Bischoff on Wrestling, Episode 42
Hosted by Eric Bischoff, co-hosted and produced by Nick Hausman
Guest: John Morrison
Review by: Craig Elbe @CraigElbe on Twitter
Duration: 1 hour, 28 minutes
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Top Stories
-Trump dismisses Comey with interesting language
-Sinclair buys Tribune, what it potentially means for Ring of Honor
-WWE Q1 results, plus sagging WWE ratings
-John Morrison interview for his labor of love Boone: The Bounty Hunter
Timestamps
00:42-Show intro
2:23-Trump dismissing Comey
5:43-Further political discussion
16:30-Sinclair Broadcasting acquiring Tribune Media, larger platform for ROH?
23:06-WWE ratings talking points
25:38-John Morrison interview
Recap
Eric did his usual show open and introduced “digital savant” Nick Hausman, making it a three-week streak on the nickname for Nick. Eric was slower than usual in his introduction. Nick noticed and was unsure how to feel. Eric ensured it was for dramatics, and Nick said it was fitting for their guest who is on the show to promote his movie. That guest is, former “protégé” of Eric’s during his Raw General Manager days, wrestler and, actor John Morrison, aka Johnny Nitro, now Johnny Mundo for Lucha Underground. Nick found the irony of the Johnny Nitro name and asked Eric if he was responsible for it. Eric said he didn’t suggest that or anything in WWE, he just did the best with what he was given but liked the name. Nick was pleased to say he’s noticed an influx of 5-star ratings and comments on iTunes and encouraged everybody to find them on MLW Radio and continue offering ratings and reviews.
2:23
Excited to bring the news to Eric, Nick asked about WWE Hall of Famer President Trump “future endeavoring” FBI Director James Comey from his position. Eric thought it was awesome and even posted it to his Twitter account. Nick asked why he used the WWE line for termination, Eric said he’s not a conspiracy theorist. A person could get lost in all that and lose their mind if they ponder too much about that stuff. Eric thought there had to be some tongue in cheek stuff going on with the “future endeavors” line from President Trump, and it had Vince McMahon’s fingertips on it. Nick joked President Trump was asking Vince for advice on how to handle the situation. Eric said it wasn’t a government boiler plate termination letter, that it was a kick in the balls termination. Again, he isn’t a conspiracy theorist, but if Vince and Trump weren’t having a laugh about it over the phone he doesn’t know what was. Nick was happy Eric agrees with his thoughts.
Nick also thought it was pro wrestling themed that Comey was terminated via letter. Eric thought it would have been cooler and pay-per-view worthy if Comey got a Fed Ex termination letter, even though it would have been an extra 24 hours later. Nick thought it was too much of a tell that WWE could be involved, especially when the letter was read on the air and the last line was wishing Comey the best in all his future endeavors.
5:43
Eric and Nick continued more political talk, but the previous paragraphs were the only wrestling related content of this political conversation. Nick and Eric are on the opposite ends of politics so it got heated and had some F-bomb bleeps!
16:30
Following last week’s news of Sinclair Broadcasting purchasing Benton Media Group, Nick added Sinclair has now agreed to acquire Tribune Media, which includes WGN and affects him as a Chicago resident. Nick framed Sinclair as having a more conservative lean to it, and Eric asked him why. Nick clarified and Eric was happy to hear Sinclair growing their platform will bring more diversity of discussion perspectives by bringing more conservative voices and points of view. Eric, still fired up from talking politics, told Nick to never bring up politics at the start of the show for that reason and to not lose at least 49% of their audience! He said the Sinclair purchase is a game changer. WGN was one of the original superstations along with TBS. Now Sinclair has a combination of a significant syndicated footprint and a pretty powerful cable footprint as well. All of a sudden, Ring of Honor can be a viable sports entertainment property across the board. While just in syndication, he estimates they were under 60-70% of U.S. coverage. Now, with the addition of cable, they will have about 97-98% coverage across the U.S. and it reminds him of when Turner made the same move when they purchased Crocket Promotions. Now, he repeats, Ring of Honor can be a viable sports entertainment property and it changes his opinion dramatically from last week.
