Cross Face Chicken Wing

Let's see if we can get Deitsch to ask the Masked Man some actual question instead of the usual fluff about what it's like to write about wrestling. IT MUST BE SO COOOOL!!!! https://twitter.com/richarddeitsch/status/629082289310404608

Raw is 3 goddam hours. And Triple-H is on screen for half of it. That sums up about 75 percent of WWE's problems.

I also would like periodic re-drafts. The interest, enthusiasm and discussion we had during the draft was off the charts -- leaps and bounds above what we have now that we're actually booking shows.

We've had police officers (Big Boss Man), dentists (Isaac Yankem), tax collectors (IRS), barbers (Brutus Beefcake) and several other professions used as wrestling gimmicks. What profession should have been used as a wrestling gimmick but never was? What worker would have been a good fit for that gimmick? My choice: an electrician. His schtick would be that he's crazy after being shocked too many times on the job. Worker would be early 90s Eric Embry.

I can't promise that Verne won't fly off the handle once he sees the abbreviation. He's in a mood this week. One CEASE AND DESIST letter has already been sent. I wouldn't put it past him to also give his lawyers a call on this matter as well........

I don't recall the big red censor "X" when I originally watched this as a kid. Did it run uncensored in some markets or is my memory bad? Also, the brief shot of that little kid bawling in the audience was outstanding.

Plus Cena was cranking in the STF a lot harder than he usually does. He was probably pissed that Rollins caved in the middle of his face.

I checked out the Lesnar/Taker pull-away brawl from last week and it was good enough that it sucked me in to turn on Raw for a bit last night. I liked what I saw: The Flair divas match, Orton/Owens (and I hardly ever enjoy anything Orton does) and Cena/Rollins. I could bitch about doing a title vs. title match on Raw and having the guy with the lesser title go over clean, but that kind of stuff is par for the course these days, so on the rare occasions I tune in, I just do my best to enjoy whatever's on my screen and ignore the obvious lack of logic and booking sense.

Verne's under a lot of stress, you guys. Leave him alone. There have been a lot of conference calls, meetings and other time-consuming and stressful activities regarding this Wade Smeltzer guy.......

If you think two (presumably) grown men swearing at each other over fake wrestling is out of control, wait until you see what happened at a celebrity softball game in Winnipeg featuring several AWA wrestlers: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31248-american-wrestling-association/?p=5688059 (You'll also want to note the Chris Jericho cameo!)

To promote the upcoming July 29 show at the Winnipeg Arena, several AWA wrestlers participated in a celebrity softball game at Winnipeg Stadium. TV trucks set up outside the stadium to run live feeds from the game and interview participants. Rick Martel and Iceman Parsons made the media rounds prior to the game to hype the event and the July 29 card. Here was the AWA roster 1. Mr. Olympia, SS 2. Rick Martel, CF 3. Iceman Parsons, 3B 4. Billy Jack, 1B 5. Da Crusher, C 6. Lord Humongous, RF 7. Jimmy Garvin, rover 8. Eric Embry, 2B 9. Boris Zukhov, LF 10. Vinnie Valentino, 2B Manager: Sheikh Adnan Kaissie The opposing team was captained by former NHL player Ted Irvine and consisted of local celebs from the Winnipeg area, mainly hockey players and curlers. Irvine's teenage son, Christopher, ran the scoreboard. The game was going great for six innings with a lot of banter among the teams and the thousands of fans who attended the game. Players and wrestlers roamed near the stands during the game to sign autographs and take pictures. However, things got awkward when Vinnie Valentino, who was wearing a pair of his trademark booty underwear on the outside of his softball pants – struck out with the bases loaded. Billy Jack ran out to scream at Valentino for not getting a hit. Valentino took three steps away from Bill Jack, bent over, and pulled down his booty underwear to shoot Billy Jack a mock moon. The fans roared in approval, but Billy Jack refused to play along. Jack locked Valentino in the full nelson and it took players from both rosters to pull him off. Valentino was too injured to continue. The next inning, Boris Zukhov hit a long home run. Instead of trotting around the bases, Zhukov ran into the dugout and came out waving the Russian flag. Fans booed, which prompted Rick Martel to emerge from the dugout with the Canadian flag. A flag wave-off ensued, but Zukhov lost his temper and nailed Martel with the Russian flag while his back was turned. Fans booed, and Martell was helped out of the stadium while Zhukov continued waving the Russian flag. By now, the game had gotten so out of control, that Jimmy Garvin took the house mic and started making fun of Canadian women. He said most Canadian women were even uglier than Iceman Parsons. Parsons stormed out of the dugout and a brawl ensued. Soon, the entire AWA team was fighting each other. Ted Irvine was sick of it, so he went into his bag and grabbed a hockey stick. Irvine clobbered Garvin with the stick and got in a few shots on Sheik Adnan Kaisse. Soon it was just Irvine and Parsons left on the field. Parsons shook Irvine's hand, Irvine raised Parsons' hand in the air, and the fans roared with approval before going home happy.

