clintthecrippler

I dont know if anyone would risk potentially burning the bridge, but it would be fucking hilarious if one of the non-contracted talent on the Evolve show used that to shout at the camera and announce that they have signed to AEW.

I think it's also possible that given the amount of merch The New Day sells that the royalty checks are big enough for someone like Big E. to say "let's ride this out until the merch checks stop." As far as the Shelton Benjamin thing goes, someone on Twitter pointed out that his facial expressions looked like those of a baby looking around at the room around him and now I cant get out of my head that this was the launch of a "baby Shelton Benjamin" gimmick.

Yep that's exactly what I meant but communicated poorly. Given that this was during Dory's championship run I assumed that while this may have been shot out of Amarillo, it was probably sent to the other NWA territories to air on their show, and Florida is the only WWE acquisition of NWA territory footage from that era that's turned up so far.

I said this elsewhere, since the original articles dont state that this is based on a specific diagnosis, and just a general advisory that anyone "exposed to blood" should be tested, this may literally just be as simple as a concerned citizen sending photos of bloody wrestlers to the health department and them issuing an advisory. Technically, such an advisory would apply to anyone sitting in the front row for Cody vs Dustin with how much blood was shed during that one.

I actually would not be surprised if Bischoff was placed in charge of Smackdown solely to be the liaison with FOX Sports. For the money they are investing you know there will be tons of notes coming from the network, and for all his faults, you damn well Bischoff is much more likely to have the capacity to be diplomatic and conduct himself accordingly in meetings with Network executives than Vince likely would. I am also of the mindset that the grander scheme of things isnt THAT likely to change other than maybe minor touches, and that one of these two is still destined to be out of the picture by the end of the year. If they still have to report to Vince at the end of the day, the old man will still be unable to step on his own toes and interfere.

That Funk training footage HAS to be from the Florida archive.

The Fantastics vs The Sheepherders lived up to the hype, but the real surprise was that their match against Tully and Arn was almost as great.

It also feels like in terms of "Southern" indie buzz that Southern Underground Pro, ACTION!, and the Scenic City branded shows has usurped CWF, though I admit that may be a personal perception bias just because I have the IWTV subscription. It definitely feels like some people are projecting the doom-and-gloom vibe that they have right now towards ROH, Impact, and MLW (a vibe that can be viewed as justified) and applying that to the entire indie scene as a whole, when the reality is that - as Bix said above - the rest of that world beyond the television-content companies seem better prepared to survive in a "big two" world.

I wouldn't be surprised if we just end up back where we were in 2005, where WWE was the monolith, TNA was a very distant but healthy (in retrospect) number two, and then it goes straight to buzzworthy indies like ROH, IWA MidSouth, CZW, and Chikara were then with nowhere in between. There may not be room - or even a point - to operating an "in-between" level television-based company. But the difference this time is that the buzz indies (GCW, Beyond, PWG, and more) seem better prepared and more motivated to cultivate and create new stars at that level to weather the storm. And with streaming services being so accessible now, it's easier to keep up with too.

It's wild to think that even though they never ended up following through and bringing them on to the roster, the Enzo and Cass stunt still may have cost them permanent goodwill even if they never come back. I know I myself had been thinking dropping cash to watch the Crockett Cup show they did with the NWA, but after being in the Garden the night that went down I got really gunshy that they were going to have some sort of Enzo and Cass follow up there and that was enough to get me to not spend cash. The roster was already depleted and attendance was already faltering in the weeks between the Elite's departure and the MSG show, but it's like ROH is completely oblivious to the concept that they could do anything further to erode enthusiasm in going to the show, but here we are. Bandido and Jeff Cobb are two of my "I will watch you wrestle ANYONE" guys right now, but short of putting the ROH Title one of them and booking them against each other for the next year, I dont even care much to see them wrestle in that ring.

If you are a fan of shoot interviews where the subject is very obviously full of shit but the bullshit stories are at least entertaining so you are along for the ride, the Black Bart shoot is incredible. He was supposed to be the Undertaker. He sat down next to Invader in a Puerto Rico locker room after the Brody murder and told him "you ain't the only one that knows how to use a knife." He was there when they found David Von Erich's body, which had been rotting for a full week by the time they found it according to Bart. The Desperados skits started because WCW had an agreement to spin them off into a prime-time FOX Network sitcom. I dont believe any of the above things that Black Bart said and its still one of my favorite shoot interviews of all time.

