RECAP AND REVIEW: Killing the Town – All In backstage report, the only person Cyrus took a photo with, his favorite match on the show and the one he was disappointed not to call

Killing the Town

Release date: September 9, 2018

Recap By: Dust

DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

Cyrus starts off with saying All In will probably be the most talked about event of the year, sure feels like it…

No Lazenby… not a surprise.

Cyrus is still pumped about the experience.

Cyrus heard about the event in Japan from the Young Bucks and Cody re: Impact talent appearing and that talk moved to Cyrus working on the show, calling them.

Cody invited Cyrus to comment live on air on September 1st. (

Cyrus learnt he was going to work with Ian Riccaboni.

Wasn’t familiar with the ROH guy but thought it was cool to mix up commentary.

Cyrus and the exec team (D’Amore etc) from Impact flew in together and hit Starrcast together.

Saw a lot of wrestling fans which was cool even though Cyrus doesn’t usually like large groups of wrestling fans.

He does hate handshaking because he’s a germophobe (pro-tip if you meet Cyrus, try a fist bump). Also if you have clammy and sweaty hands, don’t touch him but he will talk to you.

Called Starrcast cool. Remembers being yelled at by fans.

Saw a line of people waiting for Raven to talk which surprised him despite Raven being quirky and intelligent (joked about his podcast – which I can’t listen to any more). They went for a talk together at the bar, loved his work, good psychology and great worker with great promo.

Met Conrad Thompson who looked like he had went through a wringer. Said it was real cool to meet him and the event was well run.

The highlight of Starrcast was running into Magnum TA and Courtney Allen – Cyrus was a huge Magnum TA mark and met him for the first time despite employing Tessa Blanchard (step-daughter) in Impact.

They talked NWA and old skool wrestling.

Cyrus rememembers matches with Tully Blanchard, Nikita Koloff…

Cyrus picked his brain about the business, called it a neat meeting.

Then he meets Tully Blanchard! (biological dad to Tessa)

Cyrus only took two photos, one with Cody’s dog.

He regrets not taking more pics but he’s not that sort of guy…

Said hi to Haku, Okada, Hatori, Tiger Mask, Kevin Nash (second time he met him), Road Warrior Animal, Eric Bischoff, Bubba Ray, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian had some laughs and drank whiskey along with some of them at the hotel along with Scott D’Amore. Didn’t get to talk with Dutch Mantell who he want to talk with about a project.  

Positive environment, positive fans, loved seeing the older guys.

Took his other picture with a Mr. Barry – the legendary Barry Bloom, super agent for pro wrestling, agent for Jesse Ventura, Kevin Nash, Jericho and Jim Ross.

Was nice to have fans giving opinions on the Impact, both positive and negative. Real fans don’t hide behind Twitter but talk face to face – which Cyrus appreciated, liked he feedback and liked the cosplay (hey, he’s not the elitist jerk he pretends to be).

Cyrus however doesn’t like people breaking their super heel characters and then selling merch and taking pictures with fans.

You don’t want to see Killer Cross smiling at kids.

If you have actual heat with fans, don’t spoil what the fans have been enjoying about you (says he’s sounding like Jim Cornette – cool).

At All In, catering was great because it was all Cracker Barrel. Lance Storm, Jerry Lynn and Cyrus always loved Cracker Barrel – Lance had a hard copy map of ALL Cracker Barrel locations in the US and would always head there. Cyrus event wrote about Cracker Barrel in his syndicated columns.

Lance would always order six egg whites with turkey and dry as possible.

Lance would also order Cyrus chicken strips.

The Young Bucks also love Cracker Barrel, hence the catering joy.

All In production was tight and run by Cody Rhodes.

Cyrus got to meet Excalibur (PWG commentary) and Timmy Baltimore (color for the Cody match). He likes working with different announcers.

The 5 pm start was weird. Cyrus has worked with ROH in the past (Japan) but he isn’t super familiar with the talent, Riccaboni helped him out. The changing cast of commentators was great, because he got to go to the bathroom and drink coffee – hanging out with people.

Met Jeff (? Not Jarrett, Barret?) which wasn’t awkward despite the TNA/Impact situation. Discussed leaving TNA for a job outside of wrestling.

Was disappointed not to call Cody and Aldis.

Cyrus isn’t a fan of hardcore wrestling and light tubes.

Joey Janela still has ‘something’ even if Cyrus isn’t a fan of his style of wrestling and physique. Cyrus is however a fan of Joey Janela.

According to Cyrus – Joey Ryan’s spot was a great spot, his gimmick is super-believable (Cornette disagrees and I’m not posting any video of this).

Cyrus’ favorite match was Pentagon vs Kenny Omega.

Cyrus was blown away, one of the top two or three Omega matches he has ever seen despite calling all the Okada and Naito matches. He had a great time calling it.

The main event was cut short but he thought everybody was fantastic, Rey Mysterio, Bucks, Ibushi…

When the lights went out – Cyrus went old skool and was calling for tech support to keep kayfabe for the Jericho entry. Cyrus got legit bumped according to him.

The Bucks and Cody are revolutionizing the wrestling business and thanks them as well as the other commentators.

Next week is Cyrus talking about airport toilets… we might have to miss that one.

Score: 7 – Good behind the scenes info.

About Dust

Not an Attitude Era fan, watches old wrestling but likes Nakamura/Styles/Kevin Owens, listens to too many podcasts. @warriorscomeout

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