cm funk

Flair's memory is terrible, also. He couldn't remember what year he went to the WWF (both times), and he thought Austin was gone from WCW before Hogan came in, which is crazy because he was on the booking committee at the time and Austin was a pushed guy. Austin was too polite to correct him and probably didn't want to go on a rant, because he sure as shit remembers Flair being one of the bookers back then and has complained about him in the past before them became pals Flair's podcast is good for at least one glaring mis-rememberance an episode, usually several. But it's understandable given his 40+ year career, his age, and his lifestyle

Minnesota was overwhelmingly white with European ancestry (German, Scandinavian, Irish, Polish etc) in the 50's-80's. Even now it's 85% white. Ethnic draws didn't make sense like they did in the South, North East, Texas or California. They did have The Crusher who was Polish-American, I'd consider him an ethnic draw to a degree

PWI hasn't been relevant in a long, long time. The internet killed it (and most of the print industry) dead. That said, I have very fond memories of the "Apter Mags" from when I was a kid in the pre-internet days. I think there's still a place for a magazine like that for young kids.....but hell, young kids are web savvy and have their own tablets and stuff now, so who knows.... Last I knew the magazine had gone to a weird hybrid mix of both kayfabe and insider backstage news.... As far as the 500 goes, it was like the magazine, great to look at as a kid in the pre-internet days, but when you go back and look at those lists with "smart" eyes the lists were always wildly inconsistent. The only real gripe I have with the list (aside from the laughably high spot for Barrett and laughably low rank for Okada) is them leaving off Brock Lesnar with I guess the criteria that he didn't wrestle enough to qualify. Nevermind that in the year period that the list covered he destroyed John Cena, controlled the WWE title with an iron fist, beat Cena and Rollins in one of the best matches of the year, and lost the title in another of the best matches of the year without even being pinned. Even the markiest of marks couldn't take that seriously

The Village Voice is a NY centric journal without wide circulation outside of the city and surrounding areas. Even in it's base of operations it doesn't have a huge readership. The Voice may have been available in LA, Chicago, Seattle, Austin etc. at specialty newstands and by subscription, but one article in the Voice doesn't make it nationally known. How many people do you think actually even read that article....and it got no traction in true national media. Same with Mushnick and his NY Post column. The Post is available in big cities and airports around the country, but how many people outside of New York actually read it, unless they're NY transplants? And Mushnick had one column a week, how many people who bought a copy of the post that day of that week even read it? Just based on seeing some of the responses around the web.....a lot of people who are lapsed/casual or former fans had ZERO clue about this. I've been on the net and the IWC since 95/96 and I didn't hear about it for the first time til the mid 00's. I guarantee I could text a bunch of my friends who were fans in the 80's/90's and they would have no clue about this Again, outside "the wrestling bubble" this was not a well known national story by any stretch

