Alberto Del Rio Update
According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline, the story making the rounds about Del Rio's firing is that he slapped a Social Media manager at the Smackdown tapings this week. However, there have been multiple stories going around to what led to this happening.
Credit Dave Meltzer, F4WOnline.com
WWE Talent Worried About Job Security?
Apparently, the word among those in the WWE locker room is that they feel that the company is looking for an excuse to fire them if they mess up as the company is closely monitoring their behavior and Twitter accounts.
Credit Bryan Alvarez, F4WOnline.com
TNA Still in Negotiations with Spike TV
TNA Management held a meeting Wednesday night at the television tapings in NYC to inform them that they are still talking with Spike TV. According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, the meeting left the roster with an upbeat mood and backstage at the tapings, the atmosphere was described as loose and fun among the wrestlers. TNA has also booked a set of TV tapings at the Manhattan Center in September
http://pwinsider.com/article/87413/lots-of-tna-news-and-notes.html?p=1
WWE.com Smackdown Preview
http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2014-08-08/five-point-preview-8-8-14-26550565
According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline, the story making the rounds about Del Rio's firing is that he slapped a Social Media manager at the Smackdown tapings this week. However, there have been multiple stories going around to what led to this happening.
Credit Dave Meltzer, F4WOnline.com
WWE Talent Worried About Job Security?
Apparently, the word among those in the WWE locker room is that they feel that the company is looking for an excuse to fire them if they mess up as the company is closely monitoring their behavior and Twitter accounts.
Credit Bryan Alvarez, F4WOnline.com
TNA Still in Negotiations with Spike TV
TNA Management held a meeting Wednesday night at the television tapings in NYC to inform them that they are still talking with Spike TV. According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, the meeting left the roster with an upbeat mood and backstage at the tapings, the atmosphere was described as loose and fun among the wrestlers. TNA has also booked a set of TV tapings at the Manhattan Center in September
http://pwinsider.com/article/87413/lots-of-tna-news-and-notes.html?p=1
WWE.com Smackdown Preview
http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2014-08-08/five-point-preview-8-8-14-26550565
Hopefully Alberto asked them what the five fingers said to the face first.
ReplyDeleteMonitoring behavior and Twitter?
ReplyDeleteSo the over/under on Dolph's continued employment is what, five days?
"Alberto, you have to tweet 'hashtag $9.99'"
ReplyDelete"Perro, you can't do that. The symbols & numbers kill the hashtag"
"Maggle Cole and Jerry Lawler said you can tweet 'hashtag $9.99', and dammit 'ESSE', you are gonn...."
*BITCHSLAP*
"I'm gonna tell!!"
Thing is, even if TNA somehow does sign a new deal with Spike, they will just continue treading water for the entire duration, with zero improvement or progress. It's like keeping someone on life support. Just pull the plug.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like or watch the product, why do you care?
ReplyDeleteAndre the Giant joining forces with Bobby Heenan shocked the heck out of this third grader who totally believed kayfabe was as real as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. You could argue that Andre had been the biggest thorn in Bobby's side after Hogan, and the Brain had just spent all that time trying to prove Andre was the Giant Machine. Plus Andre and Hogan were best friends! And if we've learned anything, hulk always treats his friends well! When Andre tore Hulk's cross and shirt off during Piper's Pit, I wanted to cry.
ReplyDeleteThe stuff about the dress code enforcement made it obvious they were starting to look for any excuse to fine and/or release talent.
ReplyDeleteThat was the most obvious and thus most gratifying Flair heel turn ever.
ReplyDeleteA "social media manager" basically translates to "public relations asshole" and of course he had a bitch slapping from an ill-tempered Latino coming his way.
ReplyDeleteRey is taking notes, and will bitchslap everybody in the arena the next time he shows up.
ReplyDeleteHow hard can you slap a kneecap though, really?
ReplyDeleteDidn't have a lot of time yesterday, but my favorite is Shaq. Awesome player, hilariously over the top, sometimes offensive and insensitive about race. Charles Barkley is another favorite for similar reasons.
