Cross Face Chicken Wing

The last 10 years of Flair's career and life have been like the Don Draper character on the current season of Mad Men.

Have any pro wrestlers ever missed times because of skin infections picked up from the canvas portion of the ring? I know it happens in amateur wrestling. I ask because I'm going through the Memphis set and some of the matches have the most filthy, discusting repulsive ring canvas I have ever seen. It looks like a combination of old blood, sweat, spit, vomit and God knows what else has formed a layers of gunk over the actual canvas portion.

I've always enjoyed Deadspin's "Dead Wrestler of the Week" column. Here they are all in one spot in case anyone is interested: http://deadspin.com/tag/deadwrestleroftheweek/

http://deadspin.com/5495992/wwe-bans-chair...hons-senate-run

http://www.adamcarolla.com/ACPBlog/2010/02...dy-roddy-piper/ Apparently, Piper must be trying to do stand-up comedy or some sort of variety act. He was on Adam Carolla's podcast the other day and he plugged a performance at a comedy club in California. Good stuff on the podcast. If anyone listens, was the Fuji/Tanaka/Dog head story ever confirmed?

I was lurking the TOA board recently and saw variations of this same post in a couple of threads. It's always intrigued me how people got into wrestling and how they've maintained that interest. Using the who, what, when, where and why format, tell your wrestling story. Who got you interested? What initially drew your interest and kept it? How old were you? Where did you live/attend first show/watch first TV episode? Why did you like and continue to like wrestling (or why not)? Use Etc. at the end to fill in any gaps. Here's mine (a little rushed since I only have a few minutes left on my lunch break): Who: Around 1st grade, my parents rented a VCR from the local video store (remember when you could rent VCRs?) and my dad rented me Wrestlemania III. My dad didn't really watch wrestling, but he sure was excited about Hogan/Andre and he got me excited about it too. I remember wanting to fast forwad right to Hogan/Andre but my dad told me to be patient and watch the whole show. For me, it was definitely my dad and Hulk Hogan that got me into wrestling. What: Hogan/Andre sucked me in but what really kept my attention was being able to watch wrestling with so many people and get enjoyment out of it. I could watch it with my dad, my brother, and my friends. When the latest PPV came out on VHS, it was an event to go to the video store to rent it and watch it. The what, for me anyway, was the overall experience of wrestling, beyond just what was on the TV screen. When: When for me was about 1st grade. I liked everything a young kid should like about the WWF: the super hero characters, the goofiness, the action. McMahon's prodcut definitely got me hooked. Where: I grew up in rural Minnesota. No cable. No PPV. Had to drive about 20 minutes into town to get the lastest PPV VHS. A friend of a friend had access to PPVs and we all waited in anticipation to get on the school bus Monday morning to hear the latest results (his dad would ocassionaly let him order PPVs). I refused to believe my friend when he reported that the Ultimate Warrior actually beat Hogan at Wrestlemania VI until the weekend's Superstars show confirmed it. I remember the AWA coming to my high school gym. I also remember my parents telling me we were going grocery shopping one night. After driving about 45 minutes, I figured something was up. They ended up taking me to an AWA show at a mid-size MN town. It was a blast. The main event was supposed to be Wahoo vs. Manny Fernandez, but Fernandez no showed due to "plane troubles." Wahoo beat up on Pat Tanaka instead. I'd guess there were about 250 in the high school gym where the card was held. Why: As a young kid, I just liked everything a young kid was supposed to love about wrestling. When I reached middle school and high school and wrestling began changing, I changed with it. The edginess and "extreme" nature kept my interest and drew me in further. In college, however, I lost interest in the current product. Too much talking, too many backstage skits and not enough wrestling. Around this time I discovered tape trading and the online community and that's what I almost exclusively focus my wrestling watching on now. Growing up without cable, I was never exposed to the NWA or other promotions besides the WWF and the local AWA. Tape trading (DVD now) opened me up to a whole new wrestling world. A lot of the material on the DVDVR 80s comps and goodhelmet's comps is new to me and I can watch it over a period of time to make it seem even more fresh. Etc.: As I graduated college and dived into the "real world," the business and backstage dealings of wrestling also helped keep and even expand my interest. Wrestling is a fascinating business. It's seems to exist in its own seperate world. Why certain decisions are made and the egos/characters behind making those decisions are fascinating studies. I almost get as much enjoyment out of reading WONs from the 80s as I do watching some of the programming. I never watch the current product anymore and haven't for about 10 years. However, I don't see a time in the future where I'll quit watching wrestling all together.

Just when I thought this couldn't get better, I am now getting through the section where they kick Ole out of the Horsemen. Classic stuff! This just keeps getting better and better. Even Lex Luger is tolerable in his role. It's funny to listen to Lex try and cut a promo, though. You can tell JJ Dillon wants to jump in at times to rescue him, but Lex just keeps going.

