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In the right topic now: Thank you, Don Callis. Fuck Glenn Gilbertti/Disco Inferno.

*taps sign*

Fuck off, Disco Inferno. Thank you, Don Callis.

Right now, I’m pretty happy to have not gotten reinvested in WWE. Nothing changes for good until Vince is dead.

Well, THIS should rule.

Well, thanks guys. I happen to think DVDVR has become the best place on the net to talk about this stuff once again, so I'm glad for the company and conversation.

I go out for ONE fucking walk with my partner and god damn it.... Gimme a minute, I'm moving stuff.

Stephanie McMahon has resigned as co-CEO. Everything is fine.

I went for the BOTB tag (Though Gregg is on point, I almost went for Kip/OC - that was a good bit of TV, and IMO, the whole 'underrated' aspect of his gimmick is starting to become more and more apt). I can't say the last time I was so happy to be eating my words - Jarrett has been great here. And not like the 'Good hand, you'll get a competent 7 mins of TV' he usually gets- I mean legit great. A few people touched on this when he debuted, and I have to admit, you guys were completely right: I inadvertently allowed my memories of him as WCW and NWA world champion to cloud my judgment, forgetting how great he can be at the tertiary-title level - and I'd be surprised if I was alone on that. Edit: though I should mention, I had a dream (nightmare?) last night that there was going to be a Harris Twins vs Billy Gunn/X-Pac vs The Acclaimed PPV match, so... Maybe not outta the woods yet as far as my psyche is concerned...

This was the first ever Dark Elves to feature not only ONE (Vinny Pacifico) but TWO (Ricky Gibson) wrestlers who follow me on twitter.

Dominik after serving hard time is the best. "I now know how Martha Stewart feels". The tear drop tattoo. A billion stars.

So FB has been feeding me random MNW era Raw and Nitro matches (like it knows me or something), and I gotta say I really miss the tv sprint style of match. You can easily have a 5-minute match where both guys get a lot of shit in, and the crowd is hot the whole time. You can also fit more people on the show and not have a damn commercial break every match. I watched a random Hall/DDP and Nash/Giant match (had to be one of Wight's last WCW appearances) and both matches were fast-paced in a way you wouldn't think a match with any of those 4 would be, had a concise story that advanced certain characters, and kept the crowd engaged without burning them out. Maybe I'm just that old guy wishing wrestling is like it was when I was a kid, but it would be a welcome change of pace from the "If a match isn't early 2000s ppv quality, it's a squash" style of tv today. Also, why does no one do falling elbow drops and those quick follow up clotheslines in the corner anymore?

It's all fixed! U KNOW IT!

If the Saudi part of this story is untrue, then it's still a pretty tight race for dumbest money grab while fucking the fans. But if WWE gets sold to folks who were fantasy booking Yokozuna a spot in a Royal Rumble, despite him being dead for... a while... then WWE win by a country mile.

This feels like one of two things: 1) Stephanie is really fucking pissed at all of the creep shit Vince pulled. A lot of the timeline fits - she stepped down right before those stories broke. She has positioned herself as a pro-woman executive learner type. And, yes, she should be really pissed because Vince’s actions as a CEO (from the being a creep to women and how his payoffs made the company restate earnings and trigger a SEC investigation) are horrifying. In a company with a normal corporate governance set-up, Vince would be long gone and fully purged. But the WWE is of course one man’s company but one on the stock market. 2) Maybe some within the board like Stephanie do not want to sell the company. A timeline also fits for that. The predator stuff leaks out and Vince steps down. The WWE picks up some creative momentum with Steph as the co-CEO and Hunter handling creative. They decide to maybe wait on a sale and instead focus on the TV rights deal so that can keep running the company. Only Vince decided he wants to sell and he forced his way back after seeing that they were not going for a sale. Wild times.

This has to be one of the best weeks of AEW YouTube wrestling ever. Which is really saying something! The DVD and POUNCE in the floor in the Emi & Diamante vs Ruby & Willow match were GREAT spots. (also, Ruby vs Diamante seems like a natural match-up. As does Ruby vs Jade. Who is the true precious stone of AEW?) Will AEW be able to re-ignite the Bullet Club trend and sell a billion t-shirts? Mark me down as a doubter here. HAT BASED PSYCHOLOGY is the best kind of pro wrestling psychology. Athena vs Marina was straight up great professional wrestling. Can they keep up this momentum with the STACKED Dynamite card tomorrow?

