RECAP AND REVIEW: The Jim Ross Podcast – Part 2 interview with Matt Hardy on veterans taking main event spots, how much longer Jeff Hardy will wrestle, his favorite singles and tag matches, J.R.’s thoughts on Crown Jewel

The Jim Ross Report

Release Date: October 17th, 2018

Running time: 1:49:18

Recap by: Joe Aguinaldo

DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

0:00 – Intro

Welcome back to another week of Slobberknocker audio. Matt Hardy will be back for part two of his interview from last week with a ‘special’ guest.

1:29 – What’s On J.R.’s Mind

• Paul O’Brien and J.R. are working hard on the sequel to Slobberknocker. They still don’t know the name of the book yet but they’ve covered some heavy topics already. It starts off where Slobberknocker ended.
• J.R.s BBQ sauces will be sold at Ingles grocery stores.
• The next J.R. and The King stage show is in Cleveland on Saturday December 8th. Tickets go on sale October 26th.
• J.R. will also team up with The King at Wrestlecade on Saturday November 24th.
• The Jericho Cruise is almost sold out. Check out www.chrisjerichocruise.com for details.
• Being the Elite are teasing a big big announcement in early 2019. J.R. says the card for the ROH/NJPW MSG show will look different than if it was booked today.
• Floyd Mayweather seems to be looking for another payday and is looking for a boxing match with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
• J.R. has an idea for The Conners. They have to write someone into the show who has star power, as no one on the show has Rosanne’s star power.
• Congrats to the Rock and his crew at 7 Bucks Entertainment for producing The Titan Games that premiers January 2nd on NBC. He’s building a dynasty.
• J.R. is sad to see Sears file for Bankruptcy.
• This Friday, AXS TV will air the Tetsuya Naito vs Minoru Suzuki match. It’s going to be a stiff match.
• Chris Jericho defends the IWGP IC title against Evil on November 30th in Osaka.
• Jeff Cobb will be against Hiroyuki Goto in November in Anaheim.

Around the Horn

• MLW signed Rush who is one of AAA’s biggest stars

Bound For Glory

• Johnny Impact won the Impact Championship from Austin Aries in Bound For Glory. People are talking about the ending which J.R. thinks was the intention. He has never known Austin Aries to be unprofessional.
• Tessa Blanchard defended her title at BFG.
• J.R. was concerned for the wrestlers in the concrete jungle death match.
• Congrats to Abyss for being inducted into the Impact Hall Of Fame. J.R. wanted to hire Abyss for the WWE as an opponent for the Undertaker. J.R. thought Abyss was that good.
• Impact have their Homecoming PPV on January 6th

NWA

• This Sunday, the NWA 70 show will be in the Nashville Fairgrounds. Main event is Cody vs Nick Aldis for the NWA title in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Jazz will defend the title against Penelope Ford. Date of the event is October 21st, www.nwa70.com for details.
• Cody was recently on the season 7 premiere of Arrow

Thoughts On Raw

• Highlight of the show was the segment with Ronda Rousey and the Bellas. The content and context of the promo was spot on. They delivered their memorized lines well and while J.R. is not a fan of that, he felt they did a great job. This segment also made their upcoming match at Evolution more relevant.
• Evolution is on October 28th. He would like to see Charlotte vs Becky close the show but doesn’t think that will happen and would open the card with Trish/Lita vs Bliss/James
• It’s clear to J.R. the brass in WWE fully realize how great Drew McIntyre can be as their top champion.
• J.R. likes the Shield turmoil and you keep wondering if Ambrose will turn villain. J.R. thinks Ambrose isn’t the one to turn. He thinks it might be Rollins
• Braun Strowman is an attraction wrestler in the vein of The Big Show, Don Leo Jonathan and Andre The Giant who do not need to be on TV every week. Putting them on TV every week makes them burn out faster, makes the fans used to them and takes TV time away from younger talent. J.R. doesn’t need to see Strowman every week. Keep him fresh and unique
• J.R. thinks Bobby Lashley will be a much better villain than a good guy. He may become a fan favorite in a year but he wants to see Lashley get a run as a bad guy. Bottom line, Lashley is too good to be stagnant and it’s good to see him have a direction. J.R. also loves Lio Rush’s upside but his laugh could lead to go away heat if he does it too much.

Thoughts on Smackdown

• Rey Mysterio had a good match with Nakamura.
• It was good to see Evolution back.
• Carmella and R-Truth have something going that J.R. never would have perceived.
• Nothing tops the Becky/Charlotte storyline. He compares it to Dusty and Ric Flair.

