Elsalvajeloco

Well it's kinda changed over the years. So the 4 biggies are the WBA (black/red belt, the Super champion's belt though looks like the Ring magazine belt), the WBC (the green belt), the IBF (the red and gold belt), and the newer one that was recognized as late as the late 90s/early 2000s, the WBO (burgundy and gold belt). So all those belts came into existence basically due to politics. The WBA/WBC belts became the two major ones after it became apparent you couldn't trust the commissions and news publications to recognize their own champions. Problem is, obviously, those companies became under the thumb of the promoters instead of arena operators, the mob, TV companies, and matchmakers having the commissions/newspapers under their thumb. The WBA is based in Panama while the WBC is based in Mexico. Forever and a day, the late José Sulaimán up until his death had an inherent bias towards Mexican fighters. So most of the Mexican fighters preferred fighting for the WBC title for decades. The WBA, for decades, was accused of being bought and paid for by Don King. So Don King post Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas and then going to prison, his stable was basically Julio Cesar Chavez (who held the WBC super lightweight title for a long time as an icon), prominent junior middleweights and middleweights like Julian Jackson, Terry Norris (until Norris left for Top Rank later in his career) & also Gerald McClellan up until his near fatal brain injury in the Benn fight in 95, another iconic Mexican fighter in the lower weight classes who held WBC titles usually Ricardo "Finito" Lopez, another legend in Azumah Nelson, and then basically a bunch of decent to good but virtually unknown fighters up and down the weight classes who held some form of a WBA title (either interim or the real belt). So what Don use to do in the 80s and then more prominently once his relationship with HBO rapidly disintegrated in the wake of Tyson-Douglas in the early 90s is have cards once or sometimes twice a month on regular Showtime or SET PPV (Showtime's PPV arm) with 6 or 7 title fights and then a whole bunch of undercard fights. If you know anything about boxing, the average card basically only has 5-7 maybe 8 fights. The UFC sometimes stacks cards if they're feeling frisky and people become available, but not even to that level due to time constraints. So doing that then was insane, but what Don King did was throw 1 or 2 of his top fighters like Chavez (or Tyson post prison) in there at the top as the headliner/main attraction, maybe one other top fighter like ones listed above, and then pad out the remaining title fights with some random WBA champion. Maybe you would get a Ricardo Lopez or later on a 4, 6, or 8 round Christy Martin showcase fight on the undercard, but that was generally how he did it with a few of those titles fights not even being televised. If they were, it was the international feed called Kingvision. Because so many people fell out with Don or were in some type of political/contractual feud with Don or the promoter they left to fight for Don, that's when you started to see a whole bunch of guys who were barely ranked or random people fighting for interim or regular WBA titles. And to be fair, the WBC was no better because we were deprived of seeing Riddick Bowe vs Lennox Lewis and other fights and then they eventually got crazy with stripping people and interim titles. Not to the level of the WBA, but still very shameful. The IBF (the only major org based in the USA) came into play when Larry Holmes who held the WBC heavyweight title for a long time eventually gave it up cause he didn't want to fight Greg Page. Holmes had an on and off again relationship with Don King too throughout the years with some of his fights being promoted by Don and others just being promoted by random people and entities. So the IBF recognized Holmes as champ and then Holmes (the linear champion after beating Ali in 1980) lost it to Michael Spinks and then failed to win it back in the rematch. Spinks eventually lost it to Tyson when they finally met up. So having the true linear champion and then the most popular fighter in the world empowered and legitimized the IBF even though most of the early champs were in Europe and Asia. They had an easier time with being recognized as one of the majors cause the political nonsense throughout the 80s and 90s. The WBO, based in Puerto Rico with more of an inherent bias toward Puerto Rican fighters early on in their existence especially in the lower weight classes, had a lot of trouble just cause none of the big names fought for their titles. I generally associate the WBO with the glory days of the middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight scenes in Western Europe in the late 80s and the 90s. You had the absolutely historical clashes and feud between Nigel "The Dark Destroyer" Benn and "Simply the Best" Chris Eubank (Sr.) (and also Eubank/Michael Watson and Benn/Watson), "Irish" Steve Collins, Dariusz Michalczewski, and then later on, Joe Calzaghe. The Benn/Eubank feud became big enough to the point where their offspring who are not even world level are filling stadiums today and about to do it again this Saturday (to their credit, the first fight was an easy fight of the year candidate). Another notable name that held a WBO title, also fighting mainly in Europe, was "Prince" Naseem Hamed. It still had trouble being recognized as one of the majors though even stateside with Tommy Morrison and a very young Oscar De La Hoya (who held the 130 lb and 135 lb WBO belts somehow even though he was a size of a goddamn middleweight) representing them. At some point, guessing just cause people didn't care anymore, it became one of the major orgs unlike other startups like the IBO and WBU. So if you held a WBO world title in the last quarter century, you were/are considered one of the world champions/titlists. So the Ring magazine and linear title explanation: generally the Ring magazine recognizes the linear champion UNLESS the champion retired or moved up/down a weight class and never returned. If there is no "linear" champion (the guy who beat the guy who beat the guy), they generally go with crowning the Ring mag champ between the #1 ranked guy and either the #2 or #3 ranked guy fighting. However, the fight has to involve the #1 ranked fighter if there is no recognized Ring magazine champion in that weight class. With two more recognized major orgs, it became a little tougher. For example, Nate Campbell (he of getting KO'd in hilarious fashion by Robbie Peden fame back when Campbell was just a journeyman/also ran/fringe contender fighting on Fox Sports Net) upset then unified lightweight champ Juan Diaz and took his titles. Campbell had the WBO, WBA, AND IBF titles. However, he wasn't the linear or Ring magazine champion. That Ring mag champion distinction went to Joel Casamayor, who became the Ring mag champion beating Diego Corrales in 2006 who beat Jose Luis Castillo the prior year in one of the most legendary and movie like fights of all goddamn times. Casamayor eventually lost that to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2008. So Campbell had three world titles and wasn't even the #1 (or #2) guy in his division cause Marquez had been considered a pound for pound fighter since his very first fight with Manny Pacquiao in 2004. At best, he was third best. So technically, you can hold all the titles and not be the guy in your division. Most recently, in between retirements and hiatuses and brief brushes with pro wrestling, Tyson Fury was the LINEAR and also RING magazine champion while Deontay Wilder (WBC champ) and Anthony Joshua (IBF, WBA, and WBO champ) held the sanctioning body titles. It's extremely confusing to follow. BoxingScene had a stellar article last year on the confusing, bizarre, and complex history of the regular and interim WBA heavyweight title in the last 20 or so years. It's fucking insane and still ongoing, unfortunately.

