Who could bring back talk shows?

[juggalotus]

I remember around the time I had started getting into wrestling, it seemed like a lot of different wrestlers had their own talk shows. There was the Peep Show, Cutting Edge, The VIP Lounge, Carlito's Cabana, MizTV, and the Highlight Reel. There might have been more, but those ones all come to mind. Currently the only person with a talk show segment is Miz. Who else could bring back those segments to help along story lines? Not that he matters anymore, but my pick would be Adam Rose if he wasn't so far down the totem poll and borderline buried. More relevant superstars I think that could bring them back would be Bad News Barrett, and Lana/Rusev, especially as a way to stay relevant after his undefeated streak comes to an end. So what do you all think? Should WWE bring back a talk show or two, and who do you think would make a good host of one?

 

[Softcore Holly]

TBH I thought they overdid it on the whole talk show thing back in the day. Like OK there was some memorable moments when Edge and Jericho did it since they were used to help fuel some high level feuds, but for midcarders that never really went anywhere like MVP and Carlito it felt like meaningless time filler.

Miz TV is decent since Miz can get heat as a heel "talk show" host and he's better at it than MVP and Carlito was. Plus he now has Mizdow to add some extra entertainment to it, but that's enough for me. Anymore would be a waste of time and they seem to have no problems doing that now.

But if it had to happen here's some candidates

Bo Dallas - His annoying shtick would work well in a talk show host role and he's been doing pretty much nothing even before the injury

Sandow - Whenever Sandow breaks off from Miz I can see him doing this kind of thing easily. A funny idea just popped into my head: if Miz and Sandow start feuding they can give Sandow his own talk show as his way of trying to up one on the Miz.....ok it sounded funnier in my head. Anyway he has more than enough mic skills to pull it off, I don't see it doing much for getting him out of his jobber role though.

Rose I can kinda see but it would probably come off as one of WWE's bad attempts at comedy, which sadly enough makes him the most likely to happen.

Lana I'm not so sure on, yes she has the ability to get heat but there's no way she can bash America while focusing on show's "guests" and their feud. I would like to see if she can get heat in other ways first before sticking her in that kind of role.

Just going to throw a crazy idea out there, but Orton might be a good choice. He obviously has the mic experience, it can fit into any of his feuds easily and they can call it the "Viper's Pit".

 

[THTRobtaylor]

A good "talk show" segment has been missing for a long time now, not a Blackjack's BBQ or "Flower Shop" but a Piper's Pit, Highlight Reel or Brother Love Show...

Its important to know what made some shows great and others not, it's not always about mic skills.

The Pit worked off of Piper's manic energy and the controversy of those early episodes, hitting Snuka with a coconut, the Frankie Williams incident all happened within 3 or 4 weeks and it set the tone... from there the segment was always going to work, even when Piper was at his most cocky and longwinded like at Mania V.

The Highlight Reel worked because whether face or heel, Jericho had legit "hosting" credentials and skills, he was witty, urbane and able to be the tormentor, defender or just sit back and watch it unfold. He also played it at times as the "fans avatar", like when Cena debuted on RAW... He marked out for real along with the fans and it helped make the moment special... Edge wouldn't have done that as the Cutting Edge was more about Edge's personality.

Brother Love was someone EVERYONE hated, the other great way to do a talk show... They wanted the guest to come on so he'd stop talking...if it was a face they wanted him to kick his red cheeks back to the locker room... if it was a heel they wanted the inevitable confrontation that was due any...second...now...

Some just didn't work at all - The Flower Shop was horrendous, Carlito's Cabana and Miz TV are similar they don't use the strengths of the people involved and seemingly are there to shoehorn a talent into something to do. At the upper level of that you had something like the Barber Shop, which was a way to use Brutus without being in the ring due to his facial injury. It wasn't terrible but that people only ever remember the Rocker's split shows it wasn't exactly A grade either... it worked cos Brutus was completely neutral to the talents he worked with, he wasn't a face or a heel, he wasn't even a wrestler anymore... so if there were these kind of splits they could play out without the hosts ego influencing them.
Those are your three main reasons for these shows... stir controversy, offer straight promo/angle time or give a heel antagonist mic time to build heat. Which one does WWE need right now?

