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Bill Apter Interview



Hey Scott,

Since Bill Apter has been the talk of the town recently with his new article for WWE.com, I figured a chat with Wonderful Willie would be fun to learn why he never worked for Vince and how he transitioned from a regular journalist to best friends with most of wrestling's legends. 


Thanks!

Hopefully he makes it into the WON HOF one of these years.  He's a great guy.  

Comments

  1. Voodoo seems like a cool religion. I could have been down with zombie making and snake coffins and the like as a kid.

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  2. My Wife's mother's family totally does curses and that sort of thing. When she was young someone left a bag of spices in front of their door, and it was a specific spice recipe designed to curse the occupants.


    The accursed bag of oregano was meant for my wife's grandmother, but it was her mother that crossed it first, not realizing what it was. She has since led an unlucky life, filled with strife, and that is due to the curse hanging over her head.


    They believe this. Not my Wife really, but her mother's family.

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  3. Just watched raw on dvr. I gotta say, this whole Batista return seems kinda flat.

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  4. Leading up to the Ring of Fire match with Kane, there were definitely mentions on commentary about Bray Wyatt having a unique in-ring style. Which he does insomuch as he does that Exorcist spider-walk thing here and there, but not so much in the actual wrestling.

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  5. For better or for worse, Christmas and Easter have long ago passed from Christian religious celebrations into modern secular celebrations.


    I know Jews, Muslims, Atheists, and Hindus (well, one) that all celebrate Christmas and Easter in that sense.

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  6. He did the tears in his eyes thing again on Jericho's podcast. Taking about ADRIAN STREET

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  7. Honest to god true story: When I was 19, I was at a Raw taping in Hershey (the one where ECW invaded). Anyway, walking into the arena I met Bill Apter and the girl reporter for the magazines and asked him if he knew wrestling was scripted.

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  8. Oh my god did the Windham one suck. That was one of the first timelines I saw and by the end I was basically not even paying attention.

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  9. Wow. I'd love to have a sit down conversation with them. I've never really met anyone who was into voodoo.

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  10. You are going to hell for choosing Big Boys over IHOP.

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  11. We have one IHOP and it's 30 minutes away. Which is really, really sad.

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  12. They're Catholic, but from Uruguay, and there is some native Uruguayan blood in the family which I think is where those ideas come from.


    I'm not sure that it's Voodoo, strictly speaking.

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  13. Chick Filet being closed on Sundays definitely hurts the pro religion sect. I need my fucking spicy chix sandwiches available 7 days of the week.

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  14. Pro-life here.


    Mainly because I do agree with the idea that life begins at conception.


    Wanna have sex all the time? Knock yourself out, but be willing to accept the consequences of your actions.

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  15. I'm pretty sure Southern Chile isn't exactly the best place to live...

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  16. No, just what some "humorists" did to the mascot was controversial.

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  17. I thought you met him at this bar before...

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  18. You're a great poster and a smart guy so I promise this isn't trolling or ball breaking but...

    Isn't getting an abortion a good way of handling the consequences? How does have forcing unwanted children on people as a punishment for sex benefit society.

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  19. Good point. I bet the weather is better though.

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  20. I'm sure someone out there doesn't like me. They just haven't made that public yet.

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  21. Also the president of the "Larry David Fan Club."

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  22. They may have overestimated the impact of him just showing up and saying "I'm back!". Fans needed more of a reason to cheer his return. Having him immediately hug it out with Trips and Steph definitely didn't help.

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  23. No. Said it yesterday but I saw him at Hogans mew restaurant a few months ago. I went to go talk to him but he made it pretty clear he wanted to be left alone as he was talking to a woman. He was by himself yesterday so was pretty receptive and engaging

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  24. Don't like him. It's one thing to put out kayfabe magazines back in the day, it's another to make up interviews with the wrestlers they didn't speak with.

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  25. There's something really odd about these guys that keep their look from the 80s. I mean, I see guys at car shows all the time that look like him, the whole rock-a-billy style (not Gunn), with their wives in poodle skirts, dice hanging off the mirror... just strange.

