S.L.L.

Is the Namorian homeworld anywhere near the constellation of Destrucity? Also.... I'll take "Sentences that Fritz Von Erich never actually said in his entire life" for $1000, Alex.

Michael Cole used to write for The Simpsons?

More than the rest of ROH to be sure. More than most of the wrestling world? That's a bit of a stretch. "The wrestling world" covers a lot of ground. I'd buy that they're in the upper half of all wrestlers active today.

Almost forgot to mention.... *Necro Butcher vs. Yoshiaki Yago (2/26/2006 - CHIKARA) A great example of what Necro brings to the table when he doesn't have weapons. Both of these guys just lay into each other in spectacular fashion.

I wanna say that JDW or some other tOA guy pimped a Spivey/Tenryu match from '89, but I can't prove it. And of course, there were all those great Hansen/Spivey tags, but they're not exactly matches you remember because of Spivey.

On one hand, wrestling seems like such a base form of entertainment that I'd say it's impossible. On the other hand, the Super Bowl is the Holy Grail for advertising. And football wasn't always at that level of popularity. Maybe if Meltzer would stop getting so hung up on MMA or boxing or competitive video gaming or whatever and start focusing on how the NFL is pro wrestling, we'd figure out how to get wrestling to that level. Come on, Bob Sapp's fighting style was "NFL". And he was the runner-up for wrestler of the year in 2002. Coincidence, Dave? I think not! No wonder Watts was so good. There are a lot of right ideas here. I'm doing a "Quest for the Whitest Match Ever" project at Segunda Caida, and in one entry of that, I wrote this about "Hollywood wrestling": Kinda disagree with you about "less predictable storylines" for reasons that I've gone on at great length about elsewhere and that no one wants to see me rehash here. Kinda disagree with "not faces and heels, but characters", though I see what you're getting at. Personally, would rephrase that as "heels and faces, who are characters", but yeah. Not sure how WWE would pull of "more classy arenas". But otherwise think you're looking in the right direction. There's a definite logic to approaching a wrestling TV show as "a TV show about a wrestling promotion", rather than a direct simulation of a fictional sports promotion's broadcast. But it would require someone with both a strong understanding of presenting fiction on TV in general AND the wrestling genre in general. Not sure if there's anyone quite like that who wouldn't fall back on wrestling's business as usual or the excesses of Hollywood wrestling.

Interesting. So the concern was not, in fact, that wrestling appealed to broke hillbillies, but just that the content of the shows were too racy/violent/foul/whatever? Still leaves me wondering how a show like The Simpsons can seemingly live forever despite low ad rates. At least wrestling has never used TV for the core of it's income.

The Simpsons' cockroach-like tenacity seems like it should be a mark in it's favor. The thing is, if ad rates are the lifeblood of a TV show - and they are - it would stand to reason that these shows would be more of a threat to get axed than they actually are. But The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives, SVU, South Park...these are shows that aren't going anywhere any time soon. Not shows constantly under the gun like wrestling programs often seem to be. I mean, there are different reasons for avoidance. Wrestling's big problem has always been the low income audience they draw more than anything else. With SVU, it might be the content, but they're drawing a more upscale audience. Still, money is money, and you'd think if ad men weren't keen on these shows, it would be more of an issue than it seems to be. Obviously, there's more factors at play here than the survey mentions, and I still don't know if it means anything or if there's some kind of lesson to be taken away from it. Something just doesn't seem to fit here. Perhaps the lesson of 2008 will be learned when the WWE figures out what they're doing wrong that The Simpsons are doing right.

