Greggulator

I'm actually only watching the TMZ video of Darren right now.I don't doubt he's gay. But I definitely think how he came out is a work. Here's what set off my carny radar:1) First, why is a TMZ interviewer asking Darren Young something? And, out of all the things he's asking, the interview decides to have a conversation about homosexuality? 2) Darren Young and a TMZ dude with a video camera are both at LAX by themselves? That's the tip-off right there. There's no one around to screw up the sound/lighting/etc.

Maybe I'm too big of a fanboy or something but Bray Wyatt is the absolute best. His feud w/ Kane is well behind Bryan/Cena and Punk/Lesnar in terms of fan attention. But The Family has absolutely hit it out of the park since Day 1 and continued to do so again. Great segment.

I live in an All Power Grid, All The Time household.I was really curious to know what a game where one manages Germany's electricity grid would feel like. It's AWESOME. I'm an economics/finance geek and this plays into cost/benefits analysis, competitive advantage, monopolization, resource management, game theory and all sorts of other topics that I love. But most importantly, it's beyond fun. It's a little complex/overwhelming at first but it just takes a game or two before it simplifies itself out.I also love that there's almost no chance involved in this -- no dice. It's just a matter of making choices and adjusting to others' choices. Winning a game of Power Grid feels like a major accomplishment.

1) The We The People chant confirms Pavlov's findings. Zeb's largely met with some boos and indifference. This is largely because the WWE Universe is trying to get their news from him since it's the only time they're exposed to current issues. 2) The WWE is going to use this as much as they can. It will be an angle. Is there any doubt about it? Darren Young just made himself a household name and they have a chance to make money off of him. Darren Young: Open homosexual who is in a jobber tag team makes this go away in a week or two. Darren Young: Open Homosexual Attacked By Heels For His Sexuality keeps this in the media's glare for a long time. I wouldn't be shocked if Darren had one of the lesser singles titles by the end of the week. 3) Don't slag on Philly too much. We have a well-deserved reputation. But we also have a huge gay presence in town. There's a neighborhood downtown called The Gayborhood. There was an attempt to rebrand it as something more generic but people -- and not just gays -- refused to let that happen. There might be some mooks who say something awful to Darren Young but I guarantee they'll be met with a bad reaction and will also get kicked out -- and maybe their asses kicked. That stuff doesn't fly here too much anymore.

The easiest, built-in route is Zeb's stable as homophobic, bullying heels against a face PTPs.

The PTPs are really entertaining off-camera, at least. I like their YouTube/WWE.com stuff that I've seen. That's largely because Titus has so much charisma and a great sense of humor. Darren's decent enough.What's really interesting -- Darren Young is essentially the Jason Collins of the WWE, even beyond being the first to come out and also African-American. They both have the same role -- never going to be a superstar, but good at the little things. Collins is a good guy off-the-bench to grab a few rebounds, play decent defense and just hustle. Young's a decent hand who will take some hard bumps, play a good sidekick, and serve the purpose of establishing other teams and/or having at least watchable matches on Main Event and at house shows against Justin Gabriel and the partner of his choice.

To anyone who has followed wrestling, this isn't a big deal. Pat was at one point one of the handful of most powerful people in the industry. His sexuality was referenced quite a bit when he was an on-stage character. It was sort of repugnant to hear the good-guy announcers slyly mocking his homosexuality. I'm curious as to how that would go over now.There have also been a ridiculous amount of performers who are also gay. And there have been gay characters. I get why Jason Collins (and whoever is after him) is a big deal in the real sports world. But in wrestling, there whole thing is dripping with homoerotic overtones. Darren's obviously going to get a media push from this.

Cena had this to say: I didn't know Cena's brother was gay.Also, the language "actually finally doing it" sounds like it's something D-Young has talked about with his peers and co-workers for a while.I'm glad Steph tweeted what she did. But wasn't Darren on the fringe of being let go a while ago? He's a good enough hand but not anything more than that. Titus is the guy they have their eyes on in the PTPs. (And deservedly so -- the dude's oozing charisma.)

