ROH scaling back

[Johnny Sorrow]

I wonder how they got TNA to let the Briscoes come in for the April dates.

It's the Machine Guns, but it is a good question.

[Guest The 3H's]

Damn, my bad.

[Tim Evans]

Well TNA let Shelley go to PWG for a tournament. It will probably not be on DVD or PPV.

[Phil Schneider]

Of course it will be on DVD, everything ROH does is on DVD. They are a DVD company.

[kjh]

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2008/02/19/4860418.html

 

Sapolsky confirmed that the pay per views will continue for the foreseeable future

Why?

Because he's dumb?

Because he's a wrestling booker? I mean it's not like this is the first time that a booker or a promoter has refused to change course when their big idea has failed for reasons of egoism and pride.

[Bix]

They booked the Hammerstein Ballroom (same building, different room that's about 2x as big and considered much classier) for the next NYC show.

 

What the heck?

 

P.S. They also did an attempted rape angle. That got cheers.

 

Larry Sweeney (best theme song in wrestling) is out with Bobby Dempsey

(who's more over than even Human Tornado) for The Larry Sweeney Talk

Show. His guest is Allison Danger. The crowd doesn't care. Sweeney

calls her a slut, then cheapshots her with the mic. He tells Dempsey

that this is his chance to become a man (by raping her, I guess).

Dempsey declines, so Sweeney cheapshots him and he falls on top of

Danger like HHH on Trish. One of the many problems with this segment

was that Sweeney is over as a face, and the crowd cheered him

throughout this obviously heelish display. The other problem was that

it was way over the top, with Sweeney telling Dempsey to "suck her

tits." Seriously.

[MikeCampbell]

Hold the phone. Sapolsky is doing a rape angle, but he's worried that the guys swearing in their promos will drive away families and kids.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

They booked the Hammerstein Ballroom (same building, different room that's about 2x as big and considered much classier) for the next NYC show.

 

What the heck?

Well, Hammerstein always did good business for deathbed ECW. Of course they had national TV when they did their first show there and they were always more popular than ROH.

 

Isn't Hammerstein more than twice the size of the "Grand Ballroom" or whatever the other room is called? The old Raw tapings at the Manhattan Center used to draw around 1000 and when I saw Guns N' Roses at Hammerstein a couple of years ago there were like 3800. Of course there would be different configurations for concerts and wrestling shows, but still.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

Actually a quick trip to Cawthon's site tells me both One Night Stand shows drew around 2500.

[sek69]

Hold the phone. Sapolsky is doing a rape angle, but he's worried that the guys swearing in their promos will drive away families and kids.

 

Also it must be mentioned that the asshole portion of ROH's fanbase became that way due to the booking being done in a way to encourage such behavior. It wasn't a spontaneous force of assholery that just decided to appear out of nowhere.

[Bix]

http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/f...t.asp?aID=22168

 

Hey Dave. I went to last nights ROH show and had alot of fun but there

was a very bad angle on the show that you probably heard of by now. The

Sweeney/Dempsey/Danger angle was offensive and in bad taste for ROH. I

was stunned to see them do a angle with Danger knocked out by Sweeney

and then have Sweeney spread her legs too was really bad and to tell

Dempsey to go for it. Does ROH know that is rape ?? I was STUNNED!!!! I

was also stunned to see Gabe watching this from the stage and smiling. I

felt very uncomfortable during this whole scene and thought about

leaving at that point but wanted to see Dragon/Nigel. This has me

rethinking about going to the next show. This was classless for ROH and

if i need to see this crap i can watch WWE and see a incest angle. Dave,

i hope you comment on this angle on your website or in your newsletter.

By the way CM Punk was also on the stage watching the the show with

Gabe.

 

Name Withheld

DM: I haven't seen the angle, but Ryan Mulligan's report didn't read well. I understand the idea is they feel they have to take drastic measures to get people to boo Sweeney.

