercials.

An hour and 10 minutes into the show,

we have had the opening interview and two girls' matches and some

people trying to sell us some stuff

and then

like a mussolini

waking up the crowdy

here comes punk and they woke up

and i don't know whether it's

particularly dallas or whatever but Punk got the pop of the show.

It was bigger than Romans.

They sang the song louder.

They did the clobbering time.

But here's another thing.

What I said about

Roman, the slow entrance works as a heel with a heel faction, but as a babyface, you need some excitement, even if you're a cool baby face.

But Punk comes out and keeps it going.

He's got the facials.

He's slapping the hands or he's pointing at the people.

He's happy, he's doing,

and it brings the people up.

And then he gets the CM Punk chance and a big pop on.

It's great to be alive in Dallas, Texas on

Monday at 8 o'clock Central or whatever the fuck.

And he sang deep in the heart of Texas or got them to sing it.

He gets people into it.

The delivery, the inflections.

He's speaking genuinely,

even though it's a work.

He's the

point is that's a babyface has to

create some kind of excitement when they come out.

And he's doing that, whereas Roman did not and did not get the response.

That's what I'm trying to say, bro.

And he, you know, thanked the fans for welcoming AJ Lee back.

That got a pop.

pop

and he plugged cody and seth he promised cody he was going to stay out of his business but he still wants the title match with seth

because seth rollins i'm better than you and everybody knows it do you think is mjf going to call stephen new to sue for trademark infringement

Oh, that was a real question.

You can't.

Yes,

you can't comment.

You have insider knowledge.

I'm a client of Stephen P.

New.

I don't know if I'm allowed to uh comment on i don't even know if mjf and stephen pinu know each other but uh i don't know it was a nice little nod to a former compadre who's stuck in la la land on the island oh i don't know i don't know if they get along those two

but i don't know

well it's easier to give a nod to a former compadre that's stuck on la la land on an island when you're in in this land of civilization and he's dealing with Gilligan and the fucking

but anyway

he says he's going to become the new world champion and that's cue for la night's music and la night comes out very purposefully

and punk is pissed and he's being interrupted

and la night had these people let me talk to you they go yeah

and then

He said, look in my eyes.

What do you see?

And said, Punk said, somebody who interrupted me.

And L.A.

Knight is pissed because he hadn't got his reign as world champion.

And Punk now is known more for being a husband than the pipe bomb.

But you're probably

a great husband, but a trashy champ.

You had five minutes as champ.

You lost at SummerSlam to Seth.

Blah, blah, blah.

You know who he's never beat, who he's never, ever, ever, ever beat?

And Punk said, some guy guy that's never ever ever been champion and got a pop that seemed like it threw la night off for a minute you know what that reaction was pretty big and it did seem like it threw him off and it was a great comeback timed perfectly and

one would think that you would almost have expected that to come from a guy as quick as punk if you said something that way

But nevertheless,

he got it back, though.

The people laughed at him.

But I'm 2-0

against seth rollins and i'm going to be world champion

and then here jey uso's music plays and now i'm like jesus christ

now this this is starting to be aew

because we're starting to have a cast of millions

but he comes at they yeeted him he's over

But he said he never got his rematch and he's next in line.

And then L.A.

Knight tells Jey Uso off.

His time has come and gone.

It's my time now.

You ought to focus on the tag team title and maybe stop sucking as a tag team.

And apparently, the truth hurt there because here came Jimmy out without any music or anything, just walking out.

But as he did that, Jay hauled off and super kicked L.A.

Knight and knocked him goofy.

So Punk is still, all right, I guess we're cool, Usos, since he interrupted you and a blah, blah, blah, but you've got to understand

I want the title.

Get in the line behind me.

Maybe you should focus on

being the tag team champions.

And he told Jay, he said, I love Jay Uso, but I don't like little Roman.

Ah, them's fighting words.

And Jay shoves Punk and they start arguing and Jimmy's in the middle trying to keep them apart.

And Jay tried to super kick Punk, but Jimmy grabbed him and stopped him.

And when he did that, Punk took the opportunity, slip Jimmy, and nail Jay, knock him on his ass.

And then he turned around and Jimmy super kicked Punk because, well, he'd steal his brother.

It all made sense

as far as who had wronged who verbally and why somebody should want to punch somebody.

I'm just,

again,

I think it's not only a little busy,

but also they're setting up some other kind of multiple man shenanigans, I'm pretty sure.

But when you have all the baby faces

being,

I understand they need to be driven toward the title.

and want to get the title, but when you have all of them being prickish with each other,

the fans, we were just talking about the fans take sides,

even though they're all faces, based on their, who their favorite is.

And that's why that Vince Sr.

and most every other promoter throughout history

didn't put his baby faces against each other, except in cases of misunderstanding

or rarely.

And it would hopefully be resolved at the end.

But just

somebody no to to to the fans somebody in this no matter who it is is going to look like a dick and that just diminishes some of your baby faces do you see what i'm trying to say

i do i also have been thinking that it seems like an la night heel turn may be on the horizon but i've been thinking it for a little while but more and more he maybe wasn't even the biggest dick in this though yeah

yeah i mean it's uh

it's just like you said when you think think about it and it's like, oh, another multi-man match, I'm sick of this shit.

I was sick of like this guy versus this guy versus this guy, which is a real crutch of Triple H.

You know, Punk's been in pretty heated feuds.

Him and Rollins, although that may have gotten a bit muddy.

Him and Drew was just a concise this guy and this guy.

They don't like each other.

That's what's happening.

Acknowledging other people don't like him too, you know, like Rollins.

Yeah.

I knew that was coming.

This, you know, if LA Knight's not turning heel, I don't think it would be the stupidest thing ever to turn punk heel right now.

Well, of course not.

Jey Uso, unless he stops selling merch, I wouldn't turn him necessarily right now.

And again, the Usos are aligned with Roman again,

who probably could use a heel turn right now.

I don't know.

It's,

you know, and again.

Punk is best also when he's focused on one guy.

That's right.

Punk understands.

Punk is a guy who mentally understands what what the wrestling business is and has

used his determination to not be blessed with the athletic ability of a gold medalist, but with the psychology and a verbal ability of a guy who understands wrestling, has willed his body to follow

at its best when it's one-on-one, when it's a specific issue, when it's a grudge about somebody that he can talk about.

And

it just multiple people muddies the shit up.

Yeah, plus, it doesn't seem like Punk has an issue.

You care, I mean, the fans care about Punk because he's a star.

You know, out of everyone there, he's one of the people you could say is a star, is a draw.

But he's not angry or focused on anything.

He's just kind of, hey, I'm out here to do a promo and tell everyone how great you are.

Let's sing.

And

it's not like I have a message, I have a point.

And then when you're thinking, it could come from something, it's this big thing here.

Most of the fans, if you

Seth, L.A.

Knight, and

Jey Uso,

they would want either of the three of them to have a world title match with Seth.

But if you

said it could only be one,

most would probably pick Punk because he's the bigger star of the three.

Next, they'd probably pick Jay because he had it before.

And last, they'd probably pick L.A.

Knight

just because of the way that everybody's been presented.

But everybody still has their supporters, so now you're just pissing some of those people off at your other baby faces.

Nevertheless, then later on,

of course, after all of this, it's going to be the main event is going to be punk and LA Night against the Usos in a tag team match, playa.

But

this

show,

in between the 20-minute promos it was an episode of glow

because then

we got eo against carrie

and i i we've already had becky and maxine and lyric and roxanne now we got eo and carrie

so the it turns out the only two men's matches on a two and a half hour wrestling program came in the last 30 or 40 minutes of the show.

