C.S.

Do they really need to resort to that, though, after Wellness-ing "The Guy" Roman Reigns last year?

"That Indian guy" is #1 contender.

I really like Dylan Miley too, but who the fuck came up with such a stupid name? Sounds like a pop singer in a boy band.

100% agreed about what Mauro has accomplished. But I really think you're grasping at straws by taking offense to the way I worded it, when Mauro himself refers to it as a mental illness. “I think mental health issues have to be more and more prominent; that’s who I am,” Ranallo told Sherdog.com. “I know there is a stigma, and we’re still not comfortable talking about it in our society. You even asked me if I was OK talking about it for this story. I’ve been very open about this for many, many years. I firmly believe that’s who I am and we’re still not comfortable with talking about it in society, but I want to be an advocate. I want to make it easier for people to talk about. I hope that one day we’re still alive when people don’t have to ask and there is no stigma attached to mental illness.” More similar quotes here: http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/Mauro-Ranallo-Battling-a-Stigma-95907

My post was not meant to be insulting or stigmatizing, stro. I just meant, if there's a story of Mauro having a meltdown or whatever Dave "I know more but I can't tell you" Meltzer is implying, there are underlying causes for it. In no way did I mean that Mauro's condition automatically gives him a free pass and excuses every little thing away - kiddie gloves, as you say. But it is more complex in his case. I don't think it's inaccurate to say that.

Whatever details emerge to make Mauro look bad, we have to remember that the man is mentally ill and does have a history of bipolar disorder. That's not excusing it or being an apologist for him, but it does explain why excessive "ribbing" and "hazing" - let's call it what it is, bullying - might trigger some of the less-than-pretty and not-so-savory aspects of his condition. Yes, it's inspirational that he overcome all of that to have an amazing career, but not every aspect of his condition, personality, and life is going to be a happy-go-lucky ABC After School Special. It would be unfair to expect that of anyone, much less someone whose mental state is dependent on the imperfect science and changing requirements of medical dosages. BTW, a poster on WC linked to this. It collects all of the JBL bullying stories into one post, formatted as sort of an oral history. http://www.fightful.com/jbl-and-wwes-culture-hazing-bullying-oral-history

So, I couldn''t sleep and caught a bit of ROH here and there on the new Comet Roku channel (which is utterly pointless as a streaming option, BTW, because it has only a "live" feed and nothing else - but, hey, at least it's free). There were two episodes from midnight to 2 a.m. I assume they're the most recent ones, but who knows. I only saw a couple of random bits, and I'm pretty tired, so my views might be a bit skewed and maybe sharper than warranted. On the first show, I caught some kind of parking lot attack between a Bullet Club member and I think Frankie Kazarian. It was amateurishly shot and involved a bullrope or something of the sort, but the one thing I liked was that an off-screen passerby was popping his horn during the attack and the Bullet Club attacker ran off, which is probably how this ridiculous scenario would play out in real life. Nice attention to detail there. Otherwise, this makes the Bullet Club look super bush league. You'd think they were the cream of the crop based on their internet rep, but this show does them no favors. Then I caught the tail-end of the second episode - the main event for the pointless and poorly-named Six-Man Tag Team Titles (there aren't six men per team, so it's always sounded bad to me - even when WCW did it). The match: The Kingdom (who look like a bush league science experiment gone wrong involving Enzo, Zack Ryder, and Scotty 2 Hotty) and "The Last Real Man" Silas Young (more on him below) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (disheveled-looking white trash types, and one of them is apparently a major homophobic asshole? - yeah, it's easy to see why WWE never gave them a serious sniff) and "Bully" Ray (who was absolutely terrible here, and has been for a while now). The only guy I liked in the match was "The Last Real Man," who I think has the potential to be a cult favorite in NXT. The entire venue looked really second-rate. All the blue curtains did was make it look like a bingo hall wearing a wedding dress.

Which is fair enough, but there's a difference between that and the teasing Dave bullshit of "I know more, but I can't tell you."

