Wednesday PWTorch Livecast with Pat McNeill
Special Guest: Sheet Sandwich insider Les Moore
Aired Live: February 17, 2016
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Recap by Dominic DeAngelo
SUBJECTS COVERED
WWE Hall of Fame Speculation
Is WrestleMania Going To Heat Up?
Madden vs. Beadle and Vince vs. Titus
TIME STAMPS OF COVERAGE
(2:10) Pat McNeill intro
(3:08) Les Moore intro
(7:29) Funniest topic on the Wrestling Observer forums?
(8:52) Keller vs. Meltzer
(11:45) Madden vs. Beadle
(16:15) Where are all the HOF inductees?
(19:45) Who living and non-living would Pat & Les induct?
(25:20) Were the HOF “leaks” legit / Luger as a possible induction?
(29:35) Gory Guerrero = 2016 WWE HOF?
(30:45) Orton returning speculation
(33:30) What major angle/return would Pat & Les like to see for WrestleMania?
### COMMERCIAL BREAK ###
(46:15) O’Neil vs. McMahon
(51:10) Vince vindicated by Daniel Bryan’s low-rated segment?
(55:40) What areas does Les think should be covered more in wrestling journalism?
(59:30) How to make the WWE Title seem more important?
(1:06:00) Stay the course in TNA
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
– (7:29) Ryan from Cumberland, Md. calls in: what’s the funniest topic he’s seen in the Wrestling Observer forums? Tough to say, but a favorite is a Dave Meltzer typo thread and another thread is a crude sketch of a major wrestling moment.
– (8:52) Who would win a celebrity boxing match between Wade Keller and Dave Meltzer? Hard to say, Wade has youth on his side and knows karate, while Meltzer is “the cheese to the rest of the platter.” Pat makes the ruling by whoever pays off two of the three judges.
– (11:45) What’s Les’s thoughts on the Michele Beadle-Mark Madden Twitter war? Madden had DM’ed Beadle and then Beadle proceeded to screenshot their private conversation for all of Twitter to see. Les makes note that Madden wasn’t intending to “stir the pot,” but Beadle is the one coming off in poor light. He also makes note that there was a case in mistaken identity, Beadle thought Madden was another radio personality who made fun of her weight.
– (16:15) Isn’t it weird that there haven’t been many HOF inductees so far? Pat says maybe after Fastlane things will pick up, and since some of the names already leaked out they might try to hold off for a little bit. Les even predicts that we might get some names even at Fastlane. He thinks this is the usual time frame for HOF inductees.
– (19:45) If Pat or Les could pick one living wrestler to go in the HOF this year and one posthumous induction who would they be? Les would pick The Freebirds as his living induction, but personally he’d pick a Joe Blanchard or a promoter of some sort. Pat says King Kong Bundy should go in already, and guys like Lou Thesz should be inducted. With the posthumous inductions, they could even do it over the course of the calendar year . Les also likes that idea.
– (25:20) Scott from N.J. asks if Pat & Les think those “HOF leaks” were legitimate and could we see a Lex Luger induction? Les thinks that we might not see a Luger induction this year, but perhaps down the road. Pat doesn’t think they’ll see Sting and Luger go in on the same year, but yeah, maybe in a year or two. Pat thinks that the HOF leaks were legit – a lot of them make sense, even Papa Shango.
– (29:35) What about Gory Guerrero as a HOF inductee? That’s a good choice, but Pat thinks WWE tries to limit it’s deceased inductions to one a year and two thirds of The Freebirds already fit that category, but certainly Gory is a good choice.
– (30:45) With the roster being limited, any word on Randy Orton making a return for WrestleMania? Pat says there was talk about another surgery going on and that it could be until after WrestleMania, but who knows? Les also talks about the Observer report of him needing neck surgery (and Orton refuting that), but yeah, you never know – he could show up on Mania or on the Raw the night after.
– (33:30) What major angle/return would Pat and Les like to see occur to jump start WrestleMania? Les would like to see some angles develop for the undercard. We’re still missing that “chock-full” card feeling. What is Kevin Owens going to be doing? A.J. Styles? Hopefully we’ll see that develop more starting Monday. Pat guesses that the VJM award will be setting up an angle and we’ll probably see something with Undertaker occur.
– (46:15) What were Les’s highlights and lowlights of last week’s Titus O’Neil coverage? The main narrative is that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, but then the topic of race is brought into play. Les thinks that it does come down a little to race, and if it’s not race than class (meaning “class” by hierarchy on the card). Seeing the footage it’s evident that Vince McMahon overreacted, but Les also echoes Wade’s input that maybe something also happened backstage. He’d like to explore the Dave Bautista situation a little more, too. Pat says sometimes when WWE feels they are getting flack from the media they tend to send a representative with a statement out, but they haven’t really done that aside from reducing Titus’s 90-day suspension. Les says Vince is known to goof around with the talent backstage and maybe Vince took exception to Titus doing that publicly.
– (51:10) Pat thought WWE did a great job of giving Daniel Bryan time to speak two Mondays ago, but he’s curious if Vince feels vindicated by viewers dropping off during the third hour? Les makes mention that you probably only had that mid-range demographic watching, and a good chunk of it was during the over-run so it’s not really fair to judge it by those standards.
– (55:40) What areas does Les think should be covered more in wrestling journalism? Les really thinks that there is a middle ground of media consumerism that isn’t being covered. He thinks that if we’re going to gauge the popularity of wrestling today – we have to look at alternative means of watching and engaging. He thinks if you’re looking at just the Nielsen Ratings, then you’re looking at a decade-old mechanism.
– (59:30) Mike from Brooklyn calls in: how can you make the World Title seem more important? Pat questions the question because how can you make the title seem any more important than having Triple H be the champion. Les agrees that they’ve taken better care of the belt than they have in the past. Mike follows up by who they would like to see pushed out of the picture and who would they see put into the world title picture? Les says they should get rid of Dolph Ziggler and would love to see situations come out of WrestleMania where you’re determining a World Title contender. Spread the wealth! Everybody should want that title and everybody should fight for it. Come out of WrestleMania with muddy waters. Pat doesn’t want to see Kane or Big Show as potential challengers anymore.
– (1:06:00) Mike thinks TNA has improved since moving to Pop TV, but what is something that they need to improve on? Pat says they need to keep cycling the upper mid-card more between their top guys and their sort of mid card guys. Les adds that they to keep consistent. He was so disenchanted with TNA, but the buzz that their booking has garnered has not only got Les back into the fold, but other folks in the wrestling media.
– Follow Les on SheetSandwich.com. The Talking Sheet is the name of their primary podcast. Look for a website redesign soon. Follow him on Twitter @prowrestling.
SCORE & REVIEW
7.0: Pat and Les had plenty of topics to talk about, but I was a little bummed they didn’t cover more ground – a big factor of that being the gauntlet of Hall of Fame questions that were asked mid-show. This topic, while always expected around WrestleMania season, seemed to tread water for a good deal of the time which I think stifled some of the Fastlane discussion I was waiting on hearing. I did like how Pat & Les talked about the Michelle Beadle and Mark Madden Twitter spat as that was something I followed closely – that opened up for some “off-the beaten path” talk. Les’s stance for a stronger focus on gauging how wrestling is consumed in today’s age was an interesting bit as well, considering some think WWE highlights those alternative media stats a little too much as a means for scapegoating. Overall, I’d say this episode is a solid listen if you’re a fan of HOF talk or if you’ve been intrigued by the latest out-of-the-ring controversies.
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