And of course, there's also arguments amongst the Usos because Jimmy is telling Roman that they're not like him anymore.

And Roman's telling Jimmy that when Jay won the title, he became more like me and less like you.

So there's the

bloodline drama is beginning again, but I'm not sure they can recreate all of this stuff.

And there's problems with Seth and Paul in the back,

where Seth is asking Paul, what happens if I, if I lose Saturday?

And Paul finally told him off and said, at some point, I'm going to have to ask myself

why I picked you over Roman.

So now there's problems with them.

Nobody can trust anybody around this place.

Have you noticed that, Brian?

And then there was Penta

and AJ Styles and Dragon Lee against JD and Finn and Dominic.

And that was just fine.

The only men's match in the first two hours of the program.

And then we got to the main event.

Did you notice that the

Usos were late on their entrance?

The music was playing and they didn't appear out of the

vomitorium.

That's actually what they're called of the

It from the breeze way into the arena.

The music was playing.

They didn't show up long enough.

The announcer's like, did they get lost?

Did you see what happened behind the scenes?

I did not see what happened behind the scenes.

No, they had some fan cam footage or whatever.

They got mobbed up there by the fans expecting them to enter or whatever.

The security lost control, and the cameraman that was with them, and both the Usos got stuck in the sea of people and couldn't get into the arena.

So they're probably going to have to revamp their methods of blocking off their entranceway.

But they came out

and in Punk and LA Night, who didn't want to team with each other,

they come out to

sort of separate entrances and then hit the ring together and get in a fight.

And

by the time that the fight starts,

they had one more commercial break, but they literally had 10 minutes of program

that was going to be televised from that point.

And it was

Brian, as the noted manager of the greatest heel tag team of the modern era of wrestling, does it sound like sour grapes when I continue to say that

the Usos aren't a very good tag team?

Am I missing something?

I wouldn't call that sour grapes.

I would call that facts.

They've been heavily pushed in WWE from almost the very beginning.

They've held the tag titles a bunch of times.

So there are fans who see them as legends,

legends of the era.

But when you compare the in-ring work to other great tag teams, tag teams that are universally considered to be great tag teams, even other WWE tag teams, like the Killer B, like just anyone.

The work is different.

And I don't mean that in a good way.

And I don't think it holds up.

Well, finally, boom, boom, boom.

L.A.

Knight hit the BFT

on J-I-M-M-Y,

but then Jay super kicked L.A.

Knight and in Punk Schoolboy Jay, and that was a nice little timing they got on that spot there.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Got a two count.

Jay hit Punk with a spear and was going to go to the top rope, but saw L.A.

Knight and ran and nailed him off the apron and then turned into Punk's go-to-sleep.

When Punk hit that, he collapsed back in the corner because he was fatigued from the previous blow.

And L.A.

Knight on the apron tagged Punk's shoulder and jumped in and covered Uso one, two, three.

And Punk's standing there like, motherfucker.

And LA Knight rolled out laughing.

But

Raw was two and a half hours, and we got,

as I mentioned, the long

opening promo,

three girls matches,

the long punk and LA Night Nuso promo,

a six-man tag, and 10 minutes of this main event match.

And a lot of commercials, a lot of promos, a lot of chances to spend more money on the various things that they're doing.

Yeah, no, I finished raw, and then I immediately said, Let me get some tickets for Smashing Machine right after I get back from Riyadh season because these ads are really speaking to me.

Well, Jim, that was WWE Raw.

And on the topic of commercials, we will be right back after this short commercial timeout.

All right, a wrong note or two, but that's never stopped anyone.

That's never stopped anyone.

Musical geniuses have to kind of be able to have the room to be flexible and create.

And Jim, we're going to create some more show here in a moment.

Some news, some breaking news.

After encouragement from his senior citizen friend,

a nice Jewish boy from New Jersey broke his Antonio Inoki keychain today

when he bashed it as hard as he could over and over again in the frustration knowing that it has a song inside it has played.

Now it just doesn't do anything.

R.I.P.

Antonio Anoki Keychain.

Well, behind every dark cloud, Jim, there is a silver lining.

And today is the greatest day of my life.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have two more Antonio Inoki keychains in the package.

Oh, God damn it.

Oh, geez.

I'm going to open one of them.

Not today because I'm going to have to repair the battery port and clean it out and put new batteries in.

But it is my hope that we will debut this song on this show soon.

It was my hope that you had finished off your Antonio Anoki keychain and we would have heard the last of him.

Well, we'll see what happens.

Slap it in the face again.

See how hard you hit this one.

As the legendary Antonio Anoki would say, Takama!

Jim, let's get some questions and stuff here on the show.

We're going to have some guests to program before we wrap things up.

But let's get some questions.

This first one, sent via the Cult of Cornet Facebook group by David James Kehoe.

DJ from Toronto.

Right under that, it has the name he wants to use.

DJ from Toronto.

We will use that.

Sorry about that.

Here's DJ from Toronto's question.

If the Midnight Express had stayed in Mid-South instead of going to Dallas,

do you think you guys could have turned babyface?

P.S.

Sorry about the Mets, Brian.

And you know what?

Thanks, DJ.

Congratulations on the Blue Jays, but let's

get back to this.

I don't know all this football talk.

We could have.

We could have maybe...

you know, squatted down in the parking lot and shit a live turkey, but we wouldn't have.

There was no reason for us to turn babyface.

If we had stayed in Mid-South,

that would assume then that we would have beaten the Rock and Roll Express in the scaffold matches, which wouldn't have happened because that wouldn't have been done that way.

But if we had stayed and the rock and roll had left,

then

we would have been the top heels.

And one, and the reason I say that is one team had to leave.

We'd ran the program,

you know, it was almost a year long, even though we had the break in the summer.

It was two sections to it.

But

one team, because of the nature of it, had to go at some point because one team had to be acknowledged as the winners.

So if we hadn't left, that would have meant the rock and roll did leave.

And then we would have still been the top heel team and

programmed with the next babyface team that may have been able to come in.

And I don't know who that would have been been because

the whole thing worked as with us leaving.

And then I think who

was it Doc and DiBiase?

Yeah, Doc and DiBiase.

Those are two people.

That followed us as the heel team.

Well, depends how you see it.

Were the Guerrero.

I was going to say, was there an overlap with the Guerreros, the Alamo Busters?

Hector and Chabo Guerrero were a heel team at that point.

And then it was Dr.

Death, Steve Williams, and Ted DiBiase that were working with the Rock and Roll Express.

So we wouldn't have worked with either of those teams, but there was no call whatsoever for us to turn Babyface.

You would have been a good substitution, though, a much better one than the Babyface team that followed the Rock and Roll Express.

Al Perez and Wendell Cooley.

Oh,

yeah, I was a fan of Wendell Cooley's work, but they were not a long-lasting nor memorable tag team in the canon of the greats.

The most memorable thing about their tag team run was the Al Perez video video in Mid-South to Santana's winning.

That's my biggest memory.

But unfortunately, a lot of that house show footage, which they used in the video and a lot of their videos, the colors would bleed.

I got a good screen, but a good quality copy of everything.

It's very muddy, some of that early Joel Watts.

Joel was a very muddy young man.

Let's move on to another question here, Jim.

This one was sent, again, via the Cult of Cornet Facebook group

by Kevin A.

Brassard.

I don't believe I've ever heard Jim really talk about him.

And honestly, I just recently discovered him myself.

Thoughts, stories, anything about Sir Oliver Humperdink?

