Eduardo

Wasn't there a Smackdown Thanksgiving episode once, where Triple H out of nowhere did one of his shootish one liners about Jericho (possibly about Jericho's capabilities as a worker)? I can't remember exactly what was said and the context, but the two weren't even linked onscreen at the time and it just sounded so out of place. I'm pretty sure it was November 1999, or at the latest November 2000.

Three months after the WWE/Claudio deal, Bryan Alvarez worked a show with Claudio and claimed that Claudio pulled out his green card/paperwork just to prove to Alvarez that visa issues weren't the cause.

When was it confirmed that they altered the poll results for Cyber Sunday? I remember Dave claiming they were legitimate.

SLL did a great job explaining it so I thought I would just add that a few years ago, even Dave Meltzer in his newsletter was comparing the major differences of a Bret Hart carryjob and what people call a Michaels' carryjob. He said something along the lines of Bret Hart being a "magician" at making you believe that that certain shitty guys were better than they actually were while Michaels' was more of a stylistic flashy bumping performance. I don't have all my Observer issues with me anymore, but I think it was around the time when Flair and Hart were having their little war of words in the Summer of 2004.

Yeah, and Dave sounded so confused over it and wants to find out more about the thought process that went into that terrible match. Undertaker's selling was really fantastic throughout the main event. 'Taker's been a guy that for the last decade has been getting better and better at selling (both in very subtle ways and very melodramatic theatrical ways), and this sell job might be the best one he's ever done. Like Dylan mentioned on DVDVR, the match had it's share of flaws, but they accomplished a really cool main event that felt special.

Ah I see, I guess I was remembering it incorrectly. EDIT: Yes, you're right, here is the quote you're talking about Sean:

This has been going on for years, Bryan's been going to the WrestleMania/HOF/ROH weekends while Dave is busy with something else (MMA or finishing the newsletter). I remember that in 2008, Dave specifically mentioned that Ric Flair wanted Dave to be there for his WWE HOF induction but Dave chose to go to the Strikeforce show that was held that same night. Dave even said that Yahoo was allowing him to go to WM weekend if he wanted, but he was more interested in Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le, and honestly it looks like he made the right decision for himself since he is always bringing up that fight. No reason to get upset at Dave at this since it's either Yahoo-related like KrisZ mentioned or he's enjoying live MMA more at this point than live pro wrestling.

What was the email about Bix?

This was a VHS that was released in 2000 that featured the Texas Death match with Vader vs Cactus Jack (Halloween Havoc '93), Hulk Hogan vs Sting (Starrcade 97), Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat (Chi-Town Rumble), and maybe one or two other matches. I forgot who hosted the video, I could be wrong but it might have been Schiovane, but I remember the host mentioning the poll. I rented this VHS about a decade ago at my local video store, so I don't think it was rare. EDIT: Amazon had this pic and info:

Dave Meltzer earlier today: "Speaking of Kerry Von Erich, he was the object of discussion at a press conference today with Urijah Faber. For the record, he truly believes I’m the first person in his life say he looks like Kerry Von Erich. And he doesn’t know who Kerry Von Erich is, but when I said it, all sorts of people jumped up and said, 'Yeah, he does.'" Is Dave the only guy in the world that goes up to modern MMA stars at press conferences and tells them they look like 1980s regional pro wrestling stars?

How was Vince and WWE pissing on its name? In 2008 and 2009 it was probably the best pro wrestling show on TV (although I'm sure it was unintentional).

Name me a top star John Cena hasn't jobbed out to in the last couple of years. I know Shawn, Hunter and Taker are a bit more protected by the booking, but I think this statement is a bit of a stretch today. Yeah one major criticism is they really could do a better job protecting Cena. He's done way too many unnecessary jobs to guys like Triple H and Shawn Michaels for no reason these past few years.

