C.S.

With the Lio Rush incident and now this, has Mark Henry gone off the deep end? To be fair, the full quote: “I was doing extra work for WWE in 2014 as a Rosebud, my costume of choice when we went to the costume section was Elvis. Backstage, Mark Henry sees me. He quoted an Elvis song and he said to me, “You know what that song’s about? Race. Because Elvis was an effing racist!” and like squares up to me. So I confidently looked him in the face and said, oh, I’m not Elvis… I’m the Honkey Tonk Man! He gives me a high five and an embrace and was like, I like that kid. I thought Mark Henry was the coolest guy ever after that, he was sound.”

Yeah, you should stop, because your name-calling makes you look like an immature child. You can get your bathing suit in a bunch all you want because I said Shad may not have had the luxury of swimming at an early age that you did, but that doesn't make my point any less valid. I also said that I learned to swim in the ocean at an early age too, so I have no idea why you took that, of all things, as an insult. I don't consider myself an ocean expert though. Avoidable accident? This isn't the Owen Hart situation, dude. Unless you were there, you have no way of knowing for sure. He had to make a heart-wrenching, split-second, life or death decision, and he chose to save his son. That's all you know. Nothing else. I don't care how much of an "expert" you are - you can't account for every variable when we're talking about something as unpredictable as a giant body of water, and you certainly can't speak authoritatively about a specific situation you didn't witness firsthand and don't have all the facts on. But hey, you do you, man, and keep throwing out words like "asshole" and "pally" unironically. I'll leave you to your gimmick. Have a nice day!

No worries. I'm on a cousins' group chat that's 1000x more savage than anything on this board. As for Lio Rush, I think he comes across as far more intelligent and, well, stable than Jim Cornette. I also think he comes across as the better of the two in his war of words with Mark Henry. The World's Strongest Man has now resorted to threatening a lawsuit after telling Lio he should've carried people's bags because that's what "paying your dues" is all about...or something. I love Henry too, and I hope they mend fences, but I'm siding with Lio here. I will agree with this. Even though I am a stickler for good spelling and grammar, some of the most intelligent people I know are absolutely atrocious when it comes to that.

Won't respond to your series of increasingly embarrassing posts in this thread or interject in your heated squabble with El-P, but thanks for explaining the origin of my frequent nosebleeds. Anyway... Can you link? I'm on Rush's Twitter and can't find the post(s).

Fourthed. As I was reading those posts, I felt super embarrassed for the people who wrote them.

It's mind-boggling what an awful, arrogant take this is.

Well, Matt Morgan was monumentally misused in WWE.

Re-posting this from the other thread because it really tells you what kind of man Shad Gaspard was. https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/29194379/wwe-shad-gaspard-man-supposed-be Yet another pointless WWE breakup that went absolutely nowhere. Big E even said as much about WWE breakups (not this one). The company never handles them well, not everyone involved benefits from them (he used Rusev and Aiden English as an example), etc. That's why he's fought so hard to keep New Day together.

If there is pressure on Bret in that direction, I don't see him succumbing to it. This is a guy who gives no fucks and randomly shows up on an AEW show to present their belt, then back to WWE for the HOF and whatever else.

Seth Rollins on Jim Cornette: Not sure where the transcript is from - my friend sent it to me - but I assume PWInsider, which I avoid like the plague because the site used to contain massive adware/spyware. Maybe still does? I dunno... Update: Actually, it's from WWE Sheet.

Kevin Dunn was trending on Twitter.

Shad Gaspard's body was found this morning.

This was tough to watch, as expected. Hopefully now Martha Hart will stop being vilified by idiotic wrestling fans, as she, Oje, and Athena handled themselves with such grace and class, and were 100% in the right. The Hart Family came across, both then and now, as completely dysfunctional and stuck in the wrestling bubble. Vince McMahon (in archival footage) was operating right out of the Trump playbook when he chided a reporter on his "tone" and "sarcasm." I wonder if he learned that from Trump or vice versa. This was mentioned on the show, and it's something I've rarely seen brought up. There were thankfully no keystone kops as talking heads though. After the Snuka episode, I'm glad, because that likely would've been frustrating to watch. It seems pretty clear that Martha basically had to do her own investigation. I read Martha Hart's book years ago, and it's probably still the saddest book I've ever read.

