Ridiculous quotes from WO.com columnists

[Eduardo]

This has been going on for years, Bryan's been going to the WrestleMania/HOF/ROH weekends while Dave is busy with something else (MMA or finishing the newsletter). I remember that in 2008, Dave specifically mentioned that Ric Flair wanted Dave to be there for his WWE HOF induction but Dave chose to go to the Strikeforce show that was held that same night. Dave even said that Yahoo was allowing him to go to WM weekend if he wanted, but he was more interested in Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le, and honestly it looks like he made the right decision for himself since he is always bringing up that fight. No reason to get upset at Dave at this since it's either Yahoo-related like KrisZ mentioned or he's enjoying live MMA more at this point than live pro wrestling.

[Sean Liska]

I don't know if he's said he was more interested in Shamrock-Le than Mania. Recently on the board he said it was a professional and financial decision he had to make with his family in mind.

[Eduardo]

Ah I see, I guess I was remembering it incorrectly.

 

EDIT:

 

Yes, you're right, here is the quote you're talking about Sean:

 

Just for a clarification.

 

Yahoo did not want me going to Wrestlemania. They were not going to pay for me going to Wrestlemania, and even with Mayweather, they were not going to have me covering Wrestlemania.

 

My boss, who knows that I'm friends with Flair and that it was Flair's last match and it meant something to him, said that if you want, you can skip Strikeforce and go to Wrestlemania. It wasn't something they would have been happy about but they weren't going to hold it against me.

 

My family would have, however and the choice was relatively easy to make.

[kjh]

Has Dave ever attended a WrestleMania? I'm sure he's never attended one outside California.

[Sean Liska]

Pretty sure he was at 12 since he always talks about the building emptying out during the main event.

[jdw]

He went to Mania in 1996.

 

The 2008 is... odd. So what if Yahoo doesn't pay him to go to Mania. Dave makes enough to pay for it out of his own pocket. Since his boss understood, it doesn't sound like Yahoo would have fired him over it. Dave's spent a hell of a lot more traveling over the years than a trip to Mania would have cost.

 

Perhaps the "family" comment means more. Was his second child born around then? He's traveled to Vegas for UFC over the years... one would suspect in 2008 as well. Flying out Friday and flying back Monday for Mania doesn't sound a great deal different than a typical UFC trip when doing the weigh-ins.

 

Were the other MMA reporters unable to make the trip to cover Strikeforce? Perhaps since it was in Dave's backyard, there was pressure for him to cover it and save having someone else go.

 

I don't quibble with Dave's decision. Hell, I recall a comment at the time that if he thought it really was Flair's last match, he would have gone. Wait... that was about the Flair-Hogan match back in 1994. Anyway, I just don't think the answer is super clear. I think he had solid reasons for doing Strikeforce rather than Mania, but a scratched our response on a board doesn't really do justice to what went into the decision. And I could understand Dave not wanting to spend more time explaining it.

 

John

[MikeCampbell]

WrestleMania XII was in California, in Anaheim. So Keith's question still stands.

[Wahoos Leg]

This week's Todd Martin idiocy, c/o the Raw report.

 

Undertaker’s music interrupted Michaels before he could speak and Undertaker started to make his way to the ring. However, Undertaker then turned around and left.

No, dumbass, he tipped his hat to Michaels and then left.

 

Heaven forbid someone writing a report that's supposed to detail what happened on Raw actually watch the freakin show.

[KrisZ]

I loved his Jack Swagger diatribe and how he actually recognized a guest host in Rob Corddry since he was on Daily Show.

[Strummer]

Todd made WAY too big a deal about the Bret angle tonight. It's simply a corny little angle to get heat on Miz and set up a tag match for a PPV.

 

and yet Todd goes on with his phony hand wringing

[Bix]

Todd Martin needs to fake his death and disappear like Vanes Naldi.

[El-P]

Any actual proofs that Vanes really did this ?

[Johnny Sorrow]

Well it looks like poor Todd has had it with everyone goofing on him, and Alverez doing his own RAW reports.

 

In an unrelated development, I think that's the last Raw report for me.

Farewell Todd. Heaven needed a Champion.

[kjh]

To be fair, Todd may have good personal reasons for not wanting to review Raw any longer.

 

That said, complaining about a "juvenile" angle when WWE's target audience is kids is still pretty silly.

[jdw]

Any actual proofs that Vanes really did this ?

I recall that when I asked that a while back that Bix has some solid dope on what Vanes pulled.

 

John

[jdw]

To be fair, Todd may have good personal reasons for not wanting to review Raw any longer.

Agreed, and lord knows he stuck it out longer than most any of us could have.

 

 

John

[KrisZ]

I wonder if he got pissed because Bryan put his up on the site. Anyway Bryan's was a far better read.

[rovert]

Didnt Todd's father pass away or something recently?

[Bix]

Any actual proofs that Vanes really did this ?

Reviews dated and/or about shows that debuted after his "death."

