MFX Podcast Show/Feedback Thread.

[Rob.B]

PSY - Wrestling style . Daniels & Kazarian . TNA.

[Goldferg]

thanks to the above, end up watching the actual Gagnam Style video, think its over, click on the MFX podcast to start it up and have the 'Hey this is Kevin Steen...' bit start up just as an instrumental of the Gagnam riff hits. This... works so well I actually close the window, just to make sure this isn't some MFX trickery

... the Tax Rebate thing seems to be an 'after 5 years or so we realized we cocked up' thing, 'cos I got one last year (which paid for my Mass Effect 3 - I was part time so I only got 80 quid ) from what I'm sure must've been a Lillywhites salary since that was the only stable job I'd had in the past 5 years (and at the time I was unemployed to boot).  So... yeah...

... FNORD! Do I get league points for ADR's music being played on MFX? I think I should.

Spud's the only one of the UK wrestlers you mentioned that I've seen. And I will admit, he is good. He nearly kicked a DVD into my groin once. But he is good.

... so, does Borash get a Dire Straits cover then? Sultan of Singger & all...

... ballpeen hammer?

... should this 'Kineely (sp) guy who is there to take their jobs' turn out to be the Aces & 8s bought and paid for commentary guy? I don't watch TNA, but I think this should be a thing. Especially if he only commentates a certain part of the show (AKA the A&8 bits and important angles related to them).

I think what Ian should have said re. Joe/Magnus is that Joe should have gone over, but against someone other than Magnus. Give him a couple more months killing mid-upper mid guys to establish both Joe and the belt, THEN put Magnus over him and make him a star. I'm sure there's someone like Anderson or someone they could have used for this. DO IT TNA! DO IT!!!

When you mentioned RVD going back to WWE for one last big pay day I started to go 'YEAH!' ... and then I thought... 'who'd he match up against'... and outside of Punk I can't see him putting over anyone (admittedly he could have an awesome match against Daniel Bryan, but so could my last wank rag, and you KNOW he'd want to go over if he came back. It's why he'll NEVER leave TNA, because they protect him like WWE protects Orton).

Gagnam Style is a K-pop song that became an internet meme that somehow became popular. Apparently, from what I understand, it translates as some kind of harsh condemnation of North (I think) Korea. It's an Internet Meme... AN INTERNET MEME!!!

The Lawler recussitacion stuff - OF COURSE they filmed it. If he comes back, as he did, it's a) inspirational and b) if/when a heel uses it it gives them more heat (ala Punk). And if he died... odds are that would NEVER have been shown. And you know that footage was used with Lawler's blessing, because otherwise he wouldn't have been there. Its kinda the first rule of broadcasting - film anything you think will be useful, even if you never use it. Better to have it and never use it than not have it and need it later... and DAMN I'm a cynic.

... amd so are you guys by the sound of it. And now its all good...

[Jonny Worldbeater]

Just listened to the most recent show over the last couple of days.

First of all, I just wanna say this: I've had a subscription to the Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Weekly site for a while now, and they pretty much put out 1 or 2 or sometimes even 3 or 4 shows A DAY.

I bring this up because right now on my Podcast subscription list I have a backlog of about 100 shows dating back to mid-October that I haven't yet got around to listening to, and as that backlog gets bigger and bigger I lose more and more interest in bothering to listen to it.

When the new Marks for Excellence podcast comes out every week, I immediately d/l it, listen to it as soon as I can, and laugh my ass off.

I was actually having lunch today while listening to the show at around the point when you guys were discussing this fuck-awful pointless Cena/AJ angle (exhibit A of why I no longer give a pinch of shit about WWE programming), and when Ian said something like 'they're touching pee pees and dee dees' I laughed so hard I nearly choked on my sandwich. So I think you can take that as a glowing review of the show.

As far as the talking points, I still don't have a lot of interest in TNA TBH, but it still sounds a damn sight better than the shit that gets crapped out on the average episode of RAW.

