Grilling JR

[@mlamanno]

8:49 thanks as always!

[@grantg4138]

The best match I’ve ever seen imo. Nothing beats Angle Benoit 03 Rumble.

[@pbrgdrewski88]

the irony of doing multiple ads and then saying ad free tv over and over that is an ad itself 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@NoahWilson8108]

Good ol JR. One and only. I appreciate all your guys and gals efforts for producing such phenomenal content

[@richhava]

Conrad, I think you have created the pathway that has allowed us old folks to go back and relive it all over again but with so much more added You have rasslin relevant to the entire world with your love of the psuedo sport and I mean that in a good way. I think if major sports followed your MO, and went back and relived events like you do, they could make more billions. You have blazed the trail that has open the eyes are so many peopleand I just bought a respect to the business that no one else has been able to do. You might be wrestling's biggest fan Because you surely know how to deliver everything that we want. You are truly a wonderful human being

[@keithderosas542]

Outside of 92 Rumble 03 was my next favorite. This roster was loaded

[@mlamanno]

Interesting little discussion starting around 46:35 on WWE creative losing its way in 2002/2003, and it's fitting they're talking about this after talking about the Raw where Vince says Raw hasn't seen a revolution or even evolution. Glad we're finally here. It was around this time I was moving away from WWE. It was weird at the time because I was invested as a kid and through the Attitude Era and into the brand split, but sometime in the brand split, I noticed Raw felt very weak. I remember they eventually made Flair a villain to Austin, but it felt like a stale retread of another malevolent person in charge, and that didn't change with Bischoff. Bischoff's a good heel, Flair's a good heel, but we had seen that song and dance many times before; we just swapped who the big bad guy was. So when Vince told Bischoff Raw hadn't even evolved since he took over, I felt at the time that WWE was speaking to fans, admitting that the Raw product was weak and needed to turn around. I was excited for what they were going to do, but Bischoff's idea in the storyline to shake things up was bringing back Stone Cold. And that honestly didn't excite me! Raw was feeling weak and poorly written even when *he was there.* His feud with Hollywood Rock was very entertaining, no doubt, but the larger problem with Raw needed more than his return considering the problems with the writing when he was the main star in 2002. Conrad also talks about people hating HHH at this time. That was another problem I had: I've warmed up considerably to HHH, especially looking at his career as a whole and some of the matches he had late in that career (Daniel Bryan WM30 is a great example), but at the time, I was tired of the character, and his in-ring work at this point of his career wasn't that great. I don't know why, but it seemed a step down from some of the great stuff he pulled off in 2000 and early 2001. I guess I just was tired of the character, unimpressed by the in-ring work at the time, and I just wanted something new instead of seeing HHH all the time. The Steiner feud was mediocre, which I wouldn't blame entirely on HHH, and I'm very curious what JR's take on the Booker T/HHH feud is after hearing Prichard's. I thought Booker would have been a great change since he and Goldust were the best thing about Raw during the time I was losing interest. But he lost and he never got an opportunity to try again against Hunter. I think it went to HHH vs Nash vs Shawn afterward with Booker as a more peripheral character. I don't remember much: I think I may have barely made it to Backlash before checking out from WWE for a long time. Thanks for the episode!

[@vacuumboots69]

Same

[@donovanbradford8231]

I agree with a lot of that I hated HHH as a kid and teen as an adult much like The Kliq and NWO I have such an appreciation for now. I think the biggest issue was back then was some times the matches weren't there for some talent.

[@stevefromyellowstone7911]

I’ll always say that what really killed the WWE was that damn brand split. I couldn’t afford cable as a kid so I could only ever watch smackdown , and therefore lost my chance to see half of my favorites. And I know most of the kids in my area felt the same pain coming from a shitty low income area .

[@mlamanno]

@@stevefromyellowstone7911 That's something I appreciate more now as an adult than I did as a kid. I thought it was weird when my neighbors dropped their cable and just used an antenna, but I was a kid and didn't understand the financial part of it. That meant no Austin and, besides a few appearances summer 2002, no Rock. Though tbh, Austin's creative in 02 wasn't very good.

