Territorial

Why are we assuming Vince hasn't already made plans to have himself frozen (a la Walt Disney)? For that matter, why are we assuming he will eventually die? Vince is both the genetic jackhammer and a big ole carny. I don't see him doing the job for Death (who, after all, has never drawn a dime for the company).

But would Vader agree to lay down and do the job for the Boss?

Just turned 45.

Moondog Spot I'm hoping that, right after this pic was taken, Dusty won the match with a 450 splash. Probably not, though.

So.. if I find one of these hidden parking lot DVDs I've heard mentioned, will I find out what LARPs and ARGs are?

This thread has convinced me I'm not part of Chikara's target audience. I don't have a clue what a LARP or an ARG is?

Officially, he was let go as a cost cutting method. WWE was having financial problems at the time. Unofficially, it was probably a combination of things: -- His cousin, Eddie, was Jack's business partner in Canada. Eddie basically got cut out of the deal with McMahon and later sued over it. Eddie got a sizable settlement out of the lawsuit. At one point, Eddie Tunney also trademarked the term "WrestleMania" in Canada and Vince had to buy the rights from him. Apparently, the company held that against Jack, -- The Terry Garvin/Mike Clark sexual harassment scandal. Tunney supposedly witnessed Garvin proposition Clark and was prepared to back Clark in court. Apparently, Tunney had heat with the company over this as the company "allegedly" believed that both Jack and Clark should tow the company line and let the incident pass. -- Office politics. According to the Observer, Tunney believed it was Bret Hart who got him fired (Hart denies this). Tunney didn't think Bret would ever draw money and complained publicly about various Hart-related issues. By the time Bret became the top guy, Tunney was unpopular with the faction in the office who got along with Bret. -- After he was let go, Tunney was said to be quite bitter and almost never said a good word about the McMahons or the WWF after that. He apparently badmouthed people in the company on a few occasions.

Is Lynch still around? I bought from him several years ago, but I haven't gotten a catalog from him in a long time, and the old catalogs must have been stored on an old computer. They don't seem to be around anymore. Someone refresh my memory. Did he mostly carry puro or was it a bit of everything? I'm looking for sources for 70's/80's US territorial wrestling (Crockett, Mid Atlantic, WCCW, Georgia, etc.). Don't remember if Lynch handled much of that or not. Is it worth it trying to dig up his email address again?

Agreed. Why is Big E not a face? He shows a lot more personality as a face. Is there really a need for "generic black power heel #43" in the WWE? I swear... Vince really is allergic to making money. As for Chikara, I read that .pdf when it was first posted. I've never followed the promotion that closely, but I know some people who worked behind the scenes in the early days and I enjoyed the promotion around 2007-2010, when the Colony and Osirian Portal were fresh and they were phasing out some of the ridiculous gimmicks and bad workers. I want to admire their dedication to long term storytelling and kayfabe, but..... there's a thin line between keeping up kayfabe and crawling too far up your own ass to know when it's time to stop working the marks (and yourself). Quack passed that line a long time back and his promotion seems to be following his lead. I've met Quack numerous times (enough to have an opinion on him as a person, not just a wrestler), so I definitely think he's working the marks just for the sake of working the marks.

Wolfman is an odd case. He made his (well deserved) rep w/ Teen Titans. The first 50 issues were outstanding. When Perez left, the quality dropped off quickly. Nothing he's written before or after, say, issue 50 of the original book has really impressed me or made me think he;s an A-list writer. "A Day in the Life" should still be on the short list of best single issues ever.

I've been trying to figure out who the Fl Mad Maxx was for years, and never gotten a definitive answer. Wasn't Eli. I've heard it might have been Dewey Robertson (The Missing Link), but I don't think it was. Robertson worked Mid South as "Max the Missing Link" in 1983 and showed up in Florida (as Link) around the same time Madd Maxx disappeared. In any case, Madd Maxx only made a couple appearances in Fl. Jeff McGruder only wrestled two tv matches + a video package. The week after that jobber match, Michael Hayes squashed him. As far as I'm aware, he never worked anywhere after that. He had virtually no training. Supposedly, he was a musclehead that met a few of the wrestlers at a gym they all used and impressed Michael Hayes (Hayes was booking at the time). I've heard Hayes had plans for him, but changed his mind after the awful jobber squash. Youngblood's issues were well known by the time he got to Florida. From all accounts, he was a mess inside and outside the ring the last couple years of his life. Ricky Steamboat has said the reason he (Steamboat) broke up the tag team was he didn't feel he could "babysit" Jay any more. Apparently, it had turned into a full time job. From what I've heard, people reached out to him and offered him help, and he refused. I don't think he left FL on good terms, but I've never heard specifics.

Personally, I'm chalking the JL 3000 thing up to DC editorial coming to their senses. But I t'm of the opinion that JLI was massively overrated and haven't like Giffen or DeMatteis nearly as much since they started trying to be funny.

So would the shocking swerve be that Aces & Eights eventually convert Sting and he switches teams (in more ways than one, I guess):?

Bearded, bushy-haired Stan Hansen looks an awful lot like one of the Moondogs. Young Eddie Gilbert Bobo Brazil Big John Studd looking dapper in a coat. I assume he didn't buy that off the rack. s Sarge Slaughter and Don Kernodle with the belts. Pro wrestling is big guys in overcoats.

He'll beat it. Not even cancer wants to be associated with Ian Rotten

Brad Armstrong was such a fearsome JTTS. He had a crap win loss record, but he was able to do stuff like go 60 minutes with Flair. Like a proto-Ziggler in a way. Only I could believe it if Brad held the world title. Brad was little more than a JTTS in JCP/WCW, but he had several good runs in the southeast before that, particularly in Georgia and SECW/Continental. Had a great feud with Jerry Stubbs in Continental. Granted, he the promotions that pushed him well tended to be places wehre his dad was massively over and all the Armstrong kids got good pushes to keep Bob happy.

Same here. I've already seen the documentary, though, so I'm not too put out.

Eh, the two men were doing a nice job on the book. That doesn't seem the problem. I think the better solution would have been to keep the writers and get a lesbian editor (though the problems are probably coming down from the top, moreso than from the book's actual editor).

Great. Now that song is stuck in my head. Fuck. If it's any consolation, I've having the same problem.

This man is wise. Listen to him.

It took awhile, but Phil Collins is finally about to pay for recording "Sussidio"

I haven't paid much attention to Futurama lately. Half the time, I forgot to watch or record it, and when I did catch it, it didn't seem like I was missing much. Did catch the finale last night. It was pretty damn great. Not sure there was a better way for the show to bow out.

When he talks about WCW in his next autobiography, he'll still lie and inflate the numbers. It'll be 37 on 1 by then. Because, y'know, one guy going over just 12 guys isn't ridiculous enough for Hogan's Paul Bunyan-esque personality,

Briscoes really need to go to the WWE as commentators. Briscoes + live mic + few million viewers = greatness. For the 45 minutes until Vince panicked and pulled them off the air mid-show.