Cobra Commander

no no... Jackyl had long hair and Don Callis doesn't have any hair... Recon and Sniper as the Discipline Committee is probably a better idea than exhuming the Harris Brothers for that gimmick

then about 18 months later, they had Sable in the front row at a Nitro but that really didn't cause much of a ripple

The Discipline Committee.... hey are there any people in the promotion who were in the Truth Commission 25 years ago

unless it's already the name of a porn site (see: Submission Sorority)

I just listened to the Cornette/Tim Hornbaker story that included a recounting of the time that they almost put Ric Flair on a WWE PPV with Reid and I thought up an idea of the WWE saying "there's a former champion in the audience tonight" then cut to Punk, and then move the camera over to AJ Lee and introduce her to the audience.

suing the WWE actually sped up your return to the WWE in some years but when you consider the WWE is about to finalize their buyout soonish.. they're probably not taking on Punk the one recurring rule of any "guy is suddenly available" wrestling story is that it doesn't align with the timing in the other promotion. Bret in 1997 as Starrcade approached. WCW being bought just before Wrestlemania.

The AEW Discipline Committee: The Butcher The Blade Sonny Ono under a worked name Dr. Britt Baker. D! D! S! Chris Jericho wearing a nail jacket and facepaint Jeff Hardy somehow Miro

they're getting mainstream media coverage out of this in a sense

yeah the WWE isn't as desperate these days as they were in 1996

anyways, announcing the firing during the first saturday of college football and a holiday weekend was some amazing timing... the people who really follow wrestling stuff were gonna hear about it no matter what, but for everybody else, well..

excited for CM Punk to launch a UWF style promotion like he's Akira Maeda

"Straight Edge Teddy Hart" might be a way of putting it?

jobbing Punk to Roman Reigns in 3 minutes for his first match back feels like an idea to either get a hilarious result or kill the idea of Punk being there

Brian is currently checking into the availability of the CMPunkPod domain name to add to the Arcadian Vanguard podcast network

excited for CM Punk to start appearing on WWE TV with a pixelized WWE Tag Team Title belt

a big splash would have been one way to set up the Camel Clutch

The Iron Sheik steals Nikolai's gimmick prematch. Kevin Sullivan does a valiant effort to spin the Sheik as being in good shape in 1989 when he looks pregnant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhzWToroeT8

If Cleveland chases down the Twins in September, then the late season closer narrative for Cleveland will never die

Brad Armstrong is evil. Doc Dean dances for some reason. Larry Zbyszko and Joey Styles both refer to Stevie Richards as "Steve Richards" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1AtTm1zSIE

if you're a corner outfielder who hasn't been on a 40 man roster this year, prepare to get traded to the Angels

There really should be an end of August "dump your stuff for other stuff" period. Open up trades for 24 hours for players who made it through waivers in the month of August. We'll know if this end of month move by the Angels/Yankees/etc is successful if they change the rules for next year. All it takes is some "irrelevant" team gumming up the works claiming a player or two to bring about change.