I think it's pretty clear for all concerned though is that the fucking Aces and Eights angle is just a boat anchor around the neck of the whole show that keeps it from being something much better, and the fact that it's such a huge focal point of the show, has been and will probably still be dragging on forever with no end goal in sight just taints what otherwise sounds like a perfectly good wrestling show. Well, that and the backwards-thinking booking that they have to put over guys who were big in other companies.

But that ladder match from Turning Point sounds pretty sick. Just goes to prove that when he's motivated and not pilled out of his gourd Jeff Hardy really is a great wrestler, and given somebody the calibre of Aries to work with only good things can come out of it.

The recap of RAW though... God, that just fucking depresses me, and through no fault of you guys, just the lousy fucking content of the show.

That Punk/Lawler thing really just disgusts me because it's just takes the business back to the kind of lowlife, carnie-level sleaze that really does nothing for anyone, and it's especially disheartening to get that kind of shit from people you know should be above that kind of bargain-basement cheap heat (exhibit B of why I no longer give a pinch of shit about WWE programming).

I mean, sleaze can be a good thing for entertainment. Joey Ryan is a total sleazebag character, and by all accounts he's a great character. ECW was practically built on sleazy characters engaging in sleazy storylines. But that's just the thing: they were CHARACTERS in STORYLINES. They were works of fiction made up for the purposes of entertaining people.

There's nothing remotely entertaining about bringing up the very real near-death experience of a beloved figure who has been major part of the experience of a WWE show for over 20 odd years, showing very real footage of the guy being DEAD TO THE WORLD for all intents and purposes, and then making light of the situation to get some unearned reaction, and then having the fucking gall to just move on like nothing even happened and go back to the business of your regular cheesy, stupid, poorly-written garbage television fake wrestling show.

That kinda shit doesn't add one single ticket sale or pay-per-view buy or draw one more eyeball to the show. In fact I'd like to think that if anybody saw that one their TV screen, they'd turn that shit off, and if they had bought a ticket to a WWE event or ordered a PPV, they'd cancel and ask for their money back. I know I would.

It's just like you guys said; it's exploitation, and the worst kind of it. I mean, fuck, can you imagine if after Owen Hart fell to his death, a couple weeks later they were showing footage of the fall on TV, making jokes about it and using it as fodder for an angle? Fuck, they'd probably get thrown off the air and nobody would want to do business with them again for being evil, despicable, sick motherfuckers trying to profit from the death of one of their employees. A death that was arguably THEIR FUCKING FAULT.

Obviously, it's a very different situation, but I don't think it's any less despicable to try to take a very real, very near tragedy and turn it into a stupid fucking storyline. It's just fucking pathetic and unnecessary.

And I'm sorry, but the kind of people that would say, 'Oh, this is just like the Attitude Era! This is great stuff, let's have more of it!' are, IMO, a pack of delusional nitwits who don't know what they're talking about and could do with a good hard smack in the face.

*Sigh* It really is this kind of bullshit that makes me glad I don't really watch wrestling anymore, aside from the occasional match or segment or DVD, and even then only if I hear it's really good. At least I have shows like this to keep me posted about what's going on in the wrestling scene, and more importantly to give me something to be cheerful about.

That's just my 2 cents anyway.

[Duckman]

Dudes, fucking AWESOME feedback!  JB, glad to hear we're your lifeboat as you drift in the endless, black sea that is mainstream wrestling these days!

SO many people have sent me that Gangam video over the past week!  I still don't fucking get it.  At all.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for listening to the show and continuing to support it.  Feedback and comments like these are what makes sitting through 3 hours of RAW every week worth it!

Thanks again lads, new show will be up this week and it should be fun, Impact was fucking horrendous this week but SO much comedy gold.  I'm about to do a double header of Survivor Series and RAW.  And I'm out of weed.  So if the show doesn't go up this week, it's because I killed myself during the latest AJ/Cena tween-gasm bullshit that passes for 'rasslin' these days.

On a side note, the more I watch Raw, the more I think about that South Park episode where they ripped on wrestling.  It's SO true to life these days it's scary!

Right, time for 6 hours of WWE...once into the breach again dear friends!  See ya on the other side!

Peace

Duckman

[Snap]

And I'm sorry, but the kind of people that would say, 'Oh, this is just like the Attitude Era! This is great stuff, let's have more of it!' are, IMO, a pack of delusional nitwits who don't know what they're talking about and could do with a good hard smack in the face.

I'm sorry, but I think this is a case of rose-coloured glasses tinting one's view of the Attitude Era. It was the Attitude Era where Ed Ferrara began mocking Jim Ross's Bell's Palsy in both WWF and WCW. Even though Big Show's father had legitimately died several years prior to the angle, they still had the Big Bossman mock everything with the "dragging the casket while Big Show rode atop it" stunt.

The fact that people are disgusted by the fake heart attack thing is likely the reaction they were going for, to put over Punk and Heyman as antagonists and you don't have to agree with them doing such a stunt, but it's that kind of pushing the envelope which made the Attitude Era what it was. What people are saying in this case is just what Heyman said on RAW, people whine about the PG rating and crying for the Attitude Era to come back, but the first time they push the envelope, they're offended by it.

You can't pull a WWE and just pick and choose the awesome moments from the Attitude Era while denying the existence of the tripe like Katie Vick or, even though it wasn't actually part of the Attitude Era, McMahon mocking religion.

Furthermore, if you're going to get offended by the fake heart attack, what about JBL telling Jerry Lawler not to have a heart attack at the beginning of the Survivor Series PPV? How about Titus O'Neil making light of it on commentary on RAW? I also don't buy the nonsense that because it was Jerry Lawler who had the heart attack that he's the only one who can make light or joke about it, just like I think it's ludicrous that racial slurs are only acceptable amongst those the slurs target.

Attitude Era Jerry Lawler Promo

It's the kind of programming you would have never seen on RAW so long as Linda McMahon was running for political office and, before the naysayers chime in, don't you find the timing just a little too convenient that the FIRST RAW after the election and Linda deciding not to seek public office, the envelope is pushed in such an offensive direction?

[Jonny Worldbeater]

I'm sorry, but I think this is a case of rose-coloured glasses tinting one's view of the Attitude Era. It was the Attitude Era where Ed Ferrara began mocking Jim Ross's Bell's Palsy in both WWF and WCW. Even though Big Show's father had legitimately died several years prior to the angle, they still had the Big Bossman mock everything with the "dragging the casket while Big Show rode atop it" stunt.

The fact that people are disgusted by the fake heart attack thing is likely the reaction they were going for, to put over Punk and Heyman as antagonists and you don't have to agree with them doing such a stunt, but it's that kind of pushing the envelope which made the Attitude Era what it was. What people are saying in this case is just what Heyman said on RAW, people whine about the PG rating and crying for the Attitude Era to come back, but the first time they push the envelope, they're offended by it.

You can't pull a WWE and just pick and choose the awesome moments from the Attitude Era while denying the existence of the tripe like Katie Vick or, even though it wasn't actually part of the Attitude Era, McMahon mocking religion.

Furthermore, if you're going to get offended by the fake heart attack, what about JBL telling Jerry Lawler not to have a heart attack at the beginning of the Survivor Series PPV? How about Titus O'Neil making light of it on commentary on RAW? I also don't buy the nonsense that because it was Jerry Lawler who had the heart attack that he's the only one who can make light or joke about it, just like I think it's ludicrous that racial slurs are only acceptable amongst those the slurs target.

Attitude Era Jerry Lawler Promo

It's the kind of programming you would have never seen on RAW so long as Linda McMahon was running for political office and, before the naysayers chime in, don't you find the timing just a little too convenient that the FIRST RAW after the election and Linda deciding not to seek public office, the envelope is pushed in such an offensive direction?

Ok, first of all dude, yeah there was a lot of stupid shit that happened in the Attitude Era when they were doing tasteless angles to try to be 'edgy', like the ones you mentioned. And you know what? NOBODY LIKED THEM! They were garbage then and they're still garbage now.

