There's actually speculation that Linda will be named Secretary of Commerce in the Trump Administration. The Idiocracy is upon us.

I haven't read the piece, but the frustration of the largely white, working/middle class blue collar workers, who have seen their jobs go away and their wages remain stagnant even as the cost of living keeps increasing exponentially, and who blame the Establishment for it - and upon baiting, minorities - who got frustrated and voted for Trump because he's an outsider and he promised change in loud, crude and simplistic words, despite having voted for Obama both times, is something a wrestling "expert" like Meltzer can definitely give a nuanced analysis on, because that group has been wrestling's traditional target demographic for decades now. The common blue-collar man just doing his job and hating the establishment was the gimmick that got Steve Austin to hecome arguably the greatest draw in wrestling history. Dusty Rhodes, Bruno Sammartino, etc, also had very similar gimmicks.

 

The stoking of resentment against minorities is also very much in line with wrestling's traditional treatment of foreigners as a distinct, reudctionist binary of good or bad, with their nationality being their primary identifier. The relative ease with which promoters have got to get evil foreigners over as heels traditionally is also relevant here.

Why "expert" in quotation marks? Does Dave not fill your criteria for such an accolade?

So on last week's Bruce Prichard's show, Bruce said that Dave made up a story of what WWF wanted when he and Gerry Brisco met with Giant Baba in Japan. Bruce said that he was embarrassed to have that meeting cause Johnny Ace and Fumi Saito ( a Japanese journalist and former AJW color commentator) served as Baba's interpreter but he said Baba dealt with Jack and Gerry in English about business before. Bruce also says that Baba wanted everybody in WWF at a cheaper rate than what Michinoku Pro paid for Undertaker, Chris Candido and another person I'm forgetting for their Sumo Hall show.

 

Now Dave said on the F4W board not only Fumi was a source but Bruce himself told the story to Dave.

 

Bruce goes to great lengths to show his hate for Meltzer so is this BS the whole time for Bruce or is the truth somewhere in the middle?

Only somewhat related, but I thought Bruce complaining about Baba using an interpreter was BS. Baba had every right to try to conduct business with the WWF in his native language to make sure he was as comfortable as possible in communicating the terms of what he wanted to do. You can complain about what he wanted and what he was willing to pay, but it struck me as unfair to complain that Baba wanted to speak Japanese while negotiating when that is his native tongue.

 

Back on topic, it wouldn't surprise me if Bruce's Meltzer hating is a gimmick to get attention. It wouldn't surprise me if he legitimately did hate Bruce Mitchell, since so many people in the business do, but it's possible that at various points he had been on friendly terms with Dave and if he played up his Meltzer hate since it gets headlines and helps attract listeners.

Bruce Pritchard strikes me as someone working pretty much all the time. It's hard to believe much of anything he says.

Why "expert" in quotation marks? Does Dave not fill your criteria for such an accolade?

 

It's because I don't know what a wrestling expert is, because I don't think that the term has been used in wrestling at all. But if anyone has a legit claim to being called that, it's Dave. So, the opposite of what you said.

Bruce Pritchard strikes me as someone working pretty much all the time. It's hard to believe much of anything he says.

Yeah, he is a pure bullshitter.

After Dave talked about the Ali/Liston gun angle, I had to find it:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKLWAZhTFsQ

It's pretty funny to see Ali being the obnoxious heel here. I have to assume the gun part was a staged stunt -cameras filming and all....

Serious question: Am I missing anything by not reading the Observer every week and just listening to Dave's podcasts with Bryan Alvarez? It feels like Dave covers all the important stuff in the business in his audio programs and you get virtually identical reporting in the newsletter every week.

Serious question: Am I missing anything by not reading the Observer every week and just listening to Dave's podcasts with Bryan Alvarez? It feels like Dave covers all the important stuff in the business in his audio programs and you get virtually identical reporting in the newsletter every week.

I only read obits myself, but I don't really care about the modern product, so most of his info is superfluous

Serious question: Am I missing anything by not reading the Observer every week and just listening to Dave's podcasts with Bryan Alvarez? It feels like Dave covers all the important stuff in the business in his audio programs and you get virtually identical reporting in the newsletter every week.

No, but you have to listen to Bryan Alvarez by listening to the podcasts, and that alone is enough reason for me to skip the podcasts and read the Observer. If you can tolerate Bryan's fake radio voice and bad opinions more than I can, your mileage may vary.

To people who have been reading the WON this year, what have been some of the better issues to read of 2016? Any good bios, history pieces, etc. that you would recommend? Also getting the Black Friday deal to catch up on stuff I've missed this year.

I too am getting the black friday deal, but mainly to pick up the 98-99 WONs I don't have yet.

To people who have been reading the WON this year, what have been some of the better issues to read of 2016? Any good bios, history pieces, etc. that you would recommend? Also getting the Black Friday deal to catch up on stuff I've missed this year.

Muhammad Ali bio was great. Bios on Lord James Blears and Ed Francis (last issue) provide a great history of wrestling in Hawaii. Blackjack Mulligan and Mr. Fuji bios were also good reads

Thanks for the heads-up on the Black Friday deal. I just signed up. Can't go wrong for $4 (for the first month).

 

BTW, the Torch has a Black Friday deal of their own - $2 (also just for the first month).

Is there a reason why the Owen Hart bio issue of the Observer (May 31, 1999) isn't on the site? It goes from May 24 to June 7.

What do you get from the observer nowadays? The Alvarez pods suck. The board is a crime. Is the Newsletter really worth it?

 

I don't care about newz, so obviously not for me, but are there those that care or is more of a habit now?

Following the Observer for news seems like pretty much the WORST reason to follow as anything actually newsworthy is going to hit the usual copy and paste sites an hour after the Observer goes up. The only reason I would sub is for obituaries and the historical pieces that he does for HOF inductees.

 

I can't imagine subscribing for the podcasts. Oh boy let me listen as Dave & Alvarez shit on how bad Raw is as if there aren't 100 other podcasts that do the exact same thing.

Following the newz sites is basically playing a game of telephone. It almost always gets re-reported in a way that loses at least part of the original meaning, sometimes all of it. I subscribe because I respect his historical take and because you never know when he's going to say something profound at a moment's notice. Admittedly, some weeks are better and more interesting than others, but the same rings true for the industry he covers.

I re-upped for a month so I could grab all of Alan's podcasts that looked good that I had missed in the past couple of years since I canceled. I enjoy the board from time to time, mostly in the podcasts section. Otherwise, no way I can justify paying more for a newsletter than I do for the Network or High Spots.

I took the Black Friday deal too and I can confirm that Bryan Alvarez refusing to give any credit whatsoever to someone he's decided not to like is still really really annoying.

I took the Black Friday deal too and I can confirm that Bryan Alvarez refusing to give any credit whatsoever to someone he's decided not to like is still really really annoying.

I expected him to be as terrible as ever, so I haven't bothered with any Meltz audio.

I came across this shoot interview if anyones interested from Hannibals channel.

 

 

He asked Dave about Owen's death, Screwjob and various other stuff.

 

I took the Black Friday deal too and I can confirm that Bryan Alvarez refusing to give any credit whatsoever to someone he's decided not to like is still really really annoying.

I expected him to be as terrible as ever, so I haven't bothered with any Meltz audio.

 

Alvarez has been pretty intolerable since about 2011 for me. I actually don't mind him prior to the merger in 2008. His whole radio persona just comes off as way too phony.