X-Pac opens today’s show by discussing the Elite’s rumoured upstart wrestling promotion. There appears to be a connection with the billionaire owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars as well, who is rumoured to be helping to finance the promotion. He points out that The Young Bucks have been living a fairytale, and Cody has jumped right on that train since leaving WWE. He doesn’t see how this can be anything but positive for the wrestling business as a whole.
X-Pac wonders how these guys would move forward with broadcasting their show. There’s no doubt they could sell ads and broadcast the show on their YouTube channel, but X-Pac points out that television is still king, at least in terms of perception, and that’s critical.
X-Pac talks about the effect of WWE’s move into the UK, expanding the NXT brand to include NXT UK. He points out that this shouldn’t affect the local indies because there will always be more young talent scratching and clawing for an opportunity. If WWE scoops up local indie talent, there will be young up-and-comers ready to replace those talents.
X-Pac welcomes Shane “Hurricane” Helms to the show.
X-Pac begins the discussion by asking Helms for his opinion on the recent David Arquette death match. Helms sent out a tweet after the match saying that he felt Arquette was taken advantage of that night, and X-Pac agrees with that. Helms points out that as a booker/promoter the results of your show are on you, and when you put a identifiable figure like David Arquette in the main event of your show, in a death match nonetheless, that’s taking advantage of the situation.
He doesn’t mean to criticize the entire show or the promotion as a whole, but this one decision was not good. He goes on to say that his point was proven during the match as Arquette had his neck cut open. He points out that Arquette is a genuinely nice guy, and he doesn’t want to see him in those positions. Six months of training is simply not enough to justify someone’s involvement in a death match.
X-Pac asks Helms about “Ready to Rumble”, and his involvement in it. Helms points out that it was a fun film but it doesn’t really paint wrestling fans in the greatest light in hindsight. Helms was shown pictures of people and asked by casting directors if they resembles wrestling fans, and Helms told them they did not. He tried to explain that wrestling fans were just normal people.
Apparently the film’s Director wasn’t a big fan of wrestling and he my have had some pre-existing notions of what the wrestling business was all about. Try as they might, they couldn’t really change his mind about those things during the film’s production.
X-Pac asks Helms about Enzo Amore’s recent stunt. Helms points out that at one point he wanted to work with Amore, but he wasn’t a fan of Amore trying to hijack that show. He points out that there were guys in the ring working and Amore tried to take the spotlight from them, so he thought that was very disrespectful.
Helms speaks about his experience working on the House Hardy Halloween Special. He informs that the WWE filming was a little more organized than the TNA filming, and the WWE budget was obviously higher which means he got paid a lot more. He thinks there will be a Christmas Special as well, adding that he was kidnapped in the Halloween Special so someone needs to come save him.
Helms says he’s been having a great time working as a guest trainer at the WWE Performance Center. He notes that Triple H popped by this past week and it was nice to see him. He notes that Triple H is an extremely tough guy for finishing his Crown Jewel match with a torn pectoral muscle. He knew right away that Triple H was injured in that match because he saw Triple H throwing a left-handed chop, which was very strange.
Helms attributes his longevity in the business to his love for the business. He notes that he was recently booked for just one night of a weekend show, and he flew in early just to watch the first night. He loves watching matches, and he suggests that all young talents watch and observe as much of the business as they can in order to learn and improve.
That sums up today’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!