Kevin Wilson

Bills are meeting with Anquan Boldin today, really hope they sign him. I know he is old but he still can play, and the Bills' WR corps could use a veteran presence. With his size/route running he'd be good in the slot still and in the Red Zone.

So this PPV got an estimated 125K to 150K buys. I haven't been paying attention to buyrates much lately, is this the new normal when one of their superstars isn't on the show? Was it hurt that much by the last minute cancellation or was the issue that people weren't that interested in the Nunes fight and tuned it out?

We can agree that the NCAA system is broken against players and getting rid of the financial groups that are taking advantage of them. Hell remember those companies that popped up during the last strike and gave those ridiculous loans to players (I think Vince Young being the famous example), they need to do something about those people.

They still could run out of money though, it doesn't resolve the bigger issue. Not all players are cut with large sums of money left on their contract, that doesn't help players that just fizzle out naturally, or only play three years and only are on their rookie contracts. NBA and MLB players go broke too. Plus, the players elect who represents them so you're still indirectly blaming the players.

Who put them in that situation, themselves? The problem is, you are just listing problems, no solutions. Should the NFL set a minimum age of 25? Withhold some of their money to give them post retirement, like a forced investment? Should players only get to get paid 250K a year max, and spread out the pay for however long it takes (so if they sign a 10 million dollar deal, they get 250K for 40 years)? Everyone always lists problems, but no real solutions, do you like any of those? Should NFL teams pay players every year the rest of their lives so they have money to waste? I'd love that deal, sign me up. If I win 10 million dollars in the lottery and waste it all in ten years, who do I blame? It is their responsibility to figure out what to do with their money, and figure out what they will do post retirement. Not mine, not yours, not the NFL. People ranging from Elton John to Mike Tyson ran out of money. Mayweather can't pay his taxes. Giving them more money or a severance package isn't the solution, so what is? People type a lot of words on problems, less on solutions, because there aren't many. The most straight forward solution is "players get smarter with their money" unless you have better and realistic ideas.

I recognize a lot of athletes are bad with money, but I don't think that's an excuse to not have any. Lots of non-athletes are bad with money too, millions of people are in massive debt as we speak, it isn't an athlete-only issue. Someone making 50K can still spend 75K and be in debt. Athletes aren't special, they just have more money to waste. If they made 200 million they'd probably spend all of it too so I don't think a severance would help the issue. They could make it so that 20% of all money they made went in a special account they couldn't touch til retirement, but that would just piss them off. I mean they chose their profession. They know the risks. I feel bad when they get permanent injuries but it was a known risk they took. Knowing the short spans of their career would be a good idea to not buy three houses, six cars, and go out every night but just put it in a bank. Don't even invest it, let it chill in a savings account. Trust no one, hoard it. There are a lot of big burly guys that find jobs that aren't football, what a weird argument. Be a bouncer or work construction. Get some IT certifications and fix computers. Just being big powerful guys doesn't mean they can't have a second career.

He'll also get an NFL pension after he turns 55, about $4,500 a month so it doesn't have to last the rest of his life (and he really should have more than five million unless he was wasteful). If he had a high level lifestyle that was a personal choice he made, yes lots of athletes aren't smart with their money but that isn't the companies fault. I'm just saying he made far more than most people do when they get laid off, plus this is all hypothetical since he was leaning towards retiring anyway. I feel bad when players suffer injuries but I'll never feel bad for those that run out of money, its 100% on them to manage their funds better. Not that Oher has said anything about money, but just in the general sense. You have people out there with children trying to survive on 30K a year before taxes, there isn't a scenario I am going to feel bad for someone that pocketed millions and spent it all, they chose to enjoy the "good life" while they played and then cried poor mouth once the checks stopped coming.

900K is more than I'd get if I got fired. I know in comparisons to other sports it isn't fair, but in comparison to real jobs its pretty normal. Its a capitalist country, most people that are no longer useful to the company they work for get fired and may get a few weeks severance if they are lucky. What else would an NFL team do. Now I'd understand if the Player's Union went for guaranteed contracts, but Carolina did what was best for their business. Now the fact people willingly play a sport they are almost guaranteed to get a life impacting injury in is another story, but Michael Oher made 33 million in his career so I doubt money is his concern right now if you asked him.

That's a name I haven't seen in a long time. Phil Parent is the dude that does the TEW mods and what not, probably since it started. So I'd trust his stuff as being pretty legit.

Shayna has been using the sleeper as her finisher, at least in Stardom anyway. Viper and Toni Storm already had Stardom bookings (Toni at least through September), so even if they do sign down the road I assume both had dates they had to finish. WWE has been pretty good in the past of letting wrestlers finish their bookings before joining. It was still a great opportunity for both to show WWE what they can do.

