Elsalvajeloco

In this week's episode of, "I think I know that guy from somewhere...", I rewatched an episode of CWA (Memphis) from '87 and one of the underneath heels is The Hunter w/ his valet Bambi (some woman with the worst 80s rocker wig of all time). The last time I saw an episode from this era of Memphis, I did a cursory search on him and turns out he was better known as territory enhancement talent extraordinaire Dale Veasey and went only later to be the other guy in State Patrol who wasn't Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker, Lt. James Earl Wright. First off, I am guessing that name is a play on James Earl Ray and that's absolutely crazy if it is. Also, people make fun of the Marty Jannettys of the world and thus nowadays people love picking out the star of every pairing in wrestling. However, try being in a tag team and the guy who had the better career is Buddy Lee Parker.

The parasailing accident was actually a few years before which why Beefcake wasn't a character for awhile and was gone for a minute. They tried to do the Mariner thing, but that bombed so badly it lasted for like three weeks and was never mentioned again. Then, he did the Barbershop segment and that lasted for awhile before Sid Justice IIRC destroyed the set. He disappeared again and then showed back up on like the 3rd or 4th Raw episode after the show debuted and cut perhaps one of the most baffling promos of all time. Then, that segued into the Money Inc vs. Hogan/Brutus match w/ the newly turned Jimmy Hart after the former tried to break his face again. That said, given Ed Leslie's propensity to do wild shit, I don't rule out him doing anything. Re: The sucker punch Given that Savage spent the remaining back half of his life feuding with Hogan, he would have owned up to punching Hogan and being the person who whooped Hogan's ass. However, I don't ever remember Savage taking credit for that. The late 80s and early 90s was like a haven for weird rumors and conspiracies.

Rewatching 1996 even though I still remember stuff clearly, it just confirms that the way he was brought in was weird considering the push they were trying to give him. At the start of the year, right when they were doing the "hey, we're going to have some (random) surprises in this year's Rumble", it's like "oh yeah, here's Vader...moving right along". It's so bizarre. That and the vignettes with the generic stock music they used all the time didn't make him feel like a star. Considering WWF production had by that point been the industry standard, it's extremely disappointing. They also have multiple debuts at the time (Austin, Justin Hawk Bradshaw, and the vignettes for Mankind start) as a bunch of people left the company the last quarter of 1995. Hakushi finishes up at the start of the year too. So they're basically replenishing their roster. It doesn't have the impact needed to make it stand out. By the time, he comes back and his push really begins, WWF is going to start a ROUGH stretch over next several months where they are producing some of their worst TV ever while WCW about to start up the NWO angle. It was just a bad time for people to come into WWF and stand out.

It would be extremely difficult for guys like Grizzly Smith and Bob Sweetan to exist in wrestling for a myriad of reasons. Stuff like that would bring down an entire wrestling promotion. They would have to clean house from top to bottom. Also, I don't think you're going to have half your roster sucking down muscle relaxers like they're Skittles. Now random stuff happening on the indies? Yes, because it's always been unregulated. However, at the same time, someone who is extremely unhappy would blab on social media and unravel a whole bunch of things that would get a lot of indie promoters and performers subsequently blackballed or at least, branded with a scarlet letter for the remainder of your career. I think most of the significant stuff going on now would be isolated incidents where it's only a few bad players as opposed to the kinda open collusion we've all suspected in the past and plausible deniability throughout the entire company or companies. That and most independent wrestlers don't make what guys back in the day to get into the trouble that wrestlers did. You're barely a pro wrestler to begin with. I also acknowledge that we might see some new problems arise just because each generation is faced with different issues related to the time people live in. Just like PEDs and recreational drugs were a huge problems in the 80s and 90s not just in pro wrestling, other issues will be as prevalent in pro wrestling as they are around the world. It just might not have the same negative ramifications or directly lead to scandals that shake up the entire business.

2025 dressing like an old man is different from 40 years ago. Now what if someone started coming to the ring dressed like Mr. Wrestling II? Tighty whities pulled all the way up and barrel chested looking like you just escaped the local insane asylum.

The well isn't running dry! **fast forwards to the 2028 season, episode 1 of Dark Side of the Ring: The DVDVR Sleaze Thread** Chris Jericho: And then someone replied about Jimmy Valiant and a glass table. **insert reenactment here**

**aaronrodgerscarryingoutflagforfirstjetsgame.gif**

I recently saw him in a picture with Unagi Sayaka, and that got me super intrigued the possibility of Stan Hansen hanging out with a person who halfway believes they are actually part dinosaur.

