sek69

You know, it's not as if I think he's a guy who would have been world champion or anything, but watching Terry Taylor matches usually leaves me frustrated a little that the thing he's going to be remembered most for is the Red Rooster gimmick. Why did Vince go through the effort of signing him when he was somewhat of a name in the NWA just to give him a dead-end gimmick? Just another case of "embarrass the guy who was a star in a competing fed"? Flair vs Anyone at this point in time would have been decent at minimum, it was always nice to see Flair in there with someone who could hold their end of the bargain instead of the usual broomsticks.

The thing about Cena is that people look at pics of when he was the Prototype in OVW and see how he's obviously less jacked now and assume he's no longer using. Of course all that means is somewhere along the way someone taught him about moderation. Not to take joy in someone else's misfortune but it's absolutely fucking hilarious that pretty much everyone who's been vocal about there not being any roid use in today's wrestling has either been busted or had some roid-induced injury. It's like karma is working overtime making WWE is collective bitch.

Also HBK just heard the sound of a cash register ringing all the way in San Antonio.

Losing Cena for any significant time would probably result in WWE panicking and completing the rape of Smackdown that started at the last draft.

from WWE.com SpywareInsider is speculating a possible pectoral tear.

So I just watched the second PPV, and I thought it was a much better effort than the first. I never noticed it as much before, but between Prazak's opening promo and Austin Aries' promo, they really bring back kayfabe in ROH by pushing the aspect that what they do is a real sport. It sounds kind of silly to bring back kayfabe in 2007 but it's something different instead of trying to be a WWE clone and failing like a lot of other promotions end up doing *cough*TNA*cough*. The opening six-man reminded me of how WCW would have spotfests in the opening slot to get the crowd amped up for the show, and it worked well here too. Dave pretty much nailed it in his review in the WON by saying you wouldn't want a whole show like this but sometimes a spotfest is just what you need to set things off right. Actually showing clips of their Japan tour and showing Japanese fans chanting "ROH" came off a million times better than having the announcers practically beg for acceptance at the first PPV. It made it look like ROH isn't just bullshitting about being a company that goes around the world, which is a point that probably will be slept on by a lot of people who are already fans but might convince a few people who weren't sure about if this a company worth following or not. It should be noted that my wife, (who stopped watching wrestling when Rock left WWE and is pretty much the epitome of the fanbase they've lost since WCW died) was marking out during the Claudio-Sydal match to the point of asking "Why are these guys so much better than WWE? do they practice their wrestling more or something?". I think that's a pretty good sign for ROH, they took someone who had no clue who the fuck any of these people were at the start of the show and had her going "HOLY SHIT~!" at the ending sequence. It's an unscientific study to be sure, but its at least some evidence that this PPV adventure might end up working out. Larry Sweeney single handedly makes me care in every segment he's in, as I don't give a shit about anyone in his stable. He really is the closest thing this era has to Bobby Heenan in which he can take dudes that literally have nothing going for them and make you actually care. The title match was fine as a "teach the fans matches can be short" segment, but I'm really hoping they switch the belt soon. The longer Morishima has the belt, the more it's obvious he's just holding it so Gabe/ROHbots can wank it to Japanese dudes in person. I guess it's smart booking based on the fanbase, but they've pretty much telegraphed that no one is going to be able to stop the path of FAT GIRL RAGE besides Danielson, so now it's like just have them fight already instead of dicking around with #1 contender matches. Dragon-Nigel was pretty awesome, and except for the "charging rams" spot (which ended up looking 100x worse in retrospect after all the concussion stuff came out) it was a pretty solid match. Danielson leaning over the ropes with a bloody face should be ROH's version of the shot of Austin bleeding in the Sharpshooter. I do have one question, with all the (deserved) hate for the Canadian Destroyer gets for being convoluted, what's the deal with Cattle Mutilation? Best I can figure is it's the world's most intricate Full Nelson.

I'd imagine the Iron Sheik would be over like Hulk Hogan with the "EEE-RAN NUMBA VON!" routine.

