Conrad Thompson Discusses Staying Neutral Between AEW And WWE, Says No Plan For Starrcast IV

There may be no man in the pro wrestling industry with more connections than Conrad Thompson. He has ties throughout AEW and WWE and has worked with various people from both sides.

So how does someone like him stay neutral? Well, Thompson answered that very question on a recent conference call.

"Well I'm just a fan. I know that sounds silly but I'm really only doing one thing outside of podcasting and that's the convention. This is the last one I have scheduled and I'm on good terms with both sides. I'm good friends with Bruce Prichard and Eric Bischoff and my sister-in-law [Charlotte Flair] works [in WWE]. I have a lot of friends in WWE and that's also the case with AEW," Thompson said before adding that he has no interest in working with any wrestling promotion and likes where he currently is at.

"I knew when I was doing Vegas [Starrcast II] that I was gonna do Chicago [Starrcast III]?but after this it's just sticking to podcast for a while. Right now I have two guys on the AEW side and two guys on the WWE side and then Arn Anderson. So me and Arn Anderson are kinda Switzerland now."

Thompson says he has no plans for a Starrcast IV but he was asked if there is anything unique he's holding back in the event that it does happen.

"Well a lot of it comes down to what we can program differently. I'm trying to make sure every show has different stage shows," said Thompson. "We don't have a 'Something to Wrestle' here. We don't have an 83 Weeks. We don't have a 'What Happened When.' We don't have a Sting panel.

"I'm trying to do something different and keep the fans who don't travel in mind. That way they can have a different flavor. That could be challenging and eventually we may have repeats."

He added that he hasn't done a big ECW panel discussion and that's something he'd like to do in addition to the big event that was planned for Starrcast II but didn't happen.

"If and when there is a IV, I'd like to do something with Ric [Flair]," Thompson said of his father-in-law. "I don't know what else we would try to do differently?We're doing more photo-ops this time and I'm excited about that. There are a few things we've made improvements on for III, so I don't know how much different IV would be unless we had different programming on stage."

Thompson is the current wrestling podcast king but he will have some competition shortly. WWE just announced that they will be launching their own podcast network and Thompson was asked if he feels WWE is trying to put him out of business.

"No, absolutely not. I don't think that at all. If anything WWE should have been in the podcast game years ago. Maybe the success of my show and others has proven to them that this is something that needs to happen and I'm excited that it has. I hope they do well with it," stated Thompson who then addressed if he's had any discussion about joining their podcast network.

"I don't know anything about their network. I haven't had a conversation with anyone about it. Most of my shows are with Westwood One and all of my shows moving forward will be with them.

"Like a lot of wrestling promotions, I'm gonna focus more on what I'm doing more than anything else."

There have been some big changes since the last Starrcast with chief of those being AEW's TV deal with TNT. Wrestling Inc's Nick Hausman asked Thompson if TNT would have any presence at Starrcast III.

"TNT will indeed have a presence at Starrcast III," stated Thompson. "I don't know what all they plan on doing other than that they will be involved and have some displays and staff there. If they need permission to film, it is granted and if they're listening now, 'Hey y'all. You're welcome to.'

"But I anticipate this will be another way to get the word out there about their new TV show and I wanna be a good partner to those folks. I would suspect they would have quite a big presence there. So, I look forward to working with some of them next week."

Fans who can't make it to The Windy City can access more than 20 hours of STARRCAST III content live and on-demand through digital live streaming network FITE.TV and the FITE mobile app for only $39.99.