kjh

I think Vince viewed Bret, like he once did with Hogan and Savage, as an old horse he'd ridden for as long as possible and was about ready to be shot. By October, Shawn had already overtaken Bret as the hottest heel in the company. Moreover, his salary at the time was about 60% of Bret's and he'd have to pay Bret significant money for many years after he had retired.

New Japan only made $14.4 million in total revenue last year, so Tanahashi's pay isn't that surprising when put in that context.

Dave's problem is Yahoo! doesn't cover pro wrestling. Also, with Brock Lesnar leaving UFC the crossover is lessening.

Yeah, I think New Japan's hard tumble in the early to mid 2000s with the Inokis at the helm, is a big black mark against Antonio. Before they sold to Yukes, the company was almost as disorganised and badly booked as the dying days of WCW.

Tumultuous 2011 Impacts Yahoo! Sports, MMA Coverage Kevin Iole, Steve Cofield and Maggie Hendricks are being kept, while Dave Doyle is out. Meltzer depends on whether they can agree on a new deal.

Sam Muchnick, because he was a key founder of the NWA and was the glue that kept them together until the early 80s, would be one of the most important promoters in wrestling history. When Barnett promoted in Australia it was the hottest territory in the world. He was also a key figure in the NWA winning their battle in Atlanta with Ann Gunkel and also helped Vince McMahon in the early days of the WWF expansion.

To a certain extent I think there is some rose tinted nostalgia going on. In the mid 90s there were plenty of colourful mid card gimmicks, but that's not to say they were that over either.

They didn't script a storyline that made him seem like he was in the running though. Compare this to say Chris Benoit winning the Rumble in 2004 and it's like night and day.

Dave revealed that he was talking about Cena, who would choose to forego the title shot and still face Rock at WrestleMania.

Not really surprising given that she has Vince McMahon for a father, Triple H as a husband and is surrounded by younger, prettier women in her day job. Fans were unforgiving during the Attitude era too.

I think the "JBL was an asshole" talking point is somewhat overblown. I think the company used him and Faarooq as locker room policemen, so I'm not sure if he can be blamed for all the undue in ring stiffness.

"Chael's copy of the promo was better than the original" - Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. I suppose originality is overrated!

Does Dana just not get that this isn't the group you want to get pissed off? Um, it certainly damn well looks like it: Dana White uses 9/11 analogy for Anonymous UFC site hack, says they’ll get “Bin Laden’d”

New York Attorney General's Motion To Dismiss Counts IV and V of Zuffa et al.'s Complaint

On the eve of UFC on FOX 2, Anonymous launches #opUFC full-scale attack against Zuffa

At least in retirement Leyfield is giving back to the local community where he now lives: http://bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=8&...ArticleID=56390

You'll be glad to hear Johnny that it's not Cockney rhyming slang, it's a limey use of the word "twat". We're disrespectful as all hell here!

Wow, Dave is super grumpy at pro wrestling fans complaining on the board about all the MMA coverage on Wednesday:

I think this is one year that you can question the obvious pick of Dana somewhat. PPV was down significantly and there were few real high points during the year. Too early to tell whether moving to FOX was the right move.

Dana's been this stupid on social media numerous times, par for the course.

You can listen here John: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0azpC68C2c He was basically shooting the shit with a couple of shock jocks who were asking about his sex life. Personally I thought he came off badly even in that context, though there may be more to this story than he let on.

I agree Vince to some degree got lucky that Rock was in the right place in his life to want to come back, but he still made the right move for business. I'm not sure Hunter would in the same position.

Ventura's WCW run came up on Wrestling Observer Radio today regarding the heat between him and Jim Ross. Dave said that Jesse can't be told anything, thinks he's the smartest guy in the world, doesn't take criticism well, he was very good at that point in time at the ability to be entertaining while half assing it, shut down when Watts and Ross gave him pointers on how they wanted him to announce, and thought Jesse sucked by the time they sent him home because he didn't care anymore (shocking some smarks that didn't read the Observer at the time who he happened to chat about it somewhere).

TNA aren't making tens of millions of dollars in profits a year though! I don't think Vince gets enough credit for bringing back The Rock this year. It's probably the best promotional move by anyone this year. It injected some much needed life and energy into a stale product. A lot of people within the promotion were against it. The Observer crew focuses Vince's indecisiveness on minutiae, but big picture wise he's still got some great instincts.

In response to Jerry, WWE's basic contracts are ridiculously lop sided in their favour. There's numerous stories of wrestlers taking their first WWE contract to lawyers, who advise them not to sign for that reason, but invariably everyone does because it's the only way to get a big break in the business.