He's wrong. It did not explode. You see any glass shrapnel on the ground? Nope. It imploded and the built in mesh prevented it from exploding. Now if that had been a CRT from the 1950's there would have been glass everywhere.
No, it did not. it was not an intact tube. If it was, there would have been a flash as the heater opened, nothing more. If it were merely de-nippled and full of air, nothing but a little puff of smoke from the center of the connector would happen. There had to have been some form of accelerant... WD-40 shot down through the nipple, I'd wager, now that I have a chance to think of it... for it to do that.
How do I know? I nuked literally hundreds of CRTs in the dump with everything from RC battery packs on the heater to BB guns to firecrackers on the end of the neck (VERY satisfying) and gasoline poured on and lit from a distance. I deliberately tried burning the heater on several after de-nippling, hoping some of the magic fairy dust would catch fire if I added oxygen. NOTHING.
mnem
Been dere, dunnat, burnt da shirt. While I was wearing it.