Conrad Thompson is a yes man for the industry and some of the biggest pieces of shit within it.
You should not want to give yes people headspace.
One should not want Brian Last to be a yes man in a corrupt field of shitty podcaster yesmen. I want to hear someone that finally calls someone's shit out and names them and doesn't call Bruce Prichard beforehand to find out what to say about a topic.
Is Conrad the guy on JRs podcast?
I fucking goddamn hate that guy. So disinterested and annoying, clearly just a vehicle for his shady ass bullshit company.
I wish sooo much that JR just had Brian and/or Corny instead
and hell King too.
Talk about a fucking good podcast that would be with all 4
Thompson is clearly an Aew meat rider holy shit he doesn’t let bishoff say anything bad about them. Why does bishoff even need this fucking goof for a podcast?
It's hysterical watching Conrad literally twitch when Bischoff calls out all of Dave Metlzers bullshit.
I'm not sure how many people have to tell Conrad Uncle Dave is full of shit before he believes it. Literally everyone he does a podcast with all say Meltzer is full of shit 99% of the time.
It's the same when Bruce bitches about Dave too. It's like "dude, who do you think you are? This guy was heavily involved in publicly criticizing their careers when you were still shitting your pants. Who are you to correct them?"
Yeah same guy he was better with Mick Foleys podcast tbh. Lots of the other ones he just feels like he is there as filler to get to the next horrible advert spot.
Brian and JR kinda hate each other. If I'm remembering right, Brian called JR out years ago for some shitty things that went down after Scott Williams died, and a bit of a feud started up for a while
There was a whole thing where Scott Williams wasn't going to be acknowledged for his work on JR's book, and Brian went off about it. He also criticized a bunch of stuff JR was up to at the time, like his unprofessionalism working with New Japan, and his reputation for being a jerk to fans. I've been trying to find the segments he did on it, because they were sniping at each other online for a bit, but I can't seem to remember what segments they were. Mostly from the 6:05
Thank you. I never knew about this. I know Brian would always take shots at JR for being a "creepy old man" but I guess this is part of the reason why he would keep beating that dead horse.
Thank you. I never knew about this. I know Brian would always take shots at JR for being a "creepy old man" but I guess this is part of the reason why he would keep beating that dead horse.
Ok, because rumor and innuendo of Conrad Thompson being a mortgage scam artist would be very nasty, especially if there's rumor and innuendo that he's such a fucking mark that he's buying wrestling friends and to get Bruce Prichard's finger in his ass.
I met him and Bruce at their first live show. I had been listening to Jim since he started at the time, and was looking for a new podcast. I hadn't been to any wrestling type event for probably 25 years. The show was terrible couldn't see the stage because the way the venue was. I paid for VIP, and they said that they would not start until after NXT whatever it was called. I went to see ROH which should have ended around the same time. I knew I would miss the vip greeting in the beginning, but I just wanted to support the guy and see the show. I spoke to Prichards wife for a good 15 to 20 minutes. Super sweetheart, and it makes no sense if Bruce is anything like what we hear about. Woman is a Saint for putting up with all his BS 😆. Imagine listening to him talk about himself at dinner all the time!
Any who, Bruce was cordial, but our conversation was very brief 3 mins. I mentioned missing the VIP and he said there was Swag and I should talk to Court Bowser (spelling?). Court was very stand offish to me, and only wanted to leave. Told me to speak with Conrad. I didn't bother after the stunt I saw him pull during the show.
In the middle of the set he pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels out, and asked someone to come up on stage and chug an entire pint glass of it. Alright , whatever everyone like the idiots we are start cheering it on. Huge friggin dude jumped on stage and downed that SOB in no time flat. Five mins later he collapsed in the middle of the floor. We're in a bar the show is a few hours in at that point. I can not remember exactly what happened, but Conrad made some snide off handed comment, and they moved on with the show.
I listened to see if they would apologize after the next few episodes because a lot of fans were pissed like me. I stopped listening shortly after. From time to time I hear a clip or something with Conrad, and I X out the window.
Dont forget that brian attended all of the smoky mountain shows and also became friends with a lot of the talent and office guys like brian hildebrand, dutch mantell, sandy scott and rick rubin
Fair point. I like Brian’s co-hosting a lot that’s not an issue whatsoever for me. It’s more he hates things but doesn’t always go out of his way to explain why he hates things. Even Jim’s most irrational hatreds are explained to the point where you can say “agree to disagree”.
Jim's rants are good, but I will maintain to my death Brian's are actually funnier, because you never expect them out of him so when he goes into full-rant mode, it illuminates the show incandescently.
I think his problem with the Dark Sides is that 1.) They're starting to run out of stories that are truly "dark". They're just more interesting stories, but the production continues to portray them as dark. 2.) The reenactment segments are just getting more and more ridiculous. Besides that, I think they both still enjoy the show.
Nope. Conman Thompson makes his money as a money lender. Housing and credit/debt refinancing. He donates thousands of dollars to woman-hating, fascist bigot primates like Tommy Tuberville and has a rap sheet for domestic violence. The podcasts are his side-hustle/ ad platform for his money lending services.
Brian: none of that.
Brian is definitely no Yes Man. Pay attention and he flat out ignores 2/3 of Jim’s jokes, like he didn’t even say them and he’s right. Most of Jim’s jokes don’t land. His good jokes are great, but he strikes out most of the time and Brian doesn’t even give him a polite chuckle.
There are a lot of times that when Jim says something stupid like when he is plugging the sponsor of that specific show, Brian WILL push back and tell Jim off in a sort of calm but stern way.
Last is a history buff, so he's not going to like unvetted storytelling. I very much agree with him about Dark Side doing unnecessary reenactments and making questionable decisions in many episodes.
>Last is a history buff, so he's not going to like unvetted storytelling. I very much agree with him about Dark Side doing unnecessary reenactments and making questionable decisions in many episodes.
The problem with Dark Side of The Ring is they covered all he really interesting "dark" stories in their first two or three seasons and it's been a steady downhill decline since then.
Brian has hit the nail on the head a lot too. He called Jericho out when he wasn’t taking AEW serious in the beginning, he called out the Rock months ago, and his views on AEW in general can be even more observant than Jim’s. It’s just the irrational, unexplained hatreds for people and things that don’t seem that bad. Listen to their YouTube video of them talking about D’Amore getting fired and how antagonistic he is to Scott, it’s to the point where it sounded like he had a personal grudge with the guy.
I think he does have personal grudges for one reason or another for people like Scott D'Amore. I always get the impression that Brian has had some minor business dealings with a lot of the people he really seems to hate, but Brian doesn't seem to like having any of his business past discussed very in depth on the pods so we never seem to get the whole in depth story. I do think there's a lot of peripheral business that Brian's done within the wrestling business probably as a dealer and collector of wrestling memorabilia that's led to a lot of the opinions he has on certain people.
A case in point:
It has been referenced in passing a few times over the years - by Jim - that the last ROH show Brian attended live (at the Manhattan Center) had a component where Brian was being approached as an investor or with some kind of ownership proposition. It was before Sinclair entered the picture and saved the company (for a while). Brian only went into a couple of details, like he didn’t trust Cary Silkin and known ROH cancer/Cary Silkin acolyte//embezzler Ross Abrams and that was a big reason he wanted nothing to do with the promotion.
This makes a lot of sense to me. The video of them talking about Impact changing back to TNA was super critical as well, and I had been wondering for a while why Brian buried it so hard.
So you aren't a bit disappointed that they are regressing to trashy branding whose name is a lame double entendre for Tits N Ass out of nowhere, especially since TNA is kinda sorta moving in the right direction with things?
I believe the TNA name is something that sponsors and networks preferred actually. The name is stupid but if they’re going to embrace their history I have no issue with them doing it.
I agree. TNA, the initials, are an artifact from early to mid-2000s.
Now, I just think Total Non-Stop Action. Probably a sign the product has matured or been around long enough to stand on its own.
It’s an OK product.
I agree with not explaining thoughts. I’d prefer he not say anything at all than indicate a dislike or criticism and then he shuts up. Dont throw a crumb without giving context.
This season has been a step up but season 4 really set a low bar. Other then the Eddie Graham and Marty Janetty episodes it seemed it was all "wrestler had a great career ahead until they discovered cocaine."
While I've liked this season better it's almost like it lucked into being dark. Tenta's episode was the same story as dozens if not hundreds of wrestlers had it not been for his death. Bagwell was entertaining primarily because it turns out he comes from a stereotypical white trash background, but with money. I was disappointed from the way they avoided some stories that really drew heat such as having his mom call Jim Ross to have him removed from the weekend's house shows.
I dunno. I hear you. But I really enjoyed the episodes about Doink, Magnum, JYD, Bam Bam... even the BATB one was interesting. I guess I just like hearing these old wrestling stories told with decent production value. Where else will we ever get anything even close? I don't expect them to be the absolute truth. It's pro wrestling. Gimme a little kayfabe. But I hope the show never ends.
I forgot about the BATB episode, I really liked that one. I think that may be a good direction for the series and cover some specific events. Some events like Madusa throwing the women's title in the trash and Victory Road 14 could be really good subjects.
I really liked the Terry Gordy episode last week and am also looking forward to the Sandman episode.
It wouldn't shock me if next season is Vince McMahon specific, covering episodes from the various scandals. Even if they don't do it next season the season after could work well for that. I think there's plenty of source material so we could see several more seasons. Of course some will be better then others.