You wanna bring up the Big Show/Bossman angle? Well guess what, that was a gigantic failure. Nobody liked the fucking awful angle and consequently nobody bought the fucking PPV to see the fucking match, so 'pushing the envelope' was blew up in their faces in that case.

Secondly, nobody fondly remembers the Attitude Era for doing shit like that because IT WASN'T ANY FUCKING GOOD, so when you make the comparison between the two and try to say 'it's like the Attitude Era therefore it must be good' you're COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT.

And yes, you can pick and chose which things you liked about the Attitude Era and which things you didn't like. It's called 'having taste', and it's a ridiculous distinction to make that if you like the good stuff about the Attitude Era that made it so fondly remembered, you also have to like the absolute crap as well.

And finally, yes, if a guy is dying or has survived almost dying, it's ok for him to make jokes about it because that's how he deals with it. I know because my dad was doing the same thing when he was dying from cancer just a few months back. And I know that if anybody was maliciously making fun of his death, I'd have beaten the unholy shit out of them without a second thought. End of story.

The fact of the matter is, every single one of those bad taste angles bombed because they were poorly received and did nothing to motivate people to watch the show or buy the product, especially when they pulled the exploitative bullcrap.

They didn't sell tickets, they didn't draw viewers, they didn't build interest in matches and you know what else, they didn't even really get heat on the heels! When you see an angle like this, you don't actually think 'Oh, that jerk, CM Punk! How dare he say things like that! I can't wait to see that guy kick his ass!' What you actually think is 'FUCK THE ASSHOLE THAT WROTE THIS SHIT!'

When you bring up the real circumstances of a guy's real near-death experience and try to turn into a storyline, sorry, not buying it. Fun-time entertainment hour is officially over, we ain't playing no more. That's the point when you stop being entertainment and go into the territory of being exploitative trash.

All those bad taste angles only served to make the company look bad, and IMO this is no exception. It makes the angle look bad, it makes the people involved look bad, it makes the company look bad, and if history is any indication, it will do absolutely no good for business, ratings, ticket sales or PPV buys. So, in short, there was no upside to it.

It was just a cheap shock tactic to try to get some cheap heat on Punk without having to do anything earn it by doing something offensive for the sake of being offensive.

[Duckman]

It's that time of the week you've all been waiting for.  No not Thanksgiving.  No not the Walking Dead.  No it's not pay day.  It's MFX TIME!!!  Yeah, much better than all those other things.

MFX 26 is here and boy oh boy do we have another great show for you guys this week. 

We give Survivor Series, Raw and Impact the usual MFX treatment and we're sure you'll find some nuggets of comedy gold in there!  We discuss why John Cena can't kiss, why Hulk Hogan hates everyone and so much more.

Check the podcast page for more details on the show.  You really don't want to miss this one.

http://goo.gl/7Z5ff

Thanks and enjoy the show!

Peace

Duckman

[Rob]

I wish you would continue to say "thankyou, thankyou" after the cheers at the end of the song like you used to

[Alex Smiley]

I just remembered something. One thing I miss from the description is what songs you used for the breaks.

[Goldferg]

Meme is pronoucned as 'Meem', short for Memetic Mutation, which is described by that fount of all time wasting tools TV Tropes as 'usually described as a catchy derivative of some aspect of pop culture, parodied and repeated to the point that its origins and original meaning become muddled and completely mutilated beyond any point of recognition or humor.' Duckman's 'wetback' comment or Ian's 'drowning downies' thing would be examples of EFK memes.

Talk about Game of Thrones Chef Ryback and his foody speaking thing, reminds me of somethign I forgot to put in my Raw feedback - do you think Ryback is only after the title because he thinks its actually made of chocolate and wrapped in gold foil? Because thats what i thought when he started talking about 'feasting on the WWE championship'

Ian's 90's kid/Attitude era schtick and Sheamus impersonations are gold. We need more of this.

Nice show guys. The Raw bit was definitely the highlight.

[Snap]

It was just a cheap shock tactic to try to get some cheap heat on Punk without having to do anything earn it by doing something offensive for the sake of being offensive.