The damning thing is that there's really not all that much new information that led to today's indictment (although that's not the way the DA spun it). The forensic information was there (although not public record). Snuka's rapidly changing story was known. If they didn't discover during their first investigation that Snuka had been arrested for attacking Nancy in a hotel room a few months earlier, then that would be shockingly bad police work. I don't know why you don't believe that this is just police work. The first time I heard about this story was probably 10 years or so ago and wasn't really all that surprised he didn't get arrested. This is kind of just how these type of cases work. The police don't really do as much investigating as people think. If there is a reason for them to stop looking into a case, they generally just move on to something else. The only reason people think that the cops are out here solving crimes is television. In the real world they kind of just arrest the first suspect, if they don't feel like they'll get a conviction they just kind of drop it and move on. That is why the vast majority of people in prison are there on petty drug crimes, it is easy to prove you caught someone with a bag of weed, but if there isn't a witness to a murder it is hard to prove someone killed someone. The cops get to act like they're fighting crime and the people get to pretend that they're safe, but in reality the vast majority of violent crimes don't lead to a conviction. That doesn't even take into consideration that a lot of crimes aren't even counted. This woman's death was never even officially ruled an accident or a homicide. As far as the law was concerned she died of natural causes. Jimmy Snuka most likely killed that woman, but since no one really bothered to investigate he was never charged with anything. They actually did investigate it. The presentment walks through the evidence that was there at the time. The inconsistencies from one day to the next, along with the number of different witnesses he made statements to, is pretty much what they're looking for if they want to chase the case. There was plenty to charge him with. Convict him? Quite possibly enough of a scare for him to perhaps cop a plea to involuntary manslaughter and a low end sentence rather than risk a murder rap. It's not a great case to defend. Snuka is a shitty witness who is accused of killing his mistress while his wife & kids are back home. You have all his statements others who have built in credibility to a certain degree (doctor / nurse / paramedic / cop). How do you counter that they're full of shit? Put Jimmy on the stand? He'd be a trainwreck. Offer up other witness on what Jimmy told them? Those would most be people in the wrestling business, which is another trainwreck. This was in the era before some jury folks felt the need to see everything on video tape to convict, or had watched loads of CSI and thought they were super geniuses. Then work the case a bit deeper, and you get Jimmy The Coke Head, and the prior violent act which. I don't recall of the Allentown Cops were aware at the time of his incident in Syracuse in January 1983 involving Nancy. If not and they dig deeper, then they get that as well and drag it in. My guess is that a decent lawyer representing looking at the case at the time with charges filed and seeing just how shitty of a witness Jimmy is would work to get a plea. * * * * * My "brutal" comment earlier was less aimed at what Jimmy did (which has been largely known nationally for 20+ years), but in how much the cops had to work with right from the start. This wasn't a hard one compared to a stone cold whodunit that they would work knowing there was little chance of cracking it. Known nationally? no way. By people in "the wrestling bubble" sure. But your average person who is aware of the existence of Jimmy Snuka probably had no clue about any of this. Unless you are in the IWC or a newsletter reader you wouldn't know. It was probably talked about in a Phil Mushnick column or two, but how many people would even know that?

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-jimmy-snuka-grand-jury-announcement-20150901-story.html charged with 3rd degree murder slight nitpick, but when breaking this news on Observer Live Alvarez said he was being charged for a crime that happened 22 years ago. I know he's bad at math and bad at details, but come on man, this happened in the 80's pre-WM1, not the f'n 90's. How do you even make that mistake? Not a big deal, but I was totally like "WTF" and he never corrected himself. Meh

It's possible and probable that Liger requested to work with Jericho and/or vice versa. They know each other from the J-Cup days. Jericho even worked under the mask as 'Super Liger' for a while. I think that's a really cool match for Liger's first time at MSG. I'd much rather see Brock vs. Slater than Bo Dallas. We already saw Bo destroyed by Brock on RAW.....the 'match' will be the same thing, and Bo isn't some great bumper/seller like Slater. EDIT* now I see that he's not on the MSG show? Meh. I was looking forward to Jericho-Liger.....

sounds like one of the matches at the MSG special will be

AJ is 38 and talking retirement within the next 5 years. He's super happy with NJPW. I think the WWE ship has sailed

Or think of it like UFC fighters who talk all kinds of shit to hype up their fights......then afterwards show mad respect and praise the other guy. And that's real Sasha's just good at hyping herself up. She knows how to sell fights

In Sasha's last NXT match with Charlotte they beat the crap out of each other for 15+ minutes. Then cried and hugged and celebrated afterwards. If you actually follow NXT this wasn't out of character for Sasha. If anything it was odd that she paired up with Naomi and Tamina when she showed up on RAW.....but I guess it fits her BOSS character (more likely WWE just stuck three 'ethnic' women together because that's what they do)

I really didn't want this to veer off into sleaze thread territory, but Page being brought up as having a strange career, and the rumors (stress: rumors) not being mentioned......I felt the need to bring it up where there's smoke there's probably fire. and Bischoff's involvement with the infamous Gold Club in Atlanta, and what we now know about Hogan (and the rumors about him and Linda)......these rumors about Bischoff and Page and Bischoff and Mero wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were in fact true. wrestling is a fucked up sleazy world as for the topic at hand.......John Tenta had a pretty bizarre career. From a sumo wrestler in Japan, to WWF as Earthquake and feuding with Hogan, to Natural Disasters, to WCW as The Avalanche and The Shark, to just being John Tenta and languishing in the mid card for a while while getting a fat paycheck, to going back to WWF as Golga......a very weird career arch for that dude

