Jingus

Yep, that's what I thought. Seems to be the whole company's unspoken attitude. "Chris who? I'm sure he never worked here!" Apparently the Vengeance DVD is out, and has been edited to remove all references to Benoit.

When did UPN become CW, and when did Benoit leave Smackdown the last time?

TNA cons anyone into listening to anything they have to say, ever: too many examples to name, but here's a new whopper.

Yes, that's him, I've seen it reported in a couple media sources where they mentioned the wrestling connection. As to what he's been doing... uh... crack?

Well, James learned from the best, actually being Rapada's replacement as Bert Prentice's top guy/alleged mancrush. And Prentice is the carniest carny who ever carnied. The Tennessee indy scene is full to the brim with stories like that. Kinda like Andy Dick... except Nash never had Jay Sherman kick his ass.

Does this even make Jerry Jarret’s top ten cons? Top five cons? I always loved the story of the point where Jarrett got workers to pay him for opportunity to get TV exposure as jobbers. Didn’t pay the actual talent for doing TV + got paid by the jobbers= amazing wrestling con. Also I think he purchased World Class for less money then World Class was contractually guaranteed for I think TV advertisements. After he made his profit, he closed shop. Which again is pretty awesome. When TNA first started up, Keller kept repeating his talking point of how Jarrettt is one of the few promoters who actually understands how to make a profit in wrestling. The toa folks mocked this by pointing to the collapse of USWA, and World Class. At time I pointed out that the point everyone was missing is that Jerry Jarrett knows how to make a profit in the wrestling biz, he may not know how to make a promotion make a profit….but he personally will walk away in the black. And really that’s what makes him a REAL wrestling promoter and not a money mark promoter. But don’t think TNA is anywhere near his top schemes. 1. IIRC, the old Memphis pay scheme was that the regulars did TV for free, but the jobbers were indeed paid, like $40 or thereabouts. 2. Oh yeah, TNA is one of the original Double J's biggest cons ever. He made more money and gave more fame to Jeff than in any other point in history, and yet still walked away in the black, due to selling out to Panda. Random Colorado Kid reference, now THAT'S funny.

This isn't any one person, but just the business in general: how the guys on top con everyone into the theory that the company has to "keep them strong", aka not let any upcomers beat them. Because apparently the fans will riot and leave in droves if the top guys ever get pinned by anyone other than another top guy. This con is most well-known for people who have either booking positions or Backstage Respect~!: Hogan, Dusty, HHH, HBK, Nash, Undertaker, Austin, etc, but isn't strictly limited to them; this con has been repeated so loud and long that even younger guys who have been elevated to new Top Guy status are treated the same way: why is Shawn Michaels the only guy to have cleanly pinned John Cena in years?

So... Steve-O and Pontius blew up Vince's limo in retribution for getting the shit kicked out of them by Umaga a while back? Huh. Makes sense, sadly enough.

Yes, I voted for him for indy matches, not his TNA work. In TNA, he does the same crap that all the other interchangable X division guys do in their 3-minute cookie cutter matches. But on the non-smarky indies, allowed to do his own thing with no pressure from a micromanaging office or overly demanding fans, he's pretty damned good. I announced several matches featuring him in Nashville, and he would go in there with ordinary nobodies and have extraordinary matches. He even had a series with a local favorite prettyboy "metrosexual Ricky Morton" type called Arrick Andrews, and in every match they actually built on the stuff that went before. The finish of last week was a near-fall this week, the guy's injured arm from previous matches was referenced again, two different title changes happened in identical manners in two different triple threat matches but the roles were switched so the guy who lucked out last time got screwed this time, etc etc etc.

Actually, it looks kinda similar to a stupid idea I had once: "Bump suits". As in, a sort of padded armor type coverall outfit that took some of the pressure off the internal organs from bumping. I had all kinds of ideas for it: specially designed "skin" that would make a loud noise for chops, braced joints that would prevent an elbow or knee from being hyperextended, all kinds of goofy stuff. Then I realized it would cost thousands of dollars to make one of the damn things, and most wrestlers wouldn't want to wear one anyway because they'd think it made them look like a pussy. But anyway, off the top of my head, my favorite 5: 1. Finlay 2. Danielson 3. Jerry Lynn 4. Hardyz (as a team, not singles) 5. Paul London

I haven't heard them mention the Jackass guys once on TV in the past couple weeks, come to think of it. And Jeff Hardy seems to still not be doing the "prankster" gimmick. So maybe it's been mercy-killed.

