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Oh yeah. Meltzer in Friday's Daily Update posted Mike Tenay will do part one of a two part Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame podcast this weekend. Mike's WON HOF shows back in the day on Wrestling Observer Live were excellent listening.

Meltzer doesn't really get her or the big picture history of modern US Pro Wrestling. Typically talks Becky down. While the Speaking Out movement, his analysis, takeaways from it shows how little he talks to female wrestlers or thinks about or knows the end to end history of it. I don't think he knows much about SHIMMER Wrestling, the seeds Dave Prazak and Allison Danger planted and effect it had on Wrestling Worldwide. I could see Charlotte going in as Meltzer has always been a booster.

Yeah, it is a lot more to it than being "punch drunk" or slow to the draw. There's a vast amount of emotional, behavioural and mental health/depression issues attached too.

TNA 10 years ago conducted a focus group. they watched one taped episode and one recorded live, with a Live logo in the corner of the screen and the announcers stating the show was live several times. When asked the group couldn't recall which show was which nor did the view or value the difference. Live TV Wrestling is largely vanity. The pressure can push wrestlers to better performances but a lot of AEW roster is fairly green at live TV and AEW's production isn't *that* slick to do it currently.

Prior to that Ken Kennedy wanted to defend the WWE/the industry during the Benoit scandal as he was a "big Fox News guy". His appearance would quickly backfire on him and WWE.

Drake is really annoying and weird. Just signing a shirt or whatever can be the path of least resistance to get him out of your hair.

It is but Sami is really, really annoying and socially unaware in real life. Some people are entertained by it and others really not.

Joey will likely financially exhaust them and break their will to the point they will settle. Joey then can claim he was proven innocent in Court. I really hope it goes extremely badly against him and all of Wrestling testifies against him.

Bruce runs both brands as said. But there's been several stories about Shane McMahon gaining more influence and that the Raw brand might be handed over to him to take a load off Bruce. Bruce is 57, very overweight and has heart issues. He's not just writing 5 hours a week of TV on Vince's time and he's doing it when talent can be pulled due to COVID anytime. It isn't sustainable and a productive creative environment situation.

December whether that's the 1st and 31st I don't know. Same with DBS Jr. and I *believe* Mance Warner. But it seems like Pillman is putting over Jordan Oliver going out the door watching what's been said on the weekly Pulp Fusion segment.

Their names are mud online BUT Vince Russo and Billi Bhatti strongly believe Vince sees 1999 Stepanie McMahon in Aliyah. Initially dressing her up as preppy school girl initial so they can sexualise her later. Russo did write 1999 WWE TV obviously

It was another local reporter but was on top of the story too.

I've been hearing "Tampa" WWE wise since July. I never heard the venue though and I've fuck all local knowledge either. But Jon a local Florida reporter eventually came forward with the likely venue MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre: https://twitter.com/JonAlba/status/1305895048203194369

Their 2005 WWE DVD documentary is on the WWE Network https://watch.wwe.com/program/Road-Warriors-The-Life-and-Death-12357 watch it last night holds up well.

He might be angling for a NXT UK gig. Which would allow him to wrestle for a major company and still sleep in his own bed. We don't know his family situation either or if he needs to finish off his education. AJ Styles famously turned down WWE in the early 00s as it would have meant his now wife dropping out of college for example.

It wasn't the case of one person spreading it. The current AEW/WWE/indie outbreak was a disaster on several levels and directions bore out of complacency and ignorance. From Florida based people going to bars/socialising maskless to vans of wrestlers from out of State coming in to wrestle for AEW Dark. Also on a standard wrestling card a referee "the third man" can pass it on to a lot of people if anyone is infected.

Tyler Breeze and Bobby Fish were notable by their absence.

There are a lot more AEW and indies COVID positives kind of annoyed how few went public today.

It is true I knew for a while and was under strict instructions not to say anything - it is WWE/Tegan's news to share. Believed to be out for 9-12 months which is sad in itself BUT no one I've talked to is talking "she needs to retire" and with COVID around this is the time to be injured and get "fixed".

Ran into some serious legal issues due to his alcoholism and refusal to not drink and drive also https://www.ewrestlingnews.com/news/former-wwe-superstar-john-the-berzerker-nord-arrested-details

The masks, costumes and names might protect some of them from long term damage. But Vince isn't great on repackaging wrestlers or course-correcting things. Typically he takes the failure of a character out the wrestler, never uses them again as he now resents them or just eventually releases them. The Keith Lee situation stinks too. In his current attire, he just looks like an out of shape dude instead of the complete unit of a man that he is.

A typically reliable source

That and if you were an MJF style character wrestler it gives you experience doing interviews, skits, interacting with experienced producers was always my outlook on it. But issues can come up when an MLW show/weekend clashes with an indie show with better pay or exposure. A big example is Filthy Tom Lawler had to cancel an appearance at Bloodsport on Wrestlemania weekend as MLW didn't want him to get hurt at their Wrestlemania show. I don't think anyone could have projected the events of the last 5-6 years with the indies blowing up, merch becoming such a big thing, WWE changing their signing philosophy, Cody's departure causing perfect storm events to create AEW etc. But still, wrestlers should take more ownership of their contractual decisions and project the worst-case scenario before they sign on the bottom line realising the seriousness of what they are committing too.

She had a bad fall climbing the stairs 2 years ago, she did retire and then just changed her mind going on to wrestle extensively in 2019. This is type of thing has always been an issue with Lufisto: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/lufist-clears-medical-history-after-being-informed-one-big-ones-won-t-sign-her Has given plenty of people in the industry ammo who thinks she's untrustworthy or temperamental.

Why the convention/signing business was badly hitting the skids just before the indies got hot and the climb towards the establishment of AEW. A lot of 80s stars aged out or died. What was left was like ex-Divas, Carlito, Masters, Kennedy types. Also, you can only get the same autograph so many times.