X-Pac, 1,2,360 – Episode 53
Release Date: September 7, 2017
Recap By: Chris Gaspare
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Top Newsworthy Items
– X-Pac’s favorite competitor in the Mae Young Classic so far is Shayna Baszler
– Marty Scurll has heard rumors of Bullet Club Pop! Vinyl figures at Hot Topic but could not confirm
– Scurll has studied Jim Carrey in The Mask, Heath Ledger’s Joker, and Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange for inspiration
Show Highlights
The group talks about the Mae Young Classic, Omega’s injury, Jarrett’s exit, and the Sexy Star incident
X-Pac is joined by TK Trinidad, Denise, Jimbo, and Bill Hanstock. They started by discussing the Mae Young Classic.
Out of what X-Pac has seen, he thought some was “stellar” and some of the girls were still green. TK wondered if WWE missed any women in their search for the best in the world. X-Pac said undoubtedly they did because some would be tied up in contracts with their respective promotions. He has been most impressed with Shayna Baszler so far going as far to say she’s been “close to perfect” for the role she needs to play. He mentioned that he was talking to Matt Riddle this weekend at PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles and Baszler approached them. He told her that she and Riddle both need to keep being who they are in the ring and “stay true” to their backgrounds.
X-Pac also shot back at some critics that wonder if Ronda Rousey’s losses in UFC will make her unable to transition to wrestling. He said that she could still “wipe the floor” with many competitors. The group agreed that she’ll end up in WWE but not on the road; she’ll be used more as “an attraction.”
They moved onto discussing Kenny Omega’s knee injury next. Omega has a problem with his lateral meniscus although it’s unknown if it’s a sprain or tear. He’ll miss a lot of the Destruction shows for New Japan, but is scheduled to defend his United States title on September 24th against Juice Robinson still. The big question raised here is if Omega is still defending and only wrestling one match so he can drop the title. Haku’s youngest son, Leo Tonga, who has been training in the dojo, will replace Omega in the tag matches during the tour. The group briefly discussed how injuries work for true independent contractors outside of WWE.
Jeff Jarrett’s indefinite leave of absence was discussed and the possibility that Anthem might be trying to get out of wrestling. X-Pac wondered who convinced them to get into it in the first place. He is glad that some performers were able to get paychecks out of the deal, but didn’t sound confident at all about the future. He reiterated a statement made years ago that, in the end, WWE will own the TNA library. He thinks it’s best for Anthem to sell the library now and use the money to re-brand again. Billy Corgan and the NWA were brought up, and X-Pac said that he respects Corgan and thinks wrestling needs more passionate people like him, but thinks the NWA is “barking up an old, dead tree.”
Finally, they talked about Sexy Star being stripped of her AAA title after shooting and injuring Rosemary. X-Pac, of course, thinks it’s “bulls**t” what Sexy Star did, but cautions taking too much away from any comments she makes in Mexico because wrestlers still try to keep kayfabe alive there. He also said that AAA doesn’t “give two s**ts” about what happened because those shoot incidents happen in Mexico all the time; they are “still a little behind down there,” he said.
Marty Scurll on working small and PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament
Scurll was a big fan of the Attitude Era and of X-Pac’s style in WCW and WWF. He liked how X-Pac was able to work different styles with different opponents, and the two had a brief discussion about how people their size need to keep some form of realism when wrestling opponents bigger than them.
X-Pac brought up how hard it is wrestling smaller as a heel because there is no David/Goliath story to tell. Scurll said that he “turns up the aggression” to compensate and told a story about an opponent who once told him to go ahead and hit him because Scurll wouldn’t be able to hurt him much even with shoot punches, so Scurll started working a little stiffer.
They turned to talking about BOLA this past weekend, and X-Pac praised Scurll’s match and work that helped Flash Morgan Webster get over. Scurll ran Webster down on the mic to get serious heel heat on him and help get the crowd behind Webster. Scurll said that he makes it a point to try to get heel heat even when he’s getting babyface pops at places like PWG. He also mentioned that he felt “horrendous” over the weekend because he thinks he got sun stroke from sitting by the pool shirtless this weekend. He also next asked how it felt to be a “measuring stick guy” for British wrestlers now. He said it felt “kinda odd” especially since he spends so much time wrestling in the United States and lives in Britain but British wrestlers have to come to the States to wrestle him. He feels this past generation, including he and Zack Sabre Jr., helped break “the glass ceiling” for Brits.
