Elsalvajeloco

I'm reading an Observer back issue from January 1996, which features Brian Heffron in the reader pages looking for 1993 Van Halen tapes a week or so before he makes his ECW TV debut as the Blue Meanie, a very thorough discussion of a what a tiger driver is and move names including ironically a side point on suplex vs. su-play, and a lot (and I mean a lot) of bitching about the commentary of one Dusty Rhodes. Now normally I am against posting content that is behind a paywall, but I have to make an exception: Now what friggin idiot would make points like this...

That's debatable in the sense as we all have opinions about how certain segments of the population feel and their views. However, the UFC ain't sponsored by some nutty right wing guy and his series of wacky extremist books and/or podcasts. They have real blue chip sponsors. It's always a combination of external/internal pressures. They hollered woke when they switched to Bud Light. Guess what? Still moved to Bud Light. Once you start fucking with the money on that end, that's when you get made expendable.

I dunno if I would stand by waiting for UFC to cut people especially when morally that's rarely cut guys immediately based on that. They've cut guys who caught criminal beefs or about to catch a charge (the betting stuff with the guys training out of Krause's gym, for example). They didn't cut Colby over the stuff regarding Leon Edwards' dad, which itself is heinous. The thing here is though is because Bryce did what he did is the heat is going to be on him as well as the UFC. Either he's going to do the prudent thing and retract everything w/ Apology Tour 2025 or double/triple down and getting himself cut before he ever fights again. It's one thing to just support a Trump or just support far right politics. It's another thing to just go full on buffoon.

I think UFC or Dana specifically, if anything, pander to sort of grey area right wing politics that's safe where you can hide behind being "patriotic". They also don't officially endorse it. Bryce Mitchell went full on Holocaust denial, which removes the protection he would be afforded by the UFC or TKO. He was too idiotic to even mask it.

Dana condemned it, which is the only move he could make. Considering who owns the UFC, Bryce probably won't be in the UFC very long. He might get his walking papers pretty soon.

As much as I hate World Star or WSHH adjacent sites for trying to monetize and capitalize on the worst of African-American culture, every now and again, they drop red herrings like, "here are two Karens fighting each other in this Applebee's parking lot". It warms my heart. True Americana.

Given it's 1992, that title could also be used for Jeffrey Dahmer's memoir.

Yeah, I saw some clips from the other night. Seems like a very rough way to make a living especially since the ones I saw outside the Rothwell are just mainly unknown fighters. I guess if you're a legit prospect and not ending up on the wrong side of a highlight reel, then it may be somewhat worth it. This one happens to be on my list to watch. Just gotta make time for it.

Robelis Despaigne, Yoel Romero, and Hector Lombard are a combined 129 years old. That's absurd. If you add Tibau and JDS, it's 210. That's an average age of 42 years old.

What is this? As the World Turns?

With WWE cutting out house shows and expanding more internationally, they would be better served going into markets where WWE pretty much pulled out of. The bigger markets will always get their fair share of wrestling.

