Jim Cornette Experience

Episode 626: Remembering Dennis Condrey

242 min
Mar 25, 2026about 1 month ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Jim Cornette and Hawaiian Brian discuss the passing of Dennis Condrey, legendary heel tag team wrestler of the Midnight Express, who died from injuries sustained in a fall at his home. The episode includes extensive retrospective on Condrey's career, influence, and legacy in professional wrestling, along with analysis of recent AEW Dynamite and Revolution pay-per-view events.

Insights
  • Dennis Condrey's influence on professional wrestling extends far beyond his active career—modern wrestlers continue using techniques and psychology he pioneered without always crediting the source
  • The Midnight Express' drawing power came from precise psychology and crowd manipulation rather than high-flying moves, a stark contrast to modern wrestling's emphasis on athleticism over storytelling
  • Tony Khan's attempted $6.9 billion bid for WWE demonstrates the risks of unlimited capital without operational expertise, highlighting why traditional corporate structures exist in major sports entertainment
  • AEW's current booking decisions (giving away major returns, overusing gimmick matches, poor crowd management) suggest internal creative dysfunction despite significant financial resources
  • Dave Meltzer's star ratings have become increasingly disconnected from business metrics and crowd reactions, functioning more as personal preference validation than objective wrestling analysis
Trends
Nostalgia-driven wrestling reunions and fan conventions becoming primary revenue streams for legacy wrestlers rather than active promotion bookingsBillionaire-backed wrestling promotions struggling with operational execution despite massive financial advantages over traditional territory modelsDisconnect between critical acclaim (high star ratings) and business performance (ticket sales, viewership) in modern wrestling analysisGenerational shift in wrestling psychology: younger wrestlers prioritizing visible athleticism over subtle crowd psychology and match psychologyConsolidation of wrestling talent under single promoters creating monopoly conditions that paradoxically harm business rather than help itFan fatigue with overbooked pay-per-views exceeding 5+ hours with diminishing crowd reactions despite increased production investment
Topics
Dennis Condrey's wrestling legacy and influence on tag team psychologyMidnight Express reunion tours and fan convention circuit economicsAEW Dynamite booking decisions and crowd management failuresTony Khan's WWE acquisition bid and billionaire-backed promotion challengesDave Meltzer star rating inflation and disconnect from business metricsProfessional wrestling psychology vs. modern athletic presentationTerritory system economics vs. consolidated promotion modelsHeel tag team psychology and crowd manipulation techniquesWrestling manager roles and their impact on team successScaffold match safety and stunt execution in professional wrestlingWCW vs. WWF competition era and talent acquisition strategiesJim Crockett Promotions booking decisions and talent managementRing of Honor reunion shows and legacy wrestler monetizationAEW women's division booking and match constructionProfessional wrestling injury prevention and worker safety
Companies
AEW (All Elite Wrestling)
Primary focus of episode criticism regarding recent Dynamite broadcast booking, Revolution pay-per-view execution, an...
WWE
Discussed in context of Tony Khan's failed $6.9 billion acquisition bid in 2023 and comparison point for wrestling pr...
WCW (World Championship Wrestling)
Historical comparison point for territory system economics, talent acquisition, and competition with WWF during 1980s...
Jim Crockett Promotions
Discussed extensively regarding Dennis Condrey's career, booking decisions, and the Midnight Express' peak earning pe...
Mid-South Wrestling
Key territory where Midnight Express developed their craft under Bill Watts' promotion in early 1980s
Sinclair Broadcasting
Owned Ring of Honor; Greg Gilliland departed after 16 years with the company
TKO (Endeavor/UFC merger)
Entity that acquired WWE in 2023 sale process, beating out Tony Khan's bid
Flexgate (Shad Khan's company)
Generates $8-9 billion annually in revenue, providing financial backing for Tony Khan's wrestling ventures
Ring of Honor
Discussed regarding Dennis Condrey's 2004 reunion appearances and modern wrestling convention circuit
AWA (American Wrestling Association)
Promotion where Dennis Condrey worked briefly with Randy Rose and Paul Heyman as original Midnight Express
People
Dennis Condrey
Legendary heel tag team wrestler who passed away March 21, 2025 from injuries sustained in a fall; subject of episode...
Jim Cornette
Primary host and narrator; managed Midnight Express during their peak earning years in Mid-South and Jim Crockett Pro...
Hawaiian Brian
Co-host providing commentary and analysis throughout episode
Bobby Eaton
Tag team partner with Dennis Condrey; discussed extensively regarding their chemistry and drawing power
Tony Khan
Criticized for booking decisions on Dynamite, attempted $6.9 billion WWE acquisition bid, and operational management ...
Dave Meltzer
Criticized for inflated star ratings disconnected from business performance; accused of bias toward AEW talent
Bill Watts
Promoted Midnight Express during their early development and peak earning period in Louisiana territory
Dusty Rhodes
Booked Midnight Express during their peak period; worked with them in main event programs
Rick Flair
Mentioned as contemporary who worked with and praised Midnight Express; competed in same territory
The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal)
Regular opponents of Midnight Express; discussed their chemistry and drawing power together
Paul Heyman
Managed original Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose) in AWA; praised Condrey's professionalism
Stan Lane
Later member of Midnight Express; replaced Dennis Condrey in 1988-1989 period
Randy Rose
Original Midnight Express partner with Dennis Condrey; reunited with him in AWA in late 1980s
Ricky Morton
Regular opponent of Midnight Express; discussed their chemistry and famous feud in 1986
Robert Gibson
Tag team partner with Ricky Morton; regular opponent of Midnight Express
Shad Khan
Father of Tony Khan; provides unlimited financial backing for AEW despite operational challenges
Greg Gilliland
Departed Sinclair after 16 years; previously worked in Ring of Honor executive role
Dax Harwood
Set up GoFundMe for Dennis Condrey's widow Teresa; praised Condrey's influence on tag team wrestling
Teresa Condrey
Dennis Condrey's wife of 33 years; now facing financial challenges after his unexpected death
Vince McMahon
Discussed regarding 1986 meeting with Midnight Express; offered opportunities they ultimately declined
Quotes
"Dennis was smooth so that it felt natural. Dennis was seamless. It wasn't smooth. It was rough sometimes. It looked rough. But at the same time it was seamless because you couldn't figure out where it was put together."
Hawaiian BrianDiscussing Dennis Condrey's wrestling psychology
"He just knew how to do more shit than most people. But again that was the point is you got over on television and during the period of time where you get your build and your push that's where you get over."
Jim CornetteExplaining Condrey's approach to match psychology
"Your favorite so and so's favorite so and so. Look at the variety of people that have said from Nick Aldis to FTR to Arn Anderson has always said the best tag team he ever saw was Bobby and Dennis Condrey."
Jim CornetteDiscussing Condrey's legacy and influence
"They never knocked anybody out where they were unresponsive. I don't remember either Bobby or Dennis ever getting accidental juice busting anybody open. I don't remember anything more than a fat lip."
Jim CornettePraising Condrey's safety and precision
"If Tony Khan owned everything at that point he would own AEW, Ring of Honor and WWE. I don't see how that would not be a negative for the wrestling business and the disorganization would sweep the whole thing."
Jim CornetteDiscussing implications of Khan's failed WWE acquisition bid
Full Transcript
With WOOP, you can focus on living better for longer, understand your sleep, optimize your training, and build habits that support your well-being. WOOP gives you personalized insights into your sleep, your recovery, your strain, and the patterns that may influence how you feel. With more clarity and consistency, you can create routines that support you throughout the year. Add more life to every moment. With WOOP, you can focus on living better for longer, understand your sleep, optimize your training, and build habits that support your well-being. WOOP gives you personalized insights into your sleep, your recovery, your strain, and the patterns that may influence how you feel. With more clarity and consistency, you can create routines that support you throughout the year. Add more life to every moment. Discover WOOP at WOOP.com. Hello again, everybody, and welcome to another exciting episode of the Jim Coronet Experience today for the first time ever. I don't know what to say about the wrestling business, so we're going to talk about that. And more, and joining me, Hawaiian Brian, the podcasting lion, the king of the Arcadian Vanguard Podcast Network, Mr. Co-host to you. He's never at a loss for words, but occasionally runs short. Be great. Brian, last, everybody. Aloha, Jim. A pleasure to be here once again, another action-packed week of wrestling talk. And I'm going to try to talk. I didn't tell you this. We've been speaking just momentarily before we went on the air, but right before... You know, I wanted to be minty fresh for you here, Brian. I brushed my teeth on to, you know, to do the podcast. And I took the big swig of the mouthwash, and I swear to God, you know, have you ever done this? Have you ever accidentally inhaled like a small bubble of liquid when you're taking a swig of something? Say that again? And when you're taking a drink of something, for whatever reason, you inhale just a little down the windpipe, down the other way, the wrong way, as Mama Cornette would say, goes a little bit of the liquid, a little drava of the liquid, and you get choked, right? Okay, yeah, I think so. Well, I did that with mouthwash. And that fucking... That's just... That's not good. And I was hacking and fucking... And trying to get the mentiness out of my goddamn oxygen passageways here, so maybe it might have improved my voice. Let me sing something for you. Moon River! Higher than... Did it damage my usually impeccable singing voice? The audio peak higher. It's sad when someone could say, Buddy Land Elb did it better. Well, he was in a hold, so it was being forced out of me. All right, I got one happy thing to say before we move on. The University of Louisville Cardinals won their first round game in the NCAA tournament. Brian, did you hear about this big news? I wasn't paying attention, no. Well, it was all over town. And that might not seem like much, because as our older listeners may recall, the University of Louisville Cardinals used to be one of the franchises in college basketball. And it was just a ten or what, 12, 13, 14 years ago, however long it was. Then we were the NCAA champions. And then came the goofy coaches with their sex scandals and their recruiting scandals and just the scandals of they couldn't win a fucking game and all the good players left and none of the good players wanted to come here. And finally, over the last couple of seasons, we got this Pat Kelsey here. He reminds me of Brian Hildebrand. He's just a little shit, but boy knows his basketball. Very personable. And now I'll have you know that just as of this win in the opening round of 64 teams in the NCAA tournament, the University of Louisville, it used to be every year when the NCAA tournament came around, we'd be, well, where do we go after the sweet 16? Or do you think that we'll meet the Wildcats in the final four? It wasn't like, oh, we're going to win the first round. It was a foregone conclusion. This is the first NCAA tournament game that the University of Louisville has won in 3,289 days. Wow. Nine years. How do you think they'll do in the next round? No, this is pretty much going to be it because the next round is Michigan State and our top player is out with a back injury. And so no, we'll be home soon. So don't don't worry about that, but at least it's something right. It's a it's a something that we're returning to the bygone days of your anyhow. Before we get too high, Jinky and all silly and everything I got an email from Benny from the United Kingdom. And I remember I remember him and I'll explain why when I start reading this. Hi, Jim. In 2022, you did a load of cameos for Valentine's Day. And I purchased a cameo for my wife because she can't stand your voice and I'm just an antagonistic kind of guy that does that thing, or that kind of thing. And when I sent you the details for the cameo, I also mentioned my son Samuel. He was about a year old at the time already had multiple open heart surgeries and an emergency gastro surgery. You included Sam and your cameo to my wife and the words you chose were perfect. And he says some other nice things about what I said is not pertinent to the point of this. And he says you also made a commitment to be my son's manager in about 18 to 20 years, even if you had to use a cane and I we did like 100 cameos in two days or whatever at that point, but I remember saying that, right. But Benny goes on to say Sam passed away in January at the age of four. And I've been going through my phone look at it old photos and videos and that's how I came across your cameo again. And it was after rewatching that that I decided to send you a message of gratitude. And Benny, that you that you think that you need to thank me is. I don't know what it is, but it's not necessary. And I just can't tell you how sorry we already hear about this and I'll be answering your email personally but I wanted to recognize you on the air and he says he's not the listener to the used to be. Brian avidly because he's obviously had a lot on his plate but he's going to try to get back into it, you know, because he wants to get something, you know, to distract him but Benny we're all thinking about you and we're all thinking about Sam. That's right. And I just wanted to mention that and also before we go too far in the show. So that we can have the hijinks that were noted for but this again. You know, we appreciate that we're apart in some way of a lot of people's lives when they need somebody, you know, or something to do or whatever, or to distract them. Things like that. Would you like to distract yourself with some silliness Brian that I just got from another listener and then the cult of Cordette who is apparently is a, at least a, an amateur researcher if he didn't do it himself he asked a I would you like to hear about this. Yes, I think the show could use some silliness right now let's hear what this is. Brian this email is from Brad bruhs bruhs they were bruhs from some ways couple pages Brad from Ontario, Canada not California. You know there's been this talk from primarily Uncle Dave and then all of the hand puppets that follow him around and it's got to the point of ridiculousness that the young bucks, the Jackson boys are the, the greatest tag team of all time. The greatest of all time. And we know that they are the highest paid of all time, because of the billionaire boy child. But even though that they're the highest paid of all time and they're the greatest of all time in terms of accumulated star ratings of Uncle Dave's matches that he has loved so much. Are they actually the greatest of all time or where do they stand or are they even on the list of the tag teams who have actually drawn big crowds to see them wrestle. Maybe the approach we're going to take here. Yeah, now while we know that young bucks have been on shows that were big crowds whether they drew the crowd or not I guess would be the issue here you can't count them for any of the Tokyo dome crowds they were on. It would be about shows that they were in the main event for and legitimately it could be argued that they drew correct the featured match the match. So, old Brad here, not wanting to fucking do too much work. No, he says, he also said I believe that I could take at least one of them by myself, meaning the Jackson's and I'm three weeks younger than Jim and a cancer survivor. So he said he used AI to find out the answer to this question AI list the actual sold tickets, not attendance totals parenthetically we'll get to that. For each live wrestling event where wrestlers the young bucks Matt and Nick Jackson, where the headliners competing in the biggest match on the nights card, include all companies. Right. So here is the results on that list right now are you are you ready by number one, the biggest crowd that they have ever drawn by being in the main event of show in their entire careers to take a guess. Again, I don't remember all the a w a pay per view event names so I can't specify which one I'm sure they must have been in the main event. Well, you don't have to you don't have to nail the goddamn name of the pay per view but you remember the match this probably one of their their landmark achievements. Was it them against page and Omega. No, it was not. It was not them and FTR I don't think we're ever in the main event stadium stampede. No, and on the arena. New. You ain't gonna get it because you go in the wrong way stings retirement. Oh, yeah. You know, I didn't remember exactly Greensboro, North Carolina, the Coliseum March 3 2024 tickets sold 15,837. Okay, although again, they were in the main event. But I would argue they had nothing to do with the ticket sales for that. Fairly, I think you could argue that because it was all about one person things retirement in Greensboro but never the little bit. Let's give them that because let's not let's not kick. You know, kick cripples when they're crutch less here because you go find out we're not going to need to punish them really any unnecessarily let's give them that one. So 15,837 people stings retirement in Greensboro him and Darby against the young buck buckers. Would you like to think back to what number two would be the second biggest crowd. I have a guess but let me just say there's one I'll save it for the end. There's one that may have an argument for being on the list. That's not which is I'm guessing is not which is the MSG show. But number two would be they weren't they weren't in the main event. They weren't in the main event but you've heard people say for years and you know, you can argue in both ways that when tickets went on sale people fully expected to see Omega Cody the young bucks and they got none of that. But again, we can't oh yeah well I'm not denying that they expected to see a group of people. But if they expected to see everybody nevertheless will we might even give them that what was that how many people is that 17,000 18,000 somewhere somewhere in there I'm not exactly sure. Okay, let's put that one over to the side put that one over the side we'll keep that one on on standby the original all in. You are correct sir. September one 2018 10123 tickets in the Sears Center and the match was the young buckaroos and Kota Ibushi versus Ray Phoenix Bandito and Ray Mysterio. That's right. That was an odd. But was that combination of people that would what I don't remember and obviously. I think there's a valid argument to be made that the bucks drew maybe whatever they drew on that show their opponents almost didn't matter because that was the ultimate crowdfunding event that was in the fans from around the country wanted to show their support. But my argument or my question was going to be was that the main event even if it went on last was that the build main event because I don't remember that. Well, it was Cody and all this on that show right. Well, Google the Google the card there while I because this is what I said what does a wrestling site. Say was the order or whatever where would we go for this information. And Brad used a I because he's lazy but point being. I hear you anxiously tip tapping on the on the keys now if you Google all in now it's an a W event but originally it wasn't build a. W event although Tony Khan was already a player behind the scenes. The card. Was where the hell is it on this stupid page. It's a lot of Wikipedia on this stupid show. You know what here's the thing you could tell in professional wrestling. The bigger a star you are the shorter your Wikipedia is and the smaller a star you are the longer your Wikipedia is because you get your fucking friends to goddamn all pitch in and write your profile apparel. This is pretty wild reading this now back real quickly. Here's the card for what's the card all in two pre-show matches. So Cal uncensored Kazarian and Scorpio Sky defeated the brisco brothers. 12 minutes 33 seconds. And El heo del Chico. A.K. flip Gordon won a battle royal by eliminating bully Ray. Here's a match I didn't remember Matt Cross defeated Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Christopher Daniels defeated Steven Amel the actor. Tessa Blanchard defeated Dr. Britt Baker. I remember that there was a wrestling dentist years ago. I forgot all about her Chelsea and Madison Rain and then this is the match I remember more than anything. Cody with Brandy Diamond Alice Page Glacier and Tommy Dreamer. Defeated Nick Aldis with Jeff Jarrett Samuel Shaw Sean Devore and Tim Storm to win the NWA world title. 22 minutes one second. That's the match I remember more than anything. Hangman Page defeated Jelly Nutella with Penelope Ford in a Chicago Street fight. Jay Lethal. You just can't get Penelope off those streets in Chicago. Jay Lethal with Lanny Poffo defeated Flip Gordon with Brandy Rhodes. Kenny Omega defeated Penta L zero. See I remember that because that was when Jericho showed up at the end. Kazushka Okada defeated Marty Skurl and the main event or at least the last match match 11. The golden elite of Abushi and the Bucks defeated Bandito Ray Phoenix and Ray Mysterio 11 minutes 48 seconds. How could that Jesus Christ they keep it to 11 minutes and a six man tag then but they on their biggest ever. Do you think they ran long. Do you remember when the matches earlier all went longer than they were supposed to and they did. But why did they have to cut anything. They never cut anything now. It wasn't a pay-per-view. Was it a pay-per-view. It was on pay-per-view. Yeah. Bring them on or help facilitate it. That's right. They didn't cut anything. But they don't cut anything now they go for six fucking hour. Nevertheless back to the point of what we're trying to do here. Bucks crowds number one 15,000 people in Greensboro number two 10,000 people in Chicago. MSG is off over there in Limbo right now. You know what number three is. Jeff Jarrett's global force wrestling at some ball field and. New knew that was that was equally ill attended but. Oh Northeast wrestling one of those Northeast wrestling shows draw with them in the hearties or something. But here's the thing there's an asterisk. Next to this because it's at Daly's place in Jacksonville Tony's building that they own. When they did a fight for the fallen July 2019 which was before they had gone on. Remember they did a show as a benefit for the troops or whatever before they actually went on the air on television. And the. The dailies place reports a apparently a wrestling setup. Would be 3459 people. A. W. reported sold out at 5000 so somewhere between 5000 and 3459 people. But apparently that was the first show they ever had in Daly's place. So that is the top three. 