Hump.

You know,

we haven't asked about him that much and haven't talked about him that much because we hadn't been asked.

Humperdink was

a fan in Minneapolis in the the 60s.

And

I've seen pictures of him as a young man.

He was never,

he always looked like Humperdink.

He was never a cosmetically pleasing fellow, but he was a fan that got in the business and

primarily was known as a manager in the 70s for.

The Hollywood Blondes, I think it was one of his biggest pairings, but he had the house of Humperdink in Florida with, you know, tons of heels that came through.

Dusty really liked him as a manager.

That's why he used him when he was a booker quite often.

And I think his last

national run would have been as the babyface manager of Bam Bam Bigelow in WCW in what, like late 88, because he was in those manager bunkhouse stampede battle royals with me and Heyman.

And when Dusty realized that he had enough managers to do like an eight-man manager bunkhouse, we had to do

a bunch of those in the houses.

Yeah, no, that was actually the last time you saw Oliver Humperding when Dusty had enough managers to have the Freebirds have 10 managers.

He came out there.

That's right.

It was like Dallas Page, the fabulous Freebirds, Big Daddy Dink.

That was what I was doing.

Big Daddy Dink.

Yeah.

And he replaced Heyman with the Samoans whenever in 89, when the Heyman Flair thing happened, all of a sudden Oliver Humperding was managing the Samoans.

And, you know, Hump, he was an old-time fan, as well as then getting in the business and worked a variety of the territories in the 70s.

So he understood the business and

how to talk his heels over, how to get the guys over, and

you know, how to do the job for the babyface when they'd get a hold of him and beat him up in the end.

As a babyface with Bigelow, he didn't set the world on fire.

But I liked Humperdink.

Uh, no particular stories.

We didn't work together that long, that often,

but

but he was

classic name manager.

And what a fucking look.

The rooster is what they called him in the business, Rooster, because he had that red hair.

Red Roberts.

Well,

his real name was Red Sutton.

Red Sutton.

That's right.

Red Roberts was rowdy Red Roberts, who was one of Roy Welch's crew as the heels in the Tennessee territory in the 50s.

But yeah, that's, you know, that's the thing is Hump was just a guy.

Everybody liked liked him, didn't have any issues with anybody, and one of the classic old territory managers.

You see, I never got it, and I still haven't.

I have no problems with what he's done, but my first exposure was kind of the late 80s babyface dressed like a wizard and masters of the universe.

Yeah,

like shiny purple.

Like, that's never with like a magical cane.

Or if it wasn't a magical cane as a kid, I thought it was a magical cane

with Bam Bam, who was cool.

But that was my first exposure to him.

And then, you know, from there,

the stuff going forward, him with the Samoans, it only invited the comparison to Lu Albano with Samoans.

And a lot of people always thought there was a big,

not that he was influenced by Lu Albano, because I don't even know if he would have really seen much of him, but Lu Albano was the successful manager in the

WWWF with that look.

Hawaiian shirts with a big belly and fucking earring.

Yeah.

And then there was this red-headed guy doing the same thing somewhere else.

I've seen some of his Florida stuff that's good, but like I'm missing like the greatness, I guess, but I never saw him with the Hollywood blondes.

Well, and see, that's the thing.

It's like for a guy like Humperdink is the manager example of some of these guys we talk about who

Their best stuff came right before home video or very early in home video.

So not a lot of people saw it.

But

some of these things, it's like watching Flair's last match where he had the heart attack, and that's the first time you got an impression of Flair.

And you're like, what the fuck?

But a lot of these forgotten classics were a lot better when they were younger, and

you had to see them live.

Playing on the previous question and applying it to talking about Humperding here.

You know, we didn't see his stuff with the Hollywood Blondes as a heel.

How tough is it to be a babyface manager?

Well, it's almost impossible.

And that's the, the rib is think of, you know, great babyface managers in history is like, you know, who, where, when?

That's why I got a kick out of doing it with Paul E during that little run because

It was allegedly supposed to be impossible.

And

we did it briefly.

But then I realized, oh, God, once that I didn't have Heyman across the ring from me, I got to be a fucking heliot as quickly as possible.

Because you especially can't be a babyface manager unless there's somebody in the other corner, unless your nemesis is over there as well.

If you're just,

I mean, Arnold Scholand

with Bruno or Pedro or Backlund or whatever the fuck wasn't really a man.

He was a manager in name only.

Can you think

of Paul Ellering with the Road Warriors, but Paul didn't serve the purpose of a manager?

He was more like one of the team, but he was the guy on the floor just to keep the third guy on the other side, you know, neutralized.

Yeah, he did nothing.

He did nothing as a manager.

Well, but I mean,

as a baby fan, because that's the thing.

They had established their relationship as heels.

And it was both personal and professional.

He was their wrestling manager and also their real manager.

But they were a trio from being heels when they switched babyface.

Paul had less to do because

you couldn't do that much as a babyface manager.

But they still fit with each other because

that was the group.

And it wasn't like Paul was saying, oh, and I'm also going to take on the new breed or whatever.

It was specific to that combination.

So Paul worked

there, but just as managing managing anybody, no, he wouldn't have been good as a babyface.

It's almost impossible.

Yeah, there's Strangler Lewis, who was blind,

blind babyface manager.

There was Jose Lithario,

who really, you know, didn't do much, but I wasn't.

That was supposed to be for the whole San Antonio hometown angle, which Sean nullified and didn't want to do the thing with Jose to begin with.

Strangler Lewis was

bless him, a favorite job for Fez, but based on

Lewis could get press when the newspaper still remembered him as being legit and a big major star.

He could get press for the NWA in the 50s, whereas they wouldn't take him seriously without it.

But again, as a manager in the modern era sense of performing,

there's just no need for a babyface manager unless it's to counteract the heels manager, second corner person, whatever.

And,

you know, only under those parameters does it really work.

Is there a dynamic?

Hey, let me ask you about one of my favorite moments, if not the favorite moment of you as a babyface manager.

Summer of 89, center stage.

You, the Express, and Dr.

Death have a match, and Michael Hayes and the Freebirds are over by the new announce wall at center stage with Jim Ross.

And you and Michael Hayes start going at it.

And for fans of wrestling talkers, of great promos, we didn't call them promos back then as kids,

like this was kind of a dream thing.

Like,

no one runs their mouth more than Michael Hayes.

Well, no one runs their mouth more than Jim Cornette.

Now they're doing it at each other.

And you zing them about the wardrobe and everything, but then the moment where you say, I never thought Terry Gordy, you'd be yellow.

And just how quick he turns around and he's ready to go.

That's one of my favorite things from 1989.

Well, and that was,

it was fun if, as I've said before, the Freebirds were a great and revolutionary tag team, and that was Gordy Robertson Hayes, not Gordy Garvin and Hayes.

But if the, if the birds of that point

If Michael had not been convinced that they were going to recreate the magic from Mid-South Mid-South wrestling and they had to be strong kick-ass heels and they couldn't do any fucking gaga and they had to fucking mow everybody down,

they would have been easier and more fun to work with because Bobby had been friends with Michael and Terry for ever since they'd been into business, working for Nick Gulis in 1978.

And,

you know, even though Michael wasn't the best in-ring worker, Gordy more than made up for it.

And Garvin, except that he was on the fucking supplements and thought he was a goddamn road warrior,

you know, he could work.

And we'd been friends with gorgeous Jimmy Garvin, but Freebird Jimmy Garvin was a dick

because he was having Roid rage from introducing something that might give him a physique into his body for the first time in his life.