Nick covers the Ring of Honor shows for WrestleZone and thinks the shows are good but the venues are warehouse reminiscent. He asked Eric if they could be competition if they choose more visually aesthetic venues. Eric said the decision to commit would have to come in. The crowd, vibe, energy, and look are one in the same and can’t really be separated. The energy and feeling the ROH show creates because of the energy in the audience is critical to the equation. Eric used the example of having the Undertaker’s last match in front of 250 people on a soundstage not being able to create the same feeling and emotion it did at WrestleMania. He used to profess to TNA that if they’re going be competition to WWE do it, to do it but go all the way. And if they’re not going to, then be prepared to be a nickel and dime company. The same is true for Ring of Honor. They now have the potential of a national broadcast and footprint but that’s not where the real commitment is, it’s in the presentation. Now, the hard part comes in. Eric doesn’t think they’ll be a competitor to WWE, but if Ring of Honor wants maybe 10% of the 98% market share WWE has, they’re going to have to beef it up. Otherwise they’re going to be looked at like backyard wrestling and it won’t be viable.
23:06
WWE ratings for Raw were the lowest rating for the year. Eric doesn’t think there’s something to be made about the low ratings, but wondered without finding out exactly what opposed Raw. Nick said NHL playoffs were on but Eric dismissed them as not mattering much. He went on to criticize people who look at weekly ratings to draw conclusions. No doubt about it, it was the lowest Raw rating for the year. But, it was a 2.4 million viewer average, and anyone in the television business would cut their left leg off for that viewership for three hours on cable television. There are shows that have 5 and 7 million dollars an hour budgets that can’t attract 2.4 million viewers for a three-hour period. Raw is a 52 week a year show that gets affected a lot be seasonal viewing habits. With warmer weather and the sun being out longer, NBA playoffs, etc. is beginning to start the predictable HUT (households using television) decline this time of year. He knows producers of scripted and non-scripted television that would love 2.4 million viewers and would cut off an appendage for that opportunity.
25:38
Nick gave the nerd numbers of WWE revenue being up for their first quarter 2017 results, which included the WWE Network averaging 1.49 paid subscribers. They also partnered with HBO, for an Andre the Giant documentary, and Stub Hub. While the numbers are down, WWE is still hugely and undeniably successful Eric joked they should get a bunch of internet writers together to fix it. WWE said they are super serving their global audience with network exclusive live in ring content of 205 Live, the U.K. tournament and a 32-woman tournament this summer to finalize in August. The woman’s tournament is a smart Evolution and makes sense to Eric given the growth and interest and success of women’s wrestling in WWE and he thinks it will be successful.
27:47
Nick suggested at this point to go to Eric’s interview with John Morrison/Mundo/Nitro and have the Twitter questions for the overrun they put on the IRW Network. Eric said perfecto!
28:24
Eric introduced Johnny and all his names, including Boone from his movie Boone: The Bounty Hunter. John added Johnny Blaze from way back in the day, and Boone was his first non-John based character he’s played in a long time. Eric watched Boone the night before but wanted to go back with John before his wrestling days when he studied film at University of Northern California. John was a film major and minored in geology at UC Davis and graduated in 2002, a few days before he participated in Tough Enough 3. After Tough Enough, his wrestling career took off, like a rocket ship he said, and everything else fell by the wayside. About Tough Enough, he auditioned for the second season but made it for the third. He grew up on pro wrestling and action movies, and originally attended UC Davis because at the time it was the only school in California with wrestling team. He wrestled all throughout high school and was a team captain but only wrestled at Davis for one year due to injuring both knees. Without going into specifics on the knee problems, John went into how he competed in gymnastics and did some breaking dancing and martial arts with the idea of use those skills and physical body movements for a career in making action movies. He started making several short action movies and hosted many shows for the local public access TV station, concluding with a movie he wrote, directed, and starred in feature film he deemed horrible. When he saw the first season of Tough Enough he realized everything he was training for could also be applied to the first thing he loved as a child, pro wrestling. When John didn’t make the cut for the second season, it was because Kevin Dunn thought all he wanted to do was run around, flip and train, and didn’t think John wanted to be a wrestler. Between seasons two and three, John graduated from college and train at a wrestling academy in Sacramento, CA. When he made it to season three, he was well prepared and able to bring it.
