sek69

From the latest WON: That really should be copied and pasted about a million times the next time WWE brags about offering rehab to all employees.

Don't forget Harley Race tried to get Benoit to stop doing the diving headbutt because of the toll it took on him.

Actually, what stood out to me the most is how obviously the answers were worded to get the results they apparently want. Usually they're a lot less transparent in their manipulation.

I went to the ROH site after reading the last post and saw this pic: Really? The ROH TV belt has a circa 1960's television on it? With rabbit ears no less?

Do you agree with Daniel Bryan being ranked the No. 1 NXT Rookie in the first-ever Pros Poll? Yes. Bryan has proven himself worthy of being the WWE's next breakout star. 32.21 % 1059667 Votes No. Bryan doesn't have the look or personality to be a top-level WWE Superstar. 67.78 % 2229925 Votes Total Votes: 3289592

Diesel had the same problem Taker did, Vince kept wanting to do matches versus other big men that no one wanted to see.

I can't think of any way Terry Funk would have been a fit in 1993 WWF at all, either as a wrestler or a booker. It would appear that Terry came to the same conclusion as well.

Not that Angle wasn't (isn't?) crazy, but that was the most obvious blind item ever.

Wasn't it Dave who first reported Howard Finkel wizzing in a cup for Hogan (and possibly others) so they would pass drug tests?

Considering they set Taker on fire last month, it would appear they aren't too strict on who they let press the buttons. I could almost see it now: Random kid: Hey mister, can I press one of those buttons? Pyro tech: Sure kid, have at it! *press* Pyro tech: Oh shi......

Wasn't the motive behind Brody's murder just all his years of self-preservation coming back to roost? The version I always heard involved Jose getting increasingly frustrated over Brody never putting anyone over and getting blown off when trying to talk to him about it in the locker room was the last straw. I also think as far as Nigel goes, arm injuries were just the reason put out by WWE, it would have to be some kind of brain injury since he was signed and ready to go until the news started to break about concussions and brain injuries causing Benoit-like incidents. Also back to the Patterson/Montreal deal, he mentioned that he (among others) were in the hotel with Shawn the night before giving him a crash course on shoot submission holds in case he couldn't get out of the ring fast enough and Bret caught him. That's the reason Vince was screaming at Shawn to grab the belt and get the fuck out, he thought Bret would start shooting.

Patterson has talked pretty openly about his involvement after Shawn came clean on being in on it as well. I think Pat even discussed it on one of the WWE 24/7 Roundtable shows.

It may be an in joke to some, but there is a significant population on most boards that do not tolerate any talk of (modern) pro wrestling and will roundly mock anyone who shows even the slightest inclination towards it. It's like there's a competition to see who can be the most "too cool for school".

I think it's just his ongoing downhill emotions towards wrestling, really. He hates TNA, barely tolerates WWE, doesn't seem to think much of the fans anymore, and seems to only keep watching out of some sense of obligation since wrestling is what put him on the map.

FWIW, I believe HHH thinks he's this era's Harley Race.

I think everyone knew Dave would report it, but the question would be how would he attempt to make it sound like a misunderstanding, or dismiss it as "boys being boys" or whatever. I mean, he does mention his money problems but makes it sound like it was all because of his divorces and not from him living his gimmick for the last 30 years. The way he reported the last deal with his wife was pretty embarrassing as well, he went out of his way to make it sound like Ric was just trying to have fun and his shrew wife was being a Buzz Killington. Also responding "go fuck yourself" when someone mentions he protects his boy is a bit childish as well. We all know they're buds, no one is expecting a scathing expose on the Flair family dirty laundry, but don't act like you're above reproach.

Hasn't it been said several times that as long as Spike covers the tab for the big name contracts, TNA is actually able to turn a somewhat respectable profit for a company that barely gets any PPV buys?

That Dave finally has a paying gig that doesn't involve pro wres?

That would make the most sense, since suddenly it went from "JR will be returning at Mania" to "JR will be there but only as a fan" and now seemingly out of the blue Goldberg announces he's negotiating with WWE.

Considering WCCW was just about dead, that would have been a worse purchase than the UWF turned out to be.

I don't think the plan would have ever been to have Magnum be the JCP Hogan, I think the plan seemed to be more like phasing the eternal Dusty-Flair feud into a Magnum-Flair one, and allowing Dusty to take a more behind the scenes/Baba at the trios and comedy stage of his career kind of role. That's why I think the accident was so important. Not so much for what may have been with Magnum directly, but for what other plans were changed as a result of it. Think about it, Nikita probably stays heel longer for one. The Horsemen/Lex thing probably still happens because that was about replacing Ole. So now you have super babyface Lex vs super heel Nikita and it may not have even mattered if the title was involved or not. You could get a pretty decent run out of that before Nikita's wife gets sick and kills his interest in wrestling. Starrcade would have done better since it wouldn't have featured Flair vs a lame duck champion, and maybe that allows Crockett to be able to pay some guys instead of going broke and starting the mass exodus to the WWF. That's a lot of maybes to be sure, but it illustrates how Magnum's accident was the butterfly effect in action.

This is pretty much how I feel as well. From 1983-1986 Flair seemed to be a good enough draw champion as champion, I don't think anyone else who was a viable option to replace him would have done significantly better. He wasn't the draw Hogan was, but to be fair no one was until Austin came around 15 or so years later. Everything from 1987 on seemed to be a chain of events that was one mistake after another once the plans were changed post-Magnum. I know some people don't believe the "Magnum was destined to be champion" stories, but at the very least him being out removed a pretty big part of the main event plans which caused everyone to be reshuffled. To this day, I can't figure out why they couldn't see the forest through the trees and make Luger champ. He was like the Goldberg of 1988 and not only did they not give him the belt, they kept having him lose in the lamest ways possible, like a blood stoppage for a trickle in a promotion where even jobbers were known for 5 alarm bladejobs. Not only did it kill Luger's momentum, it made him look like a guy who couldn't get the job done in the eyes of the fans. I even remember one of the Apter mags doing a story about that, perhaps as a subtle "WTF, dude" message to Dusty.

As always, the general rule that if a web domain has a number plus a word it's usually shady at best if not flat out illegitimate holds true yet again.

Cubeta lost any credibility he had with me when I realized his day job was one of those CASH 4 GOLD style scam sites.