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  26. I don't know, it's probably best not to give too much too early. All they advertised was that he was back. No need to overdo things yet.

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  27. The Bret Hart timeline will awesome. You better be on that shit Bayless!

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  28. Been to 1 car show in my life and you nailed it. It was like being being put into a time machine and going back in time 20 years. Leather jackets, mullet type hair cuts, etc. Weird vibe

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  29. Abortion, to me, is killing an "innocent" just because you don't like the idea of consequences.


    (Not an exact comparison below, I admit. Best I can come up with right now.)


    Aborting a child would be like having a legitimate debt to someone, and deciding "I don't have the money to pay this debt, and I don't want to go through the trouble of making the money to pay it, so I'll just kill the person I owe." It's the cheap, easy way out. And it hurts (well, kills) an innocent person, just so I can not be inconvienced.

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  30. My apologies. It was Lawler at SummerSlam last year..."I'm told we may be witnessing from Bray Wyatt, one of the most unique styles we've ever seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2J6bg3TGXY - 3:30 or so.

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  31. My family is mostly irreligious, but we mostly do Christmas to eat and drink. The adults don't exchange gifts; we just buy things for the kids. My stepdad's family is fairly devout, so I'll go through the motions with them. It's not offensive to me either way.


    The 'Atheist Community' (puke) calls me a Shruggie, and that's okay.

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  32. Why do they have to more than what they do right now? Fuck with babyface and cut awesome promos. Its a good formula.

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  33. Voodoo, from what I remember (S. Louisiana, so we get some exposure to it sooner or later) is a VERY loose "religion", where beliefs can depend on the individual. But I'm half in the dark here, so take it with the appropriate amount of salt.

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  34. Yea. I'm not judging his entire return just the segments he was in last night. Thought the crowd would pop harder and his return would just have more impact.

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  35. Just to open myself up to ridiculous levels of criticism, I'll say that I'm a deist in a very strange understanding of the word. I believe in a god, but not necessarily the God. I believe something exists that "created" the universe, just not in the way we assume. Because I view this presence more as a cosmic force than a straight religious one, I don't think it holds any real concept of human morality; which is why "bad things happen to good people." It's not that God doesn't care about us, it's that it can't -- it doesn't operate on the same level of awareness as we do. This also means you can't "know" God or "be with" God or ever truly understand God; there will always be a gap between the logical and theological that can't be bridged. It's motives, if they even exist, will always be alien to us. The beauty of this, though, is that it allows for free will. If God did "care" about us and intervened, or more generally we understood it's motives, we wouldn't be free.

    Understanding that, I'm not advocating that aliens created us. I don't buy into the Ancient Aliens bullshit. I believe in evolution to the extent that we came from something and then evolved from very primitive forms of life. I think most Intelligent Design is stupid because it assigns a primacy to a Christian perspective of creation.

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  36. They need a girl. Proof:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEN7MQUMAu8

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  37. Hey, you gotta eat something different every once in a while.


    ;)

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  38. Wait, you are NOT judging his return based on just 1 night? You do not belong on here.

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  39. Pro-life in the sense that I'd love for the child to reach conception, be born and find a loving home; so I value adoption as my first resort in the event something unplanned happens. Pro-choice in the reality that it's not my body and I can't tell another human what they can/can't do with theirs.

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  40. Stranger in the AlpsJanuary 21, 2014 at 12:29 PM

    You, sir, are one who can have a classy, intelligent conversation. I appreciate the dialogue, and I want you to know that I have taken no offense to anything, so no harm done. Also, my girl and I are already married, so it's too late for that piece of advice. Just remember to give me a "wassup" on your way past me in line on Judgment Day.

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  41. Now would you agree that this determination should be left to each individual person?

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  42. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD8cJMZ-IH4

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  43. God I'm fucking starving

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  44. One of the greatest segments ever

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  45. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE5-OXlGqrM

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  46. To decide to kill someone else for whatever reason? No. When you decide to take someone else's life, to cover up a mistake you made, you've crossed a line. One I'd never be willing to support or condone.