32:17
John’s favorites as a kid were Hulk Hogan, Warrior, Macho Man, and gravitated to Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels as he got older. He liked everybody overall, including Big Bossman and the Bushwhackers. When the WWF would come to the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, every parent in the neighborhood rotated chauffeur duties to the kids who went to the those shows. He also named “The Model” Rick Martel and Hacksaw Jim Duggan as who he enjoyed, though he didn’t hate anybody, even the great heels like Jake The Snake Roberts or Rick Rude. He and his friends always were stoked to see those wrestlers and would always do wrestling moves on each other after watching it! He got in trouble at school for fighting when all was doing was aggressively trying to put his friend in a Boston crab! When he would lose in basketball, which was often as he wasn’t that good, he would also resort to Boston Crabs, eventually getting kicked off the basketball team. He would also find similar trouble wrestling his friends in camp.
34:25
When John was Eric’s “apprentice” on Raw as Johnny Nitro, his dad was backstage for a show and met Eric. He came away with a high opinion of Father Nitro and remembered he had a successful career. John said his father is his greatest influence and calls him a Renaissance man of sorts as a lawyer who graduated from Northwestern in three years, started out as a prosecutor for the government and moved on to a large law firm and opened his own firm about two years ago, making the front cover of all legal journals. John joked his dad has probably made the cover of Super Lawyer magazine as much as he has been on covers of wrestling magazines. He trains hard and even runs marathons.
35:59
John’s family reacted to his wrestling aspirations in a very supportive way. His mother was also successful as a professor of physiological research at USC. His dad thought wrestling would only be for a year or two, but the longer it went on he would still, to this day, shows hims various study guides for business school and tell him it’s not too late for it! Ultimately, his dad is happy with what he’s done is wrestling and what he is doing now with TV and film, notably his Boone: The Bounty Hunter movie project.
37:14
The most positive thing from John’s WWE time was learning the structure of a match is similar to how a movie scripted and flows. Everything he sees now he computes the world as comparable to wrestling; like sporting events, movies, television, and relationships. Vince McMahon was said to him, wrestling and all entertainment is all about emotion, to feel something. That simple connection is sometimes lost, and if John gets stuck in an acting role or writing something, or trying figure out if he should do something or not, he goes back to if it’s going to elicit an emotional response from the people watching. He finds it odd that after all Vince’s, and Eric’s, years of creating characters, shows, and concepts can be distilled into that one simple thing of feeling emotion. Eric was fascinated by that statement, plus it’s something he and Nick talk about also. Eric is a big proponent of a three-act structure, especially in wrestling. He’s frustrated by what he sees today, and was frustrated in his time with TNA where that three-act structure was lacking and was looked at like he he was a cat with three eyes when he suggested it. Even if it was a short interview, it should have a beginning, middle and end. No matter what in wrestling, it’s all stories being told and each part needs to be built and work off the other. Eric was impressed and refreshed a newer generation wrestler has that same attitude. John thought it was funny Eric called him a newer generation wrestler as he wrestled a multi man match at WrestleCon with guys in their 20’s that watched him on TV as kids. Eric said it’s only going to get worse! He told a funny scenario of a guy going up to him at an autograph signing appearance that looks to be 10 years younger than him tell Eric he’s been watching him on TV since he was 12 years old! And it’s a midlife crisis waiting to happen! John said it’s already starting to happen.
