The Blue Meanie Calls WWE NXT “The Superior Brand” To AEW
ECW original and host of Mind of the Meanie, The Blue Meanie, was on today's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman and Meanie discussed the Wednesday Night War, and while giving his thoughts on NXT Superstar Cameron Grimes, Meanie made a bold claim.
"He's so entertaining just doing the stock market gimmick," Meanie expressed. "He's entertaining. He's a hell of an athlete. He was trained by some good people and coached along by Shane Helms. I know they had a relationship. He's super entertaining. To me, NXT's the superior brand right now."
NXT will now be moving to Tuesday nights and will air weekly there on the USA Network. Meanie gave his thoughts on the move and whether this is a win or loss for NXT.
"Well, here's the thing, Wednesday night was originally NXT's night anyway. I don't know why people got mad at NXT for going to two hours," Meanie said. "I've always been accustomed, since I got the WWE Network, to watch NXT on Wednesday nights. I don't know how they were painted as the bad guy here.
"It was their night, but then again, moving to Tuesdays is a win for the fans because you're not really forcing anybody to choose, so to speak. When the fans are forced to choose, somebody's got to lose, and the whole thing with the ratings is laughable now that we live in the age of streaming, and DVR and all that good stuff. Ratings really don't mean anything. I could watch AEW live and then the next night watch NXT commercial-free on The Network.
"So that was a win for me because there's no commercials. Moving to Tuesdays, there's really no losers, and it's really not a defeat and it's not really a win because in today's TV world, ratings are meaningless. I can watch it live now, or I can tape it and watch it later. There's different ways you can watch wrestling now or digest it. It isn't what it was back in the day. Wrestling today is not appointment television like it used to be."
Meanie gave his perspective on the idea that WWE may not have the creative energy to compete with an AEW at the moment.
"Now would be the perfect time to take your time, especially with no crowd there," Meanie noted. "'Okay guys, everything we had planned, we're just going to stretch it out like taffy. Right now, this would be the perfect era to let things breathe, stretch things out. I don't know why — I was in the Attitude Era, and a lot of things were hot shotted back then.
"How long did Rock – Austin last? They went over the course of a couple WrestleManias. Austin vs. McMahon, that lasted over a course of a couple of WrestleManias. They hot shotted a couple of things here and there. I re-watched WrestleMania 15. In one segment, Vince McMahon's the heel against Steve Austin, and next segment, he's a babyface against The Undertaker when Undertaker's burning the doll and stuff like that.
"It's like, 'ohh, they were really all over the place,' but whatever, it was magical, and it had fans. And that's why I kind of hate when they say right now, we're in the middle of 'The Wednesday Night Wars.' It's not really a war when you're fighting over decimal points, really. Back in the Monday Night Wars, it was full eights vs. nines. Now it's like, .05. It's like calculus."
Meanie also discussed how his own podcast, Mind of the Meanie, has helped him during the pandemic.
"I had so many bookings, and 2020 was going to be my year, and then the pandemic hit and then all that went away," Meanie said. "We were talking about doing this podcast before the pandemic, and we were hoping on promoting the podcast through going to shows and doing conventions, because I love doing conventions and getting the word out that way, but everything we've been doing is word of mouth, online, and then just straight up hustling and trying to pound the proverbial cyber payments.
"Can't really do much but the kicker is, our numbers are good, but I would like to see what our numbers would be if I was actually able to go out into the world and properly promote it at shows and conventions. It's kind of like running for mayor."
A new episode of Mind Of The Meanie is released every Friday and can be found on all major podcast platforms! You can find the full audio and video from Meanie's interview below: