Al

None thankfully, looking at Graham Cawthon's match listing. NWA this week has the Ric Flair/Ron Garvin title match I've seen praised in quite a few places. I'd be curious to see some thoughts from those who have seen it. I haven't gotten to it myself on the show yet.

And heck, you might be a welcome change of pace from those calling about Anime 24/7 or the Yiddish channel.

I wonder if any dvd delays are tied to the Warrior lawsuit? WWE might be gunshy about what they produce on their documentaries.

It'll just push wrestling clear of Georgia. This kind of thing needs federal backing to have any teeth.

I agree with McDevitt on the general point. Beyond that though, it amazes me that a publicly traded corporation like WWE can be so bad at public relations.

Ignoring the booking and all, Jericho held the belt for four months. He never again had so much as a cup of coffee with a world championship. If you're a fan, it's hard to not see that as a disappointment.

There needs to be a drinking game on the number of times Gorilla said, "will you stop!", or "he/she did not!" I swear at least a dozen times.

I would hazard a guess that it refers to Erik Watts, son of "Cowboy" Bill Watts. That would explain the namesake reference. Obviously you can't eliminate concussions completely from wrestling, but there is no need to work a match so stiffly that suffering some sort of head trauma becomes very likely and there is definitely no need for wrestlers to work through serious head injuries like concussions. I refer to the booking of a concussion angle. When it comes to concussions themselves, all precautions should be taken to avoid injury and of course that means toning things down.

They were big stories. I think their overall impact is minimal, and that's unfortunate. I don't think a cessation of concussion storylines is anything close to the answer.

Addressing the original topic, losing Cena hurts some things but I don't think it's an incredibly damaging blow to the company. Cena can still move merchandise while injured. A dvd release for example would sate the fans' appetites and make money. On the larger picture, WWE has created an environment where the name of the company draws more than any individual wrestler. I don't think there's a single individual save Vince McMahon himself whose loss would seriously harm the company.

Scrutinized by whom? The mainstream press doesn't care. The NFL publishes an injury report every week chock full of concussions, no one bats an eye. The wrestling media isn't big enough to cause a stir. I don't think it is mockery when you consider that a concussion is an inevitable result of a worked wrestling match. It's not unusual like say, having a wrestler fall from a high place (referencing Owen Hart).

And what? We have to protect any aspect of wrestling that might have had anything to do with Chris Benoit? Benoit killed his wife and child in a marital dispute. Hundreds of athletes had numerous concussions, they generally don't murder their families.

"They're two good men to have behind you."

Explain, please. Any book from an ex-wrestler I've read not only speaks ill of Haystacks, but strongly against him. Both Fred Blassie and Bobby Heenan were far from complementary in their autobiographies.

You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't hate Haystacks Calhoun.

Thanks for the info Phil. I've never seen Dundee's work so I can't debate that aspect. Since Irving Mushnick came up in another folder, has anyone else taken a look at the Jimmy Snuka murder case besides him? The more I think of it I wonder why the mainstream media didn't seem to pick up on this in 1985 when John Stossel was exposing professional wrestling, and Mushnick seems the only person who makes a case of it (or maybe I've missed something). Snuka was never charged, and if he were it would likely fall under voluntary manslaughter and not a straight murder charge. If the circumstances never existed at all, would Snuka be a viable candidate for the Hall?

It's all related to the Benoit murders though. Mike Awesome received no press when he died, that was prior to Benoit. Not sure who the third one is right off, was that Bigelow? In any case, certainly it is news as it would be a big story if any known celebrity committed suicide. What I question is putting WWE under the microscope specifically for it. I realize though that with wrestling deaths in the news, anything close is going to be a big deal.

I wonder how Cena will fare historically when all is done. He seems a lot like Bob Backlund, where he was a good draw with a long reign and good matches, but didn't receive his due for some time.

Going back to the article. What if Randy Orton did commit suicide? There's no information behind it, the reasons, his current mental state at the time, etc. Would firing, suspending Orton do anything positive to the situation? I hardly find the situation a damning indictment of WWE. Many people sadly commit suicide. I don't see the companies they worked for (or the schools they attended) brought under public fire.

I'll leave this to Phil or Bix, but please tell me you're not going to dismiss Bill Dundee because of MOVES~!? I believe he is. Bill Dundee didn't do moonsaults like a good wrestler would. Phil would be better to reply here, because he was once trolled by Frank Jewett into counting suplexes while watching the '85 Lawler-Dundee LLT match. Being trolled by Frank Jewett is one thing, but being trolled by Jingus is something different. If someone who isn't a known idiot wants me to explain Bill Dundee, I will go ahead and do it. Having gotten into wrestling in 1990, all I've seen of Dundee are his days as Sir William. I'd love to hear the case for him as off the top of my head he doesn't seem to compare to the Steamboat, Flair, Hansen, etc. group of HOFers from the '80s.

Irving Mushnick from what I've seen though has a real desire to expose wrestling's dark side. Not that there isn't a dark side of course, but I get too much of a sense of bias from his work.

He did local news in the NYC area for awhile. From what I heard, he's hush-hush on his wrestling roots.

Yeah, I caught the result. It just seems apparent that when WWF would tour Canada, occasionally they would bring in Carpentier to run a match. It didn't look to be a full time gig. This sort of thing wasn't uncommon in the WWF until about 1987. In 1986, the company brought in the Crush Girls along with Dump Matsumoto and Bull Nakano for a few shows (never against each other).

Bill Buckner Dusty Baker Phil Garner Vida Blue Mike Schmidt Al Hrabosky Imagine those baseball players coming back to the Majors. Dusty Baker was criticized as a Cubs manager for playing veterans too much. Can you think of the outrage of he put himself back in the outfield? Mike Schmidt, a Hall of Fame player, hit .203 18 years ago before he retired. They're all the same age as Ric Flair.

What was the story there? The only Carpentier matches I can find on Cawthon's site are spots as WWF traveled through Quebec once a year. Fabulous Moolah was already 61 years old when she dropped the title to Wendi Richter live on MTV. Of course, she didn't quite have Carpentier's in-ring ability.