42:16
Eric prefaced this show isn’t about burying people but wanted to know the flip side of John’s positive takeaways from his WWE days. Without hesitation, the short nights of sleep and long drives, i.e. traveling that schedule, was easily his least favorite. Though it was a necessary evil in the wrestling business as it is the exchange of energy to a live crowd and in WWE going to different towns is a must. Less common was the lack of creative autonomy in WWE. He had many ideas and got frustrated, but in retrospect understands the sheer amount of content WWE must produce doesn’t enable much time to hear everybody’s ideas. Even top talent that has TV and pay-per-views anchored by them are frustrated by their lack of creative input. John feels a wrestler’s life is determined by the work they’re creating and putting on TV. He always has fully immersed himself in what he does and was frustrated by not having his ideas used. But, concedes it’s another necessary evil as each show can’t be about everyone on the card. Eric said it’s a healthy perspective but John said it was retrospective and didn’t realize all that until after he was gone from WWE.
45:30
Eric said the emotions of performing and producing tend to cloud the perspective of the big picture. Looking back, he has a clearer and healthier idea of what could have and should have been the best way to go in cases of mistakes. John added emotions can combine with ambition, and ambitious people have a hard time detaching. Eric agreed, that living on that edge can be great or not for any performer. The nature of somebody’s DNA probably factors in how any one person will or won’t crash and burn while riding that edge.
46:44
After his WWE time ended, John worked the independent circuit all over the world then landed in Lucha Underground. About two or three years ago Eric and John met at a Rhode Island event. There, they caught up for just 10-15 minutes and John told Eric how pumped up he was about Lucha Underground. To this day, John absolutely still feels the same way. For one, he loves that it’s in Los Angeles where he was born and raised. He also loves that it’s a hybrid of all his pursued interests of film, scripted television, and professional wrestling. All the wrestling is shot live to tape in front of the live audience and the vignettes that stitch the show together are shot like a movie or TV show with two or three cameras that allow more angles and coverage for more nuanced acting. He’s still excited about being involved in that creative process. Chris De Joseph and Chris Roach are the main writers for the shows with the creative support of other great creative people, naming Matt Stollman as one of them. The vignettes are directed by Skip Chasen who has a great and talented team. Robert Rodriguez and Mark Burnett (executive producers) are as involved as much as they have time to devote to it and are big fans of the show.
49:22
Eric isn’t an avid viewer of Lucha Underground but appreciates the vibe it has at attempting to evolve the artform. He’s noticed more and more of a Lucha style across the board in wrestling since the inception of Lucha Underground (of Oct 2014). John feels LU is responsible for it, maybe because he’s part of the show, but concedes there has been an established rich history of Lucha libre from AAA in Mexico and heroes like Blue Demon, Santo, and Mil Mascaras. He feels Rey Mysterio is probably the most famous luchador of all time and has been like a Lucha ambassador that helped usher in awareness of that long history. He’s noticed more and more Lucha imagery all over the place and that it has become trendy. He credits Lucha Underground for that as well.
51:26
Eric asked John about last week’s guest, Al Lenhart, and his WrestleCircus promotion. John has worked for Al a couple times and thinks he’s very smart. Though Al as a fan being a primary reason he started WrestleCircus, John appreciates Al’s business mindset in how he runs WrestleCircus, contrary to a wrestling fan. The unique presentation, advertising, matchups, and the city of Austin’s support of it makes every WrestleCircus show an enthusiastic successful sellout and John’s excited for what’s going on there.
AAW, PCW, PWG, Wrestling Revolver, are doing things similar to WrestlefCircus and the wrestling culture that is presented in those promotions contain elements of Lucha. He also notices a hipster/nerd sense with the fans attending shows of those companies, giving him another impression of how trendy Lucha has become, and thinks it’s great.
