cm funk

Really good article that sheds a lot of new light on the story But this comment from Muchnick really annoyed me: He says himself that this would be superfluous to the article, so how is this an example of "pulling punches"? It would be an example of baseless speculation, which good journalists try and avoid, and it would have hurt the credibility of the article. Muchnick lets his axe to grind against McMahon cloud everything.

You're looking at 2005 through 2013 glasses. A ton has changed for WWE since then, too much to list. The biggest thing Joe would have had going for him is the same thing Punk had going for him at the time, which was that Paul Heyman would have advocated for and protected him as much as possible, and would have nurtured him down in OVW. He would have pushed to have Joe on his new ECW brand. I'm just skeptical that WWE in 05-06 would have done much of anything with Joe, with his look being the biggest reason why. I think it's more likely he languishes for a few years and is released or is just sick of the place and asks to be be released. Then he goes to TNA as less of a star than he would have been in 05, or back to ROH. All that said, I'm sure if you asked Joe today what he'd do he would have given WWE a shot. And maybe he would have had success against the odds. I just don't think you can look at the current success contemporary indy talent is having in the company and say that means anything for Joe in 2005.

I don't understand. HHH had chants and a strong babyface reaction. The McMahon's did their best to draw that out by dick-teasing the crowd. Now, I'm no HHH fan, but I'm wondering why you think this. On that note, I just want to say Daniel Bryan is an absolutely amazing performer, and the push he's getting is very, very modest. The Shield is totally brutal. Ryback did okay. He's just some big ogre who can be carried to a decent match. I'd take him over Sid. Curt Axel is alright; he has some presence, but it's hard to take him as a serious player. Randy Orton is the modern day Ted DiBiase - not terribly exciting but solidly competent. But tonight, he played his role perfectly without having to resort to a slow build. Albert del Rio is a better face than heel imo. He actually comes off as somewhat likeable, whereas as a heel, he had Jeff Jarrett go away heat. The Miz sucks. The Shield is brutal? As in bad? You're entitled to have any opinion you want, but I'm gonna need an explanation on that one. All empirical evidence is going against you here. I think Curt Axel definitely has presence and I really like the way he wrestles, but the way they're half-assing his booking isn't doing him any favors. Maybe there's a big picture direction I'm not seeing, but it just feels like typical half cocked WWE booking right now. If you want to get this guy over you need to actually put him over. As it is he's just a guy who happens to be there when other more important stuff happens with the real stars. Agree on Del Rio, he's a really great babyface worker IMO. He sells well, bumps well, has fire, good comebacks with moves that pop the crowd etc. etc. But again, WWE does him no favors at all with their shitty writing.

Tatanka's shoot is worth a watch. He's an interesting guy with kind of a fascinating story, and he seems really smart about what the business is and what it's all about. It was done right before he had that out of nowhere 2nd WWE run on SD. One interesting note was the question of why he never went to WCW during the Monday Night Wars era when they were signing everyone and certainly would have signed him, and he was basically like, "They called, but I'm smart with my money, I didn't need the job" and it actually doesn't sound like carny bullshit, when he starts explaining how he managed his money and what he was doing on his own to make money off of his wrestling fame. He also gives the impression that he used his notoriety to become well connected in the Native community and their governing bodies, which is definitely some carny shit that is practically a front for organized crime, but I actually believe it.

Because a central core element of the hardcore movement that grew up around Dave over the past 30 years was to not take the bullshit of the business on face value. People in the business lie. I've been part of that hardcore movement for the majority of those 30 years. I've watched people in the business lie right to Dave's face. I've seen him laugh in people's face ("Tanaka is better than those All Japan buys, Dave"). I've seen him nod buying the bullshit until someone else pointed the bullshit out ("But Carlos... the finish was a DQ"). We had running jokes that lasted for years over bullshit ("Good diet!"). And I've been with him when the bullshit was so offensive that it took him a back, left him speechless, and led to a long rant once we were back in the car away from the goofy worker. So I tend to get annoyed when people feed Dave bullshit, it's pointed out to be bullshit, he alters the Story to get around those facts, has it pointed out that it's still factually wrong, and morphs it yet again. The WON was built on bringing truth out when covering a lying business. I might roll my eyes at crappy fact checking in the Kobashi bio, but it's just sloppy work. Trafficking in bullshit... that's not what the WON is about, and is annoying as shit. Honestly man, no disrespect, you talk a lot about how you used to know Dave, but it sounds like you haven't had much personal interaction with him in the last 20 years and you kind of come off sounding bitter a lot of the time. You seem to be a bit obsessed with the guy tbh

if I could get paid NOT to read it I would accept the offer. Who could turn that down? Like I said, let us just stop arguing

yeah, they probably do look, this is stupid. I hate that website, and some of y'all apparently like it/read it/write on it whatever call it a draw

This is just me, but if Vince couldn't get Hogan, I think he should have put the belt on Andre. Sheik transitioning the belt still works, and it buys time to build up a superhero who can actually beat Andre The Giant. Could be anyone at that point. The first guy who actually beats Andre is a made man for life.