Thoughts on Saudi Arabia – 27:21

• J.R. brings up a sound bite JBL made on Fox. He (JBL) thinks they should go. He brings up the fact the WWE went to Abu Dhabi and had the first ever women’s match. The crowd was chanting in English ‘This is change’.’ JBL and the WWE spent 7 Christmases in Iraq, they visited the twin towers while they were still burning, they were the first group to have a mass gathering after 9-11. He blasts US senators who hide behind their patriotism to try and improve abysmal ratings. WWE has been at the forefront of change and if you want to change Saudi Arabia, you send WWE there.
• J.R. feels the WWE should move cautiously because it’s a hot button issue. The thing that can’t be compromised is putting any of the talent, personnel or fans in jeopardy. If everyone is comfortable with their safety then they should do it. J.R. doesn’t want to get into the politics because he’s not up to speed on the issues. One of J.R.’s paydays was going to Saudi Arabia so if that affected J.R., how many more did it affect in a positive way? He doesn’t want to take money out of anyone’s pocket. He also says if a talent doesn’t want to go then they shouldn’t. There’s no right or wrong answer and both sides can make good points. J.R.’s answer is that if it’s safe and the talent can earn money then they should go for it.

36:50 – Slobberknocker Of The Week

Candidates include:

• College Football – J.R. watched football all day. It’s hard to beat college football.
• Johnny Impact who won the Impact title at Bound For Glory
• Paul Allen – co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates and owned various sports team. He passed away from cancer. Condolences to his family
• Todd Gurley – RB for the LA Rams
• Aaron Rodgers – QB for the Green Bay Packers. He’s a baller
• Tom Brady – QB for the New England Patriots. J.R.’s late wife did not like Brady because he was a heartbreaker for her Pittsburgh Steelers
• Conrad and Meghan (Ric Flair’s daughter) Thompson who got married last weekend. Congrats to the newlyweds.

This week’s winner goes to the rescue workers in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Florida.

42:19 – Pet Coon Goofy Award

Nominees include:

• Rafael Morphy (from J.R.’s team) who gave J.R. some wrong information about Nikki Haley which J.R. took some heat for
• Senator Elizabeth Warren who got into an argument with President Trump over her DNA test
• The New England fan who threw beer in Tyreek Hill’s face after scoring a touchdown
• The producer of the segment where Deontay Wilder allegedly broke the jaw of an ESPN mascot which was embarrassing.
• The Oakland Raiders who are off to a 1-5 start

This week’s winner is Cornerstone Caroline (Teresa Klein), a New York woman who falsely accused a 9 year old boy of groping her until video evidence showed otherwise that he never touched her. She has since apologized.

48:30 – This Week In Wrestling

53 years ago – October 20th, 1965 – MSG – the card had Tarzan Tyler, Bobo Brazil, Miguel Perez, Smasher Sloane, Waldo Von Erich, Johnny Valentine, Dr. Bill Miller and the main event was Bill Watts vs Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF championship.

22 years ago – 1996 – Bret Hart returned to the WWF and accepted Steve Austin’s challenge to wrestle at Survivor Series. Many historians think this was the dawn of the Attitude Era

20 years ago – October 19th, 1998 – Monday Night RAW – J.R. remembers great catering at the venue. This was the RAW where Stone Cold held a gun to Vince’s head and Vince peed in his pants.

19 years ago – October 17th, 1999 – No Mercy – The New Brood (The Hardys) defeated Edge and Christian in the first ever tag team ladder match. Fabulous Moolah defeated Ivory to become the older Women’s champion, Chyna defeated Jeff Jarrett to become the first female IC Champion in WWF history. J.R. wasn’t a fan of that booking. The main event was Triple H defeating Steve Austin to retain the WWF title.

17 years ago – October 21st, 2001 – No Mercy – Torrie Wilson beat Stacy Keibler in a lingerie match, Edge won the IC title from Christian in a ladder match, The Dudleys retain the WWE Tag titles beating Tajiri and The Big Show, Chris Jericho won the WCW World Title by defeating the Rock and Stone Cold retained the WWF title beating Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam in a no DQ triple threat match

16 years ago – October 20, 2002 –  only WWE PPV to take place in Little Rock Arkansa – No Mercy – Benoit and Angle won the inaugural WWE tag team championship defeating Edge and Rey Mysterio, Trish Stratus defended her title against Victoria and the main event was Brock Lesnar defeating the Undertaker in a Hell In A Cell match.

