NintendoLogic

I would argue that the modern puro strike exchange can be traced back to Frye/Takayama in Pride.

Shea Stadium actually was in NYC-Queens, to be exact. None of the WWF's cards at Shea came close to selling out, so they probably saw no reason to try to run a larger stadium. As for today, it probably just comes down to capacity. MetLife holds about 30,000 more spectators than Yankee Stadium, which means significantly more revenue both at the gate and in merchandise sales.

I was struck by Stossel talking about a survey that indicated a third of the fans who attended wrestling events thought it was real. I doubt the actual percentage was anywhere near that high, but it was still a non-negligible number. If you think about it, maintaining kayfabe is tantamount to consumer fraud. If the only way wrestling can survive is by defrauding the public, then it deserves to die.

You can see here that Dr. D blew the lid off Sgt. Slaughter faking his military service decades ago.

I can't even say that they still know how to get monster heels over. Look at how they booked Lars Sullivan. Anyway, just when you thought this company couldn't get any more tone-deaf, this is the actual tagline for Money in the Bank.

The Fiend seems to ruin everyone he feuds with. Rollins and Miz both had to turn heel after their programs with him, and Daniel Bryan ended up plummeting into the midcard. Bray Wyatt is a creative guy, but it's not the kind of creativity that leads to good matches or angles.

Doesn't Owens live in Canada? He might not be able to make it into the US for tapings.

AAA made better use of Cain Velasquez than WWE. Think about that for a second.

It seems like they brought Cain in just so Brock could get his win back from their UFC fight. Maybe he's a bigger mark than we all thought.

I've only really seen Cassidy in AEW, but I don't see anything to complain about how he's been presented there. Nobody in AEW sells his weak/lazy offense, so he has to actually try to inflict any damage. It might be different on the indies.

I'd just like to point out that Misawa getting booed was far from unheard of. All Japan crowds tended to boo tactics rather than wrestlers (other than Taue, who seemingly got booed for merely existing in the early 90s), so even Misawa and Kobashi would get booed when they performed illegal double-teams and broke up pins and submissions.

I think a big part of it is the frequent disparity in quality between Raw and Smackdown, which makes it difficult for people to wrap their heads around the idea that the same guy is responsible for both. I have trouble making sense of it myself. But I think the pendulum has shifted over the past year. I've seen plenty of chatter about how crazy and out of touch Vince is handcuffing the genius Paul Heyman and forcing him to book embarrassing cuckolding storylines. In fact, I'd say Heyman is the guy most consistently inexplicably shielded from criticism.

If the South Park episode is any indication, the wrestling fans as rednecks stereotype still holds plenty of currency.

Given the story of him calling WWE to make sure Vince was OK after the exploding limo angle, it's entirely possible he believes HHH's title wins were shoots.

If French Wikipedia is to be believed, the French equivalents of babyface and heel are beau and toc, respectively.

For the past few years, HHH's role has been to play good cop to Vince's bad cop. Imagine how difficult that role must be these days. That kind of stress would take its toll on anybody.

In other news: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29078406/source-patriots-trade-rob-gronkowski-buccaneers-4th-round-pick If I'm Mojo Rawley, I'm updating my resume right now. Also, Gronk is the current 24/7 champion, so it'll be interesting to see how they get the belt off him.

Wouldn't it be something if "John" turned out to be Seth Rollins? That'd be the ultimate swerve.

Now Oliver Luck is suing Vince McMahon. Luck wasn't listed as one of the creditors in the XFL's bankruptcy filing, so people figured that either he had already been paid in full or his contract contained an opt-out clause that allowed Vince to pay him a prorated portion of his deal in case the league folded. As it turns out, Vince terminated him for cause right before folding the league, and now he's suing for wrongful termination. Luck was the guy Vince picked to signal to the world that the new XFL was going to be a legitimate sports enterprise and not a carnival sideshow, so this has to be the end of whatever remained of Vince's reputation in the legitimate business world.

On a lighter note, Killer Kross has received his new WWE name. https://shop.wwe.com/karrion-kross-xii-authentic-t-shirt/398C07655A.html?dwvar_398C07655A_color=black At least they had the good sense to not name him Killer Karrion Kross.

RIP to the GOAT.

Jimmy pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding the complicity of the wrestlers in all this. The networks have Vince by the balls, so they would have all the leverage in the world if they banded together. If they can't bring themselves to exploit it, that's on them. Drake Maverick talking about how thankful he was to be able to participate in the interim cruiserweight title tournament after they canned his ass was pathetic. If he had an ounce of self-respect, he would have told WWE to fuck off and went straight home (or whatever passes for home for him these days). Vince treats the wrestlers like well-paid chattel because he knows they'll take it.

Firing undercard talent en masse to maintain profit margins for Wall Street in the middle of a pandemic that has shut down every other form of sport and entertainment is in the top handful of scummiest things Vince has ever done, and think of the ground that covers. The only way I can imagine myself caring about anything this company does going forward is if the wrestlers finally get a clue and unionize.

To me, a sport should contain either direct competition or an objective scoring system. Boxing and MMA contain the former but not the latter. Golf and most track and field events contain the latter but not the former. Gymnastics and figure skating contain neither, so they're not sports in my book.

Cornette should know that lesson better than anybody considering how many of his towns the Gangstas killed in SMW. Also, Dave pointed out on Twitter that many of the things done in the Carolinas as late as the early nineties wouldn't have been allowed in northern California even in the late sixties.