C.S.

That seems to be the pema-price on Kindle, but be aware, it apparently has massive OCR issues (basically a bad conversion with formatting issues, typos that weren't there originally, etc.). If someone has it, please let us know if that's still the case.

Cross Rhodes: Goldust, Out of the Darkness just dropped to 99 cents on Kindle. Just be aware that it's more about Dustin's drug issues and daddy issues and less about his wrestling career, so don't expect any deep insight on his great matches and angles. I may re-buy it on Kindle anyway - not sure yet. I haven't checked to see if any other WWE books have dropped in price. I'll update the thread if there's anything else. Edit: Full list of price drops on WWE books: 99 cents - Andre the Giant: A Legendary Life - Showdowns: The 20 Greatest Wrestling Rivalries of the Last Twenty Years - Batista Unleashed - Cross Rhodes: Goldust, Out of the Darkness - Diary of a Heartbreak Kid: Shawn Michaels' Journey into the WWE Hall of Fame - My Favorite Match: WWE Superstars Tell the Stories of Their Most Memorable Matches - The World Wrestling Entertainment Yearbook 2003 Edition - Wrestling for My Life: The Legend, the Reality, and the Faith of a WWE Superstar - WWE Legends - Superstar Billy Graham: Tangled Ropes $1.99 - Adam Copeland On Edge - Hollywood Hulk Hogan - Triple H Making the Game: Triple H's Approach to a Better Body It's been years since I've read Superstar Billy Graham: Tangled Ropes, but I remember liking it. That's probably the one sure buy for me. (Edit: I bought it.) Wrestling for My Life, the HBK religious/wrestling book, is surprisingly good. I actually liked it more than his first book. No idea how Diary of a Heartbreak Kid is though. I remember My Favorite Match being a fun read. Adam Copeland On Edge was written too early in his career, but it's good for what it is. This is where the JBL shower story comes from. If you look up the term "wrestling bubble," this would be it - with Edge describing the experience as some kind of rite of passage and honor, or at least that's how it came across to me.

Man, oh man, did Seth rob you in a Ponzi scheme or something? I agree he was an absolutely terrible babyface for the longest while after turning back for the Hunter feud, but he's gotten slightly better as a face since then. It is probably telling that Seth's favorite wrestler as a youngster was Rob Van Dam.

What was Cornette saying about Lance Storm? I never minded Lance myself. I thought the WCW gimmick with the three renamed Canadian belts was fun midcard stuff and actually a better way to introduce a new wrestler than most of what we see now. I won't call Seth one of my favorites or anything, but I think I like him slightly more than you do. His main problem to me - and he's far from alone in this - is that I have no idea who or what Seth Rollins is supposed to be. So, when everyone else on this board was raving about his recent "classic" matches with Finn Balor, etc., I could not give any less of a shit - there were no stakes, no meaning, no characters, and no reason for me to care. Anyway, Bret definitely isn't bland or dry in this documentary. He may be a lot of other things, but blind and dry aren't among them. He's easily one of the more insightful, thought-provoking, and memorable parts of 350 Days.

I remember hearing that about The Wrestler, but the impression I had at the time was that they based it on a "midcard" act like a Valentine more than the actual man himself, instead of writing the movie about a Hogan type. But are most of today's wrestlers really not guilty of taking their craft seriously? Cornette is talking about the Joey Ryan dick stuff and Kenny Omega wrestling a blowup doll (or whatever that story was), but that's the exception, not the rule. Seth Rollins - ironically a frequent Bret Hart target - seems to take himself very seriously, for example.

Agreed about Tito Santana and Greg Valentine. I'd also add Paul Orndorff to that list. (He looked a bit rough, admittedly - I'm guessing this was filmed either during or after his bout with cancer - but he came across as very well-spoken and wise.) Even "Superstar" Billy Graham seemed to tone down his usual revival tent shtick - at least somewhat - and came across as more human. What issues has Valentine's had? If everyone in the movie played a character, I agree it would have been unbearable. But since he was the only one doing it (and I'm not even sure he was consciously doing it), it was a hoot. Truthfully, most of the people in the movie came across pretty well IMO. I just wish we had more time with some of them. Supposedly there was a ton of footage left on the cutting room floor, so I'm hoping all of that ends up on the DVD or digital release (assuming there will be one, but I can't imagine why there wouldn't be).