53:57
In all his years in various wrestling companies in different roles, Eric had always heard the question of how wrestling can be cool again. He wisely knows it has to be an organic, non-forced occurrence and the aforementioned promotions have that non-cookie cutter cool factor WWE (Vince) has become infamous for. John thinks another factor in that is how wrestling has evolved into an art form reverence, from how it began in the early days of kayfabe to a known pre-determined form of entertainment that is opposite of MMA. With that new classification, wrestling can be appreciated on a different level. With all the GIFs and other social media praising of the cool and athletic moves plus condemning from the likes of Vader, wrestling has created a common thread all around the world of a solid internet community.
57:19
Eric compared that movement to other independent scenes in different genres, such as music, movies, and television and how cool technology enables it all to happen inexpensively and without a big company behind you. John agreed and likes not having a chain of bosses to answer to.
58:38
Only watching the first 25 minutes the previous day, Eric wasn’t sure quite what to think of Boone: The Bounty Hunter. He thought it’s kind of a campy sitcom with great action, then noticed his friend Corbin Bernson, who he said is a very smart and philosophical person. John got that same sense from just the 10 minutes he spent with Bernson that day, so Bernson must not have a big role. Apparently, he’s on a midlife adventure with his wife without a specific mission or goal while traveling the world. I wonder, are the Major League movies or L.A. Law paying for it?
60:23
When wrestling took off for John he had been previously preparing to do Jackie Chan-type movies that combined his affinity for wrestling and action movies. Toward the end of his WWE run, he started channeling all his creative energies into writing movie scripts, incorporating some unused by WWE ideas. He noted he spent a lot of time on European tours in 2010-2011 doing so. Eventually, John had two scripts that he says weren’t good. One was a sci-fi action movie that was 250 pages that he deemed ridiculously too long for a low budget movie that should be confined to 100 pages tops. He left WWE with the intention of making an action movie that showcased his best action assets and would have been something he would have loved as a sprouting Mundo. Being in about 15 low budget movies as just an actor, many times he was doing sword fights or hands trapping of different types martial arts. John thought those were fun and cool but not what he does best, which is parkour (a training discipline using body movements developed from military obstacle course training to obtain maximum efficiency from one point to the next. It has aspects of a non-combative martial art and includes running, jumping, climbing, swimming, climbing, quadrupedal movements, rolling, and other movements deemed most suitable for the situation), pro wrestling, and MMA style brawling. The idea for
The idea for Boone started with John wanting to a movie about parkour not involving running away from things. That morphed into a big guy that is a bounty hunter who uses parkour to catch people because it sounded goofy. Then a wrinkle arrived of the bounty hunter doing a reality show to have a reason for him to do the flashy parkour-style moves for the camera. After that, he got a wrestling idea of how some guys play the same for a long time. John told a story of reading Freddie Blassie’s book that has a story of one time Freddie called a waiter who messed up his meal a pencil necked geek. After some reflection, Blassie realized how he spent more time as that character than himself and went off on the poor waiter on instinct. For Boone, John incorporated that idea as a character flaw for portraying his reality show persona and it is overlapping his personal life to a detrimental level as he became narcissistic and overconfident. Then he must decide if he wants to be a true hero and save his friends or just save his show. John wanted the movie to have a fun goofy tone as that’s what type of movies he enjoys.
64:44
Eric noticed the movie’s great cast and characters, but noticed the comedy aspect of the movie plot breaking the third (I think he meant fourth) wall with the reality show element with how Boone (John’s character) kept referring to Kevin Sorbo’s character as Hercules (Sorbo portrayed Hercules in a successful television show, aptly titled Hercules) Eric was taken back by that because he’s not seen it done it a feature film, and only rarely on a television show. John said having the show within a movie aspect was fun for him to utilize while he was writing the movie script, and politely said he enjoyed incorporating breaking the fourth wall as it presents the opportunity for everybody to be self-deprecating. He added Sorbo ad-libbed his line in response to Boone calling his character Hercules.