15000 10,000 and 5000 maybe. Over a period of the last. Eight years and you can put the asterisk next to. The Madison Square Garden there's 18000 people but they weren't even ever on the card. And they were included in a group of people that. The people wanted to see on the card I don't know what to say. In legitimate. Mathematical business terms this before this is pathetic. I'm not I have. I'm not even trying to do the comparison with the Midnight Express of which I have extensive and legitimate records. If I went back and counted which I don't have time to do. We beat this in a fucking weekend. Three or four dozen times. But for any. Top tag team of the era before. Fucking everything fell to shit. What you know this modern era. That would have been one hot program in a territory between two guys or with two guys were thrown together as a team. Right this is not this is there's no record here of actually. Producing fucking numbers in featured matches. We beat this in Oklahoma one day. Well that's why a lot of the argument that people make when they say the Bucks are the greatest tag team of all time it's based around how many times they won the Observer tag team of the year. It's not based around all these major shows they drew the argument was always look at what they did for Ring of Honor. They boosted Ring of Honor's crowds and the crowds went away as soon as they left. But it wasn't like they boosted Ring of Honor to 10,000 other than all in. When did they draw a big house with Ring of Honor. Well besides that yeah of course. Imagine that they gave Ring of Honor a big boost but when they left business went down because they in like six or eight of their fucking friends left at the same time. When's the last time you ever heard of any promotion losing multiple featured guys all at the same time basically and business goes up. To go work for the guy that would buy the company. To go yes to go work for the guy that would buy the thing after he you know post all of their fucking talent and marked out on national television. It's it was a is this like a wrestling equivalent of a Ponzi scheme out of you know more Wall Street than I do what who would be the name of this financial scheme that they worked to fucking you know make this smoke and mirrors of their massive overness somehow pay off despite never actually producing tangible results at anything. Meltzer made off. There you go Meltzer made off with our money. Because I mean it sounds crazy. But the groundswell support around the buck so a lot of that legitimately developed around Dave Meltzer's coverage of them to people who have been reading the Observer for years all of a sudden it was a level of fawning. We had never seen before I'm not even trying to make a joke I'm being very. No I know that's a perfect friend that's why I laughed that's the perfect word it was a level of fawning so far unseen. We didn't see that for Ric Flair and Dave would rave about Ric Flair we never saw anything like it and then every one of their matches so many of which are remarkably similar with the other ones. Many of which weren't the big match on the show or even the best match on the show Dave would give them better star ratings than anyone else and in the general scheme of things that's why I'm laughing. That shouldn't matter it's Dave's opinion Dave loves their matches but it was that that kind of they started using that at the same time they started using well Jim Cornett doesn't like us because we're killing the business so they started using all the things happening to try to make a groundswell support and it worked to an extent. I still argue people buying bullet club shirts at the mall weren't buying them because of the bucks because we heard about people buying them because they thought it was a gun shirt. Yes that's not only were there no names on the shirt there was no wrestlers on the shirt it was just bullet club but yeah fuck I'm gonna shoot somebody type of people at fucking hot topic. But I think it was one of the things that really divided the observer readers even more than Omega who Dave fond about more than any singles wrestler ever. It was the fact that Dave was going to bat so much for the bucks and then you'd see pictures of him in the bucks and it looked like Dave couldn't contain himself. He was so happy to be around them and then Dave starts dying his hair and we're dressing in younger clothes but I mean the point is he's using Nick's die Dave almost similar to John Landau with Bruce Springsteen. Dave championed the bucks and was determined to make the bucks happen and Tony Khan came across at the right time to make the bucks and Dave Meltzer's dreams come true. But if they weren't in AEW would it hurt AEW for anyone going oh yeah they mean so much backstage and so many of their friends and they're not bullshit. What have they done back? Cody was the only one of the bunch of them that did anything backstage. Kenny said I don't want to be a fucking VP. Yeah and the guys why fucked up everyone's merch so I mean there's no real argument there but they have been in AEW a long time they don't mean anything. And you get people saying they're the best tag team of all time more than the Road Warriors, more than the Midnight Express, more than the Crusher and the Bruiser, more than... Vakwekel and Stevens. Any great working tag team or any great drawing tag team and it just seems silly. When you have this mid-card at best, lower mid-card more than likely they can give you a really crazy action packed tornado match early in the show and then you can get to the main stuff that matters. It's like saying Mike Jackson is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. And maybe that's a bit of an extreme example but it's like just taking someone who shouldn't be in the main event saying that they should and then because you say it it happens but it doesn't help business. And again we've heard from people who have seen the quarter hours who are afraid to send them over but are more than happy to read them to us with you know information. At least a few weeks ago the Bucks killed the house. The Bucks drove away a couple hundred thousand viewers we heard on Dynamite so I don't even know if you finished your list. I just went off here a little bit. Well no that was pretty much the list. That was the top three after that when you get down to 3500. What the fuck is the point of counting? We used to do that in Gaffney, South Carolina. But point being as far as them producing something, no as you so eloquently encapsulated in just a couple of minutes earlier so I'm not going to repeat everything. How they smoke and mirrored their indie shows into this buzz as the kids say. And they unfortunately for all of us and the business they ran into some marks that went to indie shows and thought oh well this is again so swell. It is the same thing with Ring of Honor when I saw that in what 2009 or whatever it was they had a passionate audience. And if you allowed yourself you would be caught up thinking that oh well geez this will be a slam dunk because these people are going crazy. And that was part of the appeal but I knew that it was not as a product that existed at that point in time. Something that unchanged could get over on a mainstream basis. But when you try to make changes the little private club they built up gets fucking pissed about it but at the same time, Carrie Silken was losing money hand over fist that's why it needed to be changed. And you're never going to reconcile these people but unfortunately people that are whole hog in that direction rather than recognizing we have strengths here and we can build upon that for a more mainstream product that everybody will watch and enjoy and we can make money on instead of a toy chest of live action figures. Sometimes it just don't compute. The crowd that tries to tell you that the bucks are the biggest or the greatest of all time are the same crowd that ten years ago we're telling you how important Kolkabana was. Same crowd. Yes, yes. Or was writing into us anonymously I think possibly in similar looking handwriting about how the Super Smash brothers were the best tag team in wrestling. They needed to be booked immediately. Yeah. Anyhow, speaking of those days real quick and we'll move on back to Tony. And old high pockets as he used to call Henry Marcus in South Carolina the promoter down there old high pockets because he wore his pants up so fucking far up on his chest that they said he had to reach over his shoulder to get in his back pocket. But old deep pockets Tony Khan. We're going to get back to him but speaking of Ring of Honor from years and years ago Brian you just alerted me to something. That I feel like at least it needs to be acknowledged somebody be remembered for all of their service they did and trying to fuck shit up and give people goddamn stress induced heart attacks. You told me old Greg Gilliland Greg the office boy from Sinclair Broadcasting's Ring of Honor days is no longer with Sinclair as a company is this what you've heard. Yes this was sent over to me last night by a television executive who must know or be aware of Mr. Gilliland and here's the statement he issued on social media from Cockiesville, Maryland. And that's that I got to say that there is that's the suburb of Baltimore Maryland that their office is actually in and in some cases there's a like a better sounding name of a town that it's like right on the line and they try to use that but when they have an official address it has to be Cockiesville. Go ahead. Left job. Today Sinclair Inc. Cockiesville, Maryland. After 16 years with Sinclair my time with the company has come to an end. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunities I've had to build, lead, and innovate and for the many amazing people I've met along the way. I'm excited to tackle new challenges, meet new people, and create new moments through the same passion and drive that got me here. And that's the end of his statement. No period, which is a dead ground. No period just a pregnant pause. But nevertheless, see what I did there. That was good. You notice you notice that he didn't say well after 16 years I've left Sinclair and I'm excited to be going to work for Spacely Sprockets where I'm going to do all these innovating and creating and motivating things. He basically came out and said yeah they finally had enough of me saw through me and I'm out I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do next. But 16 years that means that the son of a bitch had only been there a year before we had to interact with him. So not only was he a 27 year old know it all but he'd only been working for the company for a year and it was like he was the goddamn acted like he was the son of the fucking owner. And Joe cough did indeed you know have a fondness for the his young protege or whatever. But good Lord that is the one thing Brian when you think back on it. That's the one thing you had the the old ring of honor executive you know office consisting of Ross the merchandise weasel and said and Shane Haggadorn and you had the in the minded folks like the stains and the genericos but you also had me and the television production crew and staff and most of the other boys and the ring crew everybody no matter what set they were on nobody like this motherfucker except Joe cough. That was the one universal reference point in the whole company that we could all rally around even if we were fucking even when that fucking Ross fucked Adam Pierce over from the commentary job. We could I could still speak to Ross as long as we were cussing about fucking great. But it's everyone you hate is out of work now. It's three two and a half years apparently after he started working for the company they found out that he was flying out to Michigan on company money to fuck that rat. Jesus Christ. His profile picture here is him and his family. Well apparently it's been time enough that he got a fucking new family because I heard that his fucking wife found out and that was that was 14 years ago or 13 or whatever sees had time to farm a whole new family since then how old are these children look. Well once again he's looking to tackle new challenges and meet new people and create new moments. And impregnate new fucking read of rats. I don't know what the I'm saying. Are these like 18 year old children. No they could be these are small children. Yeah well maybe he's seen the air of his fucking ways. He would have seen the air of his ways if Charlie Hoss had a knocked him out that time I talked him out of it. Can he still be considered Greg the office boy if he doesn't have an office. No now he's just Greg the boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. All of our best to boy Greg and his future endeavors. So here's the main event before we get to anything else. This is what the news now has come out of. This is official. This is not hearsay or malarkey. But this is actually something that's fucking happened. Tony Khan did try to buy the WWE during the sale process. They submitted it. I guess it was an actual bid was an official bid even though they weren't invited to the to the final round where all the wheel and a deal and took place. But as we know part of that was at least a major part of that was a work to begin with. But Tony actually talked dad into putting in a $6 billion bid for the WWE when they were going through the sale of TKO ended up with. This is official right. This is official. It was reported by Brandon Thurston is doing a great job reporting on a lot of the things behind the WWE bidding process and the sale that eventually ended up with Endeavor. Buying it to merge it with UFC to create TKO and base 10, which as it says here is a company backed by a W owner Tony Khan put up a bid for WWE in 2023 when it was up for sale. Port in the notice a year after Tony bought Ring of Honor. And of course, Endeavor won the bidding and that whole process right now is what's being investigated. Well, yeah, because the lawsuit is basically kind of shot themselves in the foot in that. Yes, the people that have that ended up with WWE. It was it was a fucking work. We've talked about that. There's been the emails, whatever they were going to the deal was done, right? But it's turned out that they've all made a goddamn fortune. So the stockholders lawsuit that they didn't have a fair sale process kind of shoots itself in the foot. When they've all they've all made they haven't lost money. They've made money, lots of money. But nevertheless, Tony was their bid was number four. Fairly the two other people that we talked about that Endeavor beat out actually made higher bids and they were led into the final discovery process or whatever they call it. And obviously it ended up like it ended up. And that was Liberty Media, who I always suspected would be a big player in this and KKR, which is a private equity firm. And who knows where or whose money is involved there. But again, we we researched Shad's worth, right? And this was 6.8 billion they were bidding or 6.9 or whatever. Would you even if you love your children, Brian, would you agree to a purchase of something that would require you to accept? Would you extend over 50% of your net worth or engage in fucking practices that would get credit that would you would owe money all over the goddamn place? Because it's not like Shad just oh, call the bank and have the 6.9 billion dollars ready. I'll pick it up. He wouldn't just buy it. There would be these massive loans they took out for UFC and for all these other fucking who shot John fuck cocked up purchases. Pardon me while I get upset about all this, but these people are out of their minds. Why would you do something like that? It's not that they're a giant. The ongoing fucking entity like all these major corporations that are swallowing shit up its fucking Shad and his car part business and Tony and his craziness and all of their football teams. It's what the fuck. This may sound crazy to you and again I'm not justifying the price or Shad Khan as a father just giving Tony an unlimited budget to do whatever he wants with no supervision. But Flexinggate according to what I just looked up their annual revenue is somewhere between 8.3 and 9.3 billion. I would argue their money, their future revenue is safer than a lot of the other companies because it's not relying on content. It's a patent that you can't get around if you want to get a truck. You know what I mean? They're going to make money until the patent goes away, until cars go away. They're going to have billions of dollars every single year coming in on top of owning the NFL team. The soccer team, any other investments and AEW. It's you know if he has 12 billion in the bank. Again I'm just playing with whatever numbers are reported we really don't know. And his company that he owns is making 8 billion a year. Why not? I'm still going to even if I got no investors I'll still have billions in the bank. Knowing I'm going to make billions a year. Aren't there hungry homeless people? Yes. Aren't there kids in need of something? We could probably get them all on Shad Super Yacht. No. They would be taking care of us. Well when I say kids in need of something besides your own. Can you imagine what would have happened if you had a lot of money? And if he'd just said fuck it we'll just pay him 15 billion and they were never going to sell it to him anyway. Because for the same reason they're all making a fortune right now and that was the goal. They didn't want just oh here's my money and I'll be on my way. Now we're going to make fucking 10 more mints with this. But can you imagine if they had sold it to him instead of these Hollywood agents and attorneys and high muckety muck business fucking corporate CEOs and etc. They would be walking in the room with Tony hugging people? Automatically I would think you would. There's a certain element of the goddamn WWE roster who either has experienced Tony or would not want to. Proclesters got not going to do what the fuck that guy said instead of Vince McMahon or these. You know you'd think triple H is going to say yes sir Tony. And Brock is gone and Punk is obviously gone and I'm not talking about their quitting and oh my god what am I going to do? They're just retire. They've got all the money they need. He'd lose Roman Reigns. He'd fucking laugh his ass off and say fuck it I'm going to Hollywood or whatever. And then you would have literally two camps of how to do this the same thing in terms of the AEW roster many of them and the WWE roster many of them. There would be some cross pollination and there would be some Randy Orton would. I would think his goddamn brains would explode if he had to sit in a room full of these guys and listen them put their match together. So that Texas deathmatch I mean if a match like that happened on a WWE event. Well no because and then those sponsors would flip out. Sponsors no people would be flipping out and if there you'd get the letters from the mothers and the parents because it then you would have reached a mainstream audience with whatever the fuck but. Maybe before they did that somebody would have told Tony we can't do that we'll lose all this and then he would have gone to the fucking guy well they tell us we can't do that. And then they'd be going into business for themselves his guys or the other guys would be going what the fuck do you think it would be two worlds colliding. And again you. You can't overlook the reason why that Vince and or now. The administrators of the WWE have got this big for so long and done this. Not only because of Vince's balls at his vision but because they have expanded more than any other wrestling promotion into a mainstream business with all these boring ass fucks in the suits and ties. We're going to the office. And that's and they're all good at shit rather than being somebody's wife doing the merchandise. Now I hate it when they try to get involved in creative and they've never belonged there. But in marketing and television. Is a syndication and networking and fucking commercials and movie shoots and all that other stuff yeah you need those fucking idiots. So you would have had this. It's still a mom and pop thing in a W because they just they we've seen Tony at his inner circle type of thing. And they would they would be in charge of a monolith that they had no idea how to fucking operate. You know a lot of people thought for years the death of the wrestling businesses the idea of a monopoly specifically events McMahon monopoly. If Tony Khan owned everything and at that point he would own a W ring of honor and WWE if it had happened. I don't see how that would not be a negative for the wrestling business and the disorganization would sweep the whole thing. The disorganization would sweep every company in the business. And I just don't know how many of those executives would want to stay around for that unless they got paid super money. You know Tony is a kid whose dad threw a lot of money at him and because of that he became an executive as opposed to you become an executive because you start working somewhere and you gain knowledge and experience and people notice you and say let's give him a shot. He never had that he was an executive from day one. The idea of him running the wrestling industry which is what it would be is scary is scary. He would just start ghosting people. I mean we've heard of him doing that the people and I'm not saying WWE is creative is great right now or that we don't have lots of problems with WWE but the idea of Tony con after this past week of that pay per view in this dynamite. If he on top of all that was running raw and SmackDown and you know he would want to run it hands on. He'd be doing dynamite raw SmackDown NXT and collision every single week. And he'd be looking for a Nikon because Nikon will be the first one out the door. But here's something else when you think about it the reason why that so many people said well it's good for AEW to exist alongside WWE because competition drives the prices, drives the salaries up of the wrestlers. It's better for the boys right because there can't be a monopoly. Well if there was a monopoly under Tony it actually would be better for the boys but it would completely kill the entire wrestling business outside of Tony's particular little umbrella because Tony would still pay the guys more than he had to. He would still overpay the guys and he would still sign him to contracts and just for more money than they'd ever seen like it has been for now six, seven years. And he would never fire anybody except in extreme cases. He'd just send them to the cornfield. And so they'd all be making a fucking fortune but it would kill the business everywhere else because every wrestler worth any goddamn thing would be working for Tony and just either be sitting at home or on one of these TV shows. And he never says no and how's he going to turn anybody down. So no other promotion would have a shot at anybody worth anything. And then there you and then the whole business is in the toilet because can you imagine the WWE fans if they saw suddenly these if suddenly dynamite and collision started airing in place of Raw and SmackDown. Can you imagine the classic what the fuck that would it be emitted from everybody watching. Can you imagine what would happen in 2023 of Tony Conn purchased WWE and knowing that he is maybe the premier disciple of Dave Meltzer right now. And they did an inter promotional thing. He would have had a WWE crush probably the opposite of what they've ever done in the past because why wouldn't he why wouldn't he have Moxley and Omega and the Bucks go over all the top guys there it's his company. So we averted that. But never underestimate the amount of capital Tony Conn has access to at any time because his father has shown there are no signs of pulling back. There are no signs of you've gone too far you're cut off. No it's more. Here's more. I'll just say one more thing about these inter promotional rivalries or whatever. They always when it's when it could ever be done correctly it's it's incredible right. But there's always a fucking problem. At one point it was Vince when he brought anybody in from WCW he didn't want anybody to look competitive he wanted to remake them. And or when it would finally he ended up with the whole thing he didn't want to pay the big salaries for the major stars to come in so they could do it right. It had any type of inter promotional issue which we've been talking about lately with the Smoky Mountain WCW thing and the bodies in the rock and roll. Has to be presented where that the rosters or the the participants or the or the promotions even not in the Smoky Mountain WCW case but in a WCW WF e rivalry case. They have to be presented as somewhat equal. And when the home promotion wins and brings them all together they've got to sacrifice some of their guys to get the other guys over to their audience. Because if all the other guys were already over to their audience those other guys company would have won. Blah blah blah. So it's it's always needs to be somewhat competitive until you get to and that's what nobody ever gets. And the problem is again in 2023 versus now except for the wind and punk crossover the River Styx. But the point is the rosters would be so heavily WW e and most people's minds that the W roster wouldn't compare. Yes they do a bunch of moves but there you know it wouldn't have been the only way they could have been competitive was having moves and matches in the ring. But as far as star power overness legendary status whatever. Blah. CM Punk returned to WW e November 2023. So the same year Tony Contr tried to buy the company. Oh boy. He would have just fucking said well fuck it. I'm just going back over Chicago. That would have been what a real by the way technically if he had purchased it or won the bidding it would have been a big deal. It would have been a different company that owns a W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. scheme to me. Maybe they could merge with free mantle and be free base. Oh, you're I hurt myself. You were going to go somewhere, Jim. I heard you. I'm going to lay somewhere right there. How is going somewhere that's a mouthwash came back. We go from from that to, you know, what? What we need to do is just somebody needs to turn a hose on Tony Khan. Just calm him down. That's what they used to do back in the country. They don't recommend it now, but they used to do it back in the country when you find two dogs fucking on the side of the road. Just turn the hose on. But