I dunno if that's a middle of the pack personality. Have you looked at wealth disparity in this country? We're ALL middle of the pack. You can be driven and still back in the exact same place. Stuck in neutral. Also, I am not sure what the correlation is to Tony Khan. Not picking on you at all, but someone's personal ambition is their own. I cannot live your life and you cannot live mine. Tony Khan will be fine no matter what. I think that's very evident. More importantly, AEW's current status is what it is. It's not a tech startup where if they don't secure additional rounds of funding, it's probably the end of the line. This begins and ends with Tony Khan and indirectly Shad Khan who are loaded. If their motivation was just to put WWE away, they would be FAR MORE aggressive than what they have been. The motives would be very clear. However, we're talking two people who are involved in other major sports endeavors. They understand the context of competition far more than we ever could. I would imagine it's more tortoise and the hare than the 40 yard dash. I don't know what wanting to be #1 has to be with the actual realities of business. Yes, overcoming difficulties is part of it but you have to understand the root causes of those difficulties. That takes real time. Setting deadlines for no reason makes no sense when you have time and (more importantly) money set aside that will likely be needed. Even though it's fake fighting, we cannot make pro wrestling into the business version of the customer service line, "Sir, did you unplug and plug it back in?". Pro wrestling in 2025 is much different than wrestling in 1985 when live business WAS your business. Paul Levesque and Tony Khan cannot be what Watts, Crockett, Owen, Jarrett, and Boesch were. They have to be actual businessmen with acumen. And that's not to diminish the achievements of the old guard. I am just taking into account pro wrestling being less of the wild wild west where you had outlaw promotions and motherfuckers who would use force to take over territories. Today ain't that. It's extremely corporate with checks and balances and hierarchy pro wrestling has never dealt with before. Therefore, the rise to #1 will not be done quickly in any stretch of the imagination. If you TRULY want to be #1 and look at the overall landscape between TV deals that get signed every 4 or 5+ years at the earliest, ratings trends that are hard to buck, attendance trends, merchandising and sponsorship opportunities, etc., you better pack a few lunches, buddy. You're going to be here for awhile. No amount of sheer ambition, aggression, and/or want-to is going to change that.

Every move Jerry has done over the last 30 years literally is grounded in, "Can I backdoor my way into a Super Bowl?" and it's gotten him further and further away. It's utterly amazing when you think about it.

I heard his Pepsi tat died and was replaced by a RC Cola tattoo.

I don't think TK is satisfied with just having a seat at the big boy table because if he was there would a sports type GM that everyone believes he should have as his eyes and ears, and TK would be several miles away in Jacksonville or elsewhere doing other stuff. He's passionate, but not this overly passionate bordering on delusional guy who believes that any second now AEW is going jump WWE. Yes, he will say that they have a better women's division and they do _____ better than WWE right now. He's done that quite a few times. He may even believe it. However, he's not gonna be out here saying that next year or the year after that we're going to match WWE dollar for dollar in revenue. He's extremely measured to the point where he's not gonna just start running off saying random, off the wall shit. If he does, it's something weird that aligns with what Tony Khan might say that fits his whole demeanor.

Uh...you realize Donald Sterling existed? You realize that there were (are) several NFL and NBA owners that didn't give one single solitary shit about winning or losing. There are multiple people who are excited that at the end of the year, they get big guaranteed money from their respective league no matter if their attendance is down year over year and their team sucks. The Jags are one of 'em! Hell 2nd best? Try 32nd best.

Booyah. No one said don't try. But you also have to look at the wording. My goal is to try to make a lot of money and become a millionaire. Now if I don't become one in X number of months, should I stop going to work? Should I realize at some point that's just an easily disposable personal goal that I have? Should I realize I should probably set a more realistic goal at some point? Probably. I don't think Tony subscribes to self help book type driven ambition where he constantly is wired to be that guy who wants to overtake anyone. Now if it does happen, he would be satisfied. However, I don't think he lives and dies by that. He's worth a ton of money so he doesn't have to be that way. He's not gonna be like Bischoff and telling the talent he's going to put TKO and WWE out of business. He ain't no angel at all as he's made a fair share of snide WWE remarks, but I don't see him being that guy. Now Donn Davis who runs PFL, the MMA company that bought Bellator? That guy would be your cup of tea. He wants all the smoke with UFC. Problem is he is as far away from competing with UFC as I am from getting a Nobel Peace Prize. So he's just highly delusional anytime you read a quote from him. It's irritating not cause I don't like the guy as much as he's suppose to be the alternative to UFC. However, unlike the people who the last few years were fearmongering about AEW going under for no reason, there is legit concern that there won't be a much needed alternative to UFC cause they won't last very long. Then, folks won't have a spot to land to develop at the beginning of their career or go once they leave the UFC. You can already see the cracks in the foundation to the point where they probably need a major overhaul to last another 2-3 years. Ambition is great but not when you coat it with delusions of grandeur like Duncan Hines frosting. As someone who has watched his fair share of boxing, kickboxing, pro wrestling, and MMA, I can honestly say that you're not going to last long as a promoter with that mindset. Hell, the ones that do and were wildly successful are extremely flawed individuals with major character issues. Do I think Tony in his heart wants to say one day that his company is #1? Yes, but he likely understands that's a distant, distant time from now if it ever happens and the amount of work it's going to take. More importantly, I think he understands the very real possibility he may never get there or anywhere close. Based on what he's done the last five or six years, he's going book whatever the hell wants along the way whether it's yields immediate success or not. He's on his own timeline if he is on one, not someone else's.

