Sure, why not. Whatever. WWE Network and Wrestlemania

[The Unknown Poster]

Suspended by how poorly raw did this week:

The lack of star power and three hour length of Raw took its toll last night as, even with a lower-rated NFL game than in recent weeks, Raw set another modern audience record low mark last night.

Raw was down from last week's 3.24 million viewers to 3.16 million this week, with the lowest viewed hour (hour three) in modern non-holiday history, even on a night built around the first round of the WWE title tournament. When the brackets for the tournament didn't list outside stars, and the most pushed star in the tournament, Roman Reigns, had already wrestled in the first hour, interest fell greatly.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.48 million viewers

9 p.m. 3.18 million viewers

10 p.m. 2.86 million viewers

[Brandon]

Is your point to try and illustrate that he was better when in the tag team than as a singles guy? You chose two clips from his tag days one of which is a pretty sloppy fallaway slam variation and you compared it to possibly the worst clip from his awful WWE run.

He was more athletic when he was younger (so was I!) but if athletics was the defining feature of top stars than Neville would be World Champion.

[The Unknown Poster]

Yes Christian screwed up there. For someone determined to ridicule wrestling you sure spend a lot of time searching for clips!

[Brandon]

Yes Christian screwed up there. For someone determined to ridicule wrestling you sure spend a lot of time searching for clips!

Google image search Scott Steiner gif and you find them right away.

[The Unknown Poster]

Have fun trolling. Weird obsession though. For curiosity sake what business do you work in?

[Atomic]

Suspended by how poorly raw did this week:

The lack of star power and three hour length of Raw took its toll last night as, even with a lower-rated NFL game than in recent weeks, Raw set another modern audience record low mark last night.

Raw was down from last week's 3.24 million viewers to 3.16 million this week, with the lowest viewed hour (hour three) in modern non-holiday history, even on a night built around the first round of the WWE title tournament. When the brackets for the tournament didn't list outside stars, and the most pushed star in the tournament, Roman Reigns, had already wrestled in the first hour, interest fell greatly.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.48 million viewers

9 p.m. 3.18 million viewers

10 p.m. 2.86 million viewers

I'm still shocked they didn't leave any spots open for a mystery competitor. Like why the hell not?!?!

[Brandon]

Have fun trolling. Weird obsession though. For curiosity sake what business do you work in?

 

Animated gifs

 

[iso_55]

I still think Cesaro over sheamus was an upset, unless they play up whatever arm injury he may have sustained and put sheamus back in by default.

 

based on the names of this tournament, they could have made it an 8 person thing too and saved some of the obvious

Cesaro is 4 times the wrestler Sheamus is... Obviously Triple H is holding the guy back. 

[Goalie]

Vince is. Vince don't like Cesaro. He made it clear on the Austin podcast

[iso_55]

Very bad....

[Goalie]

Wwe will get better when vince dies or gives up the creative decisions to hhh. NXT is awesome and hunter Is tge Man in charge

[iso_55]

Watching Bray Wyatt tonight on Smackdown. The guy is the weakest leader of any faction I've seen in a long time. Stroman is just plain bad... lol!!

[The Unknown Poster]

When Vince panics he goes back to what he knows - big, lumbering giants.  There has been speculation that he sees Strowman as a suitable opponant for Undertaker at WrestleMania, if you can believe it.

 

So this *was* the WM plan.

 

Hunter & Steph vs Rock and Rousey, switched to Hunter vs Rock, switched to Hunter vs Rollins.

Roman vs Cena

Undertaker vs Brock (moved to HiaC)

 

Then supposedly, Cena vs Undertaker and Roman vs Brock.  As of this week, everything is up in the air.  They were relying on Rock (and hopefully Ronda) to be the big draw but Ronda is not available and Rocky is having insurance issues.  Not to mention I dont see Hunter vs Rock as a major draw.

 

If its me, I turn Roman heel and I bring back Bryan at the RR to win and you tell the story of him being almost forced to retuire and being one bad bump away from being finished for good.  Bryan goes on to win the title at WM.  (also works with Brock as champion vs Bryan, leaving Roman to work Cena or possibly Hunter and Cena vs Taker).