Eric said self-deprecating humor in proper context and presentation drops the barriers and gives everyone watching permission to have fun, and gave props to John for that approach. John added self-deprecating characters in a low budget movie, which Boone is, that doesn’t take itself seriously is fine because the viewer is along for the ride and invested emotionally instead of critically.
68:17
Financing the movie was the hardest part for John. By the time the movie started shooting, it was on draft 20. He made a sizzle trailer on the third draft in 2013 for $20,000 to attract potential investors, raise money, and get a cast together for the actual movie. He met with about 30 meetings with different producers and investors to figure out how to get the movie funded. In 2014, he found a company willing to go 50/50 on the movie costs with proof of funds in escrow accounts. He was so excited to finally have the chance to make the movie but needed to come up with the money quickly so he sold his house to accomplish that. But, the other party kept dodging him with excuses and stopped returning his calls. Eric said welcome to Hollywood!
By that time, John had already pushed the dates as far as he could two times by the games from the shady company that led him on. He found a director he was really excited about having after losing his first one and felt the movie was slipping away. So, he cut the budget to fit what he had from the sale of his house to make the movie because working directors and actors in Hollywood don’t like being attached to stagnant projects. He began harboring a now or never sentiment. From there, he started casting and getting the necessary permits to get the movie into production with his money. Eric was proud of the confidence and faith John had in himself to jump off a cliff, as he put it. That is was defines a successful person.
When he noticed John picking on himself for selling his house, Eric gave Vince McMahon’s track record of failures and successes and how not risking and committing to something to gain success is failing, and not many people have that characteristic. He added that working in Hollywood is famous for willing to risk other people’s money, and very few are willing to risk their own and that says a lot about John. An appreciative John thanked Eric for the compliment and said regardless of how the movie does monetarily, he wouldn’t change anything. He is proud of how everything has turned out. The movie has had a few screenings, including his college UC Davis, and he has received positive reactions to Boone. This is the movie he left WWE to make. He didn’t just want to be an actor or just be in a movie. This is the first time he has created something like this. He is proud of it and is excited for people to see it, as opposed to not having ownership and control of something, thus lacking the passion and love and sacrifice he poured into it. It’s a really good movie and the people that have seen it are echoing his sentiments.
74:06
Eric and John were joined by Nick, and Nick saw the movie and thought it was awesome. He noticed Jason David Frank in the movie and saw him at the theater in Chicago at the movie premier. Frank was the green and white Power Ranger and an idol for Nick in his youth. John and Frank forged a friendship through the Super Power Beat Downs show from Bat in the Sun Productions. John helped Frank start a project called Black Unicorn about a year or two ago. They are also working together on a web series for Valiant Comics where Frank is the character Bloodshot and John is the character Eternal Warrior. John and Frank saw each other at the C2E2 Convention in Chicago recently. By then Frank had seen and loved Boone. Frank then helped John set up the movie premier for Boone in Chicago. John thinks Frank wouldn’t have helped John if he didn’t like the movie.
76:05
Eric sees Frank at comic cons and notices how much money he makes at them, saying only Stan Lee probably makes more money at those events! John said Frank is a social media beast, he knows how to promote himself and create content his fans want to see and how to include people. At the C2E2 event, Frank told his long line of people where and when the Boone premier was happening. Some El Rey Network people were impressed with Frank and something is in the works involving John and Frank with El Rey Network, but John didn’t say what it was.
77:34
Nick could tell it meant a lot to John that Frank was at the premier in Chicago. Nick mentioned there was a lot of Lucha Underground people cheering during the movie. John said there was probably 20 Hennigans (John’s real last name) there, as his father’s side of the family hails from Chicago. Nick wondered if that’s where all the hats went that he wanted one of! John said probably.
Nick wanted to know if there would be a sequel and there have been conversations about that or even a franchise. John said he’s had several conversations. While still in post-production, John was trying to pitch a sequel or Boone as a TV show but slowed himself down to finish the first movie. So far, has a treatment written for a sequel and plenty of ideas in his head for a TV show. Additionally, John has three other action comedies in various stages of completion. The point of making Boone was for him to be in the entertainment business to create content by writing, producing, and acting. John hopes Boone will open doors for him in that regard. Regardless, it’s the first thing he was able to make he is very proud of.
