Elsalvajeloco

UFC 300: Pereira vs. Hill April 13, 2024 Las Vegas, NV (T-Mobile Arena) UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: Alex Pereira © (205) vs. Jamahal Hill (205) (first defense) - Pereira, KO (punches), R1 (3:14) UFC Women's Strawweight Championship: Weili Zhang © (115) vs. Xiaonan Yan (115) (second defense) - Zhang, DEC (unanimous) Justin Gaethje (156) vs. Max Holloway (156) - Holloway, KO (punch), R5 (4:59) Charles Oliveira (156) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (156) - Tsarukyan, DEC (split) Bo Nickal (186) vs Cody Brundage (186) - Nickal, SUB (rear naked choke), R2 (3:38) ESPN / ESPN+ Preliminary Card: Jiří Procházka (206) vs. Aleksandar Rakić (206) - Procházka, TKO (strikes), R2 (3:17) Calvin Kattar (145.5) vs. Aljamain Sterling (146) - Sterling, DEC (unanimous) Holly Holm (136) vs. Kayla Harrison (136) - Harrison, SUB (rear naked choke), R2 (1:47) Sodiq Yusuff (146) vs. Diego Lopes (146) - Lopes, TKO (punches), R1 (1:29) ESPN / Fight Pass Early Preliminary Card: Jalil Turner (155.5) vs. Renato Carneiro (156) - Carneiro, TKO (punches), R2 (4:11) Jéssica Andrade (116) vs. Marina Rodriguez (115) - Andrade, DEC (unanimous) Bobby Green (156) vs. Jim Miller (155.5) - Green, DEC (unanimous) Deiveson Alcântara (135.5) vs. Cody Garbrandt (136) - Alcântara, SUB (rear naked choke), R2 (4:02) Event Bonuses ($300,000) Performance of the Night: Max Holloway Performance of the Night: Alex Pereira Fight of the Night: Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway Attendance: 20,867 Gate: $16.5 million

I was going to go with The Bikeriders, but I played it safe.

You say that this in the same thread where someone posted a picture of Tony Schiavone 25 years apart and he doesn't have a single strand of white hair. He also has a black goatee. The man is Benjamin Button.

Without Googling it, Vaquer has wrestled against or with Lluvia, La Catalina, and Zeuxis like a billion times. She is also flying back and forth between countries every week and also between Mexico City and Guadalajara. She also wrestled AZM tonight at Windy City Riot. She is absolutely killing it.

Curt looks mischievous as fuck, man. He looks like the dude who might set the whole school on fire. You know if you wrestle 100 matches this year for WWE, they give you free Pizza Hut for a year. That's either a reward or punishment.

I think there is an episode of What Happened When recently where Frankie Lancaster runs out as one of the extras to break something up or he's in like a random match. It led to this exchange. Tony: I think that's Frankie Lancaster. Conrad:.....Who the fuck is Frankie Lancaster?!

Lancaster was around a LONG time in the business. Not Chick Donovan lifer long, but a good amount of time. He was Frank/Frankie Lane in the territory days (mainly Florida, but stints in Memphis, World Class, Mid Atlantic, Georgia, Mid South and UWF, Puerto Rico, and Continental). He also got to tag with Curt Hennig in All Japan. He did various stints with WCW. However, he did a bunch of enhancement matches on Saturday Night and Worldwide and other syndicated shows. Lancaster is one those guys who was the definition of a vanilla wrestler down to the name. Good hand though.

I know when it came to Hogan and his pay, Bischoff absolutely denied the shifting around of money when it came to Meltzer reporting that WCW moved Hogan's salary around to make it appear WCW was more profitable than they actually were. On subsequent shows, Bischoff said other divisions within Turner got to move their losses over to WCW. So I am assuming his take is indeed that WCW had to take on everyone's losses as opposed to it being the other way around. My question is when did that stop if it did happen? If you have a budget and stay within that budget, does those losses being move over count against your budget?

If the artist in question wasn't "cancelled", there could be room for a T-shirt in wrestling with "I Don't See Nothing Wrong With a Little Bump N Grind". Matter of fact, surprised that there wasn't a PWG event titled that. ...Did he talk like Nikita? Especially being on the wrestling team. I am just picturing a guy looking and built like Aleksandr Karelin tossing people around like little children but with a ridiculous, over the top phony accent.