[The Unknown Poster]

Ten years ago today, Eddie Guerrero passed away.

 

There are very few wrestlers in history who combined talent, charisma, look, professionalism, effort and pride like he did.  Truly one of the greatest of all time.  If he was around today and 10 years younger, he'd have the world at his feet (and probably be the #2 guy in WWE).

 

I'd like to tell a story about meeting Eddie if you will oblige:

 

I was incredibly lucky to have worked with Eddie in 2002.  We booked him on our official company launch which drew over 1700 fans at the IGAC at the UofM.  It almost didnt happen.  He had worked the previous night for a promotion in Illinois (I believe it was Ian Rotten).  Eddie's home base was Florida so the way three-way bookings work is the first promoter (Ian) would fly Eddie from his home in Florida to Illinois, we'd split the Illinois to Winnipeg leg and then we'd fly him home.  We asked Ian to make sure Eddie got into Chicago as early as possible after the show because his flight was pretty early the next day.

 

My partner and I went to the airport (this was a Sunday) to meet Eddie.  We're waiting downstairs at International arrivals and all the passengers clear but no Eddie.  We'd eventually learn this was routine with wrestlers coming through Winnipeg.  I receive a phone call on my cell and it's Eddie.  He reports customs is hassling him.

 

When we booked Eddie he had previously been arrested on a DUI but the case was before the courts and he expected it to go away.  About a week before the show he ended up pleading no-contest.  That posed a problem for coming into Canada.  Long story short, Customs deemed Eddie a risk to Canada and wouldnt let him in. 

 

Because we knew of the DUI, we had spoken to our corporate attorney and received some advice, which amounted to throwing himself on the mercy of the customs agent.  I gave Eddie the hard sell about how important he was to the show etc.  A few minutes later, a customs agent came out and explained that while Eddie was deemed a risk to Canada, that risk could be assuaged by paying off Customs by getting a special permit (I cant remember how much it was).

 

So we pay that and Eddie comes out looking very, very tired.  He explains that after the previous night's show, the promoter basically left him on his own.  He managed to get a ride into Chicago from someone on the ring crew but had to wait til he was done tearing down the equipment.  He tried several hotels that were all booked due to a convention in town.  He eventually just called a friend and slept on his couch for about two hours before he had to go to the airport and come to Winnipeg.

 

Our show was a Sunday and Eddie was flying back to Florida on Monday and then was leaving to Japan on Tuesday morning for a long tour that was very important to him as far as proving to WWE that he was fully beyond his prior issues.  So originally he had been reluctant to come to Canada so close to that date.  Once he came in, he told me that when Customs was hassling him he was close to just getting back on the plane and going home but my speech to him inspired him to come in and work for us....

 

For the 24 hours he was with us, he was incredibly nice, kind, professional.  Being exhausted, he just wanted to go to the hotel and sleep.  We had arranged a telephone interview with local radio and an in-person autograph session and TV interview.  He did both without complaint. 

 

We had put him up in a hotel close to the University and told him he could rest until close to match time but he insisted on coming down early and being around the boys.  He watched several of the matches including a tag team TLC match and joked about having to follow them. 

 

He went out and had a great match with a young guy that while good for a young local guy was not nearly in Eddie's league.  Eddie even suggested a finish to the match which involved his opponent and his opponent's ally ending up in the 69 position and Eddie frog splashing them both.  He asked to address the roster in the post-show meeting and gave a wonderful speech to all the boys.

 

He insisted on attending the after party even though it was very late and was in a bar (Eddie was a recovering addict and didnt drink).  He put on a "PCW" shirt and happily took pics with everyone who wanted and politely declined several offers of drinks and shooters.  He quietly approached our booker and asked if he'd mind if he made a suggestion on a future match.  Eddie offered to come back and work Rey Misterio.  Before he left he told me to keep in touch.

 

I drove him to the airport the next day and he was very gracious.  His tour of Japan had been a success and rumors sprung up that Misterio was signing with WWE and Eddie might be next.  I called Eddie and asked if Rey was still available.  He told me to "kayfabe" (ie. keep it a secret) but no, he was no longer available.  I asked "what about you" and he paused before saying "It looks like I wont be either".  He later called me to recommend Jerry Lynn.

