Zakk_Sabbath

Dude, that shit cracked me up. I put it up there with the Macho-to-Hogan "reviving" elbow drop at whatever WWIII that was (except intentionally hilarious)

I wouldn't mind Sting retiring as a champion at all, but I don't understand why you think it's a bad idea - is it that it's the Bucks? Not busting chops, if you don't dig those guys it's fine, just legit asking

I had the thought too and was debating on posting it because I didn't wanna come off like one of those nutcases trying to bully Christopher Reeve's kid into playing Superman even though the guy's like a journalist with ABC and has zero interest in acting

I was wondering if Vince's transmitting the materials electronically would somehow loosely qualify under any of these new revenge porn statues

I don't remember that part of the movie

No way. Panic move to save his own ass, like any rat.

Yo same except I hear Kenan doing Cosby, and not actual Cosby Edit: Enjoy @InfinitI think you picked a good one (and I mean it this week, dammit)

Holy shit, I want that Bayne/Kamille team so badly now. Nyla/Marina and those two clubberin' in the finals, please.

They hosted a show there in September 2011 with Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax - late season rather than early, but worth mentioning (it was also f'n awesome, I might add). I'm not 100% sure if it's just for concessions or for everything, but I feel like I recall reading years ago that the Yanks were somehow in bed with the Cowboys as far as whoever runs their stadiums - I have to look into that further, but i mention it just to say that it may not even be a 'team' call at this point. George would've shot 'em, but I think Hank might at least ask what the payday is first.

Haha it was more about their poor business practices than the corporate naming rights BS, but I will fully agree here - plus, my old man is a Laker fan anyway, so we always just called it "that shit hole" in our house

Shit, I'll second that. The next week's "It took 25 years, but I told you so" pod from Nash would be a fun listen.

All you really gotta know is this: it was such a bullshit call that I almost joined your ranks

I could maybe see an argument for saying that about some of the Bruce Pritchard, or Bruce-style anyway, remote segments - things like Big Show's dad's funeral, the DX 'invasion' at the Scope, Crash Holly's HC title stuff, Chyna and Eddy going to dinner or whatever - I know he worked at TNA for a spell, no idea if there's any overlap- but anything in like, the fake beige office with the ficuses in the corner, and 2K posters on the wall?? Blegh. Could not disagree harder.

Having not been a regular TNA viewer in quite some time, I appreciate the insight @HarryArchieGus - I had assumed all that WWE-lite stuff you mentioned was a philosophy picked up during the Bischoff/Hogan era that they never quite shed, so I was a bit surprised to read that. Edit: Actually, I should add- there was one instance pretty recently where I caught Impact, and the segment was centered around Zack Ryder and his guys doing a sort of Jericho-esque 'Sports Entertainer' deal, calling themselves WTF (World Titan Federation, naturally) - I actually thought shooting it WWE-style the way they did was part of the bit

I just saw this as well - Fenway would've made sense for a 'huge' announcement given that it would be a hypothetical stadium show, but I don't see this Fleet Center (fuck you TD) show being the announcement unless it's somehow made clear it's for Mercedes (e.g. 'The First Dance' and accompanying Darby 'Even if you're the best in the world' promo). Otherwise, it's just kinda... not that big a deal? I mean, they just ran Blood and Guts in that building not too long ago (which drew like 9K people, pretty damn good considering how many floor seats were eliminated by the two ring set up) it's not like they're debuting in the building/area.

Love Ricky and don't disagree, but IMO this depends entirely on whether he's WWE-bound or not. The last thing I would want to do if I were AEW is have him get that rub and then turn around and immediately take it to the competition's TV Edit: Thinking further, I guess that the Bucks are actually a pretty good choice in that 'Verne putting the title on himself because everyone else is leaving for JCP/WWF' way, being that they're EVPs.

Wow, that is kinda shocking. I'd heard nothing but good things thru the grapevine about their recent FA signings - maybe they were unhappy with the rebrand back to TNA, or something? Hopefully nothing, uh, untoward. With Callis having been gone for a while, I'm very curious who's gonna end up running the show there. I think there's definitely a market/appetite for a third national show on the level of an ECW or AWA but it really seems like anyone in contention keeps going one step forward, two back. Edit: Thanks @Kangyou caught me while I was typing

I was all ready to shout "Serena Deeb!" to anyone who would listen, but after her great comeback promo on Collision the other week, I'm not even sure she should be saddled with the "less charismatic" designation anymore - perhaps less charismatic than Britt herself, but very, very few in the division can match her on the mic anyway IMO. Overall, I enjoy Baker, and look forward to her coming back refreshed - not dumping on anyone, but some of that Outcasts stuff really didn't do her or anyone involved any favors (One could argue it was necessary to get to 'Timeless Toni' but candidly, I wasn't really into the ride). I seem to recall Britt doing a lot of posturing on social media trying to make a Purazzo match happen when she was TNA champion and the 'Forbidden Door' was first opened - maybe that's where we're eventually heading

Gooood call - and the nice thing there is that you've already got the FTR/Garcia alliance in place, so if they DID end up wanting to go with Garcia/Christian for the title as you mentioned in your post, there's your path right there

With the Britt(sburgh) talk, now's a good time for my annual reminder that Jesse James caught that ball

Not being funny or hanging on anyone, but where the hell is this Mercedes/Boston rumor coming from?? I must be way outta the loop - I've been thinking all week it's either gonna be a MAX deal or Okada based on the phrasing of "Huge" announcement, which I THINK is the largest possible on the Coach Tony scale ('We'll hear from' -> 'Major' -> 'Blockbuster' -> 'Huge'). Edit: Actually, if that ends up being it, maybe that should be the title of the show: AEW Left Field

I base this on absolutely nothing but a random trios from months ago, but my gut feeling is that we start seeing Darby team with Edge more regularly once Sting hangs it up - with that, I could see a path to keeping the Christian/Edge issue intact, but contemporaneously pivoting the TNT title to Darby and having him rekindle the Nick Wayne issue - there's also lots of nice tag/trios combinations you could do in a parallel build/singular story that ends with Edge/Christian and Darby/Wayne as singles matches, as opposed to one big tag match.

This is also probably stating the obvious, but even with those hard-ass pre '98 rings, there's still a bit more give under the feet with the added padding as opposed to a boxing ring. When I read this, I immediately thought of Foley's first book where he said there were a few blown knees and ankles when they eventually made it a bit softer that year Tri-state area bedtime pro tip: at some point, the CW affiliate in CT skipped an airing or shuffled some things around, so if you're tired of whatever episode is on channel 11, there are always two different ones on at the same time on channel 20

Yo seconded!! That was like, some early proto-MMA ground 'n' pound by her.

This is the reason that I'm trying to give a bit of grace to your Nashes and Foleys saying things like "I mean, I wasn't there..." or "I don't know all the facts." The entire situation has got to be hard to reconcile for any performer who was part of the machine at the level they were. I think Dolfan was on the money when he used the phrase "bite the hand that feeds" - if you take someone like Nash, who went from bouncing at nipple clubs to main eventing the Garden, or Foley, who grew up in NY with Vince calling matches, I can see the idea of hesitancy or resistance to admitting to one's self "A violent rapist enabled me to buy this house and send my kids to this really good school" or whatever it is - for others it may be a movie career, for some it could be like "I get to charge $5 more for an 8x10 since I was on WWE TV" Edit: This is all, of course, setting aside the ingrained "One more run" or "Defend the business" aspects we discussed pages back