He also had a handful of matches in Canada as "Handsome" Dallas Page in 1979, including a TV match for Geeorge Cannon's promotion, before quitting the business for years. Which makes it even weirder. I feel the need to bring attention to the close relationship that DDP and Bischoff are rumored to have had Not to turn this into a sleaze thread, but the rumors were out there about Kim Page and Marc Mero/Rena Mero being swingers.... Bischoff's name also came up in to whole "Gold Club" ATL strip club scandal where a lot of NBA players and other athletes names were dragged thru the mud..... Not that any of this bothers me. But the stories about nepotism when it came to Bischoff pushing Page and the backstage talk.......that's been out there for a long time (PS. I hope Brock doesn't read this. I don't want to die)

this. they're not actors. but, wwe wants to be "sports entertainment" and script everything, so these athletes have to memorize lines and bullet points and aren't allowed to cut promos off the cuff, or don't have the experience to be able to hit the points and ad-lib like a Heyman, Jericho, Rock, etc.....is able to do. I miss the days of guys just cutting promos. All the best promos are dudes just talking crazy with no fucking script or handcuffs

haven't seen the show (and don't want to) but it sounds like it was a total disaster. as far as AAA on PPV in the states goes.......I expect many people who actually ordered this show calling their cable companies demanding refunds. those cable companies can't be pleased with this..... can't wait for Konnan to try and spin this. for a guy who bashes WWE as much as he does, with all the "they're stupid, they do it wrong" shit.....AAA is so much worse tbh. They book like TNA or a shitty ECW.....and their big shows and attempts to get into the US market have been disastrous failures I like listening to the guy sometimes on MLW, he's entertaining, but he's such a bullshit artist and really not nearly as good or smart as he thinks he is. the proof is in the pudding. boom

Tito and Valentine definitely aren't in the top 5. They were Backlund era guys who peaked in the early days of Hulkamania, but for the bulk of it were midcard, or JTTS, or in tag teams. I put Snuka, Muraco and Sheik in the same boat as well DiBiase and Jake The Snake seem like an easy 2-3 after Hulk. After that I can see the argument for lots of different guys.

wanted to comment on a few things brought up in this thread..... - RE: watching RAW out of habit. I think it's true to a degree for a lot of fans (myself included). I love wrestling, being from the North East WWF/E has always been my "home" promotion, and it's THE top promotion in world. It's live. As a wrestling fan why wouldn't you watch it? Modern WWE has it's good and it's bad, I tend to look for the good, and there is a lot of good if you're not being a negative Nancy (which a lot of "fans" are). Even people here who claim not to watch it or care about it......still seem to think and talk about it a lot..... - As far as "hate watchers" who are full of negative energy and love to complain......they 100% absolutely exist. Loss trying to deny this is comical. I'm a Yankees fan and post on a well known Yankee message board. 75% of the posts there are negative, so I don't read or post as often as I used to because wading through 5 pages of bitching before seeing a decent post is a soul sucking waste of my time. I'm starting to feel that way about this board too tbh.......I've pretty much avoided the WWE threads here for a while because other than Johnny Sorrow and myself it seems like nobody actually likes it and the threads are full of complaining - Johnny, I love your positive attitude, and I'm the same way......but the 90 minute Hulu version and the 3+ hour live show are wildly different things. I suggest you DVR the show and watch it in full........you'll probably be just as positive about it, but you can't really compare the 2 and really get in a conversation about the quality of the show when you're watching the cut down condensed version. 3 hours is a drag, and the crowd always dies in the third hour

Wrestlerettes?

It's true that they should be called wrestlers instead of superstars, except you are missing one thing. For some reason a male wrestler is a superstar and a female wrestler is a diva. That is bullshit and offensive. Little shit like that is why a lot of people look down at wrestling and ridicule it. It's very stupid......but is it really offensive?!! Some people are so overly offended and hyper PC these days.......I find that more offensive Then again, you are "The Wrestling Feminist"......so what do I know?

