Cross Face Chicken Wing

Loved them as a kid because I didn't know any better. Hate them as an adult because I have to make sure nobody else is around when one of their matches comes on. You get some really funny looks when someone sees you watching a Demolition match.

Welcome to our modern education system. And yet some politicians have the nerve to complain that the reason our classrooms suck is because we pay our qualified and competent teachers too much money. While the pro-teacher and anti-teacher crowds are busy fighting with each other, school administrators sit back and laugh while collecting fat paychecks and sucking more and more resources from school districts that should go to teachers.

God that makes me feel old. And depressed.

Is there another NWA/US Title match that is a serious contender for being better than the Magnum/Tully I Quit match? I feel like if 1,000 people voted on the top US Title match of all time, Magnum/Tully might actually get all 1,000 votes.

There used to be tons of fat guys who were taken seriously. Yokozuna, Earthquake, Typhoon, One Man Gang (pre-Akeem), Bam Bam Bigelow, Adrion Adonis (even despite the gay gimmick), so forth and so on. As Vince got older, he got more and more obsessed with the idea that practically everyone on the roster had to have a perfect body except for his comedy acts. The "Vince loves certain guys/creations" discussion is a great topic. but the question raised above lends us to another topic: who was the last "fat" guy taken seriously in WWE? From a pure sporting perspective, one could argue Brodus Clay, due to him being undefeated and beating the hell out of people. However, he clearly isn't being positioned as a title contender at the moment. He definitely is getting over as both a comedic dancer and an asskicker though, so I'm excited to see where he is a year from now. The most recent that immediately comes to mind is Umaga. He wasn't so much as fat as just a really big dude who wasn't stacked with the typical WWE muscles. Umaga's big push was over 5 years ago. Anyone in the last 5 years? Does the fact that he's not a title contender mean anything these days?

Earthquake was great. My favorite Earthquake moment was at WM6 when he sat on Duggan like 5 times. When he did it the fifth and final time, Monsoon says, "And here's the replay of what just went down." Jesse has to correct him and say, "No, Monsoon! He's doing it again! This is live!" Classic.

I don't believe so. I think he just debuted on a Superstars show. Not 100% on that, though.

I don't really see it with Andre. Obviously, I'm sure Vince was proud of what he did with Andre, but did Vince really do all that much to truly shape Andre's character? It seemed like Andre's character was mostly just Andre being Andre. I'm talking more about guys with obvious gimmicks, silly or otherwise, that Vince likely came up with and was convinced that they were amazing ideas. I mentioned Tugboat. Akeem is another good example. Who in their right mind besides Vince would think taking a 450-pound dude known as the One Man Gang and transforming him into some sort of traditional African character who kept trying to dance with strange hand motions was a good idea? Yet, Vince loved it whenever Akeem came out with the Slickster. He got that barritone voice going and just seemed to mark right out.

Skinner was another southern gimmick that I recall Vince going apeshit for. The way he said Skinner (Skiiiiiiiiiner!!!!) made it seem like he was extra proud of that one as well.

This topic has been on my mind while watching the 1990 season of the WWF. I'm not sure exactly how to phrase the question or topic, so I'll just go with it and clarify if needed. I'm really interested in seeing some discussion about this topic, though, so hopefully my ramblings make sense. Listening to Vince McMahon on Superstars and Saturday Night's Main Event in 1990 makes me think he gave guys certain gimmicks just to amuse himself. Yes, I know the story about Dusty and the polka dots, but I'm not talking about giving guys a silly gimmick in a vindicative sort of way. I mean more in an out of touch rich guy sort of way, or a crazy old uncle sort of way. When certain guys' entrance music starts and they come through the curtain, Vince gives this hearty laugh and just seems so proud of himself. For example, Tugboat came out when I was watching Superstars the other night and Vince just seemed so amused by the guy and, in a weird sort of way, proud. I pictured Vince in the room with his team of minions going over gimmicks for this 300-plus pound guy and Vince's face finally brightening and saying, "I got it! Let's make him a sailor and call him Tugboat!" After a brief awkward silence, I envision Vince slapping his minions on the back and saying, "Isn't that a great idea?! Boy, this guy is going to be great. Tugboat! We'll honk a ship horn before he comes out and the people will love it! Tugboat!!!" The minions will feign a smile, put their hands in their pockets, stare at the ground, and say, "Yeah, that's great Vince. He'll go over." I'm probably reading too much into it, but when guys like Tugboat, the Genius, the Bushwackers, the Model Rick Martel or Hillbilly Jim come out, it doesn't feel like McMahon is doing the typical announcer shtick to try and get them over, he seems genuinely impressed by his creation and the character he came up with for these guys. I would compare it to when a little kid draws a picture. If the picture is supposed to be of a horse, but it's really a bunch of scribbles that look like a giant blob, we ask the kid what the picture is and tell him it's the best drawing of a horse we've ever seen. The kid is super proud and goes to show everyone else his amazing piece of art. Anyway, I guess I have two questions for further discussion: 1. Am I completely misreading Vince's reaction to, and perception of, these guys? 2. If I'm not, what are everyone's favorite gimmicks that Vince created just to amuse himself in a non-vindicative manner? I'm not asking for a list of silliest gimmicks, rather gimmicks that Vince seemed extra proud of, or amused by, and was probably the only person on Earth to feel that way.

