MLW Radio (flagship) # 288
Release Date: July 18, 2017
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Top Stories:
- Vince cancels Talking Smack
- Pro Wrestling Noah expanding relationship with GFW
- Ronda Rousey to WWE?
- Alexa Bliss is awesome
- Kurt Angle’s secret revealed
TIMESTAMPS
9:30 – Talking Smack scaled down
19:15 – ADR and Paige spotted in S.A.
22:45 – PWN and GFW relationship
29:00 – Women’s Tournament
33:00 – Emma complaining on Twitter
37:45 – Austin Aries shaved his head and beard
38:40 – Monday Night Raw observations
41:10 – Enzo returns to Raw, Cass lays everyone out
45:00 – Elias Samson’s guitar shot on Finn Balor
48:30 – Angle’s big reveal with Jason Jordan as his son
RECAP
I certainly hope Court’s return wasn’t a “One Shot” deal. MSL is once again joined by Rich Bocchini this week. Court is still very busy planning MLW’s One Shot wrestling show on October 5th, tickets for which just went on sale today (7/21). I’ll do my best to focus on recapping a show that is just not the same without The King…
9:30 – WWE has decided to scale back Talking Smack, which was a very popular WWE Network show. Rich heard that Vince didn’t like the unscripted nature of the show, but it did seem that talent could get themselves over or not on the show, and there were certain things that were said that didn’t fit into current WWE storylines. Rich says that we know Vince wasn’t watching the show, but things can easily be communicated to him from below. He thinks there is too little of “organic reactions” on most of WWE’s other programming.
19:15 – I can’t believe we’re still talking about this “story”, but Alberto El Patron and Paige were spotted at a soccer game in San Antonio by a fan that recorded video of it. Both guys agree that this fan was creepy. MSL asks Rich if he ever had any fan situations during his career and he tells the story about an incident at a gas station when he was recognized and they engaged in a conversation and took a photograph, but it was a cool thing. He never had anyone following him around taking pictures, but Byron Saxton used to take candid pics.
22:45 – Pro Wrestling Noah is expanding their relationship with Global Force Wrestling, trading talent a little bit more than they were doing before. Rich says that they are two companies who are trying to reestablish themselves and thinks it’s a good idea. MSL talks about when they were at their best in the Tokyo Dome for a couple of years in 2004-2006, that they held two of the greatest wrestling shows he’s ever seen in his life.
29:00 – MSL doesn’t want to spoil the Mae Young Classic, so he won’t divulge any results, but asks Rich if he sees Ronda Rousey transitioning to WWE at some point. MSL doesn’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that her UFC career is over. She’s a fan of wrestling and is good friends with Shayna Baszler as per Rich, and both guys think they would be a great tag team. MSL expresses concern over another potential loss and how it could affect her career if she indeed returns to UFC. He thinks she should do whatever makes her happy.
33:00 – Emma tweeted during Raw that she’s been in WWE for five years and isn’t being used on TV. MSL asks Rich what the goal is behind something like this, unless you’re looking to get fired, and Rich can’t come up with one. He says he understands if you’re at a point where you don’t care because you’re frustrated, but that it doesn’t help to make public comments. Everything is a test in WWE, according to Rich, who agrees that they haven’t done anything with her. Either she was in a role that she’s not cut out for or she’s not good. Rich didn’t see anything that would indicate that she is an underused talent. She is above average in the ring, has a great look, her promos are decent in Rich’s opinion, but WWE isn’t using all the women they have and are instead recycling the same women in the same matches. MSL knows there are people that praise her but when he sees the tweet it makes her a “Mickey Mark”, and that she gets paid to just do a job.
37:45 – Obviously we’re reaching for news topics here, as MSL mentions the new clean look for Austin Aries, who shaved his head and his beard. Rich doesn’t have much to add here, as this is as insignificant as it gets.
38:40 – The guys dig into Raw. MSL thinks Alexa Bliss is amazing, hates the non-title loss, but had to bring up how great she has been this year. When Rich first saw her in developmental she was super green, but when he saw her in promo class he totally got it. She’s always been someone who had to get her in-ring work on par with her promo skills, just like Enzo. Alexa is capable of doing a lot of different things as Rich has seen first-hand. She has taken the in-ring work very seriously and has clearly gotten better from what we’ve seen.
41:10 – Enzo returned to Raw after his loss to Big Cass at Great Balls of Fire. MSL thinks the last two promos from Enzo have hurt him having to go that long, which is probably just a product of Raw needing to fill time. The segment made Cass look very strong, but MSL worries that Enzo may lose the one thing he has going for him if they overdo it with the promos. Rich uses the term “one-trick pony”, and says as entertaining as Enzo is, the question is how many times can Enzo go to the well with his gimmick, but he’s still a fan of him despite it. He says we’re going to find out over the next several weeks and months if Enzo really has that star power.
MSL doesn’t see the one-trick pony thing and wonders why people didn’t see in NXT (when that was mentioned originally) that he’s more than the catchphrases. Rich says he’s super talented and some of the stuff he comes up with blows his mind. He doesn’t agree with aligning him with Big Show, and leaves it at that. MSL doesn’t think Cass should be losing to anybody for a very long time, but Rich says that WWE often puts guys with Show when they don’t know what to do with them (Bryan, Jericho, Miz being other examples).
45:00 – Elias Samson hits Finn Balor with the guitar shot, which surprised MSL given all the attention paid to concussions lately. MSL says the shot was nasty, and asks Rich if it adds a lot of steam to their program now. Rich says it looked nasty and gives Samson a little bit more steam, but doesn’t understand how Bray Wyatt comes into play. MSL says that every Wyatt program is just Bray interrupting someone on the screen, leading to a fight with that guy. As talented as Bray is in the ring, MSL wishes WWE could find better ways to instigate his programs, as we rarely find out exactly what Bray’s issue is with the guys that he ends up targeting. Rich says good for Elias Samson, getting an opportunity and making the most of it, but thinks that the guitar should have been gimmicked a little better. MSL doesn’t think that would have helped because Samson hit him with the side of the guitar. Since Finn was walking directly towards him the shot was brutal.
48:30 – Kurt Angle’s big secret is revealed as Jason Jordan being his son that he fathered back in college. MSL hates angles like this in 2017. If it helps Jason Jordan’s career, that’s good for him, as he’s very talented. Everyone knows that Jordan is not Angle’s son and thinks doing things like this is counterproductive to what WWE is trying to accomplish. He adds that there is a slight vague similarity there, but this stupid hokey bulls**t turns people away from WWE’s product since they know it’s bulls**t. He wonders what happens to Chad Gable, who MSL says is probably wondering the same thing himself. Very disappointing for a big reveal.
Rating – 7 out of 10. I’m being generous because it’s almost 5 PM on a Friday and I’m just about through a brutal work week, but all I can say is that I have immensely more interest in this show when Court is on it. MSL and Rich did a good job of covering the important topics this week, despite touching on a few news items that we could have done without, but a show with these two just doesn’t have the same appeal to me.
About the Author:
Desman (@Desman6) has been an avid wrestling fan going back to the very first WrestleMania and has attended four WrestleManias during his tenure as a WWE Shop card-carrying member of the WWE Universe. A financial professional by day, he spends his nights and weekends with his wife, rescue dog, and 2 rescue cats, watching WWE programming and listening to a number of wrestling-related podcasts. His true passions are food, film, and fights and he is forever fascinated by the business of professional wrestling.
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