Leaderboard

(taps microphone) As best I know, I'm one of four women and only Black woman on the board. By all means correct me if I'm wrong on that. The point being as a super minority on DVDVR, I have different perspectives on wrestling and the world at large. Because being both Black and a woman, my identity intersects a plane entirely different from most here. I come on the board, read posts by the majority White men here, and it's obvious many of you don't have a clue about what any woman thinks, let alone a Black woman or woman of color. So I try to provide insight, to show a prism that someone who is the polar opposite for most here looks through. To provide a voice for a group woefully under-represented in wrestling (as that's the original point of DVDVR). I don't expect to be applauded for doing that. But I don't appreciate the online psychoanalysis of how I hate White men and I'm obsessed with this wrestler/that promotion/seeing problems that don't really exist. Some were apparently shocked that I would disagree with you or question your position. Because you're so entrenched in your often White, hetero, cis male world where you're always in control, even the idea of someone outside that realm challenging you was an affront. It's not a problem exclusive to DVDVR. It's all over wrestling. A woman of any color gets questioned. But as soon as many learn a Black woman is giving an opinion, out come the passive-aggressive remarks and not-so-subtle misogynoir. Dealing with either racism or sexism alone is bad. But fighting both is what I have to do every day of my life. And I like to think that I could come here as a place away from all the world's pressure. But who we are doesn't change just because we're shooting the breeze over a comedy skit on RAW. We carry who we are wherever we go. Good and bad. And the fight to have my existence count for something rolls on, even over the most mundane things. All this to say is I read what was being said in the Wrestling Abuse thread. And I wish I was angry or even disappointed. But I've seen it too many times. You're so fixated on the possible 2% of women who MAY lie about sexual abuse. You're not thinking that for every story being told this weekend, there are 4-5 we will never hear. Because the system--designed by White men--doesn't allow for victim survivors to be heard. To receive justice. Everyone asks why women don't report this to the police. We have someone in this very thread doing the 'well actually' routine for Matt Riddle. THAT'S WHY. Riddle doesn't need any of us providing a defense for him. If that's happening on a message board where nothing is at stake, imagine trying to convince someone in power to empathize. I can almost guarantee that in a year, this movement will be archived with women who dared to speak up mysteriously not getting booked, while many of the accused will do business as usual. Because the majority White patriarchy will keep the wheels spinning. And women will still barely be spokes on said wheel. Wrestling is still a good ol' boys' club with White men continuing to wield the most power. Be it in the actual business or on a message board. I can't help but think a lot of the attitudes surrounding the Speaking Out movement connects to Black Lives Matter. That only by walking out in front of your car, blocking roads, and tearing down statues that shouldn't have been put up in the first place are you willing to listen. Even then, it's conditional. You'll return to ignore after these fine messages of how proud you are of those who speak the truth. But you won't be back after the commercial. What am I as a woman, specifically a Black woman, supposed to do? Even when I try to explain my position calmly, it's met with patronizing insincerity. If I yell, I'm then the angry Black woman you'll claim frightens you when I hold zero power in any situation outside of what I create for myself. And I didn't create this vicious cycle of abuse and questioning said abuse. And why do so many of you insist of keeping together the destructive system that allows it? Because ultimately, it serves you pretty well. All because of your biological gender and skin color. It's exhausting. And I'm tired of telling my story. It's not even a good story, anyway.

