pmo

This, they're management. They are supposed to be above the fray and impartial. Instead they act like children. Frankly at minimum Tony should strip them of their EVP titles. They want to act like talent let them be talent. I suspect though Perry is going to get the ax since he instigated it. He will be the sacrifical lamb here.

Maybe but he also made attempts to bury the hatchet, the bucks cancelled on him. The bucks took a victory lap after collision last night. Punk took the bait but this was Shawn Michaels sunny days crap by the Bucks. Also considering that the cancellation might have forced him to travel late and lead to the travel disaster, what they've been doing while not fireable is also unprofessional. What Tony did by not disciplining the Bucks is give them carte blanche to bully the lockeroom at will like a dime store Hall and Nash.

That's a actually a really good analogy. The Elite are pulling petty, obnoxious shit on the uptight wound up vet and crying that he's abusive when he explodes on them and their friends. The only difference is the Elite are trying to come off like their inclusive and for the fans while Michaels didn't give a crap. Honestly it's this part that riles me up.

Agreed, to paraphrase Cornette Punk needs to get out of the of wrestling business and into the CM Punk business. Do a podcast, commentaries, appearances. He should have enough cash to take jobs he wants. As for the rest, TK needs to find Fulham a replacement striker and a number 6 to have ready to go for the January window. After he needs to address the unprofessionalism of the Elite. Punk might have gotten the ax but they started this and the fact they have been allowed to act this way with minimal repercussions is crap. If I were Tony I would let the bucks, Page, and Omegas contracts run out.

TBF its pro wrestling, but this is what I would be worried about. I just don’t know how of the curtain TK wants thrown back. It wasn’t great for the WWE at the time and won’t be here.

Possibly, my thought is that yeah they might have an open and shut case but to get there they're going to have show the EVPs or TK in a very unflattering light.

Good luck on the with cause. Punk is likely litigious MFer and that's probably going to bring to light somethings they probably don't want brought to. Also hope they got the belt back... As for me Punk and his story lines are only thing that remotely caught my interest. Between this and bottling Fulham's transfer window TK is on my shit list this week.

Nah Punk will take cash and go back to being retired. Probably will get the cash too as Tony is probably scared of Punks side of the story coming out.

I mean considering it's the International title and you want to do a brand split wouldn't it be logical to get it over to like Omega or Moxley on the Dynamite side or Punk on the Collision side? Then it can be a top title on one side and the world on the opposite.

I think the issue is they are "being above it" but then all of these rumors and reports are coming from their "guys" like Meltzer and trashing Punk and complaining how he's a cancer. It's kind of passive aggressive and that irritates people. Combine that with a segment of fans that vastly prefer what Punk does to what they do and there you are.

Yeah I think you're seeing the limits of the DVDVR style of booking and talent management. You have a number of diverse talents with their own egos and views on how wrestling should. While it sounds like fun to see how these clash the reality you have a lot of guys with a different views on the business from the Elite's goofy, holier than thou style to Punk and co's more classic issue based style. I think the hope was something like a package show, 90s WCW maybe, with a little something for everyone. But like WCW it's made for a divided locker room with no one on the same page and everyone out for themselves. It's gotten to the point where there's literally two separate shows with different booking philosophies and feels (Ironically the WWE has been trying to accomplish this with every brand split and can't get out of its own way the other way). All that said I wouldn't hold my breath on TK acting. Just watching the Mitro situation as a Fulham supporter you can see how slow tbe Khans are to act. In this case the money is good and ratings are decent I think this keeps happening until someone gives up.

Not too much. Cagematch has his last WWF tour where he was beating Yoko by DQ. He then pops on the G1 Climax Special tour, tagging with Mutoh to defeat the Hellraisers and getting his win back from May on the final night of the tour. He also beats Fujinami at the 1/4 dome show. So not much besides WCW but what did do was high profile NJPW stuff. Still nutty he has like 10 matches (9-1) and gets #2. Only thing is I can thing of they wanted the two American heavyweight champs 1 and 2....

Yeah then it makes even more sense because it means that it includes the back half of the Mysterio/Malenko Feud which includes another title reign for Dean. It cuts out the last quarter of 97 where Dean is much less involved. For Rey it's neutral as while he picks up a title reign he loses one and the Eddie Feud which was the best thing he did in 97. Eddie loses his Cruiser reigns and the Rey feud as well. So both guys lose something while Dean only gains' It also makes sense for why the WWE guys didn't sneak in here. Hart is out until November, Austin really isn't Austin until the Bret match, and Shawn early-mid 97 is such a disaster you're swapping out one good run for another. Taker is like Rey as he gains the Mankind feud but loses the Shawn/Kane Feud So yeah things just fell into place here for Dean really. The big names all had down/Incomplete years and he is clearly above his peers.