And they just, they wouldn't sell.

And, you know,

The Midnight didn't want to put up with that because as heel, as a heel tag team, the Midnight sold for the baby faces more than anybody.

So we thought that they might

offer the same courtesy and understand since we all kind of came from the same place, Southern Wrestling.

But they were working like the Road Worst to the point where Doc got pissed at Garvin that night in Boston and broke that chair into pieces over his head.

But it just, they were miserable matches.

And Michael didn't want to, I don't want to say put me over,

but as the babyface manager, I'm the third guy when they're having a tag match, not a six-man.

Michael was on the floor also, and he'd just do shit right in front of me.

Well, Jim Cornette shouldn't be able to whip Michael Hayes.

Well, but babyface Jim Cornette with a club in his hand should be able to run heel Michael Hayes off

before he does shit.

If I see him coming, he wouldn't even try to sneak.

So it just, we didn't have any fun with it.

What was he doing?

Was he like dancing over to you?

What was he doing?

No, he just, he would, he would interfere when one of the guys in the ring drew the referee.

He would just start getting heat when nobody had taken my attention.

I had to divert myself to not see it, but sometimes it'd be right in front of me.

And I'd go over there with the racket.

He wasn't going back up.

He told me, well, I can't be selling the racket.

The fucking Road Warrior Animal sold the racket.

Michael, you're still a fucking, you know, regular human.

I want to get back to that angle specifically in your memories of filming that.

It was fun, but it was fun.

The promo and stuff, that was fun.

We didn't prep anything.

You know, if they were over there doing color while I was at ringside and I'm jousting back and forth, we're just doing shit.

We didn't have to prepare anything because

I knew Michael was quick, so I didn't have to need to help him cheat.

And

I think he knew I was probably going gonna blister him a time or two and that was fun just the matches sucked you know as a kid even again i was nine then 10 in 1990

i didn't understand why the free birds were tag team champions i know it's a weird thing you know they're a heel team and they win matches but i was like how why they have the worst physique of anyone on the roster and if you look at the killers on the roster Road Warriors, Steiner Brothers, Skyscrapers, Midnight Express, and Rock and Roll were having these exciting matches.

And the Freebirds were just kind of like at their own pace.

And then Michael started like introducing like the rolling DDT and just, it was,

you know, I don't know.

It was like always a weird thing for me.

And then there was the U.S.

tag titles.

And like when the Steiners had those and not the world tag titles, it was like, wait, this is a little weird.

They're.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then the Steiners is working with the Midnight Express for the U.S.

tag title.

And the fucking Freebirds are in the higher on the card with the goddamn dudes, I think, or the dudes with attitudes, some of the other baby faces.

And it was just, yeah, yeah.

All right.

Well, this is.

Yeah, but hey,

no, I saw Hayes and Gordy as a team before they even

brought Roberts in.

When they first started, I was there in the TV studio when they first were called the Free Birds.

I was there at the Coliseum when they first used the Free Bird music.

They were always an exciting team and Michael could talk.

And when they brought Roberts in and got the push in Mid-South,

they revolutionized tag team wrestling and made it more modern and were the precursor even for the

fabulous ones in the rock and roll because they were a youth-oriented team.

And that's as we said.

When we did the show here last week or whenever, talking about how bad a shape Dallas was in wrestling-wise in 1977, before the kids came in and then had opponents in the Freebirds,

you know, they brought on the youth movement in wrestling, the Freebirds to a large extent.

But they weren't young anymore in fucking 1989.

And Michael aged quickly.

And you couldn't replace,

you couldn't just put Jimmy Garvin in there because they were personal friends.

After he'd been gorgeous, Jimmy with Precious for years and years, it just didn't work.

How much interlap and time was there with you guys in world class?

I know they were there as babyfaces after the WWF run, which was brief.

And then they went to Florida.

How much time did you guys actually, and were you guys in the same locker room at all?

Well,

see, when we first went to Dallas, we had her, well, the Freebirds have left and gone somewhere else or about to leave.

And they were there.

They made some shows, but then they went somewhere else.

They weren't there most of the time we were there, but they bopped in occasionally, which wasn't particularly unusual because they were over in Dallas better than most anyplace else.

So naturally, like we would make shots back in Mid-South, you know, every once in a while, not enough for our liking.

But we didn't really interact at all.

And obviously.

At one point, they were babyfaces, in which case most of the

only time we would have ever been able to coexist with faces were at Dallas and Fort Worth because all the other locker rooms were separate.

So

very little.

And one last thing about the Freebirds now that we're talking about them.

Where were you the first time you saw them on Georgia TV when they had the music playing behind them while they were interviewed by Gordon Soley?

Did you see it on TV?

Did you see it on tape?

And if so, how long after it happened?

Well, I knew what they were doing from

what they'd done in Memphis.

And then that's when they went to Louisiana and had the big run in Mid-South.

And we'd heard about the business down there.

And to be honest, the Freebirds were a team, a heel team in the Memphis territory at the same time as the Blonde Bombers, Wayne Ferris and Larry Latham, and their manager, Danny Davis.

And

the Freebirds were...

more athletic in the ring.

And you had Gordy, who was a prodigy even then,

but they weren't using the birds as well as they were using Ferris and Latham.

They were on top working with Lawler and Dundee.

They were the Southern tag team champions because they understood they were

at least more experienced.

Wayne had been working a couple of years, but

they had more of the style that you needed to work the main event heel style in Memphis, and they could work with more of the guys.

Whereas

I think the Freebirds

upstart personality didn't endear them, and they just didn't get it.

So they were having great matches, but they were gone.

The Blonde Bombers were still there.

They go to Louisiana, and Watts sees something and sticks Roberts in the mix and shoots the deal with the dog.

And they end up drawing a record house in the Superdome.

So it's

a change in venue.

It's a change in environment.

It's a change in opponents.

And it's a change in whether the Booker wants to push you or not.

And also a little bit more,

I would have to think that Hayes and

Bill Watts kept Hayes and Gordy in line better than Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler would have or gave a fuck to try to.

So that's probably why that worked better there.

But I already knew what they were doing.

And then when I saw him in

Georgia.

Yeah, just the visual and the moment.

You didn't see Georgia Championship Wrestling come back from commercial into music ever like that with Gordon Soli's.

Well, no, and that was that was the thing is you could tell because I was over at Weasel Dooley's house.

You could tell when they came in, there's Michael.

I mean, they all looked great.

They had got the new outfits made.

They had the fucking gimmick together.

They're playing the music in the background.

Hayes is doing the promos.

That was a big part of what made.

Georgia Championship Wrestling the must-see show for the wrestling fans in what, 1981?

Because

you could see the Freebirds.

That's why everybody wanted to see the Freebirds.

All right, Jim, our next question, sent me to the Cult of Cornet Facebook group by Anthony Vanderloot.

Who would Jim book as John Ceymon's final opponent?

He's faced all the big names, Lesnar, Cody, Punk, etc.

So who's left for the last hurrah?

And with this question, I'll put an addendum.

Word coming out that the last match, Saturday night's main event, will be against Gunther.

What are your thoughts about that?

Is that the right opponent?

I don't know what's going on with John Cena's last year.

This seemed like there's almost no way that you could fuck it up, that the biggest babyface of modern times in the company is going to have 30 dates over the next year to say goodbye.

And

how in the world do you fuck that up?

They're going to sell a shitload of merchandise, they're going to do a bunch of huge gates, and they're going to have some memorable matches.

And then we get the heel turn and the rock, and then we get the never mind,

you obviously didn't like it, so I'm just not going to do it anymore.