I've been thinking about all of this, not just your post, and to me the sleaze(sexual misconduct, general perversity) of wrestling has become a part of the institution of wrestling culture - which encapsulates the promoters, performers, and fans. This may not be the case from the 1980's on back, as I believe it really became prevalent after the rise of the shoot interview, and newz sites, when we could hear rumors and tales about the performers real life escapades. It was so salacious that it became an element to the fandom. I'm not just talking about the sleaze here, but the general desire to know about the inner workings of wrestling. People were becoming just as interested in who was a drug addict(Jake Roberts), or who was cheating on whom (Edge/Lita/Hardy) as the comparatively mundane booking issues(Vince can't make up his mind, Charlotte is being pushed too hard, etc.) All of these stories are mixed together so that they have a nearly equal place in the online fandom. For some folks it's no longer enough to enjoy what's on the TV but the drama of the people making what's on the TV. Which is a concept not unique to wrestling per se. Comic Fans want to know who is writing their books before it happens, or Soap Opera Fans have digests about where storylines are going in advance, and what actors are taking time off etc. etc. But for wrestling it seems to go deeper than just "I want to know what's next." Why am I bringing this up here in light of everything going on? I believe this underbelly is part of the attraction now. Not just for some fans, but for wrestlers too. I can't remember the screenwriter's name, but he was telling a story in which he confessed that he was a good guy before he went to Hollywood. Once there he got into the drugs and the women and the madness that comes with Hollywood. But looking back he says that Hollywood didn't corrupt him, but that he went to Hollywood because of the corruption. Why else would you go to Hollywood? A more timely and clearer example would be the examination of police and how their state granted power and immunity attracts a certain type of person looking to abuse those benefits. I believe the same is true of wrestling. I believe some of these wrestlers understood coming in that it was apart of the culture (consciously or subconsciously). That's why it's so easy to get the wrestling community to blacklist and ostracize members who speak up. Even wrestlers who may not have done any of the abuse directly aid those who do because "that's wrestling." The DVDVR Sleaze Thread was legendary as a dirty database of the depravity hidden in wrestling's underbelly. It's telling to me that the guy who started that thread, requesting all the dirty gossip the internet could muster, is now the owner of the second biggest wrestling company in the United States. That is absolutely not to be accusatory, but to reflect how even if Tony Khan is a good guy that even as a fan he has/had a desire to know all the gross details about wrestler's private lives. I've gone down the "who did what with whom" rabbit hole too - few are immune to its perverse allure. Today I scanned the twitter thread on Cornette and several people were commenting on both it and a rumor about Carmella at the same time. "I can't believe Cornette does this and Carmella does that". The rumor about Carmella(I don't feel like repeating it) was based on a misinterpretation of a joke she made on a podcast, but people have continued to speak it as fact while at the same time equating its value to Cornette's wife sexually harassing wrestlers, or the accusations against Matt Riddle. They're responding with silly gifs and jokes because tor these people it's all wrestling. This is the show. So when we come to the phrase you used to describe some fans - "too many of our favorites went down today", I think these people have been drawn to wrestling, and continue to be fans because they know it's a place where this kind of behavior is normalized by the institution of wrestling. If Vince McMahon can be a terrible person without repercussions, if a top drawing wrestler can get a female co-worker fired because she stopped fucking him without repercussions, if a wrestler can be exposed as a bigot and still be rewarded by a company after the fact, then it is going to attract a fanbase who will overlook or even defend the institution in times of moral/ethical crisis. People do not react well to feelings of guilt. I used to love wrestling. I think I still do, but in a very complicated and no longer child-like wonderful way. The more stories I read, and the more I matured as a person, the more I just felt wrong watching some of it - particularly from the WWE, and as we've seen this week it's not just them it's the whole fucking enchilada. I'm glad all this shit is going down. It's the perfect time for a purge of the worst elements of wrestling and to rebuild a better community around it that values accountability more than entertainment. I'm pessimistic that this comes to pass, but it sounds nice to write out. Anyway this was a long post, but I've had all of this kicking around in my head all day and your post was the one that let me figure out how to approach it.

Has one picture ever captured the existence of Seth Rollins and his career more perfectly?

EVERYBODY DINES

Oh fuck off.

Bret wasn’t into it because salt cost him the title at IX.

The Fiend vs Goldberg, WWE Super ShowDown 2020

If you've never run your own streaming service, you don't get to criticize.

Maybe it's because when someone coughs the germs sail completely over his widdle head

Or the wrestling industry particularly needs to change the way it treats its performers and he's one of the few people willing to put himself on the line to promote that idea.

you're all crapping on that main event but they developed some sick photos during it