Let's go back in time again World Championship Wrestling (6/3/89) JR and Michael Hayes are your hosts. A&W gets a plus. Michael Hayes is wearing a vest with his chest exposed. The video quality for this episode looks a little spotty. Is that why they just gave up on uploading WCW episodes instead of unleashing 1990/1991 on us. Ron Simmons vs Ranger Ross opens up. Ranger Ross is a house of fire. Just imagine if Watts could have stayed in business for long enough to make Ranger Ross the next JYD. Ranger Ross is apparently very aggressive tonight. Ross really wants to go to the bank after this one. Ron Simmons pins Ranger Ross after a totally legal right hand to the head that totally wasn't assisted by Teddy Long at all. Guts and Glory! June 14th! Joe Cruz vs Ricky Santana. Magnificent mullet on Ricky Santana. Joe Cruz looks a bit like a Dr. D David Schultz relative. Is the Gutwrench Suplex the rare move that you can counter by doing the move that the other guy was trying to do to you? Nice finishing sequence of Joe Cruz missing elbows to the head before Ricky Santana hits the Fivearm on Cruz for the win. Lets take a special look at Flyin Brian jumping off the top rope and flying a helicopter and doing stuff. Hey NXT, I have an idea for vignettes for your new guy. George South vs Dick Murdoch. Nice mullet on George South. The rare time that Murdoch looked like less of a redneck than his opponent? Gary Hart and Bob Orton end up on commentary. Nice elevated armbar from Murdoch as he's working like an Anderson for some reason. Dick Murdoch wins with the brainbuster. We hear from Theodore R. Long who doesn't want to be booed. He presents a video of Norman the Lunatic. I think that Norman the Lunatic's origin story is eerily close to the song "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies only without the pepsi because this is coke country bro. The Norman the Lunatic gimmick ages better than the gimmick they gave Eugene. For what it's worth. The NWA Top 10. Dick Murdoch. Kevin Sullivan, Dan Spivey. Eddie Gilbert. Great Muta. Butch Reed. Lex Luger. Sting. Michael Hayes. Ricky Steamboat. Ricky Steamboat takes on Trent Knight. Knight looks like he uses photos of Magnum TA as a reference when he goes to get his hair done. Ricky Steamboat wins with the Double Chickenwing, which is a move that somebody should consider using again. Lemme take the opportunity to check into how the Atlanta Braves were doing around this time. The Braves lost a day game 4-0 to the San Francisco Giants on June 3rd. Atlee Hammaker improved his record to 5-3 as Zane Smith dropped to 1-8. Zane Smith did go 8 innings and 114 pitches on his way to a loss. The Braves are 22-31 and in last place in the NL West. Here's a video of the Samoan Swat Team fighting the Road Warriors. The Road Warriors are angry and they have words as Paul Ellering holds a mic as if that makes any difference. Trent Knight, who we just saw lose to Ricky Steamboat is back in action against Scott Steiner. Scott is accompanied by Rick Steiner and Missy Hyatt. Rick Steiner has a superfan. Feels like if you're gonna use a Ricky Steamboat match from a different taping, you should try to not air two Trent Knight matches in a row. Or pretend that Trent Knight has an identical twin brother. Scott Steiner's Steinerline was pretty gnarly looking as you'd expect. Scott Steiner wins with a Belly to Belly. Deke Rivers and Joe Cazana are here to job to the Samoan Swat Team. Deke Rivers' look is compared to a post-death Elvis Presley. Samu had a unique looking DDT off the second rope (Cazana is on his feet, Samu is on the second rope and falls to the canvas taking down Cazana). Fatu wins with the top rope splash. Samu hits Rivers with a pineapple as the pin is completed. Terry Funk has promised to bring Ric Flair out tonight. You know where this is leading if you're familiar with this time in WCW history. Love how Rick Flare delivers his lines like a kid who doesn't want to be there. Anybody good enough at lip reading to know what Terry says that got muted out after the closet line? I'm sure it was something regrettably offensive. Sting is outraged at these shenanigans. Center Stage is excited to see Sting fighting Terry Funk. Lots of random dudes come in to breakup the fight before this show gets too exciting. Rose and Steiner vs the SST on the Main Event, this Sunday. So we don't necessarily have both Steiners exclusively teaming with each other or Randy Rose is calling in a favor on his way out. Tom Pittner vs Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan menaces a fan with a sign that totally wasn't planted. The fan is distraught and keeps getting on TV. Subtle as a jackhammer. Kevin Sullivan does his trademark jobber beatdown and the fan is still menaced postmatch. They really dressed that fan down, didn't they. Scott Hall is looking at a gator! Steve Casey vs the Great Muta. Muta in 1989, Hakushi to a lesser extent in 1995, if you got a gimmick and do cool moves, fans will eventually want to cheer you even if people think the non-smart fans don't want to cheer dudes from Japan. Speaking of the opposite of cool moves, a long shoulder claw by Muta. Casey misses a flying crotch attack. Muta hits a backbreaker and botches the moonsault for the win. Muta's foot landed on the guy in the first example of the Flying Stomp looking deadly. Hacksaw Butch Reed and Bob Orton. Some awkward camera work as this team of Kansas City wrestlers comes out. Before they can team up, Dick Murdoch emerges to brawl with Bob Orton and they go off into the night. So they just find a dude with a mask called The Raider (Jack Victory?) to replace Bob Orton. So they just put a former (preseason) Kansas City Chief like Butch Reed in with a guy called the Raider. This team of Butch Reed and The Raider is taking on the returning Midnight Express as the boys are back from their vacation. This is your TV main event, for the record. The Express win and the Raider eats the fall after a double flapjack. They'll advance to face the SST in the Tag Team tournament. Just because The Raider teamed with Jack Victory doesn't mean that Jack Victory never worked as The Raider. (CageMatch says it