sek69

Just checked out the WO board for the first time in a while, and apparently Bryan has quotes from rovert in his sig in reference to the whole "not getting that CM Punk's leader gimmick has religious overtones" affair. Seemed a little juvenile for someone in his position to be basically trolling a paid member of his site. Just another reminder of how that place has the (well-deserved) reputation it has because they just emulate what those in charge do. "I LEARNED IT BY WATCHING YOU!"

Listening to Alvarez on Dave Lagana's podcast provided a real Rick James "I never put my boots on his couch/Sure I put my boots on his couch" moment. He mentioned how someone on the board once made it their mission to prove no one listened to WOL when it was on Eyeada, as if that was a crazy thing to suggest. Not more than two sentences later he mentioned they were the most listened show there but that didn't mean much because no one listened to Eyeada. Cocaine's a hell of a drug. I mean, I know what he meant but the way he said it made him look like a goof who just contradicted himself, which seems to be an issue he has.

Wasn't the dress code stuff part of the BS being fed to them by Matt Hardy when he was out to bury Punk in the sheets?

What I'd like to know is this: How was it that Pettingill lasted several years with WWF and others who clearly didn't work out, such as Rob Bartlett and Charlie Minh, weren't there very long? Did he get signed to a multi-year deal or was WWF just so intent on having some goofy, "get hyped" announcer as part of the show? I think he had a multi year deal, and it was also a JR kind of situation where they couldn't find anyone better to replace him.

Speaking of Savage, watching the 3/18/89 MSG show on demand and Lanny Poffo's doing one of his poems where he starts heeling on Hulk Hogan and saying Savage was going to win at Wrestlemania V (which was in a couple of weeks). This was before the Genius gimmick, and I guess it was as close as they ever got to acknowledging the relationship between Lanny and Randy.

You know, considering their recent (as in late 90s on up) history, I wonder if Randy Savage had debuted in 1998 with the exact same gimmick they wouldn't have pushed Liz as the breakout star of the act instead.

Pettingill was the one who left with bad blood, not Mooney. By all accounts Mooney was just a dude who wanted to move beyond being the Events Center guy but generally liked his gig. No one liked Todd because he came off like the asshole morning zoo host that he was, so I guess truth in advertising and all.

Craig Minervini. He's apparently a pre-game host for both the Panthers and the Florida Marlins of MLB.

Pretty sure he left to be a legit reporter, he worked for WWOR in New Jersey for a while and now his Fox Sports gig. It looked like they were grooming him to be the new Mean Gene too.

Piracy is a huge red herring used to cover poor sales of a subpar product just like the music industry does. WWE sees a PPV that was barely promoted until the week before the show and featuring matches no one really wanted to see, and when the buyrates come back in the toilet it must be because of piracy considering the only alternative is to admit not a lot of people were interested in what you were selling. Piracy has been around as long as PPV itself, if anything it's actually harder now because you can't just pick up a black box to descramble the channel. Technically streams are easier, but you have to know where to find them and a lot of them are poor quality. I'd wager the amount of people watching streams is probably close to the amount of people who had black boxes back in the day. What's worse is Dave put a poll up on his site where one of the options was "watched on a stream" and it got like a 11% response so now it's becoming a talking point because it was one of those times where he thinks the usual WON reader hardcore fan is an accurate representation of the WWE audience as a whole. No one makes the argument that TNA PPVs get no buys because everyone's watching streams, and UFC/Boxing PPVs still get a million buys for their big shows with streams.

The crowd didn't turn on him for it, but we've seen guys get tagged as sloppy or not knowing how to work for less. If it's true he's already started to rub people the wrong way backstage stuff like this is blood in the water for the sharks.

So in the shock of Edge's retirement, will anyone remember Primo nearly doing to Sin Cara what Jim Duggan did to Alex Wright by almost screwing up his debut match? If you didn't see it, the finish was a spot off the top rope, Primo slipped off the ropes and nearly shoot crotched himself, and Sin tumbled all the way to the floor. The announcers sort of covered it, but that's what I was afraid of when I first heard about him being signed: how many people in WWE are going to be able to take his offense without making one or both people in the match look silly?

