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I read the lawsuit, too. One of my many reporting jobs was to go through complaints (the first step in a lawsuit) — none of them related to anything close to this, but similar. To just run a little counter to Trevor (I have no idea who he is): 1) Including the WWE in the lawsuit is not surprising. The woman worked for the WWE and says she was harassed in the capacity of her employment at WWE. 2) You have to take anything that is in a lawsuit with some degree of skepticism. The basics of a complaint are “file as many things as possible with some of the evidence you have because chances are a judge is going to narrow a lot of this down or negotiated away because that is how the American Justice system works.” There’s a lot in this lawsuit that came with actual proof (snippets of text messages) and that a woman put her name in public where she is stating as fact the most degrading things a person can have had happen to them — and you wouldn’t do that (or have a lawyer sign off on it) unless you can back up that it really happened to you. But the things about who knew what in the WWE corporate hierarchy that’s alleged is something you really do need to take with a grain of salt. EX: I am pretty sure it is in the lawsuit and not something in the media (I can’t check right this second), but the victim claims the WWE didn’t reach out to her when conducting its own internal investigation. Would the WWE — being looked at by the SEC for Vince’s payoffs along with Vince and who knows who else internally facing a criminal investigation and in the midst of a potential giant corporate merger while shopping around a billion media rights deal — be that stupid to not follow all of the internal investigation stuff to the letter of the law? Or, more accurately, would the very expensive law firm they hired to conduct the investigation put their reputation at risk to help out a wrestling company? Because lawyers are the ones who handle those types of investigations, which they then present to the board (or a select committee of board members, but usually the internal committee tells the whole board) for the board to consult. So, please, let this unfold. Don’t speculate names as to who knew what. We don’t know.

To be fair, If I was Bret I would also never stop slandering Goldberg's name.

Gee, I hope one of my favourite wrestlers gets implicated in rape and sex trafficking allegations, then maybe I can score some of that sweet discounted merch. Seriously, fuck this company.

Look, I may be in the weird position of 'biting the hand that feeds me' (even though I draw zero compensation from being an admin), but.... this whole board was made (in)famous because of a thread of 'lighthearted anecdotes' that are horrific if you really sit and think about them. The whole industry has been (and in a lot of cases continues to be) filled with monsters. As Jae said... stare into the abyss to deeply and it will stare back.

Here's a copy of the whole thread if you don't want to deal with Twitter

I think one dividing line is: Old time carnies/Stockholm syndrome survivors who want to keep the door open for "ONE MORE RUN IN NEW YORK BROTHER," who either think Vince could still return or love him so much they can't say anything bad about him. VS Guys like Lance Storm who have two functioning brain cells to rub together, don't need to ever go back there, and maybe have some morals.

No one loves Bret more than Bret.

Here's a great Twitter thread regarding how deep the company is involved in all of this

I’ve never seen a run of “matches I didn’t even know I wanted to see” like this. 2024 Coach Tony is an absolute madman!

I love Bret, I truly do. And I largely agree with what he's saying. But it's funny to me that he's always the one saying it.

Bret Hart: "I seem to be as revered or popular as I’ve ever been - and it’s maybe because of the salutes I’ve been getting from guys like (CM) Punk, and FTR, different wrestlers have mentioned my name, or do something that I did in the ring as a nod or a salute to me, and I appreciate all that. I think CM Punk alone has done a lot to remind wrestling fans to take a look back at some of the stuff that I was doing, and how good it was. And I think it’s starting to stand out now where it’s like - in my honest opinion, without trying to sound too boastful, they’ve pulled the curtain back on wrestling so much. So now we know the whole thing’s a show, and they’re just really good physical actors, and that is what it is. But you watch my wrestling and you go, jeez, he was the best. I think I made it look more real than anybody all the time. I made your stuff look good, I made my own stuff look good, nothing looked rehearsed. There’s so much I think in today’s wrestling that’s so badly rehearsed, over and over." --- Bret Hart deserves all the flowers.

So aside from all that, you’re on board, right?

Actually now it's "billionaire who should be in jail".

The Sleaze thread was 19 and a half years ago, and I'm pretty sure that 90%+ of the people who joined to post to it aren't here any more. Amusingly, I did see some random on twitter trying to discourse that DVDVR takes "too much credit" for the Sleaze Thread, considering it was immediately reposted to every wrestling forum that existed at the time, and a lot of the posts in their were from people who joined to post to it, rather than existing regulars.

I like Bret a lot but I have never watched a Bret Hart match and thought "This looks real."

I think the one more run thing is over. If they were of a certain age (45 or younger), then yes. However, in my mind, it's the innate we need to defend the institution of wrestling from outsiders that's always been prevalent with the previous generations. I feel like if it was anyone notable other than Vince, it would get the same reaction.

In retrospect out of all the cool stuff on Collision my favorite might have been Cash hitting the Buzz Sawyer powerslam out of a dead sprint.