Rich people

Jay really needs to change his shtick so I look forward to Slashdagger G. Fuschia on Raw

Parte DOS~! "I think that's detrimental to tag team continuity." - Big Paul. I don't know what the deal is with the Hardy faction and I don't mind Page goober-ing it up double time since he is real good at that, but I still want to see him make a big face turn like Ricky Starks sometime. Athena's matches are now basically a repeat of Meiko Satomura legit dropkicking the trainee in the face in GAIA Girls after yelling "You're taking the piss!" Love it. Marina and her are gonna harvest some potatoes. I accidentally called Menard "Parker" earlier, my apologies to Daddy Magic. Eddie dropping down into a headlock instead of jumping his opponent was funny. He wins with a simple DDT, too. More of that in these squashes please. How long until Santana is back? Why is Eddie all pissed off? Magic 8-Ball says "Reply hazy, try again". Heh, Chris Daniels steals Eddie's headlock dropdown with Bandido. I bet he got an earful from that backstage. The Fallen Angel works a smart, not particularly high impact match with Bandido showing off some surprising strength spots including a chokeslam and a gorilla press. We didn't get any closeups of Daniels' gnarly red eye, sadly. Not sure if Danhausen wearing a muu-muu or Luther dressed like Kane after the Inferno Match is stranger. Hey, this was quite good! I really should pay more attention to Dark and Elevation.

There was an episode of Dynamite a little while back that had a 15-20 minute opener and main event but then a series of shorter matches/segments in between, and I thought that was optimal 2020’s TV wrestling.

What if there's a ... quadruple turn? Hayter and Britt finally go face, Saraya and Toni go heel and meet the righteous rage of Shida?

Between this and the Wizards of the Coast fucking with the D&D Open Gaming License my hobbies are getting put through the ringer.

I am just like everyone else with the board politics stuff — just a lot of speculating and guessing. I saw that the board unanimously voted to reinstall Vince back into the chairmanship position even though they also unanimously signed a letter telling Vince to stay away. My thoughts on this: Corporate boards and the like don’t have to broadcast their discussions, only the results of certain votes. So there are a ton of decisions that are in no way unanimously agreed upon that come out looking like a unanimous vote. The reason for this: It is not a good look for the board of directors to tell investors “We fucking hate each other and this company is insane.” That is a huge way to sink the share price — and the people who work for the company with board seats (and other executives) receive a huge part of their compensation via shares of a company. But board members who take their work seriously also should put an emphasis on doing what they think is best for shareholders, and a crazy and unpredictable board is not that. It is also not uncommon for a board member to step down from the board if they do not get their way in a critical vote. It is not uncommon for someone to step down from the board in protest to something they object with ethically. It is also not uncommon for a CEO to step down as they read the writing on the wall and are going to get fired as a way to save face. But the WWE’s corporate governance is so completely fucked up. Like what was said in the other thread: This is essentially a family company that is also traded on Wall Street. I really can’t think of any other companies set up like this where one man has 80 percent of the voting power. I am sure there must be others, especially with smaller companies who have not been public companies for too long. But a company with as many eyeballs on it like the WWE — it is insane. Facebook is not too dissimilar since Mark Zuckerberg owns over 50 percent of the company’s voting shares, but Facebook is still a relatively new company. Steph’s resignation could be many things. All bets are off. One thing that would be extreme but literally nothing can surprise me with a corporate set up this nutty: The board unanimously told Vince to shove it when he originally wanted back in to press for a sale. That makes sense to me as an actual unanimous vote because any responsible board Would say that — sure, you can help sell the company, we can’t sell it without you, but we could get lit up by federal regulators because you used company money to hush up female company employees you pressured into awful situations and also may have sexually assaulted a spa owner and a former employee alike. And they also knew that doing so would not matter and Vince would eventually look to replace whoever to regain seats since he owns the company for all intents and purposes. Steph decided she wanted to step down because of Vince (she stepped down a little before the initial articles came out). But it is a really really really bad look to investors if everyone on the executive team and board members step down at once. We could see a few other independent (non-employee) board members who are not Vince flunkies and want nothing to do with his scandal on their resume step down. Maybe another executive on the board (not sure who else other than HHH or Kahn) steps down within the month. A slow leaking of the boat could happen so investors do not all freak out at once, but who knows. It is also really fucking crazy for a company to have a co-CEO. It is not unheard of. Salesforce for some reason has two CEOs and is a profitable company. Netflix has two CEOs and is not a profitable company and IMO one of the crappiest companies out there. The whole co-CEO thing made no real sense to me because it’s a wrestling company and nowhere near complicated or big enough as a venture for two people to have to run. What a fucking glorious shit show. Again: All of the above is just a lot of conjecture. The WWE is such a wild case study in corporate governance and is completely fucked up.

