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I did some bad math there with Bruno. I think I totaled his reigns in my head and put that as the first one. Anyway, I just meant that in wrestling, we seem to over-value how many times someone holds a belt as opposed to the quality of the reign. I mean, hasn’t the Miz held the IC title like 10 times? Savage held it once and his reign was way more memorable. Name one thing interesting about any of Dolph Zigglers many, many title reigns. I don’t mean to be the old man yelling at clouds, but title reigns used to mean something. Once they started getting hot-shotted in the late 90’s, they started to mean less. I didn’t mean my original post as any sort of knock on Flair. I just meant that his 16 titles gets held up as the pinnacle of achievement in wrestling. Wouldn’t a dude being undefeated for like 10 years be more impressive?

Whatever. That shit is hilarious. They both suck but at least Orton’s tweets are funny. I mean, “self appointed locker room leader of a wrestling school”. Amazing.

Plus, how many dudes on the roster now actually had to do that shit?

Of course Charlotte has to lose some championships. Can't break dad's record without losing a few. That makes me think. Kayfabe-wise, Bruno being a 2-time champ, but holding it for 12 and 4 years is way more impressive than being a 16-time champ.

WWE is a billion-dollar company (is it still?). There is no reason talent should have to carry bags and shit like that. Sorry, but things change. You can be respectful to the veterans of the company without being their lackey. (edit: I hope it’s clear that I’m agreeing with sek here.)

Totally agree with all of that, El-P. The biggest success that company ever had was when their top face didn't give a shit about what his bosses told him to do. Yet somehow, they're at a point now where faces are "just happy to be there!" and will beg and cry to save their jobs.

Yeah, there's already an actual sport of wrestling. I don't want to watch that. I'll take Matt Hardy in the pool any day over the real thing. (Please understand that I think amateur wrestlers are some of the most amazing athletes on Earth. I'm not dismissing it as a sport. I just don't personally find it very entertaining.)

Are there fans who still trust them to deliver?

Watched the Stampede with my three-year-old son. He (and I) loved it. It kept his attention through to the end. The best part was later, when he tried telling my wife about it and she was confused about a "wrestling show" with a horse and a guy doing a flip off a "football thing".

Didn't Zbysko say something shitty about him on the air when they announced he'd died?

Shit. A doc on all the awful things Vince has done would have to be a 10-part Last Dance-style thing.

The sountrack to Dark Side of the Ring is up on Spotify. Good stuff. They're doing a vinyl release of it too.

Vice has done a great job of keeping these episodes from being “Ooh! Look at the weirdos!” or just sensationalizing murders. They have a lot of heart. The women killed in the Snuka and Benoit episodes were flushed out and not just painted as victims. Last night’s episode showed how much people cared about Herb the person. I think it shows that whoever is in charge of this series has a real love of pro wrestling.

Last night, I tried to watch last week's NXT. I checked out on the first Cruiserweight match when both competitors had to stop at the belt in the entranceway and look at it longingly. I tried watching the main, too. Lee's "I....am.....limitless" when Priest tried to hit him with the nightstick is up there with the stupidest shit I've seen in wrestling (I may be exaggerating). Backstage, someone thought that would be a really dramatic moment in the match. Also, if I never see another wrestler make shocked faces after their opponent kicks out of a move that the first wrestler has NEVER won a match with, I will die a happy man.

I never got how Rollins went from being the dude who finally conquered Brock, the baddest guy in the promotion, to cowering in fear because a guy is wearing a scary mask. I know we’re supposed to suspend disbelief for wrestling, and I’m fine with that. But, when everyone knows that’s Bray in a scary mask, why is Rollins scared of him? He’s wrestled him before. He’s probably beat him before. Seth is a grown man scared of another man because he’s dressed “scary”. On top of that, Rollins is the face in that feud! That’s some dumb shit.

Great post, Coffey. I think so often people don’t understand that making a flat-out racist joke isn’t the same as a joke that might lampoon racism. They pull out the, “But (insert black comedian) says stuff like that!” excuse and totally miss the point.

Listen, I can’t believe I’m defending golf, but if you consider a golf swing a “very basic movement”, I don’t think you’re too familiar with the sport.

Personally, I see anything with a set scoring system as a sport. So, golf, for example, is a sport. You count a golfers strokes and the one with the least wins. Anything that is judged is an athletic exhibition. Figure skating or gymnastics for example. Under my totally self-imposed rules, NASCAR is a sport. The driver who crosses the finish line first is the winner. Pro wrestling is probably closer to the athletic exhibition side, but it’s not really. Boxing and MMA are difficult because while an athlete can win by set rules (KO, TKO, etc), there are also judges.

While I don't think they're "too big to fail" or anything like that, I think it will take more to take them down completely. As far as I know, they still have their tv deals and, though it's not doing as well as they'd hope, they have the network. I think the biggest thing is, Vince won't let it die. In my opinion, the only thing that would totally kill WWE is Vince pulling the plug and shutting it down. He'll die chairman of that company. I'm torn. On the one hand, I would never wish anyone into unemployment (not totally true, I can be a petty motherfucker). I especially wouldn't wish it on a bunch of people who have broken their bodies for years to provide me entertainment. On the other hand, I'd love to see what a WWE-less pro wrestling landscape looks like. It'd be uncharted territory for pretty much all of us to see in our lifetime. That is a very fascinating concept to me.

Orton’s Wrestlemania matches have good endings, but getting there isn’t so great.

Damn. I honestly feel bad for McIntyre. That probably would’ve gone over big with a crowd. Just felt flat without one.

Damning with faint praise, but yeah.

We are all Titus O’Neal.

Cena’s jeans in the nWo segment may be the most disturbing thing in all of this.

I don’t watch much MMA. Is there always this much screaming and moaning in a fight?