 

As luck would have it, our little promotion ended up being Eddie' last North American appearance before he re-signed with WWE in April 2002.  He ended up doing a Ring of Honor show after he had signed with WWE.  In fact, I think he was IC Champion when he did ROH as he returned to WWE and immediately won the IC title.

 

It might seem odd to say that a guy we knew for such a brief period made such a huge impact but he really did.  When he died, it was heart-breaking to so many members of our roster who had met him.  We had a tribute show that was very emotional.

 

Here is a news story from Eddie's Winnipeg appearance:

 

 

The Honky Tonk Man appears in the news story as well and an amusing footnote is that he was very upset with our booker because he didnt know Eddie was booked.  He thought it was unprofessional because our booker had told HTM that he and Brutus were the main event and then booked Eddie.  I ended up talking with Honky about it and he was mad that Eddie got paid so much more than him using the logic "is Eddie going to dance?  Is Eddie going to sing?  No, so why do you pay him more than me".  I replied "Because he's Eddie Guerrero and everyone came to see him" (silly reply) and Honky retorted "Oh really, do you have special Eddie Guerrero tickets that people bought that said they were there to see him and not me?"  lol

 

Here is the match, Eddie vs Will Damon (dont judge us too harshly, this was 2002!)

 

[The Unknown Poster]

Here is an example of "stupid":

 

Monty "Kip" Sopp, better known as Billy Gunn, was fired today as a trainer by World Wrestling Entertainment.

 

Sopp was fired due to testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone in a powerlifting meet on July 25.

 

Sopp's drug test at the meet came up with a 37-1 testosterone/epitestosterone ratio, well over the 4-1 limit, and he was suspended from powerlifting for four years.

Sopp, 52, had returned to  WWE as a trainer in 2012 after several years away from the organization.  He worked as an agent and a trainer, as well as had a New Age Outlaws nostalgia run as a tag team, winning the tag team titles in early 2013.

 

He had done occasional run-ins at the end of some NXT shows with he and the babyfaces wrestlers ending shows doing DX crotch chops.

Most recently, he had appeared on television as one of the trainers on Tough Enough and Breaking Ground.

 

WWE officials were not aware of him competing as a powerlifter until a few weeks ago or his suspension from that sport.

[iso_55]

When Vince panics he goes back to what he knows - big, lumbering giants.  There has been speculation that he sees Strowman as a suitable opponant for Undertaker at WrestleMania, if you can believe it.

 

So this *was* the WM plan.

 

Hunter & Steph vs Rock and Rousey, switched to Hunter vs Rock, switched to Hunter vs Rollins.

Roman vs Cena

Undertaker vs Brock (moved to HiaC)

 

Then supposedly, Cena vs Undertaker and Roman vs Brock.  As of this week, everything is up in the air.  They were relying on Rock (and hopefully Ronda) to be the big draw but Ronda is not available and Rocky is having insurance issues.  Not to mention I dont see Hunter vs Rock as a major draw.

 

If its me, I turn Roman heel and I bring back Bryan at the RR to win and you tell the story of him being almost forced to retuire and being one bad bump away from being finished for good.  Bryan goes on to win the title at WM.  (also works with Brock as champion vs Bryan, leaving Roman to work Cena or possibly Hunter and Cena vs Taker).

IF Bryan can wrestle in the future. He's not been cleared by WWE physicians & may never wrestle again. So, it's impossible to start planning his return as it may never happen. 

[iso_55]

 

Here is an example of "stupid":

 

Monty "Kip" Sopp, better known as Billy Gunn, was fired today as a trainer by World Wrestling Entertainment.

 

Sopp was fired due to testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone in a powerlifting meet on July 25.

 

Sopp's drug test at the meet came up with a 37-1 testosterone/epitestosterone ratio, well over the 4-1 limit, and he was suspended from powerlifting for four years.

Sopp, 52, had returned to  WWE as a trainer in 2012 after several years away from the organization.  He worked as an agent and a trainer, as well as had a New Age Outlaws nostalgia run as a tag team, winning the tag team titles in early 2013.

 

He had done occasional run-ins at the end of some NXT shows with he and the babyfaces wrestlers ending shows doing DX crotch chops.