HHH should just go full JTG when it comes to answering his phone

IT WAS ME DAMNIT, IT WAS ME ALL ALONG. ROD MCMAHON.

I don't even know what the hell is going on any more. I'll defer to Gregg on this. You probably should too. Side Note - I should have opened this a lot sooner. Grr...

Yes, this is the way. Let him be a big fish for a brand, and we get weird Strong-type bookings like he had against Bailey and Swerve.

HAHAHAHAHAHA… holy shitttttt

Eh, fuck it. Everyone else keeps posting dumb as fuck images even though there’s no image thread anymore. At least this is relevant:

BRB. About to go watch Downfall.

Danhausen got a write up in the New York Times. The article also does a good job breaking down developing a character and getting over for non-fans - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/magazine/danhausen-wrestling.html Here is how to get past the paywall.

The Algorithm™ served this up to me last night. Gary Albright is a grown-ass man.

Amen to that.

I love the "pending a physical" part. HOPE IT DOESN'T TURN UP ANYTHING IN THE LEG REGION.

I've been watching the era proceeding it, and I think while a lot of it is bad, the Attitude Era is overall roughly as bad in a different way. The big difference is that there's a massive star power jump at the tip-top of the card from Michaels/Nash/Hitman to Austin/Rock. EDIT: And I'd argue that the actual wrestling between '94 and '96 WWF is generally more likely to turn out enjoyable watches than in '98 - '00, with only the main event brawls and some of the advanced ladder match stuff of the Attitude era as an exception.

That Woods/Claudio match was a masterclass in how to put someone over while still beating them. Even in the finish, Woods didn't look outclassed, he just made one tiny mistake that gave Claudio an opening. I'd love to see more showcases for Woods like this.

Splitting this one in two (long episode). Finished up with last week's Dynamite. Starks/Jericho was just fine but Acclaimed/Memphis was glorious for all the ga-ga. Jarrett running his crotch into Aubrey's face was the cherry on top of all of his bullshit in this match. I also liked how even the high flying was basic and old school: slingshot plancha to the outside, simple crossbody from the top. Cage/Schaff definitely fills your Meat-Slapping quota for the week. I think everybody -- wrestlers, ref, announcers, probably the crowd itself -- was surprised at the crowd reaction. (Parker's Italo-Montreal accent tickles me to no end, btw.) Skipped Bollywoods/Kingdom as my only interest in that match was Maria's hind end. (Settle down etc.) Hey, Pretty Peter looks like an adult now! Amazing. Speaking of ga-ga Trustbusters are great at it, but they can't ward off the triple homicide of the finish. Hobbs squash was great. It's probably what Cage/Schaff would have been if Schaff wasn't a Defy guy. I want Hobbs vs. Brodie. The tag squash was even more fun because Shafir is a nut. Taking off her shoes and socks to wrestle? Then she just mauls the jobbers. I guess she had a stinker recently and everyone was down on her but she looked positively evil here. Since JR isn't here it behooves me to mention Josh Woods' shooter boots. Him and Claudio work a game match with actual limbwork! And then Woods falls like a tree (heh) to the uppercut. It wasn't as vicious as the last one Claudio won a match with but close enough.

This. Enjoy:

The IRL events have somewhat conspired to put themselves into a corner re the outcome has to be Hangman proving himself in some way to Mox, otherwise it just sits somewhere between neutering Hangman all together and a defining difference between Mox as the real top guy and Hangman as not-quite-there. I think in theory, re-doing the Mox/Punk match with Hangman going over Mox in like a minute is a good way to go, so you've got both guys now looking to recapture lost pride and prove themselves to one another with another match down the road.

What we really need is an old fashioned WCW style limo.

