stro Posted December 9, 2016 Report Share Posted December 9, 2016 I think "Watts pushed other black men after JYD because he was a racist and thought his fans would accept any black man" is quite a big stretch. He was always trying to find the next big black star because his biggest star had been a black man who connected deeply with the fanbase he was promoting to. That's pretty much how every promoter works. That's why the McMahons are still using Bruno as the archetype for their top babyface 50 years later. You're going to keep going back to what worked best for you. Of all the things to use as evidence that Bill Watts was a racist, that has to be one of the silliest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dooley Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 I still don't buy this idea that "nigger" was an insider term. Bullshit. The only racist term that has a separate meaning in wrestling is "Shine". Yeah, the idea that "nigger" has any sort of separate connotation because it was used in a wrestling locker room is beyond ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parties Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 That's why the McMahons are still using Bruno as the archetype for their top babyface 50 years later. Out of curiosity, who are you referring to here? Most of the top guys of today (Cena, Owens, Styles, Rollins, Ambrose, Orton, Lesnar) or recent past (Austin, Rock, HHH, Foley) don't much seem like Bruno to me. I guess you could say there's some of him in Goldberg, maybe Batista, and maybe a bit in Reigns. But if you were going for a "strongman embodying bravado and optimism" appealing in particular to certain demographics, I'd think you'd be pushing someone like Big E or even Bray to the top. Watts is a pretty incredible example of how muddy the waters of prejudice and tolerance can be. He will support a business owner's right to segregate in one breath, and rationalize it by declaring Ernie Ladd one of his closest friends in the next. That is in some ways the story that many white Americans tell themselves: "I'm not racist, but I reserve the right to be racist if and when I wanna be." Watts chastised the series "Roots" as "bullshit", because he believes that the shipping of slaves from Africa to America was the greatest opportunity afforded to the black race. These are the lies some tell themselves to avoid history's bill collectors. I could almost shrug at some of what Watts said in that infamous Keller interview if he'd brushed it all into the (still completely horrific and false) concept that "I should have the right to serve who I wanna serve: it's my business, my investment." It's awful and rightly against the law, but at least that type of bigotry follows a through-line for someone who is ignorant but well-intentioned, or at least oblivious to what they're actually proposing. But if your role model in that claim is Lester Maddox - as it was for Watts - then I'm done trying to give you the benefit of the doubt just because you booked the Dibiase-Murdoch double turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 I'm talking about booking babyfaces to never lose unless under screwy circumstances, overcoming all odds and being portrayed as the underdog no matter how many times they overcome said odds. I can't remember the last time a top face lost the title clean besides Balor in NXT, and even that was with a super death finisher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 I'm talking about booking babyfaces to never lose unless under screwy circumstances, overcoming all odds and being portrayed as the underdog no matter how many times they overcome said odds. I can't remember the last time a top face lost the title clean besides Balor in NXT, and even that was with a super death finisher. Cena to Bryan at SummerSlam 2013 and Reigns to Rollins at MITB this year immediately come to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 Wrestling is odd in that being different, be it as an African American, Asian American, dwarf, giant, etc. is a clear asset. Wrestling will welcome the dregs of society into its locker rooms, and a promoter would see that diversity and proclaim their lack of racism. But at the same time, those minorities are often portrayed in extremely narrow stereotypes. Everyone thinks Jim Harris is a wonderful person, but he dresses up as Kamala and no one bats an eye. Antonio Inoki goes to Texas in the '60s and becomes Tokyo Tom. It's a reminder that racism and hate aren't always hand in hand. People don't hate minorities. They're just...narrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 I'm talking about booking babyfaces to never lose unless under screwy circumstances, overcoming all odds and being portrayed as the underdog no matter how many times they overcome said odds. I can't remember the last time a top face lost the title clean besides Balor in NXT, and even that was with a super death finisher. Cena to Bryan at SummerSlam 2013 and Reigns to Rollins at MITB this year immediately come to mind. Reigns/Rollins had some unique circumstances to it (Roman getting busted and punished, Rollins coming back to the huge face reaction, Dean cashing in immediately after on the guy he's wanted revenge on for 2 years who was still a heel), but good call on Cena/Bryan. Forgot about that. Also a face/face situation, hard to do a face/face title change without it being clean unless you're wanting to turn someone. Cena/Brock, though. How could I forget that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 Dave Meltzer describing Cien Almas vs No Way Jose as "essentially it was Kelvin Gastelum vs Jon Jones" is pretty bad and especially bad considering his recent comments about race. His running joke, which started months ago, about Almas and Gastelum looking like one another is so confusing. And now Jose and Jones, none of these guys look anything alike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Can't be as worse as every time they talk about David Otunga and Byron Saxton they use the "well we know why they got their job" line. Granted that may be the reason why they got the job since they suck but come on you aren't fooling anyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Not sure why Dave's the bad guy for pointing out that WWE puts people in positions they clearly aren't suited for to fill an imaginary quota. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 He's not. He is weird for pointing it out EVERY single time either Otunga or Byron are brought up. And it's certainly not the case for Byron, since they've had him doing commentary since FCW days and working on writing/producing as well. It's kind of like that weird uncle who has to mention that Obama's dad is from Kenya every time Obama comes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 How is David Otunga "clearly not suited" for commentary? He's been just fine on Smackdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Because he's black, of course. That's how he got his job, you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 He's not heel Michael Cole bad, but he's been largely a useless third wheel. Perhaps in the era of lowered expectations of wrestling commentators he's okay then. No one's saying he's not suited because he's black, that's ridiculous and honestly just insultingly lazy trolling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Enthusiast Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 How many of the folks that re-upped with the Black Friday sale are sticking around for a full price month? I canceled mine about a week ago because I just wasn't using it aside from browsing the board a little. Alvarez is still just too much of a stumbling block for me listening to any of the Dave shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 I thought he reported very well on the UK stuff this week. I'd like to see what sort of Cota bio he has (if any) too. But I really shouldn't. I got what I needed like I do every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 23, 2016 Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 How many of the folks that re-upped with the Black Friday sale are sticking around for a full price month? I canceled mine about a week ago because I just wasn't using it aside from browsing the board a little. Alvarez is still just too much of a stumbling block for me listening to any of the Dave shows. Bryan is way more subdued when on with Dave unless they're reviewing an especially bad Raw or something like that. Say what you will about him, but at least he knows to keep his gimmick in check there since he has to know Dave is the reason 99% of people sub to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted December 23, 2016 Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 Otunga is a subpar commentator at times, but I really struggle to think why someone would say Byron is actually bad. Him with his jovial, sometimes naive persona, alongside two snarky bastards like Cole and Graves works very well to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Enthusiast Posted December 23, 2016 Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 How many of the folks that re-upped with the Black Friday sale are sticking around for a full price month? I canceled mine about a week ago because I just wasn't using it aside from browsing the board a little. Alvarez is still just too much of a stumbling block for me listening to any of the Dave shows. Bryan is way more subdued when on with Dave unless they're reviewing an especially bad Raw or something like that. Say what you will about him, but at least he knows to keep his gimmick in check there since he has to know Dave is the reason 99% of people sub to them. Yeah, unfortunately not subdued enough for me. I can listen to/read people saying how much Raw sucked each week for free at a million places online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 23, 2016 Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 Otunga is a subpar commentator at times, but I really struggle to think why someone would say Byron is actually bad. Him with his jovial, sometimes naive persona, alongside two snarky bastards like Cole and Graves works very well to me. IMO Byron tries too hard too much of the time. That might be due to overproduction, but he comes off to me too much as an announcer version of a wrestler who has to get his shit in no matter what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 the other day Dave said that WWE didn't sign Aja Kong in 1995 because she "scared them to death on Raw" Should I take that as scared of her look or that she worked too stiff and would hurt people. With Vince you could certainly see both. So what was reported at the time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirJordanFan93 Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 the other day Dave said that WWE didn't sign Aja Kong in 1995 because she "scared them to death on Raw" Should I take that as scared of her look or that she worked too stiff and would hurt people. With Vince you could certainly see both. So what was reported at the time? Ive always heard it was because she worked so stiff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 She broke Chaparrita Asari's nose in a match on Raw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Schneider Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6k5lbgs2aI Here is the match, I remember Vince seeming nervous on commentary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 All I could think if watching that is how that's how Nia Jax should be booked. None of this "try to make the monster look pretty" stuff, just straight up destruction. Also, I'm amazed broken noses didn't happen more often, considering the person doing a spinning backfist is kind of just hoping the person is close enough to make it look legit without smashing their face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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