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Meltzer is reporting Brooke Hogan has been fired from TNA.

Yes, and it is an awesome match.

Me and my cousins wrestled no ring matches all the time. I've also been known to wrestle a trampoline gimmick.

Like giving presents to kids.

As I've mentioned once before, it turns out that the original PIRANHA is really packed with awesome character actors. Just a huge amount of history there. They pop up and disappear at a startling rate. I'm guessing this is a Joe Dante thing. And for the pampered coke-addled Sean-Cassidy worshipping fools of the "Me Generation" packing the 1978 drive-ins they were just a bunch of funny-looking "geezers" and "crazy beardos" But if you look past that you see deep careers that stretch back across a century. So, here is the second installment in a series I'd like to call "AWESOME ACTORS HIDDEN IN THE CAST OF PIRANHA" Maybe even more amazing than last time's entrant Richard Deacon is the subject of installment #2: Keenan Wynn Early on in PIRANHA there is a frankly bizarre scene between two old grizzled drunken hillbillies that does nothing but 1) creep out the viewers and 2) set up one poor old dude so that later when he dangles his feet in the water and gets them eaten off, we will have some context for where we are and where the evil Piranya are. Here he is in PIRANHA about to be eaten: Once again, Joe Dante has given us a great crazy guy with a great crazy-guy face. In 1978, that's all he was, right..."some old-timey dude from central casting...probably a homeless guy who collects cans on the studio lot." Bullshit, junior. It turns out that this is Keenan Wynn, one of the most storied film actors of the 20th century, racking up 276 credits on IMDB. That, as we all learned recently, is the same number as Christopher Lee. So, this man is worthy of a few minutes of your time. He didn't always look like a crazy old prospector. But when he did, he was exceptionally crazy and prospective: Looks a bit like Eli Wallach from THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, no? Enough so that he scored a role in Sergio Leone's 2nd greatest movie, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST as the hapless sheriff outwitted by, well everyone: When Sergio Leone comes calling, you know you have a great face. But unlike Richard Deacon, who played the same type over and over, Keenan Wynn underwent an incredible transformation over his career. He began like this: as a dashing, Noel Coward-ish, Cole Porter-y MGM pretty boy. That, in itself was an attempt to distance himself from his father, the famous Vaudevillian Ed Wynn, who worked with Buster Keaton, and The Three Stooges and hosted a hit variety show on both radio and early television. <----------Keenan's Dad Our Wynn, whose given full name was...check this shit...Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn...set out on a different path. But cursed with a receding hairline and looking old for his age, he pretty quickly settled into the role of MGM's go-to heavy, starting out as the "bad aristocrat" and then "the mean military guy" and eventually "the batshit crazy wildman" You can trace his career path in the thickness of his moustache. From pencil-thin and aristocratic: to bushier and authoritarian (here as Colonel Bat Guano in DR. STRANGELOVE OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB): To the full Wilfred Brimley lunatic-stache: Along the way he played in movies that ranged from A-list pictures starring Clark Gable, Lana Turner, and Judy Garland, with Fred Astaire in FINIAN'S RAINBOW and ROYAL WEDDING, and for you film-school types with Orson Welles in TOUCH OF EVIL and in Altman's NASHVILLE. For God's sake, He had an entire segment to himself in ZIGFIELD FOLLIES. For you soulless baby boomers, he was the voice of the Winter Warlock in SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN, which those in the baseball thread already know is the universal guidebook to righteousness and tradition (and, hey Fred Astaire again..I think they were buds or something, because Keenan Wynn is in, like 12 Fred Astaire movies). His t.v. work is practically an encyclopedia of everything that was great: from early t.v. like THE TWILIGHT ZONE, WAGON TRAIN, PLAYHOUSE 90, to later awesomeness like EMERGENCY, DALLAS, TAXI, QUINCY, BARETTA, THE LOVE BOAT, THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO...just like, every show you could possibly name, including the greatest show ever Once he fully embraced comedy, he appeared with his famous father (then in his 80s) in a series of comedic tributes including teamups in THE ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR, and SON OF FLUBBER. And then there were the B pictures. Enough of them that he ended up getting MST3K'ed at least twice (THE CLONUS HORROR and LASERBLAST). Keenan and the bots: He looked awesome on this poster: Boobs go in the middle pane. So, the next time you watch PIRANHA...and you will watch PIRANHA again, raise a glass to a guy who never won an Oscar or an Emmy or a Tony but who grew up with Buster Keaton teaching him how to pratfall and partied with Bing Crosby, danced with Fred Astaire, was pretend engaged to Lucille Ball, got slapped by Katherine Hepburn, and was the guy who let Steve McQueen ride his motorcycle, which turned out to be Steve's first time on a Triumph. HE FUCKING SHOWED STEVE MCQUEEN HOW TO RIDE A TRIUMPH!!!! Wait, WHAT? Let's let Steve McQueen fill us in: Are you fucking kidding me? And it wasn't just him. He taught Marlon Brando how to ride for THE WILD ONE...ARE. YOU. FUCKING. KIDDING. ME? He was supposed to play the Lee Marvin role, but MGM refuesed to let him out of his contract. How many toked-up, munchied-out dopers at that drive-in realized any of this when they were watching Keenan Wynn get his feet eaten in PIRANHA? 0. That's how many. Don't be a doper!