I think shows should be book-ended by your most exciting matches/moments. If Mercedes is there, it should be the main event. If she isn't, rip the band aid off ASAP and have it open. 6 man ladder match is the other match in the scenario I mentioned, so depending on the women's tag match situation, have it placed as the opener or main event accordingly. Not entirely sure if Mox and Hangman are going to have this program stretched out until Revolution, but it feels like it might conclude with a Last Man Standing match or something, so Wednesday's match doesn't need to go very long. The majority of in-ring time should be given to the women's tag, six man ladder and Danielson/Takeshita, IMO. Absolutely no reason for something like Firm vs JungleHOOK to eat up a picture-in-picture break or something. Not a real big fan of people like Mercedes or the Young Bucks or even Bryan Danielson, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't insanely hyped up for Dynamite this week. NGL, I'm gonna be mad if Danielson ends up just mowing through his singles matches from here until February, because him versus Takeshita deserves some time. Even if the Bucks are in that six man ladder match, they always deliver in stuff like this. And, I'm a sucker for a good debut pop, so Mercedes will be fun - but if it doesn't happen, I'll be entertained seeing it all melt down (but also feel bad for the ladies, since it's Saraya's 2nd match back, we get a glimpse of Toni & Jamie Part 2, and I guess Britt is there too). Also maybe heel Hikaru Shida???

Per r/MarvelUniverseSpoilers: Wong is apparently getting his own Disney+ show inspired by the Strange Academy books.

I appreciate the compliments! If you really want to “pay me a tip” as it is — drop some of your money and subscribe to your local newspaper. And especially do this if you do not live in a major metropolitan area with a big daily newspaper. i really have a passion for financial news and finance talk. But one thing I believe — this stuff is complicated, and it is complicated in many ways because the “smartest people in the room” want it to be so complicated that it feels like they are the only ones who know what is happening and you should give them your money. I work really hard at learning about these things and I have a decent ability at explaining them in a way for people without the background can understand. I am really lucky that I get to do this for my career. I want as many people as possible to learn about how money works in our economy. The reason why is because I think the more people understand complicated topics in finance makes for a better financial system that is more fair for everyone. I think people should invest and save and build wealth. But people don’t always see how the game is played and because of that they lose out. And I also am the first to admit that I do not know nearly all of the rules of the game. It is really awesome that the WWE is in a scandal like this because it is a company that people understand. Something like FTX? Not as easy. I also owe the WWE a bit of gratitude for being able to make this my career. I worked for crappy small town newspapers when I was right out of college covering town council and school board meetings. I was living in Massachusetts for a few years and a small newspaper there hired be to be their business reporter. At first, it meant I wrote about real estate development and new stores opening downtown (since it was a tourist trap) and things like that. Arizona State University’s journalism school has a business journalism program. They offered seminars at different newspapers around the country where they trained you in the nuances of business journalism and offered a certificate. One of the things they discussed was how to look at the documents publicly traded companies have to file - quarterly reports and annual reports - and how to write about them them. I had no idea any of that existed or what it meant. But I loved the seminar and took the materials they handed out and used all of the WWE’s documents (like the ones I broke down today) to sharpen my skills. I picked the WWE because obviously I am a huge wrestling fan and I know the business. And it id also a pretty simple business in terms of how it makes money. I also was trying to get my MBA (didn’t finish) and had a class that was the basics in how to analyze a company — all of the ratios and metrics Wall Street types use. I used the WWE for my final presentation, in which I had to come up with a predicted stock price for the company in a year and justify why using the basic models financial professionals use. But the newspaper part was the key for me. And subscribing to the local paper helps democratize information, will hopefully help keep a younger journalist able to get experienced with explaining complicated material, and makes us all better for it. Sorry for the long-winded emo post!

TCU needed a perfect storm to beat Michigan and they got it. Michigan lost by 6 in a game where they gave away 21-25 points via turnovers and dumb play calls. They scored 45 points with 3 turnovers and those dumb play calls. TCU needed all that - and got it. Well, they didn't get that against Georgia. So it got ugly. But I don't want to hear even one word about them "not belonging" or "XYZ team would have done better". Yeah, well, then XYZ should've earned their way in.

Oh my god that was funny. Those idiots who write wwe tv really thought people would boo Becky…

Yeah the heels have still been coming out behind the left smaller screen, the babys bhind the right smaller screen. I do wonder if Red & Blue is the always default colors except special episodes, or if they will always change them up depending on the location they're in. Rotating and color swapping seems like a cool idea to make the Dynamite episodes a little more distinct. Lakers colors in LA. Go to Green Bay and do yellow & green. Las Vegas black & silver. Etc.

I still think its crazy that after all the stuff Vince has been accused of Rape, Murder cover up, drugs paying off his secretary is what did him in. It's like Al Capone being sent to Alcatraz for tax evasion