ReplyDeleteAs for heel turns....I don't remember the Goldberg heel turn very well, but I remember it sucked. Seth Rollins earlier this year was shocking because it was illogical and out of nowhere.
Still, it's a bit gaudy to wear a bullfighter uniform and a sombrero in the airport, even by Kevin Nash standards.
ReplyDeleteIt just seems like overall morale in the WWE sucks right now.
ReplyDeleteIt would be ok if they all BO-LIEVED.
ReplyDeletebayless is pwi the site of the douchenozzle that was giving you the business not too long ago??
ReplyDeletewhile tna's is high at the moment, irony??
ReplyDeleteYeah this seems like 1995 all over again.
ReplyDeleteMinus a group of wrestlers like the Clique who will actually have the balls to call Vince and the company out on it.
I'd hate working at a place where I'm living my childhood dream and earning hundreds of thousands, too.
ReplyDeleteThis may be a terrible idea but:
ReplyDelete"Guy who randomly bitchslaps people" seems like it could get over pretty easily.
How fucked up is it when people are now looking back at the Kliq like they were good? Not that I think they weren't, but everyone's taken a complete 180 on that whole thing.
ReplyDeleteand wwe hasnt been treading water the past 3 years?? their numebrs seem the same to me.
ReplyDeleteI first got into wrestling in 1999 and Kane and X-Pac became my favorite tag team. It was mainly because Kane looked really cool and X-Pac wore a lot of green, which is my favorite color. I was fucking FURIOUS when X-Pac turned on him.
ReplyDeleteLiving someone else's version of what you thought your childhood dream would turn out to be.
ReplyDeleteBut he has to do it with a glove held by a gloved hand.
ReplyDeleteStill beats working for TNA.
ReplyDeleteOh shit, swimwalk.
New version of Mr. Socko! And he could bust out a chainmail gauntlet for a hardcore match.
ReplyDeleteI think it goes back to what Vince mentioned way back in May about how he keeps Austin employed because he makes him rich. Perhaps he realized that firing him was a rash decision and he'd be losing out on money, so he had his son reinstate him so he wouldn't have to do the deed himself, which would be a gigantic blow to his ego. Even if he did it in private, it would require admitting to Austin he was wrong and you just know he'd joke about it on Raw!
ReplyDeleteThey had talent and in 1995 WWF that put them above 75% of the roster alone.
ReplyDeleteAside from fucking with Bam Bam, did they ever do anything that really was bad for business that year? Sid flaked out,Dean Douglas was never gonna last etc.
Seeing every wrestler today become boot licking toady's is sort of depressing.
WHAT'S MR. LUCIFER DOING IN THE IMPACT ZONE?!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot how over that team was. They were hotter than flaming dogshit. The formula was the peak of both guys' popularity too: X-pac gets the shit kicked out of him, and then Kane cleans house.
ReplyDeleteWell, treading profitable numbers is a tad different from treading horrible numbers that lose buckets of money.
ReplyDelete(and yes i know WWE is struggling right now, but that is 100% on the risky Network switch, not ratings and attendances and stuff)
It is. I would never give them my money ever again but don't care about a link to their free site.
ReplyDeleteRandom Kanyon Cutters were awesome.
ReplyDelete¿Qué hicieron los cinco dedos dicen a la cara?
ReplyDeleteYet when CM Punk says 'enough of this shit' and quits, he's vilified by a sizable portion of the blog.
ReplyDeleteAfter the long-standing feud that reinvigorated WWE during the Attitude Era. seeing Stone Cold turn heel and join up with Vince just made me shake my head.
ReplyDeleteWell, one or two assholes.
ReplyDeleteIf any of the Von Erich's were going to wrestle barefoot. They made the right choice by making that Von Erich Kevin.
ReplyDeleteYeah but what I meant was that forever on the internet, people looked back on them like "the fuckin' Kliq, what a bunch of politicking assholes!" when in reality they're more like CM Punk or Steve Austin or somebody like that.
ReplyDeleteLet's face it: Vince is a big picture kind of a guy, but doesn't really know what compelling TV is.
