Dav'oh

Pretty sure I just watched Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton do nothing for half-an-hour. In my defence, it was half-time of Botafogo and Palmeiras. I did see Punk apologising to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in my Reddit feed, and it was beautiful.

"Retired Wrestler Turns Heel" just doesn't do it for me, Cena or not. An over-the-hill owner pushing himself and someone who peaked a decade ago in the main event, sure seems familiar. I also doubt WWE is "the hottest it's ever been". 3.5 million YouTube views hardly compares to 33 million primetime NBC viewers. People aren't rocking YEET t-shirts like it's NWO 3:16. Wrestling is smaller than it's ever been (I'd say that's 100% on Vince). Financially? Yes, it's booming. Utterly vile billionaires pumping money into the company will do that. Stadia! Attendance figures! Social media! Great! But it's not 1985, 1998 or even 1953 in popularity.

I like John, but this means nothing in 2025. He's utterly irrelevant to the modern product, having been invisible for the last (x) years. The time to turn him was LAST FUCKING DECADE. This is shaking the dribble off at the end of a piss, not a full-stream sandblast the turds off the bowl piss like Hogan's turn. Rock and Cena as your stars in 2025 reminds me of Verne Gagne and Bock in 1985 AWA. Like, just piss off, already.

Trained monkeys who can only get up for catchphrases, all drawn by the brand, cheering for you on cue, means I can't point out how comparatively staggeringly woeful your work is? Yeah, nah.

Found on r/MapPorn

Been watching WrestleKingdom for two hours and twenty minutes and I don't remember a fucking thing. I think I saw a nice moonsault but none of it matters. The whole thing feels like I'm watching in fast-forward.

WWE would consider me a "lapsed" fan. This is incorrect. I am a repulsed fan, an ex-fan, a disappointed fan. Don't say I've "lapsed", like I'VE done something wrong. The last Saudi Show happened to start between two English Premier League matches so I watched the start, the Bloodline match. It was awful, from the presentation to the entrances to the match itself. I don't think this shit has passed me by; rather, I've passed it by. The amount of contemporary wrestling I watch has never been lower, and it sucks arse because I - we, all - fucking love this sport. Luckily YouTube etc let me watch all the territories and workers I only ever read about in the Apter rags back in the 80s, so I'm still watching "new" stuff (and all the Greg Valentine I can).

Here's an actual headline from Down Under Ben Stiler has been found guilty of murdering Duwayne Johnson Sentenced to be imprisoned for 27 years And here's a link to the judge's decision https://austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2024/314.html TL;DR "Benjamin Stiler, you have been found guilty by a jury following a trial of the murder of a young Indigenous man named Duwayne Johnson, whom you shot in the chest from close range using a sawn-off 12-gauge shotgun. Mr Johnson was only 26 years old at the time of his death... The murder of which you have been found guilty is a particularly senseless example of the always-serious crime of murder. In the context of picking up your cousin from a house party in Wodonga, after he expressed concerns to you about the behaviour of some people at the party, for some reason you attended outside the party in your vehicle in possession of the loaded shotgun. Upon seeing Mr Johnson walking towards the car, you alighted from the vehicle and shot him from a few metres away to the chest, causing him to collapse immediately to the ground and die shortly thereafter."

https://www.wrestlingnewssource.com/news/88148/Chael-Sonnen-Accuses-Vince-McMahon-of-Sexual-Misconduct-with/ Is Chael Sonnen a reliable source? That's up to you, I guess. "I never met Vince, and I know 11 people that he slept with—eight of them women, all consenting adults, so which is the implication to [the others being men]" "He would hold their careers over him, just like he would the women. It was the same thing. You get paid more, you get pushed more. This is not a secret in the industry. Like, I'm not talking trash. This was very well known. But, I mean, Shawn Michaels, like guys that you would know there was ... " And some more of the same in the article.

Sorry, I didn't mean his offence was meticulous (it is, and you're absolutely right), I find his layouts and "attention to detail" too overt. And I feel like he's got a checklist for his layouts. A perfection that seems incongruous with the world, let alone pro-wrestling. Elvis/ theBeatles/ A-HA didn't bat .1000, deNiro/ Brando/ Jeremy didn't bat .1000, Mayweather had some stinkers, on it goes. And out strolls DB sweeping the Oscars / Tonys /Emmys / Slammies every time out. It's not a knock as much as a comparison to Shawn Michaels' performances, which helped brother El-P give the world Self-Conscious Epic. I'm suggesting Daniel falls in the same category, with his own twist on things.

