Steenalized

Thank you for putting this out today, I've got a 2.5-4 hour drive, traffic permitting, now I know what will eat up at least a chunk of that. Always a fan of the shows.

Short story, no. Long story, enforcement is an issue for trademarks, since if you do not enforce the trademark you lose it (or it becomes generic... and you lose it). Copyright lasts for a set period of time, whether you enforce it against all parties or no one. The enforcement of that copyright is only an issue for determining damages, e.g., if you never enforce your copyright you're probably not going to get much in damages if you sue years later for infringement. You will still hold a valid copyright, however. So if the WWE ignores someone but knows that this person is infringing on WWE copyrights, then the WWE can still go after a separate third party. The bootlegger may be able to claim that the statute of limitations ran if more than three years passed, but that three years renews every time the bootlegger infringes on it. Additionally, the US Supreme Court said just last year that the defense of laches almost never applies, so little ol' bootlegger who the WWE didn't go after originally will not be able to use the WWE's inaction as a defense if the WWE did eventually sue.

Which is a travesty, given how great the two of them were in the early to mid 00s.

Presuming that was during the 09 ECW run, I think it was just a case that people weren't used to him then. He was the smarkiest announcer WWE ever had bringing up all sorts of crazy references and getting away with it since it was the C show. The product was very good that year and in some ways he did add to it. He was more tolerable in a two man booth than a three man one where he was desperately trying to get all of his stuff in and he was generally less confident. Right now it's obvious he has a thousand lines prepared and feels the need to get them all in. Back then, he was sort of a breath of fresh air for a few months and kind of made you feel like you were part of something in listening to him, like he was "one of us." It definitely didn't last for long. It was for 2008, but I figure it was because his act hadn't worn thin/he was something new. Hear hear.

Never forget, Stryker was once best announcer in the Observer awards. Was Dave high on him then?

I'll always think positively of him for those Bryan matches, and like others said, good to get out now before things degenerate. He could've (should've) been more, but I've always enjoyed him, especially compared to NOAHs junior stars who they tried to push in the same era.

He gave **** to the King Puma/Johnny Mundo match from like the first week, didn't he? Maybe he's come down on his enjoyment since.

That reminds me of my hate for "technical wrestler." I just don't understand what it means. Every attempt to have it explained by the person using it has come up empty. Maybe some people just use it wrong. I don't know. I just don't get what unites Benoit, Regal, Lance Storm, Davey Richards and Daniel Bryan as workers. At times it seems like the word just gets applied to guys that do mat wrestling or have longer matches. I just haven't seen it applied consistently enough to know what those using it are trying to say. Basically, if you aren't a 'brawler' or 'high flyer' (ignore those being just as nebulous) then you're a 'technical wrestler'.

"WHAT A MANEUVER" Vince, because he is to my childhood wrestling what Solie is to a lot of Southerners. He's the voice I immediately identify as the one calling wrestling from when I was a kid, the one who I'd hear on the VHS tapes that I rented of stuff that I was too little to remember or wasn't even born for. Vince as Evil Mr. McMahon is probably his best, but you're asking my favorite, and that's #2 here. I agree that he's also not the horrible announcer people made him out to be, not even close. I can still hear him in my head yelling about the CAPACITY CROWD.

I had that very pang this morning. I doubt I would have taken a day off ever, but the thought lingers in the morning if I see that shield icon and think about how my heir is about to inherit Ruthenia through his mother. A good example of analysis without even watching it is me and the last few NJPW reaction shows. I haven't seen them yet but I still listened to the reaction shows. Same with the last ROH PPV reaction. The WWE shows that I watch and then see the reaction show are definitely more enjoyable, but I sincerely enjoy hearing bright, knowledgeable people breakdown something that I have an interest in, even a cursory one.

I'm a lot like Parv. Don't get me wrong, I love getting caught up in wrestling and enjoying it, but I do a lot of the same things. I make spreadsheets to organize things in games. I play what my friends call "spreadsheet games" like Crusader Kings 2 and Football Manager and TEW. I watch NFL games every Sunday but my real joy is reading breakdowns of them the following days. Same thing with baseball, boxing, college football, etc. and all the other sports I like. I find, especially thanks to the rise of blogs and podcasts, that I often enjoy analysis of things that I enjoy more than actual participation in or consumption of that thing.

I meant to and somewhat started one on Chicago last summer, maybe I'll try to pick that back up if time permits. To get overly ambitious, I'd try to do Central Illinois too.

I guess to counter that, a pet peeve of mine is when a significantly smaller guy goes over a significantly larger one without good psychology to it or a good reason. To take it to an extreme, I think even in this day and age, Big Show shouldn't likely be jobbing to Neville unless the story of the match unfolds so that there's maybe a roll up/flash pin, or a good job at chipping away at Show until you break him down. I also hate strength spots that don't even look good. Elgin's fall away slam while someone is on his shoulders that he works into every match he can comes to mind.

Still listening to this, about 25 minutes in and enjoying just hearing Russell talk, he seems so personable. Have you spoken to him often, Bix? Because it seems like you guys have a great rapport, or he's extremely easy to talk to.

-Curmudgeonly fans -When a nonwrestler gets the better of a wrestler, like when some bandmember pushes over someone on the roster and makes them look like a total non-factor.

It's something of a pet peeve that I've learned to ignore because it's so common, but like jackwebb said, breaking up pinfalls in a tag (or triple threat, etc.) match is usually awful. Not just that the guy doesn't get his shoulder up, but that the partner/other opponent doesn't really break up the pin. Just slapping a guy's back or giving him a boot shouldn't break the pin, you should have to move the pinner off of the down guy or, like jack said, the pinned guy needs to get his shoulder up. Always bothers me. I always justified it in the three way matches as 'well, now both guys are pinning him even for that instant so the ref has to stop even if the pinned wrestler doesn't get his shoulders up.' Tag matches don't have that defense.

The only person I care about going in, personally, is Tenryu. He immediately became a favorite of mine and he has the WWE moments to be included, so if they keep inducting a foreigner a year he could and should be the guy. With Texas' wrestling history, there are plenty of great choices for them to pick that I have zero qualms with, but it's Tenryu that'd get me to watch the HOF ceremony.

I agree that having different people do them makes sense to some degree, but at the same time Austin is a far bigger star than Jericho, and so he's more likely to get eyes on the network, and he doesn't seem remotely as likely to toe the company line like Jericho will.

Go Fighting Irish

Seeing as Henry is about to job in his hometown (state, whatever), when did the idea of always jobbing in your hometown start in the WWE?

Really hoping this builds to someone legitimately interesting coming out because Stardust isn't popping any crowd in the country.

Good, we get to update the chronology of Kane turns now.

I did stop watching for a few years there in the late 00s, but it's been more than several months of starting shows like this. Somewhere in the company's bylaws is a clause saying every Raw must start with 20 minutes of talking.

Looking forward to a non-post-Wrestlemania crowd tonight

And wrestling fans with their anti-worker attitudes, too.