X-Pac opens today’s show speaking about last weekend’s NXT Takeover and Royal Rumble events.

He thought the Takeover show built perfectly from start to finish because every match was good, but each match was also able to amp up the intensity to another level. He says the main event between Cien Almas and Johnny Gargano was terrific, and he thought the finish of this match was heartbreaking. He thought it “sucked” that Gargano didn’t win.

He informs that he spoke with Triple H after the event ended, and Triple H told him that Gargano is “…the last of the white-meat babyfaces”. X-Pac mostly agrees with this statement because most of today’s babyfaces display heelish antics from time to time, and it’s rare for fans to get behind true babyfaces nowadays.

Advertising
Advertising

X-Pac was extremely pleased that WWE booked Nakamura to win the Men’s Royal Rumble. He points out that Nakamura’s main roster run hasn’t really been great thus far, but it appears that WWE officials are ready to get behind him as a main event talent. X-Pac thinks WWE made the right decision here, and the crowd’s positive reaction when Nakamura won should reinforce this decision.

He liked the Women’s Royal Rumble match as well and he was happy to see a lot of WWE’s former female talents return to the ring. He admits that he was hoping to see Alundra Blaze make a surprise appearance in the Rumble, but he points out that WWE had to leave a few surprises for years to come.

He points out that Ronda Rousey is a big signing for WWE. They’re about to begin negotiations for their new television deal, and adding Rousey to the full-time roster will mean a bigger paycheque for WWE when this deal is finalized. Rousey’s a big star, and she’ll definitely bring some mainstream viewers to the product.

X-Pac comments on the return of the XFL. He points out that McMahon and company have given themselves two years to market and promote their league this time around, whereas back in the day they only had two months. He wouldn’t bet against McMahon right now, but he doesn’t like that McMahon has ruled out players with past DUIs. He points out that people make mistakes, and can often change for the better.

X-Pac thinks the Dudley Boyz are a great addition to WWE’s Hall of Fame class of 2018. He suspects that Paul Heyman will probably induct them, but we might see a surprise inductee such as Spike Dudley.

X-Pac welcomes Ken Anderson to the show.

Anderson informs that he and former TNA Superstar, Shawn Daivari have opened a wrestling school in Minneapolis. He doesn’t consider this work because he has so much fun on a daily basis. He spends hours there everyday, but he loves every second of it.

Anderson doesn’t believe in grinding their students into the ground like old school trainers. He recalls having one very passionate individual who loved the business dearly, but simply wasn’t cut out to be a wrestler. The student understood this, and asked Anderson about transitioning into a referee. Anderson helped this student learn how to referee and now he’s booked every weekend, travelling all around North America as a referee.

Anderson informs that it was actually Paul Heyman’s idea to have him announce himself. Former WWE writer/producer Dave Lagana later told him that they were going to have the old-school microphone drop down from the rafters. He’s very thankful that he had that intro because people liked it and it made him stand out from the pack.

Heyman actually came up with his name as well. He was known as Mr. Anderson for his first two weeks on WWE programming but Vince McMahon wanted to change that. Heyman told Anderson to suggest a name close to McMahon’s heart and since “Kennedy” is McMahon’s middle name, that’s the name he chose. Obviously McMahon liked it, and Mr. Kennedy was born.

Anderson was told recently by a former WWE writer that an idea was floating around backstage which included him winning the King of the Ring, making him “King Ken Kennedy”, or “KKK”. Apparently McMahon liked this idea. Anderson points out that if that happened, it probably would have been a career death sentence.

Anderson informs that he’s always had a great relationship with Paul Heyman, and Heyman actually helped him get his foot in the door in WWE. Even when Anderson was released by WWE and signed with TNA, he would collaborate with Heyman each week on his promos. Sometimes Anderson wouldn’t be happy with the promo that TNA writers scripted for him, so he’d ask Heyman to write something better. Heyman never failed to deliver.

That sums up today’s episode of X-Pac 1, 2, 360. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!

Steve Carrier

Steve is the Founder of RingsideNews. He has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He first got into website development at the time and has been focusing on bringing his readers the best professional wrestling news at it's highest quality.

Disqus Comments Loading...