Remember how some of us were talking about saturation of superhero movies?
ReplyDeletehttps://s3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/iNuuquy7oXKhkfsnlDcoHg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en-us/homerun/Hitfix/94b5001b0d4968f3c2aac94726f2216b
2015 isn't bad with only 4 scheduled.
2016-2017 has an insane number of 15 movies, not counting 2 Star Wars movies.
It's a great idea. Which is why WWE won't do it.
ReplyDeleteReally, I think that anyone who's job includes social media should be free game for slapping.
ReplyDeleteAll of them that I've ever met are absolutely insufferable, useless humans.
Well Austin in 2002 while having some very legitimate gripes was a bit of a crybaby, walking out twice or was it thrice?
ReplyDeleteI think Vince understands compelling TV but it's near impossible to pull off with 7 hours of original wrestling content a week.
Then again he's about to start cashing in on that new TV deal and $3 Million bucks a week is hard to turn down.
TNA workers excited? I wonder if Dixie presented any concrete evidence.
ReplyDeleteYep, they should all be subject to workplace violence because that one guy on the internet didn't like the few he's met
ReplyDeleteAt my last job we had a 'marketing' guy who basically occasionally updated our facebook page, sent out maybe 4 tweets per year, and dumped money into Google ads and tried to justify that as a full time job. And he really thought he was fooling everyone.
ReplyDeletethose kinds of douchey comments are my biggest pet peeve on here. Not even "Too bad WWE probably won't do it", but nope, "I know everything, and if WWE doesn't do specifically what I think , they are automatically stupid". Douche.
ReplyDeleteIt's pro wrestling. It's not real!
ReplyDeleteI choose to read this without the sarcastic tone.
ReplyDeleteOf course not, but if you've been in TNA for years already like the majority of the roster you've already drunk a few gallons of the Kool-Aid already.
ReplyDeleteGET 'EM VINNY!
ReplyDeletePot, kettle, black. You of all people complain about this is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteEssentially, yes.
ReplyDeleteMaybe NWO paid by the foot? If that were the case, they'd have been buying out Little Beaver and Sky Lo Lo by the end of their run,
ReplyDelete"Sympathy for the champ" is my only guess, since the Diesel/Mabel program was the definition of putrid. It would've been a good write-off for Luger, but then, it's not like anyone in the company knew he was leaving yet.
ReplyDeleteHas to be a pimp gimmick. Or if Vince finally got around to watch Dave Chappelle reruns, a Rick James wanna-be.
ReplyDeleteRandom thought: If I was wrestling a barefoot wrestler I'd make it a hardcore match so I could spread thumbtacks all over the mat.
ReplyDeleteJanuary 1992. Barber Shop. "Is there a problem with the Rockers? I don't think so." The first big superkick, and then the famous toss through the window. Shawn Michaels officially made "Jannetty" a label that day.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see Jannetty's face when he hears someone refer to an ex-partner of theirs as the "Jannetty" of the team.
ReplyDeleteI bet Samoans could walk barefoot on crushed glass.
ReplyDeleteYou got it all wrong. Jannetty dived through the window to try to escape.
ReplyDeleteIf you were on Death Row wouldn't you be happy if you were told you were getting a stay of execution?
ReplyDeleteAh yes. Baby's first steps.
ReplyDeleteUnless Spike offered a really lowball offer which they haven't rescinded and TNA hasn't refused outright then I don't buy this whole "still negotiating" story. At some point Spike has to be able to have their schedule locked in so they can sell to advertisers. Most cable networks did this a couple months ago. The same goes for any other network they might be talking to. Unless it were announced pretty soon any jump they make would see them off TV for months, until the new network could slot them in.
ReplyDeleteTo those who're gonna say "if you don't like them blah blah blah" I'm just pointing out that if TNA knows they're dead then they're being really shitty to the wrestlers in not telling them. And if they try to make a go at it without TV at all, or carry on for a period while they wait for a new network deal to kick in, at what point do we stop paying attention to them? Do we still pretend they're the #2 promotion in the country when all that's left is YouTube clips from house shows?