 

His "death" was in 2002: http://www.metalasylum.com/ragingbull/profiles.html

 

This 411 post dates it as happening at the beginning of the year (and conflicts with the story I heard, which had him being in Asia at the time of the accident): http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/tv_reports/14039

 

Brian Cole wrote this about him, and the bolded portion helps illustrate why Vanes is such a fucking prick for this:

 

One of the true great women's wrestling fans on the planet (and the Internet), Vanes Naldi, passed away recently in Italy after being involved in a car accident. He was only 25 years old. A no-nonsense, no-bullshit, true-to-his-word kind of guy, Vanes was able to talk about a variety of topics and did it with a passion. Make no mistake about it - whether you loved him or whether you hated him, you had to respect the guy for his love of life and the way he lived it. Some will question if the recent online tributes to Vanes are genuine or iffy, but I say that Vanes would be a proud man if he truly realized what kind of impact he had on a lot of people in the online community. As I was talking to one of Vanes' closest friends, the topic of whether or not Vanes will be remembered after his death came up. The friend was worried as to if people, like in the wrestling business, would forget about Vanes in the similar "here today, gone tomorrow" fashion that we so often see in the wrestling business and in life. I felt that for as easy as it could be to forget about Vanes, people won't. Furthermore, as I told the close friend, there's a reason why some people do legitimately feel sadness in their heart about Vanes' disappearing, even if they never met the man before. When you make relationships on the Internet, the channels of communication for friendship do not always rely on what a person looks like or how they behave, but rather the words that they write, the actions that they show, and the feelings that they convey. Machine or not, online friendships can be just as powerful as personal, face-to-face friendships. So realize that when you are on the Internet, your words do count and people do feel emotions based on what you write. It's often a lesson that people forget, but somehow I don't think anyone who knew Vanes Naldi will never forget him.

 

You can see some of Vanes' work at http://kandd.shootangle.com.

On a lighter note, the next passage after that tribute starts with this:

 

If there is one thing that pisses me off more than having to deal with con-artists in wrestling

Here he reviews multiple shows as "V. 'X' Naldi," including one that started in 2003: http://koreanfilm.org/tvdramas/index.htm

 

Here he's welcomed as a site's newest reviewer, again as "V. 'X' Naldi," on July 10, 2005: http://twitchfilm.net/news/2005/07/say-hel...-new-people.php

 

Here's the archive of X's posts, which go from July 10, 2005 to December 21, 2009: http://twitchfilm.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search...,7&limit=10

 

It looks like he (or Twitter) deleted the Twitter account linked from TwitchFilm, but some of his tweets from December, before the account was yanked got archived here: http://www.ubervu.com/profile/hisgrumpiness/twitter/

 

So yes, he it looks like faked his death to escape the internet wrestling community and devote himself to Korean film reviews (and honestly, if there was one person who that type of bizarre move would ring true for, it's Vanes), and didn't even tell people who considered him a friend. Total dick move.

 

So yeah, if you haven't talked to Mike L. et al about this yet, you should.

[kjh]

Didnt Todd's father pass away or something recently?

I think it was his mother, hence my earlier comment. This really isn't a decision Todd should be bashed over.

[S.L.L.]

This, to me, remains the most bizarre internet wrestling related thing ever. As much as I shit talk your Resident Evils and your Joe Babinsacks and whatnot, I can't imagine those guys ever thinking anything along the lines of "I'm tired of reviewing wrestling and would rather review Korean cinema....Clearly, I should stage my own death, so as to best make the transition from one to the other."

[jdw]

Vanes had been reviewing movies for a while before that. Just seemed like he wanted to cut the cord/baggage of being a "wrestling fan". But frankly it was/is bizzare to fake a death and work his friends. It really isn't hard to cut ties with the wrestling world, ignore it and move on. We can all think of lots of fans we've known over the years who have moved on.

 

John

[Bix]

Oh, I know he was reviewing movies before that. That was part of the point, that he was using existing aliases, plus he was on that movie review site (Where he's listed as dead; it hasn't been updated since '08, but his death had been outed as fake before then, albeit with less proof than is easily available now) with Lorefice, Cobo, and a few others who he would've met through wrestling circles.

 

Anyway, whether it's Victor Szanyi, Kevin Cook, Scott Mailman, or whoever else just faded away, or someone like Jose who's still in contact with people but not really on wrestling forums anymore, it doesn't require faking your death and devastating the people who considered him a friend.

[KrisZ]

I kept in contact with Mailman a good 4 years after he left the wrestling fan community which he knew he fucked up regarding tape orders after 9/11 and the whole anthrax situation at his post office and he felt he had to disappear. Last I heard he was a TSA agent at LaGuardia.

 

I think no one lost more internet friends than Stuart

 

whitedwarf

The Vike

Chris Hewy

[jdw]

Oh, I know he was reviewing movies before that.

Sorry Bix, should have been clearer: I was responding to SLL.

 

John