And then, as soon as that's working,

Brock comes out and just beats him in 10 minutes.

I still don't understand that, and I still don't know why they did it unless they were going to bring it back for Cena to beat

Brock.

Because

they just didn't have to have that match then.

Or they didn't have to do it that way.

Because it left, it was

for the Cena fans that were there that night to see the last time.

Oh, geez.

You need heels to get heat on babyfaces, yes, but when the babyface is riding off into the sunset and he's not going to get even,

and what

I still don't see that it helped Brock because everybody already thinks that Brock is a goddamn Sherman tank on two legs.

And

I would have had him have matches with

a number of the

opponents from the past and

with AJ Styles.

I mean, a lot of these guys are getting ready to quit too.

I don't think it'd hurt them to do a job.

And then I would have saved, again, I think he's not going to beat Gunther, is he?

Why would you, if he did a job for Brock Lesnar, who's probably going to have five more matches in his life

at his rate, then why would you not put Gunther over when he's going to be there for the next 10 years?

You have to think that that's what he's going to do, the Terry Funk Bret Hart match, where you think he really is going to win and then Gunther wins and Cena feels happy because he put someone over.

Then why not save that for when it would really mean something for Gunther?

Instead of everybody just going, oh, Brock just fucking flattened him.

Well, that was just pissy.

I don't understand the whole way they've treated this.

Put him over more often than not.

Make a few people along the way that are competitive with him.

Save the big one or two jobs for the last three or four matches and don't have anybody just flatten him just like nothing without working for it.

But that's that's not what they've done.

But again, they print their own money so they can do whatever they want.

They can go out and paint a dirty Sanchez mustache on his face with fucking Brock shit.

And it doesn't matter.

They don't have to draw anymore.

Everything's guaranteed.

People are coming by and watching by habit.

The money's guaranteed from the networks.

The Saudis will bail them out of anything.

It's the guys' pride at this point, I think, in going out and one to half-ass put on a decent performance.

It's, you know, we have hope for that

that's pretty much it.

That's going to be the next thing when the Saudis offer Cena money to come out of retirement to come wrestle there for WrestleMania.

How are they going to handle that one?

Yeah, remember they had Sean McCauley.

What else come out of retirement because the Saudis paid a bunch of money?

What if they get to a point where they can't say no to those people?

I mean, I'm going to make you an offer.

You can't refuse.

What if they just start doing that?

No, goddamn, we want Vince McMahon out here in tights.

We'll give you $500 million.

Do you think we see Vince McMahon at John Cena's last match?

Final match, whatever they're calling it.

No.

Washington, D.C., his dad's old stomping ground?

I don't care if it's 14th and I, I ain't going to see Vince.

No, we'll see Vince in Saudi Arabia.

Probably the next time we'll see Vince, but no, he ain't going to be in Washington.

Jim, let's get another question here.

This one was sent via the Cult of Cornet Facebook group by

Harinder Kang.

What?

That's the name here.

Harrison in Edison, New Jersey.

Off-topic question.

Does Taxi have the greatest cast ever in terms of stars who came out of that show?

Such as Judd Hirsch, Tony Danza, Andy Kaufman, etc.

You left out Danny DeVito, Mary Lou Henner.

I was about to say Mary Lou Hinner.

I would like to get your thoughts.

Thank you.

The greatest cast in terms of stars who came out of the show.

Well, Judd Hirsch was already a star to begin with.

Was he from what?

I thought he was.

I'd seen him in TV movies and all kinds of shit.

Look up Judd Hirsch while I go over the other ones.

Andy Kaufman was already,

that made him a star.

That show made him a star, but he was already on television.

I thought Danny DeVito, I think you've

got to credit him with being a star off that TV, but it was a great cast, yes.

But

then are we just talking scripted episodic television?

Because Saturday Night Live has produced more stars, but it lasted longer and was a variety program.

And

did anybody know who any of those friends motherfuckers were

before that program aired?

But have you got any news on Judd Hurst?

Yeah, and I did.

Matthew Perry had done a bunch of stuff for it.

I saw him in a night in the life of Jimmy Reardon when I was like eight years old, nine years old.

See, I didn't know Jimmy.

Yeah, he was in that.

He was on one of the first Fox shows.

I forget what it was, but he was like an old man watching himself.

Like he came back to building.

Jesus Christ.

They let that on Fox in the early days.

They let anything on Fox in the early days.

An old man watching himself.

I thought the old men in those days used to try to encourage other people to watch him, but maybe I'm.

No, it appears that this was the project that made Judd Hirsch.

He was uncredited.

Seriously.

He was uncredited in 71 for a role in Jump, uncredited for a role in 73 as a cop in Serpico.

And then in 78, he was in King of the Gypsies, Academy Award nomination for ordinary people, but that's 1980.

And then look at TV.

He was on several episodes of The Law in the role of Murray Stone.

He played Saul in the television movie Fear on Trial.

On Medical Story, he played Dr.

Joe Dempsey on the episode Wasteland.

In The Legend of Valentino,

he played the role of Jack Auerbach.

That was a television movie, followed by the television movie The Keegan's, where he played Lieutenant Marco Chardy.

So he is, see, he'd been in a variety of things, a household name.

What year did Taxi start?

I got to go back to that.

Would have been, what, 80, 80 or 81?

Oh, I thought it was before that.

Okay, because I was going to say he was nominated apparently for appearances on Rhoda.

The 78 it started.

So right before taxi, he was nominated.

Oh, God, I saw him on Rhoda.

I knew I'd seen him somewhere before.

Did you watch a lot of Rhoda?

I watched Rhoda religiously.

Did you?

Because she was next door to Mary Tyler Moore, and we had to see what was going on there.

What are your thoughts on Valerie Harper?

And what are your thoughts on the

beginning and end of Valerie Harper on the Hogan family, or what became the Hogan family?

I didn't watch the Hogan family.

I didn't really like Brooke or Linda, Nick, or any of them.

But no, it was a big deal when Rhoda moved away from upstairs from living over Mary Tyler Moore.

But I always wanted to see more of Cloris Leachman.

I think she was, she

was fast.

She was an easy woman back in those days.

Back in those days, in the mid-70s, those days?

Yeah, back in those days.

She was only in her 50s at that point.

No, she looked good, though.

She did look good.

I mean, next to Ted Knight, anyone looks 30 years younger than they actually are.

Well, I guess that answers your question.

Any thoughts on Jeff Conway, who was in the movie Greece?

And then later, I think Celebrity Rehab or one of those shows.

I was about to say, he was in one of those rehab shows.

Wasn't he friends?

Wasn't he one of the people, the Hollywood connections that Larry Burton had, that con man that bought the USWA along with Lawler from Jerry Jarrett?

I don't remember that.

He had a connection with Kinicki.

Well, I think he was one of the, because remember, they actually had that Dustin Diamond come and do Memphis TV one morning.

A Screech fellow.

Larry Burton knew some of these off-brand Hollywood people.

Apparently, many of the people that he knew ended up in some type of rehab show where they were in various forms of rehab.

Any thoughts on Tony Danza?

Who's the boss?

None whatsoever.

No, I never watched that fucking show.

You never watched Who's the Boss?

No, I didn't think he was the boss.

And one last thing, Danny DeVito.

Danny DeVito is, I would like to hang out with Danny DeVito.

He's probably my favorite of the whole bunch of them.

What a fascinating life and career.

And

not

just for the always sunny stuff, but he's just, he's fascinating.

Do you ever see Twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Twins?

Yeah, yes, I did.