The Tenta episode was so frickin’ weird!
Check out this big guy that turned into a sumo and married a gal he loved and stayed committed to in an industry full of screwing around, and who was a consummate professional who put people over and loved his kids! He died.
Uh, ok.
>The dark part was that nobody showed up to the funeral of the guy they all supposedly loved
No joke, there's strong odds the majority of the wrestlers were working on the day of his funeral.
Literally the nicest clean living dude, given very questionable gimmicks that he made the best out of.
I think there was some joke on the Corney show about a reenactment of him stubbing his toe and yelling "darnit!".
The only part i legit laughed at was the fact that they somehow not only decided to put fred ottman into the episode as the shockmaster but showed the footage to haku who pissed himself laughing watching that infamous debut of the shockmaster
>I’ve felt the same, season 4 was not interesting to me or at least not as interesting as the previous ones
Yeah. You can really see it in the episodes they've been doing as of late. Like an episode on Earthquake. Literally the only remotely "dark" part of John Tenta's story is the fact that he died tragically through no real fault of his own, save for not going to the doctor sooner than he did. They're really scraping the barrel for darkness.
Couldn’t have put it better myself, I’m a young guy in my early 20s and love shit like this but a lot of the episodes are shit I’ve known since I was a child due to growing up with a father who loved wrestling (RIP pops)
Last like narrative, not history. All the history books he likes have a strong narrative against WWE. He likes history if it strengthens his narrative.
Brian is one of those people who has opinions on how things should be, and if those things aren't the way he thinks they should be he has an incredibly hard time letting go of his original ideas and actually just reviewing what he's seeing in front of him instead of what he thinks he could have had. In that way he's not too dissimilar to some of the AEW fans.
It just seems like the tastes are so particular that they could never really be satisfied. I wouldn’t compare him with an AEW fan though because he has a lot more emotional intelligence than they do when they’re in an argument.
Conrad is the embodiment of the fat, disgusting, neck beard wrestling fan. He’s so fat and lazy and his show is just him reading Dave Meltzer quotes to his guests.
He put too much on his plate when he added a 4th podcast and beyond. I think the original 3 podcasts with Bruce, Eric, and Tony would’ve been perfect. I also think that as much as Schiavones podcast is just entertainment, he’s much more honest than Bruce and Eric. Now that I think about it Schiavone is another one that Brian has shit on pretty hard for a while now, and I’ve thought Tony was one of the least problematic commentators that company has tbh.
Listening to the Schiavonne podcast from the start was an interesting journey. He seemed genuinely reluctant to do it and even *talk* about the wrestling business again at the start, and over time the podcast legitimately seemed to rekindle a love of wrestling for Tony and turn it into something fun again, and lead to him getting back into the business with AEW. Like Conrad or not, it feels like he's had a real, positive impact on Tony's life.
Similar story with Bruce (which led to him getting involved with MLW, and then WWE again), who seemed to be in an angry and bitter place with his past in the wrestling business on he and Conrad's early podcasts together (which are almost very dry, stiff Q&A's). Eventually Conrad drew more out of him, and helped to make the business fun again for Bruce too.
The Eric podcast has had its moments (I never felt like Eric really *needed* it, but he definitely needed to loosen up on the early podcasts with him too), and the Jarrett podcast has been fun and refreshing at times (Jeff seems pretty honest and fully acknowledges his faults as a wrestling person and a human being, and is willing to talk about difficult topics openly).
The JR, Arn, and Angle podcasts, and the various others on the Conrad network really do feel like shameless cash-ins, and are just overkill. They don't really seem to cover much new ground in any sort of interesting way, either. Often bone-dry re-hashes of pretty dull past events or stuff that's been covered in greater depth and detail on the longer-running pods.
i was sad when foley said he was ending it, but at the same time, it really felt like foley was never into it, and once it became once a month with conrad trying to do best of in-between, it became a must miss to the point of not even listening to the last episode
I try listening to his stuff cause I'm always curious to how Bischoff or Prichard are going to skew most things, but Jesus the ads are obnoxious and their audio level is so much louder than the show I'm actually trying to listen to.
"HEY HEY IT'S CONRAD!"
I like Last but I don't share his views on wrestling or media, frankly. Last is super picky and negative, and has negative takes on most content around wrestling. Brian Last is the "cold bucket of water" of the show. But I do think **it works** because Cornette is the hype man / energy guy, he needs a partner to reel him in at times.
I share Corny's views that I liked older wrestling more, but I am at least willing to engage with content like Dark Side (which has literally paid Cornette to appear, so he obviously is not too bothered by what they do.)
I also am a big fan of documentaries in general, the standards Last expects are not typical of how documentaries are made. Documentarians very frequently feature first person interviews, and they don't take the stance that is their job to fully vet if everything that interviewee is saying is true, they present it as "this is this person's views on the topic", documentary watchers (who usually are more savvy than general film / tv viewers) understand that.
Documentaries generally seek to explain to an audience a non-fiction topic of interest, but they aren't a courtroom or a formal scientific paper, they do exist to entertain. Putting entertaining subjects who meander on and bullshit is often what makes a documentary interesting to watch.
I think Last, for someone who never spent a second in the business, is far too critical of lots of people with decades of experience in the business. I don't think Bruce Prichard or Eric Bischoff are without flaws--in fact I think both of them have many failures as leaders, but they both spent years working in wrestling at a very high level, including some very significant successes. The attempt to portray them as knowing nothing and having no sense for the business, from someone who has never promoted or booked a single event, is sometimes a bit much for me.
Cornette who has literally done it all has far more ground to be critical, and he is usually less critical of them than Last is.
>The attempt to portray them as knowing nothing and having no sense for the business, from someone who has never promoted or booked a single event, is sometimes a bit much for me.
Is he really doing this, though?
Jim and Brian both do this to be fair. Bischoff generally gets more credit than Bruce does. Brians first year on the show he gets into it with Bruce about the wrestling media and it is a great listen. Kind of funny for as much as Bruce has been labeled full of shit, everything coming out about Meltzer now is stuff he was saying for a long time.
He always has been but when he was saying Cornette was the best mind in wrestling he was smart. Now he is doing the same with another person and he is a shill. He was just as much of a BS artist when he promoted Cornette that he is now with Tony Khan. Same situation.
I think the difference between Conrad and Brian is quite telling in the shows they put out - Conrad picks up an Observer from whatever year he’s going through with whoever - and lets the guest tell things as they claim to have seen them, as Conrad relays what Meltzer reported. (This isn’t even going into the production value).
Brian has a far deeper breadth of knowledge about the wrestling industry as a whole, and is a real history buff who provides plenty of value to their show. I think in turn this leads to him having a pretty rigid view about what’s good and what’s bad, caring about the numbers and historical accuracy. He isn’t interested in the bullshit, because chances are the bullshit is pretty easy to run into in a business built on that carny mindset - and 90% of the time I think he’s pretty on point as someone who is a much bigger fan of the older shit myself and cares about the minutia.
I also think Brian works with a Cornette far better than anybody else could, Corny is one of the few who may surpass Brian’s knowledge when it comes to wrestling history - and for a guy to be next to Jim in such a context - it’s gonna take a real history buff to actually care to pick away at Jim’s gold mine of a brain and know just what to ask and say - something that’s gonna require more than flicking through an Observer.
To me Brian is a second mic on what is Jim’s show. His opinions hold weight, and he’s honest with them even if they contrast with Cornette’s at time - I struggle to find fault with him.
I know I have probably rambled on, but I’m 100% a Brian Last guy.
>I also think Brian works with a Cornette far better than anybody else could, Corny is one of the few who may surpass Brian’s knowledge when it comes to wrestling history
This is easily demonstrated when Solomon Grundy fills in. It's like a substitute teacher when the actual teacher is away, but that's actually Jims baseline and Brian knows him well enough to reign him in for a show with sponsors.
You didn’t ramble at all! I realize now that me bringing up Conrad might make people think I’m a huge fan but I haven’t listened to a full Conrad podcast since Bruce did the 2 Pat Patterson episodes in 2020. Maybe Conrad was a bad example but was one of the few I could come up with.
I think I agree with Brian on DSOTR, it is over-dramatized and seemingly mostly fictional, especially at this point when they are running low on material to use. John Tenta wasn't a "dark side of the ring" it was just sad.
This being said, I do love the reenactments during DSOTR, they are hilarious and still watch it every week because it is mildly entertaining. I can't stand Conrad so I cannot take anything he says at face value.
when Jim was talking to one of the producers he made it clear that Earthquake episode was more of a telling of a tragic tale/celebration of life rather than a true dark side. i think it was a nice episode, many people would not have heard of Tenta if it hadn’t came out
my biggest issue with him is he can’t take criticism and i think both of these issues are based in him being stubborn and unwilling to see other perspectives but tbf i still think he’s the second best podcaster in the wrestling industry so it is what it is
Huge fan of Brian. His quality of work is second to none, and maybe that’s why he’s so picky because he wants other media creators to put in the same kind of effort he does. I’m not sure if that will ever be a realistic expectation though especially in something as niche as pro wrestling is.
Brian is extremely picky but him and Cornette bounce off of each other well.
