Scott Keith

Saving AEW

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Obviously, the AEW women's division is struggling right now. Do you think, to rescue it, Brandi should make an emergency call to the only person who could possibly save it, your hero & mine, Stephanie McMahon?

They've already got Cameron, that's enough.  

Honestly, people are REALLY grasping at straws to complain about with the “AEW Women's division is a disgrace” nonsense.  If they don't have the talent that they think can be stars right now, then it's fine to put it on the backburner for a while until Britt Baker is good enough to wrestle again.  There are entire promotions dedicated to women's wrestling that people can seek out and watch very easily.  

Future of the AEW World Title

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1. Do you pull the trigger on an MJF title run at All Out, or does Mox need more time with the belt?

2. It's funny that when AEW first started running, a lot of us thought the natural destination for the title was Jericho/Omega III. The way things have evolved, I don't need to see Kenny anywhere near the world title picture. Assuming they do put the belt on MJF, what next? Given how hot Adam Page's act is, do you program Hangman with MJF after the Moxley stuff runs its course?

I don't think MJF is getting the title.  There's far more comedy in him losing (which FINALLY makes Nina smile for once!) and then throwing a tantrum about it for weeks afterwards.  Moxley is a ratings and arguably PPV draw and you don't take the belt off someone who's drawing. 

However, if MJF should win, I think the destination is Cody, with MJF arrogantly offering him the title shot even though Cody's not supposed to challenge for it.   

All Out… Of Ideas

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Hi Scott,

There are 3 Dynamites left until All Out but outside of AEW World Title match and maybe the Tag Title match (Page & Omega v FTR?) there doesn't seem to be anything else really significant building for the PPV.

Would you agree that they've lost their way slightly since Double or Nothing?

I know it's been rumoured that they are holding off on big moments until they can get a full live crowd back but there's no guarantee crowds are coming back anytime soon and I imagine PPV buys represent a decent amount of their income.

Thanks. 

Yeah but the thing is that they HAVE their main event, Moxley v. MJF.  Everything else is gravy.  Plus I'm pretty sure it's Omega & Page v. Bucks v. FTR in a three-way, and maybe Jericho & LAX v. Best Friends & Orange Cassidy.  So I think they're good.  

Heel Stone Cold

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Hi Scott,

A lot of people like to talk about Stone Cold’s “failed” heel run starting from WM17 (including Austin himself).

I thought it was great, the paranoid rattlesnake had some amazing matches and moments. Some people say that the fans weren’t ready to boo the evergreen antihero.

I feel like aside from a theme change (he had 2 different themes cycle through briefly)Austin didn’t do *too much* to be more of a heel. His wrestling style, mannerisms etc pretty much stayed the same. His style post neck injury became the template for “Wwe main event style” but do you think if he tweaked his wrestling a bit more the heel turn would have worked better or do you agree that fans didn’t want to boo him?

Cheers!

I sure didn’t wanna boo him!  Maybe if Rock was around full time and HHH had turned babyface after X7 things would have been better because fans would still have a guy.  But the heel turn plus Invasion plus Two Man Powertrip was just too much. 

Kane and Titles

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In regards to your comment that “The right call is to never put the title on Kane”, do you feel like that is mainly due to the disastrous way they booked his day-long reign with the world championship? Although he certainly wasn't the most over character at the time, do you think a dominant run with the strap (or at least a month of two of him killing guys before being beaten) would make us see his character as something more than a perpetual upper-to mid level midcarder?

It’s more that the character wouldn’t need the title and was better suited as the monster challenger of the month for the real guy. But yeah the one day reign killed him for no reason.  But it popped a rating so huzzah.  

Dangerous new WWE faction

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Scott,

What kind of sick, twisted psychpaths would use a chainsaw to cut through the ring ropes at the end of a wrestling show? Don't they know WWE needed to re-use those in 3 days? Are we dealing with a dangerous new element the likes of which the wrestling world has never seen?

Only if it’s Joey Ryan and David Starr under the masks.  

Perfect-Michaels Summerslam 93

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Everyone always talks about how the WWF screwed up the Luger-Yoko finish, but what about Perfect vs Shawn on the same show?  Why do two count out finishes in title matches on the same show?  Also how did they not have a good match considering who was involved?

