Topic: Wrestling Fans Unite!

@Tasuki - Whoops, yep, I switched around stories about a couple old legends. I should have said Ox Baker and the heart punch, not Kowalski and the ear. I haven’t seen a ton of Kowalski in the ring, but I’ve read up on him a bit, and I’m one of the weirdos who likes an iron claw finisher. It was Yukon Eric’s ear that came off. Baker wrestled a lot on TV when I was real young (Dick the Bruiser’s territory). He was really great, but he used his heart punch as a deadly gimmick after someone actually had a heart attack and died after receiving one.

I had cauliflower ear in high school and it was kind of brutal. My ear was all puffed up with fluid and it throbbed all the time. Went to my doctor, and he had never treated it and wasn’t sure what to do. I told him I thought he should use a syringe to suck out the fluid, so he did it, and it worked. My ear is only minorly deformed from it.

I’d love to see a long documentary on Benoit’s in ring career, but I sure hope Vice doesn’t go anywhere near that story for this series.

I think they almost have to do the Benoit story as an episode. It's probably the biggest "scandal" in all of pro wrestling. I understand they wanted to stay away from it in the first season, but they're going to have to cover it eventually.

They could also get some great episodes out of both Magnum TA and Brian Pillman's stories.

I really like what AEW did here

That’s a great vignette. Really enjoyed that.

My hope with Benoit is that when someone inevitably does the documentary about the end of his life, there can maybe be some medical information, or maybe even specific research of his case, available now that we didn’t have then. We know a lot more now about repeated head trauma, CTE, and proteins like tau, and I think it’s worth examining that in his case. It’s not like it will excuse him, but it does add some context. If Vice can pull that off, then I’ll be happy. It’ll be gross though if it seems exploitative.

@bimmy-lee I think what it comes down to is the Benoit family. The last thing I heard is they want to keep away from the public eye and right so. I know that before they cremated him the had his brain studied and they said it was like the brain of an 80 year old Alzheimer's patient. After that his remains were cremated and his ashes scattered in an unknown location. His parents have declined several interviews over the years. Although I agree and it could be interesting.

@Tasuki - Wow, see, I didn’t even know they did a brain study, but I’m really glad they did. Thanks for the info. In my opinion, that should be information included in the very first scene of a “Here’s the horrible things Chris Benoit did” documentary. I would much rather watch a two hour doc about his in ring career with full matches than a dark side doc about murder, but either way; it’s a step towards being able to acknowledge and discuss him again.

@bimmy-lee Yeah I don't know if you remember WWE Superstar Christopher Nowinski (he was around in early to mid 2000s was a Tough Enough contestant who got a contract and his gimmick was a college graduate) but after he retired due to concussions he became an advocate for concussions and head injuries and steroids in WWE. Due to the media writing off Benoits behavior as "roid rage" and other steroid related problems he was determine that it was due to head trama over the years. Long story short he approached the Benoit family about his theory and persuade them to have his brain examined which they did and the rest is history.

Even though the facts point to head trama it still doesn't excuse that he did kill his own child and that is why the family doesn't talk about it for the most part. They acknowledge that it was horrible and he could have gone another way with it but sadly you are going to get people who only see it as highlighting a child killer which is why they don't bring it up in public.

Of.course after the Benoit tradegy it's why the WWE has become more concerned about head injuries going as far as banning chair shots to the head and flying head butts (also why AEW got so much slack for the Cody head shot a few months ago).

But now I am sure I am not telling you anything you don't know. Lol.

But yeah the story behind Benoit's problems is an interesting one albeit a sad one.

The flying headbutt isn't banned, Daniel Bryan is still doing it and he's a guy who has already had to retire before because of concussion issues. The flying headbutt biggest problem isn't actually causing a concussion (although it is still a concern), it's how it vibrates on impact against the spine which is where Dynamite Kid's problems came from.

WWE list of banned moves is silly at times, Triple H's Pedigree ended up crippling someone but it is still around.

@Tasuki - I don’t remember Nowinski as a wrestler, but I do know of his concussion work. When you explain it in that detail, it does sound vaguely familiar. Maybe he talked a bit about Benoit on a podcast or something. I think he was on Austin’s pod a few years ago. I think it was his Legacy foundation that developed the hypothesis that smaller, repeated trauma (the kind of sudden impact/sudden stop seen by NFL linemen and people who do the diving headbutt among others) causes damage to the frontal lobe affecting mood and memory, and induces the body to send a certain protein to the brain as a form of protection and preservation, which in turn inhibits function and ultimately leaves the brain more susceptible to trauma.

