NintendoLogic

Looking at WWE's SEC filings, here's its revenue from rights fees for every year since 2000. 2000: 12.2 million 2001: 35.2 2002: 53.3 2003: 58.5 2004: 71.1 2005: 78.0 2006: 81.5 2007: 92.4 2008: 100.7 2009: 111.9 2010: 127.0 2011: 131.5 2012: 139.5 Here's WWE's operating income from the same period. 2000: 84.7 million 2001: 87.2 2002: 44.7 2003: 26.6 2004: 73.6 2005: 50.3 2006: 70.5 2007: 68.4 2008: 70.3 2009: 77.1 2010: 82.3 2011: 37.0 2012: 43.2 For the 2006 transition period (WWE's fiscal year began on May 1 until 2007), the numbers are 58.7 and 39.2, respectively. As you can see, rights fees have been a big part of WWE's bottom line for a while now, but the gap has been especially wide the past few years. Good on them for finding new ways to stay profitable, but that's an awful lot of eggs in the rights basket.

The rights fees explosion is the main thing keeping WWE profitable, so if the bubble ever bursts, they're screwed.

I love that HITC with Ryback. He's an absolute killing machine beast who only lost because it was a two on one what with Brad Maddox and the fast count. In no way did Ryback look bad in that. If anything it made Punk look like a pussy. Who gives a shit about the pinfall?

Who knew the Dead Kennedys were such wrestling fans? Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables A compilation of matches that inspired fans to throw garbage in the ring. In God We Trust, Inc. The best of The Brother Love Show. Plastic Surgery Disasters A Chyna career retrospective. Frankenchrist A collection of Shawn Michaels kip-up comebacks. Bedtime for Democracy Covering Linda's Senate campaigns.

So according to TMZ, George Clooney and Stacy Keibler are donezo. What are the chances she hops back on the WWE gravy train?

I think Vader/Shamrock is absolutely necessary. Not only is it probably Vader's best WWF match, it has the novelty value of being a quasi-UWFi match in a WWF ring.

Hey, it's no skin off my nose either way. I think JIP would be fine, but I need to rewatch the match to say what I think the cutoff point should be. I was just putting that out there. Anyway, this is the set I've been looking forward to the most. 1997 is probably my favorite year overall.

On the Bret/Taker front, Summerslam outdrew Wrestlemania that year, and that was the justification for including Hogan/Earthquake on the 1990 yearbook.

Just out of curiosity, is anything other than the ten-man going to be included from Canadian Stampede?

Forget middle-aged wrestlers. How about a wrestler from the Middle Ages?

I'm not really sure what exactly is ballet-like about a short-arm lariat.

The most hilarious description I've seen of Goto/Shibata is Scott Keith saying it was like Brock/Cena but better. That match sucked, but Okada/Tanahashi from Invasion Attack is still my MOTY.

I'm not saying that never happens, but Rey does actively set his opponent up the majority of the time. In any event, the 619 and Flair getting thrown off the top are both terrible.

Rey's opponents don't maneuver themselves onto the rope, Rey puts them there. Honestly, the biggest problem with the 619 is that the guy lays prone long enough for Rey to run the length of the ring and back. I just can't buy Rey's offense leaving someone incapacitated for that long.

While thinking recently about how many wrestling styles there really are, it occurred to me that a lot of styles are rather fluid and tend to blend together. From there, I took some inspiration from goodhelmet's match suggestion thread and thought about coming up with a list of a handful (as in no more than 10) of matches that cover as broad a spectrum of styles as possible. Note that this isn't a best-of list, it's more of a sampler pack. I keep going back and forth with matches, but here's my current tentative list. Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind, In Your House: Mind Games I think this match best represents WWE Main Event style because it would have worked in just about any era. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, COTC 6 The most celebrated NWA-style title match. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi, 10/21/97 A match that showcases both what King's Road once was and what it would end up becoming. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda, 4/24/05 A good jumping-off point for shoot/quasi-shoot style. Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express, WrestleWar The quintessential Southern tag. Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase, 3/22/85 This one checks off a lot of boxes. You get a cage match, a gimmick match, and a bloody brawl. CMLL minis trios, 10/3/97 Is there a better workrate trios match? Works as an introduction to lucha and junior-style wrestling in general. Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima, Final Battle Another match that works on several levels. It's David vs. Goliath, workrate indy, and garbage indy all in one. You may not agree with my selections, but they should give you an idea of what I'm looking for. Any other suggestions?

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Doing a headscissors or drop toehold to drape someone over the middle rope isn't really that impressive.

Am I the only one who saw the thread title and thought of a backdrop suplex rather than a back body drop?

I wonder if Samoa Joe is one of the guys getting stiffed on pay.

I think Cornette's biggest problem is that he has that old-school carny mentality that wrestling was successful in the past because fans thought it was real. You'd think he'd know better having grown up watching all the silliness in Memphis.

Don't forget Wild Bill Longson in St. Louis. On the whole, though, it's pretty rare for reasons that should be obvious. Wasn't Bruiser a babyface in his Indianapolis promotion?

My top 5, in roughly the following order: Holy Demon Army Misawa/Kobashi Arn/Tully Rockers Hart Foundation

When people are unhappy with their working conditions, they just find a new job. No one ever complains about it. Add labor relations to the list of subjects Bryan knows jack shit about.

Hazing is ritualized abuse or humiliation done as an initiation rite. I believe the closest equivalent in British English is fagging.

Miz probably didn't go through anything like being stretched by Stu Hart or Jack Brisco, but he did experience plenty of hazing when he first entered the business. Besides, there's always been a place in wrestling for guys who look good and can talk. But as was mentioned in the fall from grace thread, he probably would have worked better as a manager.