There's more to the booking than meets the eye... The king is gone but he's not forgotten, indeed

Wolfdogs vs. TrickMelo was solid though pretty damn rough with bad luck for Trick and Bron. Still not sure how that rope moment happened. Bron somehow waving it off like nothing is insane. Gacy/Dijak was good and got a decent bit of interest from the crowd by the end. Gacy smiling and ready for more throughout the whole match was neat and a good cementing of the craziness and toughness of his current character. D'Angelo Family vs. OTM built into a pretty nice match. Crowd actually had decent interest by the end though this felt like something that should have been on NXT tv opposed to PLE. Not enough familiarity with OTM or the family's Rizzo for the crowd to be fully invested. Roxanne/Lyra was going well but was nothing amazing until Lola cashing her Breakout contract. Felt like everything kicked into next gear from that point with the audience getting a lot more interested. Saying that it was interesting and kind of neat to see Roxanne be the only one they were really behind. They were especially pissed when Tatum screwed Roxanne at the very end. Will be interesting to see where things go since Roxanne had the match won twice over Lyra. Lyra has been good, but her personality leaves much to desire a lot of the time. The CWC crowd may be into her, but the bigger audiences are usually either against her or a bit apathetic outside of the occasional neat move. Will be interesting to see where they take things with Tatum obsessed with her. Now might be the time for subtle heel turn. Oba/Dragon was Femi's first real test in NXT, and he did surprisingly well. He bumped around just enough to make most of what Lee did look good while still being dominant force for most of the match. I dug how Lee had to break Femi down at times. Finish was a nice strong win for Femi. Good match. WIll be interesting to see how much other people can get out Femi right now. Trick/Ilja felt like a bit of war with both guys bleeding and how physical Ilja is in general. They did quite the job dragging the crowd in and made them think it was over at least 2-3 times before it actually was. Melo was actually pretty good as Trick's cheerleader while getting hot and making some mistakes that may have ultimately cost Trick the match. The obvious turn finally happened, but it hit well with the crowd getting super pissed and booing the crap out of Melo after he destroyed Trick's leg. Not sure what the title match for Stand & Deliver will be but Trick vs. Melo will be the actual main event regardless after this. Undercard was pretty solid and enjoyable while all the title matches delivered. Oba/Dragon was a nice surprise, but I have to give MOTN to the women's title match or Trick/Ilja. both were so damn good and well done.

FTFY The six-man tag idea is nice but I thought, especially due to them using the exact same moveset in that match, that Keith and Eddie might make a good tag team. Both loner gunslingers (one literally) that end up having to team up for some desperate reason. HOB/Briscoe was entirely useless. Mark tugs the heart strings, Black steals the lights, and... Tony is standing outside the ring when they come back on. That's it. I mean at least abduct Chicken or something, have a promo with him tied up in their dungeon of doom (heh) somewhere later on. Or he vanishes then comes to the ring next week and says "I DUWN KNOW WHUT THEY DID THERE BAYBAH BUT I WOKE UP IN A PARKIN LOT AND I DID NOT HAVE ANY CLOZE ON"

The clothing people do or do not wear is not an invitation to talk about their body.

I really wanted to make this thread title Melo Didn't Miss , but it would be silly to not acknowledge (!) the Rock taking the Mania main for himself. Especially a month from now when we all realize they just did a reverse gaslight and made us think we made this Rock/Roman/Cody three way on our own. ANYWHO.... If you haven't been following Drew McIntyre's twitter, you reallly should:

I was there. Everything just blends together in my memory after so many shows. I had forgotten that those things happened on the same show. That goofball in the front row with the Konnan mask looks a lot like me

Belichick* is getting hired by Washington! *Steve

About what it should have cost to begin with. I really enjoy the minute to minute gameplay but it's visually ugly, I blew thru all the 1p content too fast, Stadium Stampede was a bust, and the second season pass had half the characters of the first, an arcade mode that should have been in at launch, and a new arena that only appears when you go out of your way to pick it for exhibition modes.

If he didn't, he should have. That's heat, brother.

Speaking personally, I really like the fact that there's a bit of history there, with Ishii and OC having teamed once already in AEW over the summer in the build to Forbidden Door, vs Butcher/Blade. It's a nice combination because it's simultaneously one of those "Only in AEW"/matches you didn't know you wanted, but at the same time, also a bit of a bone thrown to us every-week/longtime viewers w the tag I mentioned

This is why I think the Cash vs. Dax match is the worst match I've seen in the last three years.

He must have been a big fan of the 1979 World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates!

I'm glad so many people are excited about this Ishii match. I kind of hope that Cassidy does a deal where Ishii keeps trying to headbutt him and he keeps dodging by accident by picking up a penny he dropped. I'd be for that.

Today is also the 36th anniversary of The Main Event on NBC, where Hogan's first title reign ended via evil ref plastic surgery shenanigans.