I agree. I was at that show and it indeed sucked. That turn definitely shocked the crowd. Afterwards, I was just pissed because The Rock lost but not surprised. Even at 11, I knew a heel wasn't walking out of Mania as champion. Then, lo and behold, Triple H proved that theory wrong the very next year.
ReplyDeleteDid he? I'm pretty neutral on him. He seems to have some good points, although there's no way to tell if those were his actual concerns or just what others perceived of his concerns.
ReplyDeleteI still don't know a lot about TNA, but are they actually losing money and Panda using them as some sort of write-off/money laundering? Is the TV deal important because the difference of losing like 2 mil a year (with TV) vs. losing like 10 mil a year (without TV)?
ReplyDeleteOr is TNA actually making some money, but just nobody else gets to see it other than Dixie and other senior management?
¡Justo!
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for this debate.
ReplyDeleteBook it Bayless!
Thrice is a word that is definitely not used enough.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll apply to be TNA's social media coordinator. The pay might be late but there's always that sliver of hope Taryn Terrell will assault me.
ReplyDelete1. Del Rio probably wanted out, so pimp slapping someone was his solution. I'm sure he's more than happy to go back to Mexico and work.
ReplyDelete2. Ya think?
The Spider-Man ones will likely never see the light of day. Things are a mess right now for that franchise and they don't even have stories, let alone scripts, for any of them.
ReplyDeleteBo Jackson was not a better football player than Prime (in the pros anyway)
ReplyDeleteBit of a nitpick but it's whose not who's. Unless you're talking about Jim Neidhart, but then it would be Who's heel turn. Or a who's who of bad gimmicks.
ReplyDelete"I thought Roy Jones was awesome too….but I have to admit: this clip is HILARIOUS
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcl0u5OfD_M"
My friend Darth Harlem made that clip. That dude is great with photoshop and video making.
*singing* DON'T WAKE ME.I'mM DREAMANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNHINNNNNNNNNNNN"
Honestly? The wrestler whose heel turn surprised me the most was Trish Stratus. She made a GREAT heel.
The Giant had so many face/heel turns it's nice to see one that was memorable.
ReplyDeleteRey Mysterio will probably show up at Summerslam just to slap someone so Vince will fire him.
ReplyDeleteThey drop newborns on their heads. If they cry, they get thrown into an endless pit like in 300.
ReplyDeleteRey should just take to Twitter and bash the company.
ReplyDeleteTo touch upon #2, Alvarez said that it is a totally different atmosphere and that if AJ did what she did with Michelle Beadle at the Tribute for the Troops show now, she would have been fired on the spot and that was less than a year ago
ReplyDeleteDel Rio probably figured he might as well go out with a bang, I guess. It does make you wonder how something like this would have been handled in the "old days", especially when the WWF folks started mixing with the NBC production people in the 1980s.
ReplyDeleteHopefully he doesn't tear a quad and pop out his kneecaps in the process.
ReplyDeleteTNA acting shitty is nothing new. I have no doubt they'll keep telling talent everything is fine right up until the contract ends, no more tapings are scheduled and TNA just finally quietly shuts its doors.
ReplyDeleteI mean it's not a good one by any means, but my favorite wrestler as a kid was Tatanka... and when he turned on Luger at SummerFest 1994 I was in tears and went and tore up my foam Tomahawk that my dad got me at the show.
ReplyDeleteI can look on it now and laugh, and obviously it was not a "good/shocking" one... but it really shows the fun in wrestling as a kid.
I think they cost Eliminators from getting a job there and I think Elms could have rejuvenated the tag division a little bit. And I think they used their influence to push Bret down to a midcarder, which was not good for business.
ReplyDeleteAlvarez said that Hunico/Sin Cara has heat on him with the company due to attitude problems as well so the door is wide open for Kalisto to be the new Latino star. I hope they ditch his Lucha chant though as that will never get over.
ReplyDeleteThat character seems to be a curse.
