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Tower of Doom match. After match antics sees Kevin Sullivan choke Precious with a chain. Holy fuck is that ever ill-timed.

Is it really that upsetting?

Wow. This is not ending anytime soon. Not to mindlessly defend WWE here, but on this board Loss himself nixed discussion based on "speculation" until the facts were in. That wasn't lifted until well after the show ended. Details were coming in throughout the day and of course WWE certainly had strong suspicions, but what if you go with something anti-Benoit and it turns out differently. WWE almost literally had minutes to react and throw together a show given the circumstances. If they changed course midway through the show, it would become a spectacle and make things worse. In hindsight, they certainly should not have done it. But it is a snap decision. The fact that they are apologizing for it is good enough for me. The company does a lot of controversial programming, but that's the nature of professional wrestling.

I've noticed that outside of Benoit itself, there is extremely little coming out about the rest of the roster. WWE really seems to have locked down information from inside for the most part. Either that or just no one is much concerned.

I don't really blame WWE as they were in a tough spot and had to scramble to fill time.

Has there ever even been a situation like this in professional wrestling?

I personally got the impression JR was subtlety burying the angle all night. I think the reasonable criteria is that it merits mention on the show itself if the wrestler is a current part of WWE programming. Any WWE Hall of Famer like Sherri certainly merits a graphic. I have no qualms with how they did the graphic itself. I don't think they're required to show the death of every single talent that passes in wrestling.

The shareholders stuff really just sounds like a few people wanting to be smarmy idiots. The angle is CLEARLY a work. They're trying to leap through legal loopholes because they don't like it. I don't find it offensive in the least. I do think however that just about any "whodunit" angle is not worth my time, because the plot points involved are just random events to fill time until they reach a conclusion.

Yeah, third family in. It was done quite well actually. Jess McMahon was a big name in boxing in the 1920s, so they span four generations at this point.

The McMahons were featured prominently.

I never saw the match itself, but one part of Foley's book that stuck out was Orndorff thanking Foley for the match, feeling it revitalized his career.

It occurs to me that if we're looking at the Steiners, should Harlem Heat be in the same breath?

Michaels/Tatanka was just as good. WM IX wasn't that bad of a show. It just lacked an outstanding match and Hulk Hogan's unwillingness to work after the show killed that title change. There are enough brother combinations in wrestling that I wouldn't quibble about leaving a couple behind. The notable omissions I would note are the Armstrongs (Bullet Bob and sons), the Villanos (understandable), the Roberts (Jake, Grizzly, Sam Houston, best left untouched), the Duseks (way before anyone's time) and the Poffos.

I don't mind the angle but that is quite tasteless. Maybe Vince was working on the History of World Class dvd and is channeling Fritz Von Erich for promotional ideas.

This is the first death in a LOOONG time that's surprised me, given that's she's been on tv giving interviews and seemed quite comfortable recently.

I got the feeling in that match that Richter knew it was Moolah in there and knew she was getting screwed in the match. She kicked out at one whenever possible.

I was at the show live. I hated the angle, but the rest of the show was awesome.

I can't help but wonder what this thread would have looked like in 1977, regarding Vince Sr.

Some sucker once paid $44.95 for this show. Yes, we made so much money that we could afford Siva Afi. Gorilla Monsoon is amused because Mae Young is under the Prime Time Wrestling desk.

Over the last 100 years the trend in wrestling has been to go from realistic looking wrestling to style. Fixed wrestling matches in the first place became preferable because real wrestling didn't excite the fans. There's a reason that trend exists. There's a market for MMA, but I don't think wrestling needs to court that market, and I don't think there's a real groundswell of disapproval for the way wrestling is done now. BOOKING might be an issue, but I think the in-ring product is generally very good. People don't actively turn off wrestling because it looks fake. I don't think wrestling needs to change its style to reflect MMA.

Anyone else pick up this book? Tim Hornbaker did an excellent job, producing a well-researched book on wrestling. I'm about halfway through and loving it. My only issue is that it becomes hard to follow all the names at points. Still, it's a great book for anyone interested in wrestling history.

How about something mentioned in PWI a few years ago. Most of the indy talent these days are guys around the 175-200 lb. range. Now you don't want all bodybuilders, but there's a certain credibility line when it comes to size. As far as the talent pool the answer is obvious. Pro wrestling has ceased being about selling house shows and become more about selling television. Twenty years ago you had several regular touring companies and they all required their own roster. MSG, Boston Garden, Maple Leaf Gardens etc. all got live shows once a month. Now big time wrestling comes to your area once or twice a year. Less live shows means less need for wrestlers.

Possibly, but did they team? If not, then they have plenty of solo Eddy and Chavo Classic stuff to choose from. I'm sure they want matches with multiple family members involved.

That and the Goobledygooker footage. I don't think WWE has that much Lucha footage in their archives. It makes it odd when they run Latino Legends on WWE 24/7 and all they have is footage from when luchadores made token appearances on American television.

I know there's a better quality video around. It certainly exists in any case, and I wonder why WWE never uses it.