sek69

From SmarksChoice:

Sable had about as much of a bridge-burning exit as you can get and she got re-hired by the WWE. Women wrestlers have less negotiation room because women's wrestling has never even come close in popularity to men's wrestling. It's not even a WWF/E thing, as the NWA had women wrestling and various women's feds have been around and it never catches on. Women wrestling is a niche in the US like midget wrestling used to be. The only time it was close was during the Rock n' Wrestling era when Wendi Richter was the most over woman the WWF has ever had, but who's to say that's not because she was paired with Cindi Lauper who was a huge pop star at the time? It sure wasn't because of her ringwork, she was the shits in the ring. You really can't compare guys like the Rock to women wrestlers either. It's like the Pens expecting to treat Sidney Crosby and some scrub from their AHL team the same in contract negotiations. The Rock is one of the biggest draws in company history and has made more money than anyone not named Hogan or Austin. Of course WWE would roll out the red carpet if he wanted to come back. No woman wrestler would get that attention because no woman wrestler has ever made the company that much money. Sable has probably been the best women's draw in the post-80s era, and I'm willing to bet if Brock ever comes back to WWE, she might too. As far as Kanyon goes, it's been common knowledge for a while now that Vince and his inner circle pretty much only focus on the main eventers. I don't think Vince knows or cares about the sexual orientation of anyone in the middle or undercard, hell you can make the argument he doesn't even know they exist most of the time. Making the claim that the WWE would fire someone for being gay when most if not all of their releases are for little or no reason whatsoever seems to be a stretch. He was injured a lot and we all know WWE creative has a hard time finding something for people to do who are in the mid card or lower, and that seems a much more likely reason for dismissal than his sexual status. I still think he's working an angle with that indy, but then again you played the "you can't judge if you aren't in the business" card, so what do I know.

What gets lost in the outrage over the Eddie angle is that WWE felt that's what had to be done to get Rey heat, basically turn him into Eddie by proxy. When you stop to think about it, that's pretty disrespectful of Rey.

WWE shot itself in the foot by freaking out and putting the title on Edge and then back on Cena 3 months before WM. It cut the drama out of the match since now HHH winning won't have the added zest of being the the one to defeat a long reigning champ. The only draw Taker has at WM is who is the guy who'll end his win streak, and you know damn well Mark Henry isn't going to be the one to do it. The only drama here is how is Taker going to finish him: the one-inch (off the ground) chokeslam or will he try to Tombstone him have his back collapse like a lawn chair? Angle-Orton might be a draw, but again the WWE booking rears its ugly head. Orton would have to go over to justify the angle they're running. The way things are going now, the fans are going to be totally confused if they're supposed to cheer for Angle or not, which will probably muddle the crowd reaction.

I'm thinking WWE sold it to her by mentioning that her appearing at a PPV that's going to be released on DVD would mean more royalties for the family.

.....and that Ken Anderson in OVW became Ken Kennedy in WWE which everyone knows is Vince's middle name and it's probably the reason he's getting pushed. He's also got undeniable charisma that will make him a superstar if he's allowed to do what he was able to do in OVW. I think Vince probably saw that and overruled Steph's hatred of all things Heyman. I'm sure smoke comes from her ears every time he appears on WWE TV.

I think that fucking Dark Journey is better evidence that he didn't dislike black people, but that's me. Same thing happens to most of the men who ask for more money or a bigger role. Doesn't prove anything. I'm sure there have been several people through the years that were known to be gay internally, if not publically. I don't think WWE would fire someone just for being gay because 99 times out of 100 I don't think the people doing the hiring and firing ever get to know someone the level of Kanyon to be able to figure out who he's fucking. I don't think Vince could pick Kanyon out of a lineup let alone know the inner workings of his social life.

Didn't the Rock admit at some point that he got carried away? I don't think the plan was for 15 unprotected chairshots. Not even Foley is that crazy. I'd buy they planned more than 3 but not 15.

Cornette and Heyman both ran afoul of Stephzilla by trying to have wrestling on a wrestling show instead of her preferred soap opera theatrics.

How do you even train a crowd to do that? You should see OVW crowds, it's like a time warp back to the old Techwood studios that Saturday Night used to be in.

Wow, the Eddie angle's going to get even more deplorable. I look forward to the apologists continuing to chastize those who are offended when WWE has an "Eddie's urn on a pole" match.

Storyline or for real? Real. Do you know something we don't?

"I only have three punches, a boot, and a leg drop....but it's how I do it." Hulk Hogan, summing up 20 years of wrestling history in one sentence.

Storyline or for real? I know Eddy had problems with the IRS which is why he was still wrestling, which might shed light on why she'd be willing to take part in this.