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  47. He might be an out of touch curmudgeon but how can you not love Vince McMahon

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  48. I'd never actually seen that before and it is spectacular.

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  49. I get that. Its just that many people wouldn't agree with your original premise. Like I don't think it it is alive so to me no big deal, call th doctor. But I say if you don't like them you shouldn't have to get one and if you do then get one.

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  50. Most of my info came from that one James Bond movie.

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  51. If this isn't Vince in Church...

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  52. Now what's the deal with shell fish? Because for me no oysters, muscles, crab, lobster etc is a deal breaker

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  53. What do you mean?

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  54. Is papa shango the best religious based gimmick of all time?

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  55. Depends on which branch of Christianity you speak of. Protestants believe that worldly success is one of the only ways you can ever bridge the gap between man and God. It was actually a very important factor in determining the work ethic and individualistic brand of capitalism that America adheres to.

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  56. Pretty sure the Bible says no shell fish because they are bottom feeders. I had a vegetarian friend whose also an atheist yell that at me once when I asked what the difference between an oyster and a carrot was. So I googled that and discovered its from the bible.

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  57. I also mean I fucking love eating shell fish.

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  58. The Bible carries a lot of oddities that most modern Christians don't adhere to.

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  59. I am nobodys troll. Goblin . . . perhaps, hobgoblin . . . maybe, gnome . . . definitely, but Goblin oh hell no.

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  60. That's fucking odd. Never heard of that one. These are the little subtleties of religion I find hilarious

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  61. That is Old Testament dietary law which many practicing Jews still follow (it is the same part as no pork). For Christians, the old law was replaced by the new law when Christ was crucified. Likely the old dietary laws were there to protect the primative people. Just pulling a shrimp out of the ocean without properly devaining it is pretty nasty. A lot of things can go wrong with pork if it isn't cooked properly.

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  62. Stranger in the AlpsJanuary 21, 2014 at 12:56 PM

    Mordecai was the worst.

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  63. I just listened to Part 2 of Bret on Jericho's podcast. He saved it for the very end, but he legit dropped the "tears in his eyes" line talking about a ladder match with Dynamite Kid.

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  64. Show me a kid raised Catholic and I'll show you an adult atheist.

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  65. It doesn't help that the last time we saw him, he was sitting in the ring throwing a temper tantrum, then quitting.

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  66. Hey now. I might hit a thousand by the end of the Rumble! Does that put me in some sort of new tier?

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  67. His return just seemed so...generic.

    Says he wants to be champion? *check*. Squashes midcard heel who bad-mouthed him? *check*.

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  68. God damn I'm getting so fucking hungry. I'm gonna have to get some shrimp for lunch or something

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  69. The bible mentions a few creatures that could be construded as dinosaurs. Look up Leviathan and Behemoth (though they could also be crocodiles and hippos). However, dinosaurs would not have existed the same time as man. Yes, there are young Earth creationists that believe the world is like 6,000 years old, but from my experience they are in the minority.

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  70. Is there a paragraph missing in that article or did Russo write it?

    There seems to be some continuity issues in the last few paragraphs.

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  71. Brother Love is mine.

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  72. I think anything below the top 20 (available for viewing in the Community tab up top, study group sold separately) is a tier in itself. We're all Jobbers to the Stars until we crack the big time.

    I like to think of myself as Reno Riggins. Or maybe Jose Estrada.

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  73. This reminds me....everyone religious or not, go see god loves Uganda. It will blow your mind

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  74. http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs39/f/2008/350/5/b/jesus_riding_a_dinosaur_by_angelazilla.jpg

    That's all you ever need to know on the subject.

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  75. To me it is like an adult who derives pleasure in telling kids there is not Santa Claus. You don't believe in him, but why do you care of others do?

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  76. Its embarrassing.

