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The question would be what does Vince win? I'm also not entirely sure what Blumenthal should have done to "enfore the law". He's claiming a constitutional right that is Federal, and last I checked Blumenthal was the AG of CT, not the US. He also has a clear conflict: he's running against Linda. Leaving it to the Secretary of State, who runs elections in a sense, is the proper route. Which goes to my question: what does Vince win? He comes across as largely what he's and the McMahons are being seen as Linda's numbers tank: a loud mouth asshole. John

Estimated at $50M by the time its done. John

Not Wade, but Torch related. Bruce's continuing puroresu-denial is funny. Brings back the memory of Dave not buying that Puroresu / プロレス is a real word, and coming up with a new explanation for it not being a real word when people showed him stuff like it being on the cover of Weekly Pro Wrestling... in the name of the magazine. They just don't seem to want to let go of the fact that not only didn't "we" make it up, but even Hisa Tanabe didn't make it up: he introduced into the US a real Japanese word commonly used and known over there. John

Do Vince and Linda really think this is going to turn things around in Linda's campaign? That this is going to be a face spot? Sure, teapartiers have a strange idea of free speech when not stomping on the heads of women with a differing view are expressing their free speech rights. But it's a *wrestling* related free speech, which draws again attention that Linda and Vince run a dumbass business (as viewed by the majority of people) with dumbass fans (as viewed by the majority of people). It's another sign of how delusional the two of them are. Joh

The Roberts SCOTUS has largely (or more correctly massively) expanded rights for Corporations, Law Enforcement and Government. They're not quite done the same for individuals, other than "rich individuals", and in fact have typically ruled against individuals in the face of either law enforcement, corporations or the gov. So it really depends on how the case is brought, and who brings it. If it's a pro-Prop 19 shirt or a MoveOn shirt, that it would lose. If it was a Chamber of Commerce related shirt for one of their candidates, then it would stand a chance. John

I think we all knew it wasn't going to happen, but it's still fun to see how wrestling fans love the possibility of the impossible. John

We need more talk of Taker-Brock at Mania. John

Dave in the newsletter was saying positive things about Cane's chances of winning, though he often does point-counterpoint in his previews where either guy could win. They could easily flip this into a pro wrestling analogy: Brock's big money is in the chase. John

XFL is a little tough to put a clear number on the losses. The FY ending 4/2002 financial statements toss out number right around $50M. Someone with a background on sifting through how the bodies get displayed and buried in financial statements would be better suited for cutting through the numbers. Companies use losses to reduce taxes. The WWE also sold then repurchased $30M in shares each from NBC and Viacom, the repurchase being as a loss of around $3M each... but they also can use accounting methods to lessen the loss there, such as recouping it through taxes in what otherwise were great financial years for the WWE. So the true, net, post-taxes loss to the compay is... harder to put a number on. That said, I've kind of hammered the point over the years that the folly of the XFL came at a time when the WWE had its maximum credibility in the entertainment/financial world as a Entertainment Company. Revenues were sky high and growing. Ratings were strong and a fixture of success on cable. They were the entity holding up the PPV industry. While not everything they touched turned gold (WWF Resturaunt), most of it did... and the failures largely were out of the eye of the entertainment/financial movers and shakers. How much cred at the time? The got NBC and Viacom to invest in the XFL and fork over $60M for WWF stock. The XFL was always doomed to fail, but the WWF had enough cha-ching at the time to sucker those two in. The WWF could have much better used that lost money, investment potential (be it NBC, Viacom or someone else in the TV entertainment business) and cha-ching to create that they really needed at the time and since: a WWE Channel. We've talked over the years at the cost involved in that, but at the time of the XFL there were major players wanting to partner with the WWF on doomed businesses. New cable channels at the time weren't exactly doomed businesses. I've always thought that the "losses" related to the XFL are much more than the direct losses on the division. They took away money, resources, focus and company credibility from other ventures that could have been profitable for the company in the long run, and an benefitial to the operations of their WWF businenss. John

Looking back at the WWE filings with the SEC, I see this: I don't remember that lawsuit. $3.5M from those PTC douchebags is pretty funny. John

I don't think the restaurant was that much of a killer. The XFL losses were large, and Sean's numbers are in line with what I recall: $50M+. John

Just an old time baseball fan, rambling on it like I do on wrestling. Old Bill James reader from the early to mid 80s, so that would be were a lot of the influence is from. John

Davis was amazing in coming back off the cliff several times, from injuries then the cancer. 1996 coming back from half a decade of injuries to hit .287/.394/.523/.917. Then of to the start of another excellent year in 1997 (.302/.363/.543/.906) before finding out he had colon cancer. He came back at the end of the season, then in 1998 had the season Childs points to above. An amazing, sublime talent. You always felt for him because his injuries had nothing to do with being a jake: he'd injure himself trying to make plays or take extra bases. It's very much that he tried *too hard*. John