Maybe Titus O'Neil was conditioned to be supportive of homosexuals because his uncle, Rufus "Pancake" Patterson is related to Pat Patterson.

MMA Jeff Jarrett

The key word is "openly". Pat Patterson was well-known backstage to be gay, and on the internet, but was never "openly" out there. Right, that's why Jim Ross said stuff like. "And he's single, fellas!" Still...that's not really "openly" gay. Especially in light of wrestling's history of denigrating heels as homosexual (I mean, Goldust turned face by revealing he wasn't "queer"!), Ross insinuating that Patterson, a heel, is gay, isn't really declaring someone as openly gay. I mean, you could use this same line of reasoning to say that John Cena was openly gay because The Rock said as much. Or how many heels John Cena has suggested are gay. Also, to people saying "So what?", "It's not a big deal", etc. etc. It IS a big deal. It certainly is STILL a big deal. Hopefully, one day, it won't be. Hopefully one day there will just bs some people who are straight, some who are gay etc. etc. But you need only to look at the upcoming Olympics in Russia to see that, yeah, it IS still a big deal to come out as openly gay. And hopefully Young isn't punished for this. And hopefully Young has the courage to stand up and go "Yeah, so what?" And, hopefully, in the not too distant future, media won't have to ask wrestlers, athletes, celebrities and the like this question, because it isn't a question anymore and people are just gay like other people are not gay, and it's no big deal. But, yeah, at this moment in time, this is a big deal. Nice work, Darren!

That's what you get for trolling a professional lad, there are no depths to which I won't stoop.

Finally! Some good news out of TNA!

Ruben Amaro is a weaselly little shit.

Looking forward to the shows on Fox El Ocho.

FSW has terrible taste in movies, I expect it to barely make back its budget.

I remember when I thought Daniel Bryan was the weirdest sounding shit in the world and I'd never say it, but I don't really remember the last time his name came out of my mouth as Bryan Danielson. The same thing's slowly happening with Claudio. I don't even remember what CM Punk was called in the indies.

Lying/cheating/stealing face Eddy. Milk truck driving goofy face Kurt Angle. Reeking of Awesomeness Edge and Christian. Deadman-Taker. Look, I get that a lot of people liked BikerTaker as something different, but really this is the iconic version of the character for a reason. Team Hell No Kane. Most interesting he's been in anything that didn't involve Taker, and probably the most complex version of his character. Early Mankind, when he first started developing his character and feuding with Taker.

I could very well be alone in this, but I enjoyed D-Lo as European champion.

Conspiracy Victim/Unified TV Champion Chris Jericho was the best thing on WCW and better than all but the top 3-4 acts in WWE back in 1998. That year long run basically set up his entire career. Even though it sucked when he first came to WWF and tried to redo the gimmick with Howard Finkle playing the part of Ralphus. I never hated WCW (I even bought their ppvs until the bitter end) but the fact they wouldn't even give Jericho a friggin' squash match against Goldberg after he single-handedly set up the most interesting angle Goldberg ever had in WCW pretty much convinced me those idiots deserved to go out of business.

You are most likely a sheltered middle class person.

That might be the only way to make the Bellator PPV match interesting between Rampage & Tito. Make it the first ever hammer on a pole MMA match.

I think the story here is that someone recognized Darren Young D-Young being gay does fit into the whole "Bizarro Cena" thing. He needs a boyfriend who is half of a twin team...Don't give Jey Uso any ideas.

I actually hope they don't make his character gay because it's pigeonholing the guy. IE Neal Patrick Harris is gay but he plays straight characters and gay characters. Just because a wrestler is gay doesn't mean his character suddenly has to come out too.

Now I'm picturing the PTPs doing skits with Titus and Uncle Darren going to Disneyland with Titus' kids and tossing around Disney cash while shouting "Millions of dollars" to an exasperated Goofy or Princess Merida.

That TOTALLY fits his gimmick. He didn't say how many kids he has after all... that could just be from this weekend's mandatory visitation.