Enjoy writing for bleacher report

The fact that you almost certainly would take a million dollars to write an article for BR. No, I wouldn't. Some of us still live by the rules. You couldn't pay me just to read that website. I'd probably stab my eyes out first.

Noted, for the next time someone accuses me of being the king of hyperbole I don't read that site and I would never write for them what is hyperbolic about that? because I read and write at PWO?

there is no evidence, that is why almost 20 years later people are still speculating about it I tend to think, which I've thought for a while, now that Meltzer is turning a corner and pretty much saying yeah, this happened, that yeah, this probably did happen. He argued the point for a long time.

nice try

Sometimes you have to have principles I wouldn't read or write for them if they offered me a million bucks. I spit on that website. You can justify if however you want, but that is a horrible website. Hope the $$$ is good.

I think the biggest problem with The Shield is they've kind of killed the mystery off by having them on TV so much. One of the reasons they got over as much as they did was they were mysterious and creepy and would just show up whenever they felt like it. They're still having awesome matches on TV, and they're still over, but the whole mystique kind of went out the window for me the more they started wrestling in matches on TV. Which was inevitable, but, they could have done a better job with it At least as a trio they're being kept strong. They should never lose a 6 man tag without good reason and build up behind it. That means Daniel Bryan has to be the guy that beats The Shield, which is what I think they are trying to build to, but who the f knows with this company

As far as the Savage-Steph stuff goes, I'm almost 99% certain that it happened. I was really skeptical when the rumor first came up years ago, and people were like "but he was out of the company already!" and no, he was in the company until fall of 94, which is right about the time she turned 18. And Vince actually gave him a heartfelt goodbye, which was completely out of character for him and WWF at the time He had sex with Vince's daughter and left the company. Vince may let go of grudges, but man, I actually can't blame the man for still being pissed about this

They did heat him up. He was totally booked as the babyface leading up to WM against Ryback, then he beat Ryback, then he was even more of a babyface in the build up to the match with Sheamus. What's laughable is the way WWE books things, and I don't blame Henry for telling them to go fuck themselves. He did the best with what he had to work with. The last several months of Mark Henry programs have been entertaining despite the horrible booking.

RE: http://www.morrissuntribune.com/content/cy...-sexual-conduct I'd never heard any of the rumors about Zumhoffe before The original story that F4W/WO printed was that it was his daughter that brought the charges, but this article makes it sound like it was a stepdaughter or a niece or something like that, saying they first met in 1998 and the abuse started in 1999 when she was 15 Can anyone clarify this? Interested to see Dave's article in this week's Observer

FYI for Buck Robley fans I found his 57talk interviews here http://www.midsouthwrestling.com/BuckRobley.html Even if you're not a fan or don't really know the guy they're worth a listen. I'd never really heard of him before these interviews then I went back and watched a bunch of his stuff and became a huge fan. He's kind of a bullshit artist as far as putting over how in demand and how important he was, but you can also tell he had a really great mind for angles.

Way too young to be dying of cancer I liked him in WCW and TNA but he was really underutilized. TNA in particular could have done a lot more with him. It seemed like they were high on him, and they treated him ok, but they never really pushed him. A Mexican guy with a good look and size who can work and speak English.....you'd think an American promotion would have done more with him

his interview with Austin on that podcast sparked me up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnZDyaZIPj0 I'll listen to aguments, ok, but I have no problem saying Terry Funk is the best

Hennig is good, cool to see him get a chance. I wish they just call him Joe Hennig though.

creative had nothing for him the last things they cooked up were a Million Dollar Man copy and an inexplicable role in a Marine movie, so, that's probably a good thing

RE: Davey being a draw in the UK WCW ran 3 consecutive nights in London in Dec. 91 with crowds of 3000, 4000 and 5700. They did these shows after bringing him in For comparison WWF drew 5000 in the same building in Manchester just a month earlier with Bret v. Flair on top Then in 94 two WCW shows with Hogan v. Flair on top drew only 2000 in London and Manchester. WWF in 94 Maybe you could say if Davey wasn't a draw going into SS92, that they made him one that night?

'99 was when Dustin and Terri were going through an ugly breakup/divorce. I get the sense he just wanted a change of scenery. WCW must have overpaid to get him too because he was one of the guaranteed contracts that WWF didn't want to pick up, and he didn't come back until after he took a buyout from AOL/Time Warner. Also the Goldust character was fairly played out by that point. They'd changed it/dropped it/gone back to it multiple times already in an attempt to keep it fresh. The last was when Dustin was in the crowd with signs as an "THE END IS NIGH" type crazy religious person.....that just led to Goldust coming back again.