79:48
For people that want to see Boone: The Bounty Hunter, it is available digitally on many platforms, including Amazon Prime and iTunes. Follow John on Twitter @RealMorrison, @JohnHeinnigan on Instagram, John Morrison (fan page) on Facebook, and he will be posting about Boone at least five times a day the next six months!
Eric said John is his father’s son and is definitely following in those renaissance man shoes well. He also said John has a square head on his shoulders and is very smart and artistic and will do everything he can to help John get the word out about Boone. John was grateful for those compliments from Eric. Nick wanted to know what John took away from being Eric’s apprentice. John was excited to debut on Raw, but after many backstage vignettes, he was getting worried because he wanted to be a wrestler, not just this apprentice character. In retrospect, he thinks it was a great way for him to debut. When Eric was making a match one time but was forgetting some details on stipulations, John was silent. Backstage, Eric implored John’s assistance next time. That stuck with John ever since as a reminder of how everyone should have everybody’s back in case things go awry. From there, John always knew what everyone’s lines and roles were.
Eric and John said their goodbyes and Eric gave a final plug to find Boone: The Bounty Hunter digitally on Amazon and iTunes and where to find John on social media.
Craig’s Conclusion
The highlights for me were how Eric and Nick were riffing on the possibility of Vince McMahon being involved somehow in the “future endeavoring” of James Comey and the in-depth and diverse John Morrison interview. The Comey discussion was pure humor but I could believe it to be true based on how Trump and Vince have proven they can be in times of crisis and confrontation.
John Morrison needed to speak up on his phone! I’m guilty of listening to too much loud music and attending many concerts lately, but better technology does exist for better audio. He does come across very well and has a great story and passion project he literally went all in on. Hopefully, he finds success with Boone. I, for one, will be checking it out after learning what he did to see his vision through.
He also did an interview on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast that acts as a nice companion piece to this interview with Eric. They are different enough and Colt and John have more of a wrestler rapport with each other. I’ve noticed in the interviews Eric does with wrestlers, and Jim Ross also, that the wrestlers talk to Jim and Eric in a manner of talking to a boss instead of a peer. I tend to favor a more relaxed sounding atmosphere but I also enjoy Jim Ross’ interview style and what he gets from his wrestler subjects.
Eric was on point with everything else, except on ROH looking like backyard wrestling should they choose not to be more competitive with WWE by increasing their venue sizes and production values and the talent roster pay scale. ROH COO Joe Koff has been talking like he’s currently content, but now there’s real potential to tap into that hasn’t been seen since WCW if Sinclair chooses to explore it with ROH. And no, I never thought TNA would compete with WWE. I thought they were repeating a losing formula with fewer stars, dumber people, and a smaller network they didn’t have any ownership ties to.
Score: 7 out of 10. Poor audio and political talk on a wrestling show will always drag the score down. But, the interview was interesting and there was some good wrestling discussion. No mailbag for this episode isn’t too much of a negative because either Nick picks bad questions to ask Eric or that’s all they get, which makes me wonder the exact demographic the show attracts. Nick didn’t drag the show down like I’ve previously criticized him for, but he didn’t have the same opportunity to do so either so it’s probably a wash.
About the Author:
Craig was bit by the wrestling bug me when he was about three-years-old. It fell off a couple times but always found its way back. Now that he’s 34, that bug is here to stay. He can be seen air drumming at any stoplight in Green Bay, or heard yelling at the TV about his Packers, or WWE of course! He’s always enjoyed writing, so he hopes you readers enjoy what he provides! Check out his Talking Smack reviews on PWTorch.com, follow him @CraigElbe on Twitter and have a chat!
For more, check out last week’s recap of Bischoff on Wrestling with Al Lenhart from WrestleCircus.
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