Yeah, but let's go through it. I am going to make the assumption that the list is probably locked in by Sept/Oct 97 so let's make the assumption that basically Oct 97 is the cutoff Benoit was in the midst of being buried by Sullivan for the Nancy thing and when he wasn't he was stuck tagging with Mongo (who was getting title shots over him). He doesn't sniff a title until 98 so he's out Rey also didn't have a great early 97 being stuck fueding with Prince Iaukea and not really touching the belt until late 97 and even then a quick reign before dropping back to Eddy Eddy has probably the best case where he came into 97 but dropped the belt to Dean and had a heel turn then feuded with Jericho until the he got cruiserweight title late in 97. My guess is the Rey/Eddy happened after they finished the list so really the best part of his year is missed. So yeah Dean has the right hot streak during the time period they're looking at. The only other guy in that similar l spot was DDP, who finished 5th and while liked wasn't held in the regard Malenko was. Jericho had won the cruiserweight title a bunch but really was still in bouncy Babyface Jericho which was not great. So it Dean it is the ...

Oh agree totally. At least with Malenko he was “World Cruiserweight Champion” so technically it was a world title in a way . They probably were trying to mimic The Ring boxing mag which would often give their fighter of year awards to the lower weight classes if their wasn’t a definitive heavyweight (which common by the 90s). So Malenko was sort of the “pound for pound” best in 96-97. Unlike Benoit, they could kayfabe justify it with 3 world titles in his weight class and then jumping up a weight class to get US.

It was pandering to smarts essentially as the magazine was trying straddle the Kayfabe line. Just look at the list compared to 95 or 96. Dean also had come off a big year in 96/97 getting 3 cruiserweight titles and the US title along with big feuds with Rey, Ultimo, syxx, and Eddie. Other than the Jericho feud it was his peak. He was the top American Cruiser, had an established “wrestler” gimmick, and working with those guys above was having a ton of great matches. So while at time it was a bit odd and people saw through it as pandering, it also wasn’t totally nuts. Tbh most IWC fans believed Benoit was better, but he buried in 97.

Yeah in hindsight Vince filling up his bump card in your 40s and 50s was probably not a great idea....

Yeah BFT looks the stunner equivalent of Shane Douglas's franchiser (his finish in WCW 00) which was a rock bottom Manhattan drop. Both look like janky versions of popular moves.

Yeah I think a few things help; * Cornette; he and Last have a great rapport. Their non wrestling bits, especially on food and travel, feel natural and are generally relatable/funny. * Last is a good straight man who isn't afraid to disagree with Cornette. He also does his research and know his stuff. * They are willing to go in hard on both major promotions and not pull punches. As mentioned a lot of stuff elsewhere sounds like shilling. He clearly doesn't care much who he pisses off and that's a good thing. * As mentioned it's helped a lot Cornette has been proven right. The fact they have nailed a lot of what's going on gives him credibility where others don't. Is it perfect show no, it's way too long and Cornette can get lost rehashing the same things over and over again, but it's better than a lot of what's still out there.

Yeah you could tell when he showed up on Superstars in 80s Vince was a pretty big mark for him. I wonder if that's why Graham was so bummed about dropping the strap. He thought Vince had enough pull with his old man to keep the strap for him.

I wonder if they will do a kind of Bockwinkel/Lawler southern title deal with the new championship. Have Roman enter the tournament on the SmackDown side and have Cody go over Roman in the finals getting his first pin and a title but Roman still has his belts (maybe with Bloodline interference backfiring). Cody, and the new title, gets credibility of beating Roman to win the title but allows you to continue the feud to WM. Alternatively you could put Solo in the spot for Cody to beat for the title. Have Roman lose it after Solo jobs and challenge Cody on the appt with Cody going over as his first defense.

To be fair to TK the goal was 5k and he basically met the goal on his own. That said hope Dean gets well soon.

I wonder if this second show is why the All Atlantic title was renamed the International title. Perhaps MJF moves over with Punk and the International title becomes the main title on the other show...

Yeah I think 40k+ has to be the goal. If then they would probably run Craven cottage where they can get 30-35k and since they own the ground they don't have to pay to use it(although they have to deal with a difficult town council)

Agreed I think the key word is what success is measured by. If the new TV deals are solid and gates remain high Vince is fine. However if there is any kind of pull back, they lose the fox deal or have to take a substantial cut I wonder how patient they will be. As far as the interview I think the question is how much of it is Emmanuel saying the things to make a seemingly dimished Vince happy and how much he means. Just hearing Cornette comment on how different Vince was from when he worked with him is surprising. It does make you wonder if there is some CTE issues...