I take it all of those are not pictures as seniors and just ones they could find. Zenk looks like fucking McLovin in his picture while Brady Boone and Nikita look like 25 going on 35. Nord either could be 17/18 or 23.

I believe Steve Simpson relocated to Lithuania.

Didn't know that. Was WWF planning on having a trios title or something? Given how great Yoko looked when he came in and definitely how he was presented, I think they knew it would've been easier to slide him into one of the vacant slots up at the top since 1992 going into 1993 was pretty hectic. They also never presented Afa as one of the top managers or as a real mouthpiece. Plus, in the first year or so, the Headshrinkers aren't pushed above a certain level despite absolutely murdering jobbers every week. That is when Yoko is pretty much pushed as WWF champion or the guy about to challenge for the WWF title. Would they have gotten a bigger push if Rodney is in the mix? It's also funny that when Samu quit a couple years later, one or two of the shows tapings weren't fully caught up. So there is one week where Fatu is with Sionne who had just been inserted into the mix. Then, the next week Fatu is with Samu in his last televised match as a Headshrinker. Either the same week or the next week, he is then back with Sionne. I believe the official explanation is (or explanations are) LOL IT'S A TRIO, Samu ate some bad fish, and also Captain Lou wants it to be a surprise which tag team it will be. However, obviously, you never see all three together. The thing is...it makes absolutely zero sense.

So who is The Gambler and my personal favorite Frankie Lancaster?

I was talking in terms of his aggression. Yes, when he was younger, defensively he was much better than post prison Mike Tyson. However, BloodyChamp's point was that he wouldn't be motivated like he should be and that it would take smack talk to get him ignited. Whether it was something heated like the Razor Ruddock fights or whether it something where there was no trash talk and it was extremely professional, Mike was coming to fuck you up. It was never a question of motivation. I think by the time he was 30, that style that mystified and terrorized everyone and was so scary hadn't been refined or adjusted to a new era of boxing. That goes especially if you no longer have the legs you use to have. The Tyson that fought Bruno in 1989 was much different than the one in 1996 that fought Bruno again. Bruno hurt Mike in the first fight, Mike recovered, and then absolutely pummeled Bruno. After prison, Mike was trying do much of the same thing but giving you way less movement and feints. So when he fought Holyfield, who was use to taking inhumane levels of punishment by that time, he was tremendously predictable. When he fought Botha coming off the layoff, Botha was giving him trouble just by dancing around. Mike lands one massive punch and it was over. It was a Wilder thing where I am just going to wait for a 5 second opening where you make a bad mistake or have a defensive lapse and just dedicate myself to landing one good volley. His stamina was pretty much gone.

I would say it's always tough when you basically inherited another business that wasn't doing well. To me, WCW truly begins at 1990 when most of the Crockett stuff in terms of talent has been shaken out. Most of the people who wanted to go work for Vince have. Most of the stuff you identify with JCP is gone. So the first few years were really rough though IIRC the TV ratings were pretty good. It picks up in the second half of 1994 when they acquire the services of Hogan and then pick up Savage at the end of the year. 1995 they do solid business mostly off Hogan. The next 2 and 1/2 years are stellar. Then, the rollercoaster starts slowly clicking down in the 2nd half of 1998. Then, it's an outright free fall by the middle of 1999. But yeah, IMO, if you tell them they're going out of business in November 1996, they probably wouldn't believe you. However, if you provide some level of context, they probably would. And to be fair, WWF's hot run during the Attitude era was roughly the same as WCW in terms of length. Like how long do you expect businesses to stay red hot realistically? I think it's easier now when you have the comfort of people paying to put you on TV and you're able to explore different routes to bring in revenue and potentially turn a profit. However, at the same time, TV is structured in a way now where an average wrestling show isn't going to be averaging 5 or 6 million viewers weekly. You're not going to be galvanize people at a level you did before. Weekly live TV is no longer a novelty. Having an overrun is no longer a novelty. You have to take the good with the bad.

Shit, it's believable. Look at World Class, Mid South, and Jim Crockett. Probably one or two I'm leaving out. All had banner years and out of business, sold, or downhill shortly afterwards. Tough business pre TV rights and other consistent revenue streams.

