NintendoLogic

By the way, Dave has explicitly said that the only side to contact him was Punk's side and the other side wouldn't talk. Of course, I don't expect that to change any minds since to some people, any reporting that portrays Punk as anything other than completely justified in every way is evidence of being in the tank for the Elite.

I think I blew out my knees just looking at this photo.

Was it really unintentional? This is how WWE has always done business. Any promotion that puts a belt on someone not under contract is asking for trouble. And it seems obvious that WWE's only interest in a business relationship with New Japan was as a carrot to get Danielson to re-sign.

In case you're looking for a new wrestling promotion to not support, the rebooted XPW features a MAGA stable with Necro Butcher and Jasmin St. Claire and Drake Younger promising to make wrestling great again.

Finally, some positive publicity. It looks like there's a new wrestling trend taking the sports world by storm.

The fact that UFC brought Punk in for a second fight even after his first one made it clear he was nowhere near a UFC-caliber fighter should tell you everything you need to know about his drawing power, especially in Chicago.

Here's how he's described in the Observer with the inaugural HOF class: "JIM CORNETTE - With the possible exception of Bobby Heenan, the greatest manager in the history of wrestling and among the top five interviews ever. Has also been influential behind the scenes running his own promotion."

Danielson may be a better worker than Punk (I think Punk is a superior in-ring storyteller, but that's neither here nor there), but there is no universe in which he is a bigger star. The Yes chants at sporting events were eight years ago, which is an eternity in pop culture terms.

Politics and wrestling are pretty much the only things worth discussing tbh

The thing is, the facts not in dispute are the ones that are the most damning for Punk. There's no need to speculate about whether he made the company's top homegrown star look like a chump by delivering an unscripted receipt because it happened on live TV. There's also no need to speculate about whether he disparaged the company's executives because it happened in a room full of reporters. And even the sources closest to Punk concede he threw the first punch in the backstage fight. With all due respect, this is a bunch of malarkey. There's no reason to think Danielson would have done that kind of business with a similar push. And on the off chance they manage to patch things up, Punk/Omega would do much bigger business than anything Danielson could ever dream of.

The QR code in the video leads to this: https://www.wwe.com/8552111333 And if you dial the number in the top right-hand corner, you get a recording of Wyatt whispering the lyrics to The Man Who Sold the World. Oh, boy.

I watched the Athena match on Dark that has people worked up. Talk about a tempest in a teapot. Nothing that took place in that match was outside the bounds of what happens in a normal AEW match. Say what you want about the dump to the outside spot, but Athena's been doing it at least since NXT. Bryan Alvarez said everyone who sent him clips of the match likened it to Perry Saturn vs. Mike Bell, which is a ludicrous comparison. For one thing, Saturn dumping Bell to the floor head-first was a million times more reckless than anything in the Dark match. Also, the backstories couldn't be more different. Saturn lost his cool and started beating the shit out a jobber legit because of a couple of blown spots. Athena delivered stiff but professional blows to her opponent to get the crowd into the match when they realized the jobber had the support of her hometown crowd.

Painting Punk as the wronged party here doesn't seem tenable based on the information that is publicly known and agreed upon. There may be situations where the person who throws the first punch in a confrontation (as is universally agreed Punk did) is the one in the right, but they're exceedingly rare. Even if the Elite were leaking false rumors about Punk and Cabana to the sheets (which, again, there is zero evidence they actually did), that's no justification for lashing out violently.

People voting for Ishii over Naito or Ibushi is even more baffling to me. That's more of an apples-to-apples comparison and they blow him out of the water in every objective category.

