C.S.

They made it sound like the CM Punk episode would only cover the short period both Punk and Bruce were in the company together.

Absolutely. Blassie was an instant purchase for me. I too have the hardcover, but 99 cents to get it on Kindle too for the convenience is a no-brainer. As for the Main Event book, take a look inside the book if you can - it's literally just dates and match results. An easy pass for me. The three I bought were: - Blassie - Tales on Wrescal Lane (only recommended if you have a tablet - iPad, etc.) - WWE Legends I rolled the dice on WWE Legends, but for 99 cents, why the heck not. I also recommend (and have): - Are We There Yet? - Rumble Road BTW, the Big Apple Takedown book is good, cheesy fun - imagine WWE wrestlers working undercover for the FBI or CIA or whatever it is.

Had a bit of a drive again today, so I loaded up another podcast. Naturally, the one I chose was...Something to Wrestle With: Bob Holly. (Haha, you thought I was going to say something else, didn't you? But there's a reason I'm mentioning it, so keep reading...) After a terrible introduction with a bunch of advertisements and some atrocious accents, Bruce and Conrad started talking about Jerry Jarrett. Basically, Prichard said he doesn't believe it's really Jerry on Twitter. I was glazing my eyes at this. Then I looked at the running time of the podcast: close to four hours. I said "fuck this!" - I don't love any wrestler enough to listen to four hours about them. I switched over to Jerry Jarrett #2 about Vince McMahon, which clocks in at a more manageable one hour and change. Lo and behold, the first thing Jerry and Sean did - coincidentally enough - was address the very podcast episode of Prichard's that I'd just backed out of. Of course, it really is Jerry posting on his Twitter account. Anyway, they were off to the races from there. It's a tremendous listen. Some great stories - about more than just Vince. Two of my favorites were Jerry Jarrett's near national deal with "Showtime? USA!" and the origins of one of my all-time favorite characters, Kamala. I left off at the part about Pat Patterson and the airline points, haha. I was tempted to keep driving aimlessly just to hear the rest. Can't wait to finish this up later.

The last two Prichard podcasts on the WWE Network - Big Evil and The Rock - have been very middle-of-the-road and missable even if you haven't listened to the audio equivalents (assuming they exist). The Rock episode had some really weird editing - twice, Conrad brought up a topic they had discussed only a few minutes before, and Prichard would answer the question again. I can only assume these were "redo" scenes that somehow didn't get caught. Also, Conrad was weirdly critical of the legendary IC Title bridge angle. I can understand being a "rasslin' traditionalist" and hating that Rock was just given the title, but it was a legendary feud and angle, so that supersedes any minor criticisms IMO. For most of the episode, Conrad literally looked asleep or exasperated. It wasn't until closer to the end that I realized he was obviously hiding a bad cold and hoarse voice. Sadly, next week is the season finale - but it sounds like they're finally going to air the controversial CM Punk episode (assuming they're not redoing it entirely).

The last two Prichard podcasts on the WWE Network - Big Evil and The Rock - have been very middle-of-the-road and missable even if you haven't listened to the audio equivalents (assuming they exist). The Rock episode had some really weird editing - twice, Conrad brought up a topic they had discussed only a few minutes before, and Prichard would answer the question again. I can only assume these were "redo" scenes that somehow didn't get caught. Also, Conrad was weirdly critical of the legendary IC Title bridge angle. I can understand being a "rasslin' traditionalist" and hating that Rock was just given the title, but it was a legendary feud and angle, so that supersedes any minor criticisms IMO. For most of the episode, Conrad literally looked asleep or exasperated. It wasn't until closer to the end that I realized he was obviously hiding a bad cold and hoarse voice. Sadly, next week is the season finale - but it sounds like they're finally going to air the controversial CM Punk episode (assuming they're not redoing it entirely).

WrestlingInc.com: Taeler Hendrix Claims Her ROH Career Was Sabotaged For Not Sleeping With Jay Lethal ROH really is a trash factory. In addition to Lethal, ROH has housed such "upstanding citizens" as RF, the homophobic redneck Briscoes, the accused rapist Michael Elgin, and God knows who else. Some great wrestlers and great matches, but if they ever want to truly be big time, they need to get their house in order and do a major clean-up. Probably won't happen since they're owned by the sleazy and immoral Sinclair Broadcasting. Edit: I realize Lethal was also in TNA and I'm sure many other indies with his cosplay act, but only ROH made him its "World" Champion.

A bunch of WWE-published books are on sale for 99 cents on Kindle: As always, narrow the reviews by Kindle edition to make sure there are no OCR conversion issues (typos, bad formatting, etc. that weren't in the paper versions). - Are We There Yet?: Tales from the Never-Ending Travels of WWE Superstars - Big Apple Takedown (WWE) - The Condemned (WWE) - Have More Money Now: A Commonsense Approach to Financial Management (Wwe) - The Legends of Wrestling: "Classy" Freddie Blassie: Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks (Wwe S) - Lita: A Less Traveled R.O.A.D.--The Reality of Amy Dumas (WWE) - Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s - The Marine (WWE) - Rumble Road: Untold Stories from Outside the Ring (WWE) - See No Evil (WWE) - Showdowns: The 20 Greatest Wrestling Rivalries of the Last Twenty Years (WWE) - Tales from Wrescal Lane (WWE) - Triple H Making the Game: Triple H's Approach to a Better Body (WWE) - The Ultimate World Wrestling Entertainment Trivia Book: The Ultimate WWE Trivia Book - The Unauthorized History of DX (WWE) - Unscripted (WWE) - The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship - WWE Legends

Another great interview here with Kia Stevens on GLOW, her hair on the show, the origins of the Kong name, her mother's experience as an actor, and more. https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/7/3/17527216/kia-stevens-glow-season-two

It is basically the Fire Pro you know and love in HD - they definitely did not reinvent the wheel for the latest version. I'm sure there are new moves, tweaks, polishes, etc., but if you've played a Fire Pro game in the past, you know exactly what to expect here.

