sek69

During the Monday Night Wars there was certainly a time both WWF and WCW would sign guys just to keep them from the other. You can also make the case that it was personal with the AWA since he poached guys clearly just to stick it to Verne for whatever reason, but the rest were just guys signed to build up for the national expansion. You have to remember they were running A, B, and C house show circuits then and needed bodies to fill them up.

Except they really haven't done anything to hurt ROH other than run a few NXT shows in buildings ROH usually runs. AJ really was only a special attraction type.

The money WWE had to part with to get them would mean they have to put them on the main roster. Also, Nakamura became chummy with JR when he did announcing for WK9 last year, wonder if that helped grease the wheels for him.

That would be amazing except that the company seems so stubborn they don't even want to give any credence to the fans maybe being right about Bryan at all (even in a heel run).

I can't tell if Loss really likes this topic or really hates it. Fritz exploiting his own sons makes it a level of scum higher than the usual "promoter exploits wrestler" routine to me. When you watch Mike post toxic shock trying to wrestle or give interviews it's really disturbing to know his own father is the one behind it. In fact Mike killed himself because he couldn't live up to being the next great Von Erich and I think that falls on Fritz. So to tl;dr it, nothing will out scum Fritz driving his own son to suicide to me.

I think Corino would win since I'm sure he's been to all the places the rest have and he was in ECW at the tail end as well.

Dave mentioned today that other than maybe a Kevin Owens style quick run to get acclimated to WWE style, AJ and Nak aren't going to be in NXT,.

Odd that they are apparently concerned that Finn Balor may not be able to take the punishment of a WWE schedule, yet they sign Nakamura who's 35 years old and has taken a beating the last few years.

Where did the concern about Balor not holding up under the physical toll come from? He doesn't have any injury history I'm aware of that would raise any red flags, is it just a case of WWE looking at him and thinking "well the last guy his size we gave a push to broke down, so he probably will too"?

I've already begun the process to redistribute funds so I can sign up for services like NWA Classics, and will continue to trawl the intertubes to find more channels that offer full years (or close to it) of territories I've either never seen or haven't for a while . Once I get done with my current 82-83 Mid South run I think 70s-80s Memphis will be next.

Dave once mentioned that since Vince has granddaughters who are right in the age range of Bayley's core fanbase , if Hunter shows him any video of those girls going nuts for her that could mean she'll succeed on the main roster.

I'm finding more of an appreciation for Mr. Wrestling II in these early years, I've previously only known him as the grumpy old man feuding with Magnum.

Getting back to the topic at hand (quickly).... I had never seen Iron Mike as anything but a jobber in the WWF, he was definitely in the upper level of jobberdom where he was given offense but I don't recall ever seeing him win a match. Speaking of jobbers, I know it's his real name but man did it seem wrong to see Arn as Mid South jobber Marty Lunde. I'm also convinced Arn was born with thinning hair and a beard, since it seems he looked the exact same from 1982 to at least the mid 2000s.

I figured since we have a neat pinned thread with all sorts of YouTube channels that have classic wrestling, it would be fun to have a thread where we can discuss what we find there. I've been watching 81-83 Mid South stuff here and it's been very entertaining so far. Some things stand out: Bill Watts loved him some "challenger turns because he lost out on a title match". First Paul Orndorff turned face on Bob Roop after Roop sabotaged his car causing him to miss a title shot, then Ted DiBiase turns heel after promising he'd leave the territory if he can't beat Bob Roop only for JYD to beat him for the belt before the match. Somehow Ted's stips still apply and he has to resort to KO'ing the Dog with the Loaded Glove of Doom to keep his job. Not complaining mind you, but it shows how you can recycle the same basic concept fairly quickly and not have it come off as a rehash. Boyd Pierce's suits. My God. Bill Watts kinda sucked as a commentator. He was good at establishing guys' backgrounds and angles but it was like he would get stuck on certain words/phrases and sidetrack himself. Having said that, it's clear JR looked at Watts's style and decided "do that, only be better at it". Surprised to see Iron Mike Sharpe get somewhat of a push, He wasn't too bad either. Between his size and his family history it's baffling he was a straight jobber in the WWF and didn't get at least a midcard push. I don't think I've seen someone go in one one guy like Watts did on JYD. I'm pretty sure at one point he was holding all the titles at the same time . Finally, I think they might give JCP a run for the money in the race for the jobberist jobbers I've ever seen.

By the way, has anyone suggested a connection between Rock announcing his involvement in WM just a few weeks after WWE suddenly figuring out how to book Roman correctly? Considering how he's always helping his family it doesn't seem ridiculous to think he may have suggested some things.

Having just re-watched the 96-98 Raws not to long ago, what made Rock a star was them turning him heel and letting him vent on the fans for the "Die Rocky Die" chants rather than what they would do now and continue to push him down everyone's throats as the Blue Chipper white meat babyface. For one, it allowed Rock to show his off-the-charts charisma fully and it also showed they were able to take a situation that wasn't working and turn it around to their advantage.

Considering he got injured the last two times he had a match and will be in the middle of filming a movie come WM time, the odds of Rock actually having a match seem to be pretty much zero.

USA Network is certainly the driving force behind their #1 issue right now: three hour Raws and how that puts up a huge entry barrier to attract new fans. Us hardcores are going to watch no matter what (even if we DVR it first and FF through the nonsense). No one just stumbling upon WWE for the first time is going to invest three hours a week in the A show and 2 more on Smackdown to be hooked into becoming a fan.

I don't think there necessarily has to be an obligation for older guys to job for the newcomers, but you can see on early 80s WWF house shows guys like Pedro Morales and Tony Garea putting guys over. It has to be something done organically, like a gradual descent down the card, rather than how WWE today brings in older guys to get one or two nostalgia pops then throws them to the wolves. Ironically it seems like the guy who's seemingly suited to do this now is John Cena, since his US Open Challenge matches let several guys shine who might not have gotten the chance otherwise.

Is he made of glass and somehow I'm not aware of this? You don't need to be made of glass to get hurt by someone slapping you in the head really hard several times. Especially someone who frequently posts their late night workouts on social media, so it's not like she's some weakling.

It's funny to see folks who are probably 10-15 years younger than us running around saying today's WWE is the lowest point in history. Some of the 1 hour Raws in the early days were more of a slog than the three hour ones today.

Even if it was designed to anger fans into wanting to see Bret take the belt back, I always wondered what Vince thought making Hogan champ in 1993. Considering both Vince's legal issues and Hogan seeing the writing on the wall he wasn't long for the company I don't see how either side thought this would work.

All I know is I hope Tom Phillips got a little extra in his paycheck since it looked like Steph legit slapped the piss out of him. Also not sure how smart it is for a company so paranoid about concussions to have one of the owners doing a gimmick where she slaps people in the head as hard as she can (she made Roman's eyes water last week).

I'm pretty sure at this point his treatments are sitting in a dark room with an ice bag on your head for 10 minutes.

Coke and roids not doing him any favors in his 70s. Ridiculous. I'm pretty sure he looks better and is healthier than the vast majority of 70 year old men in America. The guy was on the cover of Muscle and Fitness just this past March. Pretty sure Vince either had a facelift and/or botox recently which is giving his face a different look.