Most recently, he had appeared on television as one of the trainers on Tough Enough and Breaking Ground.

 

WWE officials were not aware of him competing as a powerlifter until a few weeks ago or his suspension from that sport.

 

Yep, you gotta wonder sometimes...

[iso_55]

Thanks for the video clips & insider news about Eddie Guerrero, UP. Honky Tonk Man is hillarious. 

[The Unknown Poster]

 

When Vince panics he goes back to what he knows - big, lumbering giants.  There has been speculation that he sees Strowman as a suitable opponant for Undertaker at WrestleMania, if you can believe it.

 

So this *was* the WM plan.

 

Hunter & Steph vs Rock and Rousey, switched to Hunter vs Rock, switched to Hunter vs Rollins.

Roman vs Cena

Undertaker vs Brock (moved to HiaC)

 

Then supposedly, Cena vs Undertaker and Roman vs Brock.  As of this week, everything is up in the air.  They were relying on Rock (and hopefully Ronda) to be the big draw but Ronda is not available and Rocky is having insurance issues.  Not to mention I dont see Hunter vs Rock as a major draw.

 

If its me, I turn Roman heel and I bring back Bryan at the RR to win and you tell the story of him being almost forced to retuire and being one bad bump away from being finished for good.  Bryan goes on to win the title at WM.  (also works with Brock as champion vs Bryan, leaving Roman to work Cena or possibly Hunter and Cena vs Taker).

IF Bryan can wrestle in the future. He's not been cleared by WWE physicians & may never wrestle again. So, it's impossible to start planning his return as it may never happen. 

 

Bryan has been cleared by his doctor and WWE's doctor advised him not to wrestle again.  So it comes down to Vince's decision.  They were going to have him examined by a third doctor.  Bryan's intent is to wrestle.  His brain tested above normal for someone his age and thats with his repeated concussions.

 

They way I understand it, the doctor who cleared him (Arizona Cardinals doc) put him through the brain testing and cleared him based on the idea that his brain is fine right now.  Where as WWE's doctor would not clear him based on the idea that his next concussion could be worse based on suffering repeated concussions.  So one doc says "he's is fine currently and you cant deny him based on a future event that may or may not happen" and one doc says "Yeah he's fine now but the next one could be worse".

 

I'd side with the NFL doctor only because every single guy in WWE can take one move and be paralyzed tomorrow so preventing Bryan from working on the basis of future risk isnt reasonable. 

 

I'd bet against Bryan never wrestling again.  If WWE wont clear him, he will go somewhere else when his contract is up (and he will have big money offers from everyone) and probably make more money away from WWE then he's making in WWE.

 

Im actually surprised he didnt end up in WWE's plans since desperation might over-rule Vince's sense of concern or liability.

[The Unknown Poster]

Thanks for the video clips & insider news about Eddie Guerrero, UP. Honky Tonk Man is hillarious. 

No problem.  Thanks for watching!

 

Honky is a lot of fun but can be a handfull.  We've had him out here many times and that booking in 2002 was for 4 days!  I have some stories I shouldnt tell...  but I will say that I really liked Honky every time he's come in for us.  I find him easy to get along with and he's always worked hard for me.  We took him to Brandon a couple of years ago and he was quite excited to get in the ring with Omega!

 

During the 2002 booking, since he and Beefcake were here for several days, we had a free night and I took him to Burton Cummings' house.  I have some very awesome video of the two of them singing HTM's theme song together and sitting at Burton's piano.  Someone hands HTM a guitar and he admits he cant play!

[iso_55]

 

 

When Vince panics he goes back to what he knows - big, lumbering giants.  There has been speculation that he sees Strowman as a suitable opponant for Undertaker at WrestleMania, if you can believe it.

 

So this *was* the WM plan.

 

Hunter & Steph vs Rock and Rousey, switched to Hunter vs Rock, switched to Hunter vs Rollins.

Roman vs Cena

Undertaker vs Brock (moved to HiaC)

 

Then supposedly, Cena vs Undertaker and Roman vs Brock.  As of this week, everything is up in the air.  They were relying on Rock (and hopefully Ronda) to be the big draw but Ronda is not available and Rocky is having insurance issues.  Not to mention I dont see Hunter vs Rock as a major draw.