I’ve been an NFL fan almost as long as a wrestling fan, so I’ve had to come to terms with the side effects of both sports. I guess as long as athletes are willing to take the risk, I’m willing to watch with hope of seeing something brilliant. I’ve never been a fan of the diving headbutt. Never thought it looked great, and it’s kind of illogical. I wasn’t a fan when Daniel Bryan started using it. Headbutts are for Andre and Samoans.

Yeah, I feel bad for both sides of Benoit’s family, but it does seem inevitable that it will all be explored someday.

So it looks like we will be getting the Wednesday Night Wars starting this October. WWE has announced that starting in September NXT will be on USA on Wednesday nights and will be 2 hours long. I of course will be watching AEW but it should be interesting.

I wonder if we will see any surprise jumps from WWE to AEW on its first night and who. Right now if his contract is up by then I am thinking maybe Rusev.

Wow. In my opinion, NXT is the best exclusive on the network. From WWE’s perspective, it seems like the obvious choice to compete with AEW, and I’m definitely excited to see what those two promotions can do when pushed by competition. It’s a bit of a twist of the knife too that Dusty helped build NXT.

I could imagine almost anyone on the NXT roster showing up on AEW, but they probably need Mauro Ranallo more than anyone. I’m not sure about contract situations, but Rusev would be great. Owens is in a big storyline, but he would probably be my first choice if I was fantasy drafting. In my opinion, Drew McIntyre is a bit too big for their roster, but I think he’s skilled enough to work well with just about everyone in AEW. Apollo Crews would be great as well. A defection would be so juicy. I would love to see Rusev close the first episode of AEW.

I was thumbing through the Mattel wrestling figures on Amazon for my son’s birthday earlier this evening, and I noticed a peculiar thing. Every listing, including Dean Ambrose, Goldust, and Punk, used the wrestler’s name except for one occurrence... Shattered Cody Rhodes. For that figure, they used his model number in the listing.

@bimmy-lee It's because WWE owns the name Dean Ambrose, Goldust and CM Punk. That's why Dean now goes by Jon Moxley (I am sure if he could be would have kept Dean since he's more well known by that name) Dustin is using his real name and for a long time there even in UFC CM Punk was going by Phil Brooks. Cody Rhodes however is his legal name now so WWE can't own that name. Since he's now with AEW they probably don't want to confuse people.

If Rusev jumps to AEW I am sure they will change his name in AEW just like they did with Ty Dillenger (Shawn Spears) and even Awesome Kong who was know as Kharma in WWE.

With CM Punk, there's apparently a sort of co-ownership/licensing thing going on, so WWE has a trademark on the name as relates to merch and such, but Phil actually owns the name itself with respect to it designating a person (in other words, WWE couldn't bring in a new "CM Punk"-named character). He used his real name in UFC because both he and UFC wanted to have at least a little distance between him and his wrestling character.

The standard practice for WWE is that they will rename wrestlers so they can then trademark everything related to the name. For example, just recently there was an incoming class at the Performance Center which included some decently well-known names (at least if you follow the "lesser" indy circuit), and they all received shiny new names. Sometimes WWE will keep a wrestler's previous name, especially if the new wrestler has a big following (AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, etc.) — in those cases, they either buy the name-rights from the wrestler or they work out some sort of licensing arrangement while the wrestler works there, but the wrestler keeps the name (and the rights to it) if/when they leave.

I am psyched for the "Wednesday Night Wars". I'll be watching AEW ... i know NXT is raved about, but outside of the women's division, i'm not really feeling it for most of the roster. They're good and all that, it's just ... meh. Meanwhile, i've enjoyed the past AEW shows more than almost any other wrestling i've watched in quite some time, and i'm much more interested in watching their roster work.

The next six months are going to be a very interesting time in the business!

@the_shpydar I agree it will be an interesting time. I haven't watched WWE since last year sometime but I do follow what's going on. AEW well that has reignited my love for wrestling so I will watch that. Right now though it's been NJPW every Saturday night for me and when AEW has a PPV.