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  77. Your_Favourite_LoserJanuary 21, 2014 at 1:05 PM

    it also doesnt help that when we last him he, he looked pretty badass, but when he came back last night, he was wearing a thin little cotton jacket like my mom wears, plus his skinny jeans and high tops.

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  78. OK but the dinosaurs were here for sooooooooooo much longer than us. Hundreds and hundreds of millions of years. Seems like they gloss over it.

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  79. At the Catholic school I went to, we had a religion teacher who told a story about how once he accepted God and Jesus, he was able to speak in tongues. He proceeded to do just that and the room was silent. Once class was over, kids left the room and started to laugh their heads off.

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  80. The Bible isn't a science book. The point of Genesis is "You see everything? GOD made it all." The entire creation is like 2 paragraphs.

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  81. Your_Favourite_LoserJanuary 21, 2014 at 1:07 PM

    'Imagine breaking free and kicking Bray Wyatt's ass at WrestleMania. The Yes chants would have been deafening.'

    i think that might have been the plan. someone mentioned how meltzer or whoever reported that dbry would have been in a match with the wyatts at WM, and then a match against bray. i interpreted that as meaning that the break would have occurred during/after the tag match, and then an impromptu match against bray would have solidified dbry's leaving

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  82. You know what I think is strange?


    I never see guys talking before hand about forming an alliance. Really other than the tag teams, nobody plans these things out before hand. But you could! You could have guys vying to be in an alliance with Punk and DBry. Or the Wyatts


    I mean. It works for Survivor and all of the eliminate from the island/house shows.

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  83. If you really go into the dietary laws there is even crazier stuff like "Don't eat vultures and pelicans".

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  84. Tongues is a really weird thing. I'm not gonna say someone is a liar if they say they've done it, but it raises my BS meter.

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  85. This is the greatest. I would give you a thousand up votes if I could. I have to get that on a t shirt

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  86. Bruce Pritchard telling the story of the gimmick on Austin's podcast was great.

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  87. Yeah, I'm pretty orthodox on those ones.

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  88. That makes sense but doesn't that highlight the entire problem wwith our preconceived notions of what traditional religion is? It was something created by people thousands of years ago, with no scientific background, so they could explain away their surroundings

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  89. I think they over-estimate how big of a deal Batista is. He was popular but he's not "comes back 4 years later and is as popular as ever" kinda popular. He was pretty easily forgotten about.

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  90. Oh can I review the Bret Hart Timeline? It'll be fun!

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  91. Amsterdam_Adam_CurryJanuary 21, 2014 at 1:12 PM

    Organized religion has never been a part of my life, and I don't intend to change that. I've never believed in God, mostly because I've never had any reason to. I've been in a church 3 times in my entire life, once for a wedding and the other 2 times for funerals and had no idea what the hell was going on.


    I guess the best way to categorize me would be a non-practicing Buddhist. And no, that's not a weed joke.

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  92. Eesh. 4000 just to get up in there. It took me over a year just to get to 1000 and I feel like I'm fairly prolific on the site.


    This makes me sad.

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  93. If i had to pick one I think Buddhism or Taoism is the way I'd go

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  94. DEAL WITH IT!

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  95. He probably should have come back against hhh instead of being introduced back by hhh.

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  96. This is the most recent thread so I'm putting this "BREAKIGN NEWZ" here:
    http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/446539-backstage-news-on-daniel-bryan-plans-for-him-at-royal-rumble
    (pasted below so you don't have to visit the site)
    ---------------------------------------
    "PWInsider.com is reporting that as of now, Daniel Bryan is only expected to be in a singles match at Royal Rumble.

    WWE made sure to keep it so Bryan didn't have to take any bumps on RAW to give him another week of healing from the concussion he suffered. WWE wants Bryan vs Wyatt at the event.

    As for the Rumble match itself with 30 Superstars, Bryan currently isn't scheduled to be one of them."

    ----------------------------------------


    Note: I did not see the information in question on PWInsider.com. It's probably bullshit. But there ya go

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  97. Dude, it took me FOREVER to get to cracking 2k (might do it today! Exciting!), and really only because 'llax challenged me to start posting more. Plus, open threads are fun. If I was more of a sports guy I would be even further along.