DID I MENTION BEFORE THAT I CAN DANCE~!

Maya World is kinda newer to pro wrestling, but Hyan is way overqualified to be enhancement talent having seen some of her work. She may be the best worker in the match and most matches where she is asked to do a job. That said, it may be easier for her cause I believe she has done enhancement work for AEW and/or ROH before anytime they've rolled through Texas. I wouldn't be shocked if she got a contract with any of the top companies sooner rather than later.

Of course...Sarah Sweeney, the sister of Larry. Keeping the Sweet n Sour International legacy alive.

I actually listened to one of the STW w/ Bradshaw that talked exactly about this. So he was still with WWF, but at the tail end of his current deal. He didn't expect to be offered a new deal. Apparently, Kobashi concussed him really bad and also messed up an artery in his neck on a clothesline. He was scared to travel with said concussion when he got back to the states. He was talking with Jim Ross about his deal, but instead of telling him about the concussion, he told JR he was not in shape cause he was partying with all the foreigners on the tour and wanted some time off to get right. However, he believes Jim Ross thought it was a negotiating ploy. JR offered him a three year guaranteed contract originally, but then came back to the table with a five year deal with the final year of the deal being more than he had made in his entire lifetime. However, by the time he got back, he along with Barry knew that New Blackjacks thing was done cause they weren't doing anything with them.

I dunno if I would be throwing UFC fights when the UFC cuts people for losing 2-3 fights if that. If I am risking my career and possible prison time, it better be life changing money.

A few people I saw on X are using that situation to criticize Aspinall for not continuing last week. Some things to think about: 1. The doctor and referee are going to take that decision out of your hands if you cannot open your eyes for an extended period of time. This was a freak occurrence where the finish happened legit five to ten seconds after the fight restarted. That's a less than 5 percent probability of that happening more than once in a blue moon. 2. Fighting Ante Delija compromised is a bit different than fighting Ciryl Gane compromised. For most heavyweights, fighting Gane with 20/20 vision is a tall ask so now you want someone to fight him basically half blind? 3. Sometimes, 3-5 minutes to recover from an eye poke ain't enough based on the severity. I absolutely HATE fights that end that way prematurely especially as it was starting to get really good. However, I can still be somewhat objective. Aspinall wasn't doing some exaggerated agony gestures to get either the ref or doc to step in and intercede on his behalf. I do think he was frustrated by the fact that the fight was pretty much over given that he was given a good amount of time and his sight still wasn't clear.

I watched Halloween Havoc 1991 over the weekend. It's crazy that despite WCW being on the forefront of having entrance sets, their shit still looked amazingly ghetto as hell. It also doesn't help that while they opened one of the doors on the set, on camera, Mike Graham stuck his head in from behind the set and closed the door and made someone's entrance 150% less cooler. In addition, I don't understand the obsession with the tinsel during various WCW PPVs and Clashes across the early to mid 90s. Is this a big time wrestling show or someone's junior prom?

Felt exactly the same. It was playing out to be an intriguing fight as it couldn't have gone any better for Gane very early on. However, it was clearly going to come down to if Gane might slow down and Aspinall eventually take over from there. Unfortunately, this outcome just adds more uncertainty to a pretty lackluster division.

Quillan Salkilld just did some prime Mirko CroCop shit and caught a body.

Here is the template for this week: EVENT #23 UFC 321: Aspinall vs. Gane (10/25/2025) - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Etihad Arena) Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane - Aspinall, TKO, R3 Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern - Dern, DEC Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista - Nurmagomedov, DEC Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida - Volkov, DEC Aleksandar Rakić vs. Azamat Murzakanov - Murzakanov, TKO, R2 Nasrat Haqparast vs. Quillan Salkilld - Salkilld, DEC Ikram Aliskerov vs. Jun Yong Park - Aliskerov, TKO, R2 Mateusz Rębecki vs. Ľudovít Klein - Klein, DEC Valter Walker vs. Louie Sutherland - Walker, DEC Jose Delgado vs. Nathaniel Wood - Delgado, DEC Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Chris Barnett - Abdelwahab, DEC Azat Maksum vs. Mitch Raposo - Maksum, DEC Mizuki Inoue vs. Jaqueline Amorim - Amorim, SUB, R3 The Event #23 deadline is Saturday, October 25, 12:45 p.m. CT

UFC 321: Aspinall vs. Gane October 25, 2025 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Etihad Arena) UFC Heavyweight Championship: Tom Aspinall © vs. Ciryl Gane (first defense) UFC Women's Strawweight Championship: Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern (vacant) Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida Aleksandar Rakić vs. Azamat Murzakanov FX / ESPN+ / Disney+ Preliminary Card: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Quillan Salkilld Ikram Aliskerov vs. Jun Yong Park Mateusz Rębecki vs. Ľudovít Klein Valter Walker vs. Louie Sutherland Jose Delgado vs. Nathaniel Wood Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Chris Barnett Azat Maksum vs. Mitch Raposo Mizuki Inoue vs. Jaqueline Amorim Event Bonuses ($50,000) Performance of the Night: Performance of the Night: Fight of the Night: Attendance: Gate:

Yeah, I think I heard that but it was awhile ago.

You need a pretty big arm when you're flinging it to someone playing in the defensive backfield.

I mean he was on Dark Side not too long ago. Abby is big enough in terms of reputation where you will know when he passes away. There are a bunch of people who haven't been around or people really aren't checking for that aren't as known where they could pass and you probably not know (i.e. random luchador from the 60s, 70s, or 80s that's up there in age). Besides like a random shoot interview clip probably taped decades ago, has anyone heard from Mark Lewin? He was old in the 80s as part of the Army of Darkness and somehow still in the game in 2025. Now that's one where it could fly under the radar.