was Randy Barber) And since we have 4 minutes left, here's another match. The Dynamic Dudes take on Cougar Jay and Bob Emery. I guess it's more authentic if the wrestling show occasionally has perplexing time management. I think this was a standby match if we're using Mid-South terminology here. Johnny Ace with an Ace Crusher, like that move will stick around. Dudes win after a double-team back-slingshot suplex. And that's all for this episode. Let's play two! World Championship Wrestling (6/10/1989) Should I be drinking A&W root beer while watching this? JR and Michael Hayes are here with a 90 minute program. Michael Hayes is in a snazzy jacket, chest exposed. Reminds me of the 15 minute long video of Michael Hayes doing local promos while shirtless. The Dynamic Dudes take on The New Zealand Militia. Jim Bryant vs Ranger Ross. Jim Bryant looks like a good ol boy with a one shoulder singlet. Teddy Long is lurking around ringside as apparently he's around every time a black wrestler is in the ring (hey, considering this company's history, that might be their actual approach). Jim Bryant has some 1970s Jerry Lawler hair while beating a fat boy. Ross wins with the Combat Kick. So why is this episode 90 minutes? The Atlanta Braves are playing a game in 90 minutes. John Smoltz starts for the 24-35 Braves vs Jim Clancy and the 35-25 Houston Astros. Spoiler alert: The Braves lose and get shutout. The only run of the game scores on a Bill Doran double that scores Billy Hatcher. Let's go back to Missy Hyatt confronting Gary Hart, Kevin Sullivan, and the Great Muta. Muta mists Missy Hyatt. Ray Lloyd vs The Great Muta. If only Ray Lloyd could get a dynamic martial arts gimmick like Muta. Gotta admit that Ray Lloyd changed his look in 7 years. Muta hits the handspring elbow this week and beats Lloyd with a German Suplex. The NWA Top 10: Terry Funk. Dr Death. Terry Gordy. Dan Spivey. Michael Hayes. Eddie Gilbert. Great Muta. Sting. Lex Luger. Ricky Steamboat. They just aired Lex Luger beating Michael PS Hayes for the US title this weekend. Fred Avery vs Dick Murdoch. Fred Avery is another fat boy jobber. Love that Dick Murdoch and Fit Finlay both do elbows to the throat of guys under the ropes. Unless i'm forgetting that Finlay did some other move in that spot. Dick Murdoch wins with the elbowdrop as Fred Avery is too fat to hit a Brainbuster on. Big show is coming up this week, can't use your primary finishers tonight. Jim Ross asks Dick Murdoch what Terry Funk's problem is. West Texans are goofy because of the 50mph wind 365 days a year. Terry Funk worked Dick Murdoch twice this year, on house shows that occurred in Corpus Christi and Albuquerque in the days before this episode of television. Lee Scott and Keith Steinborn vs The Midnight Express. "The only guys who get more action in Atlanta than Rob Lowe, the Midnight Express" (look up which city Rob Lowe was in during his big scandal/crime in 1988). Nice assisted enziguri by the Express. Express wins Veg-o-matic to Steinborn. Here are some words with Paul E. Dangerously and his splendid mullet. Paul E promises to not do evil things during the upcoming Express/SST match. Earlier this week, Jim Ross interviews Terry Funk. Many years ago Terry Funk's dad died in his arms and he went to his fathers gravesite to swear to make the name synonymous with wrestling. Eventually Ricky Steamboat gets so mad that he can't stand it any more. Meanwhile Lex Luger shows up to interrupt the airing of that interview and he's mad too (foreshadowing). You see, he thinks he should be the #1 contender. Lex is reminding us about what was happening last Summer. Lex Luger will be at the Clash on Wednesday (oh will he) Meanwhile, let's go back to a prerecorded Ricky Steamboat interview. Kevin Sullivan gets to do a promo for a July 8th Boston Garden show on national TV. 4800 people attended that show in a building where 15000 was a sellout. Dewayne Bruce and Mark Smith vs Kevin Sullivan and Mike Rotunda: An abbreviated version of the Sullivan squash match. The Steiners come out to fight because of the Clash on Wednesday. Michael Hayes is outraged that the Steiners came out to fight Sullivan/Rotunda. Feeling a real UWF vibe with Hayes and Ross. Mike Justice vs Wild Bill Irwin: Wild Bill has a match with Sting at the Clash so he gets a promo. Irwin with a good head of hair. Jim Ross mentions there'll be a Silverdome show tomorrow (it drew "about 900" people). Irwin stumbles over on a leapfrog. Irwin wins with a Big Boot. Irwin looks like a Stable Diffusion AI generated Terry Gordy. The New Zealand Militia vs The Dynamic Dudes: The Dudes have frisbees for the freeloaders at Center Stage. This is our TV main event. The Dudes win after a few minutes to advance in the tournament. The Militia attacks Shane Douglas with boomerrangs as we go to a break. The SST vs Randy Rose and Buck Seigler: This is our standby match? Fatu pins Seigler with the splash. Here's some Jim Cornette with some words for Paul E and the SST. The Ayatollah died in-between tne last 2 episodes of this show. James E been reading some newspapers recently. Teddy Long with some words. Norman didn't do it. The Raider and Snake Brown vs The Steiner Brothers: The Raider is from parts unknown. Snake Brown is from Out of Town. Rick Steiner's superfan is here and her sign has been taped back together as there is a serious lack of paper in her household since the mill closed. Rick gives her a jacket. How nice. Snake Brown eats belly to belly suplexes from both Steiners and then the Varsity Club runs in and they fight to end this episode So it's quality televised wrestling and there's a certain amount of transition going on in the background of this promotion as the top of the card is getting really good.

At first I saw the TMZ story and wondered who would tell that to the media… then I remembered “Florida sunshine law” and they got the info about the unworn defibrillator from official reports

I guess using 80s wrestling logic, having Nikita Koloff defect makes him look weaker than the face turn they actually did

Great Face Turns that never happened: Frenchy Martin turns face and changes his sign to say "U.S.A. Is Now O.K."