C.S.

Speaking of which, WWE has made such a big deal about Dusty - tribute shows on the Network, a statue, etc. - but very little in comparison about Roddy, who was by far a bigger star for WWE. I realize Dusty contributed a lot behind-the-scenes in his final years, but it's still strange that Roddy is barely mentioned or canonized the way Dusty has been.

To be fair, that describes Nikki (on the show) much more than Brie. Other than the drunken "Brie Mode" stuff, Brie is portrayed as pretty down to earth and level-headed for the most part. If anything, Bryan comes across as more of a kook than she does. Yes, I watch Total Divas every week - and I'm not ashamed to admit it!

Hogan's buddy and a genuinely bad worker, with plenty of awful gimmicks as mentioned. should be easy to see how that would do it! i'm in the camp that thinks he was approaching "decent" in early 1990 or thereabouts...he at least seemed more motivated. that disappeared for good after the accident though, and his 1993 comeback was especially brutal; Judy Bagwell's memory is correct on that promo, as he was going for sympathy but came off so poorly that someone in the crowd shouted "KILL YOURSELF!" Well, yeah, he was shit after the accident. But if one of the "darling" wrestlers was shit after an accident, injury, etc., everyone would still view their earlier contributions more positively. Brutus had a good few-year run with the Barber gimmick, even if he's too much of a butthead to realize what that did for his career. He was okay in the ring, very over, and had a good gimmick for the time and fed he was in. I know people resent the hell out of him for main eventing Starrcade in '94 or whenever it was, but count me as someone who liked the heel turn (was a genuine shocker, if nothing else) and thought the match could be fun. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a "dream match" but at least there was history between them. Obviously, the match sucked (or so I hear), but at least it was a real stab at a main event and feud. That, to me, is better than the random crap WCW had been doing with Starrcade in the '90s - Battlebowl before that and some weird NJPW tourney after that, when none of the audience had been educated about any of those guys.

I used the analogy because it's the same as what that poster is doing - imposing current standards onto something that had a different meaning, or at least multiple meanings, in the '70s and '80s. Exactly. People need to take historical context into account if they're going to argue about something. You can't just take 2016 standards and retroactively apply them to 1985. Characters in Twain's books owned slaves, which obviously isn't good, but you can't suddenly say Twain wrote them as villains when he didn't necessarily do that. It was a different time, with different standards and different perceptions. You can look back and say how backward those characters were by today's standards, but you can't say the author intended them to be bad people just because that's the way they'd be seen now. I understand not wanting to give Michael Hayes the benefit of the doubt because of Mark Henry and other incidents, but the fact is, the Rebel Flag outfits the Freebirds wore did not give them racist heat at the time. That was clearly not the intention back then.

It's not about right or wrong - it's about what perceptions were at the time. The Confederate Flag was on a hit TV show, on the Georgia State Flag, on the Freebirds' attire, and all over the place. That pretty much makes it an irrefutable fact that a ton of people were okay with it back then, and I refuse to believe all of them were racist. The flag had multiple meanings at the time. Now, it really symbolizes only one thing - racism - and therefore definitely isn't acceptable anymore. The Nazi logo was originally a Japanese peace symbol. Does that mean all ancient Japanese people were raging anti-semites? Nope.

It sure changed my mind about Hayes. I used to think he was a drunk, racist moron. Now I think he's delusional drunk racist moron, who dresses like Jack Nicholson in Batman. It sounds to me like you are predisposed to hate Hayes and see everything he says and does in the worst possible light. I thought he sounded pretty genuine, and I say that as someone who acknowledges that he absolutely came across as an obnoxious ass on some of the Legends Roundtables, etc. The Confederate Flag did not have the same racist connotations in the '70s and '80s. I'm not saying it wasn't racist at all, but for God's sake, The Dukes of Hazzard featured it on their show every week for six years - from 1979 to 1985 - and no one thought twice about it. It was a different time, and the Freebird costumes were part of that. Obviously, now it's a different story with the Confederate Flag - yes, today it's primarily used by racists to promote racism - but it used to stand for other things too. You have to remember the context of the time. It was even on the Georgia state flag, for crying out loud. All of that doesn't mean Hayes or wrestling should get a free pass - of course not - but you can't just slap 2016 standards onto 1985 either. As for the stuff with his daughter, he was just being honest. He could have easily exaggerated the story and used her to make himself look better - "look at me, I'm not racist." Instead, he admitted she never lived with him, etc.

Turning Roman heel won't mean jack-shit if he's still forced to deliver the same over-scripted, phony, stiff lines. Very interesting Instagram post, BTW, from The Rock on his own heel turn. Foreshadowing? https://www.instagram.com/p/BDjIXYSIh4N/

Why is Ed Leslie so hated? The Barber gimmick was super over, even if Leslie shit on it later like complete idiot and buffoon. In WCW, he got bad gimmick after bad gimmick after bad gimmick, but that's nothing new for them. You can also include Ray Traylor, John Tenta, Fred Ottoman, and many others in the same category. WCW was woefully inept - creative and otherwise.

I watched the Michael Hayes episode of Legends with JBL. It was surprisingly hard-hitting. He addresses whether he's a racist, goes into the Mark Henry situation, and talks about the Confederate Flag. He also tells a bunch of great stories about the Freebirds and shares a controversial theory about the death of Geno Hernandez. Plus, he's rocking an insane purple getup that only he could pull off. Really great episode, and I think it might change some minds about Michael Hayes.

