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On the (last?) tapings Kurt Angle announced he has a tumor in his neck and would be out indefinitely. They did an angle where EC3 took credit for it, not sure how you would even do that, but either way looks like TNA's not going out without making sure they have the award for worst angle on lock.

The Authority is veering into nWo territory where they never take any significant losses and anyone they face ends up looking like an emasculated chump. It's getting harder to be invested in any storylines since even if the babyface does manage to get a win, the Authority always gets the last laugh.

From The BOARD: So for one, this probably explains the "Thanks for all the fun times" tweet from James Storm, and secondly things mist be really getting to the end if Dixie has to enlist legit nazis to give her people bad news in her place.

I know it's sometimes hard to believe,but it is possible to be a conservative (even one fairly hard right) and not be completely batshit. I've seen well thought out arguments for things I don't personally believe in, but there's something about this particular issue that causes even the most educated conservatives to lose their goddamned minds. My theory is that this case might be the closest thing so far to finally making it clear you can't use "because BIBLE!" as a justification for being a discriminatory asshat anymore.

I will now only be able to hear Mr. Backlund's voice when reading Scalia's writings. This will enhance the entertainment value of the Supreme Court greatly.

I recall Dave first saying he had a concussion right after it happened, then when he worked a few more shows he was all "well I guess not since he's still working", then after he disappeared he turned into Cryptic Dave being all "well I can't really say but it's probably what everyone thinks it is"/

My impression is they were hiding it because it would more or less validate CM Punk's statements that the concussion protocol in WWE is bullshit. Looking at the timeline of events it appears that Bryan got hurt, did their concussion tests and passed, and when he tried to keep wrestling he had more symptoms.

Speaking of Bo, the deal on Smackdown of him wanting to join the New Day could be tremendous if I had any faith in the writing team.

Jeff/Karen Jarrett and Vader have made appearances so far.

This. As I kid I thought he was dead for a minute.

Wasn't he basically there to draw in Canada? I figured it was just because he was the exact type of musclehead that Vince couldn't wait to push in the 80s.

Maria Menounos channeling her inner Captain Lou:

What a ridiculous criticism. "Too lazy"?! Dusty died less than a week ago. They didn't exactly have a lot of time to put something together, and what we got was top notch from a production quality standpoint. I will agree that I didn't particularly love seeing so much recycled footage either, but I understand it considering the circumstances. The new footage was all tremendous. One question about the Stephanie/Dusty in-ring promo: At the time, I heard murmurs that Stephanie (or was it Vince?) was unhappy with it because Dusty ad-libbed. Was that internet bullshit? On this special, Steph seemingly confirmed the ad-libbing but then went out of her way to say she loved it when Dusty walked away from her, forced her to grab his mic, smirked at her when she did, and what an honor it was to have such a moment with a legend, etc. From what Dave has reported on the issue, she was pissed that he went out and pie-faced her on what turned out to be his last appearance in front of the live crowd so he wasn't allowed to be on TV anymore unless it was a pre taped deal. It was great how he told the story, implying that the current roster is afraid of upsetting her and here comes Dusty giving zero fucks.

Say what you will about Cheeseburger (and I have no opinion either way tbh), but Liger being a huge mark for him is one of the greatest things ever in wrestling.

So I watched Starrcade 85 last night after the Dusty special on the Network, and man is that the most Dusty Rhodes show ever. Blood in almost every match, tons of cage matches, and a (delayed) Dusty Finish in the main event. And it was great.

I don't get the Titus hate, he has great charisma and even though he's not the greatest in ring worker, he's not like a male version of Tamina out there.

Well Mero was the one trotted out on every news show post-Benoit who wasn't carrying water for WWE so I'm sure that's seen as a betrayal.

Weren't Hall and Nash the first ones to have "favored nations" contracts making sure they'd always be the highest paid guys?

I'm sure there was some exaggeration since A: It was Dusty and B: literally everyone makes shit up to some degree in shoot interviews, but I do recall Baba not being happy and Dusty booking himself those quickie NWA title reigns. The two theories I heard the most was either it was a case of Baba not getting why Dusty was popular and thinking it was just some random fat guy making himself champion or that he felt that it was devaluing the world title to have it traded like that (since that still mattered in 1986).

Every field has that to a degree though, lifers who get pissed not everyone is devoted to the cause as they are. I had a supervisor get offended when I worked in retail because I wanted to cut my hours back to accommodate my college schedule. "You need to decide which is more important" he said, and he didn't like it when I said considering I was asking to cut back on hours I already answered that question. It seems more ridiculous in wrestling when you consider very few people, motivated or not, will have the chance to be a "lifer" in the business considering the injury/politics cocktail that seems to torpedo so many careers.

WWE's methods haven't helped either. Someone mentioned that there's basically a lost generation of guys who never were even considered because they had that phase during the Big Johnny era where you had to be 6'2 250 pounds to even be noticed. Things got a little better thanks to the ROH guys who got over and changed perceptions somewhat, but then now you have the new Tough Enough where they stocked up with fitness models and bodybuilder types. Most of those kind of folks don't really have what you would call passion for wrestling, there's not much motivation for them to improve, but hey as long as they look pretty on TV that's all it seems to take to make Vince happy.

JCP 85-86 is right up there, say what you will about Dusty booking but there were strong angles up and down the card.

One of the people commenting on Deadspin's story just said "he was so pro wrestling", That just seemed like the perfect description. If professional wrestling as a whole was able to take human form, it would be Dusty Rhodes.

Just saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeting condolences, which is kind of mind blowing to see someone of that magnitude in their field. mention anything about pro wrestling. Of course he would have watched him growing up in North Carolina, but it was still amazing to see how many people Dusty had an impact on.

Loss mentioned it on Twitter, and I agree, that him hugging Magnum in his first appearance post-accident is one of the most emotional moments in wrestling,