@Tasuki
Yeah, i enjoy NJPW as well, though i preferred when it was on Fridays, since i also like watching the Legacy Fighting Alliance (MMA) shows that air afterwards. But i guess AXS is doing a Saturday night block now, with the second season of WOW starting soon. WOW is a decent show, a little hokey but in an ok way. It's worth watching if only for Tessa Blanchard, who is amazing. And i believe Teal Piper is also joining the roster for the coming season.

MLW is also pretty good (and there's some crossover with talent that will also be working for AEW). It airs on Saturdays as well. I think half the reason i actually like the show is that Tony Schiavone is frequently on commentary (Jim Cornette, too!), and Tony is awesome.

I strangely miss Impact (if only for Rosemary), but whatever obscure network they're airing on these days isn't in my cable package, and i'm far too lazy to bother watching their show streaming on Twitch or wherever they simulcast it now (probably the FITE app).

@the_shpydar I thought Teal signed with AEW but yeah I agree with Tessa she is amazing.

As for TNA or Impact or whatever they're calling it nowadays is on the Pursuit Network since Anthem Sports owns that as well as TNA. If you don't get that network then it's aired on Twitch as well.

I am not sure if I get the network that has MLW, I have Sling but If I do I will check it out for sure.

@Tasuki - You know something funny/sad? I honestly assumed WWE owned at least some portion of Cody’s actual name, and they were just choosing to be petty in this instance. I do find it a tad bit hard to believe they don’t at least own some marketing rights to his name, but maybe he was smart about what he signed, or they treated him a bit different because he’s a son of a son of a plumber daddy.

@bimmy-lee The only name referring to Cody that WWE owns is Stardust. As @the_shpydar said WWE likes to be able to own their I.P. and they see their wrestlers as characters in a tv show or comic book for example. As Vince said to Ted Turner one day when Ted told Vince I am in the Wrestling business, That's nice Ted but I am in the Entertainment business.

One famous example of WWE owning the names is the infamous new Diesel and Razor Ramon angle when Kevin Nash and Scott Hall went to WCW.

I’m at a point in life where I have to choose between gaming and wrestling in my free time, so I don’t watch nearly as much as I’d like. That’s why the insane weekly time commitment WWE requires wore me down over time to the point that I don’t care much about what’s going on anymore. I’m excited about what AEW can offer, and I’ll spend my network money on quarterly AEW PPVs if they suck me in with their digestible weekly programming.

@Tasuki - That’s a great quote, and further evidence to me that Vince’s stuntmen should be covered by the actor’s guild as they portray sports entertainers on television.

I get it though, WWE wants to own the IP, whether they create or acquire it. That’s kind of why I assumed they owned some rights to Cody’s own name, and I thought maybe they were choosing to forego those rights so as to not advertise his name. But the factual explanations here make much more sense.

I went with the Dude Love figure for my son. He was 40% off, so it was an easy choice. He joins a stable with Macho, Daniel Bryan, and the Nasty Boys.

@bimmy-lee Yeah that's the point I am in life. Take in account if you follow WWE regularly for week thats 3 hours for Raw, 2 hours for Smackdown, and now 2 hours for NXT that's 7 hours a week on WWE. Now that might not sound like alot but add in time for work, family, personal etc. thats alot for just one thing. For me it got to the point where I wasn't enjoying WWE anymore, it almost felt like a chore to watch. Oh look Brock is Champ again. How are the going to try and force Roman on us this week. Why aren't they using so and so like they should. I started questioning myself why am I watching it if I am not enjoying it especially since I can use that time to do something I do enjoy.

Don't get me wrong I still follow it, I keep up with it online, and watch wrestling YouTubers recap videos and have a good idea what's going on and I am ok with not watching it.

Since I found out about AEW I genuinely look forward to each of their shows and if they keep the constant on how it is I will keep watching it. I also a few weeks ago found that I can watch NJPW on one of the channels Sling carries and I have been enjoying that as well. It doesn't feel like a chore.

Will I go back to WWE? That depends on them really if they step up their game due to AEW I may but if it's the same b.s. night after night probably not and that's tough for me to say that as a life long WWE fan.

As for Cody, I don't think they can copyright his legal name as I said before. Dashing Cody they could but Cody Rhoads. That's why alot of the older wrestlers did legally change their names Warrior being one of the firsts, but other like Steve Austin (Who's birth name is Steve Williams) and Chyna have done it. Heck even Ryback did it after he left the WWE (whose birth name was Ryan Reeves). That way can keep some control when they leave WWE.