They tried with the Peep show this week and it's weak sauce... it never really worked well but Christian carried it so rule that out.

The most interesting thing this week was the vignette of Xavier Woods doing a James Brown/Al Sharpton/Slick hybrid... THAT is a perfect vehicle for a talk show segment, have him come out eulogise, bring out a guest... he has the mic skills to cover it and can play it annoying ala Brother Love, Controversial OR as a straight angle builder...

Sandow has a good shot at doing one but I think at this stage people want to see more success in the ring for him, likewise for Cesaro.

So that then leaves 3 guys who are "legit funny" who could probably do it, but both are a little too high up the card or again needed more in the ring.

Bad News Barrett - Speaks for itself really, bring back the podium, having him address his guests from 30 feet up would be quite a funny thing and Barrett is one of the best talkers on the roster by a long way, but this time they need to get him over quick in the ring...so I'd pass.

Dolph Ziggler - The leftfield choice, but if you know his outside interests it fits... he wants to do stand up comedy, so a WWE show host is a good proving ground for some of his material, but again his push seems to be going another direction.

Sheamus - The affable "Fella" is again seemingly a great idea for a host, somewhere between Piper, Brutus and Jake Roberts... he could go dark if needed, be funny and be the vehicle for other feuds to play out... He's the kind of guy who can kick your ass if you mess with his show which is always good... but again, I get the feeling a heel turn is in his horizon very soon, so affable is probably gonna go away in favour of angry... and that won't work so well.

 

[GeminiGarlord]

Zach Ryder. His online show was funny-ish and he interacts well with others on the mic

 

[Jack-Hammer]

For the most part, I don't particularly care for talk show segments. I just don't see any real use for them. It's just a promo segment with a lot of unnecessary window dressing. I don't particularly care about seeing the "guest" bickering with the host, especially if the host isn't at all involved in a feud with the "guest."

Last night's Peep Show segment was well done as I enjoy both Wyatt & Ambrose on the mic. However, Christian's presence, the Peep Show props and all that were totally unnecessary. Ambrose could've come out on his own, cut the exact same sort of promo and had the exact same exchange with Bray Wyatt without Christian's presence whatsoever.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

For the most part, I don't particularly care for talk show segments. I just don't see any real use for them. It's just a promo segment with a lot of unnecessary window dressing. I don't particularly care about seeing the "guest" bickering with the host, especially if the host isn't at all involved in a feud with the "guest."

Last night's Peep Show segment was well done as I enjoy both Wyatt & Ambrose on the mic. However, Christian's presence, the Peep Show props and all that were totally unnecessary. Ambrose could've come out on his own, cut the exact same sort of promo and had the exact same exchange with Bray Wyatt without Christian's presence whatsoever.

Agreed, but I think it was done that way more to guage the reaction to Christian... was it gonna be a massive pop etc, it wasn't really enough to justify re-doing it.

Personally I wouldn't mind them, health permitting hiring Jake for a bit... let him do the "Snake Pit" again for a while if they're not gonna go with Woods for example... The fans would get off on having Jake around more regularly and he would be quite a good addition to this Wyatt/Ambrose dynamic.

 

[Stan Hansen]

Ziggler and Wade Barrett are the two that instantly came to mind to me. Both have the charisma and skill to make it work. If they wanted to try and keep Barrett heel it would be a good segment for him and they could play off the Bad News Barrett gimmick if that's what they continue him with.

