Loss

Sure.

Honestly, I'd kinda prefer if we didn't really go there.

On a side note, imagine how different wrestling would be if Steve Austin's pitch to become Hulk Hogan's brother would have been used by WCW. I only thought of that because what they ended up doing with Dave Sullivan wasn't terribly different than what Austin wanted to do. Not the exact same, but very similar.

Todd Martin not knowing things at times doesn't bother me. Lots of people don't know things, and I've been wrong more than once, and probably will be many more times. There are lots of things I don't know too. I think it's more the demeanor of presenting himself as an expert when he's just regurgitating Meltzer talking points. He's much better than Dan Wahlers, though. On a side note, one thing that bugs me is that he seems to only talk about what is or is not going to drive buyrates. He's a fan who never acts like it. That has nothing to do with calling something good or bad. I have no problem with people who are generally negative on most of what they watch if they're making valid points. But with business talk, some of that talk is fine, but why not also talk about what he likes personally and doesn't like? Talking about the business side of wrestling and making your entire RAW review complaining about giving away big matches on free TV (which I acknowledge is a problem with WWE at times, but if you enjoy WWE, YOU BENEFIT FROM IT) and complaining that harmless segments do nothing to draw money is frustrating.

It's the first time I've ever seen the WWF criticized for firing Dave Boy Smith (and the Ultimate Warrior, but he probably deserved it more for not being as good in the ring as Davey Boy, I guess). That's usually considered one of the few times WWE was completely serious and fair about enforcing their drug policy. They fired two top stars who were both being pushed.

Thank you for doing this. Do more! Or maybe I shouldn't wish that on you, I don't know.

$100,000???

So the AP is reporting that Flair was beaten up by his daughter's boyfriend, after his daughter was just arrested for resisting arrest in a convenience store. These types of headlines are going to kill any appeal Flair has doing corporate speaking quickly. These headlines aren't new to Flair, but at least before, he could hide them behind the WWE machine.

Attempting to play devil's advocate, is it possible Muto is like a Sting or Undertaker type who has been pushed as a top star so long that he's well known and has gotten lots of publicity, but isn't necessarily a strong draw?

I don't know how to really explain the difference, but I'm sure if you asked him, he'd probably say Morishima is better than Hashimoto ever was. I won't go as far as to say it has nothing to do with bodies, but I don't think it's solely body type.

It's not really that surprising coming from Dave. Hashimoto isn't really the type of wrestler Dave normally gets excited about.

I figure it's to build to one of three things: (1) Shawn finally getting that token win and taking the title (the one month reign from 2002 doesn't count, because he's far more established with the current audience now than he was then) (2) CM Punk going through Orton and his group en route to a Jericho/Punk Wrestlemania match where Punk regains the title (3) John Cena comes back, and they do the "You cost me two years of my life" feud with Cena beating Jericho at Wrestlemania I tend to think the third one is the best option of the bunch, but I think that since they have the belt on Jericho, they should park it there for a while. There are too many scenarios and challengers to make it a quick run. Jericho is also in a far better position this time than he was last time he held the belt. Knowing how the guy always gets shunted down the card when he turns babyface but is typically kept near the top as a heel, if I'm Chris Jericho, I don't ever want to turn babyface again.

Who would have thought?

I looked over how many people have access to these folders that have never posted anything on this board. Nothing wrong with that, but I do want to keep access to those folders somewhat limited. If you find yourself posting regularly here and would like access, please let me know. In other words, if you have yet to make any posts or have only posted once or twice, I probably will not give you access. If I know you from somewhere else, I will be happy to give you access. It's nothing personal, I just want to make sure I keep it fairly restricted. Thanks for understanding.

Yeah, these spoilers seem a little outlandish, but if they're real, I have no idea what purpose this serves. The joke is going to go over the heads of the most people anyway, and for those who get it, it's just going to make HHH seem petty. There was a time when HHH showed more restraint, or at the very least was smarter about how he buried people. He seems to be losing his edge.

Genius to Heenan, no. The Heenan thing was an angle they shot when he beat Santana to win the IC title, with Heenan surprisingly appearing in his corner. For Coach, yes. Heenan was retiring to become a "broadcast journalist" and the Coach took on his entire stable, I believe.

