Loss

Lawler heels like crazy on Paul E. and ECW fans. I love it, although it's funny to watch a guy who spent so long headlining in Memphis harp on the issue of ECW being small time.

Dreamer is out for revenge!

Brian Christopher comes up with an on-the-fly explanation for Billy Joe Travis getting arrested. He explains that he got Travis arrested for vandalism of his truck a few weeks ago and they were thankful because he was late on his alimony and child support anyway. Michael St. John has a letter from ECW complaining about their treatment in Memphis, but it's too graphic to read on the air. Lawler is glad they're upset with him and invites the ECW guys to come back to Memphis anytime they want. We finally return to the big question: Is Brian Christopher Jerry Lawler's son? This sets Lawler off on a tangent about how wrestling was so much better when there was still mystery and everyone wasn't aiming to know everything. He goes on an undercover rant about kayfabe and he'd rather not answer the question. Brian laughs at him and simply says "It's a simple question". Lawler makes it a point that some things are personal and he'd rather people just know him inside the ring. Brian is about to answer it and Lawler tells him he can't answer it because Lawler said so. This is a riot. Lawler does not want this said! Must-see interview.

Dutch clarifies that he's not suspended from TV. He's just not wanted at TV because he upstages all the announcers. He explains the Memphis judicial system and promises he'll be back to tell it like it is very soon.

Billy Joe Travis is at the announce booth when Paul Diamond and Steven Dunn come out for an interview. Wow, Paul Diamond looks old. The police show up in a shoot -- completely unexpectedly -- and arrest Billy Joe Travis, I think for unpaid child support!! Give Luther Biggs huge credit for kayfabing this. Michael St. John and Stacy Carter don't really know how to respond. Legendary.

I absolutely love RINGS at this point. It's my favorite promotion. I really enjoy the near death experiences when Zouev almost wraps his legs around Tamura's neck and he escapes it by moving *just* a millisecond soon enough. It happens again when Zouev applies a nasty looking cross armbreaker and Tamura is saved by his timing. Tamura seems to have this guy figured out after a few minutes, then Zouev pulls out a surprise combo and wins the match! Didn't see that coming. Not one of the elite matches of the year, but a really good one.

This is a blast. The best ECW matches in 1997 tend to be the ones with the Southern guys working the crowd by using the oldest tricks in the book. So many fun heel miscommunication spots, which were really becoming a dying art by this point in time. Spike and Mikey weren't as good, but they were still good. Mikey did a good job working the apron and I liked the FIP stuff. JC's "Oh shit" when doing the high back body drop was great. He never left the gimmick even for a second. Great finishing sequence too!

Last few minutes. Bubba Ray's New Yawk screaming while they're doubleteaming Kronus is funny. The Dudleys regain the tag titles.

I love to see the technicos start off on fire for a change. I'm not sure I would have appreciated that as much without all three matches on here, so I'm grateful that OJ recommended them. Wagner goes all Jerry Lawler and gets upset and cuts a promo mid-match. I like how these June trios matches have progressed, where each match has been better than the one before it. This was fantastic and had a hot crowd and lots of wild, fast-paced action. But it was also set up really well and furthered all of the storylines with these guys. Just great stuff.

This is a work. It doesn't have to be 100% true to be used in the storyline. People just have to believe it.

Shawn will be a total babyface. He'll talk about how all the stuff Vince says about DB was said about him at one point and it took him years to make it to the top. I'd be shocked if that wasn't the direction they took with his involvement.

Be patient, stick with them and this eventually builds into a great match. This felt really below par and second rate for a large chunk of time but when the fruits of their labor started paying off in the third fall, I appreciated the whole match and how they got there a lot more. This is definitely a match that gets way better the longer it goes. The LCO are an outstanding heel duo and give a performance for the ages. I'm not really a fan of Watanabe in this, but Maekawa shows a lot of potential. She isn't a great wrestler yet, but she's clearly going to be eventually. Ready for the next chapter in this feud, even though I wish someone other than Watanabe was on the babyface side of it. Hopefully, she becomes a little more charismatic as time goes on.

I think there is this irrational mindset among Attitude Era fans that John Cena is the reason wrestling sucks now, and maybe even that he's the reason the boom years ended. Like, if he left, suddenly we'd have a return to the glory days of Steve Austin and The Rock. I think deep down, that's the source of most of the heat he gets.

I think JJ Dillon just let the wrestlers think they were in charge, but he was clearly the guy running the show. He was a great manager and was able to balance four giant egos successfully. None of the shit the Horsemen went through in the 90s would have dared happen on his watch. He ran a tight ship. If that meant turning the Andersons on each other or dumping the guy considered the future of wrestling at that point in time, so be it. No one was blocking the machine. Even at his weakest managerial point when the Horsemen were operating at half strength, he controlled the top two singles titles. Of course, a Japanese organization eventually made him an offer he couldn't refuse and he stepped aside, but that's common in business. He parted ways with Flair and Windham on good terms. Sadly, the Yamazaki Corporation ran the Horsemen into the ground and it was never the same.

For what it's worth, it's been reported for weeks that a major angle has been planned for Summerslam that would carry them all the way to Wrestlemania.

How does Crush fit into that?

Maybe we should also finally resolve once and for all if wrestlers have any influence in who the challengers are for their titles. I'd also like to see a method for how number one contenders are determined. I suspect funny business.

I assumed it was that the Wrestler had signed a contract agreeing to have their business interests managed by a certain entity, i.e. "Mr. Fuji Incorporated". In exchange for some of the purse, the manager agrees to protect that wrestler's general interests (including, but not limited to, transportion & lodging needs, match promotion, promotional materials including interview supplementation, "external bias nullification" - i.e. ensuring opponents will not try to use underhanded tactics to secure victories and general publicity). However, that manager could then sell their controlling interests in that entity to another manager organization, and hence " Mr. Fuji Incorporated" was now controlled by Sensational Sherri. After giving this some thought, I'm not sure it's accurate. If a manager works for a wrestler, how can a manager fire a wrestler? We have seen this happen many times.

I know Hogan vs Vince didn't have any stipulations, but come on ... knocking a guy unconscious and signing the name in blood would surely qualify as signing under duress, right? There were enough witnesses to the signing to corroborate that.

I have some friends who are on an adoption waiting list that I recently loaned a ladder so they could do some high ceiling painting in their living room. I was planning on asking for the ladder back this weekend, but I'm wondering if I should just wait so they're prepared for that quick phone call. Although maybe the state is responsible for providing the ladder in cases like this. I'm not sure.

Bobby Heenan had to have violated FCPA regulations when he convinced Sonny Onoo that he owned WCW in 1995, by the way.

The Paul Jones Army was more of a militia, wasn't it? I think DiBiase broke the law, but you know he probably had several high-priced lawyers that would make sure he never served time. Perhaps he was being investigated for this very issue when he entered the corrupt relationship with the IRS a few years later.

If anyone makes a kayfabed resume for any manager, you win the Internet. Jim Cornette seems like the best manager on the surface. He was well-financed, had a family-owned and operated enterprise, preferred to have one client, specialized specifically in tag teams and was fiercely loyal and involved in day-to-day operations. He was willing to fight for his clients and against the bigwigs. Yes, he had a big mouth and sometimes his clients ended up in hot water as a result, but they had more success than failure. His only separate venture was doing color commentary and briefly having his own talk show, but by and large, his clients came first.

I would be surprised if DiBiase's high-priced lawyers didn't make sure this transaction was performed in Mississippi.

He probably also has grounds to sue Brock Lesnar, since Brock cost him the match.