X-Pac 1-2-360
Guest: Round table Discussion with Guest Panelist Kevin Gill
Release Date: January 24, 2018
Recap by: Sean McGraw
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Recap:
X-Pac is joined by Jimbo, Denise, Bill and TK and guest panelist Kevin Gill to talk RAW25.
RAW25 Discussion:
The discussion starts with X-Pac talking about how he is still a little jetlagged from the travel. He didn’t really sleep because of “riding the high” of emotions from the DX segment on Raw. Jimbo mentions that the shirts that they were wearing were really cool and asks if they were specially made for the Kliq members. X-Pac says no they were selling them. He doesn’t know if he gets any royalties from the DX merch that they sell.
TK brings up that on TMZ (where she works) they were talking about Raw25. Harvey (Levin) has never been to a wrestling match and wanted to know who the top 5 guys wrestlers of all time would be on a “Mount Rushmore” of wrestling. X-Pac isn’t sure. It changes depending on the day that you ask him. Flair would always be on it, he’s like George Washington. Would Bruno (Sammartino) be on the Mount Rushmore of WWE? Strictly WWE? Yes. Flair probably wouldn’t be on WWE’s. Superstar Graham, Bruno, Hogan and maybe Austin, Rock, Undertaker or Cena. Pac says it was cool to catch up and just talk with Taker.
X-Pac is asked if he feels like he got the better end of the deal being at The Manhattan Center. Yes he does. He jokingly adds he’s not sure the people feel the same though. It was talked about before the show that it was going to be tough to get the Manhattan crowd going. X-Pac says that you have to applaud the WWE for trying something. It didn’t work out the best for WrestleMania 2 but that was 3 locations. Having The Miz and Ric Flair showing up in Manhattan was added on last minute because the WWE felt like they needed to give the people in The Manhattan Center a little something extra.
X-Pac says that he feels that the people that bought tickets to the event had valid complaints, but he isn’t sure if he’s on board with the complaints from the people at home. He doesn’t know what people were expecting, but when you hype something that much it’s more than likely that it won’t live up to the hype.
The complaint about WWE cutting to commercial during Scott Halls Entrance is brought up. X-Pac says that when it comes to their segment, yes that was less than ideal. Unfortunately they NEEDED to go to commercial at that spot and if you had to do it, that was the spot do it from a business sense. Pac said he was pretty amped coming out on the show. He is asked if it was emotional when the crowd started chanting “1-2-3!” Pac no sold it but said that it made him happy and he felt really good because of it.
Pac is asked what the vibe was backstage. He can only speak for himself and the people that were involved in his segment and that they were all giddy. He compared it to going to a high school reunion but add 5 million people watching. Was the Balor Club excited for the “Too Sweet” moment? Yeah, for sure, and Pac was excited to do it with those guys. The chemistry between guys in the Balor Club is the same as the chemistry between The Kliq.
Ric Flair came over to The Manhattan Center and was talking about all of the guys that were in the ring and he ended up skipping over Finn Balor. Did the boys in the back give Finn the business for not being mentioned by Flair? X-Pac says no, but Flair was mainly addressing guys that he had been around and known for a while. X-Pac says he thinks that Flair is still hot at him for Pac slapping Flair in the face on TV because Flair brought it up twice. Part of Pac is sorry because it was terribly disrespectful, but it was something that he thought he needed to do at the time. Pac says that he’s not proud of some of the things that he did back in the day, but he feels like he wouldn’t have been nearly as successful without having done them. Pac has never really apologized because he and Flair haven’t really had the opportunity to sit down and hash it out.
In regards to the segment overall, a lot of The Revival’s stuff got cut for time. They were on board for the whole thing. X-Pac says if he were in there position he would have been on board asking where he needs to sign up. He doesn’t see the segment as a burial for The Revival. They will be just fine.
News:
A New Baby is added to a Wrestling Family
Melissa Santos and Brian Cage welcome a baby girl. X-Pac says he loves babies and dogs. He’s so happy for the Melissa and Brian. Congratulations on the birth of Baby Skylar.
A WWE Superstar is no longer with the company
Enzo Amore has been released. Enzo denies the rape allegations against him. There is speculation that had he told WWE of the investigation he may still have a job. X-Pac says he believes that to be the case whole-heartedly. The question of “Why wouldn’t Enzo tell them?” is posed. Pac says he thinks that it was Enzo kicking the can down the road, trying to sweep stuff under the rug. He has been in a similar situation. Pac hopes the allegations aren’t true.
Enzo should have gotten on top of this instead of stuffing it under the rug. Also, quit putting yourself in situations every night of your life where something like this can happen. This is also not the time for the alleged victim to be lying about the situation either because of the harm that it does to the “#MeToo” movement. Regardless, there is no good reason to not alert your employer – a publicly traded company – of this situation so they aren’t blindsided by it.
