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“Nothing should ever improve” - all the worst old people you know

"I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction." - The Chicks

I think it’s progress that a white coach got the “he’s just too scary to hire” excuse?

Floral Pattern Shirt got over big with me after seeing that video. Everyone else is in some sort of workout or sparring gear and she just rolls up in a shirt and regular pants and throws hammer fists at her opponent while the ref considers maybe stepping in at some point. If I had a time machine, I'd book Floral Pattern Shirt and Chyna to be the most dominant women's tag team of all time.

It was the women in the Korean nail salon.

Rampage and Collision where about three hours of perfect wrestling for me! I remmeber when Brian Keith drew 93000 people to the Rose Bowl

For the record. . . I'd really prefer you not do this. I hope I'm making myself clear.

This is the reason that I'm trying to give a bit of grace to your Nashes and Foleys saying things like "I mean, I wasn't there..." or "I don't know all the facts." The entire situation has got to be hard to reconcile for any performer who was part of the machine at the level they were. I think Dolfan was on the money when he used the phrase "bite the hand that feeds" - if you take someone like Nash, who went from bouncing at nipple clubs to main eventing the Garden, or Foley, who grew up in NY with Vince calling matches, I can see the idea of hesitancy or resistance to admitting to one's self "A violent rapist enabled me to buy this house and send my kids to this really good school" or whatever it is - for others it may be a movie career, for some it could be like "I get to charge $5 more for an 8x10 since I was on WWE TV" Edit: This is all, of course, setting aside the ingrained "One more run" or "Defend the business" aspects we discussed pages back

Always fun when your foxy boxing looks like female brawl for all. Also amazing choice of song.

A series of thoughts about The Main Event (2/5/1988): I mean, this was pretty much a two match card (with the tag match being wrapped up quickly as sort of a de-facto standby match). It was also the WWF deciding that if they were gonna get on primetime network TV in 1988, they were gonna unleash pure WWF on the populace. (On checking, the WWF didn't appear to run any extra SNMEs as a result of the 1988 WGA strike since they didn't exactly need to swap out SNL reruns for SNME during the summer). The IC title match was pretty much a display of when having a champ refuse to job actually worked out for the best for the promotion in general. The match really wasn't a lot to write about. Post-match, Macho Man trying to square up with a guy holding a guitar was something you'd think Macho Man would do. Using a guitar as a distraction for a megaphone shot was fun. Sherri in a disguise means that you get Sherri Martel in a wig with no bumps. So she just jumps around. It feels like they were trying to find extra stuff for her to do until they realized "hey, she could actually be a manager". Like they fell backwards into the whole thing. The story, for the unfamiliar, was that Honky Tonk Man ixnayed the idea of dropping the IC title on this show. Which as a result led to him being the champion for another 6 months. Also it led to Randy Savage winning the WWF title tournament instead of Ted DiBiase. So it worked out great for everybody except Ted DiBiase. The WWF title match something I've seen a bunch. You've probably seen it a bunch. It had a result that made my cousin cry. Before the match, we notice that hey, Vince and Jesse are at a commentary table that's like 3 rows away from the guardrail. Hey, if AEW is gonna be unable to sell half of the arena for various shows, maybe the commentary table should move to be on the non-hard cam side of the arena. To be fair, AEW might have 150 titles but they didn't have their champ switch belts from the prematch promo to the live match. Anyways, the match is actually delightfully basic in the sense that they didn't really seem to do anything that they couldn't do. Although Andre trying to slam Hogan off the top did not look as good as it did when Ric Flair was slammed out of the corner (more on this later). Andre's offense of choking and stepping on Hogan and kicking was at least done far from the ring ropes so his legs weren't totally fucked by then. DiBiase and Virgil were basically there to do stuff to keep things rolling around. Hogan makes his comeback by hitting a clothesline off the top rope, which doesn't feel like something he did often in this country and especially not by 1988. Then Hogan gets his anklegrabbed by Virgil, setting off the world's longest referee lecture as Hogan hits a legdrop to no avail. Then Andre headbutts Hogan and hits him with the world's shittest suplex for the victory. Of course, Hogan's shoulder came up at 1 and Hebner kept counting. Then Andre got the title, surrendered it (while mangling the verbiage) in an almost slow motion paced handover, then there were two referees in the ring (unless you were really paying attention to the background, you wouldn't know which ref was the one who worked the match). So Hogan does the rational thing, interrogates both referees, and then one Hebner cheapshots the other and that's enough for Hogan to conclude that must be the evil one. Good news, Hogan didn't pick the wrong Hebner, because he launched Earl directly onto the ramp. In theory, Andre could have caught Earl Hebner. In reality, Andre needed help for a scene with Robin Wright in the Princess Bride and that slam out of the corner was a bit perilous. He wasn't gonna catch Earl Hebner. Fortunately I think Hebner didn't hit exposed concrete or a rail or anything. Then the Hogan postmatch promo was probably one of his most delightfully insane promos ever. And that's covering some ground. Before the match there was sort of an election denier energy to the "Andre actually won at WM3" thing, but postmatch, you got Hogan going way deep into the conspiracy angle of what was a conspiracy. You know, throwing out claims of plastic surgery, acting like his favorite NFL team just lost on a bad call. It was an amazing promo in a sense. Maybe your top babyface shouldn't have done a promo like that, but it wasn't boring. Just insane. Then we saw a very short Strike Force vs Hart Foundation match that I think was intended more as a standby match. I'd argue that maybe they wanted to end the night with the Hogan promo but they didn't cover enough time in the two matches, as opposed to actually intending to air the third match. They had an entire show before the Main Event. Jesse Ventura was in amazing form for the title match ("Hogan can't manhandle a referee like that" "That man wasn't a legal official" "He just did the match"). Even in light of recent news, the Jesse/Vince team was an amazing TV experience. Also you can now treat Jesse Ventura as the face commentator who was right all along because he kept making solid points to counter the illogical points of his colleague. That being said, we're probably due for a disappointing Jesse comment if he ever goes on the record about the accusations that Vince is facing. Of course all of this lead to a Wrestlemania which is mostly notable because your local video store needed a rubberband to hold the two tapes together when you rented Wrestlemania IV.

