ASK-A-WAI: Questions Thread

Jake from The Windy City here!

Hey Wai and John, thank you so much for coming to my city for ALL-IN and Starrcast! It’s been a huge pleasure to hang out and meet with you guys, as well as Braden and Davie.

  1. What did you guys think of WWE’s version of ECW when it first started with One Night Stand in '05 (one of the best wrestling PPVs ever) and '06 along with the follow-up? Was it originally the plan to make an alternative to Raw & Smackdown or did you already realize from the start that it would eventually be just another WWE-formatted show? I consider that one of WWE’s biggest blunders and looking back, what was the purpose of bringing ECW back anyway?

  2. Sensitive topic here, but we here in the States just came off another anniversary of the September 11th attacks. I had friends who families were affected when it happened and I want to ask you guys this. Do you both remember where you were on that fateful day?

Colin from Glasgow, Scotland

I’m getting married next Summer and am deep into wedding planning. I’d like to have some wrestling-themed aspect to the event, but nothing too in-your-face. Do you have any advice, John? Did you choose to have any wrestling themed table names for dinner or have your own entrance music? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

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I love love love these MCU Reviews… and will be upset when there are no more to review… would you guys consider branching out to other franchises (i.e.; X-Men, Spider-Man or even the DC Universe?)

Do you think Naito has been booked poorly this year? He’s the most popular guy in the company, but his year has paled compared to the rest of the big 4. It feels like he’s taken Nakamura’s old role

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Alex from Maple

I’ve gotten into NJPW but I am really confused by the endless stream of 6 man tags that seem to dominate most undercards. There is often no storyline to them at all and they just seem thrown together. At least WWE undercard matches have storylines (good or bad) and seem to make sense.

Also even Fighting Spirit Unleashed has a main event tag match that has back story nor does it make sense really. Why are Ishii and Okada fighting Omega and Ibushi? Whats the story here? Why should I care?

While the wrestling is better in NJPW I find the lack of any explanation or storylines for a lot of matches and the ridiculous number of mult-man matches to be off putting.

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Do you think Cesaro would be talked about as one of the best wrestlers in the world if he was in a main event spot and/or in New Japan?

Brandon from Oshawa

John, Riverdale is supposed to have a more magical/mystical element to the show this coming season. Does this excite you more for Season 3 or take you out of it?

Shaun from Manchester, England

Are they any wrestlers, past or present, who are patreons for the site that you know of?

With the success of the G1 and the Best of the Super Juniors tournament seemingly growing in accessibility do you think NJPW will look to make the World Tag League a bigger priority? Feels like an opportunity on their calendar in a soft month (December) to use that tournament more effectively.

-Carl in BC

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With the baseball season winding down, and with your discussion of the Blue Jay’s and Baseball Mogul, I was wondering what you thought of the current discussions in baseball regarding the length of a baseball game, rule changes (like the D.H, reviewing plays, mound visits, etc.), and any ideas you would like to see implemented.

Jake from the Windy City with another question:

What were your picks for each section in this year’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame?

Hi both,

Jamie from Leamington here. Have either of you watched the documentary series Ugly Delicious on Netflix? If so, what did you think? I thought it was interesting to see a series that in the surface was about food, but also tackled a lot of interesting topics about culture and the immigrant experience.

Thanks!

Hello Guys,

Ian from Edmonton here. I was wondering if either of you are looking forward to October 17th? For those non Canadians it’s the date Canada finally goes green.

If WCW and ECW survived past 2001 with, hypothetically, an influx of revenue, how do you think they would have faired for the rest of the 00s?

Hey John and Wai,

Love the shows

What was the last wrestling angle that had you really excited for a match

Also I was wondering if you intend to do more with “lens” on the Patreon app, I love seeing snippets of when ye are just hanging out and having the craic. It’s like when ye are just chatting at the start of shows and discussing your weekend!

Thoughts on Devlin vs Walter?

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If Anthony Pettis beats Tony Ferguson on Saturday, how close do you feel he is to title shot? Can you see him beating Conor or Khabib at this stage in his career?

Hey John and Wai,

If you could time travel what era and territory would you like to travel back to experience in person and is there a particular show you would attend? Personally I wish I had been able to experience the real heat the Memphis shows at the Mid-South Colosseum in the early to mid-80’s when Memphis wrestling was at its peak and Crocket NWA and WCW events from 84 to 89 generated. In particular, I would have loved to have experienced the event where the 4 Horsemen broke Dusty’s ankle and the crowd surrounded and tried to get into the cage to attack them.

Boyd from Glasgow.

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Nic from Chatham,

Have you ever met any celebrities that you were fans of that also happened to be fans of yours? Not including Damian Abraham.

For those of us who came in when Post Wrestling started, but weren’t listening back in the day, could you explain the Scott Putski reference?

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