folks, you don't need to waste your hose on dogs on the side of the road because you can put it in your yard where it belongs. As long as you have a hose that comes from our new friends over at pocket hose. Because I'll tell you what I figured out the other day, Brian, and I'm an idiot. Did I tell you about this? I'm an idiot. I figured it out. Oh, I didn't. You did not. I was on mute. Did I tell you how I was an idiot who muted himself? No, you did not tell me. Well, I'll tell you how I was an idiot because remember when I got all those trees and bushes planted a couple of summers ago when I was telling the people at every podcast I was dragging those heavy stiff hoses, 200, 300 feet all around the property, trying to water those things in the midst of a heat wave. And it is about giving me a stroke and a heart attack every morning. I could have had pocket hose because pocket hose is the world's number one expandable hose. If you've ever wanted your hose to get bigger, well, just feed them better. But also, Brian, as soon as I got this thing, I don't know if you've tried your yet, but I've plugged mine up immediately and it turns. It's got the super duper brass chrome, whatever the fuck that shiny shit is that tightens right on the spigot. So my spigot don't drip because, you know, I've had problems with my drippage. My spigot got old, Brian, and it started dripping, but not with this thing clamped on to it. And the copperheads pocket pivot, swivels 360 degrees so you can get full water flow, you can go one way and in the other way. And the best part about it is the hose, which is just like a little tiny little thing weighs mere ounces, like a little garden snake. So when you turn the water on, then it expands into a giant anaconda and just massive from the Amazonian rainforest that you can spray that dig up water all over. I'm watering flowers. I'm watering trees. I'm watering weeds now because it's so much fun. Now there's things you can't do with this hose, Brian. You probably shouldn't water the weeds, but go ahead. Well, I'm having fun. Now, I thought, you know, if you're a person with a with a creek on their property and you're walking by and you're seeing a fish has jumped out and he's flopping around because he can't breathe because he ate the water. Do not try to stick the nozzle in his mouth and give him a big drink and turn the nozzle on. Oh, shit goes everywhere. Okay. This is a suggestion. I don't even think we have to give because I don't think anyone will make that mistake, but why don't I make that mistake? And that's why I'm trying to warn the P and I'll tell you, God down the street from me, they had a problem with their great grandmother, Bula, 97 years old, unfortunately passed away sitting on a front porch. The worst part is family was on vacation for a couple of weeks. So when they came back, they've been trying to find something to wash that front porch off and don't do that with the hose either. Ladies and gentlemen, no, let's work out. Why don't we focus on the agricultural uses for the hose and the course? Jim, I told them when I spoke to them, yes, if there's anyone who loves working on their property or at least directing people to work on his property. Yes. No one loves that more than Jim Cornette. So I can't think of anyone who would love the pocket hose more than you. I have used the pocket hose and also the Monroe boys have used the pocket hose all in the last week or so. And folks, again, super light, ultra durable pocket hose copperhead, backed with a 10 year warranty, shrinks back down to pocket size for effortless handling and tidy storage. While at the same time it's rust proof and anti burst. And if you want to squirt, boy, you could just take this all around and get several of them and just attach them one to the other because they have those cool connectors on them. And you could just make a train that you could go down the street in somebody's subdivision and just water everybody's fucking yard. Whether they want it or not, they need it. Again, let's just let's just focus on everyone's. Well, do it after dark. Do it after dark when it's not so obvious. You probably get away with it. Why don't we stay in the light, Jim, go to the light and let the listeners know we have a great deal for them. Again, it's about to be springtime or it is or. It's yes, it's all happening. Ladies and gentlemen, it's it's it's happened. It's happened. Spring is here. The plants need water. The trees need water. The mulch. And there's so many things happening. You need the right mechanism to deliver the water. You need a hose clamped onto the side of your house by the spigot there that will just spray water all around your property in a various way. And right now now here's something we ain't got a website here. This is a text offer and Brian, you know how to text. But my listeners and yours, it says right here can get a free pocket pivot. That's so you know, when you ejaculate the water, it can go both ways. And their tin pattern sprayer. And boy, it's got all kids got the hard spray and it's got this light mist and it's got the poop and it's all kinds of in between on the the the hose nozzle there. You can get the free pocket pivot and the tin pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copper head hose. If you text JCE to 64,000. That's JCE to 64,000. You're going to get a free pocket pivot and a tin pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copper head hose. So Brian, you know how to text. We're going to text JCE to 64,000. And then somebody copies it out on a piece of paper and send somebody a note. Did they put a stamp on something and how does that work from there? Again, they handle things on their end their way. But it's a great deal. Stokely half away gets no hose, but you can get the pocket hose today. Take care of your lawn. Take care of all the things that need water on your property. Simply text JCE to 64,000 64,000 and get a free pocket pivot and the 10 pattern sprayer with the purchase of any copper head hose. Once again, text JCE to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. And just don't try to spray off the remains of great grandma Bula. Pocket hose. All right, Brian, well, we put it off, but now let's let's get it over with. We have to recognize a few of the things that happened on A.E.W. dynamite for March 18th. What was that was the subtitle of the program? Tony Kahn's dreams of a rare bit fiend. Possibly the Windsor McKay reference may have gone over some heads of the audience. How about let's pick up a turd from the clean end and talk about dynamite. How about that? I have a two volume set of those here in the office. Of course, I have all the little needles. What the turds with the clean ends or the Windsor McKay? Windsor McKay. I have everything Windsor McKay ever published in various forms. Well, and he's wondering where it is to he'd like it back. Well, let's talk about dynamite. I have to say. Yes. Regardless of what you think of A.E.W. Lately, they've been super serving their fans and to me coming off a pay per view. In the same state, right? I think they were still in California that they've been getting all these things with the hot crowds. It's the deadest crowd they've had in a long time. And it was the worst book show. Not that, you know, Tony Kahn's Eddie Graham, but. The bookings been better than whatever this whatever this show was. I don't know why it was. Well, this was an opportunity for several of his, you know, golden boys to to, you know, live out their fantasies of, you know, Darby wants to make movies and it's just. And the crowd, even for some of the people that would normally be the people that these crowds would like, we're like, what the fuck is going on here? But again, we ain't going to go through every bell and whistle, but I can't believe that they started off. With a match with Will Osprey. And not only a match with Will Osprey, but against Blake Christian, who I thought it was going to be a squash match because I didn't see who was in the ring. And you know, I've used him on the show where he's lost matches, but I thought it would be a quick win for Will Osprey. OK, interesting. It wasn't that. It wasn't that either. I was gobsmacked that they do it at all, but especially with a guy that looks like a barista on meth. He's got a just a weird odd. I don't know what the fuck is going on. But the top baby face will Osprey that everybody can agree, at least at this point, he's a baby face before they fuck him up any worse. We don't know. Most of the other baby faces also are either unlikeable or they burn people's houses down or whatever is going on. But the top baby face has been out with an injury for six months. And his first match back where apparently he can do everything he needs to do just as well as he ever has. It's three days after the pay-per-view against an anonymous dip shit on. It just free television and a meaningless match with no. Preadvertising. Well, beyond that, again, it wasn't a squash match. This guy was getting all this shit in on Will Osprey for a while. Oh, yes, but I didn't even got there yet. Let's not put the fucking bullshit before the fucking cart that's going to carry it. The fact that they would do this, I'm like, what the fuck? Lawler was out for a year with a broken leg in Memphis. They advertised his fucking return finally after all that time and they sold out every building in the territory. The fucking flair came back from the injury of the pile driver with funk in the summer of 89, blah, blah, blah. And it was the biggest pay-per-view they ever did for the first six or seven years under the goddamn Turner administration. I could go chapter and verse on countless times where a major baby face has been out due to an injury of some kind that they were told at least. And in this case, it may have been true that it may be done and see makes a triumphant return. It's not that he runs out on pay-per-view and goddamn kicks the shit out of somebody unless you're building to the next pay-per-view where we actually get to seem wrestle. But he comes out and kicks the shit out of somebody for 30 seconds on the pay-per-view and in three days later, he's having a 15 minute long fucking match or whatever with a job guy. He's back. What the fuck? And even if they were going to do. It just give his return away and something meaningless like he's not doing the promo. I've goddamn waited for the moment that I'm going to step back in the ring and risk it all to get even with you. Whatever the fuck. Then as you said, now. Three minutes into this, it should have been okay. I can still do all my shit. Let him thumb me in the eye and stop me for a minute. Boom. Beat him with the boom shackle. Three minutes into this, they were fighting on the railing in the front row. And this pale little dip shit was kicking the bejesus out of Osprey. Yeah. That was that shocked me. I couldn't believe that they were letting him take over on Osprey. And like you said, it went 15 minutes. And then why would Osprey think it's a good idea to do all this shit on his big return with nobody McGee? And I'd even wrote taking notes on this right about halfway through as as if finally he's making his comeback. Holy shit. The guy took back over. And then he gave Osprey a DDT on the floor, a 450 splash. He was getting two and seven eighths counts. I wrote these people are insane. And he milked giving Osprey his own finish, but Osprey jumped up an elbowed him and then again, backed up and gave him the fucking elbow to the back of the head, which of course he completely in the camera shot was perfect. He bumps the guy with his fucking upper body and the elbow goes completely over the fucking head. He does. 117 things in the ring that are more impressive and more impactful and more athletic. And that's his finish is that stupid fucking elbow to the back of the head. So he did that. And then you want to talk about the promo or did you have any observations on the the match that we haven't expressed? I was surprised they had a will Osprey match. They started the show with it. Okay, maybe they want to do something. I thought it'll be a quick squash in a promo. And instead he did everything against a guy who almost beat him. For 15 minutes and this guy's I got Blake Christian. Have you been on this show? It's been like in a tag match or something losing. I don't understand. Look at the fucking state of him. I don't understand the point of that. If it was an Osprey win in two minutes, three minutes, he does a couple big things, but not too much. You're still wondering what he can and can't do cuts to promo. To me, that's stronger. Doesn't fill up as much time, but it's stronger. And makes a statement and speaking of a statement, the one good thing about it is, but time that he got to the promo, he was so blown up. He speaks slowly enough where you can understand what he's fucking saying. And he didn't drone on endlessly. He got the basic comments out said fucking and got bleeped. But directed it at Moxley. And of course, Moxley's music plays immediately. And as Moxley's wandering through the crowd in the back of the arena, Osprey jumps out of the ring, runs back there, starts beating him up and beats up Yuta. And gets Moxley in the ring about right where he wants him and Pat jumps in and jumps on Osprey and put some of the stretch fucking dingbat on Osprey. It is just cranking even half and the security and the referee. So now we've got after Osprey's triumphant return, which was given away with no advanced notice and a meaningless match that it was way too competitive. Then the fucking heels have jumped even there. And the midcard heel is kicking a shit out of the top baby face. And then they drag them out there while Osprey's selling in the ring. Music plays and Ace Austin and Juice Robinson and one of the gun boys or whoever the fuck start making their entrance while the referees are yelling at packed to get out of there. But Osprey gets back up and runs and jumps on back in the back of the arena and they all just fight off. And you never see Osprey again. And the gang bang gang gang bang gang gang gang gang gang gang lady. All those fellas continue going to the ring. What the fucking hell is happening? And again, even if you wanted Osprey to make his own comeback after all that needless bullshit. Imagine if it was a stone cold Steve Austin coming back or a Sean Michaels or a goddamn Cody Rhodes or a what you would see him standing in the ring ready to go at the end of. And then Moxley and you took jump on the gang bangers and they started a tag team match. Brian your thoughts. I'll save my tag team match thoughts for whatever you're going to say about that. And no, I'm just talking about what we've just fucking seen here. I reaffirm everything I said before about you to and the usage of him here. If the idea is wrestlers going past gorilla triggers the person to play the music. Who played Moxley's music? Because he was the other direction. How did they know he was about to come out? Who gives the signal? Yeah, I was surprised that they ended this with Osprey getting his ass kicked to me. That kind of defeated a lot of what this should have been, which was Osprey wins a quick squash match, does a promo. You can't wait to see what's next. If what's next is him and Pac, I don't know. I'm sure it'll be a lot of high flying, but. That's the thing. They're they're not booking for what the big main event match would be. They're booking for oh, it'll be cool to see Will versus Pac. What the fuck. And then again, immediately we've got Moxley and you and you know, they got nothing out of shaving the head. He didn't wear a wig. Or a mask, something they could pull off and we go, oh my God, you're seeing me. He looks less like a wrestler now because without the hair, it's just the skinny build. He hasn't put on any size. The hair at least make them look like a, you know, just some crazy kid. You want to punch or something? I would. They got nothing out of that. Like they got nothing out of the oil. We'll talk about the wheelchair in a second. But anyway, it's juice and ace. So, you know, they're not going to be able to get a little bit of a punch. Well, we'll talk about the wheelchair in a second. But anyway, it's juice and ace. Poor juice. He could have been a contender. I had no interest in watching any of this. The immediate four way, right? So, that's all I've got to say about that. Did I miss anything? No, I'll just say. I remember, can you? Like you, no, I watched it. I mean, it's what you expect. I guess the big thing to me is just juice. Robinson somehow went from having a really marketable look and personality. To just having a bad haircut and losing matches. Yeah. I can't explain how any of that happened. He was, he looked so marketable and he was so interesting and entertaining. Yeah. Everything just the gear, the haircut, just everything. It became unappealing. I don't know. It's just there's something missing now. Well, and another thing that's missing is the freshness of it. Because now he's just been around where they're like, oh, yeah, there he is again. Coming and going. All right, let's get to the fiasco of this program because even the people in the building just collectively farted all over this. I had been a long time since I've seen any A.W. crowd with with Darby Allen or someone of his magnitude on the card level on the fucking popularity scheme. And that I've seen people just stand there and go, what, what the fuck is going on? We are not remotely involved in this. And it's just so stupid because they were supposedly, I don't know. I'm trying to figure out how to go into it. Damn, I'm burying the lead room. I give it away. What I just say, they were in a fucking major car accident and then went and had a coffin match. Well, they were outside in the middle of the day, sun out. It looked like a very nice day if you wanted to get a tan or something. It's got both pale white, but they were out there and then the action took place first out there. There was the car crash and there was the brawl before the car crash and then there was the post car crash car crash. And car crash. All right, so what happened, folks? There's supposed to be a coffin match between Gabe Kidd and Darby Allen and they had a handmade pine box with rope handles at ringside. So it did have that grungy, indie look and it also looked grungy and indie for national TV. But Gabe Kidd had said he's going to meet Darby in the parking lot. So he's outside and screeching in that, that accent and that voice that you have come to know and love. That's why I fuck you and fuck this and fuck everyone. Fuck you. Should have said it, but the scrub, everything was and that little voice just fuck this and fuck that. It's like, it's like the fucking mayor of Munchkinland is threatening you and with profanity. But here comes, he's out there to parking lot. That's Gabe and Darby pulls up in a fucking beat up old car and jumps out of it and they have one of the sloppy staged fights that all the young kids do where they have to make as much noise and as many fake grunts and noises and sound effects as possible. And they say shit that if you're having an easy enough fight that you're really talking in sentences besides mother fucker, then it's fake already anyway, but but they're not convincing in the in the pro wrestling realm of having a fight and yelling at each other. And then door, Darby, Darby, Darby poured something on a cloth out of a fucking like it was a cleaning fluid. Does he buy his chloroform by the gallon and Parsons it out? What the fuck was that supposed to be? It was not like a jar of medical anything. And it wasn't like the old ether gimmick, which is I'll tell you folks, his engine starting fluid, which is ether based. And when you spray it on the rag, you smell ether a mile away, get it at Home Depot or at fucking all the auto parts places. And if you put put it on somebody's face, they'll goddamn pass out eventually and they'll probably vomit before then. But this was just a jar of not a jar, but of like a plastic giant squeeze bottle of shit. He pours it on the cloth. He puts it in Gabe kid's face and it must have been some good shit because Gabe went out pretty quick. And then Darby opens the trunk of the car, puts Gabe kid in the trunk, slam, boom. When you said when he opened the trunk was your first thought? How's he going to lift Gabe kid? How's Darby going to lift him? Well, Gabe was he was still was, you know, he was unconscious conscious. He was still enabled enough to roll in there. You know, he just was disoriented. It's one of those Russo drugs he gave Dr. Stevie Richards. And he puts him in a trunk and then he gets in the car backs up and then honks his horn and pulls out. And as he drives across the camera, it pans by. He drives into a pile of shit that they're just at somewhere in the parking lot. There just happened to be a pile of shit in this building parking lot. The old junk shit. And he flipped the car. I say he the car flips. The car flips over on purpose and lands on its roof and then Darby crawls out a window and then a shot of the trunk lid falls open and Gabe kid falls out and the crowd laughs from the inside. That was the one reaction you heard from the inside. And of course, in what has all been done here, there were edits where you can clearly. See if you wanted to that they'd all gotten out of the car and that whatever the fuck was going on, it was bullshit. But that's then after games fallen out of the trunk of the car that he's been in the trunk of while it was crashed and flipped over allegedly trademark. Then Darby puts him on an equipment case with wheels on it so he can roll him off. And before we go any further, Brian, your comments on kids who want to make movies being funded by billionaire idiots. Darby Allen's greatest day was the day he met Tony Khan. And it was the relationship his entire life has been waiting for. This guy will pay me to do my wrestling thing and then also allow me to do all this other crazy shit that I'm dying to do. I just saw some video the other day and again, I get it. Wrestlers sometimes bungee jump. But if it wasn't the Grand Canyon, it was something that looked like the fucking Grand Canyon and it was him with the biggest budget court you've ever seen jumping off, but he flipped. So he's just flipping it. Like nonstop as he goes down. Even the person who saw him going, holy shit. And it's just this week's stunt, not even counting the car crash he organized. And here's the thing. Darby may have been in the car when it went over. He may have been driving it, although I don't think so because I think they would have left that to an actual professional. But who knows with these people gave kid one in a fucking trunk. And it's just it's silliness. It's silliness. I'm sorry to cut you off. No, I'm just going to. I'm happy everyone's OK. Well, they were OK enough that now they go on in the building to have their match because they go back to the announcers. Well, oh, geez, holy mackerel and Darby is wheeling Gabe kid into the arena on the equipment case and wheels him down to the ring and gets starts getting all of his gimmicks out. He's got a skateboard. He needs a chair. He's got a straight jacket. And this was the fans were just staring at this shit. And then Darby puts puts the chair out, sets it up and sits game kid in the chair and is putting the straight jacket on him like this fucking guy is incapable of resisting from the chloroform that he's undergone. And then right as he's got him in a straight jacket and in the chair, he goes to hit him over there with a skateboard and Gabe kid kicks him into balls. And then somehow gave kid busted Darby Allen open and he's bleeding all over his head. And I wrote what is this? This is the worst shit I've ever seen. And they went to a break. They went to a fucking break. And they came back a three minutes later Darby is up power bombing Gabe kid off the top rope and Gabe kid is still wearing the fucking straight jacket. After he's been beaten Darby up for three minutes. And did you hear the chant from the fans Brian, which was I've never heard this at an AEW show before. What they say. You didn't hear it then. I had it on mute for a lot of the match. Well, there you go. We want tables. No, we don't. I swear to if it wasn't a full throated we want tables it was like if let's say it was a 70 or 60% we want tables and a 30 or 35% no we don't. We want tables. No we don't. That's that's. So I hit fast forward because it was still going for three or four more minutes with his skateboard idiocy and the bleeding and the fucking chairing and finally Darby did a big dive and body blocked old Gabe kid and Gabe kid fell in the box and put us all out of our misery. And then Darby gets the microphone and just says, I'm going to keep on the throttle until I see God or win the world title. And MJF, I'm looking at you or whatever the fan. Everybody with nobody popped. Nobody did you hear that part. I'm sorry because the promos I took it off mute. I took it off me a few times during the match to because there was no reaction. There was no reaction to the straight jacket, which I don't think I've seen used in