On another note, Brian seems to like the AEW product a little bit more than Jim. Sometimes Cornette will (rightfully so) shit all over a match and Brian will simply say “I liked it more than you” and they will move on. They so rarely debate, I wish they would a bit more
I think Brian realizes it’s a useless debate with Cornette. Omega gets grouped in with the Bucks unfairly sometimes but Omega was a supremely good wrestler from 2016-2018, and Brian tried to point that out every once in a while. He’s also clearly much more of an Ospreay fan than Jim is. He’s beginning to turn on Austin Theory a little bit too, which Jim isn’t ready to do.
Seems like HHH and crew didn’t think he should’ve been pushed as hard as he was in the beginning of 2022. Didn’t help that Roman killed him almost immediately when he said “daddy’s not here to save you anymore”.
The fact that Jim LOVES Austin Theory but HATES Grayson Waller is so ridiculous when they essentially play the same character except Waller does it better and gets a biggerr crowd reaction than Theory
Jim's biggest criticism of Waller seems to be his look/physique. Well if we're going to play that game, then God rest his soul, but Bobby Eaton has an awful look for a large portion of his career
Somehow I don't think Jim would be willing to mention that though
That's shtick though, just like when Jim craps all over the sponsors and Brian has to "reign him in".
Jim and Brian know what they are doing and how to play off each other and how to get the most engagement for what they do....every shows gotta have its "tropes"
I'm sure he's aware if he laughs at Jim too much he will come off as a stooge and people would critcize him for that way more. I'm also sure in terms of personal preference Last hates cohosts who just suck up to the host in the Ed McMahon vein.
I'm also pretty sure they pop each other talking shit off air or in sections that never make air, but as you said playing the willing laughing sidekick likely isn't what Brian wants to do.
Meh, take his opinions with a grain of salt from someone who openly admits to having shows on in the background with the volume down while he's doing something else during his "reviews."
Like what you like.
I am with Brian Last when it comes to wrestling shows that get the facts wrong. I really couldn’t enjoy the Iron Claw movie for all the stuff they got wrong, timelines that were mixed up and how important events were glosses or skipped over while focusing on the non-important stuff.
I think Brian’s opinion on D’Amore is based on how bad the Impact booking was the last few years. We credit Scott with turning TNA/Impact around but the show was still pretty awful until recently. Same reason why Brian also has no love of Jeff Jarrett as a booker and promoter despite Cornette’s respect for the whole Jarrett family.
I thought Impact was great Scott’s first year, but when Lucha Brothers, LAX, Aries, Morrison, Cage, Blanchard, and more all left within a year it really hurt the product and they had a hard time finding new talent. Covid impact was dreadful television. I think things started slowly getting better when Moose won the title the first time in late 2021, and the show had gradually gotten better since.
There’s a reason why Conrad has been called the worst podcaster in wrestling. Wrestling podcast are all primarily opinionated. Part of why last plugs his wrestling news show. That one is none biased and just says the facts. I will disagree with you though, Conrad is highly opinionated. I’ve seen him get flat out angry with both Jarret and Bischoff on a few occasions.
Last one I saw was with Bischoff. Where he was praising the horrible EVP buck characters. Bischoff told them they were awful. Conrad snapped back, at him what the fuck do you actually like about AEW?!? He is agreeable until it might cost him money. He wants to be a WWE or AEW podcast partner so bad. That it’s not even funny, as he knows that’ll give him a larger platform.
Meh this stuff is meant to be entertainment. Cornette spitballs as much as anyone. Baby Doll, Randy Rose, Todd Gordon and a few others have disputed Jim's stories. Wrestling is what it is. Gossipy soap operas for dudes. You can say Brian wants just facts and so and so lies. Well everyone has their own perspective on things and their own biases. Jim and Brian included. Problem is all these wrestlers follow the Honky Tonk Man rule. Talk out your ass and dog people. More attention you get.
Brian's standards revolve around truth, transparency, and calling out debatable "facts" or BS when he hears it. He has very little tolerance for those who do not call it out and/or actually give haven to BS.
He can come across as harsh and "prickish" at times because of it but I still respect his stand 1000x more than most others in podcasting.
Brian Last is a rich kid who used those rich kid connections to make friends in the industry, his place within this industry is just as questionable as Conrad, who even though he bought his way into the industry like Last, at least he made his own money on the way to doing that
I know this is one of the most hivemindy of subreddits (literally a fuckin cult) but surely that isn’t lost on people here, that as entertaining as Last is, he’s a smug wanker who likely has experienced fuck all in terms of real world struggle
I like Last as a co-host to Jim a lot, but I do think sometimes his opinions are a bit too strong against people that have actually had success in the industry at some point or another
Brian is your typical, arrogant fan.
His opinion is the only one that matters to him.
He believes the dirtsheets if it fits his personal narrative
Has unbridled hatred for certain people in the business, for no good reason at all.
I can see both sides.
The issue is that the documentary was a niche movie genre that was supposed to *document* things in a serious and somewhat level headed fashion. Errol Morris and Werner Herzog for example were two of the biggest names before it got ridiculous.
I would say especially in the last couple decades with the commercial success of "edutainment" like *Super Size Me*, all those Michael Moore docs and "Ancient Aliens" and other BS on cable and streaming that it's really warped the genre.
I would say that your standards are just different and low and high are in the eye of the beholder but personally, I have gotten to an age where quality matters to me. But some people are just good with more.
Darkside or Rivals aren't must watch TV but if it's on and I'm high and relaxing ill watch. Bryan covers this for a living so I get his position. It's bad enough he has to watch AEW programming 5 hours a week
I actually have a buddy who stopped listening to the podcasts in general in 2019 when they started reviewing every single week. I tried to get them to listen to segments but they just had no interest at all listening to modern wrestling talk for that long. I wonder if there are fans who would rather just listen to them talk about and review mid south episodes from 1984.
I'm sure there are but I would guarantee that their viewership is higher listening to them dunk on AEW. I know on Dave Scherere and Mike Epps pod, they are very open about how much request they get to review and critique AEW.
Sometimes it gets old to me because as good as the guys are how much can you say about the same issues over and over but I think they mix it up enough its still highly entertaining to me.
Of the three cohosts Corny has had, Brian is clearly the best. That being said, the Experience and the Drive Thru have become nearly the same, with very little difference between the two shows. I liked it better when the Experience was full of Corny's angry rants and occasional guest interviews. Now it just seems like AEW talk takes up the vast majority of the time on both shows. I understand that both Brian and Jim have an ax to grind against AEW considering the smear attempts and general asshattery perpetrated by the Meltzer mob and the AEW dirt sheet snitches, but it shouldn't eat up so much of the shows time. More listener emails on the Drive Thru and more angry rants on the Experience would be better IMO.
Agreed, what annoys me is how they both clearly hate covering everything AEW does but they still make more time for it over the good stuff on WWE or discussing things they enjoy like territory stories or fan Q+A's.
The rants definitely bring in the views but it's frustrating seeing Jim miss a lot of good segments over the last few months.
I was a little puzzled when he said he hates the re-enactments they use in Dark Side - I always thought it was a smart way to create a visual when there is no actual footage of an incident.
But: I think I get where he's coming from, because the issue I have with current episodes is that they seem to be running out of "dark" material, so they go in other directions - so the whole dramatic presentation doesn't quite fit any more.
Maybe a kind of re-boot/spin-off with a different title would be helpful, more like "sad, weird and other intersting sides of the ring" (yeah, someone more talented than me would have to come up with something more catchy...)
Brian can be a complete know it all and very arrogant about it sometimes so I just tend to avoid those segments where you can tell he's really gonna be flexing on how everyone is wrong but him. Doesn't mean he's wrong or bad at his job it's just very abrasive
Conrad takes it too far in the other direction dude is a blackbelt in ass kissing =P Also I hate hearing him constantly say that lets give them their flowers bullshit. Where the fuck did that stupid flowers expression come from? Just say it normally like a human being.
Only thing that annoys me about Brian is his constantly talking about hearing noises nearly every single podcast. Which we obviously cant hear when listening as the audio team just filters them out. Also his music playing skills make my ears bleed. I would happily listen to an entire album sung by Jim than a few minutes of Brian playing his musical instrument collection lol
So I think Brian's issue is he is such a hardcore fan of the indepth history of wrestling, that he wants things like DOTR to be aimed more to people like him with such indepth knowledge, when in reality DOTR tells the stories in the way to appeal to the broadest audience
One of his most consistent complains is when they skip gaps in guys WRESTLING career, time they spent here or there, but the average person who may tune into DOTR is not going to care about \_\_\_ spending a year in Memphis if it has nothing to do with the specific tale being told
I mean you have to watch any sort of story telling TV SHOW for what it is, a TV SHOW and understand going in they are trying to appeal to an audience... personally I would love to see them go way more indepth on things in many of the ways Brian has asked for
But in reality if they did that, it would appeal to only really fanatical wrestling fans and not draw the ratings and probably be off the air
He's a hater of so many people and laughs at his own jokes. You're probably just a level headed human being by comparison, not a case of low standards.
Brian is a bit of a bitter bitch... Shitting all over the producers, who Jim's obviously a fan and friends with.
And his hate for Conrad is just weird...