9 years ago – October 18, 2009 – TNA Bound For Glory PPV – Eric Young, Kevin Nash, Hernandez were on the card, ODB retained the Knockouts title defeating Awesome Kong and Tara (Lisa Marie/Victoria), Bobby Lashley defeated Samoa Joe, Abyss beat Mick Foley in a Monster’s Ball match, Kurt Angle defeated Matt Morgan and in the main event, A.J. Styles defeated Sting to retain the world title.

Birthdays:

Baron Von Raschke (78), Steve McMichael (61), John Nord (59), Simon Gotch (36), Evander Holyfield (56), Tony Storm (23), Scott Hall (60), Yoshihiro Yamazaki (48), Chavo Guerrero Jr (48), Snoop Dogg (47), Butch Miller (74), Pedro Morales (76), the late Bad News Allen would have been 75, The Harris Twins (57), D-Lo Brown (48), Taya Valkyrie (35), Tracy Meltzer (56) and  Carmella (31).

1:04:38 – Mailbag

Send questions and comments to thejimrossreport@gmail.com.

Q: Does J.R. think about the phrases given to a commentary team and the overuse of certain terms?

A: J.R. is not a big fan of that and says announcers need to continuously evolve their game and add new things. Some talent are in a comfort zone and get complacent. They need to keep re-inventing and changing their game.

Q: Fox still has rights to certain games such as the MLB All Star game. When Smackdown moves to Fox and there’s a big game, do they air the game or Smackdown?

A: J.R. suggests they would do both. One would be on Fox, the other would be on Fox Sports.

Q: Given Daniel Bryan’s health history, will he get another run as champion?

A: There is no way Daniel Bryan would have returned to the ring if every doctor didn’t get on the same page. If he’s healthy, J.R. doesn’t see why Bryan wouldn’t get another title run.

Q: What are J.R.’s thoughts about HBK coming out of retirement at the Crown Jewel event?

A: Shawn has plenty of matches in him if he’s wisely booked. J.R. doesn’t see this return as a one off. If Shawn can maintain the level of performance he’s comfortable with. He may have to adjust his style but he will be great no matter what.

Q: Does J.R. think it would be beneficial if the WWE had an off season?

A: J.R. doesn’t believe a full off-season is needed but does believe that talents should get scheduled days, weeks or months off to allow them to recharge their bodies and their minds.

Q: What’s the purpose of having the IWGP champion competing in the G1 tournament?

A: It’s a good point but the G1 is a spectacular event. From a booking standpoint, if the champion is proving himself against a great array of talent, if and when he loses in the tournament, it creates an automatic main event for the title.

1:15:21 – Matt Hardy Part 2

J.R. welcomes Matt back to the podcast.

Q: Some people are complaining that many veterans like Taker, Kane, Triple H, HBK and Angle are coming back, taking up key television time and are at the top of the card at big events. What are Matt’s thoughts on this and what is the vibe in the locker room?

A: Matt feels the majority of people there (the talent), need to look at this as a business and at the end of the day, this is good for business. The internet wrestling fan like a more athletic style and will most likely complain when they see the veterans in the ring. But when Matt came back to the WWE and started the Woken Matt character, he got recognized so much more because the WWE is that powerful. It’s not just TV anymore and ratings aren’t the be all and end all. Everything is being driven by the WWE Network and the business is changing. People may complain about the WWE and he admits, it’s not perfect but when you see Taker, Shawn, Hunter and Kane back, it’s good. Fans from the Attitude Era may tune back in and if the young people are smart, they’ll learn from these guys. More people are watching which means there will be more eyeballs on them. You also want to have the veterans to mingle with the younger talent to try and continue to elevate them and get them over.

One of the things Bray and Matt did was to help elevate the B team to a regular tag team. This is the cycle of life in the wrestling industry. When you look at the big scheme, everyone plays a role. Sometimes you’re at the top and at some point you come down and help other people get to the top. Bottom line, veterans coming back is good for business. Matt says to wrestling fans to be patient and understand you’re watching the WWE. They’re doing things that are working and successful from a business perspective. They are not necessarily cater to the old school wrestling fan. One thing you can never take away from Vince McMahon is that he’s a brilliant businessman who knows how to present people as larger than life superstars.

J.R. says Vince did take care of him. Regarding the veterans, those guys were the foundation of the Attitude Era that got the company out of financial duress, helped lead the company to become a publicly traded company and made the guys a lot of money. Taker, Triple H and HBK, draw people’s attention because they affect 2 or 3 generations of wrestling fans. Fans of the Attitude Era are loyal to the Attitude Era but other guys like the Shield, they need to get ‘over over’ like Taker or Triple H. Very few guys find that promised land and the Shield should be there. While there are eyes on the veterans, the younger talent need to maximize their minutes and steal the show.