I was curious what people think of that match. I had never actually seen it until last night, or if I have I had blocked it out, and thought it was pretty fun, and really well laid out. It seems to be overpraised in some circles (no way would I call it anything close to a ***** match), and it seems to be really underplayed in others. I loved all the opening comedy and stalling, and there were some good false finishes near the end. It seemed to lack any real aggression though, which is what I think kept it from going over the top. The match layout is there for it to be great, but Jeff Jarrett, while he had his strengths, just wasn't the kind of ruthless heel he'd need to be to make it work. I do think Roadie was great as a second, and actually think that may have been a better career role for him than what he ended up doing. It deserves credit for being a non-formula Michaels match. I don't think Shawn is really a formula guy (at least until the comeback kicks in), but this really didn't have the feel of a typical Michaels match at all, and it stands out a bit because it's different. I'd say it's one of the better WWF matches of the year, but I'm not convinced it would even be in the top five of the year -- even in just the WWF for me -- next to Shawn's ladder match with Razor at Summerslam, Bret's title win over Diesel at Survivor Series, and several other matches all looming. But it's been a polarizing match for years, so I thought it would be worth talking about.

I still don't think Kanyon is really gay. He has a ponytail for crying out loud.

Anyone else find the whole story about people in WWE suspecting Randy Orton did not have a motorcycle accident at all funny stuff? For those who don't know, there was apparently nothing in St. Louis news about it, and the police had no record of it. If that's not what happened, something tells me WWE knows the truth. WWE has gone out of their way to hide quite a few things about Randy Orton -- failing a third drug test, a suicide attempt (if you believe Irv), and maybe now this. Lots of secrets surrounding the guy that are always threatening to come to the surface.

For fun, let's come up with some reasonable questions Flair could be asked that would be insightful (not so much to smear him). Examples: You have said in the past that booking is not your strength, that wrestling is. Knowing this, why did you not turn down the opportunity to join the booking committee in 1989? Was it motivation to protect your spot, did you have an interest in becoming a better booker, or was it something else entirely? How do you respond to criticism that you're a "routine man" and wrestle the same match every night?

ECW doesn't lend itself well to the fragmented approach today's wrestling fan often takes, where you don't really sit down and watch a full show from start to finish very often. ECW matches don't make good comp choices generally, but the shows are fun if you watch them from beginning to end and look at the show as an overall presentation. I haven't done that in forever, so I have no idea how it holds up, but ECW was always disappointing when you focused on one particular thing, yet I often enjoyed full shows (not so much as great "wrestling" shows, but more as good overall productions).

Money to his pocket? But really, besides that, people will lap this up, probably because they think Flair will use this forum to tell everyone what he really thinks of people like HHH, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon. Someone doing that long of an interview with Flair who actually took the question-making seriously and asked good follow up questions would be worth getting, but shoot interviews are never like that. It's always just "Tell us about ..." and then let the interview subject talk uninterrupted for 5-10 minutes. The questions are rarely informed, or all that specific. ETA: I'd rather read a Torch Talk.

I would imagine Dave has been making in the comfortable six figures for many years now, and he may even be a millionaire at this point in his life, although I'm not sure. The only thing I would say, though, is that there is a lot of stress in his life. I'm sure doing the WON on a deadline is pretty stressful, especially when stories change pretty often, and have to be deciphered in terms of who's telling the truth and who isn't, and then running with one or the other. He knows anything he says that's incorrect will be ripped apart. But I think back to the Benoit tragedy and subsequent fallout from last summer, and I'm sure that was an extremely stressful time period. There was so much news, coming out constantly at that, and the fallout continued for months afterward. Also, going back to the Vince trial, he was on hand covering the story every single day of the trial. He's talked about the amazing personal sacrifice he makes on a regular basis to actually publish the WON, and I believe him. I've heard varying numbers on the number of subscribers: 1,000; 3,000; 5,000, 7,000 -- I have no idea which is correct. I'm sure doing the WON during the late 90s/early 00s boom was very lucrative, and when he went online, I'm sure the number of subscribers increased quite a bit.