artDDP

That was all kinds of awesome. It just had to be Vince thumbing his nose at someone for something, right?

Agreed. The first match was so unflinchingly brutal and, since Brock isn't a full-time guy getting overexposed on Raw, this will be a very marketable match.

I have to fit more in. Back when I was a single guy I could watch hours of wrestling and regularly swapped DVDs with my brother when I wasn't downloading videos myself. Then I became a dad and found a career (not necessarily in that order) and now I make time to watch the current product (WWE, NJ on AXS, ROH, NXT, LU) and squeeze in whatever archived stuff I can whenever. As for TNA, I was watching every week until it became a Jeff Jarrett vanity project again. I refuse to watch that shit.

Are they considering putting the World title on Cena because ratings have been flat since WrestleMania? Maybe they're starting to lay the groundwork for Cena vs. Reigns at WrestleMania XXXII? This is WWE; either Cena wins clean or Rollins wins in a screwy fashion that does nothing to elevate him. Maybe they have a surprise in store or they'll just have Sheamus cash in immediately afterward?

I attended this week's Smackdown taping. It was probably my billionth live card but the first for my three year-old son. He knows Brock Lesnar is a big deal because of Heyman screaming his name on Raw most of the time. So when Jack Swagger was boring us to death against Big Show he kept screaming "Go Brock Lesnar!" When I told him it was Swagger in the ring he immediately started chanting "Go Jack Swagger!" My son watches very little WWE but, man, did he get into this show. He copied every chant, loved clapping and stomping to rally the wrestlers and treated everyone like a star. Afterward he told me I was "the best dad". The tickets were $15 because they were "limited view", meaning I was close enough to the stage to almost be behind it. Aside from the two Main Event matches there were only four TV matches. And they shoot this just like a TV show with long pauses with the lights out for commercials. I went to some tapings ten years ago and they played a 60-second music video a few times but the show kept moving. Basically, WWE knew they had most of their roster already flying to Australia for a tour so they slapped together a dull show with very little of note and still charged full price admission. I won't complain too much because of the price and the fun I had with my son but I can't imagine there will be as many people eager to buy tickets again when WWE comes to town.

My issue with Sheamus is less who his workout pals are and more his inability to keep from hurting people he's matched with. Like? I know he allegedly hurt Bryan, but who else? Jamie Noble.

Damn, even got Yukon Eric with the missing ear. I want it, too.

They ran a crawler throughout the show warning that viewers may be disturbed by tonight's episode, IIRC.

Dana also said he had a lot of respect for wrestlers. Not sure what the controversy is.

This is just terrible. Just this week I stumbled upon his campy "I'm Your Man" video on YouTube and then, suddenly, he's gone. So many of us became fans because of the work of great characters like Roddy and Dusty and to watch them pass is like losing a friend.

WWE deciding to air the Muhammad Hassan al Qaeda angle immediately following the 2005 attacks in London.

It will be sort of interesting how WWE treats R-Truth on TV for the next few weeks.

Triple H kicking Kurt Angle in the balls and pinning him at Unforgiven 2000.

That is incredibly awesome!

The title absolutely should be the single most important thing in modern wrestling. If anyone on a major stage (currently only WWE) had the patience to invest in long-term title chase storylines and could abandon the overarching heel authority figure storyline they've been running for almost twenty years it could happen. Unfortunately, modern wrestling (again, especially WWE) is so focused on minute-by-minute numbers that any dip is cause for panic.

When I saw this on TMZ I lost all respect for him.

Hell, weren't most of those guys pro wrestlers anyways?

I loved watching the Prime shows back then. For us in the States it was usually stuff we'd already seen a week or so ago but the commentary made it must-see.

I worked some shithole indies fifteen years ago and did a small handful of five-alarm blade jobs to try to get myself over.

Such sad news. My first piece of wrestling merchandise was a Dusty Rhodes WWF homework folder in 1990. My mom wanted to get me something for back-to-school that was wrestling related since I was a total wrestling nut back then. The only thing she could find at K-Mart at that time was the Dusty folder. I loved that thing. Reading those tributes from Sami Zayn and Summer Rae is heartbreaking. I cannot imagine the impact the "Dream" had on so many over so many decades. RIP, Dusty.

PDF versions of the newsletter.

Wade is literally reporting things a week after Dave does and sourcing the Observer when doing it.

In Sacramento we had a place in a rough part of town called Big 10 Video. It seemed to never pull anything off the shelves and had a wall of arcade machines along the entrance/exit. I loved it because it had the awesome RoboCop arcade game. This place required a photo copy of your driver's license, Social Security, and credit card to set up an account. There was a large section of wrestling videos, lots of WWF and NWA/WCW and a bunch of random stuff. I watched whatever my family members would let me rent since money was tight. I don't remember anything specific about the tapes. I went back as a teenager and they had this "wrestling secrets revealed" type video from 1990 or so. The cover said the guys involved were screwed over by a promoter and decided to expose the business. I really wanted to know the deep, dark secrets of the business but didn't want to waste a rental and be disappointed. Looking back it was probably as bad as the NBC special. A few years ago I took a friend there to see if they still had the wrestling tapes and they were all there, in a much smaller VHS section. We loaded up our baskets and eagerly went up front to check out our bounty of 80s gold. The guys at the counter still wanted photocopies of all of our ID to keep on file. We balked and went home to see what we could dig up on YouTube.

This may happen with the ratings being so low lately.

Everyone saying "this business" when cutting promos. Just say "this sport".