Unrepent-Ant

And the last several posts are why I dared not enter said Kobe thread when these events occurred in January. That, and I was still in a fog for a few days. As a poster here, I try to stay out of shit like this just to not piss off RIPPA, Dolfan, and jae among others. I still have my good and bad days. And as someone here, I try my best to not have certain bias. There are specific things I do want to agree with, but my skin color and more importantly the lineage of my race makes it extremely complex. It's extremely difficult for me as an African-American man to bring up a lot of these people (namely African-American gentlemen) because I try so diligently to not reinforce the stereotype of the brutal, serial mongrel rapist African-American man that goes back all the way to Reconstruction (even before D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation). So for me, trying to keep the discussion above the belt (or above board) is my purpose. Now how it turns out is entirely different because I'm definitely not the only person here with opinions. And the reason I brought up the Gayle thing originally is because I did believe there was a hidden agenda there. However, I don't think this place is the place for those anecdotes (what might be construed as gossip or hearsay anyway) especially when I doubt many people would have the grounding or anchoring to understand what is meant by it. Moreover, on the heels of the Ari Shaffir thing months back, I knew we were heading down a pretty ugly path. On here, I just forged ahead and didn't even go near that thread for fear of getting what many might see as irrationally angry. I think a lot of shit that should roll off my back because there may be legit evidence (that even I can agree with) otherwise bothers me because I do spend too much time online reading shit. Not only do I have to deal with the White/Everybody else vs. black but the black female vs. black male gender war, black LGBTQ+ vs. Cis black male, intersectional crowd vs. black men, black immigrant (first and second gen) vs. African-Americans, BMAT (black men are trash)/y'all n***** deserve to get shot by the police crowd vs. black men, etc. It's a whole lot of shit to unpack so I do spend a lot of time here to get away from that shit. It's fucking rough otherwise. So when all the names get brought up (whether it's Cosby, Kobe, Tyson, or anyone you can name), I feel I almost have to automatically disqualify myself. Part of that is I've already had too many run-ins on here that got super ugly whether it's MADCAP saying black people should just be happy with their paychecks in one of the Oscar threads from years back or Mike Naimark (who I don't believe has been here for quite awhile) saying that Jack Johnson is really the one who drew the color line in boxing. That type of shit sets me the fuck off. I come from a background that doesn't allow me to handle it pleasantly. Quick story time: Several years ago when I was in junior high school (Cassie Pennington Junior High School which I'm sure is named something else now), I had this teacher named Mr. McAdory who was my Mississippi Studies teacher as well as our vice principal. Think Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air but more heavy set and with a little lighter complexion. Well, he told us a story in the middle of class one day that still resonates with me today and I will never forget. Years prior, as the coach for the school's baseball team, he was at practice one day with the team in the middle of summer in hot ass Mississippi heat. Around the baseball field, there was this hill that kinda overlooks it. On this hill, people usually come by to sell stuff whether it's snow cones, tamales, or fruit. Apparently, there was this older white guy who was on the hill selling watermelons. No one was tripping on the racial connotation of him being white selling watermelon. No one was really paying attention to that aspect. That turned out not to be the issue. Mr. McAdory took a closer look at this fellow, kinda recognized him, and then fully recognized him. Then, without telling his team anything, he left the field, went up on the hill, and told the guy not to come back anymore. He came back, didn't say anything to the team, and practice went on without further incident. Some days later, IIRC some of the members of the baseball team were in his class. After calling roll, just like he did with us when he told us the whole story, he started talking about when he was younger in 1950s/60s Mississippi near Money, Mississippi, riding his bicycle, and having to come inside when the street lights went on because of the thought some drunk white guy was going to stumble out of a bar and lynch you. We had no idea where he was going with this story until he told us the conclusion like he told his students back when this incident occurred. The guy who was out there selling watermelon and was told never to come back again was one of the guys who got off for brutally disfiguring and killing Emmett Till in 1955. I'm not sure if it was the guy who was married to Carolyn Bryant (who BTW is related to one of MS's former Lt. governors Phil Bryant) or one of the other guys, but either way Mr. McAdory knew who the fuck he was. Plus, the guy knew why he could never to come back again to that particular baseball field. That shit struck a chord with me. I was told this story at the same age as Emmett Till when he was murdered decades prior. Every year of high school, I would go on and look at the graphic pictures of what happened to him whether it was in Eyes on the Prize (the version with Malcolm-Jamal Warner narrating) or some other documentary in school. Some years later, when I first got on internet message boards (this particularly one may as well been called Stormfront.org but with wrestling fans), I remember talking about Emmett Till for whatever reason and then some white woman who was one of the frequent posters there said "Oh maybe he deserved that for whistling". It just fucking enraged me to no end. A few years ago when Carolyn Bryant admitted she made up the whole story, people who kinda knew the story (i.e. people who weren't from Mississippi) saw it as some type of vindication. Every black person who grew up in Mississippi (and to be fair, Chicago since that's where the Till family moved to) knew what was up. We didn't need any fucking more proof. And sadly, this is where the alliance ends between different categories of black people. We can all agree what happened to Emmett Till was extremely, extremely fucked up. However, in many cases, there is this attitude in social media and other platforms built off up centuries old white stereotypes that you other n***** deserve it. A few years ago, some women went on The Breakfast Club talking about how black men are the leading cause of death among black women (I believe it was heart disease or something...maybe hypertension). None of what they were saying was based in fact. In that way, these platforms are way for people to just vent now with no consequences (hell, we saw this with the ExposeWrestling twitter just a day or so ago). People always throw around the term toxic, but refuse to put that label on themselves. So yes, I would like to have this beautiful back-and-forth conversation about these complexities especially since most of the discourse has been rather peaceful all things considered. However, it's extremely tough for me to discuss these things when the feeling for a lot of people STILL is little black boys (specifically African-American) come out of the crib with the innate belief/mindset/behavior that you have to abuse, molest, rape, and kill others and that we're basically sub-human. And if you don't cut them down (through death or imprisonment) at a certain age, you got a fucking menace to society on your hands. For those reasons alone, I have to abstain from some of these discussions.