I'm a close second, though.

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.

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

Meltzer first said it happened on Seinfeld 100 years ago, but because he is nearly Drax levels of not understanding or using sarcasm, he had to immediately correct himself by saying, “well, not 100 years ago, probably more like 10 or 15.” It’s too bad for Bryan that they’re on video now and can’t mute himself before banging his head against his desk. Oh Dave.

also I should note the strip club I saw this event at ended up getting shut down by the Vice Squad a few months later, so yeah I don't think they were following rules

In a first chest blood match

Sting driving the ambulance to the arena is the GOAT live wrestling event race.

It would be a fun piece of booking if Sting starts the match as AEW/Crow Sting, gets “taken out in the back” by the Bucks halfway through, then re-emerges as Man Called Sting for the sprint to the finish. This also works vice-versa. Seems only right.

This show ruled ass, and is exactly what AEW needs to keep doing while WWE offends its audience with nonsense. Keep having banger matches featuring weird-ass matchups that you can't get anywhere else. Your audience will find you.

Opening segment did little to settle what directions things are going in with the World/Universal titles, but I enjoyed the hell out of Drew continuing to be tremendous asshole. The 4-way tag was good chaotic fun. Becky/Shayna was damn good and definitely felt like the two trying to make up for their Wrestlemania match from 2020. Hopefully we get more of that Shayna. Miz/JD was solid with Truth's late match antics delivering the expected fun. Kind of like Miz arguing Truth is really just a genius playing the long con. Tozawa/Maxxine vs. Ivar/Valhalla was short but fun despite the messiness from the women's side. Maxxine is not good as she was rushed out of NXT, but I still find myself baffled by how Logan never seems anywhere close to as just solid as she should given her experience. The Rhea/Nia segment/brawl was neat and drew some good heat to Nia. Curious to see what main events Elimination Chamber. Now feels like a good time to give it to the women either with the chamber match itself or Rhea/Nia. KC Squared vs. Kabuki Warriors built into something solid though you can still tell by the crowd reaction just how little momentum there is in the division beyond those at the highest like Becky and Rhea. Dug the Gunther/Jey segment. Glad to see it tie back into New Day's feud with Imperium. Jey/Gunther is going to be good whenever it goes down. Sami's interview was good stuff and really makes me hope he at least gets a PLE title shot later in the year. Cody/Nakamura was pretty nice by the end. Really dug the finishing stretch. Post match attack by Dre was expected and fine. Pretty fun show with some solid-good matches and segments. Will always be too long at 3 hours, but the power of DVR always helps. Was interesting to seeing how they pushed Roman/Rock as the main event less and less as the night went on. Its clear they know they fucked up to some degree. Hopefully they just go with Cody/Roman, but I guess we shall see.

Fun night of wrestling. Drew McIntyre is on the run of his career with his character. What a great manipulative scumbag to worm his way into everything. Plus, that shirt… That Fatal Four Way was wicked fun. Great combination of reckless dives and the like. Am I alone in thinking Becky/Shayna was at another level? Match had a really good story and flow to it. It felt like peak NXT Shayna when she was THE heel and did the nastiest limb work. Women’s tag match was fun. Good Rhea/Nia brawl, too. Jey vs. Gunther with his old frienemies The New Day having his back in their hate feud is a really great way to tie in the past of the epic New Day/Usos feud and rivalry, all while Gunther sets his own legacy. Has anyone had a better 2.5 years than Jey Uso? The guy is absolutely mega over. That Sami promo was an all-time great babyface promo. Sami really is just the best at being sympathetic and expressing the struggles of wrestling. The main event was fun. Shinsuke was perfect for selling nutshots from the bullrope and the like.