ReplyDeleteIf you tell them TNA's essentially done, don't you run the risk of talent not showing up for scheduled shows? Or worse, taking liberties and going into business for themselves because they figure they've got nothing left to lose?
ReplyDeleteProbably Bob Backlund's - I mean, there's a guy who I thought would never (, EVVVAH) turn heel.
ReplyDeleteTwo Mikes getting heated! We need to stick together!
ReplyDeleteoh man ... it makes look back and wonder what would have happend if a 100% evil bastard heel Jake could have had a run with Hogan on top.
ReplyDeleteThe same way. I mean Dr. D got fired for slapping John Stossel.
ReplyDeleteBret's 17th WCW heel turn. Never saw that one coming.
ReplyDeleteNo he didn't.
ReplyDeleteHe got fired for starting shit with Mr. T
Will you be serious!
ReplyDeleteWell, that was different and by all account Vince instigated that altercation. Doc was fired for going after Mr. T, though, so you may be right.
ReplyDeleteWrestling companies take that risk in even the best of times. Being professional goes both ways. If these people need to be looking for new jobs in 8 or 10 weeks they deserve to know. Lying to them moves the Carters from being shitty wrestling promoters to shitty human beings.
ReplyDeletePaul Orndorff.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for him turning on Hogan, I wouldn't be a wrestling fan.
HM- Flair turning on Sting at Havoc '95 had to be the funniest, but it was wasn't a shock.
He'd probably have to go to the top and slap Vince McMahon himself.
ReplyDeleteThat's my pick as well
ReplyDeleteFair enough. I just figured that with TV time and house show slots left to fill, they might be worried about no-shows and whatnot (which could make a bad situation worse) while things are still in limbo. But yeah, if they know for sure that the end is near, they should tell the talent.
ReplyDeleteAh. My memory on the early 1980s period is hazy. Either way, I'm sure the slapping incident didn't help matters.
ReplyDeleteTNA still does house shows?
ReplyDeleteWell, TV tapings.
ReplyDeleteThe Paul Heyman way!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how TNA's contracts are worded, but we've been hearing for a while now that (some of?) their wrestlers are only paid per appearance. How many more paychecks can these people be realistically expecting to get, and are there wrestlers on the TNA roster who are right now essentially unemployed and don't know it because TNA has no plans to use them in the few upcoming TV tapings left?
ReplyDelete- Sting, be my partner please.
ReplyDelete-Screw you, you'll turn on me.
-No really, I need you
-No seriously dude, you're turning on me. F U.
-Sting, I'm begging you, with these young Sting fans in the ring, PLEASE BE MY PARTNER
-..... I know you're turning on me, but ok... But seriously, turn on me, and I'm leaving you for DEAD. D-E-A-D!!
*Flair turns on sting.
I'll always love Mr.Fuji simply for the fact he's wearing the biggest shit eating grin in the background of that whole scene.
ReplyDeleteIsn't pimpslapping the answer to all of life's problems?
ReplyDeleteThere's no way you get fired for good for protecting the business.
ReplyDeleteChris Adams.
ReplyDeleteI guess if I cared about WWF back then Slaughter's turn would've been a big deal
THAT'S MY BOY!
ReplyDeleteThe message here is don't beat up Sheamus.
ReplyDeleteI guess that explains the lack of new tweets from Big E. I miss his entertaining tweets.
ReplyDeleteThat was a legendary molly whop. A met a guy once who was interviewed by Stossel about some sort of scandal going on in his hometown's school system. After it was over, he said he asked Stossel if the second slap from Dr. D hurt as much as the first. He said Stossel just ignored him and stormed out of the room. He said it got a good laugh from the assistant who was taking off his mic.
ReplyDeleteHow fitting is it that it's now the Dixie Carter way as well? Seeing as how TNA is trying to mimic ECW in certain ways now, the poor treatment of talent fits, too.
ReplyDeleteFrom the stuff I've heard, Dixie just hates telling anyone bad news and is a complete wuss (or coward, if you want to go that route) in that regard. Even their bigger names under contract the last two years don't really get firm notification or a phone call letting them know that their time is up.