Matt says it’s beneficial to have the veterans around and need to be utilized in the right way to honor their legendary statuses but also let the other guys work with them and get a rub or let the younger guys have a real standout match that makes older fans take notice. Matt says he is a big fan of Seth Rollins. J.R. loves the Shield and would hire them if he had a territory but just because you are working on top doesn’t mean you are over. J.R. would like to see the vets talk to the younger talent and help them elevate their games.

Matt talks about Austin’s heel turn at Wrestlemania 17 and his subsequent team up with Triple H to become the Two Man Power Trip. The Hardys got a chance to work with them and said it was an amazing learning experience. Austin and Triple H were legit top guys who helped Matt and Jeff elevate their work. Matt also got a chance to work with Undertaker and learned a ton from him. He also mentions learning from Eddie Guerrero who was able to read a wrestling audience regardless of the town. Eddie would put a different spin on the match depending on the crowd.

Q: How much longer will Nero be around?

A: Jeff has to have one of the most indestructible bodies of all time. For him to keep ticking, given the amount of punishment he’s put his body through is unreal. Matt isn’t sure if he’s truly human. That said, Matt thinks Jeff might be around for another 2 or 3 more years.

J.R. brings up Jerry Lawler who is still wrestling. The King doesn’t plan to stop until they stop booking him. Matt says The King entertains people and has been able to adapt his style. He has a ton of respect for the King. and there will always be people who relive their childhoods when they watch Jerry Lawler. As performers, it’s cathartic to relive that and if there’s a way you can do it and still be having fun you never want to leave.

J.R. believes he’s obligated to contribute to the wrestling business until he can no longer put sentences or intelligent thoughts together.

Q: Does Matt have a favorite match either as a single or a tag team?

A: Matt says it’s hard to answer because it’s like trying to answer who is your favorite kid. From the tag side, the first ever tag team ladder match with Edge and Christian which cemented them as WWE superstars and the first time they won the tag title with Michael Hayes. On the singles side, wrestling Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania 25, his match with Edge which was very emotional and the lines of reality were blurred. Also the final deletion match was one of his favorites because it gave him new legs to have a longer wrestling career by doing a new style of match as well as returning to the WWE at WrestleMania 33 and the pop they got from the fans. He doesn’t have one favorite match but has a lot of memorable matches that were important to his career.

J.R. says the same thing regarding matches that he’s called. He can’t pick just one favorite.

Q: Is there someone there who can give J.R. the true feel of Matt’s Halloween Special

A: (Broken Matt Hardy): Broken Matt is extremely excited for the House of Halloween special on the WWE network. At the end of the month, the House Hardy WWE network special will air. They are calling all their friends to the Dome of Deletion over for a Halloween ball. They will also revisit the Hardy compound, they’ll go through his personal pumpkin patch and zoo. There may be a dark force looking to invade House Hardy and take over the Hardy compound. This will be the greatest entertainment ever witnessed on the WWE network.

1:41:07 – Show Wrap

J.R. is excited for the House Hardy Halloween special on the WWE network. J.R. thanks Matt Hardy and his alter ego Woken Matt Hardy. J.R. goes through some of his 5 star reviews, plugs the Westwood One wrestling podcasts, remember to submit comments and questions to thejimrossreport@gmail.com, plugs some of his appearances and Jeff Cobb will be on the show next week. And that’s a wrap

Rating – 8/10

I was looking forward to part 2 of the Matt Hardy interview and it didn’t disappoint. I enjoyed hearing Matt’s views around the veterans coming back and how they should be utilized. The What’s On J.R.’s mind segment had some interesting points, specifically around the Crown Jewel event as that is a hot topic of conversation. If I had to nail down what to listen to, definitely the Matt Hardy interview as well as the take on Saudi Arabia at 27:21 of the podcast. This is a definite recommend especially If you’re a fan of the Attitude Era.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro
1:29  – What’s On J.R.’s Mind
27:21 – Thoughts on Saudi Arabia
36:50 – Slobberknocker Of The Week
42:19 – Pet Coon Goofy Award
48:30 – This Week In Wrestling
1:04:38 – Mailbag
1:15:21 – Matt Hardy Part 2
1:41:07 – Show Wrap

About Joe: 

Joe is a long time wrestling fan from Toronto. He is a co-host on the Pull Apart Podcast with Jeff Rush and Caitlin Lavelle as well as a contributor to www.pwpodcasts.com. One of his life goals is to be a guest host on one of Wade Keller’s post show podcasts.  He doesn’t consider himself any sort of expert, he just likes wrestling. Check him out on twitter and instagram @ja113.