 

If its me, I turn Roman heel and I bring back Bryan at the RR to win and you tell the story of him being almost forced to retuire and being one bad bump away from being finished for good.  Bryan goes on to win the title at WM.  (also works with Brock as champion vs Bryan, leaving Roman to work Cena or possibly Hunter and Cena vs Taker).

IF Bryan can wrestle in the future. He's not been cleared by WWE physicians & may never wrestle again. So, it's impossible to start planning his return as it may never happen. 

 

Bryan has been cleared by his doctor and WWE's doctor advised him not to wrestle again.  So it comes down to Vince's decision.  They were going to have him examined by a third doctor.  Bryan's intent is to wrestle.  His brain tested above normal for someone his age and thats with his repeated concussions.

 

They way I understand it, the doctor who cleared him (Arizona Cardinals doc) put him through the brain testing and cleared him based on the idea that his brain is fine right now.  Where as WWE's doctor would not clear him based on the idea that his next concussion could be worse based on suffering repeated concussions.  So one doc says "he's is fine currently and you cant deny him based on a future event that may or may not happen" and one doc says "Yeah he's fine now but the next one could be worse".

 

I'd side with the NFL doctor only because every single guy in WWE can take one move and be paralyzed tomorrow so preventing Bryan from working on the basis of future risk isnt reasonable. 

 

I'd bet against Bryan never wrestling again.  If WWE wont clear him, he will go somewhere else when his contract is up (and he will have big money offers from everyone) and probably make more money away from WWE then he's making in WWE.

 

Im actually surprised he didnt end up in WWE's plans since desperation might over-rule Vince's sense of concern or liability.

 

Well, I think we'll never see Bryan in a WWE ring as a wrestler again. He may go Independent but that'll be it. If the WWE won't clear him then it's over for him there.

[iso_55]

 

Thanks for the video clips & insider news about Eddie Guerrero, UP. Honky Tonk Man is hillarious. 

No problem.  Thanks for watching!

 

Honky is a lot of fun but can be a handfull.  We've had him out here many times and that booking in 2002 was for 4 days!  I have some stories I shouldnt tell...  but I will say that I really liked Honky every time he's come in for us.  I find him easy to get along with and he's always worked hard for me.  We took him to Brandon a couple of years ago and he was quite excited to get in the ring with Omega!

 

During the 2002 booking, since he and Beefcake were here for several days, we had a free night and I took him to Burton Cummings' house.  I have some very awesome video of the two of them singing HTM's theme song together and sitting at Burton's piano.  Someone hands HTM a guitar and he admits he cant play!

 

Well, I think most long time wrestling fans knew he was no Eddie Van Halen on guitar.

[The Unknown Poster]

There is also speculation that if WWE does clear him they wont until after WM (or at WM) because if he came back anytime between now and the Rumble, the fans will hijack WWE in favour of Bryan like they did the last two years.

 

Supposedly Vince is "back and forth" on Bryan.  So we shall see.

[iso_55]

There is also speculation that if WWE does clear him they wont until after WM (or at WM) because if he came back anytime between now and the Rumble, the fans will hijack WWE in favour of Bryan like they did the last two years.

 

Supposedly Vince is "back and forth" on Bryan.  So we shall see.

Thing is, you can mitigate a concussion by eliminating moves that can cause them like a chair shot, kick to the head or what Seth Rollins was doing slamming guys heads backwards into a turnbuckle but you can't eliminate everything. Accidents happen. If things are as bad as they make it out to be for Daniel Bryan he may be a ticking time bomb & a slight bump could cause something even worse. If he left WWE could he even get insurance to protect him? I would doubt that as he's had many concussions which would be considered a prior medical injury & probably wouldn't be covered. MIght be time to move on & change careers although I doubt anything he does will pay him what he is making now but at least he'd be safe.

[The Unknown Poster]

I guarantee Bryan would have no problem working if wwe released him. New Japan, ROH, Mexico and a plethora of Indy promotions would book him. He'd make a lot of money and control his bookings.

I guess it depends how you look at concussion research. If his brain tests above average then there is nothing keeping him from working right now. Keeping him out because he might get hurt could apply to everyone. Id let him work.