My thing is can the company really AFFORD to be firing talents right now?
ReplyDeleteThe promo with the kids in the Sting face paint was an 11 out 10 as far as promos go.
ReplyDeleteDamn, they'd fire their top diva over a minor spat with a sportscaster known for pushing buttons? If that's the case, it's understandable for talent to walk on eggshells.
ReplyDeleteSure.
ReplyDeleteThe company is the draw now,at least in terms of tv ratings. Alberto won't effect anything by more than a 0.00001 percentile.
I agree with this Trish turn. The Trish/Jericho connection was really over, and BAM awesome heel turn to go with the little guy? It still worked though, and heel Trish is <3.
ReplyDeleteI'm still expecting a dissertation from that incident from Steve Austin. For the first year of his podcast, he received everyone's view on that incident. I just figured he was doing primary research for a doctorate in Pro Wrestling (the same doctorate Dr. D received, I reckon).
ReplyDeleteSo if John Cena went on David Letterman and choked out Seth Rogen like Hogan did Belzer, would he get fired?
ReplyDeleteDon't get your hopes up.
ReplyDeleteShort of tossing feces at the McMahons, Cena has a job (and push) for life.
ReplyDeleteThe birth canal would be lined with sandpaper and broken glass.
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to Lita. Her box only feels that way.
I've thought of doing my dissertation on professional wrestling just for the hell of it. Thinking that maybe I could let WWE let me see some old documents and who knows, maybe even snag an interview with Vince and Linda.
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't have happened.
ReplyDeleteHe would probably get an applause
ReplyDeletelol anyshot he freaks out again??
ReplyDeleteA backstage scuffle wouldn't have happened in the old days?
ReplyDeleteDel Rio was on the down swing and if AJ got fired the would not be a huge void. Diva's are not the big draws
ReplyDeleteHe'd definitely get a cheer from me.
ReplyDelete1) As far as two-sport athletes go, give me Bo Jackson over Deion Sanders. Bo was WAY better in baseball, and could have been as good in football if not for the knee injury that ended his career.
ReplyDelete2) For some reason as a kid, Curt Hennig's heel turn at War Games made me mad. From a smark perspective, it's still infuriating because, in a lot of ways, he was the perfect Horseman and WCW didn't give us the chance to see what he could do in the Tully Blanchard role.
I always wondered why their opponents never just stomped on their feet. It turns out that is an effective technique in real life based on Randy Couture's foot stomping. I really wish the Freebirds had done this back in the day to Kevin.
ReplyDeleteFive more years till Vince catches up to it - Vince is 15 years behind the times.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though? WWE might come under fire, but there's no way Cena's getting fired. Fined or suspended at worst.
ReplyDeleteNow, if Ambrose or somebody on his level did it without it being approved, firedsofired.
Anyone who expected Shawn was an idiot really.
ReplyDelete1- Mankind was basically the corporation's backup plan, so why in the hell would they give him a super tough opponent in the 1st round?
2- Why on earth would you waste Shawn's in ring return as a surprise, with zero PPV hype?
I mean, it made ZERO sense on every possible level.
If he mentions my name in a derogatory way again, I will publish our email exchange everywhere. I doubt he will and I am pretty sure we have all moved past that incident.
ReplyDeleteThe nature boy strut into the punch to the jaw, is just hilarious.
ReplyDeletePlus it reformed the Horsemen with Stevie Richards
Yes, they have 3 house shows this month, and 5 in September.
ReplyDeleteThey currently have no TV tapings listed. Plus, they only have 2 episodes of pre-Bound for Glory shows that haven't already been taped, so if they do go back to NYC in September, they're either only back for one night (to tape the last two pre-BFG episodes), or they're going to be taping shows that will air after BFG (even though BFG isn't until October 12).
Vince would probably enjoy that.
ReplyDeleteScuffle? Yes. Slapping up someone not from the WWE? I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteHe'll end up breaking his wrist and be out another 6 months.
ReplyDeleteRemind me never to give you control over my estate.