    There are a few guys up at the top that don't post here anymore, ripe for the picking. I got my sights set on someone, somewhere.

    And my boss wonders why my job performance has declined lately...

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  98. My Lutheran family and I always thought the tongue thing he did was weird too.

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  99. A lot of old religious rules make lots of sense if you view them as enlightened people trying to influence the behaviour of unenlightened people for their own good.


    Pork is harder to prepare in a way that won't make you sick. In a time when complex food handling rules were not possible, or practical, it makes tonnes of sense to tell people just don't eat it.


    Why? Because God will get mad. No one is going to risk a heavenly blackball for bacon.

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  100. Bret can't order food at a restaurant without working that story into the conversation, we'll hear it.

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  101. I don't think the WWE really missed Batista all that much. His return, no matter what it ends up doing, doesn't really move the needle because it fills no needs within the roster right now.

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  102. I'm not sure if anyone else caught this today, but there's a news report floating that Daniel Bryan will NOT be in the Royal Rumble match. He'll have his 1-on-1 (1-on-3?) with Bray Wyatt, but wont be a part of the physical Rumble match itself.

    If this is true, and it's a big If, then the WWE is certifiably insane, from McMahon to Creative and everywhere in between. Just absolutely asinine.

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  103. Does he wear the blazers with his face on them in real life? Because he should.

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  104. I'm expecting him to gloss over the first half of the year, spend an hour on carrying Davey at Summerslam 1992, 15 minutes talking about the various wrestlers who came by his hotel room to watch the tape and cry at it's beauty, 45 minutes about the various times he was told he should be the WWF Champion, 20 minutes about how Vince didn't give him the title out of spite or jealously, another 30 minutes about how he had to make Flair look good in dropping the title, and he'll close it off with "Shawn is gay" stories and how the finish of Survivor Series 1992 should have been the finish of Survivor Series 1997.

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  105. Dude. That would be phenomenal. He's failing at life, or succeeding depending on how you look at it, if he doesn't wear those every so often.

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  106. The Batista thing might be set in stone at this point.

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  107. That's if you believe it is just a book written by a bunch of guys. If you believe it is the inspired Word of God guided through the writers, then you see it as God's actual words. Think of the authors as typewriters.

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  108. Yea. That whole segment was just weird. You have a returning babyface but he's introduced by a heel authority group and they hug it out?

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  109. Ahh yes. I don't post at all during the open threads. Oh well. Sacrifices must be made.

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  110. Brandi Mankiewicz?

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  111. I'd go with the Army of Darkness. Snakes! Leather! Weird promos!

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  112. yes, obviously.

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  113. Wondering what could have been proposed that led to eye rolling?
    Bray Wyatt brainwashed into Cena Nation?


    Although Soooooooo many buys for the Wyatt family in jorts and wristbands.

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  114. It is weird how vague they were about it.

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  115. Also, full disclosure, I read virtually zero of the setup to this one.

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  116. I wanted to say something like that, but nearly 15 years since my last religion class (yes, confirmed Catholic and Catholic high school graduate, but well-lapsed) has muddled the waters enough to keep me from a "semi-educated" guess

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  117. Huh, 1wrestling.com still exists.


    I used to love those old mags.

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  118. Unless he's not going to win, in which case, why put him in just to lose?

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  119. If that was true, then that means the Silent Jericho gimmick was written with no payoff and a sudden and total character shift in mind.

    People thought that the "Jericho wins at #30" thing would have been a fun way to do it, but the plan had to be Jericho wins. It's the only explanation that makes sense.

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  120. Amsterdam_Adam_CurryJanuary 21, 2014 at 2:19 PM

    She's a real person?

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  121. They were OK. Not bad, just... Eh.

