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"We had professional differences and I'm sorry it didn't work out. Swole's opinions are highly valued and the door is open for her to return in the future. We remain committed to a diverse environment and are aware that we must be ever-vigilant and striving to improve in this regard." This really, really, REALLY wasn't that fucking hard. Either a response like the one above or no response at all wouldn't have created this kind of shit-show. That's 100% on Tony. Even WCW had the sense not to publicly proclaim, "Well, Bobby Walker sucked anyway!"

I could see moving in this direction if or when omicron cases hit a decline like they've seemingly done in South Africa--like it or not, that's the way things are going in terms of business requirements and mandates, and I think we could reach a point next year where asymptomatic wrestlers/players are allowed to go out there anyway. But fuck, can we at least get through January first and see where we're at?

Yes, that's definitely the tactic I would take if my top guy was a cancer survivor.

As Backlund tells it in his book, he was told straight-up that he was losing the title to the Sheik. He was allowed to come up with the finish but there is zero mention of him being insistent on jobbing to a guy with an amateur background--that kind of power play really wasn't Backlund's style. Also, looking at a few message board posts on this topic...Hogan signing with the WWF was supposedly done on Thanksgiving weekend in 1983. By that time, the Backlund-Superstar program was over. I think it really comes down to Sheik being the next scheduled challenger when it was time to make the switch--had Hogan been signed a month or two before, maybe Superstar wins the title. A month after, and the scheduled January challenger (Paul Orndorff) likely gets it.

That turned up on Hidden Gems back when that was a thing. Though the clips of the Russians' entrance appeared on The Biggest, the Smallest, the Strangest, & the Strongest Coliseum Video.

Incidentally the Backlund-Koloff match from the 4/83 show is "new." Nice to see even the Cock is still giving us a few drips and drabs of Hidden Gems...that didn't come out right, did it?

I don't recall that ever being the storyline with Skaaland, except in 1994 Backlund's deranged mind.

On the other hand, as Dave pointed out on WOR, they essentially signed rolling 90-day contracts, not "3-year" deals or however long it was.

Did Hook just win Rookie of the Year with 3 weeks to go?

That was really frustrating. The in-ring was mostly good to great but all the interview interruptions and beatdowns got tiresome, and most of them didn't hit as much as they could have because we'd seen it 3 times already on the same show.

Well, he did injure Bruno. He also roughed up one of the Blackhearts with the edge of a chair but that appeared to be quite deliberate. Still, two known injuries in 25 years working a rough style isn't a bad track record, even if there are more that we don't really know about.

I just know that NXT had me genuinely interested in seeing Baron Corbin vs. Bull Dempsey just on the basis of them being two tough guys who killed people. I'm not saying I was up all night in anticipation, and it's hard to imagine a time when Corbin in particular wasn't grossly overexposed yet. But the build to a mid-card Takeover hoss fight worked in 2014 or '15 based on "1989 thinking."

Also, we didn't have Excalibur giggling at half the lines, or Jerry Lawler repeating the last thing either guy said, or Mark Madden bellowing "WOW!" to signal that This Means Something to Smart Fans. The announcers were quiet the whole time.

ShowaPuroresu's move guide seems to credit it to Sakaguchi, though credit for introducing it to Japan should apparently go to either Karl Krupp or Dory Funk, Jr.

I think the PWF in '89 might have done a classic rewind match each week. I know there's footage of the Kiniski-Dory Funk NWA title change with Scott Levy antagonizing Solie with smartass commentary a la the Monsoon/Johnny Polo dynamic, and also something with Gordon & Luna Vachon, of all people.

When the hell did Danie Voges work for World Class?

TBF making sure to have short refs is a practice that goes way back in wrestling.

I'm going to have to go with Steenalized here. "If you're not here for the title, then why are you here?" was never a regular talking point that I've heard in any territory or promotion. Not that it was never said, but it certainly wasn't "every show." For goodness sake, in most of these promotions we're talking about there were almost never any heel-heel or face-face matches. It would be a particularly odd thing to say in the WW(W)F because babyfaces never got title shots against Hogan, Backlund, Pedro, or Bruno. So all that talking point would do is undermine longtime babyfaces like Strongbow, Steamboat, Rocky Johnson, et al. They knew they were never getting a World title shot, yet they still competed. And of course, in the WWF especially, feuds tended to exist in their own world, so anyone whether heel or babyface not directly feuding with Hogan was unlikely to make any noise over wanting his title. I also don't remember JR or Schiavone or Crockett talking up how the Valiant-Jones war would lead to possible title opportunities either for the Boogie Woogie Man or Teijo Khan depending on who won. That feud was entirely outside titles and yet it was still treated with importance.

What? Any time I'm writing something on a pad and then stop, I always make sure to take time to flip the pad around first so my text is facing away from me as I hold it.

This may be Stephanie overruling Vince, Bruce, et al. Supposedly the decision not to mention Trump was hers, and she may be more cognizant of the potential consequences and fallout of such a character than Vince and his cronies.

So, WWE is already removing Joe Gacy references from Youtube and Twitter. That gimmick may already be on ice.

Maybe it's just that my expectations weren't high but that was a full-on 4* tag match. I thought it was fucking awesome and Sting looked so good that I may just consider him a worthy WON HOFer after all.

Steve Martin knew the trick to aging gracefully--in the 1970's when he was in his early 30's, he looked middle aged. When he reached his 60s, he still looked middle aged. Now that he's in his mid-70s looks like a recent retiree.

Christ, we hear about Ric Flair and Scott Hall sexually assaulting a flight attendant and somehow Dreamer came off the worst of anybody in that whole episode.

Some notes about The Final Countdown as I understand it: - Europe apparently asks for $50,000 per play--that means if Bryan wrestles and wins, that's $100,000. $150 if he comes out to do a promo first. - The band itself doesn't really like the song, so one reason the price is so high is the reason some old guys charge so much for indies: they don't really want to, but aren't going to say no to a stupid amount of money either. - I don't like Europe myself, but they're still big enough on the continent that they've put a lot of money away and can make more doing nostalgia tours every couple of years. - They had to send a cease-and-desist to Trump when he was using the song on his campaign without permission, so they may be even more leery about putting it out there. The bottom line is it's their song and they can do with it what they want, if anything. (As for music in the '70s and '80s...come on. Almost none of that shit was licensed.)