[@The_Sage_of_Six_Paths]

You are the man JR!

[@joedavidson6556]

Angle Benoit was a great match. Those 2 never had a bad match together.

[@jaredgarrison333]

In my top 3 list

[@jameswesten2018]

I ❤listenin to JR he's a living legend. Hope u feel better soon🤘🐺

[@frankE91210]

benoit vs nancy + child in a handi cap match

[@tired5]

@@frankE91210 ooffff 😂

[@mikeypitt8315]

Angle always had great matches with The Invisible Man and I don't mean John Cena tho Angle did also carry Cena to some of his best matches.

[@Falconesports2025]

Meltzer saying angle and Benoit wouldn’t have been successful with this style match 18 months prior is laughable… check out wm17 and the mostly mat based submission style match Benoit and angle had they tore it up.

[@MTSpade]

I agree there wasnt great stuff in 02 and 03 but there was some good matches, and it was overall a memorable year

[@johnberry2678]

Conrad relying so heavily on Meltzer’s words is incredibly annoying

[@nbaldwin45]

57:45 - cue Kenny Omega weeping tears of rage

[@eddead4235]

Y2j gets a big unicorn bump on his head. The stiener hhh promo with bring life song way better than the match

[@joedavidson6556]

Yea these triple H and Steiner matches were horrible. I can’t believe they did a rematch at No Way Out.

[@tomseville2345]

That was No Way Out with Evanescence. This PPV's match didn't even have that...🤣🤣

[@patrickdoherty4527]

Biggest issue with Steiner was that they presented Big Poppa Pump as a face! That character was a heel through and through- from the black glasses andnthe white hair to the bicep kissing amd bragging about his "freaks". They should have either presented him as a heel or brought him back in a different way, not as big poppa pump.

[@ozates8347]

2003 Royal Rumble>2022 Royal Rumble

[@joedavidson6556]

Anything in 2003 is ten times better than any crap they show today on WWE. The last 10 years have been the worst wrestling product ever.

[@ozates8347]

@@joedavidson6556 NXT was good for a while, 2015-2019/20 were the good years. WWE not so much.

[@joedavidson6556]

Admittedly I never gave NXT a try. Kinda just assumed it was garbage like all other wrestling in the last decade. Maybe I’ll track down some good NXT matches.

[@AD-ur1fk]

2003 rumble > 2023 rumble too

[@mohammadrock4164]

20 years Anniversary this coming Thursday January 19 one my great memories watch Pro Wrestling Royal Rumble 2003 Big Show vs brock lesnar. Chris Benoit vs Kurt Angle 😍😍😍 Brock LESNAR Royal Rumble champion 2003. Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler RAW team Smack Down Michael Cole & Tazz my favorite Era in professional Wrestling. Always best show podcast Jim Ross & Conrad Thomson 😍😍

[@Grant-q5l]

My favourite moment of 2003 Royal Rumble was maven dropkicking taker from behind and thinking he had eliminated the undertaker 2 years in a row !!!

[@stevefromyellowstone7911]

So tired of hearing them say Raw was the “A” show in the early 2000s. Basically after the brand split , smack down became some of the best wrestling matches ever with the likes of Angle, Eddie, Benoit, lesnar, and Taker

[@ski8615]

Like how you left out captain America the hulkster lol and JBL 🤮 but u get what you mean

[@stevefromyellowstone7911]

@@ski8615 hulk was there for maybe a year. JBL was a great heel . What’s your point

[@RPGArchive1]

Spoken like a true mark

[@stevefromyellowstone7911]

@@RPGArchive1 some internet douche using insider terms for a business he ain’t even in lmao suck it

[@TheEverydayFan]

Raw was the entertainment show, the "big things" and huge (at the time) stipulation matches were on Raw. That is why. I liked Smackdown just as much, both shows won't ever be as good again.

[@TheEverydayFan]

44:00 the glazing is comedy 😂

[@killionare72ify]

Fuck I miss angle benoit matches

[@tomseville2345]

I always thought Steiner could've shown up at the end of the 4-Way (🤣😘) Pillow Catfight at WM XIX and left with Torrie, Stacy and the Catfight Girls. It would have been a better punchline than Coach getting his pants pulled down...