AWA passes for August.

Verne is very pleased to have retained the services of rainmakerrtv during recent shakeups in the wrestling world. As many of you know, Verne can be a difficult person to work with, but with rainmakerrtv handling booking duties and doing such an amazing job, it's allowed Verne to step back from always having to think about storylines and results and grow the AWA brand through unique mainstream promotions, innovative merchandise and new business partnerships that expand in scope beyond the world of wrestling.

It's impossible to keep up w/ 18 promotions of fake wrestling, let alone comment on all of them. I've enjoyed most of what I've been able to read so far. Maybe if there's a big match or angle that you want to be sure catches everyone's attention, post a note in the general chatter thread or start a new thread to talk about it.

Once again, Verne is pissed that his employees continue talking with Smeltzer. Verne roamed the AWA office building this morning ranting and raving about the latest Smeltzer report. He then placed copies in each of the building's urinals so everybody could "piss on that flaming crock of shit."

I have no problem with WWE cutting ties w/ Hogan and removing him from the website. The website is, essentially, one giant marketing piece for WWE and you don't want someone tied up in some racist BS on your marketing material. If they give him the Benoit treatment, though, that's ridiculous. I doubt they'll go that far.

If this game lasts until July of 2015, Buck Zumhoffe and Hogan are going to make quite the interesting tag team......

For the record, no Hogan sex tape and racist pillow talk existed in 1983, so don't get any ideas of trying to scrub the AWA champion from the game.

A big thank you to Dylan for quitting so I had the opportunity to grab Eric Embry!

The AWA is proud to welcome Eric Embry to Minnesota. We've reserved a spot in a trailer park in Stearns County for Mr. Embry to reside. He'll feel right at home.

Smeltzer better check his sources. Good chance those "reports" came from the jealous boyfriends of all the ladies who ditched their dates to hang out with Vinnie Valentino, Jeff Sword, Buck Zumhoffe and the Latin Lovers.

Wanna know how Da Crusher trains for a big match? Check out the latest report in the AWA thread. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31248-american-wrestling-association/?p=5686599

The din of drunken revelers is echoing up and down the streets of downtown Milwaukee. Da Crusher is leading a mob of people through downtown, carrying a keg of Old Milwaukee beer and stopping every 100 feet to take a swig straight from the keg and pass out beers to the throng of people "training with Da Crusher." To promote the upcoming July 22 AWA supercard at the Mecca in Milwaukee, promoter Verne Gagne organized a "Have a pint with Da Crusher" block party in downtown Milwaukee. For just $5, fans gained access to an all-you-can drink beer garden where Da Crusher and other AWA wrestlers were pouring beers and partying with fans. To get people to the block party, Gagne set up a "train with Da Crusher" opportunity. Fans gathered at historic Wolski's Tavern in Milwaukee, where Da Crusher cut a promo to the gathered audience, then invited everyone to help him "train." In Da Crusher's case, training meant hoisting a keg of Old Milwaukee on his shoulder and walking down the streets of Milwaukee. When Da Crusher got tired or thirsty, he stopped to chug from the keg and passed out beers to everyone who was helping him "train." Da Crusher led the group in singing classic polkas such as "Roll out the Barrel" and "Who the Hell is Alice?" along the way. The event drew media coverage from all the major Milwaukee outlets and generated a lot of buzz among businesses downtown, whose customers looked in bewilderment at the Da Crusher and his followers as they partied through downtown. Da Crusher gets on stage at the block party to thank everyone who came, especially those who "trained" with him. Suddenly, Da Crusher is being pelted with egg rolls and fried rice. It's Toru Tanaka from the side of the stage, trying to ruin Da Crusher's party. The fans boo. Da Crusher picks up one of the egg rolls from the ground, bites into it, spits it out, and says not even a cold cup of good 'ol American beer can make something like that taste good. He tells Tanaka to get lost, unless he plans on grilling everyone some American-made burgers. Tanaka storms the stage and starts brawling with Da Crusher. Before it gets out of hand, the other AWA wrestlers at the event pull them apart as the fans go crazy. The entire encounter was captured by television cameras, just in time to make the evening news.

Very few people seem to care about what they put out every week with the current product, so why not?