Enjoy the week off.

No, that’s German for ‘the X-Pac’

didn't read the article but I presume his sentence was being placed under Huss Arrest?

It's only a bulldog if it comes from the Bouledouge region of France, otherwise it's just a sparkling facebuster.

The uncle of mine who had COVID-19, but was asymptomatic is finally out of quarantine and they're allowed to take him out of his room and even took him for a ride and stuff. He had to wait longer because another person got exposed by going into his room long after he had gotten it even though they tested negative. The woman who worked there who had it and he got it from is fine now as is her husband. So, all is well for now on that front at least.

Weird that Florida is seeing a spike. They've tried everything they can. Both pretend there isn't a problem, and also ignore it and hope it goes away on its own.

1. Poison mist smells like furniture polish. 2. The gland sometimes secrets through the skin if not released often enough. It's fairly straight-forward. Gary Hart had revealed in his book (the rare print version, not the manuscript that we all read online) that in times of peace, the ancient Japanese warriors who were modified to utilize it actually had a booming woodworking trade.

I'm saying this once: elections have consequences.

no but the story is funny. It was Rey Buccanero, and Caristico in the back of my car, Shocker was in the passenger seat. They wanted some energy drinks so we stopped at a Rite Aid. While there Caristico is looking at electric razors, he finds one that is $80 and brings it to me and says "i have no american money yet" and I respond with "you wear a mask 90% of your life you do not need an $80 shaver" he gives me a sad face and puts it back. The other 2 guys get their snacks (oddly enough no energy drinks) and we are on the way. Sam Adonis calls me and wants to make sure Caristico has his hood on early because there are a bunch of people waiting outside. I repeatedly ask him to put on his mask and Shocker says "don't worry he will know when it's time" How he will know I have no clue as I hadn't even been to this venue prior to the day and I know he hadn't been. We are 2 mins away and I look back and he is still sitting maskless eating Pringles. Finally as we pull on to the street I look over and he magically has the mask on. Like a Mexican David Copperfield. How he knew where we were I will never know as I had no GPS on or way of indicating it to him. In the hustle I dropped them off as they were already late for their VIP signings and Caristico forgot his hoodie in the car. It was a fun time. The hotel didn't have the rooms ready so poor Shocker fell asleep in the lobby on a couch while Bucanerro would look over and smile at me (Shocker had the best English of the 3) When the rooms were ready I had left them to get some sleep and when I came back to get them Shocker called me over to facetime with his wife and daughter. I was touched that he would want me to speak with them after only knowing me for a day. It was a good show, Ultimo Dragon was there as well. I am 6'3 and asked if he had any shirts. He wanted me to have the one he was wearing and kept saying "same size" I was quite taller than him and pretty sure we weren't the same size but I am not going to argue with Ultimo F'n Dragon.