It was actually Overly Critical Man, whoever that is, but I am sticking to my guns. World's changing Matt. Punches are out, old chum. It's all about lungblowers and back crackers. I'm actually not a big punches guy, or really a huge execution guy in general. Wrestling is symbolism. I'm not as much of a proponent as Old Man Sorrow of "if the fans are into it, it's good," but when it comes to strikes/execution my general feeling is "if the fans buy it, it's fine" with anything better than that as extra credit. I know that there are others who strongly disagree with me though. I definitely care more about structure/theory than execution. Same here man. If I wanted to see good punches I'd be into boxing or MMA. I mean, if I see a stiff punch I'm cool with it like anyone else but I don't need it. I'm suspending my disbelief and am totally fine with seeing completely pulled punches. I thought it was hilarious when the Internet went nuts about Cena's hurucanrana and how sloppy it was -- who gives a crap, it was completely awesome.

My favorite non-Colt or WTF podcasts:1) THE BEST SHOW ON WFMU. It's not really a podcast but you can listen to it as a podcast. It's a long-running radio show on WFMU (91.1) in New Jersey, aka the best radio station in the world. It's a comedy show that is #1 and the best. It's hosted by Tom Scharpling, arguably the funniest person alive. Most of the show is based around people calling into the show with him riffing. However, the core is based around his partner-in-crime Jon Wurster (drummer for Superchunk, The Mountain Goats, and a bunch more) who calls in under a wide array of characters and personas. If you like jokes about GG Allin or Marky Ramone or various weirdo subcultures, this is the show for you! A lot of well-known comics have also been on the show, including Todd Barry, Chris Elliot and an infinite amount more. Ted Leo's also a frequent guest. So have Ben Gibbard and Amy Mann. NXT superstar Aiden English has also called in. This is seriously #1 and the best. If you're a fan of Gathering of the Juggalos references or making fun of The Grateful Dead (particularly their Pigpen era) or the band Suicide or pop-punk obscurities you'll love this. 2) HOW WAS YOUR WEEK by Julie Klausner. Julie's a NYC-based comedian who is hysterical. Her podcast starts with her recapping her week and then she interviews different people. It's usually not comedy people but more people in the NYC theater community or different writers. But the interviews are all hilarious. 3) FOGELNEST FILES -- Jake Fogelnest hosted the cult favorite Squirt TV on cable access and MTV when he was a kid. He's done a lot of radio work and the like ever since, mostly on Sirius. He's a bit of an "Internet curator" where he finds all sorts of weird Internet video clips and the likes and bases his interviews around those. 4) TALK TIME WITH MICAH AND EMILY -- This is a charming podcast done by two of my best friends. Micah and Emily are married. They're also comedians here in Philly who specialize in writing hilarious songs and having completely off-beat interplay (which isn't an act at all). This is super sweet and adorable. I love this so much! 5) JASON SIMS PUTS YOU IN YOUR PLACE -- I just plugged this in the wrestling threat since I guest hosted an episode. Jason lives in Alabama. He calls into the aforementioned Best Show a lot. He interviews people about where they're from and how they influence him. Pretty much everyone (except for Micah and Emily) on this list has been interviewed on the show. So has John Hodgman. 6) LOW TIMES PODCAST -- The best music podcast in the world. The hosts interview all sorts of musicians from all over the spectrum -- from Blake from Jawbreaker to Peter Murphy from New Order.

Does it make me a bad person that I've never heard of any of the people you mentioned? As stated below, Jon Hodgman's a comedy-type person who is hysterical and the best.Tom Scharpling hosts the amazing Best Show on WFMU (my favorite comedy thing in the world). He also used to produce/write Monk. He's directed a bunch of videos for people like Kurt Vile, Real Estate, Ted Leo and a bunch more.Chris Gethard's a NYC-based comedian. He's best known for hosting a cable access show The Chris Gethard Show on Manhattan's public access channel. Colt Cabana has been a guest a few times. (As have folks like Andrew WK, Bobby Moynihan, Amy Pohler and a bunch more.) He got his start at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater. He was on The Office a few times in its final season (as an assassin hired by Dwight). He was also on a Comedy Central show Big Lake w/ Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell. He's probably best known for convincing P. Diddy over Twitter to do a stage version of The Chris Gethard Show. (Also, I have to plug Chris since he's my younger brother. It's a long-running joke that I have to always plug him.)The aforementioned Ted Leo has also been on this podcast. He's one of the great musicians of the past few decades. So has Jake Fogelnest (former host of MTV's Squirt TV, does a lot of stuff for Sirius radio).I interviewed Zia. She's a Philly-based photographer who takes pictures for Chikara. She also had an exhibit up of her wrestling photos over the years. She's super talented and a great friend.

