sek69

Man, even by Dave's standards that's a pretty tenuous analogy. WWE is still pro wrestling despite their attempts to be "sports entertainment", MMA is going to be MMA no matter what. Unless you're claiming that they're all worked (and I know there were worked groups in Japan, that's the only thread Dave can hang on to here) then for the millionth time pro wrestling =/= MMA no matter how bad Dave wants it to. To further his analogy, that's like saying if you started covering pro wrestling in the US in 1993 you have to include MMA because a lot of the early UFC guys went into wrestling at one point or another. I mean, yeah you can mention it in order to add depth and context to the wrestling scene of the 90s, but it's not like you would NEED to include it in any discussion.

The Cryme Tyme stuff at least has them outsmarting people or otherwise getting the upper hand, the Pretty Ricky stuff just made him look like a silly negro with Beetlejuice teeth.

Wow, that segment on Smackdown with R-Truth's new gimmick of "Pretty Ricky" is pretty much the most racist thing ever.

I never understood why they put the belt on Hansen of all people. Verne always seemed all about rewarding those who've been loyal, yet gave the title to the one guy with absolutely no ties to the company. It's not like they were duped either, Stan's always been very open that Baba was his main priority so there's no excuse.

Let's not forget the WWE tries very hard to appear non-partisan with things like Smackdown Your Vote, so Joey doing a AM talk show gimmick probably caused some worry that their cover would be blown.

Taker was mentioned earlier in the thread, and that made me remember how it went fairly unmentioned that he suddenly got cut as hell when he was in line to get a big title run. Suddenly every week he was taking the straps down like Jerry Lawler circa 1977 and looking like the most questionably buff 40-something since Barry Bonds.

That "offhand remark" was one of the hosts saying he'd beat his son with a shoe if he turned out to be transgendered as well as referring to said people as "idiots" and "freaks". Also that transgendered kids can be cured by either beatings or shock therapy. So yeah, sometimes advertiser pressure is what it takes to make people not act like mentally challenged inbreds. Just like in this case, WWE (even as conservative as the upper echelon tend to be) realized it's not good business to have an employee taking fringe talking point stands on a public forum with WWE's name all over it.

So don't you internet guys feel bad now? He's not a fatass, he was just slowly dying for YOU THE FANS until his innards spilled through his abdominal wall.

The more telling thing, regardless of how it ended up playing out, is that WWE thought referencing MJ would make anyone hip.

The thing about wrestling that makes it different is that the heels are supposed to provoke the crowd, so it's not surprising that sometimes that causes some people to try to run in the ring. My favorite two examples are the guy who tried to climb the cage in that Savage-DiBiase match and security (and Virgil) had to pull the guy off. I've been watching DiBiase matches on 24/7 and he gets amazing heel heat by just standing in the ring. I can see how the idea of him winning the title could drive someone who's already worked up to try to take matters into their own hands. The other example is when the nWo first formed after Hogan turned heel. That one fan made it in the ring and had to be subdued by (I think) Nash until security could take the guy away. That tended to happen a lot in WCW where fans would make it into the ring and either the wrestlers or the refs had to stop the guy until someone could get him. I'm surprised no one in WCW ever got hurt by a fan considering seemingly anyone could run into the ring for a good amount of time before anyone would stop them.

This tends to fly under the radar for the most part. They cut a bunch of guys they admittedly weren't using but don't pay a lot, then turn around and give all the executives fat raises. It's the age old business rule I guess, when there are expenses to cut always start with labor.

I know that's the normal reaction to a WWE injury (and more often than not I'd wager probably correct) but all accounts seem to have this just being a freak thing where he landed wrong and rolled his ankle, causing the tear. Not to mention Edge has been pretty lean in the Post-Wellness World so I wouldn't expect this to be enhancement related.

This was mentioned in the "Comments that don't deserve a thread" thread but I think it kind of does due to the potential ramifications. Edge was injured at a house show last night, possibly a torn Achilles tendon. WWE is looking at ways to get the tag belts on Rhodes and DiBiase, and this derails what looks like could have been a great heel combo with him and Jericho.

Most of TNA's big contracts are subsidized by Spike TV so I don't think they take that big of a hit financially. Biggest waste of money contract wise would be the 10 year deals the WWF gave to guys like Mark Henry and Big Show. Not in the smark "OMG FAT GUYZ SUX0R" way, but how there was never going to be an opportunity to make money off those deals.

Wasn't this originally supposed to be basically a Turner vs McMahon DVD and when Ted (not surprisingly) said no we ended up with this? I mean, if this set is covering Georgia Championship Wrestling it's hardly a WCW collection.

OK, that's odd. They have the show up right now where Rude and Fernandez won the belts and it is in fact the old style. What's up with that? They introduced the new belts weeks ago and now suddenly they switched back to the old ones. It's nice to know I'm not hallucinating my childhood recollections, but did they lose the new belts somewhere or what?

It must be one of those mis-mashed childhood memories, but I could have sworn that when Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez held the NWA tag titles the belts were still the late 70s-early 80s style. Watching the shows again on WWE 24/7 revealed that they already changed to the more familiar belt style during the Rock n Roll's run right before.

Also there was a particularly lol-some blurb in the WON about how most of the guys didn't like how Vickie was treated on her way out but weren't upset enough to risk saying something and/or getting fired over it.

I wonder if the top guy rumored to have failed a test was Kane. It seems like his recent vacation was just long enough to be a cover for a Wellness violation. I'd have to think one of the "top guys with exemptions" would have to be Batista. No way a guy his age can keep the physique he has in a post-Wellness world without some kind of get out of jail free card.

My first thought was that he looks like a hybrid of Nigel McGuiness and James Hetfield.

Obviously Bix hasn't met too many Irish people

Didn't Stacy claim at one point she got fired after her and Chyna had a falling out and Chyna went to management?

It's a sad commentary on WWE booking when giving someone some offense before decisively beating them is considered an improvement. What bothers me about it, is this could have been Cena's chance to do what the Rock was known for and give a up and coming guy the rub. No to say Miz should have went over clean in the middle of the ring, but WWE seems to have completely forgotten how to use their top stars to get guys over without having the top guy do a clean job or make the up and coming guy look like a bitch.

Gonna need the story on this. When the company wanted to hire Zach Gowen, apparently there were two one legged wrestlers in the indies at that time. Our boy John hired the wrong one at first. I'm sure that had to be an awkward conversation: "my bad, we were looking for the other one-leg guy".

Edge and Jericho have the potential to be great as guys with the asshole-meter pegged to the max, but it seems that instead we're getting yet another version of that Russo staple "tag team partners who don't like each other". Also (and I really didn't expect it to be any other way) I was disheartened by the complete jobbing of the Miz at the ppv. They had a chance to build up a guy so maybe one day they don't have to have the same 4 people in every main event, but I guess it was more important to punish a guy for getting himself more over than he was supposed to.