S.L.L.

In fairness, it's a lot easier than admitting to yourself that you're supporting a business that kills people dead for fun and profit.

So Congress will back down from the guy who's openly mocking them and parading his flagrant insanity for all to see while laughing in their faces and talking shit about how he's going to beat the government twice.....because they want to look tough?

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE COMPLETELY FINE, FOLKS!

Bingo.

Ehh I really hated the Ultimo Guerrero top rope tiger drivers Mistico only to sprain his ankle in the process..leading to Mistico popping up unscathed to hit his finisher. I don't know if Cena really "popped up unscathed", at least not any more so than is to be expected in wrestling. Those UG/Mistico matches grated on me, too, but I really didn't see that happening here.

While I know no one is saying that this has anything to do with the WWE's other troubles right now, I can't help but find it telling that Flair would sooner go toe-to-toe with the IRS and the Repo Depot than hang around as McMahon's indentured servant any longer. They say the rats are always the first to leave the sinking ship.

David Bixenspan: The Man Who Killed Professional Wrestling ...like he killed Jesus. WHEN WILL THE MADNESS STOP?

Well, yes. I meant more that I was selfishly hoping to see all the Michaels defenders act confused when the general public doesn't think the aging, balding, effeminate, registered sex offender-looking dude is a handsome pretty boy who's hip and with it and down with the kids these days (well, they might think that one, but not in the way it's intended).

David Bixenspan: The Man Who Killed Professional Wrestling

On a personal, strictly petty level, I'm kind of curious to see how much public exposure Michaels gets out of this, and what public perception of him is compared to his defender's claims.

Not that I'm one of those people, but it's probably worth noting that a lot of wrestling fans - much like people in wrestling themselves - are so far removed from reality that the WWE could go under tomorrow and they would still swear up and down that everything's fine. I know it's not your intention here, but the sect of fandom insisting none of this will happen will keep insisting it until all of it actually happens. And when it does, they'll probably still keep insisting it. As to the question, it really depends on how much awful shit about WWE's backstage goings-on comes out, in any form, and how bad it is. Assuming the only thing that comes out is rampant drug abuse, they could get off (comparatively) light, or get hit bad. If the culture that endorses the drug abuse comes out, it won't be pretty. If some of the horrible incidental stuff that's happened over the years as a result of wrestling culture comes out (Vince covering up the murder of Jimmy Snuka's girlfriend just screams out to me here, especially considering the circumstances that got us to this point, or Vince's penny-pinching with the equipment for Owen Hart's fatal stunt), even stuff that isn't actually illegal, but would horrify most folks if they knew about it (Stephanie McMahon getting breast implants because of a sign in the crowd, Vince's plans to be the storyline father of his daughter's baby, the Benoit tribute show if it's revealed that they knew he was the killer when they did it), it could fry them. And of course, if Vince acts like Vince, that ain't helping them. A lot of people in the wrestling bubble - fans included - feel like they're untouchable for one reason or another. Some of the savvier folks in that group can point to almost reasonable explanations for this - namely that no one in Congress or the rest of the civilized world cares about wrestling. But this just exposes the limitations of thinking in the wrestling bubble. People outside it might not give two shits about wrestling, but outside the wrestling bubble, I don't think anyone is looking at this as a wrestling issue, at least not first and foremost. The concern isn't that they're going after wrestlers, the concern is that they're going after drug dealers, murderers, and people generally unfit for decent society who are sitting on top of a giant pile of money, and have millions of fans who keep adding to it. They may not necessarily care for the right reasons, but you'd have to be pretty delusional to claim that Congress isn't interested in going after drug dealers. Whether or not any of these people would pay attention to wrestling otherwise is irrelevant when all this stuff they do pay attention to is laid out so nicely in front of them. What happens next depends on how much of wrestling's buffet of loathsomeness is presented to the general public. If they get enough, they'll eat the WWE alive. And just to present one little elephant in the room: there's always the off-chance that Vince McMahon will be one of the workers who drops dead while all this is going on. Think of what happens then.

Good to see your hard work paid off, Bix.