Yeah, I hate the "world's shortest dolly" shots, always look terribly contrived. Remember during the New Blood vs. Millionaires feud, when some guy got out of a limo at the end of that one legendary Thunder in Memphis, and apparently the cameraman was a weak-armed midget with arthritis, because he dragged it along the ground only showing the man's feet so that the audience wouldn't know it was Randy Savage? You gotta be subtle about psychological camera tricks like that. Instead of bending all the way down to the ground to shoot the giants, just stuff the camera under your armpit instead of over your shoulder. It's just about a foot's difference in height, but it changes the angle enough to make the Khalis of the world look even bigger while not doing it so blatantly that it comes off as obvious pandering to the viewers.

If they'd just shut up and said nothing, refusing to comment, they might've actually come out better than they have. Now you've got newspapers accusing them of spinning the story and lying, and rightfully so.

Wow. Timing. Damn. Thoughts that come to mind: 1. Someone stop Kevin Sullivan, he got another one! 2. Kronus was pretty well known as a druggie, so if this was from an OD, it adds even more fuel to the current media fire. 3. I guess the oft-planned, never-happened Eliminators reunion is off. 4. Perry Saturn got shot three times. And broke his neck. In separate instances. Yet it's his partner that dies first. 5. How long til the tape traders come out with their Best of Kronus comps? They've been all over that shit with guys like Bigelow and Awesome.

Yes, they really are. I take great fun in pointing out how all the physical evidence destroys their arguments. Who's worse: the people who claim Benoit didn't (kill people/take steroids), or the ones that claim that Benoit killed people because he took steroids?

Oh. Whoops. Shoulda checked IMDB. But still, weird that moviegoers would rather watch Kane than Austin.

Kane puts up with more bullshit than just about anyone. I mean, here's a guy who's absolutely huge, can wrestle a good match with any halfway competent opponent, and unlike Taker is willing to sell for pretty much anyone. And what does he get as a result? He becomes the world's biggest JOTS and gets stuck with more completely ludicrous Wrestlecrappy angles than just about anyone in history. The company seems allergic to actually putting him in the main event or giving him a run as champion. And, if memory serves, didn't more people buy tickets to See No Evil than to Cena's or Austin's movies?

Yeesh. Anyone else get Harry Knowles flashbacks where he was talking about what he had for dinnner and who he rode with before he saw the movie he was reviewing?

What, like being arbitrarily thrown onto Smackdown where there are no actual female wrestlers for her to work with wasn't punishment enough? I'm fighting with people on some other boards who are STILL trying to claim that Benoit both didn't do it and didn't stick the needle in the ass.

Nevermind, it was testosterone cypionate. That'll be the WWE's out, "He had a prescription! From a DOC-TOR! How were we supposed to know that this obvious candyman who'd had his license suspended in the past over writing improper prescriptions and was seeing a dozen of our own current and former employees was a fraud?!"

You can tell that Edge is definitely much skinnier now than he was, say, after he came back from neck surgery. So, now what for Smackdown? At least they've still got a few guys they could stick the title on: Batista, Khali, Henry, or even Finlay, Hardy, or Flair if they get desperate enough that they look for a non-hoss.

Can someone remind me exactly what hormone Astin had Chris on? Cuz I'm pretty sure he didn't have a prescription for testosterone.

Toxicology's back. Benoit was on testosterone. Which is NOT the hormone Astin had prescribed for him. Raise your hand if you're surprised. So, how is the WWE gonna claim this isn't their fault now? Not a knock on them, a genuine question, cuz I'm pretty sure that will still be their stance. They could go with the "He was drug tested and came back clean, how were we supposed to know he was on the shit?" route, but that opens the possibility that maybe their tests aren't too fucking good?

I've got IVPVideos' Rikidozan comp. It's only got three matches on it... but it's vs. Thesz, Destroyer, and the infamous "bloodbath" match with Blassie. The last one is pretty tame by today's standards, but the other two are very interesting. Riki was yet another one of those incredibly over megastars who really didn't do much in the ring; like everyone from Bruno to Cena, he relied mostly on just hitting the other guy for his hi-end offense. But somehow it worked, and the people loved him.

What are the indies supposed to do about it? Drug testing is WAY too expensive for them to even think about. In states where the athletic commission is real strict and requires every promotion to do extra stuff like have a doctor onsite at all times, there generally aren't any indy shows.