Bret was definitely one of the highlights of the documentary for sure. But I found it more than a bit strange the way he took not only himself, but his every action, so seriously to such a stark degree. It's one thing to take the art of wrestling seriously - I think we can all appreciate and agree with that - but he went way beyond that IMO. You brought up his female "friends" on the road, which is a perfect example of what I mean. Bret described his infidelities with such gravity, as if they somehow had a greater meaning. He wasn't cheating on his wife with "ring rats" - he was relying on "friends" to "give him what he wasn't getting at home." It felt like such a bizarre justification, yet completely sincere and true to Bret's personality at the same time. Don't misunderstand me: I am not judging his actions - they're not for me to judge anyway - but I did find his descriptions and overall outlook to be really odd. I'm with you that JJ Dillon and Ted DiBiase came across as the most sound-minded, but I'm not quite sure I can put Bret in that category myself. Wrestling-wise? Absolutely. But the other stuff? I don't know. Still, I'm really happy he sounded so clearheaded and coherent after his stroke. Snuka was also surprisingly well-spoken, which pretty much exposes his "simple villager" shtick during the murder case to be complete bullshit (which we kinda already knew, but still). Marty Jannetty was in the worst shape of everyone in the doc, and it was very sad to see. Ox Baker was awesome. Just felt the need to say that again. BTW, the DiBiase stuff in 350 Days felt like kind of a sneak preview for his own documentary, The Price of Fame, which is worth watching too.

Well, wow, I was not expecting this turnaround. Awesome news! I'll update the thread title (if I can).

A Memphis mainstay. From B. Brian Blair's Twitter: Damn. As if the death itself wasn't bad enough, to find out it's because he had no insurance and could only take pain meds while waiting out the rest of his days is downright tragic. I wish the Cauliflower Alley Club could have found out sooner. They do great work for retired pro wrestlers.

Except, that emphasis was the real purpose of the meeting IMO - WWE wants everyone to be very, very careful. Everything else - the "apology," the "contrition, etc. - is all P.R. bullshit.

I don't see why everyone is up in arms that Hogan allegedly used part of his speech as a PSA for being careful what you say, when and how you say it, and who you say it around, because you could be recorded, when: 1. It was likely at the urging of the company (Triple H). 2. It's pretty smart fucking advice in this day and age. I mean, it's not like we don't have examples of this kind of shit causing major damage - Hogan's own recording, the Paige-Xavier-Maddox video (not Paige/Xavier's fault, but still), etc. I completely understand Hogan being criticized for everything else: his actual racist words, his usual non-apology "apologies," etc. But the "be careful, brothers" part of it hardly seems like something he should be raked over hot coals over, when it's actually sensible advice. It's cute that everyone thinks the company issued a mandatory meeting so Hogan could apologize for his racism. That's the PR reason. The real reason they did it is so the entire roster understands the grave implications of getting your hand caught in the cookie jar.

Yet another awesome article, Stacey. I don't care how much people (over)hype Trish - Molly Holly was absolutely the best female in-ring worker of that era, and my favorite. Being reminded about so much of the bullshit they put her through made me mad all over again.

Titus and Kofi break their silence on Twitter: Kofi: https://twitter.com/TrueKofi/status/1019464748566482944 Titus: https://twitter.com/TitusONeilWWE/status/1019715254257737731

Table For 3 with Bischoff, JBL, and Prichard wasn't bad. Some interesting firsthand insight on Bischoff's time in WWE. Not as much Russo bashing as you'd expect, but some.

The board has been great today, and great in general since the upgrade, so whatever it was yesterday was hopefully an aberration.

