Elsalvajeloco

If JR is there, Jamie cannot be there. Still some bad feelings there.

I think the story is that Paul was the apprentice of Taker's father at the family owned funeral home and attending the PRESTIGIOUS college for morticians. The gist of the story from Taker's POV Is the future Kane was messing around with chemicals he shouldn't have been touching which led to the fire that killed their parents. I believed that contradicted Paul's story that Undertaker was playing with matches or something and that was the cause of the fire. Okay, now the big gapping hole in the story is somehow we're suppose to believe that police or no one in authority told kid Taker that his brother was still alive. It wouldn't even make sense that he was missing because it wouldn't make sense for Bearer to come home from the aforementioned college and then sneak away with kid to later adopt him. Also, even if we suspend disbelief, are we to assume that Bearer somehow had a guardian type relationship with now parentless kid in some type of foster care? Also, where did Undertaker go as a kid? Was he like Caine in Kung Fu as a kid wandering the earth? When Bearer is introduced in WWF in 1991, they never went into the background and if he had a previous relationship with the Undertaker IIRC. From one POV, you can probably explain that ended up putting them in separate homes and maybe Taker didn't remember. That or Taker was so shaken mentally that his lack of supervision for his brother that he never wanted to face his brother again even he was alive. However, they probably should fleshed that out. Then again, they undid a bunch of this with the, "he was never burned to begin with!". And before that, when Kane and Bearer exhumed their parents at some random cemetary and somehow do this without getting arrested and thrown in prison.

Everytime I see it, I think they could have trimmed it down especially when Taker even then wasn't known for talking. It's one of the few times WWF bothered to really explain things and having exposition. That said, later on, they never explained why these two people have supernatural powers somehow. If you're going to do origin stories, at least go all in.

When WCW did their one or two shows there, they were just Nitros at a stadium. Nothing memorable or anything. Just your average Nitro. It felt once WWF started to turn the tide that WCW started treating those dome shows with any type of reverence (fingerpoke not withstanding). Too little, too late, but that's probably what they should have been doing from the beginning.

IIRC Wasn't the Alamodome built to attract a NFL team to San Antonio? I say that because one of the first big events there was the Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Pernell Whitaker robbery in 1993, and that was something they mentioned on commentary throughout the PPV if I am not mistaken. I thought it was bold move they did the 97 Rumble there because they weren't exactly knocking them dead in late 96/early 97. I mean most of those IYH PPVs in 1996 were in real small mid sized arenas. To go from that to doing that crowd at the Rumble tells you that momentum largely is just an opinion.

Right over the hand.

As an aside, during my 1995 rewatch for the Raw after WrestleMania, Jim managed to sneak in, "Well it's like my good friend Porkchop Cash said..." And I was like, "what the fuck?!" First off, the fact that Cornette was out here quoting Porkchop Cash and Vince totally no sold it and didn't say, "Porkchop...wait...you have a friend named Porkchop?" is amazing. Second, if Cornette truncated all the bad shit on his podcast (roughly 75% give or take) for nothing but Porkchop Cash sayings, then count me back in.

For Prince's Controversy, I would fire half of you ingrates. Except Stefanie Sparkleface. ...that is until I get the rights to the Earth, Wind & Fire catalogue. Then, I can make no promises.

Not really. I mean she wasn't really the only one running wrestling operations. Prior to Panda Energy, TNA was running through money at a ridiculous level. If Bob Carter doesn't want to be a part of that, then it doesn't happen. Now if you want call Bob a "money mark" far enough, but everything I can gleam especially from what Jeff has relayed from his own podcast, there wasn't essentially one issue/person to place all the blame on. Dixie's lack of wrestling creative acumen and relationships with talent contributed to the problems certainly, but cheapness certainly wasn't an issue. And historically, especially from what we seen in sports going back to the days of pre multi billionaires owning franchises in the NBA and NFL, the cheapskates are true cheapskates. There is very little vacillation. Tony Khan has been AEW from the beginning essentially. This begins and ends with him. That said, when you have a certain departments where they have budgets in place and you as an independent contractor are just one of the line items, The Tate Twins are one of many faceless people. It wasn't them, it was going to be something other guys pretty fortunate to have found themselves to be employed. In a corporate environment that is fairly common. So on one hand, he is a money mark for hiring them. Yet, on the hand, he should keep them employed as to not to appear frugal. Yeah, that's fairly ridiculous. If they're truly talented, they will show up somewhere else and ASAP. Happened with damn near every other wrestling company who released people.