Word is coming out that the segment on RAW tonight was 100% legit. Edge has been one of the guys Dave has been blind item-ing about when he was talking about a top WWE guy thinking about retiring soon, and recent tests showed more damage to his rebuilt neck. Apparently they just gave him a mic and told him he could say goodbye however he wanted. Looks like they're going to do an angle on Smackdown to set up how they're going to fill the title, kind of shocking to have this happen all of a sudden.

It's a lot easier to get guys over, even if it's just as a midcard act, if they're allowed to showcase what they can do occasionally. It would create better builds for PPVs since it wouldn't be filled with matches you've seen a million times already, the only reason I can see why they wouldn't is because now giving away matches on TV is the new How Things Are Done and no one wants to change it.

The retirement stip was supposed to be legit, Vince wanted him in a non wrestling role. Savage felt he had more to offer, and obviously he did.

I don't disagree with the people who suspect he's working, but at this stage who's he working? Unless his goal is to go to the grave with the entire world pissed at him, I don't see a payoff.

I wasn't commenting on you, just how it's bullshit for them to start giving a guy a reputation (which for all but a few guys is an insurmountable burial) when he probably isn't even aware of what they're saying about him.

Didn't he bypass the English classes along with developmental? The only people backstage who could understand him would be Rey and I'm guessing probably Chavo/Vickie. Also isn't it likely if he is talking about taking masks/hair it's because only someone booked as a top guy like he was would have taken as many as he did. It's kind of a "shoot accomplishment" in a way since it's a sign of how big a draw someone is in Mexico.

Sometimes it seems like Russo's biggest problem is that he's convinced himself he's the smartest guy in the room, and neither WCW or TNA had anyone around to tell him otherwise.

I find this somewhat surprising. I would have thought that dishonorable distinction would be levied upon someone like Vince or to a lesser degree, Benoit. Not saying Russo is not on the list, just never thought he would be #1. Honestly, the only people who think Vince damaged pro wrestling are bitter old carnies who worked for (or ran) territories that didn't see what Vince saw.

Sid throwing Hogan out of the Rumble was one of the defining moments of fans rejecting what was being pushed, and it's kind of surprising how little it's spoken about now.

So is that WWE corporate link basically saying HHH was responsible for hiring Mistico? The thought of him watching CMLL tapes to discover new talent is amusing to me.

I liked Bret shooting down the "no one was sure if Andre would do business/Hogan was afraid of a shoot" myth down. Patterson trying to sell that Andre was in the gym 6 days a week to be in shape for WM3 was pretty funny considering another tidbit revealed was that the famous motorized ring carts came about since it was doubtful Andre could walk that far to the ring.

I find it hard to believe he thought "belt" was a wrestling only term, you don't have to be a superfan to know it's a common term anywhere title belts are used. It's also kind of hard to believe he'd ask a question to someone backstage that would make him appear to be such a dumbass. Is Matt Hardy giving Dave exclusives again?

Sin Cara using the old Spirit Squad trampoline to nearly clothesline himself into the top rope wasn't exactly impressive. It did get better, but it wasn't exactly what you'd expect after all the hype videos. Plus based on houseshow reports, they let him do his flashy Mistico stuff the first night and the rest of the time they have him be Generic FCW High Flyer Guy (which he apparently did better than anyone but still) so it kind of makes you wonder why'd they bother signing him if they won't let him do any of the stuff that got him noticed. Also I read Dave's deal with Miz as more frustration at them never giving him a clean win or going strong over anyone and seeming being content in getting him over by just telling people he's a big star. I kind of agree with him, especially how they had Alberto go out and kick the shit out of Evan Bourne and that's more than they let Miz do in months. They clearly like how he goes on TV and is really good doing the kind of mainstream stuff Vince gets a boner over, but not enough to actually have their champion win a match cleanly.