Whatever happened to Steamboat not being able to wrestle because of his old Lloyd's of London insurance policy payout? Meltzer brings it up vis-a-vis Bret Hart, and I swear I remember Steamboat being in the same... boat.

I'm not sure he had a Lloyd's policy.

 

What exactly happened with Animal being able to work singles matches again (his policy required him to work tags if he was going to wrestle) ? I can't remember.

I wouldn't say that Nick has Alzheimer's, my grandfather had Alzheimer's and it's a lot more than being a little forgetful. But Nick did seem to kind of ramble and give very roundabout answers to his questions on the roundtable.

But Nick did seem to kind of ramble and give very roundabout answers to his questions on the roundtable.

That's simply called becoming an old geezer. With all due respect to Nick.

considering that Greg Gagne was claiming that Verne came up with the UFC idea in 1991 and that it was stolen by Dana White, I can see him as being a bit delusional

That's just typical worker shit though. A guy claiming that he sold out an arena 100 times in a row, is a lot different than lying about someone having a horrible disease.

From the WON 10/31/88 thread

 

"There are a few wrestlers who were admitted heavy steroid users who have had children born with major birth defects."

 

Do you know any instances?

I wouldn't say that Nick has Alzheimer's, my grandfather had Alzheimer's and it's a lot more than being a little forgetful. But Nick did seem to kind of ramble and give very roundabout answers to his questions on the roundtable.

To me, Bockwinkel looked a little lost out there during the Legends Lumberjack match the night after WrestleMania.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMxzkClyZhQ

 

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to imply Mr. Bockwinkel has Alzheimer's disease, he just didn't seem as 'on the ball' as he has in the past.

Did it ever come out what Antonio Pena died from? The WON always seems to use weird code words, the gist was always that it was something resulting from Pena's lifestyle. It seems like he was implying AIDS, but he also would always mention his drug use so it was never clear which part of his lifestyle we were supposed to draw our conclusions from.

There's lots of stuff about the decline of Pena in the Konnan bio, but I confess to hitting a wall earlier in the bio and not getting to that point. Someone want to recap the Carlos Version Of Pena's Health Decline?

 

John

The most relevant paragraph about this from the bio:

 

No one from AAA –– wrestlers, office people, no one but Chucho, was worried about Peña. No one had any real conception that he was seriously sick (oddly enough, those who saw him very infrequently like journalists or visitors from outside his inner circle seemed to see what was happening). Only Vampiro, who crossed paths with Peña in August by sheer coincidence, sensed that something serious was up. Vampiro told his friend Bob Barnett during this time, in a very reasoned, very careful choice of words that he, Vampiro, had seen people suffering from AIDS, and that’s what Peña looked like to him. Ian did not state he thought Peña had AIDS, or was dying, he said just what he said.

Did Batista and Shelley Martinez have prior history? If not why did she go off on him backstage leading to her release?

Is that what happened? The speculation was always that she rebuffed an advance.

Anyone know the story behind Shane Douglas and the MLW title? I just watched their first show and he wins 3 matches in one night to win their tournament for the belt and then he throws it down and says he doesn't want to be champ of a wannabe promotion. So he looks stupid for wrestling 3 matches for a belt he doesn't want, and the promotion looks like shit. Then the ref acts like he's the owner or something and gets on the mic and tells Shane if he doesn't defend the title he can't wrestle in Pennsylvania anymore. So the show ends with Douglas all freaking out because he has to defend the title. But he never does. He vacates the belt and then Kojima somehow winds up winning it in a match with Jerry Lynn and then defends it on the next MLW show. So what the fuck happened?

Sounds like a lame attempt to recreate Douglas throwing down the NWA Title in '94.

That's clearly what they wanted. I was front row for it and even though the crowd wanted it because they're a bunch of ECW marks, it was such eye-rollingly stupid and OBVIOUS pandering. It completely ignores the CONTEXT of him throwing down the NWA title in order to elevate the ECW title, which just happened to mark a turning point for the company.

 

Oh and the absurd "bring in Kea but he can't job so have him do like three draws with Vampiro, then Shane runs in for a one-fall 3-way lasting a minute and ending a 2002 tournament with a belly-to-belly". Argh.

Court Bauer always sounds like he knows his shit in his interviews with Alvarez but MLW was one of the biggest clusterfuck independents of all time. For the amount of shows they ran they may have actually had a higher cancelled show rate than IWA Mid-South.

That's clearly what they wanted. I was front row for it and even though the crowd wanted it because they're a bunch of ECW marks, it was such eye-rollingly stupid and OBVIOUS pandering. It completely ignores the CONTEXT of him throwing down the NWA title in order to elevate the ECW title, which just happened to mark a turning point for the company.

 

Oh and the absurd "bring in Kea but he can't job so have him do like three draws with Vampiro, then Shane runs in for a one-fall 3-way lasting a minute and ending a 2002 tournament with a belly-to-belly". Argh.

Well yea, I mean it was obvious they were just trying to recreate him throwing down the NWA title. Of course it was really stupid and like you said it ignored the context. The more head scratching part was that he actually did end up not being the champion and never defended the belt.

Is that what happened? The speculation was always that she rebuffed an advance.

Yeah Batista gave her the Ortonesque "you are worthless" bullying treatment according to her. I just thought there was more to it than that.

Is that what happened? The speculation was always that she rebuffed an advance.

Yeah Batista gave her the Ortonesque "you are worthless" bullying treatment according to her. I just thought there was more to it than that.

 

That always seemed odd considering how quickly Batista made his way through the Divas, why would he bother getting pissed at Shelly when there was like 10 more still to (attempt) to nail.

It's an ego thing. I've met guys like that and they can't handle rejection. It's almost literally inconcievable to them that a women could resist their charm.

This seems like a good thread to ask about something I am unclear on:

 

What was the actual cause of death for Brian Pillman? And what, if any, is the discrepancy between what he actually died from and what has been reported/speculated over the years?

There's no mystery about that. Cause of death has always been arteriosclerotic heart disease. With long-term usage of cocaine listed as a contributing cause.

There's no mystery about that. Cause of death has always been arteriosclerotic heart disease. With long-term usage of cocaine listed as a contributing cause.

So he didnt die of a broken heart?

Coke, riods and countless other drugs do wonders to an already fucked up heart.

 

John

"His wife believed the heart attack was caused by Growth Hormone, which he had been getting from Dr. Edmund Chen in Palm Springs until just before his death, when he stopped, due to the cost. ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” in doing a story on Pillman and other wrestling deaths, had Melanie Pillman state it was Hulk Hogan who connected the two. Hogan never publicly responded to the piece, but privately denied knowing the doctor or having any idea where the story

came from. The reporter, when airing Pillman’s claim, said on the air that another wrestler they talked with confirmed the story." - Dave Meltzer in his review of WWE's Brian Pillman DVD.