X-Pac opens today’s show by commenting on the news that Jack Swagger has signed a multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA. X-Pac says that Swagger is a legitimate bad ass, and he thinks this is a better signing for Bellator than Ryback would have been, just based on the fact that Swagger was a star in the collegiate wrestling scene.
X-Pac mentions that according to reports, Neville might not be finished with WWE after all. Apparently Neville was frustrated with WWE denying his requests to work on side projects so he walked out. X-Pac says that Neville has to make a tough call now because money isn’t everything, and your happiness and sanity is more important. The door might be open for Neville to return to WWE but he obviously hasn’t been happy there for a while, so this is a big decision for him.
X-Pac believes that Jinder Mahal dropping the WWE Title to A.J. Styles on Smackdown Live last week has made a big difference for the live events in India. X-Pac thought that Mahal would be chasing the WWE Title in India, battling A.J. Styles at the live events. That isn’t the case but WWE still has to have him in a high profile match, so competing against Triple H makes sense.
Speaking about Triple H, The Game made his return to television this week and replaced Jason Jordan on RAW’s Survivor Series team. X-Pac says he’s seen recent pictures of Triple H busting his ass in the gym to get his body back into ring shape, so this television return didn’t surprise him. It appears that WWE might be heading towards Kurt Angle vs. Triple H at WrestleMania, and that would definitely be a huge bout.
X-Pac welcomes Billy Corgan to the show.
X-Pac asks Corgan how things have been going since his recent purchase of the iconic NWA brand. Corgan says their reboot of this brand has been going great and he’s not rushing anything. He knows that they have to walk before they can run, so they’re taking things nice and slow right now. He’s very excited about where this brand is headed in the coming years.
Corgan feels that his NWA promotion will most likely remain 100% independent, but he doesn’t think that’s an issue at all. He points out that sitting on your couch for three hours to watch a live wrestling program can be quite taxing, and he’s not sure if that’s a feasible way to present your product anymore. People consume programming very differently in 2017 than they did 20 years ago, so Corgan wants to be at the forefront of these technological changes.
He says that a lot of people assumed he’d strip the NWA Title from Tim Storm after purchasing the company, because Storm was the Champion under the previous owner. Corgan did not want to do that because Storm had a great story, and it was something that they could easily put on television. He adds that Storm is a tremendous human being and he’s been a pleasure to work with thus far.
Corgan points out that there are several performers around the world that he’d love to work with, but he doesn’t want to blow a bunch of money early on by signing all of these talents when the market might not be ready to accept the brand right now. He has a 20-year plan to rebuild the NWA, and his first goal is to re-establish the Title’s prestige. He thinks the initial program between Storm and Nick Aldis has been a great start in accomplishing that goal.
Corgan informs that he had a lot to do with establishing the Rosemary character in TNA, but he credits the talent for making that character come to life. When they were deciding on a theme song for Decay, the talents mentioned that they’d love something that sounded like Marilyn Manson’s song, ‘Nobodies’. Corgan decided he’d just call Manson to ask him if it was okay to use the song, and Manson agreed to it.
Corgan informs that Abyss is a crucial person backstage who does a lot to make that company work. Abyss had a lot to do with the development of the Broken Universe as well, but obviously Matt and Jeff Hardy took that to the level it reached. Corgan felt pressure from TNA officials to shut down the Broken Hardys angle after just one week, but he knew they were on to something because people were talking.
Corgan says he couldn’t believe that Impact parted ways with Rockstar Spud. He says that Spud was one of the most talented people in that company and he could do anything, either on the mic or in the ring. He believes that Impact’s loss will be WWE’s gain in this case because he’s sure Spud will go on to do great things on 205 Live.
He credits Anthem for getting Impact’s budgets back in place as of late. For years that company was bleeding money and Officials were even hiding a lot of their debt from the company’s books. Corgan informs that he still speaks with Ed Nordholm on occasion, giving him some free advice.
Corgan mentions that there are currently some free agents out there that he’d love to have work for NWA at some point in the future. A couple of those names are Damian Sandow, Ryback, and Jack Swagger.
That sums up this week’s episode of X-Pac 1, 2, 360. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