Necro Butcher is on track to become one of the best workers of this decade, and certainly to become the best garbage worker of this decade. Like Foley before him, he's proven himself as both an out-of-control monster heel and as a lovable lunatic babyface, and in terms of pure talent, I think he has what it takes to make it big. There are lots of other factors that could easily prevent that, of course, but talent-wise, he's got it down pat. Some of your better Necro Butcher matches include.... *Necro Butcher vs. Toby Klein (6/25/2004 - IWA:M-S) "Fans Bring the Weapons" Match from the 1st round of the annual "King of the Death Matches" tournament. The gateway match for a lot of Necro fans. Considered by many at the time to be the best death match ever, though I don't know if that opinion still stands. The finish always ruined it for me, but what can you do? *Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe (6/11/2005 - IWA:M-S) Rob Naylor's greatest achievement. Probably solidified Necro's standing in the minds of indy wrestling fans at large as a guy who you should be paying attention to. *Necro Butcher vs. Tank (11/19/2005 - IWA:M-S) *Necro Butcher vs. Bull Pain (11/19/2005 - IWA:M-S) The Quarter and Semi-Finals of the 2005 KOTDM tournament. The finals were pretty darn good, too, for that matter, but these were the highlights of one of the best one-night performances in the recent history of wrestling *Necro Butcher/Chris Hero/Super Dragon vs. Samoa Joe/BJ Whitmer/Adam Pearce (4/22/2006 - ROH) *Necro Butcher/Chris Hero/Claudio Castognoli/Nate Webb/Eddie Kingston vs. Samoa Joe/BJ Whitmer/Adam Pearce/Ace Steele/Bryan Danielson/Homicide (7/15/2006 - ROH) Point/counterpoint in one hell of a feud. Necro is a secondary player here, but he's the most prominent secondary player, and he makes the most of it. *Necro Butcher vs. Super Dragon (9/2/2006 - PWG) This was about as crazy as you might guess it was. *Necro Butcher vs. Low-Ki (12/16/2006 - IWA:M-S) Likewise.

Remembering how cool the Waylon Mercy gimmick was makes me wish someone would do a Reverend Harry Powell gimmick, as it seems like the natural replacement. Other than that, I got nothing.

2003 was one of the shittiest years in recent memory for pro wrestling, and one of the very few places you were going to find solace was the NOAH midcard. Chief amongst their ranks were Wild II and the Akiyama/Saito team. Aside from the matches Mike already mentioned, there was also a defense against Rikio & Marufuji that I remember being pretty boss. In general, Akitoshi Saito is a stocky dude with awesome hair who isn't afraid to beat the fuck out of you, and that's really all I ask for from my pro wrestlers.

I wanted to mention this blurb in yesterday's WO.com update: A number of dudes - myself included - have had to shoot down the delusions of fans who talk about how thus-and-such wrestling show could never be in jeopardy because they get high ratings, ignoring that it is not the ratings but the ad rates that actually make TV shows money, and ad men tend to avoid wrestling like the plague. But....The Simpsons? Desperate Housewives? Law & Order: SVU? I don't know if it's indicative of anything, or even how valid the survey is...but it's something that struck me as interesting, and something that may be worth keeping in mind in the future.

What was this story again? I'm holding out hope it involves him threatening to beat up Bix at a show. Naw, that was GLF. The old Non-Stick board at DVDVR was once inhabited by both GregH and "ozzie", whose writing style and opinions were practically identical to Greg's. This led many to logically conclude that ozzie was a socko for GregH, which seems really pointless when you haven't even been banned from a board, but then, Greg always loved asking questions and then immediately answering them himself (Does he? Yes he does!), so I guess this was the next logical step for him. Anyway, dudes pointed this out, they both denied even knowing each other, until at some point, for reasons I don't recall, Greg "revealed" that Ozzie was his nephew, and that he was terminally ill. You can take your pick from the possible implications of this: 1. GregH was Ozzie, and was lying through his teeth about everything (most likely) 2. GregH suffers from some kind of multiple personality disorder (entirely possible) 3. GregH is an asshole who refused to acknowledge the existence of his dying nephew (my favorite) Ozzie has not been seen for some time now. Rumors that he died of a broken heart are unconfirmed, but probably true.

I think the crux of the problem here isn't that Cena thinks steroid abusers should go to jail. It's that Cena IS a steroid abuser, and thus this line is bullshit.