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  122. Yeah, from what I've read, she actually is. Liz Hunter was just Apter...same with Matt Brock. I think most of the rest were real too (Steve Anderson, David Rosenbaum, Andy Rodriguez, Harry Burkett, Dave Lenker). Ok holy shit, I've read a lot of PWI to just be able to rattle off those names!

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  123. Amsterdam_Adam_CurryJanuary 21, 2014 at 2:22 PM

    I thought all of them were Apter's alter-egos.

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  124. I've never seen any of them. Not a big movie guy.

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  125. He's the most over guy on the roster, why shouldn't he win and go on to Wrestlemania to win the title.

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  126. So did I for a while.

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  127. Exactly, there's no better image than Bryan defeating the champion, and the entire stadium chanting YES with him as he holds the title.


    Instead, we'll get Batista winning the title to the sound of crickets.

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  128. We're probably about 6 months away from Luke Harper having a dance-off with Xavier Woods.

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  129. Oh, I didn't say that any of their ideas were well written. Just that Sheamus was apparently set in stone, Fans be damned.

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  130. Raised a Roman Catholic, but currently a full-fledged atheist. I have very little patience for the Bible thumpers that believe the earth is 6,000 years old and also continue to deny the theory of evolution. Normally, I would dismiss such ignorance and leave it be, but I draw the line when they insist on heaping that crap on our children.

    This thread could also use some Christopher Hitchens.

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  131. We're not talking about the same thing.

    It's not about whether he should win or not. If he's NOT GOING TO, why bother putting him in?

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  132. No my point is he's the most over guy on the roster.


    Fuck Batista, he was never a draw. He main evented a PPV that got "Cancel Smackdown" chants because the match was so bad.

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  133. Somebody call my reaper!

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  134. Again, I'm not taking a side here. I'm saying it doesn't matter because this question we're discussing is not a matter of who's more over.

    If they decided they want Batista to win, he's winning. If Bryan isn't, why put him in?

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  135. He looked liked he had the worst hangover ever in that timeline

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  136. Snow and ice aside, I'll take it over anything that Southern Congo has to offer.

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  137. If you're crossing the street and a truck is barreling right at you, you BELIEVE in the truck.


    I respect anyone that believes in their religion like the above person believes in the truck.

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  138. I was distracted by his weird skinny jeans white sneaker look.

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  139. Either way, I can see this back firing on WWE. Imagine the final two of Del Rio and Batista and fans doing nothing but chanting for Daniel Bryan.

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  140. You need to spend some time in rural areas to understand. You either get by with religion, or you get by with crystal meth.

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  141. Can you live life as a normal, "open" atheist in America without being ostracized?


    I don't approve of being a dickish atheist, but I can understand why they have a chip on their shoulder.

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  142. Haha...dude, you just lurk around waiting for a mention of Bret Hart!

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  143. Anybody else remember being shocked when Dean Malenko was #1 on the pwi 500? I was 11 or 12 and thought it was such a weird choice.

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  144. Didn't they get wiped out in Noah's flood?

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  145. Pope Francis is an atheist?

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  146. yeah, I consider christmas to just be a day where I hang with family/in laws and try and make nice. other folks can attach their preferred meaning.

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  147. Interesting question,


    I'm a Christian, but I don't go to church very regularly at all, and I've always been of the thought of that if you can use religion to better your life and to help others, then I'm all for it. I'm MUCH more annoyed with people who use religion to denigrate/degrade/discriminate on other people and basically show general intolerance. My belief is that the world would probably be a much better place if a lot of religious rules were taken so strictly and literally.


    I believe, to a lot of people, their religion attempts to explain the unexplainable. A way to cope with the world if you can't understand it. We're just humans, we don't have answers for everything, and honestly, if we did have answers for everything, the world would probably be an even more harsh place...but just my three cents!

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  148. when they put him in That Goddamn Scene From The Shining, I cracked up, not gonna lie.

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  149. I remember Rosenbaum's name being in another publication.

    I also remember the "feud" between Brock and Eddie Ellner over some crap. Like a schitzo's paradise

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  150. You know it.

    I will have that the day it comes out.