Scurll on Regal, New Japan, merchandise, and his inspirations
Scurll was asked about his relationship with William Regal. He said he’s met Regal four or five times, and he’ll ask Regal about his matches, but Regal is more focused on giving him feedback on “character stuff.”
X-Pac said that he heard Regal this weekend telling Webster that as a babyface, he should refrain from holding up two fingers to the ref after every two count because it’s not a babyface thing to do. Scurll is a big fan of the interactivity with fans at smaller venues like PWG. He said he gets to connect with a lot of them personally even if it’s a glance at them. He was asked how he got over so quickly in Japan, and Scurll joked that people only saw shows in the big cities in Japan where the smart fans were because in smaller towns he heard “crickets” coming to the ring. He credits social media for some of his success in getting over in New Japan.
Scurll came up with the plague doctor mask as part of his look after seeing an album cover. He was looking for something special to do for a big show in England, so he incorporated it for that one time. However, the reaction was so positive afterwards that it became part of his look always. He joked that he just keeps adding new gimmicks and he’ll “eventually have a monkey on [his] shoulder” coming to the ring. When asked about the potential of wrestling heavyweight in New Japan, Scurll said that even though he doesn’t wrestle like it, he’s a junior weight. Sabre was moved up, but it was more believable with his height. He said maybe someday he could move up, but he’s a junior weight right now.
They moved onto discussing the success of his merchandise, especially how well his shirts, along with the other Bullet Club members, are selling at Hot Topic. There was a deal that if they sold well, Hot Topic might put out exclusive Pop! Vinyl figures of the Bullet Club members. He said he’s heard rumors it will happen, but he stressed that he’s not certain and doesn’t want to disappoint anybody if it doesn’t happen. He’s not aware of any in-store appearances that will happen, but he did say that he, Omega, The Young Bucks, and Cody went to Hot Topic when they were in Long Beach and had about a hundred fans following by the time they got there. He does plan to try to go to Hot Topic headquarters soon.
In terms of some of his other inspirations, he said that he choose the chickenwing as a finish because he wanted something that was “boring” and didn’t have a flip or a bump with it. The finger breaking routine he does has really caught on, and he tries to only do it at the ends of matches now. Steve Austin even suggested that he occasionally use it as a finish. His inspirations for villainous characters are Jim Carrey in The Mask, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange. He admires “controversial” wrestlers where no one knows if they are crazy such as Terry Funk and Brian Pillman.
Score and Review (7/10)
There wasn’t a lot of newsworthy or fresh information in the Scurll interview, but by no means was the interview bad. Scurll was obviously fuzzy after a long weekend, traveling, and an apparent illness, and this showed early in the interview where Waltman had to carry a majority of the conversation. Slowly, however, Scurll started to gain more focus and come alive a bit more. The best bits of the interview were discussing his match with Flash Morgan Webster at BOLA this weekend and Scurll commenting on his inspirations. The interview is worth it if you’re a fan of the show or the wrestler, but otherwise, it’s skippable. The discussion between the group earlier in the show was more lively than usual and interesting this week and worth a listen.
Timestamps
00:00: The group talks about the Mae Young Classic, Omega’s injury, Jarrett’s exit, and the Sexy Star incident
27:57: Sponsor Ad
28:29: Marty Scurll on working small and PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament
50:13: Scurll on Regal, New Japan, merchandise, and his inspirations
About Chris
Chris Gaspare is a teacher from Maryland who has been watching wrestling since 1989 when he saw his first WCW Saturday Night episode and quickly rented as many NWA and WWF VHS tapes he could find in local stores. He also attended Tri-State Wrestling Alliance and early ECW shows in Philadelphia, which really kicked his fandom into high gear. He lapsed in the mid-2000s, but returned to the wrestling fold a few years ago.
For more, check out our entire archive of X-Pac 1,2,360.
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