I actually saw that.

United Outside and In, twins.

That was a good one.

1988, I think.

You know, he was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

He played one of the patients.

Yes.

Along with that big Indian fella that threw the sink through the window.

The hero of the film.

That's right.

Yes.

All right, Chip.

Let's get another question here.

This one was sent via email to the Cult of Cornet Facebook group.

This was sent by Ron Atkins in El Elria, El Elria, Ohio.

Fuck.

Ellyria, Ohio.

Ellyria.

There we go.

Elria.

And they called the wind El Raya.

It's an age-old spot in wrestling where the manager whispers in their wrestler's ear giving advice, or the heel tag team whispers after the face outclasses them.

Yes.

What is actually being said?

Do guys mime words or say something funny?

I'm sure you must have done it a hundred times.

Well, it just depends on the situation because if you're just taking a break for a second after he's he's arm dragged you three or four times and the heel rolls over to the corner, I'll just whisper,

you know, just like I'm giving advice and the fucking heel can nod.

Sometimes either the

partner is saying, okay, let's cut him off and go to our heat spot, fucking,

and we're going to do this or that or the other thing, whatever spot we're going to do.

It just depends on the situation.

So there is no

particular set communication requirements there.

It can be just bullshit, or it can be telling the guy what they ought to do next, or it can be just a joke or whatever, anything in between.

I don't really know how to.

Any memorable instances of whispering?

Not a one.

No, not one.

Not a goddamn one.

All right.

Well, that was a question out loud.

We will now get to another question.

Jim, this next one was sent via the

email, excuse me, to the corney drivethruagmail.com address from Mike

in

County Durham, UK.

Oh, I thought he was in North Carolina.

I was just wondering whether you think it's fair that in shoot interviews, wrestlers downplay Randy Savage's abilities because he didn't call his matches on the fly,

Especially with so many spots being pre-planned today.

He was exceptional in the ring, even though a lot of his opponents in the golden era of WWE were limited.

He gave Warrior, arguably, his two best matches, and a WrestleMania 5 made a huge 303-pound Hogan look somewhat mobile.

Also, DDP had his best matches with Savage and WCW.

Basically, I'm asking: if the cake tastes great, does it matter how it's made?

Well, first off, and with Paige, Paige likes to set things up and walk through them also.

So with him and Savage on the same page, I'm sure they had a great match.

And

I don't know if I've heard people downplay Savage's abilities.

in saying that why, you know, in saying that he'd like to set things up so he was the shits.

I haven't haven't heard that.

Savage didn't start setting stuff up until he went to the WWF.

And what was, you know, 87

was the match with Steamboat, where they,

Steamboat has said that he came to him with it all written out, et cetera, and all the false finishes and blah, blah, blah.

They literally rehearsed it, I believe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But Savage had been working for 10 years at that point.

The matches he had in

ICW, the matches he had in Memphis with Lawler,

everything to that point,

hadn't been worked out ahead of time because nobody else would have done it with him.

And he wasn't a big enough star at that point to insist on it happening.

So he could

work.

He just, I think he saw

he probably before most people, that Vince, all he cared about was keep the action going, keep the action going, fucking blah, blah, blah.

He didn't care whether they rehearsed a match or not.

And Savage wanted to, because he had the incredible cardio and he had the cat-like reflexes.

He wanted to be able to keep going and going and going because that made him stand out from a lot of the other roster who were not that fast moving.

And remember, Randy was still only six feet tall.

on the juice, what was he, 240 or whatever.

But he had that aura that made him more intense.

And part of that was just moving, moving.

And

if you had to stop and call a spot every now and then,

that tended to slow things down.

And also, he was working with guys that weren't

going 100 miles an hour to begin with.

So

I think the veterans,

his contemporaries at the time,

were in various degrees of

bemused,

amused, offended that he would write shit down and have a script to follow for a match.

It was like the worst stereotype of what people who didn't like wrestling said.

Ah, they're following the script when there never was one.

It was like guys who were offended when people said the blood was fake, when it wasn't.

And then people started using fake blood and guys, including me in some cases, were like, what the fuck?

So I think that's, you know, where some people may criticize Savage, but he was an exceptional talent.

He could go either way, but he wanted to do that.

And as we've all heard, Savage had

a mindset that if he decided something needed to be done a certain way, it was very hard to talk him out of it in any way, shape, or form.

So

probably the path of least resistance for a lot of guys, even if they didn't want to go along with it back then.

But this isn't something you heard about when he worked in Memphis after you left.

No.

Or when he worked with Bobby Eaton for Nick Gulis or anything else?

No, that was not a thing that anybody was doing then.

I mean, you would talk in the locker room, especially if you hadn't worked with a guy often about what, if you could talk in the locker room, if they were together,

what kind of shit do you do?

If you hadn't seen a guy, what do you do?

Well, here's what I do.

Let's go, okay, we'll call some of those things when we get out there.

And we'll go over the finish.

What's the finish?

Okay.

And the manager comes in, whatever.

That was the preparation.

What do you do?

Well, here's what I do.

We'll call some of those things.

And then the fucking skeleton of the match was, okay,

babyface shines, heal, cut him off, get some heat.

Babyface, when it's time to go, make your comeback.

And then here's your finish.

That's what you were told by the book.

And,

you know, there was, so no, it was not going on with Randy or anybody else that I'd ever seen that would step by step plan a match before they went to the ring.

I had never

seen that at that point, early 80s, at that point in time.

And I don't know if Dallas Page was doing that before Randy Savage or if Randy Savage introduced him to the concept, but

there were wrestlers apparently that I think The Undertaker famously pushed back when Dallas Page was like, hey, here we're working together.

Here's the script.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, well, you can take that and fucking shove that all kinds of places.

But is that something you would have to worry about?

Just like the idea that anyone else would accept what you want to do here.

Yeah, it depended on who the biggest star was as to which got their way in that case.

But a lot of stars, even of that era, of the modern era of the 90s, would be offended if somebody came to them with a match worked out ahead of time before they got out there and got in front of the people.

And

you'd have a framework or a skeleton.

And

if it was a pay-per-view match or a sold-out Madison Square Garden, you might go in with a bit more of a framework and a jazzier skeleton, but it still wouldn't be all worked out.

And some guys would be offended by the idea that they should work their shit out ahead of time.

And truthfully and honestly, in the house show days, there was no reason to.

The booker would say.

Either get 10 minutes, get 15 minutes, get 20 minutes, or get it right.

Just when you go out and have the match that you think

you want to have and it's right to go, just go.

I don't care what time.

Those were the kind of parameters you were given.

Not, okay, there's going to be six cues for breaks and you got to hit the exact time because we're fucking live on the network.

And, you know, make sure you do this 18-phase fucking finish.

That wasn't a thing.

So that's why everything looked less pre-planned and more spontaneous because it was.

All right, Jim.

But yeah, Bobby loved working with Savage for Goolis,

and they stole shit from each other.

You know, the thing that where Savage used to grab the guy by the head and run and jump over the top rope and spring the guy's neck on the top rope and he'd land on the floor.

Bobby used to do that working for Nick, but

Bobby didn't do that as well as Savage did.

Bobby did the elbow drop off the top better than Randy.

I mean, smoother with less injury to the person that was being dropped upon.

But they, you know, they would do the Mid-America title match.

They did a 90-minute draw one time for the Mid-America title in front of almost nobody in either Nashville or Chattanooga.

But they had a chance to trial that shit because each one was the other was the only

person they had to do shit like that in the territory where they could trash it.

All right, Jim.