The horrifying thought that I had was that they were aware of the "Roman truthers" out there and had in their head to defuse it by having Dean make a play for heel heat and accuse Roman of faking it to get out of being around Dean and Seth when things blew up.

This. I am happy for him getting some recognition this many years afterward but he seems like such a chill and well-adjusted guy from those few minutes that aired, that i really dont want to see the convention and meet-and-greet circuit taint that too much.

Fritz vs The Sheik had about ten minutes shown but the first five minutes was The Sheik selling the stomach claw and the second five minutes was them milking a "both men counted down, first man up wins" finish. It was like the wrestling version of the final twenty minutes of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. There was some fun gaga though and the crowd went nuts for it. The Texas Championship Wrestling episode is a fun watch, but dont get your hopes up too much for the eight man as it begins with 6 minutes left in the broadcast and they run out of time after only one elimination (though it does mean the most for storyline purposes as they did a "first man pinned cant wrestling in Texas for six months" gimmick). There are perfectly competent 12-minutes matches spotlighting Killer Brooks and Brian Blair though, and a rare "pinned in the middle of the ring" Bruiser Brody match. I had not gotten around to watching the cage match just yet.

This is why I am really hopeful that when (if?) weekly television gets announced that it's only an hour long, at least to start. Two 6-to-8 minute showcase matches, one 20-minute "main event" segment and 2-3 minute cinematic packages like this, and you have the makings of the absolute best wrestling show on TV and you dont burn through every possible match with the roster they have in the first 3 months.

Now that Magee vs Bret has been found, my new Holy Grail footage is Koji Kitao kicking the crap out of Preston Steele when he came over for a couple random appearances in 1995.

I still think the there is a 5 percent chance that it's just Barry Horowitz wrestling under the "Brett Hart" name he used in JCP for one more night as a rib.

Isnt the word on Onita is that he's wheelchair bound right now after his most recent surgery? I know the Janela shows have really backed off the Onita promo in recent weeks, and i have seen reports elsewhere that all he is doing is signing autographs. My current schedule for the weekend right now: Thursday: Family Reunion, Bloodsport, Wrestlecon Supershow Friday: US vs The World, NXT Takeover Saturday: ROH/NJPW, Spring Break 2 Sunday: Wrestlemania Then a 6am flight out of New York Monday morning so I can be back in ny own bed by 9am to spend the day recovering

This was all fun and games and good for a laugh until I saw that Wahoo McDaniel got roped into this and then I got sad.

I actually ended up enjoying the Claire Lynch angle because Daniels and Kazarian. Instead of being mopey about it and going through the motions, they got how stupid it was and just hammed it up the entire time. And honestly, it was the first time Daniels showed me any true personality outside the Curry Man persona. I'll take "Christopher Daniels: Appletini-drinking dickhead trying to ruin a rival's marriage" over "Christopher Daniels: guy that does wrestling moves well" any day.

FWIW, one of the women that joins us for wrestling get-togethers finds Finn Balor so dreamy, we asked her "would you do a threesome where Finn Balor is one man, but the other is Bray Wyatt" and she still said "yes."

And since it should be from the master film we hopefully wont get Bob Luce's commentary track that is on the YouTube version.

Nothing to see here, just Bob Roop, Boris Malenko, RON WRIGHT, Ron Garvin, and Bob Orton Jr. exposing the inner workings of the wrestling industry in 1979. Wait, WHAT?!? Video and backstory here.

While I would prefer a Becky vs Ronda one-on-one at Wrestlemania, if they roll with the Triple Threat I think it will still be an incredible match and the crowd reaction will be thunderous if Becky goes over. But I say "if" because this feels like they are pulling the Charlotte card so far ahead of Wrestlemania that it feels like a bluff. If we were 100 percent completed with the spring PPVs it would be on thing, but I am 50 percent on the side that they are trolling the audience right now, and that Becky will beat Charlotte at Fastlane in some sort of "gatekeeper" match where the winner gets the one-on-one match once and for all.

Though I know the matches probably werent that exciting, I would love for footage of Fujinami's 89 US tour. That, and footage of the random Eastern Championship Wrestling show where Fujinami worked The Original Sports Bar!