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In the build-up to SummerSlam '88, the identity of Brother Love's guest was kept secret and even hyped as "someone who had never appeared in Madison Square Garden before." This was apparently supposed to be Ric Flair's debut, but it didn't happen and we got an underwhelming interview with Hacksaw Jim Duggan instead. But for them to kinda-sorta hype a special debut on television meant that things had to be very, very close to happening. (Yes, yes, Flair had worked an MSG shot in 1975--in that continuity it didn't count.)

I mean, "good-looking" isn't really that far from "babyface," is it? And in the UK it's "blue-eye," which could probably sound as equally nonsensical to foreign ears. Slang can be weird and inside-industry slang weirder still.

If I'm thinking of the same move, which I may not be, Kent Walton just called it a folding press.

I heavily disagree that Russo has a grip on reality but for reasons not relating to prowrestlingonly so I'll do a little passive-aggressive "bring it up and leave it at that" bit. Also, "creativity" is overrated in wrestling.

No, I don't find that take to be normal at all for someone involved in the business. I don't think many of us are all that enamored with making the business your life, but for a lot of people, it is. And not just Cornette. And in some ways "it's just wrestling, bro" is pretty disrespectful to them. It's "just wrestling" but it's also their livelihoods and in some cases the only life they know. It's a healthy attitude for fans, but dismissive to the actual workforce.

I feel like that's another point against him, actually.

July of 2021, maybe. There won't be a vaccine until fall 2021 at the very earliest, but I could see limited gatherings if we vastly increase the supply of tests and preferably if some sort of treatment--not a vaccine, necessarily--is discovered and mass-produced before then. But, those are huge "ifs." Especially in the U.S. Japan could be up and running before then, but alongside sporting events and concerts in front of crowds, I feel like international travel is going to be one of the absolute last things to return to "normal" if such a thing is possible.

Indeed, Trump is very much an "experimented politician," and the experiment is a colossal failure.

I liked the tag title match more than MoS but count me as someone who liked the cage match even more. Terrific stuff. AEW has my money for my first bought PPV in probably 17 years or so.

A very good question, and I actually subscribe to the theory that Bret Hart proferred in his book and that I think I've seen elsewhere: there was no intention of making Warrior any kind of long-term guy. WM6 was about Vince proving to everyone that he could get Hogan to do a clean job, about getting him written off for the summer, and Warrior was simply there to keep the belt warm until it could get back to Hogan. Remember, there was talk of doing Hogan-Warrior II at Mania 7, and Hogan is making noise as early as SummerSlam (long before it seemed there was any end in sight for Warrior's title reign) about going after the title again. Nothing was ever done or said by accident on WWF television at this time, so if Hogan said it, that was definitely a plan. And there is literally no possible result to a potential Hogan-Warrior II besides Hogan getting his win back, end of discussion. So my own personal answer is, like, negative-90 days, or whenever the WM6 main event was decided upon. It was a fait accompli from the start, and the substandard (to an almost nonsensical and completely unseen in WW(W)F history to this point) way that Warrior is booked as champion I think bears this out. He's seemingly stuck in secondary programs because that was the intention all along.

Dave on The Board categorically denied the $0-for-NXT story, calling it "total nonsense."

Like, just on the absolute most superficial level, it's a fucking terrible nonsensical joke. It's not like a guy who can knock up somebody on the road and then never see them again. How can a woman not know how many kids she has? That's one of about a hundred things wrong with all this, but the fact that the joke sucks can hopefully bypass anyone lamenting the decline of western civilization, the rise of political correctness, and "cancel culture." Good for Renee for stepping up in Paige's defense.

I don't think using Cornette's actual name qualifies as falling under parody protection. Note that Cornette's own pissing-on-Russo's-grave shirt takes care to block out part of Vince's name.

I think people including the Elite themselves are overstating how much backlash there would be to Omega and the Bucks being pushed as top guys. People turned on HHH and Jarrett pushing themselves to the top because it was HHH and Jeff Jarrett. People actually want to see Omega and the Elite in main events.

Vivacious Veronica.

Did he have a wrestling career of any note? Is he persona non grata to Vince? Has he killed anybody? These are literally the only criteria for whether anyone "should" go into the WWE HOF. I don't get why we're still asking these questions.

Lance Russell, not Solie. And Finlay was a fixture on WWE television for years, which Lance wasn't. The two situations are not remotely comparable.

He just main evented the damn show last week. He's clearly in a spot that a guy like, say, Shawn Spears or CIMA isn't at.

In terms of guys not growing up fans who became true students of the game: Brian Pillman. He went to a Sheik show in Cincinnati once, but wasn't into wrestling until it opened up as a career option when he was playing football in Calgary. A few years later and he's reading up on Ray Stevens and begging Meltzer to find him footage to study. Personal life and car wreck notwithstanding, Pillman certainly seemed to play the political game better than many others with his background.

Hey, hey, baby steps: let's see if Joey Janela can at least eclipse Shane McMahon when it comes to throwing a damn punch, first.

They said before the match it's going to be an annual event.

Close. It was Dr. Mindbender from the GI Joe cartoon. That was a total misfire.

Well, we'll see what JR is made of--no Schiavone tonight to carry him. I'm assuming Tony is in Hawaii with the Georgia basketball team.