Well, with that we're gonna get ready to move to guest the program and this week here on the show jim

you know what that chime means it's time to chill out

and we're gonna say that guest the program this week is sponsored by our friends

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All right, Jim, let's get to guess the program.

Let's wrap up today's banner episode with guess the program.

This is a game where I go through programs in my collection, usually things I haven't filed away yet, quiz Jim about the lineup, maybe some other details.

Jim will guess the location, the date, and all other details that he can come up with that I summon up in a professional manner.

I think you actually did.

You did very well and succinctly there.

I'm not feeling well today.

Well, Jim, let's get to this first one here.

I'm going to start you with some low-hanging fruit, as they say.

Oh, well, you get as fruity as you want to.

I'll be right there with you.

Our first bout, Tito Carrion versus Angelo Savaldi.

Bout two,

Chick Garibaldi versus Dick Steinborn.

Mark Lewin and Don Curtis versus Herb Larson and Sweet Hansen.

Good lord.

Two out of three falls.

Pat O'Connor versus Hans Schmidt.

Primo Carnera.

Jesus.

and Bruno San Martino

versus the Crusher

and Danny McShane

two out of three falls.

And finally, our main event, two out of three falls, Antonino Rocca and Johnny Valentine

versus the fabulous kangaroos.

Christ on a cracker, what a show.

We are in the Northeast at some point, which we'll get back to in a moment.

Tito Cadion, there's a name I haven't heard in a while.

And Angelo Savoldi, we've talked about him.

He got stabbed probably a year or two before

the police.

Yes, not by the show.

Not by

Danny Hodge's father.

Which Garibaldi was that?

Was that Gino or Leo?

Chick.

Or Chick.

Dick Steinbourne was the son of famous wrestler and strongman Milo Steinborn.

Dick Steinborn was a heck of a going through my negatives.

I have found shots of Dick Steinbourne when he was wrestling in Memphis in 1977 as Mr.

Wrestling under the mask.

They actually called him Tim Woods the first couple of weeks.

Jared always liked Tim Woods.

He couldn't get him.

He'd make a different one.

Mark Lewin and Don Curtis,

babyface tag team, probably the,

besides for a tag team like Raqqa and Perez, the most

famous babyface tag team in the Northeast in the 1959 to 61 to era.

Herb Larson and Swede Hansen, what a stiff team that must have been.

They beat the shit out of you.

Pat O'Connor.

Obviously a former NWA World Champion.

During this

time, he would have just

probably just lost it

maybe months before, if not the year before.

Hans Schmidt was the top German heel and one of the hottest heels in the business on the Chicago TV in the early 50s.

I got to see him wrestle on the Sheikhs TV

when I was at A.

Lola's house in like 1972.

And he still looked the same because he'd always looked old and had a bald head.

But he had those,

I don't know what the fuck they're called, but non-cancerous tumors all over his midsection.

Did you ever see a picture of Hans Schmidt in the early 70s?

I have not.

I think you mean cyst.

Whatever they are, cyst he had knots all over his body, his midsection.

When I was 10 years old, it was like, holy shit.

That's what Tenru ended up having, too.

So, Primo Carnera and Bruno Samartino against the Crusher and Danny McShane.

Carnera, everybody knows who the fuck he was.

Bruno, this would have

he's coexisting with Raca, who was in the main event with Valentine against the kangaroos, Al Costello, and Roy Heffernan.

This,

I can't believe the team of Crusher and McShane.

That's an odd pairing.

And one would think this would be a Madison Square Garden lineup, but

I don't remember these particular two main events.

And I've read the Wrestling in the Garden book.

Maybe I would have read it closer.

I'm going to say this is 1961.

I

don't know that it's the garden or early 62.

I don't know it's Madison Square Garden.

When I saw Crusher,

I wanted to say Pittsburgh because Bruno and Crusher had a

Crusher was often in Pittsburgh in the early 60s, and they had a famous match there.

Fuck it.

1961 in Pittsburgh.

It's not, but what is it?

Well, let me just plug also.

There's a great book that's going to be on sale at Cornettes Collectibles, Wrestling in the Garden.

You may want to get a copy.

Monday.

I may want to.

January 23rd, 1961, Madison Square Garden.

Okay.

God damn it.

So wait a minute.

Then is this O'Connor the current NWA world champion at that point in time, or have I fucked up my goddamn chronology?

Now you got me confused.

It was 60 or 61.

I thought it was

61, but.

61?

Yeah.

So he would have been the reigning NWA champion at that point.

Let's go to this next one here, Jim.

All righty.

So

I kay-faved myself on that one is what I did.

The opening contest, Sammy Berg versus Anton Leone.

Good lord.

One fall, 15-minute time limit.

The second bout, a four-man tag team bout.

John Tolis and Chris Tolis.

Hamilton, Ontario versus Joe Tangaro and Guy Brunetti.

two out of three falls, 45-minute time limit.

The third contest:

Big Don Lee versus Enrique Torres,

one fall 30-minute time limit.

The semifinal,

Wild Bill Longson versus Ike Eakins, one fall 30-minute time limit.

And the main event, one fall to a finish.

Pat O'Connor versus Buddy Rogers.

Good lord.

Okay.

Ike Eakins was the Kentucky Hillbilly.

And didn't he use the stump puller hold, which was

matched here against Longson's Powell Driver?

Enrique Torres against Don Lee.

The Tolos Brothers Brothers against Tangaro and Brunetti, who were a

popular babyface Italian

team,

and

O'Connor and Rodgers

could have been a main event

anywhere in the late 50s.

Good Lord, Anton Leone would go on to run as a promoter in California, but that would be the early 80s, which is a good 20 years from this card, one way or the other.

Could this be?

Could this be St.

Louis?

And I'm just crazy.

I'm going to give the year, and Longzhen still being in the ring.

Because by the late 50s, except for special appearances in St.

Louis, I think he was done, right?

1961 in St.

Louis or Toronto.

The building, the Keel Auditorium,

St.

Louis, Missouri, Friday, October 7th, 1955.

55.

Holy shit.

Ringside $3.

Okay, that to me, that's early for the Tolos brothers.

I didn't know

that they would have been featured that early.

Don Lee and Enrique Torres gave me no help whatsoever.

Longson and O'Connor directed me to St.

Louis, except that both Rogers, Long, all three, Rogers, Longshan, and

O'Connor were on top in Toronto in the late 50s.

So I didn't fucking know, but St.

Louis, 1955.

All right.

Talk about your low-hanging fruit.

That one's on the top of the tree.

Oh, hit the keyboard.

Sorry.

Here's our next one, Jim.

Opening bout:

Ken Accles

from California versus Tiger Tasker, Canadian Lumberjack.

Special bout:

Ted Germain,

South Boston, versus Stu Hart,

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

It actually just says Edmonton, Canada.

Sorry, Alberta.

Semi-final bout:

Wild Bull Curry, Hartford, Connecticut, versus Roland Meeker, Louisiana.

Good God.

And the main event:

the world champion, Frank Sexton

versus Dano O'Mahony, Ireland.

Okay.

Tiger Tasker would later on become the most famous referee in Toronto, right?

At one for one long period of time.

He was the

referee you always saw referenced in the wrestling magazines.

Stu Hart, I wonder whatever became of that kid.

I don't know anything about his opponent, Mr.

Jermaine.

Bull Curry and Roland Meeker.

I have posters of Curry and Roland Meeker in the Boston Territory in 1940.

I think they were at six and seven.

Frank Sexton was the world champion in the Boston Territory for

years and years.