WWF ain't like Japan. Guys were responsible for washing their own gear. I think his (Leon) bad habits began after he just stopped giving a shit for the most part. That and when you go from making major money working in Japan, Mexico, Europe, and maybe a partial schedule in the U.S. as a major star to basically working day-after-day in one place where you've been diminished and downgraded to a role player, it's easy to become complacent. That is a major recurring theme throughout the post going national era of pro wrestling. Guys have their run, their star power begins to gradually fade, and they don't really care anymore.

Arn's retelling of the fight on his podcast is probably the best blow-by-blow (quite literally) account I've heard. I think there are a few issues even if you take the Hogan stuff out where he's basically slotted as random person to lose to Hulk even though the beginning was kinda fun with Vader calling out Hogan at the end of Starrcade 1994. 1. Vader in 1990-92, much like early I AM MONSTER tank top wearing behemoth in Memphis era Bam Bam Bigelow, is someone transported from a different planet after the type of monster heels we saw throughout the 80s. You put that era Vader with the cool smoke blowing helmet in WWF around that time, he becomes an instant star. Vader in the mid 1990s is still a star, but we've seen the act and it didn't evolve past guy who absolutely murders people in the ring. That leads me to issue #2.... 2. The type of abuse that Sting, Cactus Jack, and others took during his time in WCW....that shit wasn't going to happen in WWF. By the time he got there, yes, WWF's PPV main events were tenfold better than that era WCW once you get past Vader vs. Flair at Starrcade 93 and the last run of Flair vs. Steamboat matches. However, they weren't the type of hard hitting matches where the monster just absolutely roughhoused and was stiffing the absolute hell out of the babyface. Even in his last major run in Japan in All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH, there was nothing that could be equated to most of his notable matches in the United States that happened in WWF. The only match even close is the Final Four match in 1997 but that's an extreme outlier. 3. All the heels throughout the New Generation era prior to and even including the period of Stone Cold becoming Stone Cold midway through 1996 were either cartoony, generic, and/or toothless. Vince had an issue where every heel and even babyface WWF champ Diesel were too campy and generic for that time period. For as bad as 1993 WCW was, Vader being involved in stuff like the White Castle of Fear and the Sharon Sidello mini movies and jumping out of the car prior to IIRC Starrcade 93 and yelling, "PARTY TIME!" made him seem like a great demented monster. It was walking on the line of being too campy, but not entirely going over the line. It didn't absolutely kill him as a viable monster heel. Juxtapose that with the heel version of the Village People (including Yokozuna) killing the Undertaker at Royal Rumble 1994 and making his soul fly off to heaven live on PPV. Moreover, you have Bruce Prichard saying over and over that the WWF is a babyface territory on his podcast especially that time period. Where would Vader fit in? And speaking of his former tag team partner from Japan, look at Bam Bam's return to WWF in 1992. Other than getting like 3,000 wins on WWF Superstars and Wrestling Challenge, he does nothing of note really until King of the Ring 1993 and then never really finds his stride. He gets paired with Luna, and they have zero chemistry. It also doesn't help that the mixed tag match at WM X was so awful it probably should have gotten everyone fired especially for botching the finish where Dink is suppose to roll to the inside to avoid Luna's splash and Luna somehow catches all of him as if it was suppose to actually land and almost hurts him really badly. Ditching Luna and then the LT stuff pumps some much needed adrenaline and briefly resurrects him inspiring the best promo of his career or at least his 2nd WWF stint, ("Welcome to the valley of the real giants!"), but then it falls off the cliff again when he turns babyface and after Vince makes the decision the night of WrestleMania XI to also turn Shawn babyface the next night. So he basically becomes the third wheel of the newly reformed buddy pairing of Shawn and Diesel. Even the returning Sid subsequently gets shuffled off to the jobber group of the Million Dollar Corporation in 1995. It's one horrific booking decision after another with guys who are suppose to be taking seriously as threats. Up until Vince had to be serious about turning the promotion around in 96-97, there was no real sense of urgency to get these things right and do something outside the norm of what Vince was doing during the first half of the 1990s. He would have fucked up using Vader, and it's kinda sad that his actual run basically is the generic monster of the month before being shuffled down the card.

https://x.com/KevinI/status/1909711098758283418 Very underrated trainer. Coached several Olympic champions and medalists along with world champions in the pros. RIP.

https://x.com/bokamotoESPN/status/1909729226821190060

Even though I understand why they were made (mostly as an excuse to have Jim Cornette on), it feels like some of the subjects should be only covered short form. Like the only reason really to watch the Chris Colt episode is you want to learn about obscure wrestlers. Moreover, based on what was covered in that ep, it should be called the Dark Side of American Life rather than Dark Side of the Ring.