ReplyDeleteBrian Jordan also deserves some love in the two-sport department. Never played MLB and NFL at the same time, but was an MLB All-Star and a Pro Bowl alternate, which is pretty fucking impressive.
ReplyDeleteAlberto Del Rio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCgjQD1kvrc
ReplyDeleteYeah, Ambrose would be a dead man if that happened. I'd actually like to see Miz get a gimmick where he beats up celebrities because they don't accept him as one of their own.
ReplyDeleteDarren must be prejudice against page breaks.
ReplyDeletelol tell David Shultz that.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wouldn't have thought much of it, but it IS the main topic/question of the post.
ReplyDelete... except for that poor dog.
ReplyDeleteAnd one of them is dead.
ReplyDeletehttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GloveSlap
ReplyDeleteThe most shocking to me as a kid watching way back when, will always and forever be Andre turning on Hogan, and bringing out Bobby Heenan. Andre vs Heenan was such a strong feud and Andre was so loved, so to see them together was amazing TV. All of those Pipers Pits with the trophies and that whole setup was just so well planned out.
ReplyDeletenot gonna lie: when mark henry turned on d'lo at summerslam '99. i actually gasped
ReplyDeleterecently, sanada turning on muta actually caught me off guard
i remember being "whoa, that happened?" when coach turned at summerslam 03
test being the 1st turncoat from the wwf to the alliance was another "huh, ok then."
not sure it counts as a heel turn since it was a debut, but ddp being revealed as the stalker was a "whoa!" moment (since we'd last seen him in wcw as a face)
ReplyDeleteWord is that del Rio slapped somebody over racist comments. If that's true, there's a potential bad PR situation brewing for WWE.
ReplyDeleteADR: So no Dunn slapping? Sadness.
ReplyDeleteWWE: You can be a bitch, or a man. Looks like whoring out to play the bills will win for almost everyone. (And I can't blame the wrestlers.)
TNA: The day they announce a new TV deal is the day I take them off of life support. Otherwise, they're still in deep shit.
Smackdown: Honestly, who gives a fuck? At best, it's dress rehearsal for RAW, and more often it's an "alternate universe" that has no real impact on the WWE.
'85 flair is interesting
ReplyDeletehe was really more of tweener, and the whole cage match incident more solidified his heel tendencies than constituted an outright turn, imo
i actually thought that was some creative booking from a turn standpoint, b/c hhh/chyna turning automatically turned kane face given the circumstances
ReplyDeletei know! who the hell was trish to think she could get someone like christian?!
ReplyDeleteSeth Rogen would probably think it's funny and not get all sue happy. Belzer brags about the house he got off it and calls it Chez Hogan.
ReplyDelete95-97 Shawn he probably would. I don't know if his Cena mancrush is that strong
ReplyDeleteThe WWE is trying to make it about the brand rather than creating. If another Rock or Austin happens, they want to control it so they can make as much $ as possible instead of having them bolt and return as they please.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, the wrestling fan base is not growing and I don't see it happening anytime soon. They are putting out an uninteresting product.
I can't wait for TNA champion "Burt River" to grace empty baseball stadiums around the Southeast US.
ReplyDeleteWhat's Beto Del Toro doing on Impact
ReplyDeleteYou mean Alvin Caras?
ReplyDeletewe had austin randomly bitchstunnering people, and kanyon randomly bitchkutting people
ReplyDeleteShane McMahon or Rock at Survivor Series 98. Shane was so over as a face that it shocked a lot of people. Rock was also red hot with the fans. I'd also say HHH at WM 15 since nobody saw it coming.
ReplyDeleteif cena is really a team player, who'll do all the stuff that can get you fired, just to see what happens
ReplyDeleteThey should just give Kalisto Rey's mask and entrance and claim that it's the same person, like they did with the 3 man version of Demolition.
ReplyDeleteWWE just posted on facebook that on this day in WWE Network history, Jay Leno wrestled at Road Wild. "Go back in time on WWE Network to see what happened when he teamed with Diamond Dallas Page to take on Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff!"
