Technico Support

@Fallacy! Yeah, that's pretty ridiculous and I'm glad Thompson somewhat calls him out on the bullshit. Like when asked if the polka dots or Sapphire for Dusty, or the Red Rooster gimmick for Taylor, were ribs. Prichard's pat response is, "why would Vince blow money on ribbing someone?" Come the fuck on. Vince is a lunatic, that's why. Prichard's dismissal of most modern stuff would be maddening if it weren't so obvious that he has no idea what he's talking about. When discussing Sami Zayn, Thompson said something like, "his work on the indies as El Generico was.." and Prichard cut him off with, "generic!" Spoken like someone who never saw an El Generico match in his life. Again, listen for the old stories (for the most part), tune him out when discussing modern stuff.

The "independent contractor" thing is an absolute joke. The plumber I hired to fix a broken pipe in my house is an independent contractor. Can I tell him he can't do plumbing anywhere else, how he has to dress, exactly how to do his job, where to be tomorrow and what time, etc? That was my point when I mentioned it being amazing that WWE still gets away with treating wrestlers like this. They are a publicly traded company with all the hallmarks of any other large corporation in 2016, yet it's built on the backs of a group of people who are being absolutely conned and taken advantage of. I'd say it's insane that they're getting away with it but, again, the biggest marks are in the locker room and nobody in a position to speak out will do so.

I already clicked like but holy shit.

All I get from this are that wrestlers are dumb and/or desperate to be in the business. Is WWE's EVP of Marketing paid a small downside guarantee and then a share of some nebulous amount to be determined arbitrarily at a later date based on how well the business does? Does Vince hire his IT staff and tell them they're being paid low but are being "given an opportunity?" Does his Business Development team pay their own trans? Like you said, wrestlers will never be able to organize. Also, nobody blows the whistle because anyone who could is so desperate to be in Vince's good graces. Imagine an article on a non-wrestling site, one that's taken seriously, where actual wrestlers describe their working conditions. This shit would change overnight.

This. I'm amazed that, in 2016, the biggest wrestling company on the planet, who runs every other aspect of its business like a typical corporation, still conducts business with regard to its employees (sorry, "independent contractors") like it's still a 1983 mom and pop territory.

Act 1: Find a dead person whose brains were eaten Act 2: Conduct an investigation Act 3: Turns out a zombie did it

I just read a story about how, when Walking Dead was pitched to NBC before AMC picked it up, NBC executives asked if it could be redone as a police procedural and maybe not include zombies. Exhibit A in your argument, "why the broadcast networks are dogshit, artistically speaking."

Kaepernick got a raw deal. York built an awesome team and system around him, just enough for some big short-term success that enabled York to get a new stadium and a sweet deal to move the team. Then once he had what he needed, he let the team fall apart, got rid of the coach, and is now scapegoating Kaepernick. Yeah, scrambling, more one-dimensional QBs don't have prolonged success for the reasons Tabe pointed out but come on. Kaepernick's dropoff was even faster than usual specifically because all the other good players were swapped out for also-rans once York got what he needed out of them. I mean holy shit, he even signed Kaepernick to a contract that was mostly based on performance incentives, then took away all his ability to actually earn it. God damn, that is some bald-faced con artistry right there. SMH at the absolute balls on this guy. I'm a Ravens fan -- as far from a Niners fan as you can get -- but this is bullshit.

Are there any access codes out yet? I like how the Westworld logo looks like the Weyland Yutani logo.

The difference between Austin and JR is that Austin, while he does have a few subjects he constantly nitpicks, still actually enjoys wrestling. As a matter of fact, I don't think Ross ever enjoyed wrestling. I get the impression he fell into wrestling and stuck with it for the steady paycheck and would rather be calling COLLEGE FOOTBAW if he had his way.

So he does all his moves really fast with really bad form?

Just Charlotte

Hopefully he was focusing more on his legs

I see your point but I'd put it on him for agreeing to it. How stupid is it to agree to a spot where 1) you're not in control of the bump 2) you're bumping on a hard, vertical surface that is decidedly not a wrestling ring i.e. the surface you're taught to bump on and 3) you have to trust your opponent to gauge the exact distance? These guys are trained to fall flat on a huge surface, not make an exact landing on a small area. It's a dumb bump to take.

The way Meltzer explained it, Bryan had several tests that cleared him and then one that didn't, and WWE told him they needed him to retire as soon as he failed that one. He said that the normal protocol for the test Bryan failed would be to undergo more testing and then figure out where things stand, making it sound pretty much like WWE was overly cautious and jumped the gun. Speaking of injuries, it's hilarious to me that Balor said on Jericho's podcast that the first thing Terry Taylor told him in NXT was that he'll learn a style that will lengthen his career. Days after I heard that show, Balor is on the shelf. There's a difference between learning a safe style and actually practicing it, I guess.

CWC/NXT are taped in advance so there's no way crazy-ass Vince can come in and change things on a whim the day of the show. Raw being live every single week is nothing but a detriment.

It depresses me to no end that this was 20+ years ago. I remember reading Scoops on dial-up. Fuuuuck. What's Chris Hyatte doing today?

Technologically-speaking, the most realistic thing I've seen on this show so far. His laptop was definitely at a password screen when she looked at it. What's less realistic is that a hacker like Cisco apparently had a pw she could easily guess, I suppose. Or a password that could be cracked in a few minutes.

"Based on true events" always gets a completely involuntary eyeroll from me. I always think about "The Strangers," which was based on true events because somebody knocked on the director's door late at night.

Konnan was fine when he was with Bauer. His new show is beyond awful. Bruce Prichard's new show is a mixed bag. On one hand, he's your typical old guy going off on the current product and "The Internet," but in the other hand, the meat of the show (focus on one old school topic, event, or wrestler and his experiences there) is decent.

I know whenever they're in Birmingham, England, they just say they're in "England," no city (or maybe they call it London?). Because they don't want the association with Birmingham, Alabama.

Calling Bel Air ("Blair" if you're from the area) "Baltimore" is possibly worse than all the people who, when Canton got gentrified, hip and expensive, calling areas outside Canton "Northern Canton" (Patterson Park/Butcher's Hill) and "Eastern Canton" (Highlandtown/Greektown). "Oh yeah I live in the north part of Canton." Motherfucker you live on Eastern and Montford GTFO.

"Yer an allright enough fella even though yer people killed Jesus."

More than just about any other worker-turned-podcaster, you can tell Austin still genuinely loves wrestling. Do you think Konnan, Flair, Cornette, etc fire up Youtube and watch matches just for fun?

Man, Benoit really WAS Dynamite II to a tee.