Wonder what their definition of "Immediate Delivery" was

Hart Dungeon was the July PPV before Lion’s Den IIRC

If it wasn't for the fact they are trying to make Cody the next Daniel Bryan even though the logic is completely messed up, the only way to make Cody vs Seth relevant is to actually turn it against Cody and make it a Seth story. The only way to make Seth vs Cody worthy of a Night 1 main event is to not do what the WWE just did which is talk about the history. By the way, what the hell are you going to do with Drew McIntyre now. He should be in a top WM match and I can't think of one opponent to put him in since Punk will definitely not be wrestling. As great as this heel shit is it seems wasted Same with Gunther. I guess the winner of Elimination Chamber gets that match

To clarify, I don't think Stardom is going to close. That said, in 2002, I didn't think Gaea would be closed a couple of years later, so anything's possible. All it takes is for the people running things to decide "we're done" and it'll be done. There will be a bunch of splinter groups, most of them will fail, a couple will end up surviving, and it'll take years to rebuild things if it does happen. It probably won't, but the possibility is always on the table, even if it seems unfathomable.

Pitch: Trick and Okada as the Dropkick Murfeez (tm)

I wish people would give me as much credit for one thing I did well 16 years ago with lots of help and get endless chances because of it too.

Henare and Kidd were just blasting each other last night. The Korakuen crowd was fully behind them. Good match.

damn... I shoulda kept proof of my TNM7 matches just in case

Been feeling rough as I have a infection in my sinuses and any infection always sets my Cerebral Palsy off. My hips are sore, have been for a while. As a young boy, I was admitted into hospital four times with them. I see my long term pain management doctor this month face to face for the first time since the pandemic (I've had telephone appointments) so he can examine me. Hope he can come up with something. It's a balancing act between moving, resting, doing gym, swimming, pilates with my body working four times harder compared to someone doing the exact same things but without Cerebral Palsy. All ain't helping the depression.

not only were ICP at ringside, they actually rapped the Oddities to the ring that night! i assume it was cut out of the Network version due to music copyright. the Oddities were such a weird group. It never made sense. WWF never even TRIED to make it make sense. But somehow, it still kinda sorta worked? i dunno. there was zero reason for this to even exist at all. semi-interesting sidenote, the ICP never got paid for their WWF appearances. they had negotiated a deal that would have WWF air a commercial of/for them, but WWF just.....never aired it. which led to ICP leaving. SummerSlam '98 was a good show. not even sneaky good. just actually good. well told stories, good action, everything played out reasonably well or better. love it. i have a lot of love for fun things like the Lion's Den match. not an all-time classic or anything, but added some variety to the show and made it feel more important somehow. Or maybe it was because to me, the UFC was still this mythical quasi-legal hardcore fighting tape. my local rental store(s) didn't carry the tapes, so i lived vicariously through second third fourth hand stories and magazine mentions.

The theme song for the ppv needs to be “Revolution is my Name”.

Finally caught up. I thought the 8-man on Rampage was a little underwhelming and didn’t really showcase the CMLL crew other than Mascara Dorado. Willow-Aminata was maybe the best match of the night. I didn’t really care for the Top Flight-Private Party match, basically too similar, Private Party is trying to be cool heels so the traditional tag structure didn’t happen and the match felt lifeless. Ricky-Bill versus DO was fine but again such a foregone conclusion. Kingston-Keith was amazing, Eddie gave him so much that I wouldn’t have been surprised with a shocking upset. Congrats to Bryan Keith for signing, I’ve seen people online fantasy book a trio/faction with Hangman Adam Page, Bandido, and Bounty Hunter Bryan Keith. Danielson-Hechicero kicked ass, like others have said it really had the sense of Bryan being in over his head and hanging on for dear life. I think Nigel said “Bryan Danielson escapes with the win” and that was a good way to describe it. I want Claudio basing for Mistico and Dorado! The Hook-Outrunners thing was dumb, just because Hook popped a rating is not reason to give him some Superman push where he goes over two guys, even if they are comedy jobbers. Aminata continues to be the new Skye Blue, and soon she is going to get that big win. I like Deeb more so far this time around. And then Red Velvet vs. Texas indie star Vertvixen was a nice squash to heat Red up for Toni’s public workout. FTRCia-Patriarchy was excellent, Nick Wayne looked the best I’ve seen so far (and appears to have added a little mass), Daniel Garcia is becoming a superstar. Also the only match without a foregone conclusion. The Briscoe promo was so great, and then the HoB part stunk up the joint.

update: i am home. still alive and in one piece. temps were lower than expected and there were no major issues. fishing was OK as well. the drinks were (as always) my highlight.

Perry has been out with some kind of skin infection that required an operation, and her only managerial charge, Andrade, left the company. So I can see how their angle is on hold. There are absolutely times we can be critical of TK, but this isn’t one of them.

This BCC vs. CMLL angle is the epitome of “ give them what they didn’t know they wanted.”