Bix

So Pete Doherety headlined the first SNME, too?

I thought that sounded ridiculous so I checked TheHistoryOfTheWWE.com: I'm curious of it was Dave or the "correspondent" that thought going on last automatically made it the main event.

It was in the WON a few months ago that there is indeed movement in this direction.

Least newsworthy thing that Dave's ever put in an update?

I knew that Verne wasn't a fan of the blacks. I had no idea that anyone thought Derrick Dukes was a great worker worthy of being called "the black Owen Hart."

Don't forget the blackened ears, which were horrible and inexplicable.

In 1995 Rob Feinstein paid Victor Quinones for the rights to sell copies of IWA Japan videos that Quinones didn't own the rights to. A year or two later, he paid Dusty Rhodes for the rights to sell classic CWF videos that Dusty didn't own the rights to (at least RF got some master tapes and Dusty shooting wraparounds as part of this deal). Now after this fine con was dormant for a decade, in 2008, Highspots is paying Cory Maclin for the rights to old Memphis footage that he doesn't own the rights to.

Jeff Gorman gives the book a good review in exchange for Keith plugging his book.

Bret said in his book that he bladed but the athletic commission doctor thought it was from hitting the stairs.

I don't remember regular discussion of the "wrestler courts." I only remember a handful of mentions in the years that I've been reading the WON, with the Silverman hazing story, the Hardy book review, and maybe one or two other stories, but nothing that would indicate a pattern and I seem to remember Benoit being mentioned only once. When there were stories about over-hazing (like Palmer Cannon and The Dicks), it was always pinned on JBL without a mention of Benoit. I'd consider the Pee Wee Moore story a cross between hazing and a Stampede prank, and it was pretty vile. The "HAHA! What a gay bitch!" story is used as evidence of sadism. That's something along the lines of what normally I would have thought wouldn't stick out to other wrestlers among wrestler behavior, but Jericho cut the story out of his book in the process of deciding what Benoit stories to remove. He kept various levels of strange & mean behavior like Benoit making fun of how he (Jericho) introduced himself to him, Benoit laughing at him vomiting (including the specific story of Jericho getting sick after doing GHB at the 2nd Super J-Cup), and Benoit punishing himself with exercise because he sold a kick that missed slightly. He didn't feel like that stuff was too weird/creepy to keep in the book after the murders but he cut out Benoit pointing and laughing at a referee who was crying over some sort of personal issue.

So the newest Observer says this in a FCW TV recap: I decided to check out the match and it was a perfectly fine, if dull, generic indy tag match, but nowhere near what Dave said. Usually, I wouldn't care, but this match made me wonder, as normally, one can see why Dave rated a divisive match a certain way: He liked it because it had a lot of cool well-executed highspots, or MMA spots, or a hot run of nearfalls, or something else that he always likes. This didn't have any of that other than what I'd agree was a great finish (Hennig hits a apron to ring Perfectplex on Wilson, Natalya pulls on his leg to break up the pin, Hennig sits up, and Wilson quickly crucifixes him for the fall), but it was about 10 seconds of a 15 minute match. Anyone who's better at interpreting Meltzer able to figure this out so I can fine-tune how I weigh his recommendations?

How many times has the WWF run the "every manager tries to sign hot newcomer but newcomer picks a previously unseen in the WWF manager" angle? I had know about Savage/Elizabeth in '85 and Bigelow/Humperdink in '87, but now I found another one: I'm watching some shows from late '83, and they ran a more subtle version with Orndorff and Piper. Orndorff debuts with no manager, Blassie and Albano scout him, and then Piper (initially brought in the replace the Grand Wizard after he died and not wrestle) shows up to get the gig (before becoming a wrestler and eventually being replaced by Heenan, who also took over for him in managing John Studd, while Dr. D stayed affiliated with Piper and stopped having a manager).

I forget if he's said it outright, but at the very least he's implied strongly that he does feel incredibly guilty.

Jericho stuck around for 3 weeks after that show.

I recall that having only 2 matches advertised may have been his idea (there were similar PPVs in the original ECW) but they messed with his main event booking a lot. Originally, the Chamber match was supposed to go something like this: - Big Show and CM Punk start. Punk taps out Show in two minutes with the Anaconda Vice, making him, guaranteeing a title change, and letting Show out early so he didn't mess his back up even more. - Holly and Test come in next, double team Punk relentlessly, Punk bleeds, and Punk gets eliminated. - Lashley pins Holly, Test, and RVD to win the belt.

I'm not saying that it was the case, but it's possible that Umaga could be a statement to Joe even if Joe wouldn't have gotten the gimmick/push.

More Stupak, this time discussing Johnny Ace, the WWE structure, and whatnot: You're totally missing the point. Maybe I didn't make it clear. He wants the wrestling to suck by smark standards. He doesn't want it to take precedence at any point over the soap opera. Outside of Wrestlemania -- where bigtime matches are point of brand identity -- Vince doesn't want the wrestling to be good. It's not a priority and he disdains people who suggest it is. Let me give you example. You know Vince's favorite in-ring talent is of the last three years in regards to who he praises the most personally as a *wrestler*? This shit will blow your mind and you'll probably think I'm making it up: Jimmy Yang. He has multitiple times talked about how much he loves watching his matches. Yet he repeatedly fires him, doesn't put him in TV, and attempts not to put him in situations to shine. BECAUSE HE DOESN'T WANT THE WRESTLING TO MATTER. ETA: Jim Ross. . . you're wrong. Take my word for it. He's said things about the fans that made me wince hearing it. Imagine the worst, most toxic word in the English language, put the word "ignorant" in front of it, and that's what he mutters backstage about you. Let me help your sickass mind clarify. Vince doesn't want his show to suck. He does want his show to suck by wrestling standards outside of specific big shows where he feels compelled to deliver. This is a point I think well intentioned people fail to understand. The general assumption seems to be that if only Vince would watch AJPW/CMLL/ROH/etc. he would have a light go on over his head and say, "I could make much more money promoting a mature, respectable product that would allow me to get higher ad rates," etc. No. He is a 60 year old man who blows more coke in a day than I have in my life and despises me. I could sit down with him, explain the greatness of El Dandy, and he would order an underling to squash Benoit and give The Great Khali the title. Vince has watched everything all the smarks have watched, and thoroughly understood it; he just hates the smarks and what they like. I even suspect that he's paid more attention to boards like this than people think. Good on Samoa Joe for staying out of his clutches for now; bad on CM Punk.

Kevin Cook guesses what Heyman wanted for the first episode of ECW on Sci-Fi: PolishBobStupak replies later explaining the WWE creative structure:

If I remember the Sullivan chapter correctly, he was arguing that Sullivan was aesthetically the least interesting member of the Army of Darkness, which isn't far-fetched at all. As far as the Owen Voice, yes, it was "abused" post-Owen, pre-Vince goes boom but I believe that there were people who included it as part of their indignation against the Vince death angle.

I think it says something that Jericho cut this story out of his book after the murders but left in the self-punishment with excessive levels of exercise stuff.

This, and also that they tried to ignore his role in the WWE hazing stories as much as possible in the same way that Dave ignored Flair's drunken flashing habits before the "Flight From Hell" lawsuit.

I've never said that was the case.