I'm not defending the skit, hell I haven't even seen it as I have watched very little of RAW since the move to 3 hours, I'm just saying people shouldn't kid themselves that trash like it didn't exist in the Attitude Era, yet people cry for the return of the Attitude Era in what is essentially wanting to have their cake and eat it too.

The fact is, Vince wanted Punk and Heyman to do it, so while they are reported to have not been comfortable with it, even if Jerry was opposed to it (though he let Miz do the whole angle when his mother died), what Vince wants Vince will usually get.

Let's not forget that even if something happened to Vince himself, Vince wouldn't shy away from turning it into a storyline. Remember when Vince had the motorcycle accident and, as JR put it "broke his butt"? The next thing we know there's a hospital skit which I believe not only introduced Mr. Socko but had Steve Austin apparently shove stuff up Vince's ass and hit him in the head with a bedpan for good measure.

In Vince's mind, if he's willing to do pretty much anything for the show, then he expects everybody else to do so. Had Lawler died, then I don't think there's any chance that they would have had Punk and Heyman boasting about it, but with Jerry making a full recovery, Vince probably feels the subject is fair game.

Do I agree with that? No. Am I offended by it? Well, since I only read about it, I saw it for what it was: cheap heat. We're talking about the man who wanted to do an incest angle where it was either Shane or Vince himself who was the father of Stephanie's baby, or kept referring to Shane as "the product of my semen" in his "McMahonism" feud with Shawn Michaels. Vince is clearly screwed up and that's why we've gotten stuff like the fake heart attack and Katie Vick.

The only way WWE will know that they have gone too far with something isn't whether the fans are offended by it, but whether the sponsors are offended and pull their support. The best we can do is STOP WATCHING IT and stop ordering the PPVs or supporting Classic on Demand/WWE Network/whatever. Because when you get to the core, we're TALKING about it, which means the stunt worked.

I don't personally care if the Attitude Era is rekindled or not, what I want is for RAW to be scaled back to two hours, and for John Cena to get it through his head that "PG" does not meant he has to dumb the product down to pre-school levels. I don't want to think to myself "Oh, there's a rerun of Stargate, which I also happen to have on DVD and can watch any time I want, at the same time as RAW. Better switch over." The rating doesn't matter, it's the CONTENT of the show which will determine whether or not I can be bothered to tune in. As it stands, it's clear WWE is doing everything they can to make their product unwatchable.

[Rob]

I don't know whether the only reason I watch WWE is to listen to the podcast or if I've actually got an emotional attachment to wrestling. I think if it wasn't for this show, as WWE is right now, I could probably stop watching wrestling all together and not care.

[Duckman]

I don't know whether the only reason I watch WWE is to listen to the podcast or if I've actually got an emotional attachment to wrestling. I think if it wasn't for this show, as WWE is right now, I could probably stop watching wrestling all together and not care.

That's make me smile!  Thanks Rob, means we're doing something good with the show.

Snap, JB, I'm all for healthy debate, but the threads getting a little off topic here and lost...this is the thread for promoting the podcast after all.

Cheers,
Duckman

[Duckman]

MFX27 is here.  Holy shit this show was a lot of fun to record.  Jokes a plenty, reviews of Raw and Impact, plus some honest to goodness wrestling discussion and insight.

Check the podcast page for full details:

http://www.marksforxcellence.com/?p=156

[Duckman]

Do you like wrestling?  Do you like jokes?  Do you like wrestling based jokes?  Do you have ears which enjoy listening to podcasts featuring two immature 30 year olds from the UK talking about their favourite subjects?  Well I think we might have just made your day, that's right - MFX28 is here!!

Stop what you're doing, hit up the podcast page for the full details on the only wrestling review podcast which makes TNA Impact entertaining and proves to WWE that 3 hour shows do work!

We're always looking for feedback on the show folks, so be sure to leave some this week.  Also, don't forget to vote in our end of year awards - your vote counts.

Fun show folks, don't be mean to yourself, get on board the MFX fun train before it's too late!

http://www.marksforxcellence.com/?p=158

Peace

Duckman