[@frankE91210]

Damn Steiner was wreslting like Lesnar would 20 years early! One move jones.

[@ScarfaceFranckRibery]

Benoit is the best wrestler ever

[@DaKoolDude]

Steiner was buried

[@NateNizzle]

He buried himself

[@AD-ur1fk]

I’m not a triple h fan but Steiner was kinda washed. He couldn’t hang

[@schizzo8959]

Big time.

[@donovanbradford8231]

I have a lot of love for Freakzilla but go watch that match at the Rumble the crowd turned on him halfway through the match. Sadly Stiener couldn't go the way they needed a maineventer to go.

[@needer123]

1:24:10 Best part of this episode for me.

[@schizzo8959]

i hope Conrad is just playing along, because it should be pretty clear why fans didn't like mr.HHH very much at that time.

[@positivevibetec]

Stater Brothers were definitely my all-time favorite tag team. It's just too bad Scotty I lose his mind on steroids cuz I wish they would have been around a lot more I liked him as Big poppa pump and was glad that he had that push but he was more of an over-the-top cartoon character by that time

[@Falconesports2025]

Steiner was always a good worker idk why he and HHH couldn’t find a way to have a good match … I remember they had a flex off on Monday night raw that was actually crazy …juice fest lol

[@chico1680]

I think it was a combination of accumulated injuries over the years like the back and foot injury and the difference in size in the rings, WWE being bigger than WCWs rings. Scotty imo didn't have any good matches during that 2003 run even with Booker T who always had great chemistry with BPP in WCW.

[@Falconesports2025]

@@chico1680 the wwe rings were always bigger and Steiner was his usual self in those rings in the mid 90’s it wasn’t until those injuries caught up with him and tho the matches could’ve been better they could have also been booked much better or worked on behind the scenes with their agent to structure a better 10 to 15 min match.

[@donovanbradford8231]

I think it was that Stiener didn't have the gas tank that was required of WWE maineventers which was you needed to go for a while no matter the situation you have to go 15 plus minutes in a match and Freakzilla just didn't have that kind if tank anymore. I think that's why he faired better in TNA the used him in shorter matches to hide that a lot of the time.

[@GottaLookInwardToSeeOutward]

jr needs a better headset

[@staycleanautodetailing6677]

And now TKO holdings is down 20%..

[@butch5419]

Every NFL teams uses their salary cap every year... The Jags aint no different than the Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills, etc. Stop the cap

[@leemccann88]

They should of never spite the brands. Never watched smackdown after the split

[@BryanPillman]

Who is Junior and why are they grilling him?

[@jaredgarrison333]

Jr, you could not be shocked with the funeral reaction. It’s not your fault. Wwe has to know that would be the reaction of whoever they sent. They just needed to send someone with class who could handle it. That family is burying a mom and son. You repped the company the killer worked for and was taking head shots and steroids working for that company. I’m as easy going as they come but even if I was in that family I may of had an issue with any wwe rep. And I think the family was totally wrong and delusional. But it is what it is.

[@darthbigred22]

@1:19:33 People need to make up their mind about CTE, either Benoit is a monster know was of sound mind when he did what he did or he was out of his mind because his signature move was the flying headbutt (fuck off with that chair shot bullshit losers he barely took them compared to the flying headbutt). I though he was boring and I would bet there's more to the story but for whatever reason it hasn't leaked.

[@waynetables6414]

i hate to be the one to tell you, but the flying headbutt is not an actual headbutt lmao Benoit's head doesn't actually make contact with the other head.. if it does, he taps the guy's pec/shoulder with his forehead. The pain in that bump is doing a belly flop onto the mat. It's tough on the neck too because of the way he kept his head elevated while his torso slammed into the ring.. that is a lot of whiplash on the neck as well as his back

[@ScarfaceFranckRibery]

The diving headbutt hurts the neck and shoulders the most. Chris rarely used his hands to block chair shots.

[@GottaLookInwardToSeeOutward]

hope aew somehow acquires wwe

[@joshmorrison2989]

1:02:40