Bix

Former WWE writer Pete Doyle comments on Raw championship picture

Only in WWE: According to today's WON, either Vince McMahon or Kevin Dunn freaked out and was afraid that the name "Birmingham" sounded terrible, thus the tapings 2 weeks ago were only referred to as being from "the United Kingdom."

When John Laurinaitis told him that he was released because "creative [had] nothing for [him]," did he call Laurinaitis out on it because he just got his new La Resistance gear in the mail? If so, how did Laurinaitis respond?

http://loserleavestown.net/?p=23 Lance Russell returns for another great interview. Lots of ground covered, including his departure from Memphis/the CWA for WCW in 1989, producing the WCW Hotline 900 number (as well as Jim Herd’s post-WCW hotline venture), Jerry Jarrett’s accusations against him and Jerry Lawler, the various Memphis bookers, random thoughts on various personalities that came through Memphis, and much more. Over 70 minutes long and well worth listening to.

All the stuff that was to be asked last time but left out due to time constraints, plus any new questions you may have. Check out the first Lance interview here. Plus it's a sort of 1 year anniversary Podcast! And coming soon: Various Rob Naylor shows, including discussions of Polynesian wrestlers.

Well, yeah, but the majority of the big upsets were known guys like Couture, Serra (a TUF winner), Keith Jardine (a TUF contestant), and Forrest Griffin (popular TUF winner who continuously proved himself to be a top fighter). Gonzaga is the exception (I don't think you can necessarily say Kongo beating Cro Cop was that much of an upset).

I get it hurting the "dream fight" idea, but theoretically, the possibility of an upset should HELP buys.

Yes.

LESSONS OF 2007~!~!~! : there ARE no tomato cans And according to Meltzer in the Couture story in the WON this week, the upsets were at fault for UFC's PPV buys dropping. WHAT?

Did people notice 20 years ago how weird Prime Time was with repeating matches and presenting matches and skits that were 2 years-old as new?

"Nothing the WWE does that reflects bad faith surprises me." Cary Icter is awesome. EDIT: Reading further, it seems like WWE may be in the right in this specific case. Though that is still at awesome quote.

Saying Benoit was in better cardiovascular shape than Guerrero = accurate. Claiming he better performer because of it = creepy.

Looking back, Meltzer in Summer '05 saying Benoit was better than Eddy Guerrero because Eddy wasn't in as good cardiovascular shape is terribly creepy.

I believe there are 50ish episodes in the library, TFN may not have signed for more than 12 episodes.

Right, because regulating wrestling would magically help Michael Benoit's potential lawsuit. McDevitt...that guy, that fucking guy...

You clearly have no respect for the boys in the back who bust their asses for you. You could not be more wrong if you claimed that you saw Elvis walking down the street. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

Oh, I'm not saying even that it's something that should happen, just that it's an interesting way to look at wrestling. Especially after Kronus's postmortem outing, which could've been gigantic if someone outed it in the mainstream media at the right time.

John, you're classified as a historian, right? Did you vote for Rey and Jose was too busy to send in his ballot or was Jose the only vote or what?

Could you imagine the shit storm if that had been outed in the mainstream media during its brief coverage of Kronus's death? "WRESTLING DEATH FACTORY EXPLOITS MENTALLY RETARDED MAN, HIDES HIS CONDITION." Plus, if that was able to be kept secret, only known by those in the business until Meltzer published the obituary/biography, what the hell else is being hidden (of a similar nature or otherwise)? Is there an Elvis-esque superstar who insiders think may have been mentally retarded and guided by managers?

Or, to put it bluntly, it's a business based on self-injury.

Well, keep in mind that one of the big lessons of wrestling's history that no one ever learns is that people in and around the biz tend to think they're bulletproof until they got shot...and sometimes not even then. All the anecdotal experience in the world won't do a thing once you've tricked yourself into thinking it doesn't apply to you. Well, yes, but this won't fly in a real world lawsuit (and I know you're not saying it would).

Saying it's the only reason would be foolish. Saying it couldn't have been a contributing cause would also be foolish. On the lawsuit side, it's far from outlandish. WWE has enough anecdotal experience that they should have been more pro-active.

According to someone who saw the galleys pre-Benoit murders, there were a bunch of stories about Benoit that were terribly creepy in hindsight. One of them was Benoit seeing a Japanese referee crying for some reason on a bench in the locker room, cackling, and remarking "What a gay bitch!"

I asked someone who would know about how Matysik got the rights. KPLR just gave them to him, not thinking there was any money to be made. Also, Matysik hasn't sold to The Fight Network, he's just leasing the TV rights to them.

Excellent article from MacLeans about the concussion issue in general, with a lot about Benoit. New stuff of note: