Elsalvajeloco

What is news is how incongruous that is with the mindset of folks that actually own the company. They have so much money tied up in talent. The last thing they want is having all the folks getting paid millions to sit at home injured. Availability is going to be essential, especially for two day WrestleManias, Royal Rumble, Summerslam, and the Saudi shows. On one hand, you say everyone wants to work with WWE. Of course, that's what you're suppose to say. No argument from me. However, you cannot say folks don't want to work when (1) your competition has essentially the same schedule and more if you include indy/international shots and (2) every corporation now has based their MO on work life balance even if they're outright lying and don't want you to have proper work life balance. If you had to choose one, the latter would be more important because if someone puts a mic in front of your face, you trot out the approved corporate line especially for current employees. I guarantee there were at least a solid amount of current WWE talent absolutely baffled by that line. You don't say, "well, everyone can't take the grind...glad I didn't hire you.". That's some nonsensical Dana White stuff. And not even more media trained Dana White. Dana White from like fourteen or fifteen years ago.

When Paul went to WWF, they were also using about a dozen or so people that were not enhancement talent. WCW was still doing house shows and running those marathon tapings doing MONTHS of TV well in advance. Those were already well in effect when he was Terra Ryzing and Jean Paul Levesque. What did he think he was doing...chilling in catering? Now, Eric's priority was to cut down on house shows in 1994. However, they were still doing matches. Both companies would still make guys wrestle no less than twice a taping. Either way, WWE isn't doing that now. It would be like if my fundamental belief was to use a pager more. Like yeah, that's not a thing anymore.

I have no dog in the fight, but it's not like Ospreay is some rookie. Okada definitely ain't a goddamn rookie. That first brush with the IWGP title was well over 10 years ago, and he (Okada) was already wrestling well before then. If the concern is anything, it's the fact that their bodies have already been through so much. If I was Paul or TK, the first thing I would be doing to putting on a schedule that preserves them so they can be on every notable show we have. Yeah, they might do an occasional TV match. However, based on how a lot of their notable, higher paid talent is treated (especially in WWE), they're getting treated like their special so they can maintain that sense of importance. At some point, guys like Hogan, Warrior, and Savage weren't doing matches on Superstars and Challenge unless it was a big time angle associated with it. If there isn't going to be large talent turnover or annual cullings post WrestleMania *knock on wood*, then one of the priorities of the new ownership is not running them into the ground. Hence, why they probably don't look at the few non-televised live events they run as something they want to do anyway. Probably view them as antiquated and unnecessary injury risk.

You will settle for Tazz in a halloween mask and like it.

I'd like to think the House of Guleen has been collecting rare human oddities, and he's up to 25,679. He is just waiting for the perfect time to unleash them.

If they ever do a live action version of Up, Zbyszko has to play Carl.

I was trying to win WON booker of the year by making Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere WWE tag team champs.

If JR is there, Jamie cannot be there. Still some bad feelings there.

I think the story is that Paul was the apprentice of Taker's father at the family owned funeral home and attending the PRESTIGIOUS college for morticians. The gist of the story from Taker's POV Is the future Kane was messing around with chemicals he shouldn't have been touching which led to the fire that killed their parents. I believed that contradicted Paul's story that Undertaker was playing with matches or something and that was the cause of the fire. Okay, now the big gapping hole in the story is somehow we're suppose to believe that police or no one in authority told kid Taker that his brother was still alive. It wouldn't even make sense that he was missing because it wouldn't make sense for Bearer to come home from the aforementioned college and then sneak away with kid to later adopt him. Also, even if we suspend disbelief, are we to assume that Bearer somehow had a guardian type relationship with now parentless kid in some type of foster care? Also, where did Undertaker go as a kid? Was he like Caine in Kung Fu as a kid wandering the earth? When Bearer is introduced in WWF in 1991, they never went into the background and if he had a previous relationship with the Undertaker IIRC. From one POV, you can probably explain that ended up putting them in separate homes and maybe Taker didn't remember. That or Taker was so shaken mentally that his lack of supervision for his brother that he never wanted to face his brother again even he was alive. However, they probably should fleshed that out. Then again, they undid a bunch of this with the, "he was never burned to begin with!". And before that, when Kane and Bearer exhumed their parents at some random cemetary and somehow do this without getting arrested and thrown in prison.

Everytime I see it, I think they could have trimmed it down especially when Taker even then wasn't known for talking. It's one of the few times WWF bothered to really explain things and having exposition. That said, later on, they never explained why these two people have supernatural powers somehow. If you're going to do origin stories, at least go all in.

When WCW did their one or two shows there, they were just Nitros at a stadium. Nothing memorable or anything. Just your average Nitro. It felt once WWF started to turn the tide that WCW started treating those dome shows with any type of reverence (fingerpoke not withstanding). Too little, too late, but that's probably what they should have been doing from the beginning.

IIRC Wasn't the Alamodome built to attract a NFL team to San Antonio? I say that because one of the first big events there was the Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Pernell Whitaker robbery in 1993, and that was something they mentioned on commentary throughout the PPV if I am not mistaken. I thought it was bold move they did the 97 Rumble there because they weren't exactly knocking them dead in late 96/early 97. I mean most of those IYH PPVs in 1996 were in real small mid sized arenas. To go from that to doing that crowd at the Rumble tells you that momentum largely is just an opinion.

Right over the hand.

As an aside, during my 1995 rewatch for the Raw after WrestleMania, Jim managed to sneak in, "Well it's like my good friend Porkchop Cash said..." And I was like, "what the fuck?!" First off, the fact that Cornette was out here quoting Porkchop Cash and Vince totally no sold it and didn't say, "Porkchop...wait...you have a friend named Porkchop?" is amazing. Second, if Cornette truncated all the bad shit on his podcast (roughly 75% give or take) for nothing but Porkchop Cash sayings, then count me back in.

For Prince's Controversy, I would fire half of you ingrates. Except Stefanie Sparkleface. ...that is until I get the rights to the Earth, Wind & Fire catalogue. Then, I can make no promises.

Not really. I mean she wasn't really the only one running wrestling operations. Prior to Panda Energy, TNA was running through money at a ridiculous level. If Bob Carter doesn't want to be a part of that, then it doesn't happen. Now if you want call Bob a "money mark" far enough, but everything I can gleam especially from what Jeff has relayed from his own podcast, there wasn't essentially one issue/person to place all the blame on. Dixie's lack of wrestling creative acumen and relationships with talent contributed to the problems certainly, but cheapness certainly wasn't an issue. And historically, especially from what we seen in sports going back to the days of pre multi billionaires owning franchises in the NBA and NFL, the cheapskates are true cheapskates. There is very little vacillation. Tony Khan has been AEW from the beginning essentially. This begins and ends with him. That said, when you have a certain departments where they have budgets in place and you as an independent contractor are just one of the line items, The Tate Twins are one of many faceless people. It wasn't them, it was going to be something other guys pretty fortunate to have found themselves to be employed. In a corporate environment that is fairly common. So on one hand, he is a money mark for hiring them. Yet, on the hand, he should keep them employed as to not to appear frugal. Yeah, that's fairly ridiculous. If they're truly talented, they will show up somewhere else and ASAP. Happened with damn near every other wrestling company who released people.

So is he spending TOO much money or not ENOUGH money? You for example call him a "money mark". Yet, he's a cheapskate. I don't think I understand that. There is two different narratives here that I don't really understand about Tony. You cannot have it both ways. I, however, do know that for the past 40-50 years that "your ass betta be here before bell time" has been universal thing in pro wrestling no matter the promoter. Whether it's been by plane, train, or automobile, you gotta be there. And from The Boys perspective or anyone else who has ran into non performance related issues that cost them their job in wrestling, I can definitely sympathize to a certain degree. Shit happens and it can snowball. This goes especially if this is really your first time working for a company where it's essentially a traveling circus. IMO it was likely they saw a trend in missing shows or being egregiously late and not just one time. Again, in their position where they are extremely expendable, something like that isn't going to lead to a positive outcome. If it was a being cheap issue, we would have heard countless stories of people not making AEW shows. However, we haven't.

Unfortunately, when you're the low guys on the totem pole, missing shows even for a good reason ain't best for your job security. Remember in the first several years of TNA, there would be major travel issues every other week. And that's a company that did all their television in one central location. A lot of those lower card guys ended up getting cut due to "budget" issues as well.

That's totally on the table. The one thing that you could count on is the WWF prop department nailing that. They also had enough folks in the inner circle like Cornette who knew how to work fake dishwashing soap so you can throw liquid in someone's eyes safely and folks at ringside be able to get a whiff of something that smells remotely like a dishwashing soap. That is how insanely carny pro wrestling is.

If that was such an issue, there would be no PC. Literally 90 percent or more of their "developmental" talent has never proven that they would have been a wrestler back in the "good ole days". This goes especially since the roster as a whole is averaging a torn ACL injury or the like every 4-6 weeks. Unlike then, you're getting paid to sit at home.

That's totally a name Bruce Prichard would have came up with in 1994 after smoking a few joints.

It's throwing shade at themselves if anything. They literally put a guy in one of the biggest main events of the year who ain't been a full time wrestler in over twenty years. If you were born 21 years ago, you don't remember Dwayne Johnson as a full time wrestler. You can say he earned it, but WrestleMania weekend is also where you have men and women literally wrestling up to 2-3 times a day over the course of 3-4 days. There are folks on the WWE roster who probably average 2-3 matches A MONTH if that. The fuck is he going on about.

Man, Roman's schedule would put the average NWA champ to shame. All the grind and no time off.

Cynthia Calvillo vs. Piera Rodriguez is off after Calvillo missed weight. Alexander Hernandez missed weight, but appears to be cutting to attempt to make weight on a 2nd attempt.