I don't know about him being a master of image preservation... there are the comments about Graziano blaming him for what happened, the suncream photos with Brooke, him dating a woman that looks like his daughter and probably a few others that I am forgetting. He'll be eventually back... Hogan is truly a master at redeeming himself time after time. Let's not forget all his failed business ventures (Pastamania, the Hulk Hogan Grill, Hogan's Beach, the "Hulk Hogan Museum" in Florida which bombed hard)......not to mention all his terrible Hollywood flops..... But yeah, it's Hulk Hogan, all he needs to do is flex his muscles, rip his t-shirt and say 'BROTHA' and all will be forgotten. Ric Flair is in the same boat, and I'm guilty of it, but I can't not forgive and forget Flair's fuckups and will always be a fan of his

Swagger is actually a really great idea IMO. I'm a big fan of him and he's so under-utilized. I can't remember the last time he was even on TV

When the idea of a new Wyatt Family member came up I was looking at the NXT roster and the lesser used talent on the main roster.......and Baron Corbin was one of the few guys I thought of as an option. Not that that would be good, it wouldn't, but I could see them doing it. Does Necro Butcher still wrestle? I haven't really seen or heard anything of note about him in years, and he probably wouldn't get medically cleared......but he'd be a fit. I'd actually prefer they bring in someone from the outside, think outside of the box, and it doesn't need to be a permanent member of the clan, just rotate some people for short bits until Rowan is back. I'm thinking the way ECW brought random people into Raven's Nest, or like Terry Gordy coming in as The Executioner just to job to Taker and further the stuff with Paul Bearer and Mankind. They could even do it with random guys from the main roster and have Bray and Harper murder them when they fail in the endeavor

The HIAC match? Because Shawn was the ref for that and a big part of the build.... Or do you mean the match @ WM27? X7 doesn't seem to count in WWE history because they never referenced it during the build up to 27 FWIW the match @ X7 was my favorite match on that show, and I really liked the 27 match.......I thought HIAC sucked and was the definition of a "self-conscious epic" TM PWO

Right, he might test fine after months on the shelf and the fact that he's a very intelligent, thoughtful person (and it also helps that he doesn't do drugs or drink (at least that's the book on him, I think he probably puffs a bit and drinks on rare occasions) and lives a pretty clean lifestyle) who will naturally do well on those reaction and memory kind of tests......but it's been established science that the more concussions you have the more susceptible you are to the next one......and wrestling the high impact style he does it's just a matter of time til the next one I was very disappointed when he came back and didn't change up his style at all, after giving lip service to doing so while he was out. There's no reason he can't cut out the high spots and work a mat based William Regal style with chain wrestling and strikes and still be just as over. He doesn't need to do the diving headbutt, suicide dives, missile dropkick and all the crazy bumps to be over. And let's face it, WWE will never trust him in a top spot again after coming out of WM injured two years in a row, so he should be happy in an upper-midcard mainstay spot having great matches and being popular. I also love the idea of him going to NXT and being the ace there for a while, helping some of the newcomers, and he'd definitely be a huge draw for them as they try to conquer ROH with the brand

Punk is the only "up and coming" guy who might have worked. The Straight Edge Society gimmick was hot and a big ratings mover on SD (this is when the brand split was still going). He had the blowoff with Rey at WM26 after a long running feud. You'd really have to re-write a lot of history to put Punk in that spot, and I'm not sure that's something the fans wanted to see. Punk was not at the level of a guy who retires an icon like HBK at that point, and it's almost always a mistake to try and hot shot "one match and this guy is made" book. Sometimes it works, under the right circumstances and right guys, most of the time it doesn't Also, look at the WWE roster circa WM26. Look at the card. There's literally nobody who wasn't already established who would have worked in that spot, and HHH, Edge, Jericho, Orton, Cena, Batista didn't need it and it wouldn't have been the draw that the HBK-Taker rematch was Look at the ladder match lineup, the match for at the time upper midcarders and "on the verge" guys. Matt Hardy, Christian, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Evan Bourne, Kane, Drew McIntyre and Jack Swagger. Good talent.....but anyone on that list you can picture retiring Shawn Michaels?