sek69

I think knowledge of concussions (which goes back practically to the dawn of time) gets confused with newer revelations about long term effects and things like CTE. Sure, even cavemen probably knew that getting hit in the head is bad, and that repeated head trauma can lead to bad things, but it shouldn't be glossed over the lengths sports leagues like the NFL in particular went to fudge the data. Up until recently, things like post concussion syndrome was seen as something that primarily only happened to boxers and some unlucky football players like Troy Aikman and Steve Young. It was really only in 2002 when Mike Webster died and Dr. Omalu started making direct connections did everyone start to realize the long term damage of head trauma past the concussions themselves. So it wasn't "no one knew about concussions", but more "no one really knew how fucked up people with multiple concussions would get later in life until someone not in the pocket of the NFL did research".

Interesting tidbit from the 4/17/2000 WON just posted to the site:

Yeah, but the dogs are poor workers. Too stiff, always want to get their shit in, tends to hardway their opponent.

He was clearly being positioned as a guy at least being groomed to be the next one for Roman to beat, and in the age of 50/50 booking beating up actual jobbers without having to put over anyone else qualifies as a rocket strap push.

So do a lot of the people who vote in Observer polls. There were people who had those two matches pegged as the best of the night long before the matches actually happened and would have still voted that way if the two matches were god awful and Roman vs Braun (who finished 1 & 2 for most overrated in the year end awards) had been a 5* classic. Roman I get as his case has been talked about countless times. But I'm shocked about Braun. I know he didn't really reach full awesomeness till this year but even by November he was clearly getting better and showing signs he was very good and worth a push. He wasn't in Japan or the indies though. Therefore overrated and should never be pushed in the mind of a lot of WON fans. Braun certainly has risen to the occasion in a big way, but in the beginning it sure looked like it was going to be another typical big green guy getting the rocket strapped to him because Vince reasons. I wouldn't be surprised if he finished high in the Most Improved voting this year.

In this age, that would probably help Kane's political aspirations as well.

Yeah I wasn't directing that at you, my bad. Your post just reminded me of people who seem distraught at the next generation of wrestling fan not liking what they do and vice versa.

I don't get the concept of being mad over some people not liking the same thing as you. So people thought Owens vs Jericho was MOTN, doesn't make your opinion any more or less valid. I think the hour long draw world title format in the 70s was largely boring as shit and I also know most people here would vehemently disagree with me about it. I'm okay with that. Why get bent out of shape that someone liked whatever the latest WWE offering was? Unless it was the House of Horrors match. Anyone liking that is bad and should feel bad.

Looks like Charlotte is the latest victim of a phone/cloud account hacking and got personal photos posted online. I don't know what's worse, that people still think it's okay to steal and post people's private moments or the people who think pointing that out is "SJW white knighting" or whatever other term the neckbeards are using these days.

Yeah the 205 Live comments were interesting, the awkwardness made it seem like Tom didn't know it was coming. I wonder who produces the announcers, HHH maybe? Or Cole? I can't imagine Vince giving any level of a shit about anything that happens on the show.

Honestly, at that point what motivation would Hogan have to work any harder than the minimum?

Hogan was very much like how the Undertaker was the early 90s. Not the greatest worker, but was stuck with so many lumps of shit there wasn't going to be much he could do.

Booked for kids? Just because something was dumb doesn't mean it was intended for children. I've seen kids programming that was significantly better than that heap.

He's never a guy I see as a threat to win if he's matched up with anyone even slightly above him on the totem pole unless there's a shitton of shenanigans involved. He holds up his end of the deal in the ring fine enough, but I never believe he's going to actually win unless he's facing someone like Ziggler.

Flair's run from 83-87 has to be the winner here, wouldn't it? It wasn't an uninterrupted run but 1 or 2 week swaps in those days were more or less blips in the radar. Had great angles in nearly every territory where he'd make the local hero look like a million bucks and use treachery to sneak away with the title. I mean, I'm not a guy who gets offended if you want to argue Flair isn't the GOAT, but as lesson on how to book a champion he seems like the gold standard IMO.

It's also a metric they can easily control. Simple to be the #1 merch seller if 95% of the stuff for sale is yours and no one else's. I've always been suspect of that as a sign of someone's appeal. Especially when it's someone the company is trying to push as a top guy and all other indicators are lagging behind.

It doesn't help that they never really went all in on the cult leader gimmick at the start. I don't know if it was fear of upsetting sponsors or just general cold feet at pulling the trigger, but every time they were on the brink of doing something with them as a group, it seemed like they'd just wimp out and do the same old lame parlor trick nonsense. Now they want to push him as a singles threat and pretend like they actually did all this sinister Kevin Sullivan in Florida level stuff with him, instead of how he was actually portrayed as the homeless guy you see downtown who goes around speaking nonsense and thinks he can control people with his mind.

Why do I have a bad feeling they're not going to be able to resist pairing him back up with BRAUN at some point. WWE seems enamored with always having a mystical bullshit character around in the upper mid card, and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have any plans for Braun after the Brock match(es).

That reminds me of when they were getting hammered by parent groups and for a while the Godfather was a fun loving guy who loved to have fun instead of a weed smoking pimp. Also the language quirk about never saying "belt" made the angle where Jinder stole the title from Randy on SD about 100x more comical than intended. "He's stolen the Championship!"

The Rock says: IT DOESN'T MATTER how biology works!!! I dunno, it seems kind of a cop-out to be mad at the fans instead of the company that has been ramming the guy down their throats as the New Cena for years. Fair or not people don't want to see him in the position the company does, yet it's somehow the fans' fault when they push back since this company has a near sociopathic obsession with deliberately not following the lead their audience creates for them.

I have a feeling this show will end up being sneaky good since there was zero buzz going in. Most of the matchups on paper should be at least decent if not good, and we have the possibility of an all time Wrestlecrap moment which might reach "so bad it's good" levels.

Is it bad I'm afraid to start watching these since I know I'll end up falling into an Armstrong sized rabbit hole?

Agreed things are looking much improved, but it's still alarming that it took another round of indy guys to pop the territory again. Miley is the only homegrown guy to show any potential.

Looks like the Prime Time megadump is rolling into 1989, which is a pleasant surprise since I thought it would end when 1988 was full.

I mean... it kinda is worse for several reasons: 1. LOLBALLZ 2. Referencing a song from the 50s comes off like someone let Grandpa name your PPV. 3. As someone on Twitter noted, you just know despite the name the "official song" is going to be some generic butt rock garbage. 4. It gives ammo to the annoying "WWE is an embarrassment to my precious pro graps" carelords. 5. Recent trends have WWE beating you over the head with PPV names so hearing "GREAT BALLS OF FIRE" shoehorned out of the mouth of everyone on the Raw roster for weeks leading up the show will get old very quick. 6. They did this after moving the New Day to SD. Big E making jokes would have been the only redeeming quality of all this.