Hey Gang,
Just figured I'd chime in. I'm very honored and flattered by what Gregg said. It means a lot to bring him back into the fold of those rooting for, rather than against, Wally. I really am happy how well it went with a lot of positive energy, the opposite of what often took place on Twitter, for whatever reason. Wally would like to not necessarily think of this as a "comeback", of sorts, as he was never truly gone, except from the radio, along with the others, during the ban.
Wally didn't have much of a venue to get out there, during that time, except Twitter, which doesn't allow the voice to be heard, as well as the tone and intent of his words. Basically, his style and sense of humor doesn't come across as well on there. He's since tried to cut back to just making jokes or commentary on things that would be hard to come off as especially offensive. When he's involved in any future endeavors, such as new online videos, he'll also use it to advertise that. It was an experiment to make himself more available to the fans and others, but it went a little haywire.
All the same, he and I both feel the whole notion of a "feltdown" was blown way out of proportion, too. That call was meant as Wally sort of "cutting his own promo", to keep the wrestling metaphor going, in response to Greggulator's specifically calling him out amongst the whole ban situation. It was meant to play up character drama and entertain the crowd, but as any caller knows, Tom is always the one in control of which direction a call goes. He switched it to trying to talk to Wally in a different way, suiting of his mentor status. In the end, it was all worthwhile, as it helped Wally and I refocus on what we're aiming for, backing off Twitter and refocusing. Nothing really crazy, and kind of touching when I relistened to it, with Tom only having the best intentions, as always.
As for the whole voice thing, I think that's getting tired. Wally and I will take it from Tom, but really, I don't think any time Wally was on the mic, someone would not know that it was him speaking. Let's move past it. Of course, everyone's entitled to their opinions and share them here, but me and Wally hope more and more, people will embrace him and his continued efforts to entertain, and continue to follow his exploits, whether tied directly to the show or not. Thanks for hearing me (and Wally, by proxy) out. Later days!
-Zach (Big Z)
