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Really though, all the top workers in WWE were to some extent doing stupid shit at that time, as they all felt the pressure to keep up with Kurt Angle who upped the ante in terms of the pace and amount of high spots expected in main event matches and was almost universally praised for doing so. It got to the point where people who tried to instill selling and psychology in their matches with Kurt were criticised for not being in peak shape and forcing him to have to slow down. Benoit was the worst offender, but that isn't surprising given his insane drive to be the best.

I found this quote from Wade Keller's review of the CBS Elite XC show amusing:

Had they stopped airing the Philly cards by this point? I don’t remember seeing this and actually this is the first time I have heard of it, period. Philly shows aired into 1989, so the angle is on tape, but I have never seen it either and had only first heard of it about six weeks ago. The match in question was on the DVDVR Best Matches Of The 1980s WWF DVD set and ended up ranked 95th of the 100 matches on the set. From what I recall, the masked lumberjacks didn't look like Blair and Brunzell. Hulk Hogan vs. Ted DiBiase, (3/12/88 Philadelphia, PA)

Most genres of fiction draw from reality to tell a compelling story. It doesn't make them only part fiction. What makes professional wrestling any different?

That reminds me, whatever happened to Dave's AWA history article that he was going to write after WWE's AWA DVD came out? I suppose we'll have to wait for Verne Gagne to pass away to get that piece now, which is a shame.

There's no success stories when it comes to addiction in wrestling if the definition of success is that you continue to wrestle while never touching steroids ever again or taking another pain pill.

Personally I would have preferred them to have omitted the documentary altogether, so more time could be given to his classic matches and promos. Between his book, other DVD releases and his HOF speech, his thoughts on the plane crash, the Horseman, his legendary rivals and his clashes with Jim Herd and Eric Bischoff behind the scenes in WCW are well known and I doubt Ric will have much new to say about them.

That Vince McMahon is a horrible human being who will happily pay tribute to a child murderer in order to protect his business and thus can't be trusted to run an honest drug testing policy?

You're correct. The official list has been posted here: http://www.silvervision.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=WWE1192. The matches that remain from the above list are: WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Rocky Maivia RAW (13/02/97) WWE Championship Match: Triple H vs. The Rock Backlash (30/04/00) WWE Championship Match: Kurt Angle vs. The Rock No Way Out (25/02/01) WCW Championship Match: Booker T vs. The Rock SummerSlam (19/08/01) Undisputed WWE Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. The Rock Royal Rumble (20/01/02) The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan WrestleMania X8 (17/03/02) Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock WrestleMania XIX (30/03/03) The rest have been replaced by: WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Owen Hart vs. The Rock RAW (06/04/98) King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match: Triple H vs. The Rock RAW (22/06/98) WWE Championship Match (Final Round): Mankind vs. The Rock Survivor Series (15/11/98) Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship: Mankind vs. The Rock St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (14/02/99) WWE Championship Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock WrestleMania XV (28/03/99) Steel Cage Match: The Rock vs. Triple H RAW (05/07/99) World Tag Team Championship: The Rock / Mankind vs. Undertaker / Big Show RAW (30/08/99) No Holds Barred Match: The Rock vs. Kane SmackDown! (30/12/99) Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championship: The Rock vs. Shane McMahon RAW (01/05/00) Triple Threat Match for the WWE Undisputed Championship: Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker vs. The Rock Vengeance (21/07/02) The Rock vs. Eddie Guerrero RAW (22/07/02)

http://muchnick.net/babylon/2008/04/03/exc...%80%99-tribute/

Is it really any surprise that the sick, creepy wrestling company breeds sick, creepy wrestling fans? I mean this is the company that booked a well known alcoholic wife beater to attack a WWE diva for refusing to drink beer with him in a segment designed to get a face pop.

This sounds like just another consequence of Vince growing crazier and more volatile as the years go by.

I think the worst it can do is second best of all time. The WrestleMania brand is good for almost a million buys nowadays due to the much increased international PPV business of the last 5 years. For the show to be worse than the fourth biggest of all time would mean Mayweather wrestling on the show sold almost no extra buys.

That didn't stop them inducting Curt Hennig last year and it doesn't look like it will stop them inducting the Von Erichs next year. If Harry Smith becomes a big star, his dad is going to get in for sure. If they put his dad in, they'll probably try to put Dynamite in at the same time and if he was clever he would put his grudges aside to accept the pay cheque that comes with being inducted.

I'd be surprised if Windham and Murdoch don't get in eventually, as I'm sure the road agents from that era will push to get them in. Really, there's still a plethora of regional stars and mid level national stars from the 80s and 90s that haven't been mentioned yet that could be used to fill up several ceremonies to come. For example, one would guess that the likes of Ivan Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan, The Honky Tonk Man, Arn Anderson, Brian Pillman, The British Bulldogs, The Road Warriors and Yokozuna are all almost certs to get in eventually, as long as they continue the annual Hall Of Fame tradition.