So is he spending TOO much money or not ENOUGH money? You for example call him a "money mark". Yet, he's a cheapskate. I don't think I understand that. There is two different narratives here that I don't really understand about Tony. You cannot have it both ways. I, however, do know that for the past 40-50 years that "your ass betta be here before bell time" has been universal thing in pro wrestling no matter the promoter. Whether it's been by plane, train, or automobile, you gotta be there. And from The Boys perspective or anyone else who has ran into non performance related issues that cost them their job in wrestling, I can definitely sympathize to a certain degree. Shit happens and it can snowball. This goes especially if this is really your first time working for a company where it's essentially a traveling circus. IMO it was likely they saw a trend in missing shows or being egregiously late and not just one time. Again, in their position where they are extremely expendable, something like that isn't going to lead to a positive outcome. If it was a being cheap issue, we would have heard countless stories of people not making AEW shows. However, we haven't.

Unfortunately, when you're the low guys on the totem pole, missing shows even for a good reason ain't best for your job security. Remember in the first several years of TNA, there would be major travel issues every other week. And that's a company that did all their television in one central location. A lot of those lower card guys ended up getting cut due to "budget" issues as well.

That's totally on the table. The one thing that you could count on is the WWF prop department nailing that. They also had enough folks in the inner circle like Cornette who knew how to work fake dishwashing soap so you can throw liquid in someone's eyes safely and folks at ringside be able to get a whiff of something that smells remotely like a dishwashing soap. That is how insanely carny pro wrestling is.

If that was such an issue, there would be no PC. Literally 90 percent or more of their "developmental" talent has never proven that they would have been a wrestler back in the "good ole days". This goes especially since the roster as a whole is averaging a torn ACL injury or the like every 4-6 weeks. Unlike then, you're getting paid to sit at home.

That's totally a name Bruce Prichard would have came up with in 1994 after smoking a few joints.

It's throwing shade at themselves if anything. They literally put a guy in one of the biggest main events of the year who ain't been a full time wrestler in over twenty years. If you were born 21 years ago, you don't remember Dwayne Johnson as a full time wrestler. You can say he earned it, but WrestleMania weekend is also where you have men and women literally wrestling up to 2-3 times a day over the course of 3-4 days. There are folks on the WWE roster who probably average 2-3 matches A MONTH if that. The fuck is he going on about.

Man, Roman's schedule would put the average NWA champ to shame. All the grind and no time off.

Cynthia Calvillo vs. Piera Rodriguez is off after Calvillo missed weight. Alexander Hernandez missed weight, but appears to be cutting to attempt to make weight on a 2nd attempt.

I just watched this match the other day since it lines up with my rewatch. I dunno what happened but it seems like they realized Alundra was still on the roster. Besides Bull showing up shortly before this to do something in the Bret/Hakushi storyline, they totally forgot they have a women's division. It's never mentioned on any of the shows at the time whether it's Raw, Superstars, Action Zone, or even Challenge which is on the verge of getting cancelled. No match at Mania XI or even a hint at one. I think based on how hard they worked in that match, they knew that thing was on life support and they had to save it.