Honest to God: I enjoyed Carmella's brief reign and Alexa's push more than Charlotte's entire run. I don't even hate Charlotte - she's obviously a very talented wrestler and has good (albeit sometimes overrated) matches - but her "Evolved" Naitch character has never, ever clicked with me (especially as a babyface, where she's a lost cause).

A great but heartbreaking read about Shad Gaspard. https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/29194379/wwe-shad-gaspard-man-supposed-be

I think the problem with Charlotte - like Sheamus and Orton before her - is that she's accomplished everything already. That's why those two felt so stale well before their time (well, that among other reasons in Orton's case), and why she feels stale now.

I hope you don't mean me, because I was definitely counting his major NJPW run and said he was a major star in Japan. That's about as far away from WWE as it gets. There is obviously a massive difference between how he was presented there and how he's being presented now. I probably went too far comparing him to Marko Stunt and Orange Cassidy. In terms of card placement, no - Kenny is obviously higher than them. In terms of Kenny's present midcard-style goofiness, it's closer than he and his fans would like to admit IMO. That feels like a really low bar to me though. Okay, he sold out a few places in the U.S., but that won't last forever if he keeps being presented as such a goof. If WWE used Kenny this way, everyone would be crying bloody murder. I understand wanting to put others over. I understand not making "Da Business" the be-all and end-all. I understand having that sweet EVP gig gives Kenny more security. All of that is great for him, and I'm happy for him. But as a fan, I surely can't be the only one disappointed that Kenny's star aura seems to have mostly evaporated in AEW, and a lot of that is because he's not presented as a top guy. With that said, I have more faith in AEW to ultimately course-correct - and I do think they will. But until they do, the direction is kind of frustrating.

Just to correct your weird misconceptions: I am not anti-AEW (I like it) or anti-Omega (I like him). Whatever argument you're having seems to be with general internet and/or PWO perceptions of either/both. Omega was a major star in Japan. I don't consider him a major star in AEW or the U.S.. He's a goofy midcard guy right now. So is Orange Cassidy, Marko Stunt, etc. Nothing wrong with that. But it's also natural to be disappointed at the comedown in status. Obviously, behind the scenes, his status is higher than ever - EVP, etc.

The thing is, Kenny Omega would have to be a major star in the United States for this approach to be effective. He's not. Not even a little bit. At best, U.S. fans know of his exploits in Japan. Most don't even know that. While I can appreciate not having an unhealthy obsession with "Da Business" and wanting to put over other wrestlers, he has to be over on a main event level himself for that to actually work. But maybe you're right and it doesn't matter either way - he has that tight EVP spot and money no matter what - but he'd be more effective for AEW's business and bottom line IMO if he was established as a top dog first before setting into the role of the veteran who puts others over (Dustin Rhodes, etc.). If I ran a wrestling promotion and the Mafia/Yakuza/whoever got its claws into me and said "hire either Jim Cornette or Vince Russo, or else..." I'm hiring Russo. Not a good decision either way, but at least Russo isn't an embarrassment to the entire industry (as much) on a weekly basis the way Cornette currently is.

John Cena is an absolutely gross control freak, and WWE is no better. Wrestling Inc.: WWE And John Cena Had Editorial Rights For New Memoir From The Bella Twins

Ricky Starks is gone.

This is sad, especially since he directed rescuers to save his 10-year-old son first (which they did). Really hoping and praying for a miracle.

The entire sordid saga... But in a nutshell: Henry is threatening to sue Rush for saying, "And this is why African American talent on the biggest platform will continue to not have equal opportunity because people like you constantly tear your own people down." Mark Henry's original comments (YouTube embed is messed up, at least on my end).

It isn't - unless you were the guy who thought I was very young because I was rigid in my views about Corny's bullshit, and he's seen that kind of inflexible attitude in a lot of younger people (which I actually get in a way, because my niece is like that - not about Corny, but she wouldn't approve if she knew of him, lol). I'm paraphrasing, but that's the basic gist of what that poster said. I'd name and tag the poster I'm thinking of, but I honestly can't remember who it was. Just to update this: I'm sure he has very good points about wrestling - they remain no less valid now than they ever did - but what he said about Becky and Dana is obviously very different than what you mention here: He's 100% right about the Jake/Archer dynamic. I've thought the same thing for weeks.