PWTorch Livecast Friday Edition
Hosts: Bruce Mitchell and Travis Bryant
Airdate: October 16, 2015
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Report by Mark Golden (@RealMarkGolden)
HOT TOPICS
– 4:45: Smackdown LIVE on USA Network. Samoa Joe to Raw.
– 10:19: Sasha Banks: Heel or Face? Bullying Izzy: The Great Debate
– 26:55: One Week ’til HIAC
– 32:50: Should the women that last partied with Lamar Odom at the Nevada brothel charge more? Could a WWE Women’s Wrestling show on the Network be a success? Front Row; Section D.
– 47:04: Rock vs. Triple H or RomanReigns. Too soon for Apollo Crews? Was Magnum on tap to be pro wrestling’s next big star?
EPISODE RECAP & SUMMARY
0:00 – 4:44 Bruce opened the show by giving the VIP Torch plugs. He talked about Raw ratings being at an all-time low right now, and how there are no “quick answers” to WWE’s current plight.
4:45: First called asked about Smackdown’s move to USA Network, and if it will be live on Tuesdays. Bruce said he hasn’t heard anything about this as fact, but Raw is struggling at three hours, and adding two more live hours in the week, and it will just be an added expense, with little payoff at this point. The caller asked if Samoa Joe could come in and defeat John Cena for the U.S. Title and have a feud in the long run with Daniel Bryan. Bruce said their work was very important for ROH, but that very few fans saw Joe on TNA Impact Wrestling, and even fewer saw him in ROH. He said Triple H wanted Joe in NXT. He compared this to Kevin Owens, where you have a credible tough guy who can talk, but doesn’t fit traditional WWE requisite looks. They moved Owens to Raw rather quickly, and grew tepid on him within a few months of his debut. He said there are going to be wrestlers brought in specifically for NXT, without the intention of putting them on Raw, as NXT continues to grow, and Joe seems to e one of those guys.
10:19: Next caller talked about the paradox heel positioning of Sasha Banks, being the bully who made Izzy cry, followed by a post-match standing ovation and being given flowers and admiration from everyone. Bruce asked the caller what he thought of Sasha snatching Izzy’s headband: Was it good heel work, or was it over the line? The caller said he’s a bit on the fence about it, but he felt it would have been more effective for Sasha to have heel reactions to the whole crowd, instead of just one child, and to carry on as a heel afterwards.
14:00: Travis joined the show. Bruce asked him what he thought about Sasha picking on Izzy at Takeover. The hosts debated this. Bruce didn’t like it, while Travis really did. Bruce said the camera pulled away and didn’t catch it, so it was improvised. Bruce compared this to when the Dudleys would pinpoint certain people in the ECW crowd, and fire them up with some pretty heavy insults. He said true heel work is turning the whole audience against you, versus antagonizing one or two people. Travis said wrestlers have torn kids signs in the crowd for years, and Bruce said that’s the same thing. Bruce said the minute they put entertainment ahead of a child’s well being, it’s wrong. Bruce said if a child gets upset in the crowd at someone taking a beating, or their favorite wrestler losing, then that’s all together different than directly and intentionally terrorizing one child in the front row. Travis mocked Bruce’s use of the word “terrorize” in this instance, and said kids cry. He said Izzy has to be 10 and it’s a bit ridiculous that she’s crying over something like this. Bruce said this was bad heat. Travis said Sasha was playing the perfect evil heel, targeting he nemesis’s #1 fan, and it played out well. Good segment. They agreed to disagree and moved on.
26:55: Bruce asked Travis if Heyman, Brock, and Undertaker can reclaim the heat for their showdown at HIAC, with one week of WWE television. Neither thought it was possible. They said if anything, WWE could get comments from the top tier wrestlers about the significance of the match and the feud. Travis plugged the East Coast Cast on BlogTalkRadio.com and southkongress.blogspot.com.
32:50: Next caller talked about his favorites from East Coast Cast and 25 years of Bruce Mitchell writing for the Torch. Bruce randomly asked Travis about Lamar Odom situation. Bruce asked if the women Odom partied with prior to being rushed to the emergency room should be charged. Travis said they probably should. The caller referenced the time Bruce went to a WCW show and he and others sat in the crowd with bags on their heads as a show of solidarity for the wrestlers who were unhappy with the office politics of the time, which was something certain fans did at San Francisco 49ers games many years when the franchise wasn’t doing well. Bruce plugged the book “Front Row, Section D” for any fans of stories like that.
The caller asked if the hosts thought that WWE could devote an hour on the Network to women’s wrestling. Travis said they could but that doesn’t mean they should. He said they should maximize the minutes they get on Raw and Smackdown now, but they aren’t doing that. Bruce said in order to do that, they would need to be completely seperate from the current WWE programming and they’d certainly need more women than what they have now. If done right, it would be interesting, but the division has stalled. Travis expressed displeasure for the current Divas Revolution storyline. They both talked about the absurdity of the booking, and how it can come across via promos, example in this case being that in pro wrestling, women don’t get along, and how they put each other down in ways that don’t necessarily encourage anyone to part with their money to come see the show. Bruce also referenced Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton recently taking shots at each other as not being very good, when they are supposed to be faces on the same team, in absentia of John Cena.
47:04: Next caller asked about if Rock returns and has a program with Hunter, will that kill the idea of Rock vs. Roman Reigns at WM? Travis said he doesn’t think they’ll go with Rock vs Hunter, because it’s unlikely that they’ll do nostalgia act vs nostalgia act. Travis said the match would also serve no purpose. Next question was about Apollo Crews, and if they are building him up to be the next Finn Balor. They both felt it’s a bit soon to put Apollo in a title shot, as there are other heels that would have worked out much better. It will be a good athletic match, but perhaps a bit too soon. Bruce agreed with Travis, but said it’s apparent that WWE likes Apollo, generic name notwithstanding.
The caller asked if things had gone differently, would Magnum T.A. have been one of the best ever. Bruce said this is the 29th anniversary of Magnum’s tragic accident that cut short his wrestling career. Bruce said that while he was very popular, he was most likely not about to be the best ever. They talked about how the name Magnum TA really held him back, as it was derivative of the television show Magnum P.I. Bruce talked about that while Magnum was over, he wasn’t the caliber of the wrestler he replaced: Ricky Steamboat, and while Magnum and Dusty were extremely close, he would have never been more over than the Dream if he (Dusty) had anything to do about it.
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