Mick Foley for me. Can work any spot on the card. Always credible with his insane physicality. Great on the mic. Awesome heel and babyface. Would have been a big star in every era. I can easily imagine him vs. Bruno or Backlund, for example. Could also see him as a wildman opponent in '70s/'80s NWA. Obviously, we know how the '90s went for him.

No one cares about Hogan's racism or sex tape. (By "no one," I mean the general audience at large.) He'll get a huge pop if he returns, gives all the "evil foreigners" the big boot, and poses with New Day. Kind of an odd spot for him though - and for Rock, to be honest - so I don't see either happening. I think they'll both be there, but maybe in other roles... Could still see Rock getting involved in the Roman match. Even though that pairing backfired on them both before, family is family and blood is blood. Hogan entering and winning the Andre the Giant Battle Royal would be an amazing surprise and pop IMO - especially if it ends with him eliminating Braun Strowman, brother! "I picked up that 900-pound hillbilly, JACK, and broke every bone in my back, but with the power of the Hulkamaniacs and Hulkamania, I launched him right into the WWE Universe at Shea Stadium...I mean the AT&T Stadium, BROTHER!"

Your son Buff ain't doing much better, darlin'.

Don't know if I agree with this. Even in the GWF, it was Booker who got the big singles push in the end by becoming the North American Champion. Also, in WCW, Booker was the first to get a singles run, not Stevie Ray. I'm talking Booker's TV Title run, etc. - long before his World Title push. I don't think Bischoff's fetish for martial arts really played much of a role, when Booker was always the one who broke out as a singles, no matter where he was. I don't think anyone ever considered Booker a "martial artist" anyway - this is the first time I've ever seen that description of him.

And the Jimmy Miranda Warrior Award goes to... Joan Lunden http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-hall-fame/wwe-hall-fame-2016/article/joan-lunden-warrior-award-wwe-hall-fame-2016

I remember this guy from the PWI 500. At the very least, he had an amazing name.

Raven is another example. Left a plum WWF gig as a commentator/host/etc. to wrestle in ECW.

Eva will be far more over on the main roster than 95% of the current NXT roster, for two reasons: 1. She has a top five character compared to most of them. 2. She'll get more opportunities from Vince and Dunn than someone like a Tyler Breeze has. You think Blake and Murphy, The Revival, Billie Kay, etc. will outlast her once they're all on Raw? They'll be lost in the shuffle while Eva saunters her way to the top. Tell me I'm wrong. Deep down, you know I'm not.

ProWrestlingSheet.com: Brie Bella — Retiring From Wrestling Early, Partly Due to Daniel Bryan Health Issue

New NXT gimmick: "No Way Jose." NXT's internet nerd fanbase will lap this up and act like it's brilliant, but if the same lame gimmick had debuted on Raw instead, it would be getting eviscerated right now. https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/713174921917009920

Daniel Bryan was pulled from upcoming "Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night" house show appearances and the UK tour after Mania. But the real red flag, IMO, was when he backed out of WrestleMania Fan Axxess. Brie was off the shows this week too. WWE's statement was something along the lines of: "Bryan requested time off and it was granted." I'm speculating, obviously, but there seems to be more than meets the eye here. I really hope there isn't any worse news about Bryan medically. That's my main worry. I hope not, but I wonder if Bryan is trying to get out of his WWE deal to work indies again. With his concussion situation being what it is, I really hope he has finally moved on from this line of thinking and we can rule it out definitively. It's a nagging thought in my mind (and not in a good way, obviously), but I hope it's a farfetched scenario at best. I'm starting this thread because I really feel this is going to become a "bigger story." I hope I'm overreacting though and this ends up being something minor. Time will tell, I guess.

Refreshing to see New Day honoring Michael Hayes, who has always been progressive when it comes race relations. Kofi: Now, y'all, we've heard the rumors too. Xavier: What rumors, Kofi? Kofi: The rumors about Michael calling people the "N" word. Big E: (Exaggerated) The "N" Word? Kofi: Yeah, but that "N" word is... Big E, followed by all: New Day Rocks! New Day Rocks! New Rocks!

[WWE Magazine clip] That was as odd as I remember it. I'll eat ten Slim Jims in a row if that's really Macho's handwriting, LOL.

What is the story here?

I both agree and disagree. I mean, what else were they going to do? The cat was out of the bag on the Savage/Liz divorce, with Savage even writing a letter in WWE Magazine telling the fans it wasn't our fault (like we were their kids, LOL - so bizarre!). Reuniting Savage and Liz in WCW felt hollow, and the Liz heel turn was a genuine shocker at a time there were so few of them. The "pure, wholesome" Liz was an iconic character. But women get older. Liz couldn't play the innocent ingenue forever. Still, I do agree that the "aging harlot" role was beneath her. Not sure what a good middle ground would've been. Even if WCW had kept Liz babyface, they would've found some way to screw that up too. I personally loved the chemistry Lex and Liz had on-camera as cackling heels in the last year or two of WCW. Obviously, that ended very badly for them in real life though. I remember Vince saying that Liz's untimely death never would've happened on his watch, because the WWF would've taken care of her. I kinda wish there was an alternate history with a spiteful Vince bringing Liz back to the WWF after Savage jumped ship to WCW. Would've been real interesting to see if the Ms. Elizabeth character could've translated to anyone other than the Macho Man.

It's indeed Stan. http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-hall-fame/wwe-hall-fame-2016/article/stan-hansen-wwe-hall-fame-2016