I think the way WWE is now, they don't need really name brand guys. When they signed guys like AJ and Nakamura, it was purely for "fantasy" workrate matchups. Same with the former Walter. Would WWE be in the same position as they are now if they never signed those guys? Pretty much. I think Paul wants to cater to critical and commercial appeal. It's the Oscar and Golden Globe appeal but I want do the business of the Marvel universe back when every movie was a smash hit at the BO or something akin to a movie doing a billion worldwide. We have to have someone break the star ratings but also we can do amazing TV ratings week in and week out. He wants to cover the market understandably. Thing is you won't be able to sign everyone especially when there is only but so much TV time and title belts to go around. Everyone cannot have primo spots. There are guys like Punk and Cody who will pretty much have a top spot anywhere. The Miros and Andrades and Malakai Blacks of the world...are you guaranteed anything? Maybe third from the bottom match on a WWE PLE or AEW PPV if you're wrestling at all.

Yeah, you carefully select one wrestler anything sounds suspect. Shit, Dom has 29 matches this year. He is clearly the high number. He is probably above and beyond any wrestler anywhere. Everyone else checking several people has between 10 to 20 ish. Nakamura hasn't had more than 72 matches since before the pandemic. Damian Priest had 100 matches last year but also hasn't wrestled more than 84 or even close to that in several years beyond that. Sami Zayn had 94 last year but 78 and 55 prior to that. Gunther had 96 and then 83. Obviously while signed to NXT UK, he wrestled once a month if you average it out. Was Gunther in semi retirement? Cody wrestled 100+ last year but look at the amount of matches in his prior WWE run. He was doing between 160 to 190 matches a year. 119 was his low in a healthy year. That would be close to the top number for a WWE guy or girl nowadays. And that's essentially my point. We are not talking the old WWF/WWE schedule. In addition, going back to one of my points pages back, why are you trying to make a Will Ospreay wrestle that much anyway? A Dom or an Austin Theory should be getting valuable ring time.

Like might be too strong a word. Way too strong. However, I do respect him enough to believe he is smart enough not to be totally insulated in the wrestling bubble. That and if he plans to be the next wrestling czar winning hearts and minds and probably from a PR standpoint be the anti-Vince McMahon, he doesn't have to say shit like this. I feel like he's trying to navigate both trying to respect and honor Vince but also tow the "Vince is no longer associated with WWE" line. He's not going to win that war. He would do better trying to establish his own legacy totally separate from Vince. He doesn't need to check his "What Would Vince Do" bracelet every 10 minutes.

I will leave it at this since Paul's response is strange anyway you slice it: My whole belief is Paul is just pissed he lost out on these two guys who he thought it would be obvious they would be swayed to sign with WWE. They have all the perceived momentum, and they were able to bring a bunch of people into the fold since Vince left, came back, and then left again. He felt he needed to come up with an excuse to why he lost out on two major free agents to a lower tier company. IMO it's like a fanbase of a sports franchise who reads the rumor mill all offseason they're going to land some big name free agent, negotiations break off, and then another team signs them away out of nowhere. Then that same fanbase that was excited about these game changing players all of a sudden didn't want those guys in the first place. I would have been really impressed if Paul just said, "Sucks we didn't get them. Hope that works out for them, but we feel would have been the better landing spot and provide better opportunities. We feel our roster is still stacked with or without them. Best of luck." No shade necessary and you can still big up WWE.

...except he didn't. I get you're not saying that, but again, that's pretty bizarre especially when WWE doesn't structure their contracts AFAIK where you have to hit a specific threshold of matches. I am guessing there are obviously injury clauses in there. If he were with WWE, he probably working a similar schedule of doing an interview one week on TV and wrestling the next week rinse repeat. When you only have five or six matches per TV show, how many people are wrestling EVERY week? So if you're not wrestling on TV every week, that leaves the two house shows. For majority of the year, it's the supershows which include both brands. How many people are working those? 15-20 people? It can't be that many. That hardest week of the year is the last week of the year and that's after an entire week off. You might have to wrestle a whole four times. Sounds like backbreaking work.

SPEAK FOR YOURSELF BE RIGHT BACK.

That reminds me...I brought up how he spent almost 10 whole minutes on WWF Superstars defending himself from a Phil Mushnick hit piece when the trial had been over for almost a year and a half. Yep, I saw a response of, "well...I mean he HAD TO defend himself..." Yes, he had to break kayfabe and take time away from his own programming to talk about something 95% of his audience didn't give a fuck about.

The man did exhume his parents after all. You can't expect much from him.

According to Kevin Iole, boxing promoter (Gary Shaw Productions and prior to as a member of Main Events), MMA promoter (EliteXC), and former New Jersey state athletic commission member Gary Shaw has passed away. RIP.