It was a really shitty finish. I mean the thing about Cena's matches by and large is that even in winning he tends to protect opponents finisher. Loosing opponent's finisher more over post match than pre-match. The Orton hits finisher two count kick out Cena hits finisher for pin really felt like shitty formula I expect out of HBK or HHH. I expect better from Cena. The body of the match was really great. There were moments where thought it was fucking with being best Cena match. I absolutely don't get the Keller "no one buys a headl;ock in the post MMA world" since Orton was essentially working a rear naked choke. Orton working whole match as though he was building toward a knock out and not a pin you'd think would appeal to Keller's Kommentators. I always like the Cena fights out of having opponent apply finisher stuff and really liked the both guys attempt to do crazy versions of finisher spot (build to Orton trying for top rope pain killer followed by Cena fighitng to do FU to floor). Match built around both guys thinking they have to go extra mile to put away opponent finishing with a finisher exchange is bad. For 2007 match with great build and flat finish, I think it was more dissapointing finish than Sano v Misawa. I see what you're getting at, but I can't really complain that much about the finish. Cena was going after Orton's leg, Orton snapped off an RKO but landed wrong, further hurting his leg, crawled over for the cover and got a two. Pretty standard "let the finisher get kicked out of without killing it" technique. It is something that HHH and Michaels do, but they build their entire matches in ways that kill their opponents. By itself, it seems innocuous. I didn't really get the sense that Orton looked weaker coming out of this match. It wasn't an Edge/Umaga/Khali situation where he came out looking stronger, but I don't think this really tarnished his image.

I always find myself wondering why the people always pushing for Moolah on the basis of her being a top women's star in America for a long time are never pushing the HOF candidacy of Sky Low Low. It's not like Moolah was drastically more important. Sky Low Low performed for Queen Elizabeth. How's that for mainstream recognition?

I seldom point to the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame as setting a good example of anything, but 25 years after a performer's debut always sounded about right to me for rock and wrestling (pun unintended).

I remember the first time they put Eddie on the ballot, and Dave did his radio show with Matysik and Tenay discussing the candidates. Everyone was really gung ho about voting Benoit in, but when talk turned to Eddie, they were all against it because "it's too soon for him". I was just sort of staring at my computer with my head cocked to the side like a confused dog.

But the team that formed the other half of that pattern is the best team of the last 24 years?

Jumping in the air, grabbing a dude's head with your ankles, flipping backwards, and maintaining the grip to propel him overhead to the mat = working believably

There are not enough L's and O's in the world to place next to each other to express how I feel.

If WWE was willing to publish in one of their own books that the Hardys were punished for not drinking then throwing beer cans at road signs and that JBL molested Edge, imagine the shit that we will never, ever hear about. Forget it, Bix. It's Jingustown.

You would know a thing or two about having difficulty understanding things, wouldn't you? Because this has all been laid out plain as day to you, and you're still sitting there with your eyes shut and your fingers jammed in your ears screaming as loud as you can to drown out the voice in the back of your head trying to tell you that there are really, really, really big problems in wrestling right now, and none of them involve Randy Orton smoking a joint.

There have been plenty of people - myself included - who have pointed out that pretty much all wrestlers are crazy. The very last page of this thread had a post by *FH* pointing out that while the internet was busy bitching and moaning about proven troublemaker Randy Orton wrecking hotel rooms, the mere potential troublemaker Chris Benoit was murdering his family. At this point, we all know better than to give wrestlers the benefit of the doubt in terms of their willingness and ability to perform immoral/illegal/potentially fatal shenanigans. If you haven't got the memo yet, I'm not sure what more I can do. If you're just going to sit there and be willfully obtuse about all of this, it's easier and more practical for me to post a snarky Photoshop than to rewrite a bunch of stuff that other people have already written and that you should really know by now. And here I am doing it anyway. I almost feel like I should be charging you for this. "For $5 a pop, S.L.L. will explain shit that is readily apparent to newborn babies to you." EDIT: And Kevin Cook saves the day again. So pay him $5.

If it's a big mistake for the WWE to put the Title on a potential troublemaker right now, their only course of action is to close up shop.

Carlito's one big problem with me at this point is that he plays the "cool/indifferent" gimmick in a way that just comes off as him being bored. If he can't care about what he's doing, why should I?