Bret's stuff looked like it hurt, but didn't. Goldberg's stuff looked like it hurt because it did. He hit very hard, but not always in safe places.

Here's a few from days when I was keeping better track of my viewing: - with Solar vs. Negro Navarro & Caifan from AULL in 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lEeIJTbjy4 - vs. Satanico from Lucha Memes in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHOsswv-bJY - vs. Aramis from Lucha Memes in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BPlYxoupdQ - vs. Stuka Jr. from CMLL in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/live/zyMg6nJOKwo?si=ZynFxxFi2auDeiLA&t=5724

Depends on if it’s a day they think they’re like sports or a day when they think they aren’t.

Counterpoint: TBS played Seinfeld reruns longer than Seinfeld was actually on air first run. It was on TBS for 19 YEARS.

My hypothesis is that Dave is a lot like one of my close friends where his bit was to always be extremely literal as a goof. That was back in high school. We’re both 43 now. He’s done it for so long that now that’s just how he is. It’s like a bad habit he can’t break and we just go along with it.

If it was AB, the coyote would have been a pet.

Seems to me that Andre is preparing the Samoan Spike for Lesnar in the first illustration. In the second, he's going to let Cena suck his thumb.

Rampage was badass, as usual. Queen is getting more exposure than any other woman on the roster! She just needs an effective finisher! Stooley. C'mon Willow, admit you didn't run out of letters or space on that friendship bracelet! Tag title eliminator was good, Big Bill was working his ass off here. Top Flight and Private Party need a 2 out of 3 falls rubber match to settle this thing! Well, actually I wouldn't want to blow this feud off for a while yet. Let these guys go at it like once a month until summer. Main event rocked and so did Hechicero's entrance theme. Did they give Mascara Dorada name to someone new? His ring jacket made him look jacked as shit, but once he took it off, he was the smallest guy in the match. He could fly like hell, though! Collision was a blast! Way to go, Bounty Hunter! Eddie was lucky to get that knock out blow in when he did! Danielson also got schooled and lucky in his match! Queen with another impressive outing. Red Velvet with an actual win. Toni with a crazy promo before that. Plenty of talking but good points were made. Main event was wonderful. Nick Wayne shone brightly, but so did Garcia. He could get a title shot from this. Hell, give them a trios title match! Good show, strong week!

Here's this for now: Hechicero vs Casas: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13LJZEheuKFLAIxEDArvQhrT5EwiCk93n/view Hechicero vs Rush:

Yeah, I was. At this point I listen because I have a ton of time to fill because I work by myself in a kitchen. I'd listen to music but it's an open kitchen so I can only use a single earbud. Dave is kind of like an uncle I have a lot of good will towards even if his opinions are out there. Plus it's a break from the Between the Sheets marathons. I also enjoy him pushing Alvarez to his limits on a seemingly daily basis.

Were you laughing because Seinfeld went off the air 27 years ago and thus couldn't have run a storyline fifteen years ago, as Meltzer apparently said? Meltz is a total space cadet and I remain surprised that people pay to listen to him talk about wrestling because they value his wrestling opinions. Now, valuing him for being unintentionally funny and generally entertaining, I totally get.

Say what you will about Meltzer but WOR always entertains me. Talking about Damage CTRL breaking up he compares it to Seinfeld and says they did it on there 15 years ago. Turned me into the weirdo on the bus laughing loudly by himself.

And here I thought you were joking.

Gamecube was that weird mix of the hardware was probably the only time Nintendo had hardware comparable to the rest of the generation, but its architecture was fucking spaghetti and it's amazing as much stuff ran on it as it did. The ridiculous controller didn't help, ridiculous controllers is Nintendo's bag since Gen 5. But Nintendo found it's groove if hoarding it's IP, gimmick controls, and creating artificial scarcity that it ends up sitting on money.

I hope Natalie Maines and Kris Kristofferson are both having wonderful days today.

Wow, they printed up a shirt just for Colt Cabana. That's awful nice of them.

Drew is on the run of a lifetime. He’s one of the best things in wrestling TV so far this year. It’s great because he has yet to tell a lie this entire time.

You can buy Drew McIntyre's shirt:

Liv Morgan is so pretty.

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

Granted, he basically is a walking prostate, so any cancer in his case would be prostate cancer.

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.

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.

Only 12 hours after her live performance with Luke Combs at the Grammy's, Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" has reached #1 on the US iTunes charts. Still say, while his cover is great, all he had to do was change one word to make it a completely new, resonant song about gay life in rural America. But hey, Tracy's making a boatload of money, so that's good.

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.

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!

You dare forget his turn as Bonesaw in Spider-Man? Batista was also good in Glass Onion and fun as Drax in the MCU. James