I'm so sorry

The best thing about that... "movement" co-opting the red pills from the Matrix is the hidden layer underneath it all. The Matrix was written by two (at the time closeted) trans women and the most common form of estrogen for hormone replacement therapy in the late-1990s was premarin, and the most common dosage for premarin came in red pills. I'm sure you can connect the dots about what the Wachowskis meant and why I find how it got co-opted to be hilarious.

You aren't either nor is anyone else on the board. We all read and listen to the same things and then hear what we want to hear And then we come here because it is the last thing we want to be thinking about All of you please stop wildly speculating Last and only warning

Getting paid to sit at home is my dream job.

John, you're better than this. At least I think so. But damn, dude. Calling a woman a ring rat and insulting her desirability in a thread about this exact type of treatment of women is incredibly tone deaf. And throwing out terms like "PC" as a pejorative makes you come off as not much better than the guys defending shitty behavior. As in "yeah I called that bitch a slut but don't be so fucking PC bro!" People who decry "pc culture" are usually the people who just want to be racist/sexist/etc. without being called out on it. Your comments are exactly the kind of stuff that probably every single guy accused in this thing would say, and I don't think that's your intent. You'll probably triple down and tell me to fuck off, and that's fine. This thread's getting locked again anyway with shit like this.

Tony, please give me tickets to the next Jags-Dolphins game.

He didn’t grant Nikki’s.

The company that can afford to throw dozens of millions of dollars away on a vanity Football project can't afford to pay it's independent contractors their guaranteed deals? Bollocks.

Adam Page wants to be my favourite wrestler.

Everything went great! I am quite sore.

Follow-up to the last thread about my work situation....where my one owner wanted me fired over (male customer flipping out on me than whining to the owner over Text Message), had a third party involved. Last week she showed up and in front of my girlfriend, apologized for the guy that tried to get me fired being out of control and a total fucking embarrassment. I wrote a very professional letter (which took several re-writes because I was mad AF), demanding that my written warning be removed from my permanent record and the other owner (not the one with the hard-on to fire me), thanked me for my professionalism, apologized for the stress I've been put under, and removed the issue from my record. So now I'm untouchable! Or something. Maybe I'm less stressed, at least.

I may be having surgery next month. ... but a good surgery. Well good for me anyway. I'm sure y'all can read between the lines here, right?

I'm a bit disappointed that here, of all places, everyone is acting like X-Pac was no good and just a moves guy. The guy was an awesome pro wrestler, even during the years when he had become stale and the fans had completely turned on him (which, when going back and watching that stuff, I found to be a bit overstated anyway- sure, no-one is extolling the virtues of X-Factor, but as the cocky little shit in D-X feuding with Kane and Chris Jericho, he was still very effective and was able to get a lot of heat). He was one of a small handful of guys who was still able to have good matches during the Attitude Era, and was probably the #2 most popular babyface in the company for a period in 1999. Waltman also seems a pretty cool guy in general, who genuinely loves pro wrestling.

As a proud member of black Twitter, I would like to say I believe those are what we call receipts.

found around Twitter

I dunno man. I've been pretty fucking depressed. I work in mental health, and while I have historically been exceptionally skilled for the past 20+ yrs at keeping the trauma from coming home with me, I've been on work-from-home status since this COVID shit, so the trauma of those I work with has latched on to my surroundings. Everyone I talk to is terrified, at best, paranoid and panicky and suicidal at worst. It seems like all I want to do is sleep. But I like this place. I enjoy coming here. I appreciate you guys making this a pretty safe haven for none of that shit from out *waves hand* THERE to get in. Be safe and healthy, all y'all. Even the ones I got on block; just because you have shit opinions don't mean I want anything to happen to you.

If you're old you should already know who Cameo is! James

I would love to see fewer people pull this talking point directly out of their ass.

One of the all-time worst fantasy booking ideas in the history of DVDVR.

Modern day WWE directors cut of WM3

A group of women mistook me for Taz the other day at Subway and demanded that I poop for them and describe it in a voice mail. because of the new Metoo laws I had to.

The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for me. Lots and lots of paperwork to get done since my insurance is helping me out (and believe me, that has been a battle and a half). I also had to go to North Carolina for a roller derby tournament that was overwhelming for me. Fortunately I have a heckload of games ready for me on the Switch for the recovery. I never did start Breath of the Wild...

I'm more baffled that you think Jodie Foster is in Alien.