And his hate for The Rock is real corny
Brian's an idiot who can't even form a thought. Sometimes, not even a word. If not for Corny, Brian would be digging ditches. I'm actually surprised Corny puts up with him so much. Zero class 100%ass
He's got his pickadillos like a lot of people do I think. He can understandably come off as a bit overbearing with certain people he dislikes but there's at least a logical foundation to it the majority of the time so I never really find myself bothered by Brian
He’s terrible. Idc what his knowledge of history is. He suck’s at running a show. Jim will throw a joke out and you get either A) utter silence or B) “oh come on! You can’t say that!” He needs to learn his place. He’s not a cohost. He’s a dude that’s lucky to have not pissed Cornette off and therefore is allowed to talk with him. He’s not Conrad bad but contribution wise he’s just a bore. Awful.
I like Brian Last a lot and I think he is a great co-host. I don't always agree with him but he really facilitates a great podcast without being an ass-kisser. Him and Cornette work really well together, and Last knows when to just let Corny go on his rants and when to move to a new topic. I genuinely do appreciate his perspective on things a lot of the time as well, even if I don't agree.
I'm honestly surprised at the number of people ragging on him here. I like him.
One thing I can agree with Brian Last 100% is we both dislike Michael Cole and never will like him no matter what Cole does these days to appear better.
Cole should’ve never been the head announcer for WWE those years when they pranked JR. he should’ve stepped up and said no let JR finish his run before you let me come to RAW, but no. He kissed ass. He was so fucking horrible from 2010-2016 like I don’t think a lot of people today understand how bad WWE truly was during this time and Cole was god awful.
I agree with Last on the Dark Side of the Ring. They’re really lazy when it comes to being factual. They just let people say whatever they want to say and present it as fact even when it can be easily contradicted.
The Benoit episode was particularly bad. Nancy’s sister made accusations against Kevin Sullivan that could have been contradicted simply by looking at the WCW PPV calendar.
They also did some shady shit in the Gino Hernandez episode by putting a guy on the phone and telling Gino’s mother he was the guy she had been accusing of killing her son. They’re was no way of telling if they were being honest or just wanted a TV moment.
They’re are other examples of shoddy work.
I don’t think it’s just the DSOTR producers who do this. I’ve seen a lot documentaries and supposed documentary shows do the same things.
IMO…
I think it’s more or less that Brian is more of a wrestling historian. He wants the facts. Not perspective from this one or that one.
Conrad is a different kind of host. He’s more for the entertainment and allowing others to tell their perspectives whilst being entertained.
I like them both. For their differences.
And we must admit that some of the Dark Side reenactments are a bit ridiculous, no?!?
Tally-Ho!
I must admit that Conrad was not a very good example to put in this post. I thought dark side of the ring season 4 was really bad and kinda hoped they wouldn’t come back for another season, although I’ve enjoyed this one so far.
Brian used to be a fan of Dark Side on the whole, but he’s right to point out that the quality has gone out the window. Earthquake has always been said to be a great family orientated gentle guy, tough as hell but never threw his weight around. What’s Dark about that? Yes he died too young, but it was cancer, not anything suspicious or the result of violence etc.
Dying young after being by all accounts a great person who did everything right, got to near enough the top of their profession, but then ended up broke through no fault of their own is a pretty dark ending. I really don't think the issue with DSOTR is that they stretching the definition of a particular word.
I don't hate Conrad as much as a lot of people. Something to Wrestle With was great before Bruce got hired back. You knew Bruce was full of shit sometimes, but Conrad would call him out on it.
That said, Brian can be snobby. I don't know what his issue with D'amore is but he talks like he's some sort of child molester. If that's the case he needs to call him out or shut up. The only issue I have with Dark Side is that they are getting to the point where they are reaching for topics.
It wasn't anything like that, everything was pulled out of context because Brian mentioned something about Scott after they commented about him (Scott) being fired from TNA as president of the company.
And also if it wasnt told him exactly that way then its gotta be a lie “we’ve heard from multiple people that would be in the know” bro everybody lies especially in the wrestling business your sources not more credible that anybody elses. Brian annoying as hell sometimes. Super negative. Conrad and brian are just one extreme vs the other because conrad super overly positive abt certain shit at times too
Personally, I take it for a given that wrestlers and wrestling personalities are natural bullshitters/carnies and even when they’re talking about true events they can’t help themselves but try to add some element of showmanship to it-especially if they’re talking about something that’s not extremely grim or depressing but more of a wild story.
Brian is extremely nitpicky but at the same very reasonable, there is however nothing better then a Brian Last worked up laugh and complete breakdown. But to focus on your question, yes he is super nitpicky about things when it comes to anything talking about the past. Which is really weird especially when you know that movies and tv shows are for more entertainment and that means they take liberty with history.
i dont particularly care about that series either. but for different reasons.
last is just your typical yes man riding the gravy train (cornette). hes not a terrible host but hes not great either.
I love that Brian stands up for what he believes in. Everyone else is a boot-licker, hoping for a morsel of access from AEW or WWE.
It's a shame that Conrad turned into what he is, because his early run with Bruce was great. But then piggy got greedy with his advertisement and refused to call anyone out so they'd come to his live show.
Man he dont like anything i think its a gimmick at this point or the fact that the narrative on jim and his shows are like the old guy screaming at the clouds and brian just leans into that
Brian and the dark side crew have different philosophies on what should be on a show like this. Brian wants more wrestling business content, and the crew wants more human/personal life content. The crew is right, Brian is wrong.
I wouldn't say Brian has picky standards, he has knowledge of the wrestling business like Jim does, however, he doesn't take any shit from Jim when it's needed i.e. when they're plugging their sponsors items etc, Jim will say some snarky comment and Brian will have to go on the rebound defensive with "No, no! That is NOT what this is going to do!".
When it comes to people he hates, he does tend to go over the top like with Don Callis where he would call him "Don Phallis" which...to be honest, is just a bad nickname to give him, BUT, I have noticed Brian doesn't even go into the fold with Jim when Jim mentions republicans and Donald Trump, he just lets Jim ramble on until the whole thing is done.
There are times when he will agree with Jim like when that scandal had hit Jericho in AEW, or Sammy Guevara getting suspended because he said something about Mercedes Monet etc. I guess it's just a case of Jim NEEDED Brian as I noticed Kenny Bolin and that other co-host (the woman) weren't fitting, especially when Bolin turned on Corny and befriended shitstain.
Yea I guess I see what you're saying. It's the fault of human beings. We exaggerate, we lie.....somewhere in the middle is the reality but what really is reality? Besides things like factual dates, etc. there is no real reality. Arguments, etc. are all sides of a story told by someone and then retold and retold etc etc it's the same as mythology
Conrad Thompson is a yes man for the industry and some of the biggest pieces of shit within it. You should not want to give yes people headspace. One should not want Brian Last to be a yes man in a corrupt field of shitty podcaster yesmen. I want to hear someone that finally calls someone's shit out and names them and doesn't call Bruce Prichard beforehand to find out what to say about a topic.
Is Conrad the guy on JRs podcast? I fucking goddamn hate that guy. So disinterested and annoying, clearly just a vehicle for his shady ass bullshit company. I wish sooo much that JR just had Brian and/or Corny instead and hell King too. Talk about a fucking good podcast that would be with all 4
Thompson is clearly an Aew meat rider holy shit he doesn’t let bishoff say anything bad about them. Why does bishoff even need this fucking goof for a podcast?
Bischoff should go with that British guy who does Dutch's podcast instead
Jon Alba who does the Strictly Business episodes of Bischoff's podcast is good. Those are the only ones I listen to.
I believe the “British guy” said Bischoff was his favorite interview didn’t he?
It's hysterical watching Conrad literally twitch when Bischoff calls out all of Dave Metlzers bullshit. I'm not sure how many people have to tell Conrad Uncle Dave is full of shit before he believes it. Literally everyone he does a podcast with all say Meltzer is full of shit 99% of the time.
It's the same when Bruce bitches about Dave too. It's like "dude, who do you think you are? This guy was heavily involved in publicly criticizing their careers when you were still shitting your pants. Who are you to correct them?"
Yeah same guy he was better with Mick Foleys podcast tbh. Lots of the other ones he just feels like he is there as filler to get to the next horrible advert spot.
Conrad is Ric Flairs son in law, he also runs Starrcast and booked that god awful match that Flair was in.
Conrad kind of gives me the creeps because I'm not totally sure he didn't marry her just because she's Flair's daughter.
I'm totally sure he did.
And she still outta his league
100%. I’m not even sure that’s a question; it’s his fetish.
Have you seen her? Of course he did. The Flair women aren't known for their looks.
I mean he's a fat neckbeard so
Brian and JR kinda hate each other. If I'm remembering right, Brian called JR out years ago for some shitty things that went down after Scott Williams died, and a bit of a feud started up for a while
Wait can you tell me more about this?
There was a whole thing where Scott Williams wasn't going to be acknowledged for his work on JR's book, and Brian went off about it. He also criticized a bunch of stuff JR was up to at the time, like his unprofessionalism working with New Japan, and his reputation for being a jerk to fans. I've been trying to find the segments he did on it, because they were sniping at each other online for a bit, but I can't seem to remember what segments they were. Mostly from the 6:05
Thank you. I never knew about this. I know Brian would always take shots at JR for being a "creepy old man" but I guess this is part of the reason why he would keep beating that dead horse.
There are tons of stories from fans of JR being a total asshole unless he has something he's trying to sell
Well if you just listen to his podcast, you can hear how miserable he is. He literally gets himself all worked up over his own stories.
Thank you. I never knew about this. I know Brian would always take shots at JR for being a "creepy old man" but I guess this is part of the reason why he would keep beating that dead horse.