[jdw]

One kind of wishes that when Dave talks about "I understand the idea is..." that he would also man up on the website to say "this sounds like a really bad angle to run".

 

 

John

[Ryan Faulconer]

What a lame idea for an angle. ROH is booked by a slimeball just like a lot of other wrestling promotions. That shouldn't surprise anyone. Which promoters or bookers don't talk out of one side of their mouth and lie about things just to get some good press? They are really good at marketing to internet wrestling fans and somehow con people into thinking that ROH is above that sort of stuff. We shouldn't hold them to a higher standard just because they make a half hearted effort to be "different" from WWE. Its just a wrestling promotion. Just because Gabe has Meltzer's ear doesn't make them any less likely to do ridiculously stupid things like all the other promotions out there. They are a couple rape angles behind WWE. Maybe they can catch up somehow at the next doubleshot.

 

I'm so tired of reading about ROH's problems or perceived problems by wrestling fans online. Everyone should go back to watching promotions that aren't booked for an English speaking audience. We were all so much happier then. We kept our heads in the sand, turned a blind eye or were willfully obtuse when it came to things like Pena molesting minis or Sasuke starving his wrestlers. All those Japanese promotions we loved were run by the lovable humanitarians who make up the Japanese organized crime underworld.

[sek69]

Fair enough, but I don't think there were Pena fanboys saying it was ok to soap up the minis as long as the in ring product was entertaining. I could be mistaken on that. I think most fans of puro/mexican/canadian wrestling (hello Stampede stories) are aware that wrestling sleaze is a universal language. For some reason, ROH fans get especially offended when it's their ox being gored. It's understandable, but they have to realize the hypocrisies of wanting to change the subject when ROH was built partly on the complaints made about WWE.

 

 

You can pretty much guarantee if this angle is followed through to its conclusion, there will be people defending it because "WWE did it worse" and even Dave will probably be devoting paragraphs in the WON to how it's something that doesn't need to be done in the current environment, but he was told it was just done as a one time only thing to get over how meaningful rape angles can be.

[tomk]

Also it must be mentioned that the asshole portion of ROH's fanbase became that way due to the booking being done in a way to encourage such behavior. It wasn't a spontaneous force of assholery that just decided to appear out of nowhere.

It's 2008. I don't know if its possible to do a woman abusing angle/rape angle in the U.S. that doesn't get a face pop.

[Bix]

ROH appears to be making up a sick fan as a way to help with their financial issues:

 

http://www.rohwrestling.com/MessageBoard/t...?TOPIC_ID=39796

http://www.rohwrestling.com/MessageBoard/t...?TOPIC_ID=39797

[jdw]

Now, now... that's an honorable cause.

 

 

John

[S.L.L.]

Oh my God. That thread. That fucking thread.

 

"Invisible is being 26 and paralyzed. Forced to live in a nursing home an hour from your home because no other facility will take you because you're too young. I just descoved AotF and it feels like home. I follow the blog but cannot watch ROH because this facility doesn't have PPV or the Fight Channel, and I can't afford the DVDs. Your blogs make feel like I walk again as part of The Age of the Fall. I am The Fallen and the Forgotten.

 

Eric"

 

Ulterior motives aside, this is, at face value, a pretty clever way of pushing forward the AOTF angle (while advancing said ulterior motives in the process).

 

But.....

 

"If you are trying to provoke a reaction, Gabe, you are certainly suceeding as that is one of the saddest stories I ever heard. I know that we fans would like to help this guy assuming that it isn't a hoax. Poor fellow! Now I can't sleep until we do something for him."

-GregH, expert in the field of fabricating sick relatives

 

"I always thought Gabe was anti AOTF."

-Rypro 525, keeping kayfabe going great in the '08

 

"They have had an effect on people . I had'nt seen my daughter in a long time, and through several emails, and a lively discussion of viewpoints, i did muster up the courage to finaly see my daughter .

 

I now have a different viewpoint on life, and i now have a goal: to raise and mold my daughter into the best person she can be .

