Bix

I think you're forgetting about the biggest con here; Gabe Sapolsky conning Cary Silken into losing tons of money so he could fulfill his dream of promoting a show in Japan. The amazing thing is, he probably originally sold Cary on the idea that it wouldn't lose that much money, because they could sell DVD's based on Samoa Joe wrestling Tenryu, Sasaki, or whatever other big names they could book for this. Yet even after Joe pulled out and the best main event they could muster was Morishima/Nigel (which he ran in Edison, NJ already) and the KENTA/CIMA dream team (which ended up not happening when KENTA hurt his knee), Cary didn't immediately pull the plug. There is almost nothing special about these shows that anybody outside of the ROH base would want to see, and Cary still went ahead and ran the shows at a major loss anyway, just so Gabe could claim he promoted a show in Japan. You have to give Gabe credit for that con, especially since I doubt he lost a dime on this.The thing is, this assumes that Gabe is smart enough to realize the shows were a ridiculously terrible idea. I don't see any reason to believe he thinks it was a bad idea. I agree. I don't like how you imply that Lawler isn't a professional conman. Torch coverage of the initial fallout from the lawsuit filing. Opinion issued on an appeal on 10/11/05 w/ background (PDF).

Vince McMahon cons Vince McMahon into thinking that Ted Turner is out to get him: The WWF on TBS fails horribly, so he constructs this elaborate lie about the ratings being incredible, Turner wanting to buy the company, etc., and it all snowballs horribly from there. Vince was sure that (in spite of the fact that Hogan was lying), the wrestlers in the media contradicting Hogan after the infamous appearance on Arsenio Hall were being paid by Ted Turner to LIE. He was afraid that Dave Meltzer wasn't brave enough to tell THE TRUTH when it would eventually come out. Later on, during the Monday Night Wars, Vince pretended to have no idea who Eric Bischoff was, publicly going after Ted Turner as much as possible. Now, during the Benoit fallout, a coached WWE talking point is that not only did all of the drug problems start in WCW, they started in "Ted Turner's WCW."

I was thinking about the ROH shows in Japan (more on those in a minute) and I thought this might be a fun thread. Feel free to add your own in addition to commenting on mine... Paul Heyman/ECW cons everyone about everything: Heyman cons the wrestlers into working for free for extended periods of time. Heyman cons Chris Candido into charging $100,000+ in plane tickets onto his personal credit cards. Heyman cons Vince McMahon into funding him. Heyman cons Vince McMahon into being so deathly afraid of him going anywhere else that he'll never be fired. Heyman cons the fans into believing that ECW is something sacred not to be sullied/violated/whatever by The Big Show or the Boogeyman. Heyman cons Vince McMahon into bringing back ECW as part of the invasion. Heyman cons Vince McMahon into bringing back ECW as the third brand. Heyman cons the fans into believing that the Eliminators and Public Enemy were the best teams in the world at various points. Heyman cons the fans into buying tickets for shows that he knew would never take place. You can go on and on... The Jarretts/TNA con Panda Energy: I'm not sure if the initial buyout would necessarily be that great a con, because there have been plenty of money marks over the years. The real brilliance of this con is how the Jarretts constantly held off death when the company deserved it, using something as simple as a new booker to buy time. The fact that Dixie Carter is an easy mark certainly helps things. I'm sad that the potential Jarrett/Panda split that was discussed never happened, as the Jarretts RUNNING OPPOSITION! to TNA in a battle to determine the #2 promotion by default would've been hilarious. The nation of Japan and geek popular culture con Ring Of Honor: If you've been around die-hard wrestling, comic book, animation, video game, pornography, toy, or movie fans over the years, you've probably felt some of the allure of Japan. Via a weird fetishization of the ENTIRE COUNTRY, it's considered this magical land full of five star matches, subservient women who want our big American penises, the most innovative video games, violent art films, and robot dogs. It's a mindset that has reverberated through the geekier aspects of popular culture for the last 15 years or so, getting worse and worse over time. Somehow this concept of Japan conned professional con men. I'm not quite sure how, but it happened. Thus, ROH spent massive amounts of money to run what were basically normal ROH shows in Japan, just because they are huge marks for the concept of Japan. These shows featured nobody of any consequence that hasn't been to ROH before. Not enough Americans were in attendance to generate a buzz based off their live reports of the show. It cost a huge amount of money to put on. Plus, in falling victim to this con, they were unable to con their usual marks effectively. A fan or two flew to Japan specifically for these shows. If you have a fan dedicated enough to spend thousands of dollars on your company, shouldn't you try to con him on to giving the money TO YOUR COMPANY instead of an airline? How do you run a wrestling promotion and get conned so hideously while also failing to properly con your marks?

?!? That's actually a mild shock. Maybe enlarged hearts are a HGH thing and not an anabolic steroid thing. It's believed he was taking HGH, though.

http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/h...t.asp?aID=20243

Per Meltzer on today's F4D, Benoit's heart was normal. Weird.

You say that like you actually weren't expecting us to be conspiring. Seriously, I would expect him to be aware of Jew Telepathy.

MVP is black, it's different.

Jushin Liger's outfit distracts me while he's wrestling, bringing the quality of his matches down.

It looks ridiculous. And?

This exists, but I don't know if anyone besides Seabs has it.

Remember, he's never done "anabolics."

Gotta drag this over: Awesome I want to hear Jim Ross explain how he didn't rub dirt in the Toffoloni's couch.

Ooh. Any specific recommendations?

Having not seen any ROH since he returned, has Danielson dropped the "LOL IM A HEEL!" schtick?

Why is the WWE crew so awful at that low camera shot of Viscera/Khali/etc's entrance? It doesn't make them look taller, it makes it look like they're trying to make them look taller.

I'm 5'8.5" and once talked to him in the lobby after a show, 5'7" is ridiculous, probably in the middle of the other estimates and something like 5'4" or 5'5".

Sydal also has a better physique than London, and, well, it's WWE.

Austin was also in WCW for 4 years. HE DID HIS DAMAGE THERE!

Rotten is a relative (I think) of Sid who's been around for awhile and would appear with him in Memphis. Rotten needs to turn on him and team up with Jah Wobble eventually.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file...t_findings.html

http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/h...t.asp?aID=20208

In fairness to Wade... Of course, the Torch site disseminates spyware, I believe, so that could artificially inflate his Alexa stats.

And it's pretty obvious that this absolutely infuriates Wade.

Worldwide grosses: See No Evil: $17,200,310 The Marine: $21,363,666 The Condemned: $7,503,611