The Sexton Brothers, and when Boston was its own city under Paul Bowser, he was a huge draw.

And

Danu O'Mahony was the first

Irishman that set records in

Boston and various places as a world champion of a previous decade.

This is in the 40s,

and it's in

Massachusetts somewhere.

Is it the Boston Arena or one of the secondary towns?

And I'm going to say it's 1947.

Well, very impressive.

All-Star Wrestling, Boston Arena, Thursday, March 25th, 1948.

Ah!

Missed it by three months.

There's a picture here of the new Matt Wonderboy,

Stu Hart, the Edmonton Flash.

And it says here, Stu Hart makes his hub ring debut at Arena Thursday.

It will be interesting to get a line on this Stu Hart,

the Edmonton boy, who has been showing Canadian followers of the game some real fancy wrestling.

Tabbed as the Wonder Boy of the Mat,

Hart is touted as a great young prospect.

So, the Boston debut of Stu Hart.

And this would have been right after he was working in New York and met Helen with Paul Bosch, and right before he went to

Western Canada, right?

I believe so.

Before he returned back to Edmonton or I guess Calgary in this case.

Jim, let's go to this next lineup here.

Actually, Edmonton first because he opened up Edmonton first before Calgary.

Jim, the opening contest: Bubba Douglas versus Gordon Nelson.

Oh, what city in Florida are we going to be in here?

Jerry Briscoe versus Devil number one.

Barry Wyndham versus Dick Slater

A special challenge match, Jack Briscoe vs.

mister Saito.

Manny Fernandez, Mike Graham, and Steve Kern vs.

Nikolai Volkoff, Brian St.

John, and Nature Boy Stanley Lane.

A Texas death match, mister Florida vs.

the Super Destroyer.

And since you said Florida, I'll just say it, the main event for the Florida heavyweight title, Don Morocco versus Bugsy McGraw.

Okay.

Well,

I mean, we knew it was Florida as soon as you say Bubba Douglas, the honorary mayor of Lakeland, Florida.

And who did he wrestle?

I didn't even jot that down because I was laughing.

Gordon Nelson.

Gordon Nelson, who...

Brought the sugar hole to the snake pit.

Yeah, trained guys, hauled the ring, did various things for the Florida office for years and years.

Gerald Briscoe's on on the card.

Barry Wyndham, Jerry Saito.

Everybody knows these names.

Nature Boy Stanley Lane.

When

people know the story that Flair trained Stan to wrestle, wouldn't he?

Stan was a room service guy for the

Marriott or the Hilton or whatever it was in Myrtle Beach.

And he took an order of five Bloody Marys to fucking Flair's room one morning.

And Flair was in there with companionship and

only had $100.

So he gave him the 100 and Stan brought him back his change at the pool that day.

And

he said, Hey, you ever thought about being a wrestler?

And Stan loved wrestling, right?

So,

but his first territory stands after he debuted in

the mid-Atlantic area, jerking the curtain a couple of times.

They sent him to Amarillo when

Mulligan and Murdoch had bought that territory from the Funks, and he didn't stay long there.

I think he bopped through mid-South and didn't stay long there, and then went to Florida,

where since he had been trained by Flair, the nature boy Stanley Lane, he hates the name Stanley.

And he was partners with Brian St.

John.

And Stan's

biggest accomplishment at that point in fucking wrestling was when he and St.

John won the Florida tag team title, if I'm not mistaken, they beat Eddie Graham and Ray Stevens.

And he's like, what the fuck is Ray Stevens and Eddie Graham?

And I've been in the business a year and a half.

I'm beating these guys.

Point being, with all of those things having been said, this looks like a big card.

This would either be a Miami Beach or a St.

Petersburg lineup, and it would have to be

either a chronological year, it would have to be either late 1979 or early 1980.

So let's say St.

St.

Peter, let's say Miami, Miami 1979/80.

Tuesday, June 10th, 1980,

8:30 p.m.

start time, Tampa, Fort Hamilton.

Tampa.

They put this one in the armory.

God damn it.

All the cards were main events in those days.

All right, let's get another one here.

Jim,

nature boy Stanley Lane.

Uh, this one if he would have pissed Stan off, call him Stanley.

This one is two different cards.

Which one is this one?

This one, okay, here we go.

The opening bout: Sonny Fargo versus Bill Parks,

and it says Reggie, and Reggie's crossed out, and the word Bill is written in.

So, Bill Parks,

Chief Bighor versus Gene Murphy.

Lenny Montana versus Laverne Baxter.

Good lord.

And Laverne Baxter was a guy, by the way, just so

nobody thinks that he was beating up a woman.

Yeah, and it's spelled here L-U-V-E-R-N-E.

That's not the way you spelled it.

Tag Team Match, Tiny Row

and Bulb Rummel versus Lord Littlebrook and Cowboy Bradley.

And those are the little fellows.

And seemingly, is this the main event?

Seemingly, this is the main event.

Rip Hawk versus Don McLarity.

Wow.

Okay, we are in the Carolinas.

And.

The only reason I know that is because Chief Bighart was a big deal, no pun intended, in the Carolinas at this period of time.

Sonny Fargo in the opening match, it's roughhouse Fargo, but before the gimmick.

And while Jackie and Don

were

off in the late 50s, early 60s, being the world tag team champions all over the place, Sonny would sometimes manage them, but because the Fargo's

Sonny and Jackie were real brothers, and they were from North Carolina.

So Sonny would work work locally in the Carolinas

on preliminary matches when he wasn't on the road or being one of the Fargo brothers.

Tiny Rowe and Bo Brummel and Little Brook and Bradley, the touring midgets that could have been any territory.

So that doesn't give us anything.

Lenny Montana and Laverne Baxter.

Lenny Montana was the

actor or the wrestler who became an actor and was in the Godfather.

And people have,

he's an answer to a trivia question about wrestling in movies he was luca brazi luca brazzi and played you know a variety and other roles of the the heavy the tough guy the mobster whatever

the he's in the jerk with steve martin that's right

the only other thing to go on is that rip hawk was a big name in the Carolinas.

And later on, he and Swede Hansen would be one of the first big heel teams there.

Don McLarity was a

southern star, you know, of the era, but not particularly tied to one place for his fame.

And

so now that I've beaten around the bush,

goddammit, the Park Center in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1961.

All right, well, I think that means we can't do any more today.

Uh-oh.

Charlotte, North Carolina, November 20th, 1961, the Park Center.

You nailed it with this one.

And I would have said 60 or 59, but I remember thanks to our friend Sean Delaney over at Evansville that Rip Hawk was the top fucking star in the Evansville territory in the late 50s there.

So I bumped it up a year.

All right.

Well, that is how we'll wrap this up.

I had other programs, but I'm not going to top that.

That's a big finish.

I don't think.

Yeah, I think that's the big finish, baby.

Well, this has been guest of program.

And with that, the drive-through is closed.

All right.

That's no Antonio Anoki keychain.

Here's how it sounds now: then the Anoki.

I can't talk.

The Anoki keychain.

No more Taigeda.

No more itchy nissanda.

Jim, we'll be back in a few days on the experience, and there's so much happening right now.

We're about to have Title Tuesday, NXT versus AEW.

We're about to have WWE Crown Jewel Perth, the morning massacre, maybe they'll call it.

It's so early, that thing.

But we have so many things happening on the experience.

And of course, next week, right back here on the drive-thru, go through the archive, patreon.com slash coronet.

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I need a nap.

And I think that's it.

It's nap time.

Go to sleep, Georgie.

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I'm the great Brian Last.

Tally ho!