Bix

How can anyone hate this man?

"YOU HAVE A VAGIIIINNNAAAAA! YOU HAVE A VAGIIIIINNNNAAA!" Full video at ends with him cheering up and talking about reeling the fan in.

"My friends call me Sparky. You can call me Sparky, too!"

Eric Garigulo?

WSX had Matt Classic, so it's can't be the worst thing ever.

Does anyone know when Eddie Gilbert replaced Bill Eadie as GWF Booker? Or was there someone between them?

Power Plant goes back to '91 but it wasn't a standard open wrestling school for a few more years. Thunder and Lightning had worked in Florida first but I'm sure a lot if the greener guys were sent to the Power Plant for improvement.

WWE hase filed trademarks on real names and gimmick names owned by the wrestlers for years. It's a borrowed with permission thing that's done for merchandise licensing purchases. I don't think they've tried disputing anyone's use of a pre-WWFE, not created in ECW or WCW name since Honky Tonk Man left. At least that I know of. I suspect that all it is is that the old trademark ran out and they had to renew it. Having said that, I remember a story about Mick Foley being very uncomfortable with the idea of "giving" the Cactus Jack trademark to the WWF that implied he eventually signed over all rights to it but that doesn't mesh with other stories.

Since John brought it up: Is there really any argument for Ross or Solie over Lance anymore, especially now that everyone has gotten over marking put for announcers knowing the names of moves? The best at getting things over, by far the best at interviewing wrestlers (especially carrying green guys), even a great ring announcer, and still at worst very good at calling the action. Similarly, is there any argument that Kent Walton isn't a much better version of the Solie archetype? Not to completely slack on Solie and he absolutely could get over angles well, but his announcing doesnt do much for me anymore.

Which is why it's an absolute shame that he does so at a website that will harm your computer if you visit it. Yup, and I don't even go there on my iPad where I'm safe. Part habit, part not wanting to give them any ad impressions at all. I would really love to know how much the make in ad revenue. Obviously they go with the spyware ads because they pay more, but how much more?

Bix: you do name them. When you talking about "That Site With Spyware" (or words to that effect), everyone knows you're talking about Scherer.com. That's a massive difference from the bullshit Schemer plays ("I'm hearing...") or the kind of douchey stuff DM pulls at times ("Contrary to what you might hear elsewhere..."). You (and Keith) are really good at naming where stuff comes from, being generous with direct quotes, and linking when stuff isn't buried behind a paywall. Big props. I agree, for the record. As much as I personally dislike Mike Johnson, I agree that he absolutely does the best job reporting on WWE.

I THINK they might have done a magazine vote for this one. The one that always seemed weird to me was Bret suddenly getting a Wrestler of the Year trophy at the end of '91. Nothing about the award been announced previously and he had only been IC Champ for a few months.

With regards to Gorilla, while my generation is going to have more nostalgia bias towards him, I never really thought he worked too much to get himself over until Dave finally explained why he specifically felt that way somewhat recently. Knowing that he was criticizing wrestlers for stuff that was was part of the house style he developed makes a lot more sense out of it.

If PWInsider dropped the spyware I would gladly name them regularly. Not naming them has nothing to do with the site owners' more generalized awfulness.

Schiavone was indeed up for the Executive Producer job. As far as the Steve Beverly thing goes, his version is that TBS was going to make the move of having separate solo lead announcers for TBS and syndication. TBS's Jeff Carr wasn't sure which of the two main announcers should get which job. Beverly was in favor of Ross for TBS (which was becoming the priority after the buyout) because he had the stronger personality. After one set of tapings under the new arrangement, Schiavone quit over what he saw as a demotion and solo hosts idea was dropped, with Lance Russell effectively hired to replace Schiavone.

what was the deal here? He said that Punk was "considered dangerous around the women" without any analysis, qualification, or objection. Gonna go out on a limb and guess Punk probably earned some enemies since he's long been known to have a list of "acquaintances" that reads like a who's who of female indy pro wrestlers. Plus it's also known that WWE has a slotting system where it's not considered kosher to fuck above your paygrade. Mix in the high-school like culture of pettiness and I wouldn't be surprised if someone was mad Punk took a run at a Diva that another one of the boys had eyes on. All it takes is someone to blind item it to the sheets that Punk is "dangerous" around women, and then it gets repeated as fact even if it gets corrected later like the "Punk got punished for not following the dress code" story. I'm sure something like that is the reason. Someone at that one board should ask Byron Alvarro to issue a long overdue retraction and apologize to Punk. Bix, do you and Alvarez have legit heat over something? I honestly have no idea. Well there was this: http://soundcloud.com/unapologeticfaggotry/bix-run-in And no, I didn't upload it, so don't anyone get mad at me for the name of the user who did. I mean more recently.