So if a WWE or TNA worker explodes like Rock/Austin/Hogan and wrestling's popularity takes off again, Cornette would turn down a lucrative offer to return to the "sports entertainment" world? Doubt it. I like Cornette and agree with a lot of what he says, but he can only come out looking silly when he paints himself into a corner like this.

I shelved this for a while so I didn't get burned out on it, but am starting to watch again. Classic line from Ole. I think he was cutting a promo on Dusty: "I'm gonna leave my mark! And I'm gonna leave it on your face!" I could see guys like Flair and Tully giving Ole shit about that line in the locker room and Ole not getting why they thought it was so funny, getting pissed, and stomping out in a huff while complaining about the current generation of workers.

That's why I'm not a lawyer, I guess.

I don't think it matters if she had a "position of authority" or not. Bottom line is the kid was 16 and under the age of consent. It wouldn't have mattered if Gagne was unemployed and homeless, it's still against MN law for a 25 year old to get freaky w/ a 16 year old.

Who needs Tiger Woods when there's a member of the Gagne family involved in a sex scandal! http://www.startribune.com/local/78439342....?page=1&c=y

If Hogan and Flair booked this tour in 10 North American cities -- say NY, Boston, Philly, Charlotte, Miami, Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis, LA, and two Canadian markets -- could they draw 3,500 per night? Assuming tickets were priced fairly and the undercard remains the same as the Ausie tour.

A buddy of mine used to always talk about how great it was to watch old WWF PPVs via the watch instantly feature on Netflix. I recently signed up for Netflix, but don't see any WWF/WWE content avalaible to watch instantly. Anyone know the story of why it got pulled? Or was my buddy just full of shit and WWF/WWE never was avalaible on Netflix to watch instantly?

So Highspots had the belt as collateral for a loan it gave to Flair? Why in the hell would anyone give a pro wrestler a loan? Originally, I thought Highspots held the belt to ensure that Flair fulfilled his end of an appearance/autograph deal with Highspots.

Good for Shane. If he starts a rival promotion, it would make for some fascinating real-life entertainment, but would likely end bad for Shane.

Or how people say they want politicians to speak their mind. Most politicians that speak their mind get the boot from voters.

No, no it wouldn't unfortunately (in my experience). Believe me, I've called back to my station from many, many crime scenes/auto accidents/etc, told them no one died, and got a disappointed, "Really? That's too bad." It's gotta be big, big like the "Miracle on the Hudson" deal to warrent news coverage. This is a (probably sad) fact. However, most research shows that people just don't read or care that much about the good news stories. Everyone says they do, but when it comes to ratings/viewership/subscriptions the bad news far outdraws the good.

Are there any regular podcasts out there that focus on 80s and 90s era wrestling that are worth subscribing to? I did a few searches, but it was difficult to filter through all the podcasts that pop up when you search for wrestling.

That's the closest I've found to a genuine explanation. I tried to sit down and think of other forms of entertainment in which half the show's goals involve deliberately pissing off the paying customers, and really there aren't many besides purorasslin. Chicago Cubs? Oakland Raiders? Los Angeles Clipers? Sometimes I think these three teams sole reason for existing is to infuriate their own fanbases.

I think Watts discusses this in one of his old shoot interviews, which you can probably find online somewhere.

I'm saying that Hollywood shaped a lot of people's views on fighting or violence in general. Oviously, people understand movies are not real. But they might think the violence within a movie resembles how real life violence looks. They don't realize that if a fight breaks out on the bus they're riding home, they're not going to see jumping spin kicks or people getting up after getting punched squarely in the face. These people are more easily duped into thinking wrestling was real because the violence in the ring resembles the violence they see on the big screen, which Hollywood has trained them to belive is a "realistic" protrayal of what violence is. Yes, most people were willing to suspend their disbelief. But some weren't, and I feel Hollywood played a part in it.

Do you think a lot of these stories are exaggerated? I'm not saying there weren't incidents in the past, but I think a lot of "the whole crowd wanted to legit kill me" and "I had to run for my life" stories have a big fish element to them. If crowds were as bad as some of the old wrestlers describe, there would've been military troops in riot gear at each show.

Most people don't know what a real fight looks like. People's idea of a fight are what they see in the movies: Long and drawn-out battle scenes where someone may take 25 punches to the face, a spin kick, a chair shot, a 15-foot bump and still keep on fighting. The average person doesn't realize that a punch to the face can kill a person instantly or that real fights involve scratching and hair pulling instead of grace and beauty. Because a wrestling match sometimes resembles a movie fight scene, and a lot of people believe movie fight scenes are what real fights are like, they probably are easily duped into thinking wrestling is "real." Of course, this isn't everybody, but I would argue it plays a role. I, too, enjoyed wrestling much more when more people thought it was real. There was more crowd heat and the atmosphere was much better.

Apparently, Ric Flair is a Gamecoks fan. http://deadspin.com/5371065/ric-flairs-lim...gamecocks-upset