wrestling in quite a while. No reaction to that. No reaction. Not just this match to a lot of things on this show again. They've had hot California crowds lately. This was the exact opposite. And Darby, they didn't seem to care or they didn't want it. I don't know. And well, I think part of the thing with the straight jacket, it takes so long. It takes so long and all this took so long. But also with the car wreck that they watched on the screen coming first and then them coming out here and do it all this stupid shit that took so long to set up. I think people's horseshit detector just finally went off like this is just fucking ridiculous. You see, I don't know when that point was though, because I was listening when Darby rolled them into the building. And there was like no re I expected there to be some kind of pop once they saw Darby come out from the back wheeling. No, that's what I'm saying. At that point, it was so preposterous. That they were literally coming in on that wheelie box 30 seconds after they just seen a car wreck. Then it was just like, oh, come on, they didn't they didn't even try to do it good on this one and fake it right type of thing. And again, it was just it. And I think this killed a lot of the I mean, they weren't screaming at the start. But this killed they liked Osprey. They were screaming there. But it went downhill. I think this killed it for the rest of the night. Yeah, they were screaming. They were happy to see Osprey come back and then he immediately got his ass kicked. Oh, yeah. That that didn't help either. Yeah. Damn it. The big major return of the top baby face after six months, he gets a shit kicked out of him. Then they have to watch a fucking car wreck. Oh, I forgot. And then a death writers match. That's even worse. That's right. Then a fucking car wreck on the screen and then the two guys come in and have a can't say have a match do stunts with gimmicks. Oh boy. No wonder they were pissed. You know what this this show Brian, this whole fucking show it, I would say it was for the dogs, but that would insult the dogs. You couldn't make good dog food out of this show here that they presented. No, you couldn't. I will. No, you couldn't. That's what you can't say. You cannot make good dog food out of this. So I could take a breath. I was hoping you'd reaffirm that. Well, I'll tell you what folks, when it comes to dog food, you don't want to feed your dogs a W wrestling. That's no no no. And it seems like these days you got to make a choice. You can either have nice fresh healthy food or you could have food that's easy to store and easy to serve. But never the twain meats until now. You don't have to make the choice anymore between giving your beloved fur baby your member of the family. Complete dreck. Just because it happens to be easy in your hurry, scurry life or catering to them and having a private chef come in three times a day and fixing them up all the things with caviar. Now, you there's somewhere in the middle and that's where Sundays for dogs.com comes in. That's right. Because Sundays for dogs is created to maximize your dog's quality of life. It's fresh dog food that usually means taking up freezer space or time to throw and prep or a lot of mess. But you can get the good without the hassle with Sundays because it was founded by a veterinarian and a mother. I'm not sure whether she became one or the other first. But hopefully the mother part first, who got tired of seeing so called premium dog food full of fillers and synthetics. And this is air dried real food made in a human grade kitchen using the same ingredients and care that you would use to cook for yourself and your family. Brian, you have tasted Sundays for dogs and I understand the children are big fans. Once again, every bite of Sundays and made from real meat, fruits and vegetables with no kibble. So again, a whole class of kindergartners could go apeshit over this stuff. Once again for dogs and let's stress it's for dogs and my dog, Swami is a big fan of Sundays for dogs. We actually have to make a reorder pretty soon. He loves when I go to that box. It's a cereal box filled with delicious dog treats. No, not treats. It's food. Delicious. It's filled with delicious dog food. It's a dog. It's a food that is a treat for your dog. And he enjoys it. Because once again, Sundays compared to the kibble or the other brands out there invest 50 times more in its ingredients to ensure premium quality food made with care. But again, you scoop and serve no freezer, no thawing or prep, no mess, nutrient rich clean food that fuels their happiest, healthiest days. And Brian, once again, you know, if the kids wanted to come in and just grab a handful as a snack just to graze. No, again. It's human grade food. And really, if times are tight, folks, for the whole family, you could you could stretch this with noodles. You know, just listen, you have the in between points in your life where you just can't make those ends meet. Or let's say a grandma that has so security got delayed or whatever because of the government uncertainty. Let's she might need a little bit of this and a bowl with some some milk. Again, no, no, no. This is for dogs, ladies and gentlemen, this food, this delicious dog food is delicious only to dogs because it's for dogs. And it's not just food for dogs. It's human quality food for dogs, not suggesting humans eat it. We're suggesting it be passed along. You want to pass it along to your furry friend and they will love it and enjoy it and eat it and you'll have nothing to worry about. And we have a great deal for the listeners. And of course, Jim Cornette likes his comedy and he likes his humor, but he is very serious about making sure that your dog has the right food. Jim, let's keep on this wavelength and let the listeners know. Yes, your dog needs the right food. The Sundays for dogs food. And once again, nothing bad would happen. But make the switch to Sundays. Go right now to Sundays for dogs.com slash J C E 50 and you're going to get 50% off your first order. And you can use the code J C E 50 at checkout. So just remember J C E 50. And if you go to Sundays for dogs.com, one way or another cram that sucker in there, put it in a box where it belongs. And you're going to get 50% off your first order and that way you can feed Fido for half the price. And once again, it's there in the cabinet if Pams get tough. Sundaysfordogs.com. Yeah. J C E 50 50% off. J C E 50 for Sundays for Dogs. We're big fans here at Last Manor. Check it out today for your dog. Sundaysfordogs.com. That's right. Don't let grandma eat cat food. J C E 50. We leave the rest of the family out of it. Let's get back to the rest of the family, the dynamite family, AEW dynamite. Yes. It was nine o'clock, Brian, who was a dark and stormy night at 9pm Eastern and Prince Nana was in the ring to introduce swerve Strickland and remember what I said a couple of years ago? Why don't they let Nana speak? Why don't they let Nana do she? He does everything backwards. You'll be in the company for fucking two years and suddenly you get a chance to talk. They're trying a new presentation with swerve, but he's in the ring. He does the in ring intro like I used to do the Midnight Express or whatever. He's Mr. Dangerous. He's got the new music where he remember he used to swerve when he drove because he couldn't fucking drive 55 or whatever that whole goddamn deal was. Now it's I'm dangerous. I'm dangerous or whatever the fuck. There was no reaction. People made no noise here. He's coming down in the lights and the fucking entranceway and they're standing up. They're looking. But I'm looking at the responses that even that Osprey got earlier in the show, but that the Cody Rhodes is in the CM punks and the fucking major stars on the other channel. The major baby faces get when you come and. No, he walked out. Did did Darby kill the whole show? Did did the booking kill swerve? Did they kill it? As you said beforehand before Darby got to. So Kenny. Has challenged swerve to a match with it all on the line for the number one contender spot. And I somehow that means it's all on the line. But they do. Do you think that swerve has his own writer? Donnie. Did he get one of the writer clauses like old Mercedes moan got. And he has his own writer. His cousin was hired and his cousin specifically works on swerve's creative and. Oh boy. That is or isn't the problem, depending on who you talk to within that company. And I only say that because there must be someone who says it isn't the problem. There must be somewhere. The other side for people that work in the company, except that. Well, cousin crazier, whoever's writing this stuff. This was swerve Strickland's. For a one man show. He's not a backs out swerve Gary give swerve a chair sets it up and backs out swerve sits in the chair. They have an intimate spotlight on him in the ring. And he delivers a rehearsed. Monologue like one would at a one man. Show at a small intimate off Broadway theater. He was really trying. He was trying to get in. He was trying to get in. He was going through emotions and he was. Making faces and trying to put inflection in it. I didn't hear anybody give two shits about it. I heard a slight smattering of what's. At one point in time. And that it was so dramatic. The theme was power. Power. And you know, get ahead and he wants the power. So they actually built this. They built this whole thing up. Or this guy who is. Drunken blood and. I forget he know his house got burned down his house got burned down he. He invaded the invaded Adam Page's cribs. Not his crib is baby. And the horrible things that this guy has done. And he's the most dangerous man in a. W. And he just fought it with Brody King or is the most dangerous. Do the most dangerous. Man in a. W. Is. But now he wants the rematch with Kenny only if Kenny's. EVP spot is on the line. We've gone back to this. But. Besides the fact. That Kenny has already made public statements that we reviewed what a. Couple of years back if not longer that. I never really wanted to be an EVP and I don't really do anything to. Exert my power and. And the whole EVP thing with the books and Tony con and that power. That fell flat and was all forgotten about. And. Cody was the EVP obviously he's gone Kenny was the EVP that never used any. EVP power and it was never. Accused of him. The books have already. Done a program where the EVP power was being abused and people farted at it. And now swerve wants to challenge Kenny. So that he'll be the EVP. If he beats Kenny and then he'll have the power. What the fuck are they thinking what. Well again swerve swerve's creative typically is awful. And he's gotten by because people have seemingly. Gotten behind the personality and maybe that's run out of steam too. He did a one man show. Most one man shows are in small theaters. I guarantee you any of those theaters with one person in the crowd would have made more noise than they made here. Yeah they didn't care about that. They don't want the EVP thing to be an issue. And. You know if you look at Ron Smackdown. You never hear really from any fan saying you know it's great but I think they need to go back to having. Heal general managers. Or heal executives in charge no one misses that. And I'm not saying that's what this would be. But. There's no excitement for the idea that we could potentially get a swerve strickland. Making decisions on behalf of the show. That's like a passe kind of wrestling trope. And his promos are bad. Now. You could argue. That all of a sudden this switch to being about power. In this well rehearsed promo. Is a step up. From what this feud originally was which. Is I'm the most dangerous man in a w. And how dare you say someone else is more dangerous than me. That's right that's why I put him in a hospital to begin with. Kenny's is somebody else's dangerous. Now that shifted now it's about this. So yeah and a swerve's creative typically is pretty awful. And you can tell that they made this up. After Kenny's already come back. He's like oh shit we ought to say this that'd be good. It wasn't like this was the plan for. You know all the time that since he's been away after his. Injuries we could go to Japan and do whatever the fuck. They got to have swerve go to Japan and beat up a bushy don't they. I think they ought to just have swerve go to Japan and just beat up random people on the street. Have a swerve. Kenny could defend the entire country of Japan. I think swerve should go to Japan with a bunch of weed. That may get the result. All righty then. You know of course that we're going to focus heavily on Mark Davis versus Hong Kong Fui. Hey you know Davis Davis is getting into better shape. I don't know if you've noticed but. I didn't notice a niss because it doesn't matter. I mean what's next bringing out people's grandchildren to for him to lay down for. He gets beat by this minute little fucking amoeba. He's not even a tough amoeba but. Tony is determined. I'm not even going to spend any time on him besides just said Tony is determined just like he was with the last joke that he thought was funny for five years. To have this guy just beat everybody regardless of how ridiculous he looks or how ridiculous it is. And it's this is another reason why they can't get out of their own way for this indimited bullshit. There may be a hundred people at a rec center somewhere that'll think that fucking spitball. Oh look at he's oh he's cute. And then as well we will not go into detail on another match except to cite the. The episodes near fatal. Collision they had a no holds barred match with Marina Schaeffer and Mina Melons. Because Tony Storm is injured somehow did we talk about this earlier was it on the air off the air may have been off the air. Tony Storm is now somehow injured after they just did the deal where. Rhonda Rousey appeared and distracted Tony Storm and then Marina Schaeffer knocked her out when Tony Storm has been injured somehow. Possibly from I don't want to work with that bitch I just I don't know. It could be the move to Technicolor. There you go. You know just like now just like when it when sound came in and some of the actors and the big stars just couldn't hang. Tony is a lot better looking in black and white than she is in color. But Mina now is in this thing and they again this is a girl's match between Marina Schaeffer is let's. Charitably describe her as inexperienced at best right. And Mina is a rib. And they put them in a garbage match. I think a bosom may be more appropriate. All right now. I could go tit for tat with you all day long but I won't. For heaven's sake and we'll just make a clean breast of it move on. So. Pogados. And they start to match Mina comes down to the ring with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire and then they have to do the awkward deal where it looks like she's trying to. Act like she's swinging at Marina but she isn't hitting her and then Marina traps it and hits her just takes it away and then they kicked each other and they dropped it and it was gone. And then they started the garbage match and I'm saying do these people snort their own farts before every time they get in the ring. It's just. It's ridiculous that even if you wanted anybody to go out and do fake shit with a barbed wire baseball bat. Why would it be these two girls instead of your goddamn main event guys. You could actually make some. Well you can't make any money out of it anymore because they've all seen it. But then at some point in this fiasco. They thought it was going to be a good idea again and these girls are going to kill themselves one of these days. They have to break the furniture like the guys do they thought it would be a good idea for. Easy wudsy to give Mina. Basically a belly to back suplex a fucking luthes Greco Roman backdrop. Off the apron of the ring through a fucking table on the floor. But in doing so. Marina picked her up and went off just fine and Marina went right through the table. And because Mina was over on the side. She went right past the table and it basically it was a Greco Roman backdrop off the apron onto the floor. The table broke Marina's fall and nothing broke Mina's fall. No, and then after they got her up and got her back in the ring and then she won the match. Like within 30 seconds. So what the fuck in the world. How it. It seems versus Ron the Rousey that should be great. Oh, a battle of the shooters to rival the Gracie fucking feuds from years ago. Even if they went home quickly because oh my God we just shook her up. For the sake of the goddamn match. You just picked this woman up and gave her this devastating move it looked like it killed her. So now let's roll her back in the ring so she can win real quick and get out of here. How stupid did that fucking look. Pretty stupid. But again the focus everything was about the backdrop the shoot backdrop to the floor. That didn't look good. And we've seen it now a few times where people with limited or no experience going through tables are sent out there to go through tables backwards. Remember Stokely. Back when flying past the table. That's what put him in the wheelchair. Right. I forgot about that. Yeah, that's right. You know your AEW sir. Well thank you. I just know my fucking wasted angles that we'll get to here in a minute because later on when Stokely comes out he's walking. He's walking again. He got up for that meaningless bullshit at the pay-per-view. Eddie he's walking. All right, but nevertheless. Were you done there? I don't want to run off and leave. I am done. You can run off. I'd the wrestler should have. Yeah, well the main event which we won't talk about but the aftermath we will was the buckaroos and jungle jackoff against Rocky Romero and boring and Trent. What the. They have a clause in their contract. Maddie and Nikki that they only have to play with their friends to the point that they brought Trent back. We've seen him in like three years. I believe he joined the countless family early on with Rocky Romero and then he's one of the countless family members that's only there like one at every five or six appearances. Good God. So base they had that match and it is what you would imagine it would be. And then when the baby faces when then old jungle jack takes off and the hardly boys did the insincere promo about how we let our families down we lost FTR and they rolled down hard and you can't. You can't believe anything they say there's phony on their face of it is a get well card from an undertaker. And suddenly then age and Christians music plays. And out they come and edge. We know how you guys feel. Because I haven't been able to look at Beth in the eye for six months until they found it now she's in the clear but we didn't know if she might have needed spinal fusion. I swear to God this thing. They attacked his wife and hurt her so badly that she may have needed spinal fusion and he hadn't been able to look her in the eye for six months. And that's why he waited six months to fucking come back and get even with the guys that did it. It was longer than six months wasn't it. Wherever the fuck how that's what he was saying. Hey that's the timeline he was given. But everybody's moved on maybe Beth has moved on maybe she don't want to look you in the eye. They ever think about that. You might fucking see you know you can't hide your lion eyes and your smile is thin disguise. I should see there what you're doing Brian. It's proven. So. They can get even edge and Christian can. With FTR by taking the tag team titles from FTR at the very next pay per view which I guess is the week before WrestleMania so we got to suffer through another one of these town killing extravaganza is right before the big show. And they just wanted to let the bucks know. That that's what they were going to do because well just you know I guess out of courtesy and it Christian also said. I want the tag team title make lots of extra money. And we'll also prove that we're the best tag team of all time. And that's when they play FTR is music and again FTR comes out Stokely is limping now they got nothing out of the wheelchair thing. Nobody ever took it seriously. He never got any heat with it. Just like the thing you useless and his shaved head. They never did anything with it. And now he's just limping around like a fucking. Limpin guy that don't get no hose. And when FTR get he sends FTR to the ring. Dax gets in the ring and edge spears him. He's done. Cash gets in the ring and fucking Christian kicks him in the balls. He's done. And then they drop their belts and they roll back out and then the buckaroos and edge and Christian both pick up one end of each belt and have a brief little. Not tug of war but just awkward moment. And then the buckaroos let edge and Christian have the belts and get out of the ring. And so FTR. They were over two in executing any move they both took one bump I got to fuck out of there left their belts their managers goddamn useless. And they're already building edge and Christian and the books before they've even had the goddamn grudge match from six months ago where the heels hospitalized the baby faces wife Brian I'm about to have an aneurysm. When do you think we're going to get the three way match when do you think we'll get the three way ladder match. What kind of timeline you think we're looking at. I don't know I would have to put pen to paper and try to sketch that out for you but. And again. Edge and Christian and the buckaroos the bucks just turned baby face and edge Christian our baby faces Christian by virtue of being with the edges of the and. But it's the same thing as earlier now Moxley and his ilk are on the wrong side of goddamn. What who are they. The fucking callous family. So the Moxley's been the baby faces but Moxley is is being targeted by goddamn. Dip shit. Who's he mad at what the fuck is happening here. Will Osprey remember attacked. That's awesome. Osprey came out after Moxley wrestled to Kesta who's the baby face member of the heel stable. Although he doesn't have the guts to break away just yet. Yes. The dynamics are all the dynamics. Osprey was Osprey was cutting the promo on Moxley and Moxley's guys are heels against him but their baby faces. Against the callous family or reduce an ace. I don't know what they were probably just. Late on car payments that's why they had to come to work. Well yeah. You know I think for anyone excited about anything out of the pay per view any of their fans. This dynamite was a big miss. They didn't seem to. Go with that and make it better. It's almost like a step backwards. I know that a tape them J.F. promo. No Adam Page tape Kenny Omega promo. But it just seemed like coming out of that pay per view where you had a lot of returns. Ronda Rousey's debut or first appearance in A.W. not ring of honor. And it just seemed like one of the worst dynamites maybe ever. Well at least there's nowhere to go but up. All right. That was so profound. It took you a minute to think about it. That's right. Exit stage up. All right. Before we exit stage right to the next segment talk about something else besides A.E.W. I understand that Uncle Dave has weighed in Brian on the the star ratings for that cataclysmic pay per view that they just did with that freak show torture porn main event and the endless parade of terror that preceded it that went nearly six hours into the stratosphere. Dave has basically said it may have been the greatest pay per view ever held in the history of paper weeks. Well Dave like that actually is that's actually what he said. I don't know that exact quote he may have but I have the star. Oh he's he's he's he said one of the things he prefaced everything with was this may have been the greatest pay per view of all time. Wow. Well no it wasn't. We can go to the star ratings here. Let me just make that comment here. Dave is not one of the greatest pay per views of all time but Jim the pre show big boom AJ and QT Marshall defeated Sean Dean and Charlie Bravo the infantry seven minutes 41 seconds two and a half stars. Well you got to start somewhere and he didn't want to be unkind to the opening match. And you know it's a fine opening match to get the building into the mood. You don't have people booing that the match is taking place. So it's just well but also except the thing is now see without having seen it with Dave the way he gives out four and five stars if it's only two and a half stars that might mean that one of them had explosive diarrhea in the midway through the fucking heat. I like the way Dave described the end of the batch to here. The finish saw AJ pick up Bravo and a power bomb. Marshall came off the top rope with a blockbuster AJ pen Bravo. The closing scene was Wayne Brady. Aaron Solo who was at ringside for some reason had no involvement in the match. Marshall AJ Rizzler and Justice. Celebrity. Yeah why was Aaron Solo there? I know it used to be a QT stable but that was a long time ago. Jim Willow Nightingale retained the TVS title over Lena Cross. 