sek69

My two cents on the issue as someone who tries to watch CMLL weekly is that it seems Mexico is in the same phase US indies were in the 2000s where everyone was trying to do MOAR FLIPZ, and AAA is like what ECW would be if it never went out of business and somehow relocated south of the border.

Not that I think a heel turn is coming, but I marked out a little for Cena's "ya'll just fucked me" reaction when they revealed the results of the crowd polling. Probably because it was him actually reacting like a human and not a corporate robot for once.

Watching Smackdown on the DVR, and I'm wondering when the last time there was a midget match in WWF/E? I would think Doink and friends vs Lawler and friends is the last one I remember.

The tabloid photo posted earlier reminded me of my mom trying to hide a National Inquirer from the early 90s because it had a cover story claiming to expose the Ultimate Warrior's former career as a gay escort. She thought I'd get mad about it since I was such a huge wrestling fan I must have been a Warrior fan too. I actually thought it was hilarious (I was picturing his pillow talk voice being the same as his insane promos), and when all his political stuff came out later on the first thing I thought of was "I wonder if he doth protest too much".

Dave mentioned that AJ requested time off after Mania.

It's not the cupcake guy who needs to know, it's the audio techs who need to know what theme to play or the graphic people to put up the 22-0 or 21-2 graphic based on who wins. I got the impression JBL either knew or figured it out based on how hard he was being told to push the "Taker's going out on his shield" aspect, but it seemed Cole and Lawler were legit shocked at the finish. Cole especially had a tone that was part "WTF" and part incredulous.

I would venture that audiences are entertained less by physiques than ever these days. I think it's because most people these days realize jacked up dudes are unnatural and have negative effects on the person's life, and also there seems to be more appreciation for wrestling ability than there was in the 80s. It takes more than looking like Mr. Olympia to impress the casual fan these days.

I don't begrudge the guy for having opinions that differ than mine (or most people's), it's just that the brief time he was seemingly trying to carve out a role as a right-wing talking head that rubs people the wrong way the most I'd wager. It's one thing to make YouTube videos for people to lol at, it's another to go on speaking tours that usually boil down to namecalling anyone who disagrees with you. Still. I don't think this is the time and place to debate his world view when the guy just left behind a 11 and 13 year old.

From his promo on Raw last night: "One day every man's heart beats its final beat, his lungs breath their final breath, and if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others, it makes them believe deeper in something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized by the storytellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make what the man did live forever"

I would think they have to do more than an in memoriam since the guy was just the HOF main eventer a few days ago. Sucks his kids are so young to lose a parent as well. He didn't look in great shape on Raw, but it seemed like just the usual "beat up former wrestler" wear and tear rather than someone about to die the next day.

Even worse was that she misspoke something while intro'ing him and he felt the proper way to address the issue would be to mimic humping her face on live TV.

It was interesting to see how the overall theme of the show seemed to be one era ending and another beginning. This was the first time it really felt like something different was taking place (even before the streak ended), and it had more "Wrestlemania moments" in one show than there's been in the last few Manias. Looking back, it kind of seems like they did the Hulk/Austin/Rock open to establish they respect the legends before they ran a show full of almost every long time star putting a new guy over. I agree there's no way Cena was winning his match if Taker was losing his.

I loved that for all the times he promised the streak would end, Heyman looked like the most shocked guy in the building when it happened.

I'm watching it now, I think he was trying to link his family at WM to his daughter in NXT. As soon as Flair mentioned Reid you could kind of see the other three get a "oh fuck..." look on their faces.

They let the trademark expire in the mid 90s and some indy promoter picked it up. If they don't blur it, they'd have to pay.

MLB.tv has a habit of getting off to a rough start every year it seems, I wouldn't automatically assume that means doom and gloom for Wrestlemania. WWE has been doing load tests during their live streams of Main Event and whatnot, and since they have a pretty good idea how many people will be ordering, it probably won't be a disaster.

So with the recent changes, is Bix basically writing the Figure 4 newsletter now (minus the TV reviews Vinny does)? When Bryan made the announcement a few issues ago, it seemed somewhat vague who does what. If so, it's a welcome change since Bryan seems to have shifted nearly all his focus to his growing radio empire these days.

The NFL also aired games on TNT during the Attitude Era, so ESPN wouldn't want to risk pissing off the NFL by targeting another Turner company.

The worst part is if he ever did get to WWE he'd probably creep everyone out because he looks so much like his father.

I watched it too. Road Dogg is an underrated panelist and he was an underrated "hardcore wrestler." Patterson was funny. I thought Michael P.S. Hayes came across as an arrogant, ignorant idiot. He kept spouting off about ECW when he clearly knew very little about the subject. His reasons for why ECW died were barely accurate. I wonder how he and Paul E. got along behind the scenes. Probably not very well, if I had to guess. I'm surprised Bruiser Brody was only mentioned in passing when he was one of the main wrestlers who was "hardcore" before hardcore was really a thing. I don't understand why this panel didn't have guests that were more relevant to the subject - maybe Mick Foley or Paul E - but it was a decent, middle of the road episode. I'd wager Brody's still a sensitive subject considering Carlos Colon is the local promoter for WWE in PR and Invader I still works for him.

I hate to even sound like I'm defending people who think like that, but I think in JR's case you just have to chalk things like that up to the time and place he was raised in. At least you can say it's a sign of improvement in society that hearing someone say that offends most people in 2014.

Dave mentioned in the latest newsletter that buying the WWC tapes was in fact part of the deal with Carlos going in the HOF. He made a comment on how that should tell you the shape of the company since they were at death's door a few years back and didn't sell. Seemed like an odd statement considering crowds looked to be way up from when I started watching regularly a few years ago, which should have meant increased profits for them.

My working theory is it was a combination of them bringing in a lot of former TV writers (who probably see heavy scripting as job security) and them going hard on wanting guys with the same body type regardless of athletic/speaking ability. It seems hard to stop something in WWE once it gets rolling, so writers looking to secure their place + guys hired for looks who can't talk for shit = word for word scripting.

I followed the steps WWE mailed out for people having xbox issues, and other than some occasional buffering it worked fine as I had it playing all last night. They were showing the Raw after KOR 1993 when Yokozuna won the title, and I lol'd at Vince saying that Hogan would be back challenging for the title soon. I wonder if the plan was for him to come back in a few months before WCW made their offer.

Watching Starrcade 86 on the network last night, and I realized how much I miss the old JCP style cable ropes that made that snapping sound when someone was whipped into them. I have a feeling they probably sucked to work with, but it's one of the things that make me wax nostalgic since that's the wrestling I first started watching.