I'm not the sharpest crayon in the lunchbox, are we not seeing a 2024 version of the self-conscious epic every time Bryan Danielson steps in the ring, except now they're called Dream Matches and aren't as near-fall-laden? He's brilliant at what he does but it's all so...meticulous?

Chris Jericho has talked about having a bastard of a time as Super Liger, although I think it was the costume as a whole and not exclusively the mask (?) Edit to add: I believe long-term mask wearing leads to "cauliflower face", for want of a better term. It's all the squishing and compressing of the soft-tissue.

Minutes from the Oklahoma State Athletic ommission meeting, Jan 3, 2024, regarding Nyla Rose.

Jim Cornette, a decade ago, wrote an article about Harley Race for FSM wherein he said that Harley was given his first NWA title when "an orderly transition between Dory Funk Jr and Jack Brisco could not be facilitated, for reasons still unclear today." I was hoping DSotR would touch on this. Does anyone here know more?

There's a straight line connecting Kamala and R-Truth.

If it was Little Beaver, maybe. But Gulak is six inches taller than Ronda, so it's a stretch.

This disadvantages Larry Zbyszko. He doesn't enter the ring until the seven-minute mark. Greg Valentine's fucked, too. How's he meant to warm-up?

Troll. The second part of that link takes you to Vietnamese porn.

One of these is our true Lord and Saviour

SlamWrestling is reporting the passing of Virgil. "Mike Jones, who wrestling fans knew as Virgil and Vincent, has died. The news was confirmed by Pittsburgh referee Mark Charles III who had one of many who continued to look in on Jones as his health failed. Charles III posted to Facebook on the morning of February 28, 2024: My dear friends, it is with great sorrow that I bring news from the Jones family of the passing of our beloved Michael Jones, whom we know and loved as Virgil, Vincent, Soul Train Jones and more. Virgil passed peacefully at the hospital this morning and I ask that you pray for him and for his family. May his memory be eternal!" Rest in Peace

Speaking of progeny (Edit: should've written, "Here's Kevin Owens meeting his favourite serial killer, Ed Kemper.)

I saw a Swiftie say "I love being a Taylor Swift fan!". Vladimir and pals are into being SuperFans. Of what, is largely incidental. (I may have discussed this before.) You better believe those people are competing with each other.

Is "Best Flyer" decided by hang-time, or degree of difficulty? Most recorded flips for the year? Should be called the Bobby Shane Best Flyer Award, anyway

Well, when it's US$2342 a ringside ticket, and US$53 for nosebleeds (and please note, the size - 182x143 yards - and shape - oval- of the stadium's playing surface means the nosebleeds are even bleedier), you're bound to have more than a few tickets left over. It's also at least a four-hour flight from the major cities on the east coast, driving is almost foolhardy, so I wouldn't expect to many tourist dollars. I guess my gist is, the point of it all, is, fuck you, WWE. Just in general.

Paul Roma with new allegations. "Speaking on NewsNation, former WWE talent Paul Roma has claimed he is aware of allegations against Vince McMahon that are worse than what the 78-year-old has been accused of by Janel Grant. NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield noted she has spoken to another former WWE talent in Mario Mancini, who claimed he had heard about an incident even worse than that Janel Grant alleged in her lawsuit. Roma then stated: "I really shouldn't right now but yes I do know what it is and it is worse." Roma added: "Just that Mario and I are really surprised. We spoke about it. We're surprised that no one has come forward but on the flip side, I think they're of an age now they may be married and have kids and they don't want to open Pandora's box. I can't blame them." WWE executives “put you in really, really bad situations, especially once you started making some money. You find out that your job’s on the line. Either do it or get fired, and I witnessed quite a few that walked away. Money wasn’t worth it to go that route.” Roma said he doesn’t know which WWE executives were involved, but he alleged that his former partner was asked to engage in “sexual favors.”