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  151. I guess it depends on how "open" you mean? I'm an Atheist, most of my close family knows. I had to have a few discussions with my grandma, and I used Agnostic as a phrase, because I knew it'd be easier for her to take (since everyone's at least a little agnostic), but she's over 90, so that's expected. I don't lie about my (lack of) religion, and I'll bring it up if it's relevant, and I've never had real problems with it, including a stint in Indiana.

    That said, I don't shout ATHEIST every chance I get, and I don't mention it to my uber Baptist other grandparents. Ain't worth the hassle.

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  152. I seem to vaguely recall that as well, but Eddie Ellner was actually real!

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  153. or you leave, if you can.

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  154. Apparently it's called complex storytelling.

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  155. That is a fantastic analogy.

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  156. Haha you live in Florida.

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  157. Stranger in the AlpsJanuary 21, 2014 at 3:28 PM

    Hey Meekin! Now do an article on the benefits of polygamy!

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  158. Gotta love how the Japanese hedge their bets. Shinto at birth, Christian for weddings, and Buddhist at death.

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  159. I was happy as Malenko was my favorite wrestler at that point

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  160. Ellner was real, and he was awesome. He currently runs a yoga studio.

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  161. Personally, I'm pulling for incest.

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  162. All Jews are screwed, as they cannot perform the necessary animal sacrifices since the destruction of the Temple.

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  163. I was only 12 at the time but I was upset having Bret close the summer slam 92 show. The world title, in my young mind, was the centerpiece and should have main evented the event. It didn't help that I found Bret kinda boring then. Lol

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  164. Shawn did well selling house shows and merchandise since his fan base skewed lower and they attended the events. Wcw and the nwo brought back a lot of fans and owned the 18 and above range which ignited the ratings. Shawn wasn't gonna work at ratings at that time.

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  165. The catch a predator heat has died down, new mics for all!!

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  166. Typical blog otter stupidity right there. "Our booking is better so they must do it and if they don't we will riot damn you"

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  167. That would be really disappointing. So just going by who has matches at the Rumble, that eliminates Bryan and Brock from contention and those were 2 of the favorites. If neither of those guys are in it that really just leaves Punk(#1) or Batista as the big hitters who could likely win the Rumble.

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  168. The lack of journalistic integrity in wrestling publications is shocking, SHOCKING.

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  169. I went to a Catholic High School but I really just lack a strong opinion. I tend to believe that God doesn't exist but that there are worst things to base your life off than God. There are fanatics out there but lots of the religious people I've met are some of the nicer people I've ever met. Several of my family members are strongly religious as well and it is almost sickening how nice they are.


    So that's where I fall. I don't personally believe but I think stuff like the Ten Commandments are not bad things to live your life by.

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  170. If he was real, then that's great. I really liked his slamming (ahem) of Lex Luger and Eric Embry (alliterration ftw)

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  171. Best use of God in an angle was Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. The Lightness and The Dark.

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  172. We went to a Presbyterian church every Christmas eve and Easter because my grandma never left any other option available. My parents let me go to whichever church I wanted back home, they never went. I believe they looked at it, just like school, as a purely social experience. They were already going to teach me reading and writing and morality anyway so why not, if this year you're friends with a bunch of Baptists go there on Sunday, if your best friend right now is Catholic, whatever go over there who cares?

    I'm very thankful for it, the organized parts of that higher power stuff is very off-putting to me. The older I get the more pragmatic I try to approach everything, there's no room in my world view for mysticism to be honest, especially when it's so selective. I also can't really buy into anything that's only ever been wrong about the science of the world, the rotations and shapes of the planets, dinosaurs and the age of the earth, all of that stuff that's fascinated me since I was a tater tot.

    Living my whole life in super rural areas, I've always had very religious friends. I find the whole ongoing conversation totally enthralling. Unlike politics, this stuff could maybe actually matter.

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  173. The Love-Matic Grampa!January 21, 2014 at 4:00 PM

    You actually encapsulated my own thoughts on this fairly well, so I'll just say...ditto.

