sek69

What happened to prompt Cena to go off so harshly? He's normally way more media savvy than that. Especially bashing a guy who's going to be showing up to induct his family in your company's Hall of Fame.

Man, did Cena owe money to Ken Kennedy and decide to repay him by raising the bar of dumb comments made by WWE workers? The Rock comments seem to be more HHH's opinion than Vince's. Hasn't he always been jealous of Rock getting movie roles when Hunter can't land any part better than Flunky #3 in that one Blade sequel? Man, that quote needs to be photoshopped on a photo of him as the Prototype. A LOLCena, if you wheeeel.

Meltzer makes a good point in the new WON that while it's nice Taker wants to branch out and all, the gogoplata is such a random move to pull out that even most MMA fans who watch UFC don't know what it is. He's probably literally the only guy in the building who knows what is when he does it.

Fair enough, but I don't think there were Pena fanboys saying it was ok to soap up the minis as long as the in ring product was entertaining. I could be mistaken on that. I think most fans of puro/mexican/canadian wrestling (hello Stampede stories) are aware that wrestling sleaze is a universal language. For some reason, ROH fans get especially offended when it's their ox being gored. It's understandable, but they have to realize the hypocrisies of wanting to change the subject when ROH was built partly on the complaints made about WWE. You can pretty much guarantee if this angle is followed through to its conclusion, there will be people defending it because "WWE did it worse" and even Dave will probably be devoting paragraphs in the WON to how it's something that doesn't need to be done in the current environment, but he was told it was just done as a one time only thing to get over how meaningful rape angles can be.

I don't understand why you think it's a conspiracy issue. They have been editing him off the shows since it happened and the reason they put forward for skipping a whole episode are suspect at best. I'm willing to accept there were sound issues with their copy, but to be bad to the point of being unrepairable is suspect since we've seen how WWE can do wonders with footage that isn't in the best of shape. Just to make sure I'm clear and not belaboring a misunderstood point, are you making the argument that there is no conscious effort to edit Benoit off of the shows being run? Because based off of what you've been saying in this and other threads, that's what it seems like.

Speaking of things that sound like bullshit: So many things seem unlikely with that explanation: 1. All the tapes that were kept by Turner were in immaculate condition, so this would probably be the first NWA/WCW show that has problems. Not that it couldn't happen, but it's not like we're talking about ancient footage that wasn't well cared for here. 2. The thought of WWE scouring the net for a DVD of Nitro on like Crazymax or some other trading site is hilarious. Were they offering copies of Coliseum videos in return? Did someone have it but ask that they send first? 3. They've aired a lot of stuff that wasn't "broadcast quality" on 24/7. If it was RAW, I'd say this would be a valid reason but there hasn't been any reluctance to show non WWE programming that was not perfect quality.

Also it must be mentioned that the asshole portion of ROH's fanbase became that way due to the booking being done in a way to encourage such behavior. It wasn't a spontaneous force of assholery that just decided to appear out of nowhere.

I think that's what bothers me the most with all this. It's why stuff like editing shows bothers me too, not because we're going to miss out on **** matches, but because it makes it easier for people to carry on as if nothing ever happened. Some folks have the blinders on so tight it makes you wonder how they don't suffocate. WWE as a company has been so successful with getting people to accept that death is a part of the business, it's actually scary how quickly went from "wow this is a tremendously fucked up situation" to "who's going to be on the next PPV?".

Also his constant shilling of the video where you could relive the night where CHRIS BENOIT BROKE SABU'S NECK 100 times per show during the old ECW TV.

That's always something I wondered too, not only did Honky dick Vince around on the night of a major national TV show, he was also brought back later as a commentator/manager in the 90s (which sucked, yes, but I don't think we'll be seeing Jeff Jarrett doing color on RAW any time in the next 20 years).

Wow, Paul E. brings some real motherfucking talk to the table to remind people of a point too many are missing.

Was Steamboat already on the way out by WM IV? His match there seemed to be the most obvious "playing out the clock" moment ever.

I'm just getting tired of people shocked over it. That and WWE somehow thinking that doing it makes the problem go away.