ReplyDeleteThis has to be the most shameless network shill yet right?
I loved Hennig's heel turn because it caused Schiavone to kayfabe storm off the set the following night. It turned Hennig face for me because I didn't have to listen to that tool for 3 hours.
ReplyDeleteAt least they weren't the company that actually put this on PPV
ReplyDeleteYeah but it's just one big WWE Universe these days right? Everything that's ever happened in wrestling happened in the WWE.
ReplyDeleteI don't 100% remember that, but that is incredible. The voice of the company basically says "Fuck this company, I'm done". Great example to set for your fans there!
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, everything that's ever happened in Sports Entertainment happened in the WWE.
ReplyDeleteVery true on the last point. Does RAW even recap what happened on Smackdown! anyway?
ReplyDeleteI wondered about this yesterday.
ReplyDeleteWho made the Scherer Dog Twitter account? That was pretty funny
ReplyDeleteSurprised they never lifted that angle for Cena.
ReplyDeleteThis gets my vote. I can't call any turn after Hogan's shocking cause you were trained to expect it. Backlund's was just so random and completely out of the blue. Bravo to all involved.
ReplyDeleteShawn in the Barber Shop jumps out immediately, because I was 10 at the time, and while I was smart to the idea that wrestling is a work, I hadn't gotten a grasp of how the angles are built. Looking back now, it becomes obvious to me that after they teased the breakup and brought them out on the Barber Shop, the split was happening. Anything else would have been a swerve, which is something of an anachronism for the early '90s.
ReplyDeleteThe heel turns that REALLY get me as surprises are the ones that go against a "smart" notion of what the booking should be. The two examples I have in mind here are Triple H's heel turn at Wrestlemania XV and Vince's heel turn the following year. Vince being a heel in and of itself isn't shocking, and if it had happened the next night, I wouldn't give it a second thought, but because it happened to prevent the top babyface from going over in the Wrestlemania main event, it was stunning to me. The Triple H heel turn wasn't quite as big, but my sense of the story was that it should have ended with X-Pac beating Shane's ass from pillar to post and overcoming Corporate interference to pay off the storyline. Of course, I may have been the last person to recognize the existence of "X-Pac heat" (was that a thing by '99?), so my perspective may be skewed.
It's a desperate attempt at a controversial article to get page hits
ReplyDeletelol, you just popped up over there to say as much
ReplyDeleteI would also say Big Show turning heel shocked us all.
ReplyDeleteYep.
ReplyDeleteThe 411 contrarians are doing their best to defend it, like Robert Darth Morris
i dunno, i see a lot of "oh please FOAD" comments there in response
ReplyDeleteAJ sells merch, though. And probably a decent percentage of women's and girls' shirts (and accessories, jewelry, whatever else they've got for women) sold is her stuff. You need a Lita-type to appeal to the tomboy, rebel girls. They might want to keep her around without anyone else to fill that niche.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Coachman... because NO-ONE saw that coming at all... becaues NO-ONE ever thought about the Coach.
ReplyDeleteListen, because I know you can understand me, we speak a language called English on this blog.
ReplyDelete#WeThePeople
The earlier comments had a lot of that but most are about how it is a joke.
ReplyDeleteI was just bringing up the few contrarians there who always make the same point
Honestly, Bubba's pursuit of putting women through tables, the look of vacant ecstasy he gets when he does it, the way the announcers sell it as the worst thing ever (on a show where men go through tables and win the matches it happens in)... It's always had a vaguely rapey sex metaphor type deal to it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it promotes it, but unlike, well, MOST "OMG RAPE CULTURE" hand-wringing, I don't think seeing a slightly rapey undertone to this is a stretch.
TJ: just watched the match where Xavier beats Low Ki for the RoH title. Holy shit was this match terrible
ReplyDeletei agree on the vibe bully exudes when it happens. i noticed it last night
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's not this overt "rape = tables" thing. There's just a certain kinda eyebrow-cocking tone to it.
ReplyDeleteSo it's being reported that ADR slapped up a dude that made a racist comment.
ReplyDelete