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  174. I suspected that.

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  175. As someone noted in the live thread, his second appearance garnered far less of a reaction than when he initially walked out. Bryan's got a nuclear reaction that was far more loud than Batista.


    If Bryan isn't in the Rumble then this company is crazy. If everyone on the roster was sinking, I can see the point of a part-timer winning the Rumble and getting a run with the strap, but that's not happening. This is like if Steve Austin was not put in 1998 Rumble and Bruno Sammartino (for lack of thinking of someone else) was put in his place.

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  176. The advantage to polygamy is you get multiple women. The drawback to polygamy is that you get multiple women.

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  177. Ellner's best line: "Move of the year: Dusty Rhodes' triple somersault to get to the head of the line at Wan Foo's All You Can Eat Chinese Smorgasbord."

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  178. Oddly enough, Stately Wayne Manor seems to be a real person.

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  179. Churches themselves are why I believe in God but can't stand organized religion. They'll quote the Bible when it fits their needs but ignore when it doesn't. Adultery actually extends to any woman who has ever been married whose former husband is alive. If a divorced woman has sex with another man, BOTH are committing adultery. Yet churches have no problem with divorces being legal. And even if you exclude that old-world definition, the latest studies say 20-25% of men and 10-15% of women have committed adultery. Roughly 10% of people fall under LGBT. So shouldn't adultery be a much bigger issue with the church than gays? Not to mention all the crazy rules and consequences the Bible mentions. I don't see the church demanding those stay in place. Either it's "the word of God" or it isn't.

    Speaking of "God's word", it was still recorded by Man. In another language, which has since been translated time after time and altered to fit modern language. Even an unbiased transcription will have errors; how many things were changed by people with an agenda? I'm betting a whole helluva lot.

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  180. Bray taking the Funkadactyls would be pretty...


    ...racist. Damn. They'd be perfect as the brainwashed Wyatt sisters.

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  181. The Love-Matic Grampa!January 21, 2014 at 4:45 PM

    One sticking point for me has always been the Bible itself: if it was presented as a series of parables and morality tales designed to explain the nature of God and serve as a guide to spiritual life, fine. But when you start telling me that a man actually lived inside a whale without being digested or that some woman got turned into a pillar of salt because she liked kinky sex or that an apple doomed all mankind for eternity, then we have a problem.




    History has shown that the actual text comprising the modern version of the Bible have been modified, re-translated (and mistranslated) and manipulated by various powerful entities over the years for their own self-interests so frequently that most scholars and theologians aren't 100% sure what the documents' original intents and meanings are anymore. And yet there are people still taking the Bible literally and ignoring all the scientific evidence that shows the Earth is more than 6000 years old and that evolution exists. And worse, still using the texts to justify hatred and oppression. That's why I'm down on most organized religion, but I have no problem with spirituality, which strikes me more as a individual choice.

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  182. "God, I don't like you, and you don't like me"

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  183. Welcome to the BOD!

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  184. While I'm sure there won't be crickets, I just don't see the upside of going the Batista route. This company gets off on promoting WrestleMania moments, but what would be memorable about Batista winning the title? We've seen it. Or him going against Cena? We've seen that, too. Same with Orton. Having Bryan go up against Cena OR Orton for the title is a natural story. He's already beaten Cena, but had that moment taken away from him. And he was repeatedly screwed over in his encounters with Orton, despite being the better man. His Rumble appearance will get a huge pop. As will his victory. And the match itself -- no matter which route they go -- has an already written story.

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  185. I think I still have some pop up ads on my computer from that site.

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  186. Stranger in the AlpsJanuary 21, 2014 at 6:05 PM

    Thread done. Thank you.

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  187. This..is true.

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  188. And the welcome committee is complete. Thanks. Now if Scott will just read my emails.....

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  189. Then I am truly blessed!

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  190. Sent him one months before I became a member, never answered it.

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  191. I'm pretty sure that "WM21" proves he WAS a draw. Maybe not for long, but at one point.

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