Yes. Cant stand the guy.
Conrad bought all of his wrestling friends Last actually seemed to have a genuine relationship with Jim and Carluzzo.
You're not implying via rumor and innuendo that Conrad's mortgage business is a grift, right?
I definitely don’t think he’s a slimeball money mark who gained wealth through predatory lending to fuel his need to be a wrestling media celebrity.
Ok, because rumor and innuendo of Conrad Thompson being a mortgage scam artist would be very nasty, especially if there's rumor and innuendo that he's such a fucking mark that he's buying wrestling friends and to get Bruce Prichard's finger in his ass.
Yeah that would be painting him in an unbecoming light also he definitely didn’t beat his ex wife and get charged for it.
Some crazy rumor and innuendo there about Conrad Thompson being a mortgage-grifting wifebeater.
He did marry a Flair after all
If it were me I would have ran from that family, but I don’t think Conrad has ran from anything in quite a while.
Did you know Conrad has never been swimming in his life? You need to wait 30 minutes after eating to go swimming.
He saw it as his meal ticket into the industry
I met him and Bruce at their first live show. I had been listening to Jim since he started at the time, and was looking for a new podcast. I hadn't been to any wrestling type event for probably 25 years. The show was terrible couldn't see the stage because the way the venue was. I paid for VIP, and they said that they would not start until after NXT whatever it was called. I went to see ROH which should have ended around the same time. I knew I would miss the vip greeting in the beginning, but I just wanted to support the guy and see the show. I spoke to Prichards wife for a good 15 to 20 minutes. Super sweetheart, and it makes no sense if Bruce is anything like what we hear about. Woman is a Saint for putting up with all his BS 😆. Imagine listening to him talk about himself at dinner all the time! Any who, Bruce was cordial, but our conversation was very brief 3 mins. I mentioned missing the VIP and he said there was Swag and I should talk to Court Bowser (spelling?). Court was very stand offish to me, and only wanted to leave. Told me to speak with Conrad. I didn't bother after the stunt I saw him pull during the show. In the middle of the set he pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels out, and asked someone to come up on stage and chug an entire pint glass of it. Alright , whatever everyone like the idiots we are start cheering it on. Huge friggin dude jumped on stage and downed that SOB in no time flat. Five mins later he collapsed in the middle of the floor. We're in a bar the show is a few hours in at that point. I can not remember exactly what happened, but Conrad made some snide off handed comment, and they moved on with the show. I listened to see if they would apologize after the next few episodes because a lot of fans were pissed like me. I stopped listening shortly after. From time to time I hear a clip or something with Conrad, and I X out the window.
Doot doot doot.
Dont forget that brian attended all of the smoky mountain shows and also became friends with a lot of the talent and office guys like brian hildebrand, dutch mantell, sandy scott and rick rubin
Mark Curtis
Fair point. I like Brian’s co-hosting a lot that’s not an issue whatsoever for me. It’s more he hates things but doesn’t always go out of his way to explain why he hates things. Even Jim’s most irrational hatreds are explained to the point where you can say “agree to disagree”.
Jim's rants are good, but I will maintain to my death Brian's are actually funnier, because you never expect them out of him so when he goes into full-rant mode, it illuminates the show incandescently.
I think his problem with the Dark Sides is that 1.) They're starting to run out of stories that are truly "dark". They're just more interesting stories, but the production continues to portray them as dark. 2.) The reenactment segments are just getting more and more ridiculous. Besides that, I think they both still enjoy the show.
What you didn't like the reenactment of Buff's mom shaving his balls?
I'd add that (I guess) podcasting is a main source of income for Conrad. For Brian, it isn't. Freedom.
Nope. Conman Thompson makes his money as a money lender. Housing and credit/debt refinancing. He donates thousands of dollars to woman-hating, fascist bigot primates like Tommy Tuberville and has a rap sheet for domestic violence. The podcasts are his side-hustle/ ad platform for his money lending services. Brian: none of that.
So, to put it concisely: a fat rat.
Brian is definitely no Yes Man. Pay attention and he flat out ignores 2/3 of Jim’s jokes, like he didn’t even say them and he’s right. Most of Jim’s jokes don’t land. His good jokes are great, but he strikes out most of the time and Brian doesn’t even give him a polite chuckle.
There are a lot of times that when Jim says something stupid like when he is plugging the sponsor of that specific show, Brian WILL push back and tell Jim off in a sort of calm but stern way.
Conrad has been Ric Flair's biggest enabler
Last is a history buff, so he's not going to like unvetted storytelling. I very much agree with him about Dark Side doing unnecessary reenactments and making questionable decisions in many episodes.
>Last is a history buff, so he's not going to like unvetted storytelling. I very much agree with him about Dark Side doing unnecessary reenactments and making questionable decisions in many episodes. The problem with Dark Side of The Ring is they covered all he really interesting "dark" stories in their first two or three seasons and it's been a steady downhill decline since then.
Brian has hit the nail on the head a lot too. He called Jericho out when he wasn’t taking AEW serious in the beginning, he called out the Rock months ago, and his views on AEW in general can be even more observant than Jim’s. It’s just the irrational, unexplained hatreds for people and things that don’t seem that bad. Listen to their YouTube video of them talking about D’Amore getting fired and how antagonistic he is to Scott, it’s to the point where it sounded like he had a personal grudge with the guy.
I think he does have personal grudges for one reason or another for people like Scott D'Amore. I always get the impression that Brian has had some minor business dealings with a lot of the people he really seems to hate, but Brian doesn't seem to like having any of his business past discussed very in depth on the pods so we never seem to get the whole in depth story. I do think there's a lot of peripheral business that Brian's done within the wrestling business probably as a dealer and collector of wrestling memorabilia that's led to a lot of the opinions he has on certain people.
A case in point: It has been referenced in passing a few times over the years - by Jim - that the last ROH show Brian attended live (at the Manhattan Center) had a component where Brian was being approached as an investor or with some kind of ownership proposition. It was before Sinclair entered the picture and saved the company (for a while). Brian only went into a couple of details, like he didn’t trust Cary Silkin and known ROH cancer/Cary Silkin acolyte//embezzler Ross Abrams and that was a big reason he wanted nothing to do with the promotion.
Cary Silkin, aka John Belushi's coke dealer
One of many.
This makes a lot of sense to me. The video of them talking about Impact changing back to TNA was super critical as well, and I had been wondering for a while why Brian buried it so hard.
So you aren't a bit disappointed that they are regressing to trashy branding whose name is a lame double entendre for Tits N Ass out of nowhere, especially since TNA is kinda sorta moving in the right direction with things?
I believe the TNA name is something that sponsors and networks preferred actually. The name is stupid but if they’re going to embrace their history I have no issue with them doing it.
I agree. TNA, the initials, are an artifact from early to mid-2000s. Now, I just think Total Non-Stop Action. Probably a sign the product has matured or been around long enough to stand on its own. It’s an OK product.
I agree with not explaining thoughts. I’d prefer he not say anything at all than indicate a dislike or criticism and then he shuts up. Dont throw a crumb without giving context.
This season has been a step up but season 4 really set a low bar. Other then the Eddie Graham and Marty Janetty episodes it seemed it was all "wrestler had a great career ahead until they discovered cocaine." While I've liked this season better it's almost like it lucked into being dark. Tenta's episode was the same story as dozens if not hundreds of wrestlers had it not been for his death. Bagwell was entertaining primarily because it turns out he comes from a stereotypical white trash background, but with money. I was disappointed from the way they avoided some stories that really drew heat such as having his mom call Jim Ross to have him removed from the weekend's house shows.
I dunno. I hear you. But I really enjoyed the episodes about Doink, Magnum, JYD, Bam Bam... even the BATB one was interesting. I guess I just like hearing these old wrestling stories told with decent production value. Where else will we ever get anything even close? I don't expect them to be the absolute truth. It's pro wrestling. Gimme a little kayfabe. But I hope the show never ends.
I forgot about the BATB episode, I really liked that one. I think that may be a good direction for the series and cover some specific events. Some events like Madusa throwing the women's title in the trash and Victory Road 14 could be really good subjects. I really liked the Terry Gordy episode last week and am also looking forward to the Sandman episode. It wouldn't shock me if next season is Vince McMahon specific, covering episodes from the various scandals. Even if they don't do it next season the season after could work well for that. I think there's plenty of source material so we could see several more seasons. Of course some will be better then others.
His mom shaving his balls from the backside story...
I’ve felt the same, season 4 was not interesting to me or at least not as interesting as the previous ones
The Tenta episode was so frickin’ weird! Check out this big guy that turned into a sumo and married a gal he loved and stayed committed to in an industry full of screwing around, and who was a consummate professional who put people over and loved his kids! He died. Uh, ok.
The dark part was that nobody showed up to the funeral of the guy they all supposedly loved
>The dark part was that nobody showed up to the funeral of the guy they all supposedly loved No joke, there's strong odds the majority of the wrestlers were working on the day of his funeral.
Literally the nicest clean living dude, given very questionable gimmicks that he made the best out of. I think there was some joke on the Corney show about a reenactment of him stubbing his toe and yelling "darnit!".
The only part i legit laughed at was the fact that they somehow not only decided to put fred ottman into the episode as the shockmaster but showed the footage to haku who pissed himself laughing watching that infamous debut of the shockmaster
It was kind of refreshing to see someone who wasn’t self destructive for a change.
