blueminister

Regarding Shawn's "favored nations" clause: Bruce Prichard did seem to make a point on the Montreal podcast of not saying that Bret's 96 contract made him the highest-paid WWF wrestler. (Also he says that the Lloyd's of London letter never happened FWIW.)

make it a rule to limit yourselves to one show audio clip per week, the weird fascination with the nitro party and goldberg-liz skits didn't translate at all

Even by super-liberal standards (Jordan's a Canadian Jew so shot in the dark here lol) one would think making fun of clumsy cultural appropriators... would not be an issue.

Indeed. It doesn't matter one bit today in WWE though, thanks to the infamous Michael Cole "For the win/championship !" call, which has spread to NXT too BTW. In fairness to Cole, this isn't a novelty. "ANDHEGOTHIMNOHEDIDNT" was Vince's got-to move as an announcer. He even took it to hilarious lengths when he somberly began to eulogize Hulk Hogan's career mid-Earthquake splash.

Also don't confuse for my friendly digs for excessive bass in my voice as the KrisZ/Bix podcast axis is the best thing going today.

Well I'll be! I wanna buy that shirt.

What's the source for the "Murder Inc." name for Chono-Tenzan-Saito-sometimes Sabu? I've always thought they were Team Wolf. Known to some as the Bix effect. (he would like you to know that he is very aware of sexy and racist things about wrestlers)

Shawn didn't fire Sid, he just gave him the night off iirc. (Sid rebelled because he is all about earning his paycheck and working scheduled dates.)

Raw needs bigger ratings to offset their less desirable demographics, comparing Raw numbers favorably to Breaking Bad misses the point entirely.

Although as a strictly academic point I've been wondering how the creative control cause would apply to a contract that one party has openly declared its intention to break. Was Bret effectively working on a show-to-show basis? Ultimately the only fault I find with Bret is that he kept the program running instead of going into seclusion and getting lawyered up the minute Vince reneged. But then again we're back to the "wrestlers are whipped as hell" deal.

Any time you want insight into the whipped Dr. Seuss carny mentality of pro-wrestling listen to someone argue that Montreal was the right thing to do.

You certainly have strong feelings about stupid bullshit lately. "Cringe inducing hate speech?" Really?

So has Vince had a mini-stroke? Or is this just the first time I've noticed that he's no longer wearing his age well?

Fan? He's Doink the Clown's half-brother.

The NAO pre-DX as brutal smart-aleck chickenshits was a nice little run. Them failing to complete their ring entrance twice at that one In Your House because the Road Warriors kept bucking at them was great.

lol at dave throwing out the expasterated "...it is what it is, you know?" about his broken foot like it was a bit of triple h booking

Given what we know about Bischoff's negotiation style from Jericho's book and the entire contractual giveaway bonanza that was WCW under his watch I have no problem believing this. Bischoff really didn't get fiduciary responsibility and considered the Turner coffers something to impress people with.

tbh i'm wondering if they're using the fall of the house of rhodes as a gradual reintroduction for WAR GAMES but that seems too good an idea

Hero will always have the CZW/ROH feud going for him, just unimpeachable indy heel stuff on the level of Punk trolling Juggalos in IWA-MS.

I'm not 100%, but I think "shoot" in "shootfighting" and its prowres slang derivation derive from the actual wrestling terminology of "shoot" as going in for a tackle. Hence "shootfighting" = strike-based combat sport with grappling elements, various MMA-exclusive teams and groups that incorporate "shoot" into their name, etc. I may be missing your point here but I don't think Tenay's necessarily exposing the biz.

I think MRV wrote an article where he confirmed it but it was a long time ago.

I thought it was pretty well established that he was legit fired personally by Vince because of skittishness with Mattel and the Linda Senate campaign, but not necessarily at their request. With the possible exception of the Jericho showoff match, Daniel Bryan was booked stupidly on NXT. At best the supposed NXT "push" was confusing for the audience he still had to sell himself to. Heck, the head announcer was allowed to tee off on him at will. I'll never believe WWE has got so bad at their jobs that that was their idea of getting him over, as opposed to putting him in his place/making sure he'd do business/whatever.

They wasted a lot of money accessorizing a guy who just ended up a face midcarder that threw nerfs into the audience

Because she was mentally disturbed with a history of attacking co-workers, celebrated her new employment in pro wrestling by getting pregnant and didn't make them any money.

I love Twin Peaks but it imploded after its first story arc and it hasn't even had a shaky claim as a top 10 TV show since cable dramas became a thing.