El-P

I dunno. Money isn't everything, and I don't think Foley is desperate for money to the point of having to endure Vince. At his point of his career, he doesn't need WWE to make money, so if having to put up with Vince's shit is too annoying, then I totally understand why he would quit. I'd rather get less money but get less stress too. I don't think his job in TNA is very demanding at this point. I guess Foley saved his money too. Foley was insane in the ring, but I do think he's got his feet on the ground as far as money goes. I don't see him ending up like Flair, owing money to Roh and Highspots...

I agree Foley was lucky that JR and Cornette were fan of his. Onita didn't "prostitute his legacy" for peanuts, he got big money from NJ in late 90's early 00's. Then he promoted his Onita Pro shows, and if that wasn't that big of a deal, and if Onita sure did it to get a personal rush, it's not like Onita really busted his balls during those hardcore matches. If you've you've seem some of them, it's pretty tame. Then of course, "prostituting your legacy" doesn't mean shit, it's wrestling, you all know people retire then comeback then do goofy shit. I don't get how Tommy Dreamer retiring from a secure office job he could have stayed in for life is smarter than Onita, who made shitloads of money. Onita didn't exactly worked that much during the last decade. Of course their all addicted to the rush of the crowds, they're pro-wrestlers, it's no different than the rest of them on that matter. But the thing is, at least clearly for Onita, he did garbage matches to draw shitloads of money and make himself rich. I don't see how you can even argue than Tommy Dreamer who was a mark for his little no-money promotion and would get thrown off balcony before 1000 people, then quit an office job just because the name on the marquee said ECW again, is smarter than Onita who draw 50.000 people to his first retirement match, got a deal to work in New Japan Dome shows thanks to his garbage matches gimmick and personna, and smarter than Foley who only came back working the E for big WM payday, and I'm pretty sure he gets a lot more money than Dreamer to do what he does in TNA, which is mostly comedy backstage work.

Onita wrecked his knee by blowing a plancha in AJ, it has really nothing to do with anything. He was a junior. Junior do flying spots, it was no crazy shit. After he came back to wrestling, Onita developped the garbage matches because it was a way for him to make money and become a cult star. Hell, he even got a chair at the Diet as the result of his stardom. Onita was no fool. He was all about making money, he would get thrown into exploding wires to draw 30.000 people at Kawasaki stadium and get most of the money. Which is a lot different than Dreamer getting his balls busted for bounced checks from Pauly. Foley, less so at the beginning, since he did take insane bump for not much reasons in TWA and the indy circuit like you said. That was a way to get noticed in the big leagues, and it did work. Taking insane bumps did make him a star in WWF though (well, when you add the charisma and promos). Yes, that's probably it for Dreamer and people like him. It's totally ridiculous.

How ridiculous was that ? Couldn't they *work* the cane shot so it only looked like he busted his balls ? I wonder if Lawler was blatantly unprofessionnal or if Dreamer was just a hopeless mark. What I really don't get with all this bullshit is why they would kill themselves. Onita did it for tons of money and legit stardom. Ditto Foley. What was Dreamer's point of getting his balls busted ?

Well, that would make sense, and it's awesome just picturing those two with tears in their eyes listening to Tori freaking Amos ! How I wish Payne's "movie" could have been released...

And ? Anyway, this just made my day : I also remember that before some big match (maybe it was the IWA final match or something), Foley actually listened to a Tori Amos song. Now, I've been a big Foley fan, and I love Amos so this unlikely picture is just so right and so bizarre at the same time to me.

Being way out of the loop as far as this decade goes, it's pretty hard for me to answer this... BEST THING ABOUT THIS DECADE: amazing availability of wrestling footage online. WORST THING ABOUT THIS DECADE: so many premature death, WWE monopoly in the US, forearm shots exchange in every puroresu match

Will they keep the "world" title though ?

Is Vader on bad term with Vince ? Really, Backlund could do it, it would make more sense...

One of the greatest of all time, without a doubt...

Shawn refusing to play heel because of his "religious beliefs" is so fucking ridiculous on so many levels.

Shawn certainly had his share of good matches in the last decade. But *great* matches, I just don't see them. Despite haven't watched most of the pimped ones. But then again, Michaels has always been wildly overrated in my eyes. Funny to think that he's riding on HHH wave though, when you think back at HHH being the Bruti of the Clique... Times fly.

What are the "great matches" Shawn had since his return ? His embarrassing return match with the back no-sell from hell ? His overblown "WWE modern epic main event" formula matches with Angle, Taker or Cena ? His super scripted, cute but cute only, awkward-with-bad-acting Flair (temorary) sendoff match ? I can't say I've seen a lot of WWE this decade, but I've seen every WM and quite a bit of the "great matches", and the only Shawn match I really liked a lot was his match with Jericho at WM 19. Jericho being the far superior worker. Shawn's accomplishments have been overblow to unimaginable proportions to me, much like most of the WWE product (mostly because it's pretty much the only top thing around, TNA being a glorified indy). Anyway, from many records, the new Shawn is pretty much the same person as the old Shawn. only now people love him. Go figure.

Yeah, I don't get this obsession about him not knowing who these people are. I mean, I myself don't know a shitload of current or last decade "pop culture" personnalities who for most people are as familiar as family members. You could talk to me about characters from Lost, Prison Breaks or the Sopranos, I would look at you with a void expression in my eyes, as I would have no idea who you're taking about. Todd Martin has been a goof on many occasions about many subjects, but I don't see the issue with him not necesseraly knowing who those people are. Really.

Well, that didn't make waves in the wrestling community.

By underlining the fact that you weren't making a joke with that, you just did make a joke. Made me smile.

His wiki page states that Halme died on January 10 at 47, apparently a suicide.... Haven't heard about it. Did I miss something ?

Yeah, Missy was hilarious. Odd because sometimes she acts like a drunk slut, and at other times she comes off like a pretty smart and witty person. Didn't she use to write some good stuff for some newsletter at some point ? I remember reading some interesting articles that she wrote.

I was curious to see how the two shows would end up being like. Reading the reports, I won't even bother watching any of them I think.

I watched Gilbert booked ECW 93 product not too long ago, and well, it was not very good at all. And Gilbert King of Philly gimmick was only good for a bunch of silly vignettes.

That is really was Saturn was all about ? The rape story was a work ?

Well, that's not surprising considering how bad he looked on the last picture I saw of him. Too damn bad, cancer is a bitch. RIP Doc, he's been an awesome wrestler at times.

Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels would be hysterical only for the reactions and over-"analysis" of the Shawn apologists, the Shawn haters, the Bret Cult, the Bret haters etc... Add the Flair marks who hate Bret and want to prove Flair was still good in in match with Shawn... That would be better than the match itself. Make it happen.

Jeez, that article on Barthes was pretty embarrassing... More than luck, you'll need ton of aspirins...

Obviously, this decade sucked.