He won't be over as in cheered for necessarily, but the character itself as unbeatable monster will be over as long as they don't mess it up somehow. Fans like to watch monster wrestlers that are competent, I haven't seen anything from him that would give me doubt that he can keep it up and keep growing.

I purchased this lot of Stardom cards for a stupidly high price, but some really rare cards in here: Its a small picture since I don't have them in hand yet, but it includes four Io Shirai autographs (a single, two duals, and a trio), two Kairi Hojo autographs (one single and one dual), and two additional Mayu Iwatani single autographs. Its virtually impossible to find these cards, some I have never even seen pictures of before, like the Io Shirai/HZK/Momo triple auto. So I'm pretty excited.

First one of the year? Chargers rookie Mike Williams perhaps out for the year: He was the 7th overall pick. Some theories that he hurt his back during the combine or pro day but kept it under wraps, officially it was hurt during the first rookie practice. Rough deal.

That's the only thing I don't like about the rule. Generally, I think its a good idea and I think it has helped. But if a team didn't plan to do any interviews and already knew who they wanted, what's the point of doing fake interviews.

Ezekiel needs to get him a keeper. I don't think he has reached the Dez-level of needing to be watched 24/7 but someone already on the cusp of probably being suspended should know better than to get into another incident. Maybe the guy deserved to be punched, who knows, but it isn't a good look.

I know she is 17 but she looks even younger than that. Like 14. So she fits in well in Stardom.

I found it, it was late 2014, soon after she started making it more... exotic so her aim was even more iffy. It was the planned finish, as Kairi just went right back up and it it correctly the second try. I think it looks safe most the time as usually she lands next to the person with only an elbow on the chest, as designed. But sometimes she doesn't judge it and literally lands on the person, like she did to Mimura a few months ago. So I could understand on that ground why WWE wouldn't want her doing it every week, she's never hurt anyone that I am aware of but they tend to not like risky moves. She could just use the Sliding D, its a cool enough visual.

If I was Cousins, I'd play out this year and just retire. 40 mil in two years, even after taxes and agents and shit he made at least 10 million, plus whatever he made before. Buy a nice house somewhere in the woods and just chill the next 50 years.

That's another issue with me personally, and why I didn't even bother mentioning an amp or expensive quality speakers. I rent a basement apartment, and while it is quite roomy, I do have the landlord living over my head. So I can't really blare music anyway I figure if I get the basics now, once I get my own place I can upgrade as needed. My records still haven't shipped. Grumble.

That is kinda the interesting thing about Kairi's elbow drop. When I first heard they may not let her use it, I didn't think it was because Bayley uses it, but rather becase sometimes she crushes people with it. She gets so much air that either it looks like the most amazing move ever, or it looks like she is going to injure someone. I remember one early on, maybe 2014, where she was going to land directly on someone's head but luckily they moved out of the way (even though it was the planned finish) since they saw they were about to be decapitated. I personally love the move, its a great visual and that sense of danger is fun since I am not the one taking the move. But I would understand if they only wanted her to use it for big matches and not be dropping them every week on NXT.

As the boss stated above, this isn't the thread for these types of questions, you can try making a new thread in Land of Confusion but I assume Phil would close it within three posts since its not generally the type of topic they allow here. We have five more weeks to go to keep this thread focused, we can do this! (I reserve the right to delete any posts after this one that aren't at least loosely about the boxing match)

MMA fighters seem to adapt pretty well, at least in modern times. I think due to the way they train (practicing moves without actually locking them in), if the matches are strength and mat based they seem to do fine. Its only an issue at times when they try to throw strikes, since it takes more practice to learn how to make a punch look real without hurting someone.

Anyway... Now that the press tour is done (I think?), wonder if both will just go to their own ends of the world to train for a month or keep at it on social media. That was getting a bit tense at the end (fake or real, I dunno, but they couldn't have done too many more at their pace) so a cooling off period before jump starting again may be a good idea. I know they have to hype the fight but it was going a bit off the rails.

I love Shayna and that she has a different offense/skill set than 90% of the wrestlers that come out of the PC. So they can push her to the moon for all I care. This is just a Network Special tournament, they are going to use it to push their agenda since they are the ones footing the bill, its not an indie darling tournament. Rousey is still extremely relevant so anyone saying otherwise doesn't really pay attention. Rousey being at this event made ESPN, I think its another case of some wrestling fans just being too far in the bubble to understand why Rousey having a role in WWE is a bigger deal to them than unknown wrestler Candice LeRae winning a match.

I think Phil will make a new thread for today's tapings, so be careful about spoiling today's results in case someone doesn't want to know anything beyond the first round.