Oh my God. That thread. That fucking thread. "Invisible is being 26 and paralyzed. Forced to live in a nursing home an hour from your home because no other facility will take you because you're too young. I just descoved AotF and it feels like home. I follow the blog but cannot watch ROH because this facility doesn't have PPV or the Fight Channel, and I can't afford the DVDs. Your blogs make feel like I walk again as part of The Age of the Fall. I am The Fallen and the Forgotten. Eric" Ulterior motives aside, this is, at face value, a pretty clever way of pushing forward the AOTF angle (while advancing said ulterior motives in the process). But..... "If you are trying to provoke a reaction, Gabe, you are certainly suceeding as that is one of the saddest stories I ever heard. I know that we fans would like to help this guy assuming that it isn't a hoax. Poor fellow! Now I can't sleep until we do something for him." -GregH, expert in the field of fabricating sick relatives "I always thought Gabe was anti AOTF." -Rypro 525, keeping kayfabe going great in the '08 "They have had an effect on people . I had'nt seen my daughter in a long time, and through several emails, and a lively discussion of viewpoints, i did muster up the courage to finaly see my daughter . I now have a different viewpoint on life, and i now have a goal: to raise and mold my daughter into the best person she can be . And to think, all i needed was a soundboard, someone to vent on, someone to say, "you can do it" ........" -foxmulder, he wasn't kidding when he said the truth was "out there" "I'm in, but I have a concern ... I don't want to sound like an asshole, but is there a way that we can confimr that this is real before we start sending money? Not real as in GABE would fake it, I mean real as in the person sending the email is being truthful and not just playing along with the Age of the Fall thing. I've written emails to Tyler before and whilst they are truthfully, they are also 'in character' to a degree. I just think it's important that a connection is made" -Lonewolf, very nearly stating the obvious but not quite "If you read Gabe's own reply to that concern in the original Eric post he clearly states that this is "100%" a true story(on ROH's part) and strongly implying that it is not a work. That's good enough for me. But because of your concern I did communicate with Gabe and he did confirm everything is real on ROH's part. So let me further investigate the story to make sure that the individual himself is legitimate. Thanks for your concern." -GregH, reminding us that wrestling promoters never ever lie...EVER "Thinking with your heart is what's made you the damned coolest guy in the ROHiverse, the veritable Hat Guy." -Ave, in the words of Scott Keith, I love shoot comments that aren't supposed to be shoot comments "I think we should buy Eric a hooker. DVDs are nice and all, but if he's cooped up in some home, I'm thinking female companionship might be the way to go." -Beans and Whiskey, a sensible man "that's just tasteless." -Chuck Norris, responding to the above, suggesting that he isn't nearly as awesome as the internet told me he was "And if people's pitching in for a random dude to get him DVDs.. Then I have no legs, arms, fingers, eyes, or ears. I just type with my nose. Buy me DVDs." -CaptainCCCharisma, pointing out the obvious logical flaws here "Wow - Some classy posts here! Please ban those two just for being a**holes! (Sorry for my language)" -PaulKowalski, bastion of good taste Personally, I see this as a win-win situation. If it's legit, a dude in need gets some DVDs that he wants. If not, idiot marks get fleeced, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.

Which is particularly impressive since it's Heyman, and "real talk" isn't exactly his strong suit.

Why? Because he's dumb?

And to add to that, Eddie did very nicely at the box office the following year in a feud with Rey where the only title at stake was "Dominic's father". Right now, I get the feeling that Jeff Hardy could become a real money draw, but that doesn't mean they have to go all out all at once with him. And if people get bored of him before that happens, well, that doesn't exactly speak well of how long he would have held their attention as champ, does it?

Not that there aren't certain valid points made in the article, but the gall of - of all people - Lance Storm to tell - of all people - THE UNDERTAKER how to get the interest of a crowd is ridiculous. Anyway, I think the best things for wrestling to borrow from MMA have already been borrowed. The tap out gives a good visual indicator to a submission finish, and adds extra punch to I Quit matches. Ref stoppages from repeated strikes make sense to me, and work pretty well for dudes like Danielson. The various MMA style moves that have been incorporated into a wrestling setting have been welcome additions. And, of course, there's the always delightful Bob Sapp. Not sure what more they need to take from MMA, at least not until Kimbo Slice becomes sufficiently exposed in legit fighting.

Why do people get so upset about WWE "wasting" Jeff Hardy's push? Like every guy who gets put into a title program automatically has to win it. I mean, I know that's a regular thing in WWE these days (MVP vs. Benoit, Punk vs. Morrison, Chavo vs. Punk, Batista vs. everyone else), but it's not like it's an unusual - or even ineffective - booking technique. Also, bullet points of things I've said a million times before that no one wants to see me go over again, but that apply here: *That Cena feller might have something to say about being the most over guy right now *Different isn't always good *Predictable isn't always bad *Anarchistxx hating HHH is kinda funny to me for obvious reasons

* Animals are not human beings, and it's stupid to treat them like they are.* If they're intelligent enough to be treated with the same dignity as human beings, then all those carnivores and omnivores out there in the animal kingdom have some explaining to do. I saw that episode of "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!" where they were talking about PETA, and there was a chicken happily pecking away at a piece of KFC. If actual chickens have no problem with eating chicken, then I don't see why I should. * Also, I once got into an argument about vegetarianism on another board that ended with someone accusing me of "trivializing the vegetarian lifestyle". This might be the single dumbest thing I've ever read on the internet. Think of the ground that covers. * JDW's tape-watching get-togethers have to be the King of something, dammit. *Obviously, if there is an animal that you find sufficiently adorable that you like to treat like a human for your own amusement, that's fine. If you actually think Fido has a clue what the fuck you're going on about, you're a moron.