If you google Hulk Hogan Titus O'Neil, some newz sites are reporting that Titus had a fit over Hogan's presence and stormed out of the building in protest. Take it with a grain of salt, obviously, but it wouldn't surprise me...

I spoke too soon about the message board. Tons of errors today. The usual cloudfare stuff, or sometimes it will half-load and the tab will say "configuration error." Is it only me?

I think you hit the nail right on the head... It didn't matter who won or lost between Rollins or Ziggler. Their match didn't matter. The title didn't matter. They didn't matter.

Anyone remember Masa Saito randomly showing up in WCW in the mid-'90s? It might have been for that WCW vs. NJPW Starrcade, but I can't be sure since I still haven't seen that PPV (I really should make a point to finally watch it). The one thing that sticks out at me from that "run" is Bobby Heenan proudly mentioning on commentary that he used to manage Masa Saito.

BTW, guess what was filmed for an upcoming Network special... Yup, Hogan's backstage appearance, speech, and apology.

Some observations: Site - Load time is better but still not quite "there" yet. - The dimensions of the site get cut off on an iPad, so it's not optimized for mobile yet. I haven't tried it on a phone, but I assume it will be the same. This is not an issue with the board, only the site. Board - Night and day improvement, but is the random "I want to receive the weekly ProWrestlingOnly.com newsletter:Yes/No" thing ever going to be fixed? Oddly, it only affects certain users - I think anyone who made any changes to their profile after the new board was introduced. I appreciate that everything's a work-in-progress thus far, and I think you've done a great job over the past couple of weeks.