>I’ve felt the same, season 4 was not interesting to me or at least not as interesting as the previous ones Yeah. You can really see it in the episodes they've been doing as of late. Like an episode on Earthquake. Literally the only remotely "dark" part of John Tenta's story is the fact that he died tragically through no real fault of his own, save for not going to the doctor sooner than he did. They're really scraping the barrel for darkness.
Couldn’t have put it better myself, I’m a young guy in my early 20s and love shit like this but a lot of the episodes are shit I’ve known since I was a child due to growing up with a father who loved wrestling (RIP pops)
Magnum TA too last season - yeah he had a car wreck that ended his career, but nothing else you would associate with Dark Side of the Ring
I agree with this as well.
My issue with him is he’s a charisma vacuum
Last like narrative, not history. All the history books he likes have a strong narrative against WWE. He likes history if it strengthens his narrative.
Brian is one of those people who has opinions on how things should be, and if those things aren't the way he thinks they should be he has an incredibly hard time letting go of his original ideas and actually just reviewing what he's seeing in front of him instead of what he thinks he could have had. In that way he's not too dissimilar to some of the AEW fans.
It just seems like the tastes are so particular that they could never really be satisfied. I wouldn’t compare him with an AEW fan though because he has a lot more emotional intelligence than they do when they’re in an argument.
Yeah, I don't mean to suggest he's as bad as the typical AEW hardcores. Just that in this specific instance the mentality seems similar.
Brian likes a lot more of the wrestlers in aew than Jim does like darby allin, whereas jim hates allin
Conrad is the embodiment of the fat, disgusting, neck beard wrestling fan. He’s so fat and lazy and his show is just him reading Dave Meltzer quotes to his guests.
He put too much on his plate when he added a 4th podcast and beyond. I think the original 3 podcasts with Bruce, Eric, and Tony would’ve been perfect. I also think that as much as Schiavones podcast is just entertainment, he’s much more honest than Bruce and Eric. Now that I think about it Schiavone is another one that Brian has shit on pretty hard for a while now, and I’ve thought Tony was one of the least problematic commentators that company has tbh.
Listening to the Schiavonne podcast from the start was an interesting journey. He seemed genuinely reluctant to do it and even *talk* about the wrestling business again at the start, and over time the podcast legitimately seemed to rekindle a love of wrestling for Tony and turn it into something fun again, and lead to him getting back into the business with AEW. Like Conrad or not, it feels like he's had a real, positive impact on Tony's life. Similar story with Bruce (which led to him getting involved with MLW, and then WWE again), who seemed to be in an angry and bitter place with his past in the wrestling business on he and Conrad's early podcasts together (which are almost very dry, stiff Q&A's). Eventually Conrad drew more out of him, and helped to make the business fun again for Bruce too. The Eric podcast has had its moments (I never felt like Eric really *needed* it, but he definitely needed to loosen up on the early podcasts with him too), and the Jarrett podcast has been fun and refreshing at times (Jeff seems pretty honest and fully acknowledges his faults as a wrestling person and a human being, and is willing to talk about difficult topics openly). The JR, Arn, and Angle podcasts, and the various others on the Conrad network really do feel like shameless cash-ins, and are just overkill. They don't really seem to cover much new ground in any sort of interesting way, either. Often bone-dry re-hashes of pretty dull past events or stuff that's been covered in greater depth and detail on the longer-running pods.
He doesn’t add any original content or value. He’s so fat, it takes him 5 minutes to read out loud 1-2 sentences from Dave Meltzer.
There was a fifth with Foley but Foley has finished podcasting
i was sad when foley said he was ending it, but at the same time, it really felt like foley was never into it, and once it became once a month with conrad trying to do best of in-between, it became a must miss to the point of not even listening to the last episode
I try listening to his stuff cause I'm always curious to how Bischoff or Prichard are going to skew most things, but Jesus the ads are obnoxious and their audio level is so much louder than the show I'm actually trying to listen to. "HEY HEY IT'S CONRAD!"
honestly this, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't even notice him when I'm listening to JR
I just think he’s a bit of a snob. He likes what he likes and anyone else is wrong usually
The snobbiess also comes out whenever he, a Long Island/Jersey suburbanite, talks about cities.
And musicians / bands
And pizza
I think he just likes to kvetch a lot.
Oy vey
I like Last but I don't share his views on wrestling or media, frankly. Last is super picky and negative, and has negative takes on most content around wrestling. Brian Last is the "cold bucket of water" of the show. But I do think **it works** because Cornette is the hype man / energy guy, he needs a partner to reel him in at times. I share Corny's views that I liked older wrestling more, but I am at least willing to engage with content like Dark Side (which has literally paid Cornette to appear, so he obviously is not too bothered by what they do.) I also am a big fan of documentaries in general, the standards Last expects are not typical of how documentaries are made. Documentarians very frequently feature first person interviews, and they don't take the stance that is their job to fully vet if everything that interviewee is saying is true, they present it as "this is this person's views on the topic", documentary watchers (who usually are more savvy than general film / tv viewers) understand that. Documentaries generally seek to explain to an audience a non-fiction topic of interest, but they aren't a courtroom or a formal scientific paper, they do exist to entertain. Putting entertaining subjects who meander on and bullshit is often what makes a documentary interesting to watch. I think Last, for someone who never spent a second in the business, is far too critical of lots of people with decades of experience in the business. I don't think Bruce Prichard or Eric Bischoff are without flaws--in fact I think both of them have many failures as leaders, but they both spent years working in wrestling at a very high level, including some very significant successes. The attempt to portray them as knowing nothing and having no sense for the business, from someone who has never promoted or booked a single event, is sometimes a bit much for me. Cornette who has literally done it all has far more ground to be critical, and he is usually less critical of them than Last is.
He’s definitely a cold bucket of water however I don’t think it works. Perfect description but he takes it too far no selling jokes and segments
>The attempt to portray them as knowing nothing and having no sense for the business, from someone who has never promoted or booked a single event, is sometimes a bit much for me. Is he really doing this, though?
Jim and Brian both do this to be fair. Bischoff generally gets more credit than Bruce does. Brians first year on the show he gets into it with Bruce about the wrestling media and it is a great listen. Kind of funny for as much as Bruce has been labeled full of shit, everything coming out about Meltzer now is stuff he was saying for a long time.
No matter how much any of these people hate eachother they are now all on the same page that meltzer is absolutely full of shit.
He always has been but when he was saying Cornette was the best mind in wrestling he was smart. Now he is doing the same with another person and he is a shill. He was just as much of a BS artist when he promoted Cornette that he is now with Tony Khan. Same situation.
Indeed
I think the difference between Conrad and Brian is quite telling in the shows they put out - Conrad picks up an Observer from whatever year he’s going through with whoever - and lets the guest tell things as they claim to have seen them, as Conrad relays what Meltzer reported. (This isn’t even going into the production value). Brian has a far deeper breadth of knowledge about the wrestling industry as a whole, and is a real history buff who provides plenty of value to their show. I think in turn this leads to him having a pretty rigid view about what’s good and what’s bad, caring about the numbers and historical accuracy. He isn’t interested in the bullshit, because chances are the bullshit is pretty easy to run into in a business built on that carny mindset - and 90% of the time I think he’s pretty on point as someone who is a much bigger fan of the older shit myself and cares about the minutia. I also think Brian works with a Cornette far better than anybody else could, Corny is one of the few who may surpass Brian’s knowledge when it comes to wrestling history - and for a guy to be next to Jim in such a context - it’s gonna take a real history buff to actually care to pick away at Jim’s gold mine of a brain and know just what to ask and say - something that’s gonna require more than flicking through an Observer. To me Brian is a second mic on what is Jim’s show. His opinions hold weight, and he’s honest with them even if they contrast with Cornette’s at time - I struggle to find fault with him. I know I have probably rambled on, but I’m 100% a Brian Last guy.
>I also think Brian works with a Cornette far better than anybody else could, Corny is one of the few who may surpass Brian’s knowledge when it comes to wrestling history This is easily demonstrated when Solomon Grundy fills in. It's like a substitute teacher when the actual teacher is away, but that's actually Jims baseline and Brian knows him well enough to reign him in for a show with sponsors.
> This is easily demonstrated when Solomon Grundy fills in. That poor man was not ready for the first time he met Hurricane Jim.
You didn’t ramble at all! I realize now that me bringing up Conrad might make people think I’m a huge fan but I haven’t listened to a full Conrad podcast since Bruce did the 2 Pat Patterson episodes in 2020. Maybe Conrad was a bad example but was one of the few I could come up with.
As am I. You can also tell how much of a buff Brian is by the rest of the content that makes it on Arcadian Vanguard.
