sek69

Sounds like this might be a case of "X invented a thing, but Y popularized it".

I have quite a case of swiss-cheese brain when it comes to WCW mid to late 90s, but I don't ever recall seeing tapouts happen prior to Shamrock and Tazz making it popular elsewhere. To me it always was an interesting parallel that tapping out was seen as the smart, injury saving option in MMA while in pro wrestling it makes you a weakling. I recall there being a debate when tapping out became standard where it was thought that it was bad to have babyfaces tap out since it was showing potentially character damaging weakness.

The mortgage industry might be the one business more carny than wrestling, wouldn't be suprised if Conrad is all gimmick.

I just assumed it was used in MMA *because* it was the international sign for submission and there were people from all over the world competing. Makes sense to have a uniform gesture than risk someone getting hurt by verbally submitting in a language that might not be understood.

Until Vince decides again that "everyone needs to cut their hair, damn it!" What a strange ruling that was. Of course, the Triple Hs of the world at the time were exempt. Even Edge had to cut his hair a little. Any time anyone ever thinks reports of Vince's quirks are overblown, never forget the great hair holocaust.

In WWE, being tall = tremendous upside.

It's going to be hilarious when historians look back at this era and have to remind people that the main event matches at WM had to be the second match on the card because people would get burned out and tired when the show went past 2 AM.

Dave made the point on the Raw recap show that Seth's managed to become one of the most over guys on Raw and having great matches all while doing the opposite of what guys are being told to do in developmental.

I'm not sure why KO decided to start doing the Mr. Perfect/Shawn-on-Coke bumps, but I've been enjoying it. Also I fell asleep after the tag match and woke up again during Alexa-Nia. Probably the most perfectly timed nap I've ever had in my life.

Been a Penguins fan since the year Mario was drafted, so I managed to live through two bandwagon eras with a "the team is going to move" scare sandwiched in between.

Can't wait for next year's Wrestlemania Weekend where the show will literally last all weekend.

Watching 1983 Mid South, and DiBiase on commentary was talking about King Kong Bundy not wanting to join up with either the Rat Pack or with Skandor Akbar. I chuckled at him saying he respected Bundy, but also noting that most people have a price that can be met.

Something to consider: Comcast/NBCUniversal is contemplating making an offer to buy Fox out from under Disney, depending on how the courts rule on the potential AT&T/Time Warner deal. So it could all end up being back under the same umbrella at some point.

So if the Fox deal works out to average $200 million for SD, and USA is paying the alleged "three times more" for Raw that would put it at around $240. $440 total for just the domestic TV rights is bonkers considering all the analyst types were pegging the renewal for the whole package at around $250-$300 max. Whoever negotiated that deal needs to be the headliner in next year's HOF class for real.

I think so, she seems to have quietly gained power behind the scenes. She even went to the Fantasticamania shows (and was visible on camera the the whole time IIRC) and seems to be the first person in a long time to actually give a shit about the goings-on of the company instead of using it as a money generator for the family.

If they are getting the money the story is saying they are getting, Fox probably would want it live and WWE would be more than happy to accomodate them.

After reports of USA renewing just Raw for big money, ESPN just reported Fox is getting Smackdown apparently to be on the main Fox network. Vince pretty much just hit the lottery here.

My family was pretty much on the lower end of middle class, we didn't have many luxuries but we didn't go without things either. My dad was like most men of his era around here and worked in the steel industry, and a combination of that field dying off and my mother's health issues finally forcing her to leave her nursing job to go on full disability led to some belt tightening. Never anything horrible, you always knew of someone who had it worse off than you so you'd feel like an asshole for complaining, but sometimes it sucked to miss out on something because your folks couldn't afford it.

So L.A. Park (and his son) shot an angle at Friday's Arena Mexico show where they saved Volador Jr. and Flyer from a Los Ingobernales beatdown and he challenged Rush to a mask vs hair match. That would be the Anniversary show main event, and all usual asterisks about Park not getting himself fired before then aside, would be the highest grossing match in CMLL history. Dave mentioned that the wrestlers in CMLL went to management and stated they all wrestle each other all the time and things are getting stale, and asked them to bring in guys from outside even if they were on Paco Alonso's famous shit list. The fact that they brought in Park, who is probably #2 on that list after Santo, is a pretty big shift in how they normally do business. Dave went on to indicate this probably won't be the only name to come back that you would think you'd never see in CMLL again. I also wonder if a lot of the older guys in Mexico saw the payoff Dr. Wagner Jr got for losing his mask and deciding now might be the time to finally cash in. As good as the Friday Arena Mexico shows can be in terms of individual matches, CMLL has been pretty poor at creating new stars really since the first Mistico. Rush should be way bigger than he is, and Dragon Lee has to go to New Japan to do anything interesting. With AAA in another cycle of "things weren't working, fuck it let's bring Konnan back and give him the book", this would be a prime opportunity for CMLL to make some inroads to increase business.

As a video game fan, and especially a Nintendo fan, yes. Scalpers are the absolute fucking worst. Especially the ones who go into local Facebook groups and brag about how they have tons of the item you want and are willing to sell it to you for 10x the MSRP.

Coke Zero is mine. Used to drink regular Coke since my mom was a self-described "Cokeaholic", but in my 30s I was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic and had to cut out the excess sugars. Switching to Coke Zero was my primary diet change and it was a big part of me losing 60 pounds. My wife likes to jokingly give me shit about all the Coke Zero I drink, and I tell her since I don't smoke and rarely drink it's the best vice I could have.

I'm thinking that might just be a quirk in how he talks, because after 20+ years he still thows to commercial like "next on MONDAY *dramatic pause* NIGHTRAW!" I wonder sometimes if non fans who come upon the show hear that and think it's called WWE Nightraw.

Maybe I'm dense but I have no idea what "chaw" has to do with anything here. Are Kurt and AJ noted for their tobacco chewing? It's part of the uneducated Southern republican "God, guts, and guns" stereotype.

There were numerous reports of Enzo basically living the gimmick and rubbing everyone the wrong way before the allegations came about, I don't see WWE being in any rush to sign him back now. Impact's new management seems to not share the same need to sign anyone who ever spent more than a minute in WWE that Dixie had, so I don't think they'd want him either. Besides, Enzo was allegedly telling everyone who would listen than he was just using wrestling as a stepping stone to be a big star elsewhere (where? who knows) so he might not even want to come back.

I wonder how overblown the Vince love rumors are. I don't remember Test ever getting a major push. Cass is basically Test 2.0, but at least Test had some positives going for him. He did a wedding angle with Steph and had a major match with Shane, can't get bigger pushes in Vince's mind than that.