Yes. Reality show subject. Spent a lot of time in Atlantic City. Strange skin hue. That's right...Jwoww is our future commander in chief. But seriously, we will see when I run in 2028. I am a single issue candidate, and that issue is making the national anthem, "One Nation Under a Groove". I will not field any questions not related to that. I will post my GoFundMe shortly. My point was that considering he said that's his favorite company, I don't think his (TK) appetite or hunger is to make a shitload of money when Cornette himself centered a whole company around running an area of the country with limited upside of making money and business model as such. He had an well defined audience he was clearly targeting. More importantly, Jimmy was not trying to actively compete against WWF or WCW as much as building a company around his own interest and the wrestling he grew up with (hence the whole SMW tagline). That's my point. As for booking, the answer is always D. "All of the Above". I don't think anyone can sit through a three year feud with Bullet Bob again so I don't we will be seeing something like that on AEW TV. That said, 90s Japan is kinda vague. It's like saying someone is wearing gym shoes. That could mean anything. FMW from back in the day and New Japan...a bit different.

It's Philadelphia. That's probably the closest anyone has spelled it correctly.

This would be more like one of those new fangled soda (or soda adjacent) companies that have started recently being asked to compete against either one of those. Or Shake Shack being asked to go against BK or McDonald's. I mean they can. Will there? No. There is no amount of Ricky Bobby level of toxic ambition that will change that.

Define what inside track means? Kamala Harris was the sitting VP and had no clear path to being President elect at like 9 pm ET last November. It's not an impossibility in the same way it's not impossible that I can date Beyonce. I MEAN SHIT HAPPENS. I am saying that WWE had what? A 50 year head start on nearly everyone around now? You can try to be #1, but there are a ton of variables in place that AEW or Tony Khan has no control over. Are they just going to stop having billion dollar right fees contracts? Are they just going to stop having numerous relationships that AEW doesn't have? Are people just going to stop watching WWE? Those things are possible but how likely are they to happen? All I am saying is to worry about what you can control. Yes, NFL and NBA GMs want to all be #1. However, at the same time, they know damn well they aren't close to being what the best teams are. You can be the most competitive GM in the NFL and end up being 5-12 (or 36-46) just cause you have no control over your star player tearing his Achilles or losing valuable free agents that you wanted to keep. There is no guarantee you will be any better the next year or the year after that. The Detroit Lions were garbage my ENTIRE lifetime up until the last year. They made strides but a lot of that was trial and error and dealing with tons of failure. That happened over MULTIPLE decades. The Boston Red Sox didn't win anything for 3/4ths of a century. It wasn't because they were not competitive or trying to be. And they had the inside track as one of the cornerstone franchises of the league. There was no imaginary timeline to be successful. Right now, all Tony can control is making sure that AEW stays viable as an alternative.

People talk about all the highspots and craziness now like referees weren't turning their back for a whole 2-3 minutes while people switch places and how implausible that was considering they're blindly just counting pins. I think it was Arn and Tully who did the switch places while covering the top of your head spot. You could be legally blind and not mistake Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard.

Man, Ray Odyssey is getting his own film. Good for him. Very underrated.

He probably could also brag about not being a human piece of garbage like Sean Morley. Just wanted to add that context.

The fact that Angelo Poffo did 6,033 sit ups is starting to have a different meaning in my mind. Some traits you pass on to your offspring can be used for evil.