Agree on Garvey. He was declining all the way back to 1982. His 1983 is a good OPS+, but it also was the year he broke the leg and stopped the games streak. Who knows if he would have faded as the year went on. 1984 wasn't any good, 1985 wasn't that good for a 1B, and 1986 was as poor as 1984. Given his age in that era, not too surprising. Career altering injury. A little different from the self induced issues with Baerga and Mayberry. Career altering injury as well. Terrible back issues that destroyed his career. We can find a long list of guys like that... kind of leary about lumping them in with the typical "fall of the cliff" guys where they just went to shit. Completely agree on that. Folks can waste their talents (like Mayberry) while others can it snatched away from them (Tony Oliva's knees). John

When this is over, we need to figure out which pissed away more of Shane, Steph and Trip's inheritance: the XFL or Linda running for the Senate? John

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lynnfr01.shtml He never really approached his 1975 and 1979 seasons, but those just look like "peak years". Other than 1981, he was a good-to-very good played in his run with Cal. Increasingly banged up in BAL, but he was 33-36 while with them and 117-137-113-122 OPS+ isn't that bad for a CF in that age range. Freddie's problem is the 1975 was so stong that people expected him to be the next Ted, and it made even very good seasons like 1976 and 1978 look pedestrian. Then 1979 seems to prove it: "That 1975 Fred *really is* how good he is." And after that, it didn't matter if he was good: he wasn't that HOF Level good anymore. 1982 was a fab season... this is a CF we're talking about, and not a bad one defensively. But it wasn't 1975 & 1979. So when he came down from even 1982 levels, it all was a disappionment. The irony is that I bet Fred Lynn comes out ahead of Jim Rice in Win Share/Loss Share analysis. Jim probably had more WS given more plate appearances, but Fred's quality was higher and he's CF... probably close on the WS, and well ahead in the WS%. Dewy of course is better as well. John

I don't think he was going to come back later in 1990 *for long* as a babyface. Even before Misawa-Jumbo, Choshu was moving the ball foward on the next generation. He wasn't going to let one of those three spend another year, or even six months, working in the US when he could be part of NJPW's storylines. After Misawa-Jumbo, if Mutoh was still in the US wrapping up his storyline with Sting, the recall would have come even quicker. We know how the two Japanese compaines operated in that era, and even earlier: guys were sent away so they could be brought back with a new, higher push. Mission accompished for the second time with Mutoh, and there really was no further he could go in the US: the most successful run by a Japanese wrestler sent over like that since the 60s. He already was brought back one in 1987 and got a push out of the undercards. He was due to return in 1990 and get the big push to the next level. Which he did get. John

As others pointed out, age (38 in 1988) and injuries with Schmidt. He was rounding into better form in Jul-Aug of that year before the final injury. Other key thing is that 1987 was like 1930 while 1988 was like 1968. Obviously not that extreme, but a massive one year change in offense that makes 1987 look better than it was and 1988 look worse than what it was for everyone in those years. 1987: 4.52 R/G in the NL 1988: 3.88 R/G in the NL People talk about 2010 being the Year of the Pitcher: 2009: 4.43 2010: 4.33 1988 was the best year for pitchers since 1968, basically on part with 1963 & 1967. 1987 was basically 1994-98 levels of offense. Agree with the other earlier point that it's not uncommon for players to hit the wall as the age. Mays fell off the cliff quickly, but was also anceint. Given that, some guys who inexplicably feel off the cliff never to return: Dale Murphy: 1987 was as good if not better than his 1982-85 seasons. He was 32 the following year, and dropped down to being medcare (especially considering he was a RF by that point where you need offense). Began to truly suck after that. I recall an injury in there that he played through. He'd be in the HOF if he simply declined at a normal rate. Given the player he was prior to 1988, he should have kept hitting .250 with 25+ HR and 80 BB for another 4 years. His 1986 year in a sense, and it would have gotten him into the HOF. Instead he dropped into th .220s. Carlos Baerga: he fell apart so quickly that some people, myself included, have called falling apart "He Baerga'd". No really a true elite in 1995 if one crunches the numbers, but .314/.355/.452/.807 for a 2B made a lot of people *think* he was an elite player. Just "26" the following year. Probably a few years older, and ate his way out of the league. Robbie Alomar: a great-great-great player in 2001, his last year in CLE. 33 years old, given the juice era, he was a stone cold chinch to get to 3000 hits and the HOF. Traded to the Mets in the off season, and instantly fell apart. If the stuff that's come out in public with the two lawsuits is true, perhaps it was early signs. Really hard to tell. He was also obsessed with getting to 3000 hits, so it's not like after that first bad season that he wouldn't dedicate himself to getting into his best shape to continue the chase the following year. And as much of a prick as he could be, and even though he had history of injury tweaks here and there, he was very similar to Bonds in staying in shape to play when healthy. He was 34, so "decline" isn't surprising back in the old days. In the juice era, we saw plenty of players keep going in this period... and Robbie could have declined at a more normal rate and still got his 3000. One of the classic ones in the 70s was John Mayberry, 1975 to 1976 & 1977. He was devastating from 1972-73 and 1975, and still good in a banged up 1974. He was 26 in 1975, runner up for the MVP as the Royals were just about to go on their 1976-80 run of four division titles and a pennant. Coke did him in. Whitey ran him out of town, and while he looked like he "cameback" occassionally in Toronto, it wasn't close to the same. It would be interesting to see how Mayberry comes out on an old Bill James "Brock 6" type of projection from 1976 on forward. It's possible the Royals wouldn't have been able to retain him, but assuming they did and he had a normal career, he would have been on a great team in those years hitting behind Brett. The Royals went to shit in those years, first with the coked up Mayberry sucking in 1976-77 and then Pete LaCock blowing in 1978-79. Bad luck for the Royals as the got another coke head to play 1B in Willie May Aikens starting in 1980. Offense went way up in 1977, especially dingers... was high again in 1979. Not quite saying he would have ended up a HOFer, but his 1976-1980 would have looked widely different without the coke. John