Perfect was still kind of nursing injuries and Shawn was pudgy and seemed unmotivated at that point, so they weren't gonna get a classic out of it and it was actually really scummy of the WWF advertising to pretty much promise that it would be.  

Kane as world champ

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Greets and well wishes in your utopian paradise to our north, Scott!

I’ve been rewatching some early 21st century WWE, and I’ve reached Mania XX and the aftermath. Now obviously, knowing what ended up happening, it can be easy to second guess Benoit’s victory – but I actually wanted asked about the title defense against Kane at Badd Blood.

Kane at that point had been unmasked for about a year, and I will always say that they had a real chance with him to put him into that upper tier of psychotic monster heels right after he took the mask off. Him torturing the McMahons and the whole company seeming legit afraid he was going to murder them was great, but then they actually had Shane being competitive with him and just ruined it. However, by post-Mania XX they’ve arguably rehabilitated him as being evil incarnate with the only exception being a fear of Taker. So then they make him Benoit’s first major challenger after the pair of HHH/Michael’s triple threats.

So Benoit survives that defense but then goes on to job out to Orton at Summerslam in that disastrous babyface experiment. Kane meanwhile goes on to have a “you killed the baby I raped into Lita but then we bonded over” feud with Snitsky, which he arguably loses.

Is there any part of this they got right? Would the right call have been to put the title on Kane here as the unstoppable monster until the right babyface could slay him? Or was it all pointless since HHH was getting the title back inevitably?

The right call is never to put the title on Kane. 

Andre and Hogan at Shea

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Hey Scott,

 

I know this is a bit before your time, but was wondering what you might have heard about the finish of the Andre/Hogan match at Shea in ’80. It looks as though Hogan kicks out of the pin at 2 ½ , maybe even closer to 2. Was this a miscommunication
or Hogan going into business for himself? If memory serves, this was around the time he was leaving to film Rocky III against Vince Sr.’s wishes, so it wouldn’t surprise me. Curious to what you may know.

 

I find it hard to believe that anyone would be dumb enough to go into business for themselves on Andre at that point, but they were also very protective of Hulk, so it could just be that he was told to kick out as soon as possible to build in some controversy for a rematch?  Just taking a guess, I've never heard anything otherwise.

Halloween havoc 96

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What is the deal with Hogan vs savage at havoc 96 being scheduled like a year out? I saw the nitro from January of 96 where savage wins the belt from flair and they're already talking about Hogan vs savage for havoc. 

Of course I'm sure they had no idea what that match would look like when they got to October. 

The deal was that it was a sold show to the MGM Grand in Vegas, and they had to promise them a Hogan v. Savage main event in order to get the money for it.  Which would be fine, but of course by the time they got there the landscape was totally different and Savage wasn't a serious challenger to the title any longer.  

Borrowing/adopting finishers

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We seem to be seeing more and more of guys using their opponent's finisher against them in matches. While it can definitely be cool, I've always been a bigger fan of the rare instance when a wrestler incorporates an ally/former tag partner's finish into his own move set. 

For example, Rey permanently adopting Eddie's frog splash as a tribute to his friend, just as Eddie did when Art Barr passed. While not a permanent thing, I have to admit that I enjoyed  Christian periodically breaking the spear out, and the very rare occasion when Edge would use Christian's Unprettier as well. I also loved to think that Edge was using the implant DDT for a while as a move that he took from his former mentor Gangrel. When Chyna broke away from HHH and started doing her own thing against Jericho, I actually thought it was kind of a neat reminder of their alliance that she was using HHH's Pedigree for a while. Any personal favorites of yours? 

Maybe too obvious, but I always enjoy the legacy guys doing moves from their family, like Cody using a figure four and bionic elbow regularly.  Or Ted Jr using the Million Dollar Dream but adding a leg sweep.  There’s too much burial of the legends and it’s nice to see tribute paid sometimes.  

Batman (1989 movie)

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Scott,


What’s your opinion of the 1989 Batman movie? 

First movie I ever bought on VHS like many people. The Nolan movies ultimately surpassed it but the movie is still insanely quotable and the soundtrack is a lost classic from Prince in some ways.  