For some reason, it's the swearing line that's the most amusing to me. "I've told you guys before to stop swearing, or there would be consequences. Well, you didn't, and there weren't, but I'm now considering possibly following up on them maybe. So don't do it, or else there may or may not be some kind of fine or punishment, unless of course I just back down like I did last time. Who can be sure. I can't even keep all these darn angles straight. C'mon guys, cut me some slack! I'm the best booker in wrestling!"

Oh, I'm sure it won't happen all this year. It took ECW a good 4-5 years after it's peak ended before they died off, and they were a much worse managed company than ROH is. ROH has only really been "post-peak" about a year now. They have plenty of time left, I'm just saying look for things to get worse this year, not better. I think they've definitely hit that point, but to their credit, they seem to realize it, hence the recent cutbacks. For all the grief I give ROH and ROH-style things, I think there's still a lot to like there. I just think realitically, they can't last in their current form, at least not at the level they once had. Well if that was their plan, they fucked up. There have been many instances in Japan of contenders failing in their first attempts to capture titles, and coming back to win them later. Problem is, in Japan, it's usually several years later, not several months. Plus, there's usually a bunch of compelling challenges in between, rather than one guy as the eternal #1 contender. I mean, how often do your major Japanese titles get defended against the same guy more than once in the same year? It's not too common these days. Of course, titles get defended a lot less in Japan than they do in America, but if you look at Mori's big ROH Title defenses - which would be roughly equivalent to any Japanese title defense - they're against two guys, over and over again, until one of them won.

Also, DDP planning his every move probably made him a lot better than he would have been otherwise.

It'll probably take a few years for them to disappear entirely, but indy promotions (except ECWA, I guess) just don't last forever, at least not on the level of notability that ROH has achieved. They don't tend to be very good at four critical things: 1. Knowing their limitations 2. Changing up their game after one style runs it's course 3. Coming back after their big peak is over 4. Developing new talent that's as compelling as the ones that have left ROH, to their credit, seems to be learning their lesson about #1, albeit a touch too late. The second actually happened on the way to their peak, which isn't exactly uncommon, especially when it coincides with a change in management, but they're having a hard time doing it now. But even if they did, this kind of promotion appeals to a very specific kind of fan, who might not stick around if things change, and the nature of which might not be conducive to drawing a "new" audience to take their place. So it's a bit of a Catch-22, and thus very hard to overcome. Because of #2, overcoming #3 is almost impossible. Assuming the "peak" of ROH to be the spring of '04 to the spring of '07 (or Pedogate and the rise of the Rottweilers until Joe leaves the company and Morishima becomes ROH champ), with Joe vs. Kobashi being the highest point of that....how do you follow that if all you've got in your arsenal (that you're willing/able to use, anyway) is a bunch of attempts at recreating that style with a badly depleted roster, many of whom aren't really suited to the designated ROH style....or aren't any good at it. And look at the their peak years, and you see how big a problem #4 is now. Joe is gone, Homicide is gone, Punk is gone. Of the four guys who were really making ROH go, only Danielson remains. Nigel's good enough to replace one of the three, and has positioned as such, but he seems to lack the punch the other guys brought. I don't think it's so much his fault, mind you. His title chase - and the Morishima title reign in general - was badly booked, and further illustrates the problems they have with the roster and the style. Back in September, I wrote this at Segunda Caida..... They ended up giving the strap to Nigel. Nigel's great, but the booking is just a bad deal all around. Again, from Segunda Caida.... Nigel feels like kind of a chump who won the belt only because he was going to keep getting shots until he won the damn thing, and aside from Danielson, there were no other "real" challengers. So the roster was exposed as being flimsy AND the two guys who were perceived as serious title threats fell to the champ, but stayed contenders because there was no one else. And now that Nigel's champ, it's just him and Danielson, unless they can develop someone as a real threat, which is never easy when you need a guy to fill an existing mold of a main event wrestler instead of allowing for/creating something new and different. These are all things that are particularly hard for "big" indy promoters to overcome, which is why after their peak, they tend to fade away. I imagine you'll see much the same happen to ROH over the next few years.