Lou Thesz vs Antonino Rocca - No exact date, probably the 40s-50 NWA I recently downloaded this and it was way better than I was expecting. It was two of their MSG matches in clip form, and considering the age of the material it was pretty good. One thing that stood out is how the ref establishes early on that he's not taking any shit. The first match actually ends in a DQ because Rocca kept knocking Thesz out of the ring and actually dropped him over the top rope with the Argentine Backbreaker (aka the Torture Rack executed way better than Luger ever did). The second match is the real eye popper, first for Lou Thesz actually delivering a powerbomb. I always heard that move was credited to him, and lo and behold there it was in a match 50+ years old. Suprisingly, it wasn't the finish. Hasn't seemed to kill it as a finisher though. The second surprise was Thesz busting out the bridge-out-of-a-pin you see in almost every junior-cruiser match these days. I had no idea that the spot went that far back or that Thesz did it. It was also funny to see the proper 1940s women going nuts in the crowd, guess New York crowds were always hardcore. The only downside is that of the 3 falls in the match, they clip the first two and the third was ended by curfew. After all that you don't get a satisfying finish, but it was worth it to see the master in action.

I have both the HHH and nWo discs, I managed to snag them off eBay in that time period just before people started to realize that these discs were going to cease to exist soon. There's pretty much no reason to get the HHH disc since the main selling point was the Steamboat-Flair match that's either on the Flair collection or the 80s disc. Unless you want to see HHH's WWF debut match against Buck Zumhofe, there's really nothing there. The nWo disc was worth it to me since it had the match where Hogan turned heel in WCW. That was pretty much the last time anything happened that caught me off guard in a genuine "holy shit" moment. I happen to be watching the nWo disc now, and after all the WM anthology discs I've been watching it's weird seeing the scratch WWF logo unblurred again.

Besides, all Vince would have to do is point to Pat Patterson. I think Kanyon's just working a gimmick here. I don't doubt he's gay if he says so, but to say he was fired over it is just silly, especially with all the rumors of what some people did to gain pushes in the WWF. *edit* I don't want it to seem I'm just doing what was mentioned in the original post. Pat Patterson was kept on as Vince's right hand man for years after his sexuality became common knowledge. It's hard to make the case that Vince would fire a wrestler for being gay when his top assistant was open for years (and it was known in the company long before, with the inside jokes the commentators would make in the 80s). I'm sure being gay might be grounds for losing your job in some indies, but I really don't think it would in WWE. Kanyon really didn't give the company any reason to keep him since he was injured most of his time there. I'm sure the WWE locker room isn't the most PC place in the world, and maybe someone put 2 and 2 together and gave him shit for it, but I just don't buy that it was the reason for his dismissal.

I'm not saying I'm shocked or suprised that Vince/WWE would do this angle, I'm just saying that I'm disgusted by it. I know this is something well within the scope of Vince's known sleaziness, I just don't like what they're presenting under the banner of "entertainment". I don't like when kids are involved in wrestling, period. I didn't like it when Sandman's kid was involved, I didn't like it when Domenic was involved in the Rey/Eddie storyline, hell I even thought it was kind of creepy when Steph would model T-shirts in WWF mag as a kid and they'd have her in oversized shirts that made it look like she wasn't wearing pants.

I believe Steph is taking her Heyman-hate out on the guys who got over in OVW under her watch. The two biggest stars under his watch so far have been put into the lame ass Spirit Squad.

I think the "I still remember" notes were supposed to lead to something with Goldust but he got let go before anything came of them.

The kids are probably smartened in the sense that they knew Daddy and Uncle Oscar weren't really hurting each other when they fought on TV a few months back. You really think young kids understand why WWE is using their father's death on TV? I guess his oldest might, but you can't expect the younger 2 to fully understand this. No Fucking Shit, Sherlock. You think they should have their real pain played out as part of a WWE storyline? It's barely been three months since this happened. I was in my 20s when my dad died and I wasn't even thinking straight 3 months after. WWE has never involved kids before. It was tasteless when they had Melanie Pillman on RAW the day after Brian died, but they didn't have her and the kids at any PPVs. They didn't have anyone come out and tell the Hart Foundation that Brian is in hell to get heel heat. There's really nothing they've done before that's in the same ballpark as this.

Yay! We have our own apologist! (and I knew it would be you, too) How does the "it's just pro wrestling" excuse explain away the children taking part in a worked angle based around the real death of their father? I could almost understand it for Vickie since she's an adult and can make her own choices, but I'd love to here a defense for involving the kids. C'mon, tell us why we're being to sensitive here.

I still wonder if the family thinks Rey's going over. I think if they have a camera in her face to record the surprise of Orton winning, I might vomit.

From Meltz: I don't know whats worse, getting Vicki and the kids involved when this whole deal is about getting Orton over, or the clowns at DVDVR who are telling people to stop complaining about the angle if his wife's okay with it.

Wrestlers are independant contractors. All Vince has to say is creative didn't have anything to do for him (which was true) and that would be the end of it.