10 minutes 56 seconds. Two and three quarter stars. Well we're picking up now ramping it up baby by the time we get to show time we're going to be in more stars than there are in the heavens. Which makes you wonder what will happen in the next match because it touched both ends starting on the pre-show ending in the pay-per-view. Wait a minute. So now how did you say was this just an accident that you said a match involving Ricochet would touch both ends? Well Jim a battle royal for the national title held by Ricochet in 22 minutes and 38 seconds won by Jack Perry. Three and three quarter stars. Well we saw the last 90 seconds or whatever and that was enough for me. I can't imagine what the previous 20 minutes looked like. The first official match of the pay-per-view. FTR defeated the Young Bucks to retain the AEW tag team titles. 19 minutes 42 seconds. Five and a half stars. Five and a half stars. You said as FTR matches or as Bucks matches go. I said as Bucks matches go it was better than normal. Well you said as the FTR and Bucks matches go it was probably the better one. Yes. But is it ridiculous at this point to keep giving this stratospheric rating to a couple of guys who just because they're his friends and they have neighboring hometowns. They don't matter nobody cares they're getting older and they're doing the same shit nothing is different nothing has changed. They have no different. Not even the referee abilities no different favor even the referee yes but they have no different abilities. Look. Fucking gimmick at outlook on the why their reason for being in the industry. The new angle of fresh progura it's the same old shit all the fucking time with these guys. Well Dave Meltzer wrote this was the best of their series of matches and that's saying a lot and among the best tag team matches ever in the United States. In the United States like there's been many more in Swaziland. Jim time was tody storm defeated Marina Shafir nine minutes 48 seconds for star match. Oh again at this point. I mean why do I even bother to point out that that's the level of a flare and steamboat match or an angle and fucking Samoa Joe match or whatever and you're giving it to. Yeah green and greener I'm sorry. Jim John Moxley defeated canos gate to Kesta to retain the continental title in a no time limit match with everyone barred from ringside. 23 minutes 32 seconds five star match. Oh Christ. Well again. Is this American Idol but you're only giving points for if they can sing really loud. Between Moxley's horrible work as a see through phoniness of it and. To catch his lack of emotion in in many places and complete floundering of booking and the total. Non reason for him to have that match over another one of the endless belts. And that's five stars. I don't what is he looking at they can't. Again to cash to a good athlete and has decent basics and could be led but he can't cut a promo he's never going to be a single main event guy. As a baby face which is what they're apparently trying to make him as a heal with a manager to talk for him. They could have got mileage out of him but that time is gone because he's been hanging around so long. And Moxley is just insulting to anyone who ever took any pride in the craft of pro wrestling. Because of the phony shit that he does over and over again whether it looks phony or it's obviously phony because the bleach didn't poison anybody or whatever. Phony and stupid and distasteful he's no better than a fucking Nick Gage which is the lowest form of functional life on the wrestling totem pole. That's five stars. Dave Meltzer wrote this was match of the year level and it wasn't even match of the show. Megan Bain and Lena Cross won the AW women's tag titles from Willa Nightingale and Harley Cameron. Five minutes. Two star match. Oh okay there basically they got through five minutes without anybody breaking a bone. That's what he grades that. Swerve Strickland defeated Brody King 14 minutes 19 seconds. Wow four and a quarter stars. Fuck what was the matter with that? According to Dave it must have sucked. Yeah I don't remember being that good or that bad I guess in some ways. Tekla Jim retained the AW women's title defeating Chris Stathlander in two out of three falls 17 minutes eight seconds three and a quarter stars. Boy howdy and again going that long that late in that show was just death. I mean again if even if the people there in the building were the most motivated of all and wanted to see all this stuff. There's a lot more people watching the broadcast it's like my God will they ever get to the point. And this was obviously we didn't watch this so I'm sure I did as well. I did it was alright I thought it was pretty good. Three and a half stars. That seems about fair I think not crazy not not crazy. Jim Mystico and Speedball Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight won the AWTRIO's titles from Mark Davis, Kyle Fletcher and Kazushka Okada. I bet you can guess who got pinned in that match. Four and three quarter stars. Oh good 17 minutes 22 seconds. This random six man tag team match was better than almost every match ever held before five years ago. That's a that according to the what I'm hearing that's a that would be a truthful statement. If that's a five and a half star match or whatever the fuck you just said. Then that would be in Dave's eyes better than almost every match that ever happened up until about what five or six seven years ago. Based on his star ratings that's right. Okay well Jim match 11. Andrade. Oh geez I forgot that keeps going. Defeated Bandito. Hellfire and damn nation as Mama Cornette would say 20 minutes 56 seconds five star match. Oh come on. This was really a match of the year caliber bounce both were outstanding. If you would look at the work of Andrade over the past month. It has really been something and this was his best match of the bunch. I thought it was really good. I don't know about five stars but I thought it was okay. But just look at it this way that would mean that if you took either one of these guys out and put Kurt angle in it would have decreased the fucking rating of the match. But wait there's more. Jim Darby Allen and Orange Cassidy and Roger. This too how many of these matches are there defeated Gabe kid David Finley and Clark Connors in a tornado match. 12 minutes 23 seconds three and three quarter stars. Boy he must have gotten mad at one of the guys in that match to just jack them around like that well maybe because it only went 12 minutes instead of 30. He wanted more of whatever the fuck it was they were doing that I've already forgotten about a net match. And finally Jim in a Texas death match. MJF retained the A.W.A. title over hangman Adam Page 46 minutes 17 seconds for and three quarter stars. Just narrowly being beat out by three or four other matches on the card and it now did he do his normal qualifier of well now I hated it. I hated it but it was one of the greatest things that was ever produced by the genre of wrestling but I hated it. Was it was there that caveat in there or has he just gone full garbage and he'll be rolling around and on the broken glass on his street in Campbell. I'm looking to see if he wrote anything like that he's just describing move for move or syringe by syringe whatever you want to call it. MJF covered in blood we want fire. That was a weird moment where that page L for a lighter and then nothing happened. You know why you're looking through that I will make the comment that people wrote and tweeted me that apparently now you can't take a lighter into an arena these days they will find it and they will make you throw it away or take it away or what it not enter with it. I have like what are they going through people's pockets and friskin them and pat them down now and all that other shit how in the world. No, it sounds effective I'm sure that will stop the terrorists. But Jim here's what Dave wrote here. For what they were attempting to do. This was a great performance by both dramatic, violent and compelling and the step added to the drama. Many will love this and many will hate it. They went 4617 and the crowd was into a you left out a word here and the crowd was into big the entire way after a car that had so much good wrestling. So much good right you know that's another thing that he loves to say well there's so many great matches no there's almost no great matches from either company which is why we really appreciate him when we have him. But he's he's confusing great with cluttered high speed and dangerous. You can argue that this was pay per view and an air after midnight and that when you buy an AEW Texas death match, you should know it's going to be like this. I did expect MJF to win, but thought long term this match finish was not the long term best for business. Because no matter how it's handled, Paige lost with no excuse in his own match. Nobody cost him the match. So there's no heat on anyone. He's right. So there's no heat on anyone or a direction where Paige can blame someone for costing him the high stakes. So he didn't even say his personal opinion. But also, Uncle Dave is of the opinion that Adam Page is a great baby face and a really main event guy. He's one of those type of people but by the way, he's the moron. He's the moron who took out a dog collar put it on his opponent and then put it on himself and then lost because of it. Yes, yes, that's what he is. But compelling Dave's a compelling compelling right. You know the meaning of compelling urgently requiring attention, drivingly forceful. How was this compelling? Yeah, I don't know about that. Oh, we've got to see more. We can't look away. The whole match was made to make you want to look away. Look away. Look away. I'm hideous. So, but I mean, it is what it is and we know what it is, but it just he's Dave is at this point. Just so unfortunately see through and it's just gotten so old that people are on it now and he won't. He won't come clean. He won't back off of it. He just got to double down as the kids say. The only double down I ever liked was one ad from KFC where there was a chicken sandwich, but the pieces of chicken were the bread and there was bacon and cheese in the middle. You remember those? No. They were fucking good. The KFC double down. Well, those were Dave Meltzer's doubling down on the AWS star ratings for Revolution, a pay-per-view for the ages. But you know, Brian, no matter what age you are, no matter what age you are or what age is you're trying to place your product in, you got to sell the stuff. That's what you got to do. And have you ever wondered why that Shopify has the 10% of all the e-commerce in the United States and is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world? It's because of that purple shop pay button, Brian. You know it well. You've seen it many times. As a matter of fact, obviously, I order nothing off of the Internet because I'm a Luddite, but I've seen Stacey many times. Trying to go for the Degum, the product here or the service there or the thing she's trying to buy on her phone. And she, oh, they got the, I need the credit card or I need some kind of information. If you see the shop pay button, boom, you can just hit it. You don't need to go any further. You know why they made it purple, Brian? Do I know why they made the shop? Do I know why they made the Shopify button purple? No. That kid needs to go to fucking reform school. It's because what do you get when you mix black and blue? You get purple and the button was originally black and blue because people were beating on it all the time. They're hitting it every day all over the world. And the thing got bruised and cauliflowered and it became purple, but it's still there, folks. And that's the thing. Shopify is your commerce expert around the world with a marketing team, your own design studio. Easy to run email and social media campaigns. They can take your business to the next level and they can sell your product. And it's all because they have this giant organization behind them. And it's all signified by that purple button. So if you'd like to have people beating your button black and blue every day until it turns purple, what we can do right now is make you a deal. You can't refuse. You can sign up for a $1 a month trial period today at Shopify.com. And for a dollar a month, they're going to be able to show you what they can do for you. At the end of the month, you might have enough money. You just say, fuck it. I'm retired. Then they'll probably be mad at you and they'll come to find you because you've wasted their time. But otherwise, you're going to see what Shopify can do to bring your business to the next level all with that bruised and beleaguered button and that little kid on that bicycle with a dream. That's him. Shopify.com slash Jay just got hit by a truck. Shopify.com. He still has a dream. And if you have a dream and a business behind that dream, just like we do, you can trust Shopify. One more time, Jim. I know you were ready to give everyone that information. Well, I'm just trying to take down the license number of that truck. Shopify.com slash Jay C.E. $1 a month trial period right now today. We shall return after this short commercial timeout. With Woop, you can focus on living better for longer, understand your sleep, optimize your training and build habits that support your well-being. Woop gives you personalized insights into your sleep, your recovery, your strain, and the patterns that may influence how you feel. With more clarity and consistency, you can create routines that support you throughout the year. Add more life to every moment. Discover Woop at Woop.com. All right, folks, we are back on the program back. And actually, if you're listening to this as a standalone clip on YouTube, what I'm about to say for the next little bit may not make any sense to you, but stick with us. But if you're listening to this podcast in its entirety, we've already recorded a couple of hours. And what we were going to do, because we recorded what you've just heard on Friday, March the 20th, and since it was SmackDown night, we left the show unfinished because we were going to come back Saturday morning and just tell everybody what happened on SmackDown. It'd be swell. And at the same time as we finished recording on Friday afternoon, I didn't know until later, but something else was going on. And so we've come back a little bit later than we intended to because I needed to second, but everybody has heard the news on the everywhere. It was amazing. It's been everywhere from TMZ to Sports Illustrated to the New York Post, whatever the case. Dennis Connery passed away Friday afternoon evening from an accident in his house. And what had happened was normal day and his wife, Teresa, she's in nursing. She was at work. She had to go in and train some people that day. And he always picks her up. And so she texted him right as she was about to get off four o'clock and he didn't answer her back. And that was unusual. And as she looked out in the parking lot, he wasn't there. Then she knew something was wrong. So she called the neighbors and their country people told told the neighbor where the key was hid so that he could go in and see what was wrong. Dennis had fallen in their hallway and not like downstairs or any like off of anything. Whether he had tripped as possible or whether is as I think about it may have been more something that he had some kind of dizzy spell where he couldn't catch himself on the way down. And in the way he fell, he broke his neck and severely damaged his spinal cord. And he was still in the floor when the neighbor found him and was able to turn him over. He was cognizant of what was happening. But by the time the ambulance got there, they got him to the hospital. And the number of things happened to point being he was paralyzed at that point from the chest down. And with the injuries that he had sustained and again with his neck. Because people are going to be so what the fuck right because I said what the fuck. Dennis Connery that took fucking bumps for 50 years fucking he trips in the hall and breaks his neck. But you got to think not only the years of bumps, but also for cancer battles and multiple surgeries that took his voice box out the cancer started in his neck spread to his throat. chemotherapy and or all of the procedures who knows what kind of shape his neck was in to take any kind of a blow at this point, being 75 years old. So, they didn't really have to make a decision. He was on a respirator but that wasn't going to last. So, his wife Teresa was not put in that position, although she knew what he would have wanted. But the suckage for a number of reasons. When a guy beats cancer, multiple times has been clean, clear for ages had the artificial voice box but has been more cheerful than he's ever been in his life. And to have this freak thing happen. And also he had been bugging Teresa about retiring because she's only 67 but now that's her full so security retirement age. So he had been bugging her about retiring so they could spend more time together. And they had some plans and the last day she was going to be at work. Was the end of this month nine days away. And I know I'm not meaning to tell you know everybody's personal business here with his with exactly what happened but I know that the details at least as we sit here have not been out yet. And who knows with this business I want to make sure everybody knew that he wouldn't like you know, party and on the top of the roof or some ridiculous shit. But it's the one thing about Dennis is he was quite feisty in his younger years. But he has been at especially since he's two things. Not only getting a second chance at life, almost 10 years ago now or whatever. But also just seeing the fan fest and the thing that he he's been a long time thinking that you know I'll arrest like business nobody remembers me. And see the, you know, that's why he's been going to some of these things and it's not like he's been in high demanded flying back and forth all across the country on a regular basis but to just do the ones he's done has meant something to see the way that people still remember him now more than ever it's Teresa was shocked at least that it was on TMZ Sports Illustrated that this and that and I mean everybody internationally internationally internationally but when we'll get to it in a minute. But what is it the kids say your favorite so and so's favorite so and so. Yeah, everybody is coming out and saying, Jesus, it's not just me now. When Rick flair or aren't Anderson and the hardies, Nick oldest, these people say Bobby and Dennis country were the best heel tag team in the business and we learned from them. They're not just making that up. And Dennis hit that point right where the pay per view era had just started when his time was really just about ending and the videos that exist of him or not as numerous but everybody will talk about it that was ever in the ring with him. So this is, you know, with the, this is one of the greatest talents in the business. Like I started to say and then I'll take a breath here for a second. He was somewhat feisty in his younger days, but he has also been a regular person, except for the fan fest excursions for a long time now and the biggest reason is that Teresa is tougher than Rhonda Rousey. Because she tamed Dennis country. But anyway, I wanted to make sure that everybody knew as I said that without going into everybody's family personal details, that's the basic issue that happened. And it's just such a freak thing, but nothing could have been done. There's no way to predict it. And we've seen an outpouring of support and messages about Dennis Conjury and a lot of people thinking of his wife, Teresa Dax Harwood of FTR set up at GoFundMe. Anyone interested in go search for GoFundMe Dennis Conjury will come right up and a lot of people from Tony Khan to the young bucks to Chris Jericho to Cody Rhodes contributed to help Teresa, however they can going forward. And so you just laid out what her situation is and you know it is one of those things where you know for a lot of years and you understand why you kind of just laid it out in a way I haven't heard anyone else say about the errors. You know he left right before the pay-per-view ever really began. For so many who like me who love Stan and Bobby. It was almost like after the fact it was a reevaluation process. And thankfully there are all of these matches on tape. Whether it's the Mid-South House shows or the Houston matches with or without commentary. You have so much footage to see and I think as time went on and started blowing people away. You know you hear people say how smooth Dennis was. That's not even good enough a term. You know people say like a land storm or someone is smooth and sometimes it almost looks not theatrical but smooth at a point where you could tell it's smooth. Dennis was smooth so that it felt natural. Dennis was seamless. It was seamless in terms. It wasn't smooth. It was rough sometimes. It looked rough. But it's the same time it was seamless because you couldn't figure out where it was put together. Where the fucking where did they make this magic? He pulled it off. He could, we'll talk more about this as we go and I want to go back to something else you said. But he could, he always knew where he was to the point where if he's feeding the baby face and a comeback and as he's starting toward the baby face. The baby face decides to go another direction and do something else. He could just somehow stagger and change directions or drop to a knee or made it look like he meant to take four extra seconds instead to then take whatever the it is amazing. I watched him sometimes with green baby faces Bobby and Dennis had a thing where if Bobby took a hip toss in a high spot then Dennis knew to feed in take same thing or vice versa and they take couple hip tosses slide out baby face rah rah. The one baby he hip tossed Bobby and here comes Dennis to feed him and he didn't realize it and Dennis hip tossed himself off the fucking guy grabbing the guy's arm on the way by to make it look like he threw him. I did you couldn't just everything was precise. If it was a mistake he could figure out a way where it didn't look like it. I don't know how else to explain it you'd have to just sit and look at the films like the Zapruder films but before we go there I want to you said something about to go fund me and I had mentioned that when we did the Midnight Express figures. I think that one of the things that Dennis was concerned about was that he said boy this will really help us get our house paid off. So that you know if something happens to me again this was after his cancer issues you see you know I don't have to worry about that with Teresa. And we made a heck of a dent and I thank everybody for that because he's been every every month when he gets a check you know he calls as soon as it comes into mail because that's you know it's been a big deal for him. But when hadn't done it all yet and the go fund me sometimes I plug go fund me sometimes I give to him and other times you know again this today's world. Because you even asked me when we first heard about it we're still trying to figure out you know exactly who was doing what you saw is this legit I see yes because I'd. Dax Harwood set it up he asked Teresa if he could have the honor to do so because Dennis never he would have not have done it probably but at same point. Since he knows it's for Teresa he probably would have said OK. But Dax said it up he said let me have the honor of doing this to. At least try to show you and not only help you but show you what Dennis meant to other people I'm wording that horribly but. It's a place where people if it's ten dollars if you can't you can't but you can just show that he entertains you where he meant something. And obviously now that's the thing Teresa was right about to retire she's sixty seven. Dennis. The money that he made in again this is not a case of the millionaire buying fucking Lamborghinis he I've always said Dennis kept his bank account. In his driveway in the eighties he had nice cars but then. When he moved to Colorado and met Teresa got out of the wrestling business he had a stable business not a. Not like a steady business but a horses horses horse stable is what I'm trying to say. And he was a real fucking person right. And he had that until even after he moved back to Alabama but then. It's almost 20 years ago when the fucking economy went south again people started. Leaving their horses instead of fucking getting paid to keep him he was paying to feed him. And he's a fucking got out of that and again the midnight reunions were were great in the fan fest and etc but. The big money that Dennis made in wrestling was 35 years ago and it's not like this is all been. You know the way you make a million dollars they have been very happy with their regular. Lives. But at this point you know in this country when a guy is 70 something and has had multiple health issues and. You know whatever it's not. Not easy so point is the go fund me is legitimate. And if anybody would like to send something that's basically what Teresa's go stay in the house. It's not a situation where it's like oh too many memories she's happy there. And all of their stuff is there it's a. You know nice place. But they're not. They don't have goddamn