SHADES OF SATORU SAYAMA!!! "Who wrestled as the original Tiger Mask and had several classics with the Dynamite Kid in Japan." Even that goofy fanboy markout commentary from Mauro was endearing. I'll miss it. As for Perkins, I certainly can't argue with the poster who was there live, or the other posters who thought there was 8-10 wrestlers in the tournament who were better, because that's true too - but it felt like a special star-making moment on TV, and it was, especially with Perkins' weird but touching speech about the key around his neck. Like I said originally though, all of that lasted about five minutes before 205 Live and the entire Cruiserweight division slid into immediate irrelevancy.

I don't think this is accurate. True, there were a bunch of people they liked a whole lot more - Kota Ibushi, Brian Kendrick, etc. - but Perkins was far from hated. It truly was a special time, wasn't it? Now Mauro is gone, the entire division is meaningless, and its first several champions have no momentum whatsoever.

Not really. When was that? For about five minutes after he won the CWC. It was...something.

Remember when Perkins seemed like a star?

This just got even stranger. JBL blocked one of the Young Bucks for "literally nothing" and Mauro tweeted a reply about it. http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2017/4/10/15250722/mauro-ranallo-not-returning-wwe-television-report-recent-twitter-activity-address-jbl-mental-health

You talk about no one having proof of JBL's bullying, but we also don't have proof that Mauro "gets on everyone's nerves" either. Besides, didn't Bas Rutten - Mauro's best friend - publicly tweet or talk about JBL bullying Mauro? That's more than just Dave. The JBL/Mauro stuff may well be overblown - JBL's rant on "Bring it to the Table" felt very exaggerated to me and not all that serious - but there's no denying that there's a pattern with JBL and WWE bullying in general. The "it's the culture" and "it comes from the top" argument only goes so far with me though, because there are plenty of people in that company who aren't abusive bullying assholes. JBL and Bill DeMott are grown ass men and there should be some personal accountability there.

What a baffling argument: that someone has to be perfect in order to avoid workplace bullying. God forbid the guy just be human with his own quirks and foibles.

How did he throw Mauro under the bus? Can you elaborate for those of us without WON subscriptions and/or time to listen to audio? Thanks.

I've defended Russo before, but this is indefensible. Granted, I know he's just working a gimmick and in love with his own trolling bullshit, but it wouldn't surprise me if he really is homophobic under the guise of "tolerance" and "acceptance" - e.g. "love the sinner, hate the sin." As for the other topic currently being discussed in this thread, there are plenty of examples of wrestlers not caring about in-ring psychology or the history of the business - Goldberg, Warrior, etc.

There's no way to "quietly" let him go though. He's one of the lead commentators on Smackdown. His absence would be noticeable. If that's all that happens, it's better than nothing and a step in the right direction. I'll take Mauro and his commentating idiosyncrasies over what JBL has turned into (and the sad part is, he used to be a decent commentator).

It's still better than JoeSixPackRasslinYeeHaw.com. This story is only building momentum and getting bigger.

JBL is fucked now. The mainstream media just picked up on this. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alfredkonuwa/2017/04/07/wwe-john-bradshaw-layfield-might-still-have-workplace-bullying-problems/

That was great, but nothing tops Nattie drunk-dialing Steph at 3 in the morning. Honorable mentions from the same family: TJ taking Nattie on a "romantic date" to an ostrich farm, Nattie's sister (or was it TJ's sister?) and Big E in a hot tub, Nattie talking about how she's never "been" with anyone other than TJ.

This book is currently $1.99 on Kindle: The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made I've never even seen The Room (I've heard of it, of course), but the free sample chapter captured me instantly.

I don't think they'll really put Jack Gallagher with The Vaudevillians, nor would I want them to, but anyone who doesn't see the resemblance is being purposely obtuse. This speculation about Aiden English and the Guerrero family seems really weird to me. He married into it, that's it. Doesn't mean he's suddenly a Guerrero now. If English is fired tomorrow, Vince would be in no way reneging on whatever promise he supposedly made to take care of the Guerrero family.

Meet the newest member of The Vaudevillians (my guess anyway):

To be fair, he seemed bombed during the Stone Cold Podcast, and that was right after a Raw, so I doubt he was. I think "seeming bombed" is just his natural mode of expression.