Bull Buchanan – 2000

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Hi Scott,


Hope you're well!

 Bull Buchanan is a head-scratcher. They seemed quite up on him for a while, being the Regime's hired gun for a time, then he got thrown in to the Right To Censor thing. I'm not saying the guy was world champion material, but he seemed like a guy that could
have gone toe-to-toe with Taker or Kane for a while. Maybe something might have come of it. Were there big plans for him at any point?


Cheers,


I wouldn’t say BIG plans but you’d hear through the 90s that they wanted to push him and then it would never amount to anything.  I think the deal with Bossman was their best shot but Albert ended up doing a better job in that spot.  

Let’s Switch It Up

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So a couple of MCU questions.

1. What’s what the online hate for Captain Marvel? While she’s not my favorite character, I enjoy the character and liked the way she used in Endgame.

2. While I have no problems with Infinity War/Endgame, wouldn’t it have been even more spectacular to have Thanos drop the “I am inevitable” line in Infinity War.

While I know this is nitpicking, I just feel like it would have made the end of the battle in Endgame that much cooler.

Comment and let the readers discuss!



1.  Dunno what the hatred is, exactly.  Captain Marvel wasn't my FAVORITE of my MCU, to be sure, but I certainly don't get the “Ew, icky, a girl hero!” nonsense.  I'm certainly glad to see Black Widow finally get a solo movie even though she's dead now and I doubt any of the whiny incels are going to be protesting THAT one.  

2.  Perhaps.  But it was still a spectacular moment either way.

Austin Walks Out

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I know Austin has brought this subject up many times since the incident (and has been a running joke here at the BOD), that being his walk-out from the company in 2002. The details are fairly well-known, but I wondered if we ever got any clarification on *why* Vince wanted to go that route with Lesnar vs. Austin as a throwaway KOTR qualifier on RAW. I recall the theory being discussed about Vince doing it as sort of a disciplinary move against Austin for his previous no-show after WM18 (although I don’t remember the details on that) as well as his pissy behavior at the time that peaked with his appearance on Byte This where he buried the company for their poor creative direction.

 

That said, what was the full story there? Punishment? Vince simply not seeing Austin as a top guy anymore (and let’s face it, he was stale by then)? Vince just being Vince?

 

I think it would fall squarely under “Vince gonna Vince”, plus Brock was his shiny new toy and he was really excited to put him over people. 

AEW is awesome

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Hi Scott,

1 question:

Why is AEW so awesome?

Love the blog

Bye

Sent from my AEWPhone


1.  Cody Rhodes and his selfless leadership.

2.  Their varied and prominent women's division.

3.  The money that shows up in my account every two weeks from a mysterious benefactor.  

Questions about Asuka.

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Hey Scott,  Fax here from the Blog hope all is well. 

Some questions: 

1) How amazed were you that Sasha Banks was able to carry her to a good match, Twice(!!!)  no less?

2) Whose reign of terror was worse: HHH in 2003 or Asuka today?

3) what do you think are the odds that Becky Lynch is faking her Pregnancy in order to avoid working with Asuka again? 98%? 99%? 

Thank you? 

1.  I'd have to say Ted Nugent.  
2.  About 10 pounds.
3.  Wrecked 'em?  DAMN NEAR KILLED 'EM! 

WCW Tag scene 96

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I can't think of one match where the Outisders popped out a good match in any title defense or win.  The Harlem heat switch had its moments and heat, but after that, they really killed the tag division .  Putting the Title on Hogan ASAP was needed i agree, but did the Outsiders really need the belts? Couldn't they just be The Outsiders still and have the same amount of heat, since every team had to tone down to their level of stalling?  For all the potential Bishoff saw in the cruiserweight division, he or someone had to know you coulda got great matches out of some mid-card mix-matching with the likes of Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero, Wright, Regal, etc etc against the various other tag-teams.  can you imagine Guerrero & Jericho bouncing around for the steiners? or Regal & eaton exchaning facial expressions with the Heat?

It was OK to put the titles on them because obviously they were the biggest stars, but the problem is that WCW never used that rub to put anyone over.  The Steiners finally got the titles by beating Sean Waltman, but it was way too late for anyone to care by then. But that's the story of the nWo in a nutshell.