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JDW, Dave admitted this years ago in a WrestlingClassics thread, I thought it was common knowledge that Dave helped with the Coleman-Takada fight since it's popped up in MMA boards. I think the thread has been deleted now, but I have had the Meltzer WC quote saved in an email: "Coleman-Takada was a work. I can tell you that 100% because weeks before the fight I was involved in a discussion regarding how they would work the finish. There's a lot more to this story but people who don't understand Japan, wrestling and the fight business will never get this, but had Takada not been given some bought and paid for wins early on, Pride would have folded long before Sakuraba got hot and turned it into what it turned into. Business was not good those early years and Takada was the only guy over, and people were losing faith in him. He needed a big win at that moment. It's never been an issue in Japan because all they were drawing were pro wrestling fans until probably 2001 anyway, and they understood business is business. "

This is a topic for another discussion, but Ebert has never admitted such a thing and he looks back fondly on his time with Russ Meyer. I remember reading a Dusan Makavejev (who thinks Russ Meyer's a genius) interview where he mentioned how he once spent an eventing with Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer, and how wonderful it was just to spend the entire night listening to Meyer and Ebert talk about their work. Considering the genre he was working in, which was the Russ Meyer sex comedy niche/social satire/parodies of Hollywood cliches, it was a very clever and apt screenplay, and Ebert successfully went on to write two more Meyer films with Up and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens.

I don't know about blaming people, but there are a lot of contradictions out there, like the one you alluded to. I love hearing Bryan Alvarez use the talking point about how current WWE would never hire guys that don't look like cookie cutter bodybuilders but he can't help but talk shit about Trevor Murdoch, Mark Henry and Big Show for not looking like what he thinks pro wrestlers should look like. It seems very strange to hear him get so worked up over how Mark Henry looks.

I didn't read that as a shot at all, just the simple statement that no way is Andre the second most beloved athlete of the last 40 years. What other type of shots has Dave taken against Andre? Maybe I'm forgetting something, but it seems like Dave just corrects people when it comes to exaggerations about Andre like his height and such things.

Lesnar's BJJ coach Rodrigo Medeiros is claiming that Lesnar will be back in 6 months. The Lesnar camp also released this hype video on their YouTube account:

This part from Meltzer's update today confused me: ?

I don't know if they were ever on the "Watch Instantly" program (I never managed to look for WWE stuff there), but it is possible that they were at one point. With "Watch Instantly", they cycle in and out of different programming. If they were on there and they were pulled, there isn't any major story behind it, as a lot of programming on "Watch Instantly" ends up only being there for a limited time.

I was surprised to hear him say he was shocked no kid was dressed as Mistico, I know he lives in Southern Cali, but were kids there really dressing up as Mistico? I was waiting for him to get giddy saying kids were dressed as Kimbo Slice and Randy Couture, but alas.... Surprisingly, I saw a John Cena at the Monsters of Folk concert here in Louisville this Halloween. I also saw 2 Hulk Hogans at a bar later that night. One Hogan was a girl. Ha, cool. At a bar I went to on Halloween, a guy showed up dressed up as Ultimo Dragon which cracked me up way too much.

I am very amused by Dave using his sons Halloween party to analyse the popularity of pro wrestling every year. He even proclaimed "Unbelievable" at how he couldn't believe any kid dressed up as a pro wrestler this year.

I wonder who convinced who, either way the talking point lives on. This Cornette news bit reminds me of a story about The Rock calling Dave Meltzer on the phone immediately after the Forrest Griffin vs Shogun Rua fight to talk about "the business" (Meltzer explained that The Rock also thinks pro wrestling and MMA are the same thing and thus MMA is now included in "the business" term). The Rock went on to gush about Griffin vs Rua being better pro wrestling than pro wrestling. If Dave can convince THE ROCK of his talking point, it's no surprise that Cornette is saying this now. Do any workers who are not friends with Dave Meltzer act like it's the same thing?

Of all the people in 1992 to pick to make their point, they picked Shawn - who wasn't much of a worker and was struggling with his singles matches - and Bret Hart - who also was far from his peak as a worker and was not great yet. In 1992, there were literally a dozen better workers in WCW, and one could make the argument that there were a hundred others around the world that were better workers than Hart and Michaels.

Yeah, no one at the time in WCW was using those as finishers and they were usually mid-level offense in Flair matches. One of reasons I posted both quotes was that it was pretty funny considering that in 1992, HBK was using a really shitty suplex as his finisher that was totally inferior to a vertical suplex and a double arm suplex.