Looking back through the JWJ: The tag title change was Mutoh's first show back with NJPW. NJPW didn't run any other shows in April, and were pretty limited in what they ran in May (just three shows) so he had an extended amount of time "mostly off" due to the choice to save him for that big show and the scheduling. The JWJ did mention his knee in talking about the match. Mutoh also banged up the knee on the first night of their three-night stand in April, which caused him to miss the other two nights which included missing a Mutoh-Hash singles match that was one of the selling points of the shows. He was back in June, part of the Choshu series of singles matches with the Three Musketeers: going over Mutoh and Chono before putting Hash over for the second of three straight years (1989 Dome Show and 1991 G-1 being the others). So Karis is right: the knee was an issue for Mutoh in that stretch. He's had so many knee injuries that it's hard to keep track of them, but this was one of them. Don't think it had a great deal of an impact with his WCW tenrue ending. Guys usually headed out for about a year away from Japan, sometimes more, sometimes less. Given the push of Hash being a key story the year before, and Chono's increasing push (want to say it started in late 1989), Mutoh was due to comeback and be part of what was very clearly Choshu's long term plan to elevate the next generation. John

Sting put over Spivey. Not the typical way Baba treated new gaijin that he planned to make stars. He (or Mrs. Baba) did want Sting. But it was for a one-off: Sting didn't even work the series. And he went down and was never seen again. That was one of my points: there isn't a clear straw, and instead Baba just getting to the point where he didn't get any value out of Crockett (which was all that remained of the NWA at that point). You just start running your business assuming that they won't be around. John

I don't know if there was an exact final straw. It had been growing for years with Flair finding reasons to cancel AJPW appearances. It seems that AJPW wasn't enthused about Steamboat coming over, hence him getting pushed down with Misawa at a time when Misawa wasn't getting a push. There had been that "talk" about Flair-Tenryu that Dave was pimping. It seemed by 1989 there was very little of value that Baba was getting out of his relationship with NWA/Crockett. There's often been an attempt to toss out that the Triple Crown was created because Baba was tired of the NWA issues. I'm not completely sold on that, though it might have has a small amount to do with it. Baba already unified the tag titles, and unified that PWF & UN Titles. There were a number of Int'l vs PWF&UN title matches before Baba unified them in 4/89. It seems like it was his plan going back at least to early 1988. The fact that he never again introduced true secondary titles as the UN had been in the 70s or the PWF and Int'l tags were to each other in the 80s seems to indicate that he was strongly convinced that title-o-rama was something he didn't want. Overall, I think Baba just got to the point that he felt he couldn't trust the US promotions in a fashion similar to how he'd done business in the 70s and early 80s, *and* that there was decreasing value in gaijin being supplied. Not much value added, and he was moving in the direction of simply developing his own "crew". No big gaijin being consistently delived by Crockett, since the RW deal seemed between Baba and the RW's. At a point it's similar to New Japan and Vince: you're not gettng much from them, and you might as well just plan your promotion without them. The strange thing in all this is that Sting did come in for the 6/89 Budokan, and that had to be through Crockett in some form. So it was a strange thing. John

He worked the Clash in February and won the IWGP Tag Titles in April. I don't think he was out long, if at all. I'd have to look at the JWJ to see if he worked before the 4/27 show where he and Chono won the titles, though it might have been his return and them working the "big moment" for it. If I recall correctly, he was suppose to work the Feb Dome show opposite of Flair, and Flair pulling out was one of the things that led to AJPW doing the show. If the knee had anything to do with when he left, it simply was one of the things that moved along what was going to always happen. Flair bailing on the Dome show didn't help. John

Wade is up through May 19, 1990 in the Torch... so he hasn't gotten there yet. The falling out with Gary Hart is perhaps a bit overplayed, as is the manager outside the ring part. Mutoh was alway going to be going back to Japan, and was due (given how long he'd been gone) to leave pretty much when he did. There's only so much "managing" that someone in the US can do of a New Japan or All Japan wrestler. At some point in 1990, Mutoh was going to return for the big push. John

Saw very little West, and don't recall Baylor at all. More than willing to praise them based on what I've read. Then again, none of us saw Babe Ruth or Ted Williams hit, but we know they were good. John