six car garages and shit so it's not like one of these celebrity go fund me I just want to make that point. And I guess I've beaten that point into the ground. But as far as. That's the thing is you mentioned how smooth Dennis was or seamless or whatever we described it. His it was just natural with him Heyman said it best I think when he tweeted he's one thing he said was. He's eternally grateful to Dennis for the patience Dennis hadn't dealing with him. He imagined Paul Lee in 1989 was not fucking easy. But he said it was like Ray Stevens. He just got it. People and that's another thing is that people remember the midnight run and you know the stuff in the 80s maybe even the midnight express and continental. But Dennis had been a main event guy. Since. Like two years after he got into business. And he always looked older than he was because he always had the beard the facial hair because. If he didn't he had a baby face around baby face right he didn't look mean. So. When he was in the we've talked about when we did the 30s in their 30s or whatever the fuck we did. In 1984 when people first saw him you know on a wider basis in the Midnight Express he was with 33 34 years old. That was also the best shape he was ever in 83 early 84 you see pictures of him in 83 that you know actually you wouldn't have taken him but you see pictures of him in 83 and he shredded. Well that's because again. He he grew into the business like he grew into his look and especially because we're working to Memphis and the Alabama territories for a couple years there and getting motivated. The trips weren't long he had time to get in the gym and he really looked good and it just came. It was perfect. Bill Watts may have not liked 1977 Dennis Connery. Because of the physique and and. You know Bobby Eaton in 1979 was still was fabulous but not what he was in 1983 it it they were both just then ready right for a bigger stage for more responsibility. To be put on him. But Dennis had at the same time in tag teams been a main event guys since 1975. And the reason why that most people had not seen him. Even in the territory days is because he and Phil Hickerson when they put them together in 75. They got over in Tennessee so well they spent the next like almost four years. They would work. The Memphis end for Jerry Jarrett Memphis Louisville Evansville spot shows there then. They'd go six months or whatever they'd work for Nick Goulas in Nashville Chattanooga Birmingham all those spot shows then they would go. To Knoxville the other end of the state for southeastern work for Ron Fuller Knoxville Johnson City Kingsport. And they would just bounce back and forth because they were so good they were perfect at the Tennessee style and they got over. So they never went anywhere else because they did they. Yeah at that point you could live in Nashville Tennessee and work three fucking territories if you applied yourself to East Tennessee you didn't have to change apartments. So. Point being that was a good part of the of his early time but. He just he didn't start till 73 and I know a lot of people have mentioned this but people have not explained who Joe Turner was completely so if the the wrestling nerds want to look it up on the Internet but. Dennis Connery's brother in law was already a wrestler. Name Joe Turner but he had worked with another guy named Bill Bowman they had a cowboy. Tag team gimmick Joe and Bill sky. And they worked on top in a number of the southern territories and at least in good places for a few years late 60s. But when Joe Turner was working the Carolinas in. 72 or whatever. That's when Dennis was just there visiting him and they were doing a deal was it root then shit this is my story and I'm trying to. I think it was Bob root but the point is it was the old days of the of the Crockett territory. And the Andersons were you know the top heels and weaver and becker and that kind of thing. But they had brought Bob root in because he was a hotshot amateur they were doing a shoot wrestling challenge thing on TV or whatever. And Joe got Dennis to be one of the guys that. Dennis had wrestled a little in high school it's not like he was going to beat Bob root but he was smart enough to know that but. Also it was one of those deals where you better not fucking beat him but he could make it look good right. And then the Andersons basically Jean worked out with him. But that was in the days where. They didn't have a wrestling school and they really unless they went to an arena early and then you wouldn't let them. Arena people the janitors and everything see what was going on. They'd have a ring they'd go down to the YMCA or wherever the guys were working at and Nelson Royal would be there and they'd get on the mat and teach them just how to wrestle. And then if they put a fucking hold on you and it does this hurt yes yes OK and then they they'd ease up where it didn't hurt. And then they'd show you where not to fucking slip off the pressure point so you're. Dislocating something and that's how they showed him how to work. Remember Stan Lane. Flair trained him in his backyard. It's not like they were taking backdrops. And that's the thing is that then once they knew they basically made sure they were serious taught him how to wrestle then. They smartened him up taught him how to ease up on the shit. And then the opening match was developmental in Greenville North Carolina Dennis Connery versus Joe Turner. Or wherever the fuck it was and you in the Carolinas in the early 70s the opening match didn't go outside the ring. Didn't fucking get on the microphone obviously didn't use any foreign objects there was no blood. Yeah you just wrestled and that's where you first took body slams and backdrops and they showed you how here kid. This is how bam. So that at that point. Am I droning on here Brian. Not at all. And at that point that's when. Joe Turner could still get booked in some places and they went to work for Leroy McGurk as Mephisto and Dante the mass heel team. And the original Mephisto and Dante had been a hot heel team in the south of Frankie Cain and Bobby Hart but this was Joe Turner and fucking his brother in law right. And then Joe Leroy McGurk booked him and sent him to Louisiana because that's when Louisiana was the dead end of the territory and nobody wanted to work there. And under hoods. Dennis is 22 or whatever and. Okay here we go. And then he worked in the St. Alabama and that Tara my gum the Montgomery territory remember we've gone back and looked at the old Jerry Lawler. In 1970 that's where they sent him they Dennis ended up there working with Jimmy Golden those guys in 73 early 74 whatever. And by the time that he could get booked by Nick Goulas. He came in. End of 74 doing jobs and by the summer of 75 they teamed him up with Hickerson. And he was in main events. You know one of the earliest matches of his I remember seeing maybe the earliest was one you had on Smoky Mountain TV at the end of 1992 and building up the Mongolian stomper coming into a bench Brian Lee. Yes. It was Dennis Connory versus the Mongolian stomper at the Mid-South Coliseum which looks so bright in that video. But you know that was a big takeaway wasn't even about. They break it into the Bargolian stop when I first saw it was like that's Dennis Connory I don't believe it because it was so young. And also the stomper it was a one sided squash where he beat him in less than two minutes. And I'll tell you that was the way they brought the stomper in was they booked him in two matches his first appearance in every town and had him squash two guys in a fucking row. And one of them was Dennis but the thing is if you notice that was like was it April May of 75. But like I said by the end of the summer he's in main events teamed up with Hickerson because look at the job that he did for the stomper stomper shot him off and kicked him in the gut he doubled up in the air fucking went over sideways took a bump is fucking. Everything he did was so good by that point. Two years after Jean stretching him on the mat at the YMCA. That Jarrett saw it and said Jesus Christ. And Hickerson was from Jackson Tennessee and they had just started him like a year before even though he was a little bit older at that point to start wrestling. But he was that big raw bone fucker that they broke in in West Tennessee was one of the welches. And he had teamed with Al Green. Al Green was about ready to retire he'd been in business 20 years so. They each had had kind of a mentor. But at the same time they were freakishly good at what they were doing at an early point. And so when they put them together boom and that's why I've always mentioned that they had a good match of George Goulas. Scott Teal who was the photographer in Nashville's for so many years said the hottest thing that he ever covered was the Hickerson and Connry angle with Jackie Fargo, which was late 75 early where they brought in rough house and did all that shit and drew big houses everywhere. So that's that's the thing is. Until really what 1980 when Dennis went to Georgia for a while he was a Georgia heavyweight champion. They loved his work as a single team with Stan Lane. Well that was just for I think two weeks. And the tape still exists which is why it's such a curiosity. But he really had stayed in Tennessee because he was constantly in demand in one territory or another and it wasn't until Phil got hurt and had to quit to business for like, I think he quit for like five or six years came back a couple years in Memphis. That's when he had a couple of new partners and did a single thing and, you know, but was trying to figure out exactly what to do at that point but that's when he started working out and also getting better shape and he and David Schultz as a fucking tag team were heels that you would sit in your chair and boo from a respectful fucking distance because it that way. Also that's a thing Dennis. You had to work really hard to get in a fight with Bobby eating you basically just had to physically attack him and he'd knocked the fuck out of you right. But I was always if it was really bad I was looking to see where Dennis was because Dennis and fuck a motherfucker up just to to get out of the way. And he was so him and Schultz together, people didn't fuck with him but they were great in the ring but that, you know, Schultz and wear on anybody after a while but remember that's when they went to Nova Scotia in 77 Schultz is the one that saved him the one time that Phil Higgerson and Dennis Connery left Tennessee territory. They and Ricky and Robert Gibson and Schultz got booked from Tennessee to go up to do the summer run in Halifax for who was it Al Zank at that point. And like the second week they were there they got a goddamn riot and the cops were on the people's side. And then came Schultz with that fucking hockey stick like a helicopter blade and got him out of the ring and back to the locker room and they just drove to the fucking airport and fuck it came back. But he and Schultz were a good team and then that's when, again, an offshoot of the Tennessee territories was what Ron Fuller was running southeastern but by the early 80s he's running continental in Alabama. And there while the the territory of the big the TVs were in Birmingham and everybody always called it the Mobile territory. Everybody got to live in Pensacola. So Dennis went down there got together with Randy Rose and Norville Austin and it was living on the beach in an offshoot of the Tennessee territory and they were the main event tag team there. And they were the Midnight Express. It went exactly. Dennis ever tell you I mean I'm sure you would know the origin of him deciding on that name or how that name was applied to them for the first time. Who saw the movie? Well, obviously it may have been subconsciously influenced by the movie because the movie was only two years beforehand but they were ribbing amongst them. I don't know who actually blurted it out first. Randy Rose, I think they even did a deal where he was Dennis's cousin when they introduced him because they looked alike and they liked Corvettes and they by and then Norville Austin didn't particularly look like Dennis or Randy's cousin but he had some kind of fancy car and it was the Mobile territory so they were always home at fucking 11 30 and in the bars at midnight. So if they're wearing black shit, they're driving a couple of black Corvettes and they're out at midnight. We're the Midnight Express. And that's and they did the, they were the first team really weren't they to after the free birds to do use the free bird rule. Where there was three members of the team but that 82 could compete and they could win the belts and blah blah blah. And that's why they not only did they work Penscola longer period of time but they did have a run in the Memphis territory in. Oh God was that late 81 early 82. I've got the color pictures of them that you've seen out there somewhere on Twitter here lately. A lot of those are ones I took when they were came back here but they did a feature in the Japanese magazine with your photos. Yes. And that was a period of like almost two years right there right before that Watts came up and did the deal with Jared and the only Randy Rose. They had been the three man team in continental. Then they came here to Memphis that I believe they went back to continental and when Dennis and Norvell came back to Memphis Randy Rose did not come that time not sure what was going on there but. Dennis and ran and Norvell didn't really even use the Midnight Express name on that run they were just came in kind of together and then they were doing different things sometimes. And that's as we mentioned. There was just too much talent in Memphis and Bobby eating underneath and I'm you know booked in fucking Water Valley Mississippi and the Rock and Roll Express or you know underneath the fabs thumb. So there was just too much. And when Watts came and picked everybody out and gave all the rest of those guys the chance to shine. Like I said with Bobby and Dennis not only was the timing great but in the timing in their lives and careers. Bobby's 20 fucking six Dennis is 33 and they're both in great shape. And they've had all this experience but they haven't had an opportunity to use it in a meaningful way because by that point everybody where they were wrestling. All the fans were used to them. They were used to them and that's where they were. Oh and that's yeah there's Dennis there's Bobby. If you take them where nobody's ever seen them and now they see them like that. That's why they sold out everywhere. Well you're a big part of the equation as well. It was an amazing package. Well but I could have had the goddamn fat Brazilian headhunters and trying to talk them over and it would know. You're not that good. Exactly. Exactly. Because I don't live there for 16 months and they're like hey you're the fucking top manager here. Sell out the Superdome. What was Dennis the leader in terms of you guys driving around in Mid-South. Yes. I mean he wouldn't have but if he just said okay Jim you pump the gas and Bobby you I'll sit here and you go get all of our drinks we would have done that because he was the smartest one to the business. The inside of the business at that point. If you to sit me down with Dennis I could have chapter and verse recited like we do on guess the program where everybody in the business had ever wrestled. I had absolutely no idea of what it was from the inside looking out at the top in the main event what are we supposed to do watch out this is what what's likes this is how we're going to do these things. So that was and Bobby. Again, except for a brief period of time and it that he'd gone to Georgia. In like 8081 he had worked either for Nick Goulas or Jerry Jarrett his entire career. So now we're in the big leagues getting our turn at bat. And we need somebody to tell us what the fuck we're doing here and that was Dennis because he had. By that point he had 10 years. So the decision to go to Mid-South. Obviously that happens when Bill Watts puts you guys together Dennis pulls you. I think you said Dennis got gets you at the Mid-South Coliseum and says no no it wasn't a Mid-South Coliseum that's why it's another reason I thought it was a rib it was like three days later and. Shit, shit, Tennessee and a fucking elementary school gym. We're in a goddamn janitor's closet he pulled me aside like it's a big secret, which it was but I didn't know that. Why was it a big secret. Well it was just a big secret because. To the other boys obviously not to the fan. Well yeah, yes to the other boy to the fans they didn't know or care what the fuck but to the other boys. It was like all of a sudden you know there was 40 guys in the territory even though Memphis was running two towns night and business was good and all that stuff the payoffs on the. Bottom 50% tile of the fucking card was not anything right home about and. Then that you know we don't want anybody to know about this we're going to try to get out of it like we see a lifeboat we don't want other people trying to dive in and weigh in the thing down and that kind of thought process. And I was just I was just gobsmacked at the whole concept that anybody would want me. And that's how you guys ended up in mid south when the decision was made. Even though it didn't happen right away that we're going to go to the Carolinas what was that decision like. Well, because you made that decision in 84 shows you didn't get there. You had to go to Texas first Dallas. Well we would now hold up we didn't actually make the day it wasn't like okay we're going to go to the Carolinas next it was. While we were getting over in Louisiana or as we had gotten over when flare and dusty came in and we're like yes. Okay that's as soon as we had yes that we would be invited then that's what Dennis always wanted to do because having been there. All those years ago at least seeing the layout of the way the towns were and the buildings and and now it's all the the George Scott and actually the what was the goddamn son of the ring Lear. And George Scott and Johnny Valentine and Wahoo McDaniel and all that had happened. And he knew people there and he knew that Rick flair and Greg Valentine were riding in limousines to fucking shows making 150 grand a year. And he's like this. Guys if we get over here that's where we got to figure out a way to go and then to paraphrase only Anderson we didn't have to beg flair and dusty they begged us to come to the carillon. So that was a you know as soon as we got that invitation we're like yes yes please. And then the whole Texas thing came up and got us kerfluffled but Dennis was right all along. That's where we needed to be. How unhappy was he in Dallas. He was not happy about the the detour but at same point. For the first month or so we were thinking OK well we can probably do something here and then he was the first one that was beginning to grumble. As it was obvious that we had no control over our fate over there. But it's the same time. It wasn't like all five we still work with the fantastic so going to work and actually at work was not a pain in the ass is just some of the way we were being used and paid. You should have seen his fucking face when he got that $63 payoff. That was oh my God. I think I remember the story was it $50 for one match and 13 for the other. Yes. You had to have a captain's match on the spot shows it was a tag team main event. Midnight Express versus Fantastix then a Von Erich versus a heel then a Von Erich friend versus another heel and then two guys out of the tag match in a single match. And the guys that work twice and by and Bobby and Dennis and Bobby and Tommy would just alternate. But the guys that work twice were supposed to get extra money and one night it was on his pay sheet here. Fucking Cowville Texas $63 and is a $50 guarantee. And we got $50 because there's a shit house and a shit building. But the point is he said look at this it's like they shaved it down to the fucking nub. We can't possibly give him $65 we have to give him $63. Mother fuckers. And that's it. And Dennis Dennis was not a person who said funny thing. Well he was a person who said funny things but it was more the way he said things funny. He could deliver a goddamn dressing down of some idiot or dipshit or activity like a $63 payoff to where you wouldn't be able to fucking breathe. And he said I'll be damn $63. So at any rate you said was a couple months before you know he started grumbling was it the point where you realize you guys were not going to be booked with the Von Erickson was going to be no program no feud coming out of that big 84 and mid south. Well not only that but just the way the things were going again besides wrestling Bobby and Tommy the booking was abysmal. Remember we went in and first we won the belts and then they held the belts up and then they held the belts up again the belts were held up for two months it just it just and then we had the fucking giant. And in six months later the very last match we had the first match we had in the company was against the Fantastix and the very last match we had the company six months later was against Fantastix. Just it just there was no upside to between seeing the payoffs the booking yes we were on a nationally syndicated television but the people that wanted us to be in Charlotte had TBS now has another when when when Crockett debuted on TBS that may have also been very close to the time that we finally gave our notice. You would go you Dennis and Bobby would go to work for Jim Crockett although the main office was in the Carolinas that's not where you guys would go first. And I apologize if I've told because we've told all these stories before on some of these programs but for the kids it's been a while. But when Crockett absorbed Atlanta, you know the Georgia territory and got the TBS slot. You know he was centering a crew in Atlanta to do fulfill their obligations in the various house shows in Ohio West Virginia Michigan etc as well as Georgia. And then his own crew and then they were got whatever we all get apartments in Atlanta and three months later he's decided close the whole goddamn thing is none of the Georgia towns would draw. But that's where we had to for a couple months there. You know we're going to the northern tours in West Virginia and Ohio and working with Buzz and Brett Sawyer. And that whole fiasco that went on but at the same time. And also because the rock and roll were centered in Charlotte and Dusty wanted to try as best he could to keep us apart at the start so that because the rock and roll had come in and beaten the Russians for the World Tag Title or first night in that was July in the same thing. And then just debuting in the territory. We can't work with them because they now have to get over they have to work this program with the Russians to come out of that and we have to fucking get over. So Dusty so well I got the midnight base in Georgia and the rock and roll in the Carolina's the legacy still switch back and forth. So that's why we ended up working with bless them and I love handsome Jimmy Vellett. He was my mother was the godfather of the god for my mother was the godfather my mother was handsome. My mother was handsome Jimmy juniors godmother when he was born while they were here in Tennessee territory and he was my idol as a teenager and some Jimmy. But it was rough working with him and superstar Graham when poor superstar was falling apart also. And but anyway, so that's why that they they didn't pull the trigger on the rock and roll in the midnight until January of 86 but we had the little teases and also. I tell you what I still get goosebumps the first we had we'd moved to Georgia and we're making the Georgia tour towns and we're doing the TBS tapings. But they booked us I think it was like just a month later or whatever in Charlotte on just a midcard match for us to go out and beat somebody. I don't have the midnight express book in front of me right now but it was like a Don Cronodal and whoever whatever. And when we got in a Charlotte Coliseum. And at that point we had heard business was down and there was still 7000 people in the Coliseum to say yeah businesses OK here it's down a lot of the building I'm like fuck. This is how it is now we haven't even. We haven't even touched our food yet. And we go out and work this middle card match and the people were watching the TV they'd we'd been on syndicated TV also we'd been on TBS. They knew who we were the reaction we got from the midcard match with whoever. That's when we were like oh yeah here we go. This is going to be fucking great and six months later we had four sellouts in a goddamn row in a 12 week period or whatever it was. Where was I going with that. We're in Crockett promotions beginning of 86 and that's really you know Mid-South had rock and roll in midnight. And this is a whole another run of it and of course this one led the major business in the Carolinas at the same time yet flair and dusty and all these other now but remember this and that's something else that we were goddamn. I'm going to crow about Bobby and Dennis again. February 