Here is the template for this week: BONUS EVENT #1 Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+: Torrez Jr. vs. Vianello (04/05/2025) - Las Vegas, NV (Palms Casino Resort) Richard Torrez Jr. vs. Guido Vianello - Torrez Jr., DEC Lindolfo Delgado vs. Elvis Rodriguez - Delgado, DEC Abdullah Mason vs. Carlos Ornelas - Mason, TKO, R4 Albert Gonzalez vs. Dana Coolwell - Gonzalez, DEC Steven Navarro vs. Juan Esteban Garcia - Navarro, TKO, R5 Art Barrera Jr. vs. Daijohn Gonzalez - Barrera, TKO, R4 Jahi Tucker vs. Troy Williamson - Tucker, DEC Demler Zamora vs. Hugo Castaneda - Zamora, DEC Samuel Contreras vs. Robert Jimenez - Contreras, DEC EVENT #10 UFC Fight Night on ESPN 65: Emmett vs. Murphy (04/05/2025) - Las Vegas, NV (UFC Apex) Josh Emmett vs. Lerone Murphy - Murphy, DEC Joanderson Brito vs. Pat Sabatini - Brito, TKO, R3 Cortavious Romious vs. Chang Ho Lee - Lee, DEC Gerald Meerschaert vs. Brad Tavares - Tavares, DEC Luis Gurule vs. Ode Osbourne - Gurule, DEC Robert Valentin vs. Torrez Finney - Finney, TKO, R3 Dione Barbosa vs. Diana Belbiţă - Barbosa, SUB, R2 Rhys McKee vs. Daniel Frunza - Frunza, TKO, R2 Loma Lookboonmee vs. Istela Nunes - Lookboonmee, DEC Victor Henry vs. Pedro Falcão - Henry, DEC Martin Buday vs. Uran Satybaldiev - Satybaldiev, TKO, R3 Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Talita Alencar - Demopoulos, DEC The Saturday events deadline is April 5, 7:15 p.m. CT

UFC Fight Night on ESPN 65: Emmett vs. Murphy April 5, 2025 Las Vegas, NV (UFC Apex) Josh Emmett (146) vs. Lerone Murphy (145.5) - Murphy, DEC (unanimous) Joanderson Brito (146) vs. Pat Sabatini (145.5) - Sabatini, DEC (unanimous) Cortavious Romious (139.5)* vs. Chang Ho Lee (136) - Lee, TKO (strikes), R2 (3:48) Gerald Meerschaert (185) vs. Brad Tavares (185.5) - Tavares, DEC (unanimous) Luis Gurule (125) vs. Ode Osbourne (125.5) - Osbourne, TKO (punches), R2 (1:54) Robert Valentin (185.5) vs. Torrez Finney (186) - Finney, DEC (split) ESPN / ESPN+ Preliminary Card: Dione Barbosa (126) vs. Diana Belbiţă (125.5) - Barbosa, SUB (arm triangle choke), R1 (4:13) Rhys McKee (171) vs. Daniel Frunza (170.5) - McKee, TKO (doctor stoppage), R1 (5:00) Loma Lookboonmee (115) vs. Istela Nunes (115) - Lookboonmee, DEC (unanimous) Victor Henry (135.5) vs. Pedro Falcão (136) - Henry, DEC (unanimous) Martin Buday (266) vs. Uran Satybaldiev (222.5) - Buday, DEC (unanimous) Vanessa Demopoulos (116) vs. Talita Alencar (115) - Alencar, DEC (unanimous) *Forfeits 20% of purse for missing weight Event Bonuses ($50,000) Performance of the Night: Rhys McKee Performance of the Night: Dione Barbosa Performance of the Night: Ode Osbourne Performance of the Night: Chang Ho Lee

Wait...wait...sticks and stones. Remember your M.O. or someone might uncover that Klan robe. Don't want that to happen.