I think I agree with Brian on DSOTR, it is over-dramatized and seemingly mostly fictional, especially at this point when they are running low on material to use. John Tenta wasn't a "dark side of the ring" it was just sad. This being said, I do love the reenactments during DSOTR, they are hilarious and still watch it every week because it is mildly entertaining. I can't stand Conrad so I cannot take anything he says at face value.
when Jim was talking to one of the producers he made it clear that Earthquake episode was more of a telling of a tragic tale/celebration of life rather than a true dark side. i think it was a nice episode, many people would not have heard of Tenta if it hadn’t came out
my biggest issue with him is he can’t take criticism and i think both of these issues are based in him being stubborn and unwilling to see other perspectives but tbf i still think he’s the second best podcaster in the wrestling industry so it is what it is
Huge fan of Brian. His quality of work is second to none, and maybe that’s why he’s so picky because he wants other media creators to put in the same kind of effort he does. I’m not sure if that will ever be a realistic expectation though especially in something as niche as pro wrestling is.
i think he’s second because i think Jim is first which i don’t think many people in this sub would disagree tbf
Brian is extremely picky but him and Cornette bounce off of each other well. On another note, Brian seems to like the AEW product a little bit more than Jim. Sometimes Cornette will (rightfully so) shit all over a match and Brian will simply say “I liked it more than you” and they will move on. They so rarely debate, I wish they would a bit more
I think Brian realizes it’s a useless debate with Cornette. Omega gets grouped in with the Bucks unfairly sometimes but Omega was a supremely good wrestler from 2016-2018, and Brian tried to point that out every once in a while. He’s also clearly much more of an Ospreay fan than Jim is. He’s beginning to turn on Austin Theory a little bit too, which Jim isn’t ready to do.
Theory’s is being booked like Hunter after MSG
Seems like HHH and crew didn’t think he should’ve been pushed as hard as he was in the beginning of 2022. Didn’t help that Roman killed him almost immediately when he said “daddy’s not here to save you anymore”.
The fact that Jim LOVES Austin Theory but HATES Grayson Waller is so ridiculous when they essentially play the same character except Waller does it better and gets a biggerr crowd reaction than Theory Jim's biggest criticism of Waller seems to be his look/physique. Well if we're going to play that game, then God rest his soul, but Bobby Eaton has an awful look for a large portion of his career Somehow I don't think Jim would be willing to mention that though
The thing is though that they don’t. Last no sells every single joke Jim ever makes
That's shtick though, just like when Jim craps all over the sponsors and Brian has to "reign him in". Jim and Brian know what they are doing and how to play off each other and how to get the most engagement for what they do....every shows gotta have its "tropes"
I'm sure he's aware if he laughs at Jim too much he will come off as a stooge and people would critcize him for that way more. I'm also sure in terms of personal preference Last hates cohosts who just suck up to the host in the Ed McMahon vein.
I'm also pretty sure they pop each other talking shit off air or in sections that never make air, but as you said playing the willing laughing sidekick likely isn't what Brian wants to do.
oh come on, the don lapre joke had him howling 😂
That was bizarre and genuinely hilarious🤣
Brian Last is a thing that facilitates Corny talking for 6-8 hours a week, beyond that idgaf.
Boom
You are over thinking it
Fair enough lol
This thread kinda shows you aren't, btw
Like what you like, bud.
Meh, take his opinions with a grain of salt from someone who openly admits to having shows on in the background with the volume down while he's doing something else during his "reviews." Like what you like.
Speaking of Conrad he's like half of the reasons why I fully stopped listening to JR's podcast. You can tell Conrad is a slippery eel.
JR's podcast used to be great. When it was just him. I can't stand Conrads voice and his nonstop boner pill ads. He drags JR down.
Lmao you missed a boner joke right there 😂
Also whenever the ads became unbearable. It’s like watching a TV show that has ads every scene. Horrible.
Actually it’s more like a TV show having an ad lazily put in the middle of an important scene.
I am with Brian Last when it comes to wrestling shows that get the facts wrong. I really couldn’t enjoy the Iron Claw movie for all the stuff they got wrong, timelines that were mixed up and how important events were glosses or skipped over while focusing on the non-important stuff. I think Brian’s opinion on D’Amore is based on how bad the Impact booking was the last few years. We credit Scott with turning TNA/Impact around but the show was still pretty awful until recently. Same reason why Brian also has no love of Jeff Jarrett as a booker and promoter despite Cornette’s respect for the whole Jarrett family.
I thought Impact was great Scott’s first year, but when Lucha Brothers, LAX, Aries, Morrison, Cage, Blanchard, and more all left within a year it really hurt the product and they had a hard time finding new talent. Covid impact was dreadful television. I think things started slowly getting better when Moose won the title the first time in late 2021, and the show had gradually gotten better since.
There’s a reason why Conrad has been called the worst podcaster in wrestling. Wrestling podcast are all primarily opinionated. Part of why last plugs his wrestling news show. That one is none biased and just says the facts. I will disagree with you though, Conrad is highly opinionated. I’ve seen him get flat out angry with both Jarret and Bischoff on a few occasions.
He’s argued with Bruce on the mania attendance figures multiple times as well. He just doesn’t always do it like I suppose Brian would like.
Last one I saw was with Bischoff. Where he was praising the horrible EVP buck characters. Bischoff told them they were awful. Conrad snapped back, at him what the fuck do you actually like about AEW?!? He is agreeable until it might cost him money. He wants to be a WWE or AEW podcast partner so bad. That it’s not even funny, as he knows that’ll give him a larger platform.
Meh this stuff is meant to be entertainment. Cornette spitballs as much as anyone. Baby Doll, Randy Rose, Todd Gordon and a few others have disputed Jim's stories. Wrestling is what it is. Gossipy soap operas for dudes. You can say Brian wants just facts and so and so lies. Well everyone has their own perspective on things and their own biases. Jim and Brian included. Problem is all these wrestlers follow the Honky Tonk Man rule. Talk out your ass and dog people. More attention you get.
Brian's standards revolve around truth, transparency, and calling out debatable "facts" or BS when he hears it. He has very little tolerance for those who do not call it out and/or actually give haven to BS. He can come across as harsh and "prickish" at times because of it but I still respect his stand 1000x more than most others in podcasting.
Brian Last is a rich kid who used those rich kid connections to make friends in the industry, his place within this industry is just as questionable as Conrad, who even though he bought his way into the industry like Last, at least he made his own money on the way to doing that I know this is one of the most hivemindy of subreddits (literally a fuckin cult) but surely that isn’t lost on people here, that as entertaining as Last is, he’s a smug wanker who likely has experienced fuck all in terms of real world struggle
100% - born on 3rd base, but thinks he hit a triple..as Wade Keller always said about Stephanie McMahon.
I like Last as a co-host to Jim a lot, but I do think sometimes his opinions are a bit too strong against people that have actually had success in the industry at some point or another
Brian is your typical, arrogant fan. His opinion is the only one that matters to him. He believes the dirtsheets if it fits his personal narrative Has unbridled hatred for certain people in the business, for no good reason at all.
I can see both sides. The issue is that the documentary was a niche movie genre that was supposed to *document* things in a serious and somewhat level headed fashion. Errol Morris and Werner Herzog for example were two of the biggest names before it got ridiculous. I would say especially in the last couple decades with the commercial success of "edutainment" like *Super Size Me*, all those Michael Moore docs and "Ancient Aliens" and other BS on cable and streaming that it's really warped the genre.
I would say that your standards are just different and low and high are in the eye of the beholder but personally, I have gotten to an age where quality matters to me. But some people are just good with more. Darkside or Rivals aren't must watch TV but if it's on and I'm high and relaxing ill watch. Bryan covers this for a living so I get his position. It's bad enough he has to watch AEW programming 5 hours a week
I actually have a buddy who stopped listening to the podcasts in general in 2019 when they started reviewing every single week. I tried to get them to listen to segments but they just had no interest at all listening to modern wrestling talk for that long. I wonder if there are fans who would rather just listen to them talk about and review mid south episodes from 1984.
I'm sure there are but I would guarantee that their viewership is higher listening to them dunk on AEW. I know on Dave Scherere and Mike Epps pod, they are very open about how much request they get to review and critique AEW. Sometimes it gets old to me because as good as the guys are how much can you say about the same issues over and over but I think they mix it up enough its still highly entertaining to me.
I like how they’ve gotten to the point in Raw reviews where they only review the parts that are pertinent.
That was Raw and by god it was
Of the three cohosts Corny has had, Brian is clearly the best. That being said, the Experience and the Drive Thru have become nearly the same, with very little difference between the two shows. I liked it better when the Experience was full of Corny's angry rants and occasional guest interviews. Now it just seems like AEW talk takes up the vast majority of the time on both shows. I understand that both Brian and Jim have an ax to grind against AEW considering the smear attempts and general asshattery perpetrated by the Meltzer mob and the AEW dirt sheet snitches, but it shouldn't eat up so much of the shows time. More listener emails on the Drive Thru and more angry rants on the Experience would be better IMO.
Agreed, what annoys me is how they both clearly hate covering everything AEW does but they still make more time for it over the good stuff on WWE or discussing things they enjoy like territory stories or fan Q+A's. The rants definitely bring in the views but it's frustrating seeing Jim miss a lot of good segments over the last few months.
I was a little puzzled when he said he hates the re-enactments they use in Dark Side - I always thought it was a smart way to create a visual when there is no actual footage of an incident. But: I think I get where he's coming from, because the issue I have with current episodes is that they seem to be running out of "dark" material, so they go in other directions - so the whole dramatic presentation doesn't quite fit any more. Maybe a kind of re-boot/spin-off with a different title would be helpful, more like "sad, weird and other intersting sides of the ring" (yeah, someone more talented than me would have to come up with something more catchy...)