I just read this, and all of your previous GWE pieces on the divas. Absolutely fantastic stuff. I love it when someone approaches things with a fresh eye and unique thought-process. You'll definitely have a new reader going forward.

I just wanted to say how much I really liked this article, and I hope we get more of these types of long-form, in-depth pieces examinations of wrestling from angles most people would never consider. I don't want to spoil the piece, which is certainly worth reading in its entirety, but I do want to highlight one of my favorite passages. Fantastic stuff, Charles. Here's the link for anyone else who hasn't read it already: https://www.prowrestlingonly.com/wrestling-on-fast-forward

Watched Vader vs. Hansen the other night. It was the NJPW World Freebie of the Week (not sure if it still is). Even after Vader's eye popped out of its socket, Sloppy Stan seemed to take liberty after liberty. I know he's blind as a bat, but damn! Not sure how Hansen doesn't have more of a rep of being an unsafe worker, between this Vader incident and fucking up Bruno's neck. Even though it was 30 years ago and Vader is no longer with us, I still felt worried for the big guy.

I subbed to NJPW World and finally caught this. I remember the magazines making a big time about how much "better" Hogan was in Japan, but I sure didn't see it here. I think you're all being too easy on Hogan (not that Muta was any great shakes in this match either). The spot at the end where Muta grabbed the netting to glide onto Hogan was pretty cool though. This felt like a heel vs. heel match, and not in a good way. A disappointing match, especially considering the classics both were capable of at the time.

Anyone else really pleasantly surprised by what an awesome (no pun intended) actor Kong turned out to be? Seriously, she's not just "good for a wrestler" - she's a good actor, period. No spoilers, but her episode was one of the best, rawest (again, no pun intended), and most heartfelt of the season. Really glad she got upped to series regular. I have no idea why Chris Lowell (Bash) is still a guest-star. I think I've followed him from show to show (not intentionally) and this is easily his best work. I mean, if you had told me a few years ago that Dell from Private frickin' Practice was going to gush over

That is the most ass-backward billing system ever. But I guess I could sign up today and get 99% of the value. I was flipping through the app (I got a Fire TV Cube, so I finally have a way to watch NJPW World on TV) and was intrigued by all of the archive matches - Muta vs. Hogan, etc. I have to confess I didn't even know the G1 was coming up. Edit: Fuck it - I signed up! If nothing else, I'll have fun watching old matches I've only heard about but have never seen (I was never into the tape trading scene for whatever reason - other than buying a Dustin Rhodes comp from a seller on DVDVR many years ago, before the WWE Network - probably someone from PWO, which - come to think of it - is probably how I found this site).

Question about NJPW World: How the hell does the billing work exactly? It seems no matter when I try to sign up, I get charged the same amount. To use the December example above: Let's say I sign up Dec 29. and get charged $9.99 (or whatever the exchange rate is). Do I get charged another $9.99 on Dec. 31st?

Watch Watched Vader vs. Hansen last night. It was the NJPW World Freebie of the Week (not sure if it still is). Think it was the one where Vader's eye popped out of its socket. His eye certainly looked fucked-up in any case. Sloppy Stan seemed to take liberty after liberty. I know he's blind as a bat, but damn! Not sure how he doesn't have more of a rep of being an unsafe worker, between this Vader incident and fucking up Bruno's neck. Even though it was 30 years ago and Vader is no longer with us, I still felt worried for the big guy. And yeah, Vince really fucked up what could have been. One of the most frustrating missed opportunities in WWE history. For all the shit Trips got about holding guys back (and rightfully so), at least we eventually got token reigns from RVD, Booker, etc.

I just finished Season 2. No spoilers, but it was better than Season 1 IMO. Such a fantastic show!

Holly was kind of a cantankerous prick about Matt in his book. From what I recall, he was sympathetic about Matt's cancer diagnosis but said Matt would have never made it in the business because he cried after the assault.

Oh wow, where did you hear this? Do you have a link? I tried googling it (including the words "best friend") and all I get are stories about the original incident.

Matt Cappotelli was only 38 years old (younger than many of us, including me) and died after two long bouts of brain cancer. That sucks. From his wife's Facebook page: Hey Team Capp...I've been struggling with what to say and how to say this, and I'll probably end up rambling, but here goes. Today my love-my strong, sweet, beautiful love-took his last breath at 3:30 a.m. and went Home to be with Jesus...exactly one year after his brain surgery. You think you can be prepared for this when you know it's coming, but you just can't. The only person who's comfort I want right now is the one who can't give it to me. I miss him so much. I know where he is now is so much better, but it doesn't change how much I miss him. His most famous moment arguably was getting assaulted by Bob Holly on Tough Enough. If not for his health issues, I think he would've done big things in the wrestling business.

I don't think it's CTE issues but rather SSP issues (shitty scripted promos). Nash became a wretched talker during the Punk feud because he was forced to memorize lines.

That would be more entertaining than anything Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman do these days.

Do you have more details? I've heard only good things about Mero. And, really, if WWE wanted Luna to have the title, she'd have it - Sable didn't have that much stroke. The fact is, Luna was "unconventional" (but still a beauty to me), and that's not what WWE wanted at the time - or even now, if you think about it (Alexa Bliss and Carmella say "How You Doin'!" while Sasha Banks and Bayley frown like abandoned shelter dogs as they enter the fifth or sixth month of their meaningless, heatless program).

According to the rumor mill , the decision was made for Regal not to attend this week's NXT tapings and he hasn't been around in months. Really hope everything is okay there.