Recap of Sean Oliver on In Your Head Wrestling Radio, 01/30/2015

by Vic Schiavone

Hosts Jack E. Jones and One Inch Biceps welcomed Sean Oliver of Kayfabe Commentaries to IYH Wrestling Radio for a record-breaking seventh appearance.

Highlights included the following:

* The common thread from all of the wrestlers who participated in the ECW Timeline series concerning Paul Heyman:

“We may just for giggles pull every Paul Heyman story from the series and string them together for an Internet exclusive just to hear everybody say the same thing about Paul E. He’s a carnival sideshow shyster, and everybody knew it. They all knew they were being worked by him and they all talk about it with a fondness of getting worked by the boss. At the time maybe it was a more tenuous situation, but everyone thinks of him like this mischievous teddy bear…These guys were trying to pay mortgages and take care of the family and stuff, and…they went from making nothing to some of the guys…they had guarantees of like three grand a week in the mid 90’s. Then they go from that to not having checks clear. So, it was a stressful situation, but still people look at Paul E. like the lovable bad guy.”

* The story behind the Back to the Territories series:

“Before cable the country was segmented into various territories as they called them, and wrestlers would work different cities for different promoters and kind of bounce around the country working different places, and we hear about it a lot and no one’s ever really covered it in depth. There’s a lot of places that wouldn’t be able to sustain a timeline series…So, we said let’s do this where we dedicate an entire episode to a territory, and Jim Cornette was my first and only choice to host the series. Of course, he’s entertaining on camera, but he’s a wrestling historian; he’s got a large collection of memorabilia that we can shoot and include in the show…Something I talked about with Cornette when we were starting this series is I do want this to be an accurate historical retelling, and that’s what Jim’s there for; he does an amazing amount of research, he’s like an encyclopedia, but if you have all of the promoters on, talking about their territory, then it becomes kind of their version of it. Will they reveal the ugly parts, warts and all?…We want to take a little bit of a step outside; to have somebody familiar with the territory, that worked in the territory, to sit with Jim and go over the truth behind the territory…The Timeline series, because it’s told by the talent that worked there, in the first person, it allows us to be truthful, which really removes any direct competition from the big guys because that series is able to be truthful and reveal anything that might be a blemish. We can talk about it, we can get into it, and we can go through it. Well, if we had all the promoters on, for the Territories series, it would remove that element. So, a talent that worked on top, and Jim, that would be the way to do the Territories. Now, there are going to be times where we break from that, for obvious reasons. If there is a promoter that’s not around anymore, but we can get somebody that was in the office, that can tell a first person account of working closely in that territory with the promoter and with the talent, then I don’t mind having office people on. J.J. Dillon, by the way, who’s going to do the next one that comes out February 17th, where we do Mid-Atlantic and the Crockett territories, he was unique because he worked with talent but he was in the office too. He told that story from a dual track. He was working on camera, with Jim, for much of his time there, but he was also Dusty’s assistant and he was in the office working with the Crocketts. That’s a really interesting edition, and also we have the incredible gift of Jim Cornette’s footage that he owns, the old Mid-Atlantic footage that they threw out that he pulled out of the dumpster, so we’ll be cutting some of that stuff in there. That’s going to be a great one.”

Other topics discussed included:

* What wrestler no longer with us does he most wish he’d interviewed?

* Who was his most demanding guest, and what was the craziest demand a guest has asked for to be in his video?

* What eras of wrestling is he personally a fan of?

* What are his thoughts about TNA going to Destination America?

If anyone is interested in ordering any products from Kayfabe Commentaries, visit their website at http://www.kayfabecommentaries.com.

This interview is available for listening at http://www.iyhwrestling.com/viewnews.php?autoid=25885 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtYI-oaJklo.

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