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I just finished reading Tod is God and what a fascinating book it was. I was a kid at the height of wrestling boom of the 90s so while ECW is obviously familiar to me, its inner-workings were fascinating to read about. I was left with a couple of questions. 1. What is Tod’s legacy in wrestling? 2. What is Paul Heyman’s legacy in wrestling? This one seems like a compacted answer because frankly Paul seems like a complicated person. This seems like two guys you have great insights about and I am curious your take on both men.
Tod Gordon has been a brother to me for decades so I can be accused of being partial, and rightly so, but I will say that his legacy is massive and too many people don’t give him the props that he deserves. If he doesn’t start ECW, who knows what happens? Would Paul Heyman have gotten to be the mad scientist somewhere else? Would the stars like Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Chris Jericho, etc. gotten a chance to show the world what they could do if it weren’t for ECW? Would Rey Mysterio have ever been given a chance in a big promotion? I say probably not. Also, would the disillusioned fans who were sick of the garbage that the WWF and WCW were feeding us at the time, like me, have given up on the business altogether if ECW didn’t rope us back in? A lot would have, for sure. What Tod did for the business can’t be understated. If he hadn’t started ECW, I don’t believe that Paul would have so the course of wrestling history changes, and not for the better. Tod Is God. Period.
As for Paul, his legacy is still being written. I always had Bobby Heenan, Heyman and Jim Cornette as my top three managers of all time. With his work in The Bloodline, Paul has risen to number one for me. That alone is a hell of a legacy but when you add in his booking and work with the talents, he’s an all timer. It’s not even up for debate.
Is Tony Khan going to get the male model gimmick over better than WWE? (Not including Rick Martel)
Well if you mean Max Dupree, it wouldn’t be hard to get something over more than that Vince train wreck.
I watched the WM40 documentary on YouTube and found it very entertaining. One moment does not make any sense to me though, and it didn't make any sense when it happened on screen anyways. Triple H mentions that he planned to have Cody win the Royal Rumble, even though it was pretty much decided at that point that he wouldn't face Roman at WrestleMania because the Rock vs Roman was going to happen. Yet, he then said he wanted Cody to win the Rumble to reward the fans for their commitment to the build up of Cody's character since his loss at WM 39. But even with him winning the Rumble, there were no concrete WrestleMania plans? I don't get it! Did Triple H work himself into a shoot? Was he making Cody win bc he disagreed with the Rock coming in and changing his year long build for Cody, and so he banked on the fans ' outrage to ultimately force the Rock's hand in changing the match (which the Rock admits was ultimately his call to make later in the doc)? Either I misunderstood, Triple H went rogue, he's irresponsible, or someone decided booking yourself into a corner was productive. Am I crazy? (Hello, Vince Russo, are you there?)
I said at the time, the easy way to book to Roman vs. Rock, if that was the plan in January, was to have Cody get screwed in The Rumble by whoever he would then end up wrestling at Mania. If they had done that, there is no uprising from the fans because Cody doesn’t have the means to demand the shot at Roman. Once they booked him to win the Rumble, there was a good chance that the outrage would happen, and it did. Watching the documentary, which every wrestling reporter should watch to the end not just for 40 minutes, I thought the same thing. I can’t speak to HHH’s motivations but like you, it sure seemed like he was making sure that they had a way to get back to what his original plan was for the entire year. Again, if Cody loses in the Rumble, the fans can’t expect him to do what he has said he would do since last Mania. It was a curious decision……or was it?
I was just wondering if information ever came out regarding why Humberto became Berto when re-joining the main roster? They went by Angel and Humberto after Vince McMahon axed their last names. Upon HHH taking over and their move to NXT, they got their last names back. Fast forward to joining Legado and they lost their last names again and Humberto's name was shortened. While it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, this is a Vince move and not something HHH seemingly ever does. Is there any info on why the decision was made to ax their names and then cut Humberto's first name to just the silly "Berto"? Was it his request? It just doesn't feel like a HHH move at all.
I honestly never asked anyone because to me, it’s not that big of a deal. I don’t see it as being silly so it doesn’t make me wonder why it happened. They are a mid card tag team. They can be Angel and Berto, or Itchy and Scratchy. It really isn’t a big deal to me. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.
Jeff Jarrett gives a great interview discussing Owen Hart and how he is entering the tournament, he then loses to, a returning, Adam Page. Did Tony Kahn not see the interview or did he just ignore the fact that he had a built-in, true life, story that fans inside and outside AEW could have gotten behind?
I will criticize Tony Khan for a lot of his booking but not here. Jarrett is a marvel at his age but there is no way I push him over one my younger, top guys (and I am saying that from Tony’s perspective, not mine, Page is a mid-carder in my world but not in Tony’s). It made sense to give the fans a reason to think Jarrett could win, and it made sense for Page to get the dub.
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