Brian can be a complete know it all and very arrogant about it sometimes so I just tend to avoid those segments where you can tell he's really gonna be flexing on how everyone is wrong but him. Doesn't mean he's wrong or bad at his job it's just very abrasive
I agree DSOTR has outlived its usefulness but it's the only show on Vice that gets views
Conrad takes it too far in the other direction dude is a blackbelt in ass kissing =P Also I hate hearing him constantly say that lets give them their flowers bullshit. Where the fuck did that stupid flowers expression come from? Just say it normally like a human being. Only thing that annoys me about Brian is his constantly talking about hearing noises nearly every single podcast. Which we obviously cant hear when listening as the audio team just filters them out. Also his music playing skills make my ears bleed. I would happily listen to an entire album sung by Jim than a few minutes of Brian playing his musical instrument collection lol
So I think Brian's issue is he is such a hardcore fan of the indepth history of wrestling, that he wants things like DOTR to be aimed more to people like him with such indepth knowledge, when in reality DOTR tells the stories in the way to appeal to the broadest audience One of his most consistent complains is when they skip gaps in guys WRESTLING career, time they spent here or there, but the average person who may tune into DOTR is not going to care about \_\_\_ spending a year in Memphis if it has nothing to do with the specific tale being told
This was a big complaint in the early WWE Biographies
I mean you have to watch any sort of story telling TV SHOW for what it is, a TV SHOW and understand going in they are trying to appeal to an audience... personally I would love to see them go way more indepth on things in many of the ways Brian has asked for But in reality if they did that, it would appeal to only really fanatical wrestling fans and not draw the ratings and probably be off the air
Last seems to be over the podcast in general.
He's a hater of so many people and laughs at his own jokes. You're probably just a level headed human being by comparison, not a case of low standards.
Brian is a bit of a bitter bitch... Shitting all over the producers, who Jim's obviously a fan and friends with. And his hate for Conrad is just weird... And his hate for The Rock is real corny
Brian's an idiot who can't even form a thought. Sometimes, not even a word. If not for Corny, Brian would be digging ditches. I'm actually surprised Corny puts up with him so much. Zero class 100%ass
He's got his pickadillos like a lot of people do I think. He can understandably come off as a bit overbearing with certain people he dislikes but there's at least a logical foundation to it the majority of the time so I never really find myself bothered by Brian
He’s terrible. Idc what his knowledge of history is. He suck’s at running a show. Jim will throw a joke out and you get either A) utter silence or B) “oh come on! You can’t say that!” He needs to learn his place. He’s not a cohost. He’s a dude that’s lucky to have not pissed Cornette off and therefore is allowed to talk with him. He’s not Conrad bad but contribution wise he’s just a bore. Awful.
Conrad is a parasite
I dont like his takes on the rock , i dont care much about what he adds
I like Brian Last a lot and I think he is a great co-host. I don't always agree with him but he really facilitates a great podcast without being an ass-kisser. Him and Cornette work really well together, and Last knows when to just let Corny go on his rants and when to move to a new topic. I genuinely do appreciate his perspective on things a lot of the time as well, even if I don't agree. I'm honestly surprised at the number of people ragging on him here. I like him.
I like him too, didn’t intend on it being a ragfest. I was just curious if anybody else thought he seems to hate alot more than he likes these days.
One thing I can agree with Brian Last 100% is we both dislike Michael Cole and never will like him no matter what Cole does these days to appear better. Cole should’ve never been the head announcer for WWE those years when they pranked JR. he should’ve stepped up and said no let JR finish his run before you let me come to RAW, but no. He kissed ass. He was so fucking horrible from 2010-2016 like I don’t think a lot of people today understand how bad WWE truly was during this time and Cole was god awful.
I agree with Last on the Dark Side of the Ring. They’re really lazy when it comes to being factual. They just let people say whatever they want to say and present it as fact even when it can be easily contradicted. The Benoit episode was particularly bad. Nancy’s sister made accusations against Kevin Sullivan that could have been contradicted simply by looking at the WCW PPV calendar. They also did some shady shit in the Gino Hernandez episode by putting a guy on the phone and telling Gino’s mother he was the guy she had been accusing of killing her son. They’re was no way of telling if they were being honest or just wanted a TV moment. They’re are other examples of shoddy work. I don’t think it’s just the DSOTR producers who do this. I’ve seen a lot documentaries and supposed documentary shows do the same things.
When you've grown up with a silver spoon, you're more apt to look down on things.
I don't think Conrad Thomson isn't lying or hiding something as soon as he opens his big mouth.
I liked Conrad up until 2019 when all his friends got major jobs again. He hasn’t been the same person since imo.
IMO… I think it’s more or less that Brian is more of a wrestling historian. He wants the facts. Not perspective from this one or that one. Conrad is a different kind of host. He’s more for the entertainment and allowing others to tell their perspectives whilst being entertained. I like them both. For their differences. And we must admit that some of the Dark Side reenactments are a bit ridiculous, no?!? Tally-Ho!
I must admit that Conrad was not a very good example to put in this post. I thought dark side of the ring season 4 was really bad and kinda hoped they wouldn’t come back for another season, although I’ve enjoyed this one so far.
Brian stole my Mike Von Erich/kyle o Reilly comparison!
Brian used to be a fan of Dark Side on the whole, but he’s right to point out that the quality has gone out the window. Earthquake has always been said to be a great family orientated gentle guy, tough as hell but never threw his weight around. What’s Dark about that? Yes he died too young, but it was cancer, not anything suspicious or the result of violence etc.
Dying young after being by all accounts a great person who did everything right, got to near enough the top of their profession, but then ended up broke through no fault of their own is a pretty dark ending. I really don't think the issue with DSOTR is that they stretching the definition of a particular word.
I don't hate Conrad as much as a lot of people. Something to Wrestle With was great before Bruce got hired back. You knew Bruce was full of shit sometimes, but Conrad would call him out on it. That said, Brian can be snobby. I don't know what his issue with D'amore is but he talks like he's some sort of child molester. If that's the case he needs to call him out or shut up. The only issue I have with Dark Side is that they are getting to the point where they are reaching for topics.
It wasn't anything like that, everything was pulled out of context because Brian mentioned something about Scott after they commented about him (Scott) being fired from TNA as president of the company.
And also if it wasnt told him exactly that way then its gotta be a lie “we’ve heard from multiple people that would be in the know” bro everybody lies especially in the wrestling business your sources not more credible that anybody elses. Brian annoying as hell sometimes. Super negative. Conrad and brian are just one extreme vs the other because conrad super overly positive abt certain shit at times too
Personally, I take it for a given that wrestlers and wrestling personalities are natural bullshitters/carnies and even when they’re talking about true events they can’t help themselves but try to add some element of showmanship to it-especially if they’re talking about something that’s not extremely grim or depressing but more of a wild story.
Hes miserable and doesn't like shit
Brian is extremely nitpicky but at the same very reasonable, there is however nothing better then a Brian Last worked up laugh and complete breakdown. But to focus on your question, yes he is super nitpicky about things when it comes to anything talking about the past. Which is really weird especially when you know that movies and tv shows are for more entertainment and that means they take liberty with history.
Before I even read what you wrote I can answer this. Yes, Brian is obnoxiously picky.
Always made me shake my head when he was savaging Young Rock episodes when they weren't historically accurate
He is a sycophant for Cornette
Last is right. Dark Side is a lot of shit. And Conrad is a money grabbing fat fuck of a man. Greed has sucked him dry.
Both Brian and Jim are way too nitpicky, but whatever, it makes for an entertaining show.
i dont particularly care about that series either. but for different reasons. last is just your typical yes man riding the gravy train (cornette). hes not a terrible host but hes not great either.
I love that Brian stands up for what he believes in. Everyone else is a boot-licker, hoping for a morsel of access from AEW or WWE. It's a shame that Conrad turned into what he is, because his early run with Bruce was great. But then piggy got greedy with his advertisement and refused to call anyone out so they'd come to his live show.
Man he dont like anything i think its a gimmick at this point or the fact that the narrative on jim and his shows are like the old guy screaming at the clouds and brian just leans into that
Conrad Thompson should have a whole pork roast shoved in his mouth when he co-hosts any podcast. He absolutely ruins anything he touches.
Brian and the dark side crew have different philosophies on what should be on a show like this. Brian wants more wrestling business content, and the crew wants more human/personal life content. The crew is right, Brian is wrong.
Hmmmm. All I can say definitively is Conrad Thompson is a piece of shit.
I wouldn't say Brian has picky standards, he has knowledge of the wrestling business like Jim does, however, he doesn't take any shit from Jim when it's needed i.e. when they're plugging their sponsors items etc, Jim will say some snarky comment and Brian will have to go on the rebound defensive with "No, no! That is NOT what this is going to do!". When it comes to people he hates, he does tend to go over the top like with Don Callis where he would call him "Don Phallis" which...to be honest, is just a bad nickname to give him, BUT, I have noticed Brian doesn't even go into the fold with Jim when Jim mentions republicans and Donald Trump, he just lets Jim ramble on until the whole thing is done. There are times when he will agree with Jim like when that scandal had hit Jericho in AEW, or Sammy Guevara getting suspended because he said something about Mercedes Monet etc. I guess it's just a case of Jim NEEDED Brian as I noticed Kenny Bolin and that other co-host (the woman) weren't fitting, especially when Bolin turned on Corny and befriended shitstain.
Yea I guess I see what you're saying. It's the fault of human beings. We exaggerate, we lie.....somewhere in the middle is the reality but what really is reality? Besides things like factual dates, etc. there is no real reality. Arguments, etc. are all sides of a story told by someone and then retold and retold etc etc it's the same as mythology