You forgot a certain wrestler turned movie star, who though still young will probably never wrestle again. I'd imagine the Funk brothers will go in next year, as they're probably the biggest Texan legends still alive.

You're mistaken, as the Elimination Chamber matches at New Year's Revolution 2005 and 2006 both drew huge buyrates for a non big 4 PPV. Not really. There wasn't much unique or different about the main event of WrestleMania 2000, but it still did a monster buyrate, which just goes to show that the overall hotness of the company is much more important than the freshness of the matches on the card. Even if the talking point was true, it's a silly point to bring up this year when they've got a celebrity wrestling in the main event of the card, which has only happened twice before in WrestleMania history.

He also gave Morishima a lot of praise after his singles match with Misawa on the 03/06 Budokan Hall show.

"I think it's something that needs to be done. I don't think baseball has taken the right approach, just like I don't think the media has taken the right approach as far as scrutinizing professional wrestling. The absolute correct approach would be the same as the war on drugs. These drugs are illegal, they're not for any prescription, they're not for any athlete. So make the penalty if you get caught using an illegal substance arrest and jail time. The government is allowing each sanctioning body, whether it's sports entertainment, the NFL, the NBA to police its own. If an athlete fails a drug test, they get a 30-day suspension, where if I'm John Q. Public, walking around the street with a bunch of anabolic steroids, I'm going to jail. There is a severe double standard. If the government and Congress want to step in, they have to start at the source and make sure the athletes know these drugs are illegal. I think if the penalty is severe enough, the amount of offenders will go way down. In baseball, if it's a 30-day suspension, that might be the equivalent of a 15-day suspension. For an athlete, a lot of times, that's worth the risk. There was just a sprinter who was put on four years' suspension, which basically equals two Olympic Games and the end of a sprinter's career. So, I think, the IOC, even though they're not trying these guys under governmental law, really has it down. If you do it once, your career is pretty much over. There's a big difference between sitting for 15 games, or, man, if I get caught, I have to find another job. I think that's Step One. I think the Mitchell report was a mistake only because it was based off of opinion and heresay, like in the case of Roger Clemens. There's no paperwork to support that he ever purchased performance-enhancing drugs and, most importantly, there's no failed drug test. It was basically one guy's word against another guy's word. That's a battle that could go on for the dawn of time. So if they had done more investigation into the purchasing of anabolic steroids and failing drug tests, then you'd have a little bit more to go on. I think the blame falls on the major league for not having a drug-testing program. For so long, the players' union protected the players, so they did not have any sort of drug testing program. If you're not going to be tried by your government, and you're not going to be tried by your sanctioning sports body, there's no freakin' risk. Absolutely not. Major League Baseball-I hate to say it because it is the National Pastime- Major League Baseball almost encouraged the athletes to go ahead and take part, because for so long there was no penalty. I think that was a big flaw in our entity. For so long, there was no penalty. As soon as it got to the point where it became an issue, immediately a policy was instituted that "we can't fix what happened yesterday," no one can friggin' turn back the clock, but as far as today, if you're caught, you're going to be looking for work. The best that baseball can do is pretty much what everybody else is trying to do, really tighten up that policy, because this is an issue that is going to be talked about for so much longer." - more of the same from John Cena in an interview for Men's Fitness.

The con continues: The tale of Eric revisited

Yeah, it has been a WWE talking point ever since the Benoit murders were blamed on roid rage. "WWE believes its ongoing efforts in the battle against performance enhancing drugs and other drugs of abuse have resulted in a comprehensive, effective and humane policy . We hope to share with you the insights we have gained, and our sense of what needs to be done on a national level to counter the spread of these drugs, including what we perceive to be longstanding regulatory and enforcement issues which must be modified and re-examined if meaningful improvement is to be made." - Jerry McDevitt in his first letter to Congress on 08/15/2007.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. He doesn't harp on them, but he certainly seems to think that they were a factor. True, but personally I'm tired of the whole "I don't understand the tragedy and have given up trying, so lets carry on with business as usual" attitude that pervades the whole industry, which is basically what his whole article boiled down to.

I suspect Honky being willing to drop the title to the Ultimate Warrior in the manner that he did was the reason Vince didn't hold the SNME incident against him for the rest of his career.

Of course, Paul E. quickly swept under the carpet talk of concussions, brain damage and drug problems, which is part and parcel of his ECW legacy.

Why? Because he's dumb? Because he's a wrestling booker? I mean it's not like this is the first time that a booker or a promoter has refused to change course when their big idea has failed for reasons of egoism and pride.