2nd 1986 was the first sellout of the Charlotte Coliseum complete sellout for wrestling since blackjack Mulligan against Rick flair in 1978. The main event was the rock and roll express and the midnight express and flair and dusty nor the road warriors were on the card. And they never let that happen again. And that's when it came back and nobody fell that silent without the dream baby. And then we came back and sold out again two weeks later and it came back and only had 7500 people the following week on a Sunday afternoon it was like eight days later and then came back three weeks later with the blow off with me in the fucking cage and not only sold out again 12,000 people 103,000 dollars but that's the one they actually closed circuited to the park center the old building down the road and to Spartanburg at the Memorial Auditorium so they could see it. So we ended up in a with the closed circuit and a building capacity of 12,000 we had like 14,000 people watching the thing. You know some of the teams you guys worked with you worked with a lot so Dennis worked a lot with Ricky Robert Bobby and Tommy. Who is did he have a personal favorite guy to work with and on that same wavelength did he have a least favorite person, not like a job guy or anything but a guy that he had to regularly work with. Oh, well, I mean, the least favorite doesn't necessarily connotate that he hated the person but working with you could you could love J. Y. D. And at the same time you go God you could dread the match you see what I'm saying. Right. You could love the person and not want to end. And I mean, anybody. Obviously Ricky Robert Bobby and Tommy but Dennis could work with anybody that could move in some fashion. But there was sometimes you just rolled your eyes either at a particularly immobile. You know, somebody or you know how do you like working with dusty because you guys work with dusty and Magnum. He loved working with dusty because if you worked with dusty you got the biggest payoff on the fucking card. And also dusty loved the Midnight Express and he would sell for them and he would get juice for them and he would bring people to the goddamn ring. Who were we wrestling when the guy jumped me in Charlotte and the fucking whole thing began where I just told the story they ribbed me. And they were on tried to arrest me for assault on a police officer when I kicked the fucking cop trying to kick the guy we were working with dusty and he was selling. He would fucking get down on his knees and put his hands out like Jesus and just let Bobby and Dennis way away on him. He'd go down like he'd been Polaxed for the racket. I don't know and that's the thing is it was it was hard sometimes like I've been maybe the I don't know that the match with Miss Atlanta lively and handsome Jimmy at Starcade the street fight was our old time favorite but but nevertheless he could get something out of anybody and when you go back and you look at now a lot of these compilations that people are tweeting and retweeting of here's two minutes of Dennis Connery. He looks like he's hitting you as hard as he can. He never touches you. I mean the only you would when he gave you bumps. Like if you took a backdrop off of him. Yeah, that's a bump you'd feel it but you never felt anything that he struck you with. And if he gave you a bump. Unless you were ever once while poor with the job guys that turned in mashed potatoes on TV. It wasn't it wasn't our fault. It was one double goozle where we just told all you have to do is stand up straight and look at Bobby. He stood up been over and looked at the ground. He got potato but another it Dennis picked you up he'd put you down flat that fucking power slam that nobody has ever done like that before where he would. Yeah, over the shoulder. He would step into it get both of them up in here I've got a picture where both of the guys are like four or five feet in the air and with him. He was a hand stretched out over the guy's chest and they would go down like he would splash the guy off of the power slam. And he was already in a cross cover position boom, and the way he could bounce up off shit to emphasize the. The impact is something that a lot of the kids ought to study the young wrestlers and the body language as far as the. You could tell he was like Loller you could tell what the expression on his face was if you were in the top row of the bleachers in a big building and he was facing away from you. Because the rest of the body indicated that expression, whether it was shock with a start or whether it was frustration with a momentary put the hands on the hips and turn and almost kicked the ground like he's a fucking baseball player and any emotion that he had to convey. He could do it with his whole fucking body so that you would like I said again see either fear on the comeback or shock on the kick out or frustration on the fucking we can't beat this guy or he'll mannerisms mocking somebody or fucking with the people. And he just looked surly when he did it. But in. Again, when I say never touched you and they would say the same thing about Bobby eating working with him was like a night off. Yeah, you could you would feel Bobby when his leg when he landed on you but it wasn't it was in a safe place you would feel. The things they did when they were giving you a bumper landing on you in a splash or whatever but everything was in. I even remember retweeting one time one of the elbow drop clips with Bobby and it was a slow mo replay from the TV show where if you. If you watch close and do what you were watching for as he was coming down with one elbow across the guy's chest. In a safe position the other hand came down and cut the guy's chin so that his head wouldn't bop up and get in the way and get potatoed when the Matt fucking absorb their impact and bounced them. It's like just that for a one second I'll just protect your face boom. They always knew what the fuck they were doing and where they were. And out of all those hundreds and hundreds of matches we've talked about where I've gone over our nightly schedule and these are you know 1520 minute matches and house shows and multiple TVs where they're doing all these big moves. I don't we they never not only never knocked anybody out we were talking about that the other day when the referee had a seizure. They never knocked anybody out where they were unresponsive. I don't remember either Bobby or Dennis ever getting accidental juice busting anybody open I don't remember anything more than a fat lip. And maybe a boy you ding me on the side of the head there from a Bobby Fulton. But no there was no injuries. Because they did this shit over and over night after night and knew how to do it and didn't do shit they didn't know how to do baby. They just knew how to do more shit than most people. But again that was the we're talking all about the moves and shit. And I've said that was the point is you got over on television and during the period of time where you get your build and your push that's where you get over. So that then they have to pay to come to the house show to see you have a great match that they've paid to see where they finish. That makes them want to come back and see it again. It's not about doing every goddamn thing that you ever know how to do every time they see you or what fucking good is that. And that's what Dennis would call the fucking match. The heels called the match in those days obviously with the rock and roll and the Fantastics or whatever you could you could call that match in sign language they've done it so many times but with anybody in the first three years of the Midnight Express. Whether we were working with guys on TV whether we were going to Kansas City to work with the battens whether we were working with people we'd never were with the road warriors he had to Bobby contributed and we all worked overtime on putting those together but the road warriors fucking loved them. That's why they always want to work with us. But Dennis would call the fucking matches and Dennis would captain what Bobby was doing. And then Bobby while he was in there would call his shed but Dennis was the the conductor. And that is why the baby faces have to fucking get over. They have to end them in the match they have to look good at the start you shine the baby face. And make sure that people are excited and that they're getting their money's worth and they're getting their happy and the baby faces are finally going to beat these fucking guys right. And then as Dennis you say we made him laugh. And now we're going to make him mad because we made him quit laughing. And you would take it out from under the fucking baby faces and you would start kicking a shit out of Riggie Morton or Bobby Fulton or fucking even a hawk the road warrior. Whoever what you would do every goddamn dirty thing you would gouge eyes and choke and interfere from the manager and you would beat these motherfuckers and you would tag team them to death. And you would give them a hope spot so the people wouldn't lose fucking faith. But they couldn't quite get to tag they couldn't quite get to the tag and then by some goddamn miraculous fucking happening or a fuck up by the heels. The baby face gets the tag to the fresh man and oh shit and then you fly like you're a ping pong ball. And when you get to people up as far as you can probably at that point if you're going to it's a good idea to go over and bump cornet. Well then everybody's coming their pants and the babies are being thrown in the air so now we're either going to fucking get beat or we're going to beat them or we're going to do a DQ or whatever we're going to get the fuck out of there before he gets too old. And then either boom the baby faces win and get the fuck out of the goddamn ring and let us have the chance to do our shit and make people mad at us again for the next minute or so before we leave. Or we fuck the baby faces and we get the fuck out of there as quick as possible because people are going to be trying to beat the shit out of us on the way back. Or it's some kind of wild DQ and we still need to get the fuck out of there because people are still going to try to beat the fuck out of us on the way back. And that's it's not that fucking hard. You brought up before about how Dennis back in those days it wasn't hard to get him into a fight or for him to start one or be in one. But with that said the stories you've always told about especially Mid-South more than even the Carolinas the riots and fighting your way back quite literally to the locker room after every match. What did he think of that because he's had heat going back to seventy five seventy six. No well he wasn't. He knew it was because we had heat is why that that was happening and he wasn't surprised and he's the one that's smarten me and Bobby up to what it was and what was going to happen and what we needed to plug a watch out for because. Working in the Tennessee territory when they were selling out buildings in Birmingham Chattanooga Huntsville Memphis Louisville. The cops in the Louisville Gardens that the actual city police that worked the security at the Louisville Gardens eight of them every Tuesday night wore their riot helmets while they were working security at ringside until I think nineteen eighty one. Because the by the time that Bobby was on top for Nick Goulas in the late seventies early eighties. Nick's business was kind of black and but Dennis had seen the heat from an Eastern Kentucky when he worked in southeastern and so and all Alabama and well that. The goddamn reason why he got cut that one time with the guy with the knife was he saw the guy with the knife but another guy hit him from behind and knocked him into the guy with the knife. But he'd know he was the one telling us what to watch out for and I got some inspirations from him in terms of loading the racket and how the fuck he used to go in front. Didn't he carry the racket sometimes. No it was Bobby at first. Dennis would go in front and he said just hang on my goddamn back of my trunks or whatever that I gave Bobby the racket. At first because he could bring up the back but after Bobby hit that first guy and I think that Rouge and thought he'd killed him his corn I don't want to carry that thing anymore. I think good give it to me my fucking pepper spray didn't work. But yeah. But did Dennis knew so that's what with the baby doll thing. You know he knew we were going to we knew we were going to get threats and he knew what that's the time in Georgia when the cops didn't seem interested and do anything about you know their. Their local constituents when they were the guys were starting to cause trouble at that little spot show he's the one that just said. One of the baby faces that chased me back to the locker room I think I can't remember who we were even working with now. Because he had called he said so and so chase you back and getting my bag and stand by the door and keep an eye out just until we come back. So I've got his fucking gun out of his bag standing at the fucking door because we were going to get no help from the cops and they were going. They were trying to fuck with me they were going to get a deal with me going to where the Bobby and Dennis had to get in on it and we were outnumbered. Wasn't there an incident with Dennis in Mid-South where he was at a convenience store and some fans tried to attack him. Oh Jesus it wasn't some fans it was some fucking guy. He Dennis had again when we rode separately because we're coming back from Shreveport TV and I'd always had to been up there for interviews that's generally when something happened right. I think Bobby was with Dundee so Dennis is driving his two seater Corvette. He stops a convenience store gets some gas he's getting some beer. The fucking some guy comes in. What was it the guy said something about. What was it that you used to know that was the other time that was the cops it was just the guys just said something like fuck you and the rock and roll express and what you did to him or whatever. And Dennis said fuck you back and a guy will hold off and nail Dennis. And Dennis fucking goddamn came out that backhanded him over the fucking can peas and put the boots to his fucking head. And he said he had a gold bracelet he bagged back and again his gold bracelet broke and flew off I don't think he got that back. And the guy had gone over this giant display and shit broke everywhere he pulled a hundred dollar bill out and threw it on the goddamn counter and walked out with the fucking beer he wanted. So the guy wouldn't call the cops and have him chasing. What was the incident with the cops but it was a separate one with the cops. Yes that's when they were the cops were mad in Cushetta Louisiana which is on the highway in between Shreveport and Alexandria where we have come back from TV and I was ahead in my car. And they were behind me Bobby and Dennis were in Dennis's van the cops pull them over for speed. And then they realize who it is and they're going to run the whole deal right well we need to see your registration. And Dennis that's the van he had bought from Stan Lane for we left Nashville right his registration had been in shit that was stolen out of his hotel room and we had first moved down there and he was living in a hotel before he got a fucking back I think he lived in that hotel like three months before he got a place. But he didn't have a copy of the registration on him. So they impounded the van. Because they knew it was the Midnight Express right and they drive them back to the courthouse this is a Wednesday night at going on midnight in Cushetta Louisiana 1984 they take them into the courthouse where there's the sheriff and the deputies or whatever they've impounded the van they say you'll get that back when you produce the registration, which will take a couple of weeks right and those to mail from Nashville. And they they weren't arresting Bobby and Dennis but they weren't offering to get them anywhere. And finally, they said can you radio ahead to stop our manager. And so it's a story in a minute but they radioed ahead to the cops down the road and who pulled me over for not speeding and I was shitting myself, because I didn't want them to know who I was and they said, are you Jim Cornetta said oh god damn I said yes, so when you got a couple of wrestlers up to courthouse in Cushetta. What. So we went back to Cushetta. The sheriff for whatever they call them down there at the parish is asking Bobby and Dennis said so. What was it you used on them boys to win them belts last week on TV. And automatically Bobby is going he told me a story after he's I oh shit. Dennis said ether. It was ether. It just like the ether like that right. And the cops said, well you know, we got a guy down and one of the cells he thinks he's a wrestler he's in for murder. Dennis said we wrestle him right here right now if you up to he's hot right and Bobby's like please I just want to go home I got the baby. And so they I went back and found the courthouse in Cushetta Louisiana. And there was Bobby and Dennis with their bags sitting on the fucking front steps because there's literally there was no hotel in this town. There was no open business in this town there was no way to rent a car I don't end up in broad daylight. I can't imagine you could have rented a car in this town. So if they had to caught me they would have sat there until sometime. But but it was not amused and he won't put that fucking cop over either. What was he used to beat them boys from belts aether. Motherfucker. So he wrote to Nashville and got a copy of the goddamn thing and had went up there a couple weeks later and got his van back. What'd you guys do for two weeks to run your car. Yeah, we just switched up, you know, the other because one one of the Midnight Express vehicles was out of service but that often happened in those days we're doing 3000 4000 miles week. You know we talk about you managing Bobby eating and Dennis Conjury but for years. I feel like we never heard you actually say those names it was beautiful Bobby and lover boy Dennis who came up with lover boy as his nickname. He had a robe that had lover boy on the back. So that's him and Hickers and if everybody if anybody was to go back and look at like old pictures from the 70s of the valiant brothers handsome Jimmy and luscious Johnny. Or Ernie lad had on the written on the back of his jackets or vests like promises promises or you know, I am right to his George cannons but handsome Jimmy and luscious Johnny would do big lips and shit and fucking is strange words on the backs of their jackets so Bill and Dennis started doing that where they had one set of tights where the ass of their trunks which is big lips and the dollar signs down the fucking. And I think like when Ferris and Latham the blonde bombers one was 714 and one was B 52 but just bullshit on the tights and Dennis had a robe that said lover boy and Bobby had already been beautiful Bobby eating so it just and that and that's the thing is when Dennis was when we first made the deal with Watts Dennis was really the spokesperson at that point is what's it asked him said well if you guys have a tag team you got a good tag team name then say but not express okay and then I said later on how do y'all like that just fine will be goddamn shit storm and key fove or I don't care at this point. So it was a lot of this was Dennis is weird question but 84 you're working mid south and Norvell comes in does he ever say anything like hey you know that was my name. I was. And see Norvell was from Memphis or the Memphis area rid he lived there you know, long a long period of his life. And so when he'd come back to Memphis he's basically coming home and he worked there. A lot more for the next few years until he until he quit as well as doing a thing with but the thing with Coco the PYT is actually was a better spot for him than the Midnight Express had been when he was in it. Because he and Coco worked Dallas Louisiana Memphis. Yeah, they had a nice little run for a little while there and Florida and whereas the Midnight Express had just been a thing that Norvell did really in you know Alabama and Tennessee for a year and a half or so. Because Norvell had been he'd been in the business since before all of them he broke in in what was it 7071 and he had been a partners with Sputnik Monroe and and done a variety of things before. Dennis or Randy came along so that wasn't his whole deal. No, we saw even it was like he was making more money wrestling against the Midnight Express than he was when he was a member of it so he didn't mind. So going back to where we were before 86. It's a great year for you guys great year for Crockett promotions. You guys in the rock and roll you guys and Dusty and Magnum you and baby doll. Eventually you in the Road Warriors. It's also when you guys get asked by Ernie Ladd if you'll come to the Northeast and meet with Vince McMahon. What was Dennis's reaction all that because was it a surprise that they wanted to talk to you and again this is a time where everyone's getting action figures and they're on NBC. What was Dennis's reaction to all that. Well, he was like we all were because Ernie Ladd called me one day out of the blue at my apartment in Charlotte and hadn't spoken to him since we left Louisiana because I hadn't seen him. And he said I'm doing some talent scouting for Vince McMahon appear in the WWF guys are going to make more money than they've ever dreamed of in their life. Have I ever lied to you 20 have I ever lied to you. And no you haven't Ernie. But anyway Dennis was like holy shit because we didn't know in May or April or 1986 whatever period of time this we didn't know how this all was going to turn out. But we saw these guys are up there making you know obviously a lot of money big houses and all of the merchandising that Vince is starting to do. And we're currently where the World Tag Team Champions for Crockett which is the biggest company that Vince doesn't have. And we made. What was it and we would go on to make almost $200,000 that year but that January February March April period of time was big because that was the start of the rock and roll angle so we're making already three grand four grand a week. But now you know here's Ernie's and Ernie dangled a signing bonus of 25 grand which was still serious money back then. And he mentioned that I didn't dream it. That's the thing when we got to the meeting with Vince that never came up. No dollar figure at all ever came up. But Dennis was all for it so let's go have the meeting. And you know he was the same as the when we got out of there he felt same way as the rest of us is that he didn't really tell us any goddamn thing. He didn't tell us who we were going to work with, whether we were going to have a run with the belt what a minimum amount might be we would get per week. What kind of money per year we do things that we had been told in at least. If not vague somewhat tenuous terms by Crockett or dusty whatever. But he was big on the marketing the action figures he probably had just come in hindsight from a big meeting about the action figures that he was all hopped up about it but that was the. But I mean there was it just he didn't. He talked about the opportunities and etc and when we looked at it we said. Hey we got all these teams to work with here that we're just started with the rocker role and they can't. You know they're pushing us as hard as they can push us and we're going to. Go up there and do that we don't know what the fuck no. So we didn't and see some people have. One of the things that Dennis said at one point try to get people to leave him alone. About why he left in eighty seven. Was it well and you know I want to go to the W. W. F. or Jim and Bobby don't want to go whatever. Well that was. April or May of nineteen eighty six to March of nineteen eighty seven and it didn't have anything to do with it. But it was just easier to get people to shut fuck up. But no we were we were not we were impressed by Vincent his fancy fucking car but we were not impressed by anything he told us as. As wrestlers as. You know and again it was also why would we think that people would be buying our action figures when people are trying to stab us currently we are the heels we. It our thing didn't work that wouldn't have worked there. We had to make those people so goddamn mad. That they literally wanted to see the road warriors throw us off scaffold and kill us. And it it it wasn't working that way up there at that point with Vince. And that was what came next because Stargate eighty six and the build to it. That would be the end of nineteen eighty six for you guys and. I gotta keep asking my Dennis's reactions because we've heard about yours for so many years. When Dusty decides you guys should do more scaffold matches. Do them at the end of your mid south run in eighty four. What was Dennis's reaction. Oh I mean again he understood because he was smart to the business it wouldn't like it I've said before the matches stink so bad you can't. So it's not like we go out there and perform our craft at the highest. But he also knew they were going to fucking draw