The WWE produced DVD on the Triumph and Tragedy of WCCW was originally set to release 9/18, but a check on Amazon indicates it was pushed back to December. The offical WWE DVD page still lists the 9/18 date, and it's curiously the only non-PPV release without a clickable link to further info/matchlisting/purchase details. Granted, current events would make it awkward to release a WCCW documentary now, but it seems like this might end up on the back burner for the foreseeable future.

I would imagine CMLL would make him drop the mask if ever left the company. No way they'd let him take something they invested so much in and use it to make millions elsewhere. Also hasn't history shown that after the initial "OMG WWE is here for the first time ever/in years" shows, attendance usually goes down for international shows? The last European tour was pretty much a bust. I don't think there's a long term market for WWE style wrestling outside of the US and Canada.

Got mine.

Watching Hardcore Heaven made me realize that Lawler was doing the same gimmick in ECW that Andy Kaufman did in Memphis, just substituting "WWF" for "Hollywood". The promo he cut before the match with Dreamer was almost an exact copy of one of Andy's except he name dropped WWF stars instead of movie stars. I was waiting for him to bust out the "I'm from the WWF not from EEEEEEECCCCCCCCWWWWWWW (in exaggerated southern retard voice)" line

I have to admit, any time I think Vince's balls can't get any bigger he raises the bar.

USA is about to launch its HD channel, sometime in the next month or two it should appear in your channel lineup. WWE has supposedly been testing HD for a while now, so you'd think they'd be ready to go at launch. Now would WWE launch RAW alone in HD, or wait to launch all their shows at once? The CW network is somewhat hamstrung when it comes to HD as a lot of their affiliates are smaller power stations that may not have the ability to go to HD in the near future. WWE's also not had any of their PPVs in HD either, something the UFC's been offering for a while now.

They'd mention he was a wrestler, and I think that he was once a tag champion, but it was usually framed in a "it was a long time ago" context.

The Florida episode currently running has a match from the David Von Erich heel run I heard so much about but never saw. It's so surreal as someone who grew up watching WCCW to see a Von Erich go rudo style.

The lineup for October: Kind of a blah offering, IMO. October seems to be a weak month since they always have to have "wacky" stuff in the Shorties which ends up sucking. Other than the WCCW, NWA, and MNW stuff everything else seems like a pass. I kind of wish they would ease up on all the 80s shows, since it ends up creating shit-tons of overlap when 3/4ths of the Hall of Fame matches are from shows they've aired already.

Reason I'm Going to Hell #70809: My supervisor's getting married this week (he's a big wrestling fan mind you), and on the card that was passed around I wrote "Best Wishes, and remember a Stone Cold Stunner is not the best way to settle a marital dispute".

Perhaps, but the NFL is very concerned about the effects of concussions after Steve Young and Troy Aikman, which makes last week's situation all the more frightening.

To prove how concussions are more ingrained in the macho mindset and not just a wrestling centric issue, Jon Kitna of the Detroit Lions had a concussion that knocked him out of last week's game, only to return in the 4th quarter to seal the win. Not only was he allowed to return to a game the same day he had a concussion, he was taking all sort of Foley-esque hits in the process that surely wasn't good for a recently mushed brain.

Are you sure you aren't confusing him with Phil Mushnick who always is bashing WWE over something? I don't recall Irv ever being anti-WWE other than actually telling the truth about stuff and not the WWE version.

Watching the latest Monday Night War, there's already been one uncensored mention of Chris Benoit along with Arn's promo about Kevin and Ben Sullivan with the punchline of "no one wants to bury their child, but it looks like your child buried you" being left intact. WWE lightening up on the editing, or just an oh-shit-we-missed-that-one moment?

I have to object, this rules and always has ruled because you never knew what he was going to say.

Would it be fair to assume Misawa probably cost Gabe a good bit of cash considering how he allegedly dislikes Americans? If so, nice to know his brains aren't scrambled to the point where he can't still fleece a money mark when he sees one.

A non-head injury related thought, HHH makes it a little more difficult to defend him against the internet crybabies when he single handedly beats down the top 2 tag teams on RAW.

Didn't Sasuke fracture his skull at one point too?