Elijah Burke 4 hrs · Pope's unfiltered thoughts on Hulk Hogan's Reinstatement into the WWE Hall Of Fame: So as we all have learned by now, Hulk Hogan is back with the WWE. This move has garnered a lot of attention as everyone knew it would, some good and some not so good. So before I give my stance on where I stand on this whole ordeal, I'd like to reflect back on the man behind the legend, the person I came to know somewhat personally over the years while we worked together in TNA, Terry Bollea, whom I'll refer to obviously as "Hulk or Hogan." I'd previously met Hulk during my stint in WWE at which time I had not even scratched the surface as far as getting my foot wet in the business. He along with Jimmy Hart and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake was walking around inside the arena checking it out before his big match with Randy Orton at WWE's Summerslam PPV. I went up and embraced Jimmy Hart who has always been a lovable individual and then introduced myself to Hogan and shook his hand. It was the first time I'd ever got to shake the hand of the legendary bigger than life superhero whom I grew up watching, and while I was on edge in the moment trying to be respectful of the man's time, he shot around some questions to me and gave some advice on "playing the game" before moving on. I walked away thinking, "Man, Hulk was mad cool." Fast forward four years later, if someone had told me that myself and Hogan would be working side by side, standing and posing in the ring together with blood running down the face of Hulk, I'd say they were insane but that is exactly what happened. The kid whom 4 years earlier was given advice on how to play the game was now IN the game saving this legendary hero from a beat down being led by another childhood idol and favorite, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. It was stuff that anybody who grew up watching the sport of wrestling could only dream of, to be in the ring with the 2 biggest superstars in wrestling history, truly an Amazing Moment in my career. I remember at the end of that night Hulk drenched in blood and sweat retreated to his private dressing room. I wanted to thank him again for the opportunity as I was still on a rush from the activities that transpired earlier. I started heading towards his room and saw that the door was wide open, I could see him sitting behind his desk but as I neared I noticed that he had company so I decided to make a U-turn as to not interrupt. All of a sudden, "Pope, where you going brother? Come on in and join me." I turned around and entered Hulk's private room where he was joined by, you guessed it, Brutus "The F'ing" Barber Beefcake and they were knocking down a couple of cold ones. Hulk, with his face and hair still soaked in blood offered me a beer to which I politely declined (I don't drink, but it would've been cool if I did just to say so but the offer was cool enough) and we sat and chatted before I left them to be and departed for the night. That was important for me to share because this became somewhat of a common thing with me and Hulk. It was during this time that Hogan was going thru a lot of personal hardships and struggles as detailed by the A&E documentary entitled "Finding Hulk Hogan." I had NO idea that over the next year or so that I'd become cool with Hulk and his family. Brooke and I joked and flirted on the regular. She would often sit beside Mama Pope and scream her lungs out for me during my matches. Nick was always fun when he was around, respectful too. But the really "cool" part was Hulk letting me in. The things he would share with me when he had time to talk I simply didn’t feel like I was privy too. He shared personal detailed accounts of things he was going thru at the time with me about his personal life, his business dealings, the dark place he was in and he would always acknowledge that he's in a better place now because of his current wife and him giving his life to Christ. So now through interacting with Hogan and talking with him more and more I've become aware that Hogan is a believer and to his knowledge or not, he'd been talking and confiding in not just a black man, cause his new pastor was black, but he was confiding in another believer, specifically Pope. He would often share with me what his Pastor spoke on the Sunday before. Now, being that Pope is a believer I personally believe in forgiveness. Not just from God above, but from your peers among you. To forgive is to release yourself from a certain stronghold moreso than it is for the individual you are forgiving. I do believe that we all at times in our lives have done and said things that are unbecoming of us and out of character. While consequences are often a result of such error, your error shouldn’t be your definitive story. It's what you are doing today that should determine who you are, not what you did 10-20 years ago. We as people believe in rehabilitation. We know that some can be reformed while others simply refuse to. With Hulk, I simply don't feel that is the case. While I was upset and disappointed just as many of you were (and maybe still are), try this: "think about the worst thing that you have done thus far in your life, post it on social media and see what the world thinks of you." Of course, no one would do such, and if so I doubt it would be a moment of truthfulness because we see ourselves thru filtered lenses, standing SO CLOSE to the mirror that we can't see ourselves in our own wrong. Therefore we find a certain level of escape by spending so much time wishing to destroy others in their fault instead of seeing them as we all are, imperfect humans, many who are simply in need of help or guidance. An example of my best friend for years who was a size 15 barefoot walking, 260lb redneck (wait, is that politically correct to say?) and I as well as him over the years said things to each other out of anger, but never once in my heart did I consider him a racist, or likewise. We didn't judge each other off of what we said during our heated moments of anger, but we judged each other off of our actions, and our actions dictated that we were two brothers of different colors that loved each other unconditionally who (as the term goes today) would "Ride or Die" for each other. I'll never forget taking him to my church and him coming to the front to sing with me the old gospel classic, "Sweet Home." Lol For me to hold hate in my heart for Hogan's "sin" would in turn cause me to be one of hate myself which I simply have no time or energy for. The man behind the legend made a mistake and unfortunately will have to live with it for the rest of his life. There's no need to take someone's lively-hood away from them because of there past mistake. Not an ideology, but an admitted mistake during the same time the man placed a gun in his mouth. So just take a moment to think about who your working with, or who serves you, or who's riding next to you, or who you're working for, etc. We are living in a world with all types of people who have done and said unthinkable things, HORRIBLE and VILE things, yet you know not of them, so you smile, laugh, and maybe even think the world of them. But furthermore think of yourself and how you look at yourself everyday in the mirror knowing your own faults...but I digress. Hulk, if you are truly the man whom I believe you to be then you know that "Whom The Son sets free, is free indeed." Go forward and live your life accordingly accepting the good, and weathering the bad while continuing to be a positive mark on humanity that you have been for over 3 decades. In closing, I simply want to say, "HULK HOGAN....I Forgive You." ~PHS (2 Cor 5:17) "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." #WWE #WWF #HulkHogan #EtremeRules #Welcome #Back #Hulk #Hogan #WWEHOF #Wrestling #Sports #Entertainment #ESPN https://www.facebook.com/elijahburke/posts/10157555229033976

King Kong Bundy rules.

4-4. Can we hope and pray this actually ends on time?