I don't know what's so hard to understand, since the murders there's been no footage of Benoit on either DVD or 24/7. I don't know why you think it's some weird conspiracy theory, there hasn't been any mention of him since it happened and Christ knows every DVD release there's people bitching "OMG Y NO BENOIT MATCHEZ?" If they release a box set, they're going to have to include him or face the wrath of people dropping that kind of coin on an incomplete product, but other than that I don't see any change to their policy.

I could make a good list of things said on TNT that would cause a major PR controversy today. On another note, it gets kind of annoying that whenever any type of editing occurs, someone suggests maybe it has to do with Chris Benoit, and that IMMEDIATELY becomes fact, to the point where Meltzer reports it. Considering they claimed recording errors when TNT showed replays of the shows the same evening, somebody's kayfabing somebody somewhere. Do you have a better explanation? I don't, and it may very well be true in this situation. But people make grand statements about WWE's policy when they have never made a single statement about editing Benoit whatsoever. Well if their intention was to quietly remove any trace of his existence, making a public statement about it would kind of defeat the purpose. Also, Vince said on the post-murder ECW show that there would not be any further mention of Benoit on WWE programming.

Ironically, Meltzer has this in his update today:

You had me until you made it clear you aren't even watching the shows anymore.

Oh man, the TNT go-home for WM 2 show is up and it features Blassie repeatedly calling Mr. T a house ape. The Monday Night Wars only offered RAW, with Cole explaining before the show that Nitro was not available this week due to some kind of error that isn't expanded on.

Amend that to say compilation. They don't go out of their way to edit him off full shows, but don't feel compelled to include him where they don't need to. That's a wise decision, IMO. Actually they do. Other than a few stray pics on the website and a few mentions of his name on 24/7, 99% of his existence has been removed from history.

I'd be more in favor of the veggie lifestyle if the people who live it didn't look like they were auditioning for Philadelphia: The Musical. I mean, holy Christ, Wade looks like he'd have to double his body weight to catch up with Sean Waltman, Is it just me or once you get past salads, doesn't it seem like the rest of the vegan menu consists of tasteless glop? Wheat-gluten protein? No thanks. Also lol @ the term "meat-eaters" as if they are the ones with the "LOOK AT ME BEING DIFFERENT" attitude.

I've heard the stories before, but I don't get why Honky refusing to job the IC belt to Savage would prompt Vince to not only change his plans for the world belt but turn his marquee PPV event into an ass-numbing 4 hour long tournament. Like I would totally expect someone like Vince to react to Honky not jobbing by having the IC title vacated and have Savage win the belt at WM from DiBiase.

Probably the same reason people read newsletters and go to internet message boards. Folks are always going to want to know behind-the-scenes stuff. IMO, the criticism Gabe gets is valid. It's not like he's Vince and forgetting angles for some mid level no name type dudes in a massive company. Like it was stated before, he runs a small group that only runs a handful of shows a month and is still all "dudes, help me remember wtf is going on". Hell, it's not even like TNA where you actually do need a road map to figure out what is going on, most ROH feuds are like "you have dishonored me, lets fight" or "I want your belt, let's fight". Also him talking to his workers like they're grade schoolers is pretty funny. If he wants there to be no swearing at ROH shows, perhaps he should have passed that letter out to the fans at the shows, like that one crowd in England that was chanting F-bombs at some kid. I'm seriously cracking up picturing Gabe going up to someone like Homicide or the Briscoes and telling them they'd face fines for swearing. I'm sure the Briscoes in particular would shank him in a second if he took any of their meth money away.

Yeah, I think at this point we should just forget about ever expecting to see anything with Benoit on a WWE production.

For a guy who's whole character was the no-BS asskicker, it sure is odd hearing Steve be so diplomatic. I lol'd at him recapping how he won the King of the Ring because "Vince had to bring the hammer down on some people who had behavior problems" without naming names. He makes it pretty clear that while he respects what HBK can do in the ring, he's not crazy about him as a person and didn't really care to team with him during their "wacky partners" angle. I was also surprised to hear how much he credits ECW and Paul Heyman for basically creating the foundation for the Stone Cold character by letting him do those shoot-style promos. Also nice was that Austin was the only person interviewed for the DVD. No random Steve Lombardi cameos. no Triple H commenting what a fan of Steve he is, surprisingly no JR either (and this would be the one time his appearance on a DVD would actually have context). Here's the listing from an Amazon review:

Oh man, forget all that noise, Finlay vs JBL just blew that off the map tonight.