This past weekend I decided to pop in Mad Max 2: Road Warrior & Beyond Thunderdome (I didn't have the original Mad Max at my disposal otherwise I'd have indulged on the whole trilogy). I hadn't seen either movies since childhood & thought it'd be fun to revisit the films with a pair of adult eyes; I was not disappointed.What really struck me was how influential these films were to the world of professional wrestling. I guess I knew most of the references but, once you line them all up, it's rather impressive. Let's take a look..-The Road Warriors: This is clearly the most obvious choice. The name, the outfits, the face paint (not the designs, but just the existence of the paint itself). The shoulder pads in particular. Does anyone know if any wrestlers wore pads as entrance gear prior to the Roadies? Let's also not forget that Hawk & Animal were the precursor for other similar teams like the Powers of Pain & Demolition. -Lord Humungus/Humongous: Blatantly lifted from 'The Road Warrior' and dropped smack dab in the middle of Memphis. The moniker was used by Sid Vicious & Bull Buchanan among others. -the Ayatollah of Rock & Rolla: one of Humungus' nicknames, aped by Chris Jericho -pro wrestlers Mad Maxx, Super Maxx & Mad Maxine: I don't know a great deal about these three but I have to assume they were influenced by the movies (?) especially Maxine.-Thunderdome: Dusty Rhodes has gone on record to say that he got the idea (or at least the idea to seal the top of the cage) for War Games from Thunderdome. -Bust a deal/face the wheel = spin the wheel/make a deal -MasterBlaster: The Krang-like character wasn't copied but the name was given to Kevin Nash & his partners (Steel, Iron & Blade) for a brief period in WCW -Finlay's jacket: The half shoulder padded, half leather studded jacket. I always wondered what the hell he was trying to pull off there. Am I missing anything? Are there any movies/series that come to mind that have been nearly as influential to wrestling? Curious to hear what everyone thinks..

Wyatt seems more like a guy play acting than anything. He also has some annoying AJ no selling. "My daddy use to love Mint Juleps. He would drink em like rain water. Oh but they made him mean. One time he acted like he was gonna slap mama, but stopped short. See for Daddy, fear was his weapon."

That clueless shitbag needs to be the next to go.

Orton just went through a cakewalk of a divorce. Jojo is like 19. I like to believe the conversation went "OMGZRKO!!1 Can You FOLLOW me on Twitter?! :p" ..and Orton said "Uh sure, So how about Friday night?"

I also should warn y'all. If I know you well enough - I will openly troll you for leaving certain movies off.

The Jonathan Good vs. Johnny B. Badd feud practically books itself.

It'll make sense when Sebastian gets RKO-ed.

"I live in poverty" is actually a very good excuse for not paying attention in school. It's awfully tough to pay attention if you don't get enough to eat.

Cuz I'm apparently an idiot that couldn't see that this topic had been restarted, I started my own thread. Ignore that one and enjoy my reposting of myself kayaking this past weekend:

Apparently I can't quote anything this morning on here but did someone really try to make the point that a spider German to set up the King Kong Knee Drop was stupid? Please explain to me how the head drop that puts your opponent down for long enough to hit your finish from the top rope makes no sense. I'm with whoever bashed Ibushi's offense but the spider German followed by the King Kong Knee Drop is actually a pretty great combo.

I think flipping AJ back babyface is a sign that they expect Angle will be out for a while and need a new workhorse face of the company. Although realistically if Bound for Glory is AJ vs Bubba, which seem(ed) most logical, you gotta figure they would've shot the angle in September so realistically they only turned him a month or so early. Anything that gets Brooke Adams on TV more is an absolute good thing.

ROAD HOUSE SIG! YES! "A polar bear fell on me." To go with one of this month's themes:

FULL DISCLOSURE: I just really don't like the fact that my best friend, whose rampant misuse of the word should be a federal crime, gets to claim victory retroactively.

I got duped into watching most of this and I actually cannot believe anyone thought the show was good. The hour and a half I saw was among the worst wrestling shows I've ever seen

Uh, no shit. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, so that's why there's a cage around the ring. I was wondering about that!" OK, this is taking the concept of "playing to the back row" a little too far.

Well not all.

More look down on it because of shit like Billy and Chuck than in spite of it. Anyway, good on Darren for going public. Gotta love the irony in the doppelganger of John Cena, reputed to be one of the E's biggest man-whores, happening to be gay. Darren Young is truly the Anti-Matter Universe version of Cena.

How dare you. That was the Raw moment of the year.

I don't see why they can't keep the Prime Time Players together with them swimming in a sea of women AND men. That's even more awesome.

This group of students at an Irish language school in Ireland have been covering a number of relatively mainstream songs - seems to have been getting a lot of buzz. That annoying Cups song from Pitch Perfect

Darren needs to change his Twitter profile to reflect his recent announcement: "As comfortable in the VIP section as he is in the ring, Darren Young’s life revolves around three things — money, women and wrestling."

Ban. "Cartwright?"

Deontay Wilder turned Sergey Liakhovich into one of those dogs running in their sleep during their fight last night. http://deadspin.com/sergey-liakhovich-gets-kod-in-the-first-round-convuls-1090146711