 

And to think, all i needed was a soundboard, someone to vent on, someone to say, "you can do it" ........"

-foxmulder, he wasn't kidding when he said the truth was "out there"

 

"I'm in, but I have a concern ...

 

I don't want to sound like an asshole, but is there a way that we can confimr that this is real before we start sending money? Not real as in GABE would fake it, I mean real as in the person sending the email is being truthful and not just playing along with the Age of the Fall thing.

 

I've written emails to Tyler before and whilst they are truthfully, they are also 'in character' to a degree.

 

I just think it's important that a connection is made"

-Lonewolf, very nearly stating the obvious but not quite

 

"If you read Gabe's own reply to that concern in the original Eric post he clearly states that this is "100%" a true story(on ROH's part) and strongly implying that it is not a work. That's good enough for me. But because of your concern I did communicate with Gabe and he did confirm everything is real on ROH's part. So let me further investigate the story to make sure that the individual himself is legitimate. Thanks for your concern."

-GregH, reminding us that wrestling promoters never ever lie...EVER

 

"Thinking with your heart is what's made you the damned coolest guy in the ROHiverse, the veritable Hat Guy."

-Ave, in the words of Scott Keith, I love shoot comments that aren't supposed to be shoot comments

 

"I think we should buy Eric a hooker.

 

DVDs are nice and all, but if he's cooped up in some home, I'm thinking female companionship might be the way to go."

-Beans and Whiskey, a sensible man

 

"that's just tasteless."

-Chuck Norris, responding to the above, suggesting that he isn't nearly as awesome as the internet told me he was

 

"And if people's pitching in for a random dude to get him DVDs..

 

Then I have no legs, arms, fingers, eyes, or ears. I just type with my nose. Buy me DVDs."

-CaptainCCCharisma, pointing out the obvious logical flaws here

 

"Wow - Some classy posts here!

 

Please ban those two just for being a**holes! (Sorry for my language)"

-PaulKowalski, bastion of good taste

 

Personally, I see this as a win-win situation. If it's legit, a dude in need gets some DVDs that he wants. If not, idiot marks get fleeced, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.

[Guest The 3H's]

Is the fan really "a fake"?

[Jingus]

Well, I did know a blind guy once who was a wrestling fan, true story. Don't know how/why he derived pleasure from just listening to it, but there ya go. So theoretically it could be real.

 

Of course, my favorite piece of edged weaponry, Occam's Razor, would tend to suggest that it's a scam.

[Guest KÄSE]

-GregH, expert in the field of fabricating sick relatives

What was this story again?

 

I'm holding out hope it involves him threatening to beat up Bix at a show.

[Tim Cooke]

In the thread, is that you Bix as rolochoshu?

[Bix]

Uh oh

[S.L.L.]

-GregH, expert in the field of fabricating sick relatives

What was this story again?

 

I'm holding out hope it involves him threatening to beat up Bix at a show.

 

Naw, that was GLF.

 

The old Non-Stick board at DVDVR was once inhabited by both GregH and "ozzie", whose writing style and opinions were practically identical to Greg's. This led many to logically conclude that ozzie was a socko for GregH, which seems really pointless when you haven't even been banned from a board, but then, Greg always loved asking questions and then immediately answering them himself (Does he? Yes he does!), so I guess this was the next logical step for him. Anyway, dudes pointed this out, they both denied even knowing each other, until at some point, for reasons I don't recall, Greg "revealed" that Ozzie was his nephew, and that he was terminally ill. You can take your pick from the possible implications of this:

 

1. GregH was Ozzie, and was lying through his teeth about everything (most likely)

2. GregH suffers from some kind of multiple personality disorder (entirely possible)

3. GregH is an asshole who refused to acknowledge the existence of his dying nephew (my favorite)

 

Ozzie has not been seen for some time now. Rumors that he died of a broken heart are unconfirmed, but probably true.

[kjh]

The con continues:

 

The tale of Eric revisited