Steve Carrier on November 7, 2018
X-Pac opens today’s show by saying he had a great weekend. He made an appearance and ran into a lot of friends he hadn’t seen in a while. He saw Ken Shamrock, and he was thrilled to learn that Shamrock plans on returning to the wrestling ring for some upcoming matches. He notes that the indie scene is hot right now and he’s happy that Shamrock can return for a few matches to take advantage of that.
X-Pac gives credit to Triple H, who had to work the majority of last Friday’s Crown Jewel match against the Brothers of Destruction with a torn pectoral muscle. He calls Triple H a “tough son of a bitch” for finishing the match in that much pain. He notes that he was texting with Triple H on Monday night and Triple H confirmed that his bicep wasn’t torn; it was just his pectoral muscle that tore.
He points out that it can be dangerous to fly with those types of injuries so he’s not sure how WWE managed to get Triple H home safely, but luckily everything worked out. He also credits Shawn Michaels for delivering in his return to the ring. X-Pac texted Michaels after and told him that he was a pleasure to watch in the match, noting that for someone who hadn’t wrestled in nearly a decade he looked great.
X-Pac isn’t sure that it was in WWE’s best interest to book Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch for Survivor Series. Last week he called that booking stupid and he backtracks on that thought a bit, but he still feels like that singles match would have been better left for another date. He thinks a Team Becky vs. Team Rousey match would have been great for Survivor Series.
X-Pac welcomes Kevin Sullivan to the show.
Sullivan talks about the importance of booking heat in wrestling. He notes that the Hulk Hogan/Rock match from WrestleMania 18 was special because fans didn’t want to see Hogan lose at that point in his career, even though he was the heel. If Hogan would have turned babyface the next night on RAW with The Rock, WWE could have booked both of them to be attacked by Kevin Nash and Scott Hall and then they would have had a massively hot angle.
X-Pac credits Hogan for doing him a huge favour around that time. When Hogan finally turned babyface X-Pac was the heel who hit Hogan over the head with a chair to get a lot of heat and create sympathy for Hogan. Hogan bled for X-Pac that night, and X-Pac thanks him for that favour.
X-Pac thinks it’s hard to get real heat like that nowadays. Sullivan points out that social media has all but killed the business’ mystique. He points out that Brock Lesnar is one performer who doesn’t really blur the lines on social media, and he still has a mystique about him because of this. X-Pac adds that Tommaso Ciampa is another performer who sticks to his character on social media.
Sullivan comments on the recent stunt pulled by Austin Aries. He points out that people need to stop over-analyzing everything, and should just enjoy the business. As for the recent Crown Jewel criticism, He points out that WWE is a publicly traded company and they owe it to their shareholders to make money.
He thinks WWE did the right thing by moving forward with the Crown Jewel event, and he also gives them credit for allowing the performers to make their own decision on whether or not to go. Years ago, performers like Daniel Bryan and John Cena would have been fired if they refused to go.
Sullivan thinks today’s promos are too scripted. He points out that not everyone is going to hit it out of the park on every promo, but some performers will begin to stand out because of the creative freedom, and those are the performers who will be the most entertaining. This has been proved throughout the history of the business. Not everyone hit home runs, but guys like Dusty Rhodes and The Rock excelled and became very entertaining.
Sullivan points out that Dusty Rhodes was such a personality. He worked with Dusty for nearly three years in some capacity and never heard someone as universally loved as Dusty.
Sullivan gives his opinion on ALL IN. He points out that when he first heard that Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks were going to run a show he thought they’d do good, but when he heard that the show sold out in 28 minutes he was blown away. He gives credit to everyone on the card, and admits that he thought about Dusty when Cody won the NWA Title. He notes that Dusty would have been so proud.
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!
November 7, 2018 9:12 pm
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