Petey Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I'm telling you, we need to put a curfew on everyone here under 30. When I was a kid, we lurked and learned. It's really the under 25s who are dreadful. Those of us born in the 80s are alright. Yeah! Screw the under 25s! (is 26) I remember in '97, I found a Wrestling Superstars magazine from 1985 and thought it was the holy grail. Or I'd go rent Starrcade '86 on VHS and be clueless I was missing at least 90 minutes of the full event! We didn't have wikipedia, we went out and learned it through hours of reading and watching (mostly because our friends were as clueless as we were) Alvarez talking about anything except WCW is horrendous (since I'd hope he had to do SOME research for that book) I'll get off my soapbox now, but I had to get that off my chest. I feel better now, btw I'm 28. Those super clipped early 90's WCW tapes used to piss me off. Six year old me just didn't understand why the tapes were so much shorter than the actual events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I remember making up fake media outlets that I belonged to, to get a free copy of Scott Keith's books on a couple of occasions. ....and still feeling ripped off. Think I gave them away once I realized they were mostly just professionally edited versions of columns. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Man how in the fuck is that guy paid to be a wrestling expert? It would be like a Film critic who has never seen Jaws or Casablanca, or a music writer who never heard the Ramones or Bach, why would anyone take anything he says seriously? I don't think anyone does. I'm a subscriber strictly for the Observer. If Bryan is actually good on the air, that's just a bonus. I'd have to think if you took a poll on who actually reads Figure Four Weekly, it would be less than 20% of the subscribers. F4W has gotten better recently since Alvarez barely writes it nowadays. Bix seems to have taken over the bulk of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstout Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Did anyone ever ask Meltzer why he quit doing MMA columns for Grantland? I wonder if it was a money issue, or not being able to hit deadlines with all of his newsletter work, or maybe the copy editors threatened to revolt or maybe Simmons decided Grantland didn't really have the resources to do MMA well, so why do it at all, or a combination of all of those issues. As far as I can recall, there hasn't been a word about MMA on Grantland since, and you figure it would be right up their demographic's alley. I know there's what, 60000000 MMA websites, so that might have something to do with it. Then again, there are 700000000000 wrestling websites and Shoemaker still does his column. Shoemaker strikes me as a guy who knows what he knows. He grew up watching wrestling as a kid, he still watches wrestling now. He has no desire to learn anything besides what he knows. He's not a BIG fan of wrestling like some of you guys, seeking out stuff from other countries or other decades. I can't see Shoemaker giving a crap about a 10-disc Mid-South comp, for example. You'd like for someone in that position to be like a column-writing version of Rob Naylor - I'd listen to Rob on those Dr. Keith podcasts, and his love for wrestling is so infectious, and it was for so much more than the WWE. He made me wanna watch more ROH more than ROH made me wanna watch more ROH. That's what a site like Grantland needs - someone who passionately loves wrestling and it shows. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 It wasn't Meltzer quitting - it was Simmons/Grantland never following up with him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Wasn't it just a one time freelance piece? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstout Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I could've sworn he did at least a couple. Simmons probably isn't an MMA fan, because he tends to wear his loves on his sleeve and he's never talked about MMA. I'd bet it was just decided that MMA wasn't worth covering on Grantland. Plus, you have to wonder about UFC being on Fox and how maybe ABC/ESPN/Grantland might not want to promote it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfredoE Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I only want Meltzer on Grantland if he leaves all those wacky html errors he puts up at WON. Like him putting a link that goes nowhere. The bottom ads of emails people send making it at the end of his posts. Then there's the Grantland footnote love....Imagine Dave with footnotes. So much great off-tangent stuff he could add about wrestling. I'd also pay to be in the room when Simmons tells Dave to compare Wrestlemania to some movie he watched and Dave's never heard about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaacduke Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I remember making up fake media outlets that I belonged to, to get a free copy of Scott Keith's books on a couple of I remember making up fake media outlets that I belonged to, to get a free copy of Scott Keith's books on a couple of occasions. Holy shit, how has this not been done more often?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 Holy shit, how has this not been done more often?!? Because you end up with a copy of Scott Keith's book? 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I could've sworn he did at least a couple. Simmons probably isn't an MMA fan, because he tends to wear his loves on his sleeve and he's never talked about MMA. I'd bet it was just decided that MMA wasn't worth covering on Grantland. Plus, you have to wonder about UFC being on Fox and how maybe ABC/ESPN/Grantland might not want to promote it. I don't think it's that since ESPN has boxing (there is a "World Heavyweight" title bout in primetime on main ESPN coming up), and Grantland has jackshit on boxing. Plus, Simmons talks boxing (Floyd, Pac, and Triple G at least) way more than MMA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I think simmons only cared about mma when brock was in ufc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I think simmons only cared about mma when brock was in ufc. When Carolla was on talking boxing (either him or Sal), he talks about MMA taking over boxing. This was months after Brock lost to Overeem IIRC when Pacquiao got robbed against Bradley. He is one of those guys who believes boxing is dying and raves about every big boxing fight. He doesn't know any better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRZ Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Didn't CRZ have a reputation as being a bigtime creep online? I most certainly did not! (Did I?) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Holy shit, how has this not been done more often?!? Because you end up with a copy of Scott Keith's book? Let the punishment fit the crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakk_Sabbath Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Was Dave Scherer and Bob Ryder's site 1wrestling.com? I know I used to battle the popups there as a lad. I've told the story here before, but I got linked to there by a banner ad on ECW's old website as a 9 year old, and that's how I found out it was all a work. So pissed off my stepdad was right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Didn't CRZ have a reputation as being a bigtime creep online? I most certainly did not! (Did I?) I think maybe he's talking about those awful rumors Sean Shannon started about you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzombie1988 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I could've sworn he did at least a couple. Simmons probably isn't an MMA fan, because he tends to wear his loves on his sleeve and he's never talked about MMA. I'd bet it was just decided that MMA wasn't worth covering on Grantland. Plus, you have to wonder about UFC being on Fox and how maybe ABC/ESPN/Grantland might not want to promote it. I don't think it's that since ESPN has boxing (there is a "World Heavyweight" title bout in primetime on main ESPN coming up), and Grantland has jackshit on boxing. Plus, Simmons talks boxing (Floyd, Pac, and Triple G at least) way more than MMA. Sure sportswriters know Manny and Floyd, along with most of the world, but aside from that, I think they would struggle to name 5 other current boxers. I wouldn't consider that to mean they have any any knowledge of hockey whatsoever. I mean, I know who Ryan Braun and David Ortiz are, but I haven't watched baseball since the late 90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Didn't CRZ have a reputation as being a bigtime creep online? I most certainly did not! (Did I?) I think maybe he's talking about those awful rumors Sean Shannon started about you? Okay, I wanna hear about THIS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRGoldman Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 The issue I have with Shoemaker is that he isn't what he is presented as. I don't care that he wouldn't want to watch a Mid South Comp because he is writing for a pop culture website, and frankly, he doesn't need to know about it or enjoy it. That being said, he presents himself and allows others to present him as the most knowledgeable man on the history of pro wrestling, and it's simply not true, or even close. I sometimes feel as though I'm unduly hard on Shoemaker, because I will confess I generally enjoy columns even if I disagree with most of them. That being said, every time he writes something like "CM Punk is a postmodern Bruno Sammartino", I question not only his knowledge of wrestling and its easily discovered history, but his knowledge of the English language. Like I've said, I wouldn't have these issues if just wrote about WWE. I would still think his "reality era" thesis is a little toothless, but I digress. The issue is that he wrote a book that he said was to be viewed as a history. Shoemaker doing this is like writing a book on Martha and the Vandellas and your research consists of watching some Cindi Lauper youtube videos and owning a Miley Cyrus album. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.Rex-n-effeckx Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Man how in the fuck is that guy paid to be a wrestling expert? It would be like a Film critic who has never seen Jaws or Casablanca, or a music writer who never heard the Ramones or Bach, why would anyone take anything he says seriously? I don't think anyone does. I'm a subscriber strictly for the Observer. If Bryan is actually good on the air, that's just a bonus. I'd have to think if you took a poll on who actually reads Figure Four Weekly, it would be less than 20% of the subscribers. F4W has gotten better recently since Alvarez barely writes it nowadays. Bix seems to have taken over the bulk of it. Wait, Bix now writes bulk of the F4? When and how did this happen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfredoE Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Man how in the fuck is that guy paid to be a wrestling expert? It would be like a Film critic who has never seen Jaws or Casablanca, or a music writer who never heard the Ramones or Bach, why would anyone take anything he says seriously? I don't think anyone does. I'm a subscriber strictly for the Observer. If Bryan is actually good on the air, that's just a bonus. I'd have to think if you took a poll on who actually reads Figure Four Weekly, it would be less than 20% of the subscribers. F4W has gotten better recently since Alvarez barely writes it nowadays. Bix seems to have taken over the bulk of it. Wait, Bix now writes bulk of the F4? When and how did this happen? Started a few weeks ago. I'm thinking early February. Part of the deal is Bix now has to go to all the F4W-conventions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Alvarez intends to concentrate on the podcasts, so the bulk of the issues are written by Bix (Headline/WWE?), Dr. Lucha, and Vinny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 It really needs a Bix Total Divas review though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstout Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I've never seen "Total Divas," but my three-word "review" would probably work fine if anyone wants to steal it: "Needs more A.J." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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