Hey! There's a great podcast called Jason Sims Puts You In Your Place where this dude Jason Sims (aka Jason From Huntsville from the awesome The Best Show WFMU) interviews folks about where they're from. He's interviewed Jon Hodgman, Tom Scharpling, Chris Gethard and a bunch of others.I subbed in this week and interviewed ZIA HILTEY. Chikara people know her as the ringside photographer. She also had an exhibit recently in Philly of wrestlers that was awesome. http://sliceradio.com.au/jason-sims-puts-you-in-your-place/37-zia-hiltey-jason-sims-puts-you-in-your-place-with-guest-host-gregg-gethard/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed

The Ghost of Andre line was so great in how it set-up The Big Show's return (at one point booked as Andre's son a very long time ago). It was great subliminal foreshadowing that set up how scared The Shield was of his return. Nice bit of storytelling. Cena is the greatest tweener of all-time. Most tweeners have a limited shelf life before the crowd moves one way or the other. Cena's the only tweener who has any legs. It makes him the true ace of the company. He can feud with any type of character and make it work. And, despite the "you can't wrestle" chants, have MOTY candidates against pretty much anyone. I don't like the overly, shameless public relations company branding character (I DO IT FOR THE WWE AUDIENCE) but there's enough guys on the roster booked for people like me to have a interest in the promotion as a whole. As far as the McMahon's -- they are huge stars. There's no other way to put it. They get huge live reactions. For casual viewers (the fans they need and want to make regular viewers), they're the biggest stars, other than maybe Cena. There's no Austin or Rock right now behind Cena. They're giving Daniel Bryan facetime against Mr. McMahon, who has a legitimate claim as greatest heel of all-time. And he's also on their reality show. Bryan's a star and they're doing everything they can to make him a superstar since the audience can relate to him so well -- he's a small dude who earned his spot despite everyone always putting him down.I think the strategy works. Put Bryan in the ring against the guys the casual, non-message board fans know. Hopefully he clicks with them and he becomes one of the guys who results in PPV buys.They just have to keep the angle as simple as possible. No "secret agenda" stuff like they did w/ Punk. Just a nice, simple story -- Vince hates Daniel Bryan AND Cena and wants to get the belt off of him into someone who has curried his favor. Randy Orton wins the belt (with the help of The Shield, who are mercenaries who use the justice line as an excuse) despite HHH's best efforts post-match to keep the belt in the hands of a deserving champion.The ONLY thing that makes me hate the McMahon story line is Steph's presence. She's truly awful at her role. I liked her a lot as the conniving, power hungry billionaire's daughter but Steph as "objective executive" is the worst. But HHH and Vince have been fine.

I couldn't watch the whole show. But what I saw REALLY made me want to watch SummerSlam. Great job getting my money. The Brock/Punk story has been pretty much perfect. They cast it so well at the end -- Punk still has odds to overcome but he at least has a fighting chance. I loved the Kofi/Cesaro spot in the battle royal. I have no idea how that's physically possible.Cena/Bryan was a money promo all the way. Both guys were excellent.

Look up the word "chav." That's the British term for their white trash. They're like a mix between Guidos and Kid Rock cruisegoers. They're known for wearing expensive Burbury clothes and Nike Air Trainer stuff despite underemployment, poor grammar and a lack of education, being on the public dole, etc. A lot of this is British class snobbishness at its worse but, yes, these people do exist from what my Brit friends have told me.

Being from the UK makes it hard to see Paige rolling out of her boyfriend's truck to brain a girl outside of an Applebee's. She has the look for it but her accent disqualifies her.Paige looks like she'd hang out with dudes who would sell fake molly to chavs outside a lesser-tier club in a lesser-tier English city. If and when the chav crew stepped up, Paige would destroy the girl and take her can of cider.

