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Even if it wasn't strictly European-style, Scorpio would have learned some semblance of catch wrestling in the New Japan dojo.

Steve Grey vs. Jim Breaks in the no-rounds match (from I think 1978) is just one match off the top of my head without having to dig through research that ends with Grey literally going to run the ropes (on his own accord) and falling through for the injury/KO finish.

To be perfectly frank about it, I'm not sure how many more times we have to explain that we American-pilled viewers can see a categorical difference between being put down for the count of 10 by a finisher or a high-impact move, and bumbling through the ropes and falling to the floor "injured." I don't care if they go in the record books as the same result: one is one wrestler imposing his will on and vanquishing another with their trademark hold, the other is a fluke and an example of why actual MMA is much better in a cage than in a ring.

Sounds like the songwriter's beef is with the 3rd party, not AEW.

I know these interviews were from before he died but holy shit do Brett, Joey, and GCW probably deserve a liability investigation reading this. Joey's already trying to do damage control saying that he was just adding to "the lore" by claiming Sabu was knocked out and that he actually wasn't, but I don't know how you fucking watch that match and think he was anything but unconscious on that floor bump.

The '50s U.S. footage is almost all (partially) televised house shows, similar to catch (it seems World of Sport/JP could be afford to be a bit more choosy in what aired from where, whereas the U.S. shows just showed whatever was happening at the Olympic Auditorium or Marigold Arena in Chicago that week, depending on the network). The rise of "studio wrestling" was pretty much post-national-TV boom and that's where what we perceive as the modern territorial TV format began. (Of course, even within that there were exceptions--Portland and Dallas continued with the same televised-house-show format for their almost their entire existence).

We're not asking for WWE to employ people indefinitely. We're asking them to honor the fucking contracts they signed talent to. ("But--but, the contract allows for a 90-day termination clause, so they're honoring them!" Shut the fuck up with that bullshit.) If they want to do what they did with Shotzi and just not renew her contract when it expires, that's fine and dandy. You need turnover and you could argue that WWE should actually be more aggressive with doing that instead of less. Also, personally, in the abstract I don't give much of a fuck about how much either company "benches" people except selfishly when it happens to people I really like. If they don't want to use someone, they're free not to as long as they're honoring the contract. But calling out WWE when they do bench people is more than fair after Nick Khan confidently declared that they don't do that.

Unbelievably, Hogan had not one but two decent takes in that interview, talking up Toni Storm and AEW and also saying what a lot of people have been saying about the (lack of) follow-up to the Cena turn.

Let's call it "higher" rather than "high."

Yep, it's the Fuji match, with a big VQ upgrade.

Someone on Richard's Patreon believes it's Yasu Fuji.

In the file from Richard Land, it's Saturski against a guy in a sky-blue leotard and long tights. Black hair and a beard. It might be Judd Harris as I watch the match more closely. Yeah, it's obviously a date discrepancy because that's Kauroff in the match above, but this match is shot from a different angle, elevated and farther back and from the corner of the ring as opposed to ringside.

We've got another discrepancy on that show--the results sites have it as Wolfgang Saturski vs. Klaus Kauroff, but that's definitely not Kauroff and I couldn't recognize him or make out the name.

The WWF on their own television had a doctor talking about how you can't "tough" your way through a concussion and that the effects are permanent. Watch the TV after Shawn collapsed on Raw and you'll see it. Everyone in the medical community knew that concussions were bad not just short-term but long-term at *least* by 1995 and probably earlier.

I've been binging random episodes of Taskmaster and in the 2023 New Year's special, Alex Horne refers to author/broadcaster Greg James as the third-most famous Greg, "behind Greg Dyke and Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine." Not really a setting I expected a wrestling reference and I have to wonder if the Dyke reference was intentional or a coincidence.