Even if Enzo is cleared of the allegations, X-Pac doesn’t think he’ll be back with the WWE anytime soon. A while back Jericho was playing at The Whiskey and Enzo was out and about. Jericho saw him and punched him in the ribs real hard and was kind of giving it to him – not in a goofing around way (X-Pac implied that this was stemming from the heat that Enzo was getting which led to him being kicked off the bus, not being able to change in the dressing room etc.)
The panel starts to wonder at what point in the investigation the police are since this has been ongoing since October. Is it looking like a false accusation since the accuser has gone to social media? X-Pac says that he was accused of rape at one point and thankfully people didn’t believe it. Even under those circumstances he still wants to give the benefit of the doubt to the accuser. It’s too important. He was also the victim of sexual assault as a child for many years. He can see both sides of the issue.
How does this compare to Jey Uso’s arrest for DUI or Rich Swann’s arrest? They probably let WWE know as soon as it happened. (On a side note, I think Jey Uso getting arrested for DUI is A LOT bigger deal than WWE has treated it. If you are driving intoxicated, you are not only putting yourself at risk but you could potentially kill other innocent people. I think anybody that was convicted of a DUI should have a much harsher penalty than whatever Jey Uso got and he should definitely not be a champion. WWE really dropped the ball on this one.)
205 Live needs a General Manager
Rockstar Spud would be a good choice. X-Pac seems like he could take it or leave it. This conversation transitions to bad ideas by Dixie Carter. X-Pac hated the Feast or Fired concept. He would have never participated. He would have had a huge problem participating in a match where someone legit gets fired. If they do it and a talent is leaving the company, that’s a different story, but he still doesn’t like the concept.
At this point in the conversation they start talking about JCW (Juggalo Championship Wrestling) and the Juggalo Culture. Kevin Gill is a self-professed juggalo. Kevin points out that the juggalos are community of unique individuals and NOT a gang. They have some shows coming up along with a Backyard Wrestling video game tournament.
WWE Superstars Lip Sync on The Tonight Show
New Day, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H participate in a Lip Sync battle on The Tonight Show. New Day did a Boyz II Men song and Steph/Triple H did a song from Moana. It was a pretty funny bit. Triple H looks like he’s in great shape. X-Pac says he’s getting there and you’re not going to find anyone who times those things better than Triple H (This was in reference to his physique being in peak condition for WrestleMania). Does he plan his lifting/eating for the whole year? Of course he does, for sure. Billy Gun is also looking pretty jacked still.
They speculate on Dolph Ziggler’s whereabouts. There are rumors that he might come back to win the rumble. They also might be keeping him out for a while to give him some time off to refresh. There is also talk that he might be on Miz’s new show popping in as the “wacky neighbor.”
Before they go Kevin is asked about his commentating on a match with Mick Foley. The match was X-Pac and Kevin Nash w/Scott Hall in their corner vs. The New Age Outlaws. It was one of his favorite matches to ever call and it was an honor for JCW because that match was special and had never happened before. X-Pac says that Billy wasn’t too happy after that match because X-Pac must have “potatoed” him during the match. The match is available to watch on YouTube.
Rating 7.5/10
This was a solid listen this week. A lot of time was focused to the behind the scenes of Raw 25 – which may have actually been more interesting than the actual Raw 25 show. I will agree with X-Pac that I can’t really knock WWE for at least trying something different even if it wasn’t the best executed show in the world. They also devoted a good portion of the show discussing the Enzo Amore situation and the #MeToo movement. The whole situation is such a mess and a real shame. Also, I will re-iterate that I find it ridiculous that Jey Uso seemingly hasn’t been punished at all for what I consider to be a very serious offense. Being talented and a draw should not give someone a “free pass” when it comes to putting others lives’ at risk. It was interesting to hear Pac’s take on the Enzo situation being that he can kind of see the situation from both sides, having kind of experienced both of those sides before.
Timestamps:
00:00 – 24:36 Intros and RAW25 Discussion
24:37 – 1:12:06 Interview with Scott Hall
1:12:07 – 1:15:40 Show wrap up
About Sean:
Sean is a media professional from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sean’s earliest memory of wrestling is seeing Kane on WWF television in 1998. Sean watched primarily WWF in the Attitude Era and dropped off just before the initial brand split. Seeing recap promos of the Undertaker building up to WrestleMania 20, he became hooked and has been an avid fan ever since. Sean’s wrestling preferences currently lean more towards NJPW/ROH/NXT but he remains a fan of it all. In his spare time Sean enjoys cooking, baking, and going to the gym. You can follow Sean via Twitter @stmcgraw and Instagram @stmcgraw09.
For more, check out X-Pac 1-2-360 with Scott Hall.
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