 

[chuckmdubya]

The talk shows of the hulkamania era, or golden age, were best. Brutus' barbershop, Piper's pit and mostly the Brother Love show were always entertaining. Brother Love is possibly the most underrated wwe personality ever. The show was famous for setting up faces. Whether it be The Undertaker and Paul Bearer setting up Warrior, Rick Martel setting Jake the Snake, or the time that Earthquake and Dino bravo "killed" Hulkamania, the old talk shows always injected serious drama into the storyline, and talented hosts could be very famous personalities.
Bringing these back could be gold for WWE, if they are done correctly.

 

[Radical Canadian Goose]

I have no idea why, but I think Bray Wyatt could be a great talk show host. It would be a darker and used to stir drama in the main feuds. Wyatt is a beast on the mic and could make it work

 

[OYDK]

Sandow - Whenever Sandow breaks off from Miz I can see him doing this kind of thing easily. A funny idea just popped into my head: if Miz and Sandow start feuding they can give Sandow his own talk show as his way of trying to up one on the Miz.....ok it sounded funnier in my head. Anyway he has more than enough mic skills to pull it off, I don't see it doing much for getting him out of his jobber role though.

This would be hilarious. Have Miz and Mizdow argue over who the crowd wants to see more leading to their split. Mizdow can start DOWTV (or whatnot...) and go head to head each week with MIZTV in a "ratings war". I would love to see Sandow portrayed as a more serious character but this would lead to some funny stuff between the two.

As for who would be good for a talkshow, I think Xavier Woods would be your best bet. Guy can talk and put over a feud, so I think he would be alright, but honestly, he's the best of the worst of the candidates at this point. Sure he would be good in the role, but I doubt the show would accomplish much...

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

To be honest, I never really understood the meaning of a talk show. You are basically taking yourself out of your current feud and becoming an interviewer for some other guy on some other feud. First of all, it makes you feel irrelevant, so this is point one. Then on, it serves no purpose anyway. The guy who is interviewed could just come out and cut a promo on his own, instead of wasting 5 minutes of intros, money on creating the scenery and another 5 minutes of throwing the chairs and couches out of the ring.

Then, we have its other purpose of creating a feud out of nothing. Jericho re-created his feud with HBK with that. This served a purpose but it is still pointless to me. They could have the feud start in any other way. For example, you could have HBK in a match, then out of nowhere, Jericho runs in, codebreaks HBK and the following week, Jericho comes out and blas blas blas about why he did it.

I can't see the purpose of talk shows. Sure they might be funny sometimes and all, but what is being said there could just be said in a regular promo. Stupid waste of time in my opinion.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Best for me was Pipers Pit, I think the WWE will bring back some kind of talk show but I cannot think of anyone in the current roster offhand who would make a good talk show host as I don't think the WWE has any great talkers at the moment and I think that is one thing lacking within the WWE.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I have no problem with the occasional talk show, as long as they keep it brief, which they generally do. Frankly, as much as I'm not a fan of Miz as a wrestler, I think they're using the right guy as a host. It's rather fitting that they're depicting him as a Hollywood star....and using him as one in his Miz TV schtick. Honestly, I like him best in the role when portraying a good guy; I was pleased the company finally got around to having him as a face.....and was disappointed when they abandoned it. I see no reason a talk show emcee has to be a heel (see Chris Jericho); a wise guy can do the job just as well.....and few can "out wise guy" Miz. Even so, when he gets down to interviewing his guest, he's able to keep the focus off himself and concentrate on his subject, which is what a good host has to do. After all, he only has to keep the dialogue going for a short time before people start hitting each other, right?

Who else might be an interesting host? My pick would be Bad News Barrett, as the pronouncements he was issuing from an elevated podium made for some pretty effective theater. If he could avoid making the talk segments about himself and concentrate on shifting the focus to his subject, I believe he'd be good at it.

 

[LBGetBack]

I could see Ambrose doing a good job at some point in his career, either heel or face. He is a good talker, and the element of unpredictability on a talk show is a good thing.