because. He'd spent enough time in Memphis. He got the principal and then we did it in Louisiana and that's where. Dusty stole it from. But this one was as I've said was big not only wider but taller and it was just a whole bigger thing. But it's the same time as I said he was smart to the business in that we are the feature match at. The biggest show that our company does of the year and all the focus and attention and promotion is all on it and everything and we're going to man that was. At that point the most money that we never made in one day to do anything. And there weren't a lot of fucking ten thousand dollar payoffs in the wrestling business back then. So he under it but. But at the same point after. I think it was the one on the eye and it's dark aid it was the first one. They've thrown the powder up there to blind the road warriors and they're fighting on their knees but he's looking down at the ring and looking out at the goddamn people. And I'm glad they weren't Mike as well as they are today because he was screaming we're dumb we're dumb mother fuckers. We are stupid. But you know that the one they had in Cleveland I didn't even see some of them since I was having recovering from the surgery from the first one. But the one in Cleveland they had to have the fucking Union people set the scaffold up and they didn't know how to instead of Klondike bill they didn't know how to do it and it was shaking and rattling. And they got a kind of a perfunctory scaffold match that night but that's the thing also is he's the only one at Dennis that didn't get hurt. I got hurt Bobby twisted his knee and nowadays not not his knee but his ankle and I think did something else on an elbow on another one. Dennis is it but he would drop land on both feet crouched down and then take a flat back bump and shake his legs in such a manner that it looked like he'd fractured himself in half and it was the safest scaffold bump you could take. Was Bubba at the ones that you didn't go to after you got hurt. Yes he was there for some of them but they didn't have him up on up on it on that run it was the following year. But this is a period of time where you guys were as hot as you could be. And then you go into the big angle with Ron Garvin and Barry Wyndham. And you know the one promo line that everyone seems to remember from Dennis is talking about the cosmic fireball. Yeah that hit Ron Garvin it wasn't Jim Cortette it was a cosmic fireball. But this is right around the period of time where everything changes. Well I was in Hawaii because I was on my honeymoon when I got suspended for burning Ronnie Garvin. And that's when you know when the boys had to do their own interview. Dennis could talk again if you go back and you want to look at some of the YouTube stuff of the last thing he did in continental right at 89 when they were going out of business or. Dennis could talk and and was entertaining. It just you know it had become a thing where you didn't hear him talk but yeah he says something to the effect of you know it wasn't Jim Cortette didn't have anything to do with it. It was a cosmic fireball that took out Ronnie Garvin. But he would be the one to mostly speak for the boys if I was on a rare occasions that I wasn't present. And that's the thing as you mentioned we were going into an angle. It was really. We had been involved with Garvin and Wyndham now we had just burned Ronnie and caused Jimmy to switch from heel to baby face to reunite with his quote unquote brother. And we're going to start working with the Garvin brothers there and then also the. Jim Crockett senior cup for 87 was fast approaching. And that's what it usually gets interesting and that's when Dennis left. So let's talk about that because what do you remember about the day before. And at what point did you realize he's not coming back I guess. Was it scary. I mean were you at any point worried that something may have happened to him. And no it was scary I was worried something's going to happen to us called unemployment. Because I mean here we have it's where the greatest in the world at what we do and suddenly it's they have half of it ain't there. No we came back from a spot show in North Carolina at some high school gym on a like a Wednesday night and the next morning we had to fly to Los Angeles and. We rode with Dennis Dennis dropped us off at our cars and said I'll see you in the morning we didn't see him again for a year and a half. And the next nothing at the airport and well I shit he's missed the I mean people miss flights and as I've mentioned in the past every. Wherever we went there was like one time per year where Dennis for two days you just he just say fucking. And he'd be somewhere. But called his wife at the time which obviously was his previous wife. And she didn't know where he was. And but she didn't sound real convincing about not knowing anything about. What might have happened. But she didn't know where he was so we went to California and did the two or three day loop or whatever and nobody's heard from even then we've talked to the story when we talked about. Trying to figure out who might take his place and this is all happening within like. An eight or nine day 10 day period. And I thought about Tom Pritchard who was a single in Alabama and we hadn't thought about Stan because he was in Florida but with Steve Kern but we didn't know Kern was. Thinking about retire blah blah blah. And then dusty had Stan come up and we said OK but the reason why is because literally. None of us heard from Dennis nobody know where know how. And they did a search on. The plane tickets that they'd given him go to California the travel agent that word for Crockett did it had been it had been changed to a plane ticket to Colorado. OK so we knew he went to Colorado. Did he have any connection to Colorado before that. Not particularly. I think we'd work there I think once or maybe that was Albuquerque. I'm not sure. But it was it was a it was a fur piece from Charlotte. So at any way then. Honestly until. He resurfaced doing a thing with Randy and Paul Lee for the for the AWA for Vern and the reason why that was he was living in Colorado and. The AWA TV tapings were in Vegas by that point remember. And it actually it was a thing that you know. So it it was it was convenient. And that's when I started seeing them. In the back of my mind I thought we got to do something and then we. We had the pickle where we were without opponents after Tully and Arne left in the middle of our program in September of 88 and. The midnight is Bobby and Stan were kind of floundering because the people wanted to like us but. We actually hadn't really turned. Baby face and at the same time. We had no fresh opponents because that was telling an arm was supposed to run for months so. That's what I pitched the idea to dusty. To do the thing but I know a lot of people are going away you didn't tell us why I'm not going to. And I've said this before we didn't even know then we just when Dennis came back and we saw him again a year and a half later at the TV. Where they came out and beat us up. We just all shook hands and hugged and said OK now we've. We've got a fucking. A chance. The midnight express with me has a chance to get out of the pickle we're in. Floundering in this company. And you guys have the biggest stage you're going to have to. Get your shit over so let's do it. But we didn't. Go into details until. When we re re re union. What 15 years later at the goddamn. Fan fest and that's what Dennis had by then Teresa had tamed him down. And he told us why it had nothing to do with either Bobby or myself or the wrestling business in particular or. It didn't have anything to do with drugs or a personal problem that he had although. It may not have. Aided in his decision making but it was something that was beyond most of all of our anybody else's control except he just needed to relocate. And it worked out. So when you first see them before we even get to them coming in what was your I mean was it right away. Just all wow there he is and when you see them come out as the original midnight express. And again with. Paulie dangerously who was a dynamo. Very different than you although somewhat similar but very easily if they had had a bad manager none of it would have worked out. They had Heyman although he had managed Austin Idol and Tommy Rich this was really what put him on the map. Well yeah and that was in Memphis and most people didn't see that where this was at least on cable even though you know it was the downhill days of the A. W. A. But they were one of the better. Lighter lights of the show. But your initial thoughts seeing him pop up as original midnight express on a rival promotion show. Well I was like I wasn't a poll. Were you surprised he was teaming up with Randy. No because there was no heat with Dennis and Randy Randy hadn't really done much in a few years all of a sudden for his old partner to pop up as his partner wasn't surprising at all. Well because how else would you call yourself the original midnight express. That was that part wasn't a surprising part really got Randy. It's not like Randy was sitting at the home going I hope nobody ever books me again. With Paulie it was again I already knew Paul. But it the thing is it was at that point a team who version of what most people considered to be the midnight express. It was in a lesser promotion that had a lesser talent roster and obviously by where the thing was being taped smaller crowds and most people that would be seeing it didn't really know that they actually were the original midnight express Dennis and Randy before Bobby and Dennis. They just thought it was all there's the guy that used to be in it and he's kind of ripping it off. And nobody again had really ever seen Paul before so while he was you know a refreshing promo for the boring ass a w a television it wasn't like he had a big name and was all shit they've got a haeming with them now nobody ever seen him before. I didn't I wasn't offended by it and at least Dennis was back into business. But at the same point I knew that they weren't going to affect our spot in any way or make us look bad but that the only way that they were ever going to draw any money was if we actually all did the thing and did the angle. Then it meant something. Where they were one gonna one go save Vern they weren't Merlin the magician. And when they show up at Techwood Drive it was just hey how you doing it's good to see you again I mean what happens when you you and Bobby first see him. Dennis Bobby everybody just hugged and shook hands. Exactly of course well I don't know if everybody was enthusiastically hugging Paul. I'm trying to remember it had I guess they had met Paul by then. Because probably is a photographer. Well no think about this because Paul left the northeast and went to Memphis and what 87 or 88. It was early 87 when the idle law or feud was heating up so yeah. Okay well see all the pictures I have a Paul taken of the Midnight Express was Bobby and Dennis. Right. So I think Paul quit photographing and started managing when Stan joined the team and they'd never been in the same place before. Nevertheless. No there was no. I wouldn't if we were going to be awkward and didn't want them to be there. I wouldn't pitch to fucking idea. So no and Bobby was happy to see Dennis and Dennis was happy to say everybody's always happy to see Bobby so no there was no issue we just I've always thought well just it's wrestling what the fuck I didn't even know there was a. When we heard the reason years later and accepted it and thought no wonder. Okay now I get it no worries. But at that point it was still like what the fuck we're not going to. God damn hating forever were the ones that prospered and he's ended up. You know his career suffered. So it wasn't like we were trying to rub anything in then. And of course there were some real memorable moments in that few the big angle where they bloody you up and attack the Express the promo where you come out with the bloody suit. Heyman starts doing easy fired up promos on TBS. They were very different than anyone else's promos the starcade match. And then of course the loser leaves town match which. By that point Dennis was gone again when did you find out Dennis had left that time and what's the story behind that. Well he wasn't by that time it wasn't he was gone he was gone specifically for that. Because. Again I pitched everybody the angle dusty approved it dusty let us do it this is how it was going to progress etc. And then within weeks after we shoot the angle. Dusty gets heat with TBS for getting juice when he was trying to turn the road warriors he'll blah blah blah dust he's out his book. And they named Jim Crockett as the interim booker. And Jimmy Crockett. He came to us and said you know I'm not a booker I'm going to be a maintenance type of booker where I'm just going to keep everything going until. You know until we hire someone it were okay. Well then. With the only thing that only major change he really made. While they were recruiting George Scott and try to convince him to leave his fucking coffin in Transylvania and come back to the business. Jimmy Crockett didn't like Randy Rose's work he liked Dennis Dennis and work for him made him a lot of money. But he wanted to get Dennis a new payday like Taman. He wanted to get Dennis a new partner. And so suddenly Dusty's gone for a few weeks JJ is taking care of it until Jimmy Crockett steps in so JJ just has us going Broadway and the house shows and what the fuck. And then at the start of the year in January TBS announces that what we don't need to take the managers to house shows they're not necessary so they stopped booking me and Paul. To go on the road with the fucking Midnight Express match which was the guts of the whole thing. We even offered to pay our own way. And they were there. And so after they rescinded that after what three three weeks or whatever but some damage had been done there. And then the thing that Jimmy Crockett does is say OK at the February pay-per-view will have a loser of the fall leaves WCW match and they were going to beat Randy Rose. And get any said we can bring Dennis in a new partner I said that changes the whole goddamn deal. So Dennis already not particularly trusting wrestling promoters. And that's what we're going to do. We start what we're going to do. Then they start fucking everything up and then they announced that he's his partner is going to be fired. So I think we went through the dates one time here on the show. He had to have been several years but he made all of the Midnight Express Midnight Express match bookings including some of the tank towns we were in. Until what he was going to have to do was fly. We had a day off and then he was going to be expected to fly all the way to like dipshit South Carolina for a spot show. And then have another day off and then go to the pay-per-view that weekend. And he didn't make dipshit South Carolina. And by the time the pay-per-view came about we knew I'm sure Paul knew. I knew because he pulled that old Houdini before. He wasn't coming back. And so they put Jack victory in the spot with Dennis and where it was me. That was the six man tag. It was me and Bobby and Stan against supposedly Dennis, Randy and Paul where you pay the thing off by getting the managers in the ring. But fucking Crockett's idea was to beat Randy. So instead we just didn't do that. So they, Jack victory. And then what did we do in the finish? I think they beat Randy anyway. But no, they didn't beat Randy. They beat Jack victory and then Paul he brought Jack victory back as his bodyguard in a suit. Secret service, Jack victory. That's right. Yes, Secret service, Jack victory. So they, they were, and that's the thing when George Scott came in right before this because now George Scott's there. You know what he said? He said, well fuck. He said, I would have kept the original Midnight Express and fired eating, eating and corn and lane. So by the time he's in charge of this pay-per-views, do we beat the substitute or do we beat the guy that we were going to beat? And he would have changed the finish and beaten us if he'd had his way as a goddamn cluster fuck. So Dennis said a do again because he saw where that was going and they didn't sign these guys to long-term lucrative contracts to come back. They had, I don't know if it's a per, as probably as per week, they had per week guarantees. And what the fuck? He didn't come back to just be some, a single preliminary guy or some dipshit and a make, made up tag team. He thought they were going to get a chance. And of course he would go to Continental, post-Ronferre Continental, and that would be his last real run. It would be a main event run. He was really good there. You would actually go to Continental briefly when you, Stan and Bobby would leave before you came back in 19- But he wasn't there then. But that was before he was there, yeah. Yeah. And then after that, few and far between in terms of bookings and things he did, what did he do after Continental in 89? Well, again, he, when he moved to Colorado, he had that stable. It was primary thing, but he, and because Murdoch, Dick Murdoch was living in Colorado at that point. And he and Murdoch actually trained a handful of guys that they could have their opening matches. And then they promoted shows where it would be Dennis Condru versus Dick Murdoch in the main event with Joe, Tom, Larry and Bill, your opening matches that they trained enough to get by the same way that Gene Anderson trained him 20 years before that. And this is before the internet and they weren't going to try to get in over their heads. They were smart to the business. They were just, they were basically, if they promoted a fucking show that had any kind of house and after they paid the expenses, they just split the house between them. What a bad fucking deal. But it was just, you know, it was a here and there thing. And, and then Dickie died in, what was it, 90? 95 96 96. You know, if they were still doing anything at that point, they, you know, it wasn't, wasn't that much. But as far as wrestling went, no, he didn't really, he didn't go anywhere, do anything or talk to anybody for all those years. But that's kind of when he was coming into the second phase of his life and settling down, believe it or not. How did he meet Theresa? In Colorado. And I've, I've, I've heard the story of how they met and I have the barest grasp of the details and I'm not going to try to butcher it, but they just met, you know, not related to wrestling or anything like that. And, and they've been together now 33 years, I think something like that. And when was the first time you guys got together at a convention or the reunion? I remember a bunch of stuff and I want to say 2003 maybe in Ring of Honor 2004, 2004 Ring of Honor. But what was that like the whole reunion of the Midnight Express? Well, again, I was, I was here in Louisville and was in the middle of OVW and Bobby had done the trainer thing for a while, but Bobby was back in Charlotte and stands, you know, always in North Carolina somewhere or other. But we heard that Dennis made, just showed up at one of the Wrestle Birmingham shows, I think it was, they were doing in Birmingham back then. He had moved back to Huntsville. He decided to move back because he was originally from Florence, Alabama. Nobody knows that. He always used Charlotte because that's where he said, then the Midnight Express was from the dark side. But he's born in Florence. And he moved back home to Huntsville and just went down to visit the guys and everybody went crazy. And I heard about it. I said, can somebody get me his number? And I don't even remember who it was at that point, but then we called and we called, he called whatever the fuck we talked. And I said, we got to do some stuff because this is just when they were starting to do fanfests on a regular basis in a variety of places and the Charlotte wrestling reunion. And I was doing stuff with Ring of Honor right about that time with Gabe Sapolsky. And, you know, Gabe, it asked, hey, you can get these guys for a reunion for a shoot interview and blah, blah, blah. Sure. And that's kind of what kicked it off. And then from, I guess, September of 2004 to for the next six or seven years, there was a lot of Midnight Express matches at various reunions and things. Even that Degum Tony Hunter that was running Lenore, North Carolina did a rock and roll express and Midnight Express program in Lenore, North Carolina and had like three or four straight sellouts of like 1500 people in like 2006 or whatever when that just wasn't done. And they, I remember they did a big show against the Steiners in Georgia drew like a $30,000 house. So the people were still interested. Even, you know, I had OVW going on and couldn't do a lot of them, but I do the big ones and that's how we were able to do like the 20th anniversary was really our reunions. 1984 to 2004 and then the 25th anniversary was the scrapbook and we did shit and the 40th anniversary was the action figures. And of course that for a variety of reasons, that's the last anniversary that we said we were going to have anyway, but it's been, it did us probably got more appreciation for the reunions and the fanfare. And the, the best and the stuff he's done over the last 20 years that he did wrestling for 20 when people weren't as smart to how much he was having to do with making the whole thing work. Yeah, was that a weird thing for him at all going to conventions or fan get togethers and the heat is gone. No one's looking to punch him or get to him. The fans are happy to meet him and see him. And from what I know a lot of the wrestlers were happy to meet him because they had been watching him and if you're a wrestler and you watch Midnight Express matches they stand out. Well, and again, that's the thing I said at the start of this is that, you know, your favorite so and so's favorite so and so. Look at the variety of people that have said from as I said from I saw Nick oldest wrote something really nice. But I mean anybody from the hardies to FTR to aren't Anderson has always said the best tag team he ever saw was Bobby and Dennis Connery. To guys that worked with him. Everybody knew that already. It's just not the first thing you know that you always convey to people you know when they see you to fan fest hey by the way did I tell you somebody else is the best guy I ever saw you know, but they they felt that and you know that's sometimes why the maybe the musicians that are most respected within the music industry as being great musicians are not necessarily the the biggest names, or the best fighters or the best actors, or whatever the best is but the other people that do that. No and recognize who the best is or was. Of course he was one of the best midnight express to a lot of us best tag team ever, but the other people at a minimum, one of the top tag teams of all time and, as you said an outpouring of support and love that we've seen on social media and via email from listeners wrestlers coworkers alike. Everyone's thinking of Dennis Connery. Well and that's again. I just want to mention it. If anybody can support the go fund me it is going to Teresa is why food. You know again now is was thinking that she was retiring to spend. He has some time with and that's a thing Dennis loved her to death. I didn't think he could be that domesticated to that degree. But he just loved her and. You know she's dealing with a lot now with you know nobody else to really stand up and hold her up so. Obviously her friends and we at all are going to do what we can do in a variety of ways to support but. You know she's got the rest of her life to think about now. So I hope everybody will do something with the go fund me but also just if you can't or even if you do also do this. Just remember. How influential of a person he was how good he was at what he did. Even if you didn't watch him himself. He gave you entertainment because of all the people. That stole. All the shit that they used to do that still do it today. And you don't know it. Including the Mizz and fucking full Nelson face buster that can't hold a candle. But the things that they learned either by being in the ring with the guy or by his. Intermittent stance and training or doing coaching at camps or just watching video. The wrestlers you like learned how to do something from this guy and I wish that. More of them would learn how to do more of those things because nobody works like Dennis Connery in the business these days and hasn't. Hasn't ever but especially for a long time. So. Anyway that's the program I guess for now I'm sure I'll think of all the things that I forgot as soon as we stop doing this but we probably ought to stop doing this I mean. Is this yours or mine Brian. This is your show we back in a few days on the drive through and of course next week here on the experience. Until then thanks bye bye everybody. With who you can focus on living better for longer understand your sleep optimize your training and build habits that support your well being. 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