1. An ethic slur? What? How in the hell you did manage to edit a post but not fix that? 2. What the hell are you conceding?

He's clearly in on the act and become somewhat self aware. There was a call for I forget which PPV or w/e where someone brought up (really, fantasy booked) a match happening and he answered it in a way where it made it seem like he was just a press secretary for AEW and not the goddamn booker. He answered in such a way where Tony Khan had to get approval from Tony Khan for the match to happen. He's messing with people now.

Well, other people do care, Chief Sticks and Stones. Also, you cared enough to mention it in first place without being asked. Nobody was like, 'you know what...how does sticks and stones man align on someone being a racist?" And oh, since you said you edited it, let's take a look Chief. So let me get this straight, he has to do something worse than tell racist jokes? That's one thing. Also, second thing, do you not recall his little run with IIRC a security guard in SMW which for some reason required him to vigorously drop the N word like it was having a going out business sale? Also, later in SMW where he's clearly race baiting during the Gangstas feud in a promo with the Heavenly Bodies (if I was Tom Prichard, I would see I can get myself digitally edited out of it just to be safe). That's just two things. He's also done things during his "I refuse to leave the house unless it's to go to post office to mail off merch cause I don't like people" phase of his life post wrestling when in actuality he probably fears he might catch a fade if he went to an actual wrestling show. It also plays bad that his long time mentor got fired from his corporate wrestling job for **check notes**, "I have a right not to serve black people in my establishment if I want to." So excuse me if I say it may look extremely bad on his part for doing OTHER racist things. How many things can he mark off on the "I'm a shitty person" bingo card before people should care? People aren't taking aim at Jim Cornette for just ONE thing. That's not even including the misogyny, infantilizing female wrestlers, etc.

Speaking of it was a different time in wrestling: I haven't looked into how she got into wrestling, but Francine was also in the crowd, front row facing the hard cam fawning over Shawn Michaels in one of the earlier Raw shows. Then, a couple years later she magically shows up in the crowd as a fan who adores Stevie Richards before becoming the manager for the Pitbulls. Right off the bat within a few months, she's legitimized as someone in the business. Now juxtapose that with sort of the horrendous treatment Angel (not Angel Orsini who would be the Prodigette in the dying days of ECW) who predated Francine in ECW where she basically got slut shamed in a bunch of stuff that definitely couldn't happen today and basically seems like it has traumatized to her to this very day. It makes me wonder when sort of that negative connotation of women hanging around wrestling shows or wrestlers started to evaporate, and it became "these are just regular people who really want to break into the wrestling business like everyone else".

Trying to hard to do what? You said you don't care if someone told racist jokes. I am going to safely assume people aren't okay with that. What action am I taking other than rightfully calling that out? In addition, it's not like Jim Cornette is some obscure figure. There are several people who not only know of him, but the some of the things he has done or said. This thread is 150+ page deep. Pick a page. Do a cursory board search. He might not be the one you should go to bat for.

People bring up the Harris brothers and the tats but judging by everything I have heard about them, they seemed to be extremely well liked backstage. That itself is funny cause they were journeymen even at the height of their careers. I dunno if Halme was friends enough with the other guys to get that pass. He wasn't a good ole boy.

1. I like how you believe people are personally invested enough to know you. That might be the best joke told, honestly. 2. Sticks and stones really doesn't apply if you're not the really the subject of the joke. Also, it's very much antiquated. Forget HR. You tell the wrong joke to the absolute wrong person at work, you might get punched in your soup coolers, well intentioned or not. 3. I am not sure if anyone including me has ever had an issue Cornette, the historian or talking head. The issue is moreso the problematic nature of the other stuff that even his most ardent supporters tend to recognize. As a result, people tend to not care for him even though he is qualified to be in those aforementioned roles. If you like him cause he has a hard on for critiquing modern wrestling or share common views, fantastic. Enjoy away. However, saying even if he has tinge of racism and bigotry in him that it's all cool with you, that won't ever fly.

What does that even mean? Also, you do realize the reason a lot of those cartoons back in the day weren't released or repeatedly shown in modern times is cause of the racism among other things. So yeah, you should have problem with the whole racism thing.

Yeah, I don't know if I would say that out loud or type that.