Ballots for this year have been issued. The big change for this year is a massive influx of tag teams on the ballot for the first time due to the rule against multiple inductions being dropped. As a result, voters this year will be able to vote for up to 18 candidates, of which a maximum of 8 can come from the historical category and 5 from the other categories. Discuss. The following candidates will be dropped from next year's ballot unless they are elected in or garner 50% of the vote: Sgt. Slaughter Enrique Torres Rocky Johnson I FOLLOWED THE HISTORICAL PERFORMERS ERA CANDIDATES Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura Ole Anderson Bob Armstrong Jack & Jerry Brisco June Byers Wild Bull Curry British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith) Cowboy Bob Ellis Pampero Firpo Black Gordman & Great Goliath Archie "Mongolian Stomper" Gouldie Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) Rocky Johnson Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty Sputnik Monroe Blackjack Mulligan Harley Race & Larry Hennig Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch Argentina Rocca & Miguel Perez Johnny Rougeau Kinji Shibuya & Masa Saito Tiger Jeet Singh Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood Enrique Torres Mad Dog & Butcher Vachon Von Brauners & Saul Weingeroff Mr.Wrestling I & II I FOLLOWED THE MODERN PERFORMERS IN U.S/CANADA CANDIDATES Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson w/J.J. Dillon Junkyard Dog Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee Edge Bill Goldberg Matt & Jeff Hardy Becky Lynch Kevin Nash & Scott Hall Paul Orndorff Randy Orton New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg) C.M. Punk Roman Reigns Sgt. Slaughter Trish Stratus Rick & Scott Steiner Kevin & Kerry & David Von Erich I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN JAPAN CANDIDATES Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi Cima Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan Yoshiaki Fujiwara Hayabusa Kota Ibushi Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi Tomohiro Ishii Naomichi Marufuji Tetsuya Naito Meiko Satomura Shingo Takagi Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN MEXICO CANDIDATES Angel Blanco & Dr.Wagner Sangre Chicana Los Hermanos Dinamita (Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000) Dorrell Dixon Pirata Morgan Mistico/Caristico El Hijo del Santo & Octagon La Parka AAA Huracan Ramirez Rito Romero Los Villanos I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN EUROPE/AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND/PACIFIC ISLANDS/AFRICA Sypros Arion L'Ange Blanc (Francisco Pino) Big Daddy Dominic DeNucci Billy Joyce George Kidd Killer Karl Kox Kendo Nagasaki Jackie Pallo Rollerball Mark Rocco The Royal Brothers (Bert Royal & Vic Faulkner) Johnny Saint Ricki Starr Adrian Street Jose Tarres Otto Wanz NON-WRESTLERS Lord James Blears Dave Brown Bobby Bruns Bob Caudle Bobby Davis Joe Higuchi Jim Johnston Larry Matysik James Melby Rossy Ogawa Reggie Parks Morris Sigel Tony Schiavone George Scott Sanshiro Takagi Mike Tenay Ted Turner Roy Welch Stanley Weston Grand Wizard

There should be an absolute prohibition on head drops and stiff blows aimed at the head. You can replace a knee or a hip, but you can't replace a brain.

Hogan also had creative control in TNA, which is why his tenure with the company hilariously ended with Dixie grabbing his leg and begging him to stay.

I honestly don't understand the hang-up over interim titles. Crowning an interim champion while the champ is out and having a unification match when the champ returns vs. vacating the title and crowning a new champion with the former champ getting a title shot as soon as they return is a distinction without a difference, especially in a worked sport.

HHH will miss Raw and NXT after testing positive for COVID. That's bad news for someone with a history of heart problems. PWInsider says Road Dogg will be running things tonight, so at least the show is in good hands.

If they wanted to differentiate it, they could have had JB jump Christian during his entrance and have the match declared a no contest due to Christian being unable to compete like Roman vs. Rusev at Summerslam. I'm not sure how to fit in the Luchasaurus turn, though. Maybe save it for Dynamite.

For sheer surreality, it's hard to beat Shawn Michaels as a special guest referee in FMW.

I'm not aware of any plans to bring in All Japan wrestlers to work Mania. I don't know how that would have even worked since Mania took place in the middle of the Champion Carnival. The WWF apparently wanted to bring in Kobashi in 1998 with a serious push, but that never came to fruition because All Japan needed him full-time. There were also discussions to bring in WWF wrestlers to work the 5/98 Dome show, but talks fell apart due to the two sides being far apart on money as well as Baba feeling insulted over Vince sending Gerald Brisco and Bruce Prichard over to negotiate rather than dealing with him directly.

In other news... There was also a conflict with the Chargers/Rams game on Peacock. Come to think of it, that's probably one of the main reasons for moving premium live events to Saturdays-to avoid going head-to-head with Sunday Night Football.

I heard a theory that Bray's promo was addressed to the Firefly Fun House characters and not the fans. That would seem more fitting.