what was the deal here? He said that Punk was "considered dangerous around the women" without any analysis, qualification, or objection. Gonna go out on a limb and guess Punk probably earned some enemies since he's long been known to have a list of "acquaintances" that reads like a who's who of female indy pro wrestlers. Plus it's also known that WWE has a slotting system where it's not considered kosher to fuck above your paygrade. Mix in the high-school like culture of pettiness and I wouldn't be surprised if someone was mad Punk took a run at a Diva that another one of the boys had eyes on. All it takes is someone to blind item it to the sheets that Punk is "dangerous" around women, and then it gets repeated as fact even if it gets corrected later like the "Punk got punished for not following the dress code" story. I'm sure something like that is the reason. Someone at that one board should ask Byron Alvarro to issue a long overdue retraction and apologize to Punk. Bix, do you and Alvarez have legit heat over something? I honestly have no idea.

what was the deal here? He said that Punk was "considered dangerous around the women" without any analysis, qualification, or objection. Gonna go out on a limb and guess Punk probably earned some enemies since he's long been known to have a list of "acquaintances" that reads like a who's who of female indy pro wrestlers. Plus it's also known that WWE has a slotting system where it's not considered kosher to fuck above your paygrade. Mix in the high-school like culture of pettiness and I wouldn't be surprised if someone was mad Punk took a run at a Diva that another one of the boys had eyes on. All it takes is someone to blind item it to the sheets that Punk is "dangerous" around women, and then it gets repeated as fact even if it gets corrected later like the "Punk got punished for not following the dress code" story. I'm sure something like that is the reason. Someone at that one board should ask Byron Alvarro to issue a long overdue retraction and apologize to Punk.

what was the deal here? He said that Punk was "considered dangerous around the women" without any analysis, qualification, or objection.

I kind of thought I was reading a Quebrada there... or one of my old pieces. That's not a positive. And I like a ton of the stuff Bix is doing at Cage, and I'm not feuding with him and having for years. Big fan, and not looking for ways to take shots. But it came across as trying to justify "Why I just lost my shit" way too hard. It comes across that way because it was one of the main points: Why we lost our shit (the obvious button pushing in addition to how it built), plus to why it worked on a storyline level. Then the thread about how Punk should finally be getting credit for knowing how to deal behind the scenes after putting up with a bunch of ridiculous bullshit in that regard like Alvarez basically saying WWE thinks he abuses women and Meltzer buying the Lita story that was designed to degrade him as willing to be in a relationship with someone (rightly or wrongly) perceived as "slutty."

Or that he'll even stay gone for long. He'll be gone long enough to recharge his batteries at the very least. He's saved his money tremendously well, and I don't think a Jericho-length departure or longer is out of the question. People has suspension of disbelief when Danielsen was "fired" and took indy bookings. I think a lot of us jaded fucks knew he'd be back, sooner rather than later. That wasn't an angle, though. He got a Jamie Noble "we have no other choice, stay away from TNA and we'll see you real soon" firing. I'm not really buynig that he "maneuvered politically" to get to shoot on the WWE if the WWE didn't want him to shoot on the WWE. He's doing an adapted version of his ROH swan song in WWE. That takes some impressive Vince massaging. That leads to... what? Shouldn't the GPE lead to something more than a Nice Send Off? Rock's promo on Cena led to a nice big buyrate. Great promo? Well, pretty solid at the least and frankly rather strong given how instantly it ran circles around the typical shit on the WWE. People are jumping for joy like this is going to be a promo that the masses of WWE Fans will be talking about in 10 years. I think the reality is that more people talked about the Beer Truck/Bath ten years after it happened (let alone the This Is Your Life skit that we all thought was goofy) than will be talking about this one. Hell, for all we circle jerked about "I Respect You Booker Man", it really didn't mean dick in terms of memorable to the mass of WCW Fans compared to the Hogan Turn spots (post match on the PPV and the mic spot the next night on Nitro). :/ I'm not calling it the greatest promo ever and I don't think Will is either as much as playing off some of the reaction. As Cox said, WWE has made a habit of doing something outside of the box in June the last several years. The goal here is probably to pop a higher B-show buyrate, get some buzz going, and maybe help put over someone new who gets the belt at MITB. Or maybe Punk sticks around for a few months "forced" to defend the belt while being a dick in the big Summer program just like in ROH. In all of this, they also seem to be putting more importance on the title, as well. It's not like there were any negatives. It was a great promo and felt fresh, we'll get at least one other cool thing, maybe two on the go-home Raw and the PPV. That's good enough for me.

Keep in mind that it's not clear when he's actually leaving. As I kinda said in my blog post, enough people had enough suspension of disbelief for the first time in such a long time that it's a big deal just for that. He was able to maneuver politically to get this to happen, which is a big deal, especially since they just let him go off on his own. It was a the best delivered promo on TV in years. That's a big deal. We don't know exactly what happens next. They have a bunch of ways to go. Even the most predictable route (Punk wins the title, Raw MITB winner beats him for it immediately, Cena stays because Punk didn't leave with the belt), is a great angle and a memorable exit. Given the lineup in the Raw MITB match, that would mean either Rey getting a renewed push or Alex Riley getting the rocket strapped to him since he's been so over. It would be a good way to get his push going further in addition to all of the MITB backstory you could throw in with Punk.

What'd Rocky Johnson do?

The genius of CM Punk's promo last night: Why it worked and why it proved he plays the game as well as anyone.

The final Raw spoilers are making me question some of the booking since they're rehashing a major stipulation that they didn't honor late last year.