I would agree that he comes off smarmy and somewhat conceited on Twitter but he is pretty great on televised media/radio. There is no sarcasm font! I've only heard Punk outside of wrestling on the Art of Wrestling and Bill Simmons' podcast. He was great on AOW and kind of an a-hole on Simmons.

I thought the Jericho/Punk alcohol angle would have been better if Jericho did his schtick live instead on the screen. The on-screen stuff made Jericho seem like a creepy stalker instead of a hateable wrestling bad guy.

They Might be Ugandan Giants.

I immediatly thought it was Austin myself. Fits his previous history of refusing to job when he thought it wasn't good for his character or wasn't the right time. He's the Rock for Chrissakes. I agree that the build toward his match w/ Cena has been shit and Rock has been hurt by it, but the day of Wrestlemania isn't the time to take action. If he wanted to show how pissed he was and how he's not going to take it because he's the Rock, he should've went off script during one of the 20-minute battle-poetry segments on Raw, maybe shoving Cena, knocking off his hat or starting some kind of unplanned physical altercation. What's the worse that could happen? People come out from the back to separate the two and wrestling appears to be at least a little bit spontaneous and unpredictable again and the feud suddenly has more life? I know it's probably just a silly rumor, but still........

Well, it's not the experience I have. Like I said, most good looking woman I hit on were smokers. Hell, I'd say 95% of them were smokers when I think of it. And the one I've been with the last 8 year was a smoker when I met her, and remained a smoker for a few years. The Nature Boy is a heavy drinker, and that's worse than smoking. Women just want to ride on space mountains, and Ric lighting a cigarette won't make him look worse than Ric drinking all night. Chewing and spitting tobacco on a plastic bottle, well, it's another thing. I know if I was a girl, that would gross me out. What What What?!?! Drinking worse than smoking?!?! Oh dude, I don't know what your idea of a Nature Boy is, but he sounds real lame! If I was a lady, I'd maybe take you to church bingo, but I'd stay far away from Space Mountain.

Well, when I star in a movie I'm going to chew Coppehagen and bang every woman that appears on screen.

Yeah, nothing says Nature Boy like telling the hot blonde your moving in on to hang tight for a minute while you go outside and fire up a Marlboro Red.

I don't see in what ways, really. Especially when women smoke as much if not more than guys. Maybe I'm too "european", but I really don't see what the issue is. Hell, I hit mostly on smoking girls at college (pun intended), and back then I was a lot less tolerant with cigarette smoke as I am now. Anyway, the point being, Flair chewing tobacco really doesn't goes along with the Nature Boy image. You can't look at it from your perspective. You're a dude. And if you're anything like me or most of the guys I hang around with, there isn't much that will deter us from taking home a girl we have our eye on. A lot of women think smoking is disgusting. For a lot of women, smoking makes you about as un-Nature Boy as you could possibly be. Sure, not all women feel that way, but if you're trying to be the Nature Boy, why would you want to narrow the field of possible conquests? Flair chewing like a rookie dosn't fit the Nature Boy image, but if he chewed like a normal human being, it'd be just fine. Chewing is a lot more prevelant in non-hick culture than we think. For whatever reason, it's just not embraced by Hollywood or mainstream society like smoking is/was.