Mike, historically, has always historically fought the same way. I don't think it was ever an issue of motivation. Whether you trash talked him, he fought the same. Whether it was very little going on in terms of hype, he fought the same. When he had Kevin Rooney on his way to winning a world title and the early days as champ, he fought pretty much the same. When he had Aaron Snowell and Jay Bright shortly after that, it was pretty much the same. When he had a revolving door of notable trainers from Stacy McKinley to Richie Giachetti to Tommy Brooks in the twilight of his career, he fought pretty much the same. It was an issue of the other guy being more skilled than him and never really refining his game as the eras changed. When you're a 5'9 1/2" heavyweight (and a yolked up one at that) with giants in there and some are able to deal with what you're able to do, it's just a whole different ballgame. It's been 40 years since Mike Tyson first came around and you notice there hasn't been another guy with the same dimensions as heavyweight champion. Not even close to one. Tua fought Lennox Lewis, got soundily outboxed for 12 rounds, and that was a quarter century ago. This right here though is pretty much entirely different cause Tyson was done truly as a top fighter in the same timeframe. He just kept it together long enough to finally get the Lewis fight. What Jake Paul is doing is taking enough risk to make this a slightly intriguing fight cause honestly, Jake himself is basically a six round club fighter. That's not bad considering he was never an amateur boxer and basically walked off the street to do this. However, when that's your level, there is no guarantee that you're just going to beat anyone except folks who were never above your level to begin with. He runs the gamut of looking okay to fairly amateurish to being totally above his station. That lack of consistency basically shows he's not a natural boxer same as we saw with Ngannou recently. Nothing beats real, legit experience at a high level. So it's basically can a guy who was elite a long, long time ago beat someone who is a boxer but not actually a boxer or vice versa? That's all it is. Do I expect Paul to KO Mike Tyson? I mean he wasn't knocking out a washed up Anderson Silva. He does the same thing every fight pretty much. There is absolutely no variety in what he does. That's why Paul cannot elevate above the level of picking random opponents. Not that there is bunch of quality of light heavyweight contenders out there, but he would get absolutely housed by a Joe Smith Jr. or a Joshua Buatsi and those guys aren't world beaters. IMO I have more questions about Jake Paul than Mike. I know what a washed up Mike Tyson looks like. I am not sure if define what Jake Paul is as a boxer other than guy who is able to do something he probably shouldn't be doing. That's it. Should he be the favorite? Probably but that's only based on youth. I dunno what to expect really.

Here is the template for this week: EVENT #34 LFA 181: Siqueira vs. Hernandez (04/05/2024) - Prior Lake, MN (Mystic Lake Casino Hotel) Igor Siqueira vs. Eimar Hernandez - Hernandez, TKO, R3 Quang Le vs. Tial Thang - Le, SUB, R1 Isaac Thomson vs. Shaheen Santana - Thomson, TKO, R3 Santos Verdinez vs. Keegan Witbeck - Witbeck, DEC Wes Schultz vs. Adland Benson - Schultz, SUB, R2 Alvin Hines vs. Justin Smith - Smith, TKO, R2 EVENT #35 KSW 93: Parnasse vs. Mircea (04/06/2024) - Paris, France (Adidas Arena) Salahdine Parnasse vs. Valeriu Mircea - Parnasse, TKO, R2 Wilson Varela vs. Marian Ziółkowski - Varela, TKO, R3 Madars Fleminas vs. Artur Szczepaniak - Szczepaniak, TKO, R3 Prince Aounallah vs. Michal Martínek - Aounallah, TKO, R2 Laïd Zerhouni vs. Boubacar Niakaté - Zerhouni, TKO, R3 Aymard Guih vs. Francisco Albano Barrio - Barrio, SUB, R3 Alfan Rocher-Labes vs. Kenji Bortoluzzi - Rocher-Labes, DEC EVENT #36 Cage Warriors 170: Sheehan vs. Konrad (04/06/2024) - Dublin, Ireland (Simmonscourt RDS) James Sheehan vs. Daniel Konrad - Sheehan, DEC Paul Hughes vs. Fabiano Silva - Hughes, TKO, R1 Ger Harris vs. Gregory Wamytan - Harris, DEC Decky McAleenan vs. Ville Mankinen - McAleenan, DEC Taka Mhandu vs. Rory Evans - Mhandu, TKO, R2 BONUS EVENT #1 Matchroom Boxing USA on DAZN: Hitchens vs. Lemos (04/06/2024) - Las Vegas, NV (Fontainebleau Las Vegas) Richardson Hitchins vs. Gustavo Lemos - Hitchins, DEC Diego Pacheco vs. Shawn McCalman - Pacheco, TKO, R6 WBC Female Featherweight Championship: Skye Nicolson vs. Sarah Mahfoud - Nicolson, DEC Galal Yafai vs. Agustin Gauto - Yafai, TKO, R5 Marc Castro vs. Abraham Montoya - Castro, DEC Harley Mederos vs. Pedro Vicente - Mederos, TKO, R3 Steven Navarro vs. Jose Lopez - Navarro, DEC EVENT #37 UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 98: Allen vs. Curtis II (04/06/2024) - Las Vegas, NV (UFC Apex) Brendan Allen vs. Chris Curtis - Allen, SUB, R2 Alexander Hernandez vs. Damon Jackson - Hernandez, TKO, R2 Morgan Charrière vs. Jose Mariscal - Charrière, DEC Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Christos Giagos - Bahamondes, TKO, R2 Łukasz Brzeski vs. Valter Walker - Walker, TKO, R3 Trevor Peek vs. Charlie Campbell - Peek, TKO, R3 Court McGee vs. Alex Morono - Morono, TKO, R2 Norma Dumont vs. Germaine de Randamie - Dumont, DEC Pedro Falcão vs. Victor Hugo - Hugo, SUB, R3 Jean Matsumoto vs. Dan Argueta - Matsumoto, DEC Dylan Budka vs. César Almeida - Almeida, TKO, R2 Melissa Mullins vs. Nora Cornolle - Mullins, DEC The Event #34 deadline is Friday, April 5, 7:00 p.m. CT. The Saturday events deadline is April 6, 1:30 p.m. CT.

UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 98: Allen vs. Curtis II April 6, 2024 Las Vegas, NV (UFC Apex) Brendan Allen (186) vs. Chris Curtis (186) - Allen, DEC (split) Alexander Hernandez (147.5)* vs. Damon Jackson (146) - Jackson, DEC (split) Morgan Charrière (145) vs. Jose Mariscal (145.5) - Mariscal, DEC (unanimous) Ignacio Bahamondes (156) vs. Christos Giagos (156) - Bahamondes, KO (head kick), R1 (3:34) Trevor Peek (155.5) vs. Charlie Campbell (155) - Campbell, DEC (unanimous) ESPN+ Preliminary Card: Court McGee (170) vs. Alex Morono (171) - Morono, DEC (unanimous) Łukasz Brzeski (236) vs. Valter Walker (264) - Brzeski, DEC (unanimous) Norma Dumont (136) vs. Germaine de Randamie (135) - Dumont, DEC (unanimous) Pedro Falcão (136) vs. Victor Hugo (135.5) - Hugo, DEC (unanimous) Jean Matsumoto (136) vs. Dan Argueta (136) - Matsumoto, SUB (guillotine choke), R2 (4:59) Dylan Budka (185.5) vs. César Almeida (185.5) - Almeida, TKO (punches), R2 (2:13) Melissa Mullins (138) vs. Nora Cornolle (138.5) - Cornelle, TKO (strikes), R2 (3:06) *Forfeits 20% of purse for missing weight Event Bonuses ($50,000) Performance of the Night: César Almeida Performance of the Night: Ignacio Bahamondes Fight of the Night: Morgan Charrière vs. Jose Mariscal

That is unless you try to fight people. Then it's a-okay.

Regarding the first what if, if someone is offering you that much money, what it is basically implying is that is how much your career is worth cause you're about to be persona non grata in a lot of places. On that alone, Harley couldn't take Vince up on the offer. That and it would have been a big blow to his reputation. If he would have left, all JCP would have did is replace him with the next best option to lose to Flair. The Flair train was leaving the station whether Race was there or not. I highly doubt it would have been the end of the world like it was hinted at in this episode. He would have also probably been buried on TV for being scared of Flair. Either way, that option would have been a hard one to live down.

I think part of it though is when Foley started doing it, he wasn't making much money, wasn't a notable name, and in the eyes of many of the key decision makers at the time, wasn't tracking to ever become one. Race's whole credo in this episode is money and it being about the money. Foley wasn't making money doing that stuff. Damn near every episode of Foley is Pod, Foley retells that story of traveling with Robert Fuller earlier in his career, learning from Fuller, and how he was always saving that one crazy bump on the advice of Robert. Unfortunately, as he would enter WCW, that would kinda multiply because he was so desperate for that attention. There were some guys like Cornette and Sullivan (and later, Dusty) who saw money in the novelty, but I think everyone else saw him as a maniac. And by the time Harley and Cactus would have really interacted, it would have been Mick's second WCW run where he was legit trying to kill himself. So I don't think it's that far out that even Harley would question his actions.