SaitoRyo

OK, #Johnson2024 was a bad one. I hope Boris is out long before then. My bad. How about #RockTheVote2024? #ThePeoplesPresident? I'll let the massive PR firm handle it... Yeah, working for WWE/Vince is an automatic strike against him but...was he ever involved in anything particularly dodgy there? No massive scandal that I can think of and pretty much everyone loves the guy. I dunno, I hope and think he'll run sooner rather than later but he'd need to have a great team around him because the inexperience will be telling.

It obviously wouldn't be easy. I'm assuming he'd run as a Democrat, if not an Independent, and that would bring out the sharks to try and tear him down. But yeah, I actually hope he gets into it sooner rather than later.

Could The Rock actually be President one day? Just watched a video he posted to his social media channels addressing the recent unrest in the US and, fuck me, he's so compassionate, well-spoken and inspiring. I know this isn't news to anyone, but you can't help but watch and listen to him. If Trump can become POTUS, why not our man Dwayne? He's the biggest movie star in the world and has friends in high places. He'd be able to get the funding to run as a proper candidate. He doesn't have any major skeletons in his closet (that I know of) and seems to be one of the most universally liked people on the planet. He doesn't have the experience but that's clearly not a prerequisite nowadays, is it? Bring on #Johnson2024.

The Netflix series is a decent watch. Timeline shifts all over the place and hearing the accounts of survivors can be exhausting after a while (absolutely not a criticism) but it's worth the four-hour investment. When I saw it I thought 'fucking hell, that was quick' but they've clearly been in production on it for a while and a lot of work and research has been put into it.

Would one on Muhammad Hassan be any good? It's such an interesting story and there's a lot to talk about with how he was hazed and bullied backstage, how controversial the character was, how it all came to an end etc. Plus he's made appearances and talked about it in some interviews in the last few years so might be up for doing it. Would also be one of those that ends on a nice note as he's just a normal bloke now, living and working as a teacher and seems glad to have gotten out of the business.

Yeah, that's what I saw, too. At the time, Brock was working Benoit on house shows or doing some multi-man tags with Nathan Jones and Matt Morgan against Benoit, Myserio and Cena. He was gearing up for that brief programme with Hardcore Holly, too. I'm assuming he saw it was a long, uncomfortable flight and a packed schedule of meet and greets and wrestling and thought 'nah, you're alright' but just find it out that he wasn't there.

Watching a WWE Confidential episode on the Network and the main story is the 2003 Christmas in Iraq special. Mildly interesting stuff but I'm watching it and wondering why Brock wasn't on the show. He was the WWE Champion at the time and I don't think he was injured, since a glance at cagematch.net shows him working matches around the time of the taping. Any idea why he wasn't there? Not arsed with the flight? I know this was when he was getting proper burned out but his future wife made the trip and you'd think that WWE management would want him to make an appearance. Also, I dunno if he's ever stated his support publicly that I know but I reckon he's all about the troops (he enlisted in the National Guard when he was 17). Anyone shed any light? Cheers!

Aldis is going to be doing a show where he interviews his mates in the business and said it would be good and not like *this* and then did a pretty good impression of Hannibal (without naming him). Hannibal is a fucking weirdo. He gets some really good interviews but he's just so obsessed with the seedy side of wrestling. So he'll have someone like, I dunno, Barry Windham and ask him 'What did you think of the Pat Patterson allegations?' out of nowhere. He's also clearly very bitter that he never made it to WWE (I know he had a developmental deal rescinded because he got Hep C from Abdullah the Butcher) and constantly goes on these odd, off-kilter tangents against them.

People were clearly interested this week because the show averaged 350K viewers, best of the season.

How do you know? It would completely depend on the circumstances. I'm not sure how much Owen's contract was or how long it was for, but I think he signed a multi-year deal after the 1997 Survivor Series for around $400,000 per year downside. Could have easily made a couple of million for the remainder of his deal when you add in royalties, bonuses and so on. Also factor in emotional distress, the public nature of the tragedy and all that. Also, three years after Martha received her settlement, WWE got half of that back when the British company that made the harness (Lewmar Ltd.) paid $9m to settle a lawsuit out of court, though they accepted no responsibility for the actual incident. Interesting news piece about that here. I also think this one could have been a two-parter so that the legal proceedings and the fallout could have been examined more.

Not sure about that. Bit hard to speculate but I think falling 80 feet onto a hard surface, regardless if it was above the spring under the ring, would have likely been fatal. Another really good but very emotional episode. Had a tear in my eye watching it at times. It's not easy watching footage of him playing with his kids and talking to his wife. He clearly loved them all. Speaking of Martha, what a fucking hero she is, eh? Refused to let them get away with it and fought every step of the way. Should she fuck let them put Owen in the Hall of Fame or sell DVDs baring his likeness. Didn't she get a payout a few years ago when they released the Hart of Gold DVD? I hope so. His kids seem great, too, and I'm glad they're able to do the work that they are all currently doing in his name. That's the best tribute possible.

Things are continuing to open up in the Czech Republic, which has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe. Selfish as it is to say, I'm glad I've been here as this thing has been going on. The response was swift and most of the rules and measures have made sense and helped flatten the curve. I think the mandatory wearing of face masks has played a big part, along with the quick shutting of the borders. Managed to get out and about to the local town on Tuesday. The small mall there was open, as were restaurants and pubs for terrace service. Everyone was maintaining proper distance, wearing their masks and there were antibacterial dispensers set up. Nice to sit and have a meal out. As it was 11am and the place had just opened, we were the only ones there. Looks like soon they'll allow events of up to 100 people, then 300, 500 and, eventually 1,000 (all before June 22nd providing there's no spike in infection rates). I hope they're not being premature with that but time will tell. The reaction here to the UK response is the same as everywhere else. Nobody can quite believe how much they've managed to fuck it up.

Yeah, this was another really fun episode. I know very little about Abrams and the UWF so this was a nice little history lesson with some wild stories thrown in. It definitely sounds like it should be made into a miniseries or a film. Road Warriors next week and then Owen Hart the week after. Those will be pretty heavy, I'm sure. Hope they make a third series.

Benoit was framed, he never juiced!

Yeah, it's from a 2006 copy of WWE magazine. Still quite the cursed image... I remember when I was around 13/14, so 2004/05, thinking Benoit couldn't have been on steroids because he was a proper wrestler who trained and wrestled in Japan. Looking at pictures of him now, there must have only been a few lads on more of the gas than he was.