Didn't watch the whole show yet. But the Bray Wyatt and Brock promos were off-the-charts. The Bray promo was so incredible structured and layered. I loved Bray at first tipping his hat into Kane for being a demon but then it just got layered into such amazing storytelling. That harrowing end line -- "I'm already dead. I'm already dead" says it right there: Bray believes himself to be the reborn Christ. He tips his hat to Kane as a rival but Kane doesn't see the bigger picture. The fire will not stop his brothers (what Christ called his disciples) literally or figuratively (his followers are everyhwere, man). Kane's fire -- the Devil himself -- fears Bray since he knows Bray's the almighty. The fire will raise up against Kane because you can't serve the devil without suffering, and Kane will have to meet his master at some point.These promos are seriously brilliant. I also love Bray cast as a redemptive savior. He's here to lead the oppressed, to wake us up, to see the lie we're living under and to destroy our oppressors.His vocal cadences and ticks and the like -- this is seriously amazing. He's been in the WWE for only a few weeks and is already the best promo in the company. He's ridiculously great at the character. It's only a matter of time before he's stalked by someone who actually believes him as a deity. They drew up an amazing character and it fell in the hands of a wrestler who became that character. Windham Rotunda is an actor who also wrestles. (On another note, he did a NXT promo that's on YouTube taht I don't think aired on the show. He did a thing against Big E. and somehow incorporate an amazingly spot-on impersonation of Regal in the middle of it. The dude has perfect range.) The one problem with Bray is that it's too good for the general WWE fan. They have to play Bray as a lunatic. He's certainly that but no announcer is clever enough to decipher his meaning to the crowd. The Brock promo was great straight-up jock douche. The MMA line was super nasty. It really makes me want to see Punk kick him in the face. Amazing.

I kind of think the NXT crowd is the perfect wrestling audience. They have an intimate ECW feel but also buy into what they're seeing like marks -- it's not about smarky smart stuff but just having a great time. But they're also smart enough to appreciate stuff like Tyler Breeze's entrance w/ a "That Was Awesome" chant. It's a perfect balance.

I absolutely love that Enzo Amore exists. Guys like him were such a dime-a-dozen whenever I went to the Jersey Shore as a kid. He's a total throwback to 1987 Wildwood, NJ. Kudos to whatever writing staff member came up with "Human garbage who bets on fights between pre-teen girls" as a archetype. Summer Rae, Defender Of The Art of Dance, is also AWESOME. I also think we're underselling Tyler Breeze's New Order rip-off theme music. Really fits the Milan Fashion Club Kid gimmick. Also,, his fur belt is TO DIE FOR. They should run a gimmick where the sends Twitpics of him posing in triumph to his vanquished foes.And I am saying it right now. Bo Dallas is the new number one and the best. That promo was amazing. "He's a good kid." Deflecting blame for his loss to Leo Kruger, claiming mastery of tag wrestling despite being a fill-in, etc. Just such a sanctimonious tool. Him awfully singing Journey is perfect. They need to keep him thinking he's a fan favorite and ignoring all of the jeers. Sami Zayn beating him is going to be epic.

The Shield match and follow-up promo was awesome. Throwing those dudes into 6-men matches is a guaranteed great time. That match was really well built. I *LOVED* the hot tag at the end w/ the Uso on the apron going nuts and Mark spiritedly reaching for the tag, getting in and wrecking shop. The end was so great -- the strong-man pulling down Henry, giving The Shield that one little second to steal the pin. Blame it on ring general Henry -- he could have his a World's Strongest Slam on Ambrose and won that thing but wanted the Uso to hit the Superfly. Seriously, that match was awesome.

On How To Ask For A Raise:

DVDVR is my favorite message board. But my second favorite? It's the message board for ModernButlers.com, a website by, for and about the butlers of modern society. Enjoy!

Angelo Cataldi was an adjunct professor at my school. I took him for Sports Writing. It was the absolute worst.

Taker/Michaels from Ground Zero 1997 that ended in the giant brawl and tope - setting up the first Hell in a Cell the next month - I remember being blown away by that when it first aired... Did the Midnights/Fantastics match from that Clash get thrown out? If so, that, because that's the best match.