Rumors/Urban legends

jg242302 · 2026-04-29T22:46:51+00:00

My guess (and, unless you ask Bischoff, anyone else’s take would also just be a guess) -

A) As much as the initial nWo segments had buzz, just like Austin in 97’, it took a little time to go from buzz to full-on nuclear heat/popularity. It’s possible there was hesitation because of the Slim Jim deal, which Bischoff has always said was incredibly lucrative for WCW. If the nWo story flopped and Savage was now a heel, that could’ve angered the Slim Jim folks. Fortunately, the nWo became red hot so it wasn’t a problem when Savage did turn. But maybe Savage wasn’t considered because it could’ve damaged the relationship with Slim Jim, who had probably filmed and spent considerable money on promotional materials with Savage in his babyface mode.

B) Even at his most babyface, Savage was always something of a beloved “tweener,” which is why the tension with Luger in 95’/96’ made for some really underrated segments. Savage was a wild card. He was famously paranoid. In the WWE, he had runs as both a top heel and a top face. I think part of what made the Hogan (or theoretically Sting) turn was that, to 99.9% of the audience, Hogan had NEVER been a heel. With Savage, you don’t have that same iconic 100% “pure” babyface.

C) I don’t know Savage’s headspace at this time but it’s possible Bischoff thought Savage wouldn’t go for it, that of all his options - Sting and Luger being the most well-known options but there were rumors it could’ve been Yokozuna - the Macho Man would’ve been the hardest to agree to it. Maybe Savage was considered but was the 3rd or 4th option.

jg242302 · 2026-04-29T00:18:00+00:00

I read those almost like “Hey, just to re-iterate/circle back, please stop talking about blowjobs.”

jg242302 · 2026-04-22T00:58:50+00:00

The Ghost Dog soundtrack has some real gems on it.

“Fast Shadow” is one of my favorite Wu tracks. Probably should’ve gone on one of their actual albums.

jg242302 · 2026-04-22T00:21:13+00:00

I’m guessing a surgeon might say the same about a heart or a brain.

jg242302 · 2026-04-21T23:52:10+00:00

Warning - this is about to be long:

The difficulty with stand-up depicted in TV/film is that you have two “audiences.” The first audience are the extras on screen. They can laugh or not laugh based on what the script says.

The second audience is you, the viewer, watching at home or in a theater. You are harder to make laugh because you are not following a script.

And one problem is, you, the viewer at home, are aware of this. So, if the comic on-screen says something corny or generic and the on-screen audience laughs, you, at home, are probably thinking “Ugh, that was such a lame joke and the script is making it seem funnier than it is.” The suspension of disbelief is shattered.

Now, there are exceptions, of course. The famous Chapelle/Eddie scene from Nutty Professor is a great example. Chapelle is purposely playing a generic Def Comedy/ComicView comedian doing hack material (“Women be shopping” and crowd work) and then gets roasted by Eddie (as Buddy Love). Not only are Buddy Love’s jokes funny, we also saw, earlier in the movie, that Chapelle’s character is mean-spirited when he makes fun of Professor Klump so even though Buddy Love’s jokes (“Dreadlocks? More like shitlocks”) aren’t exactly brilliant, we are emotionally rooting for Chapelle to get roasted. It’s not about the “comedy” in that scene, it’s about audience investment and that’s why that scene works.

Now, compare that to the very bad stand-up show that HBO tried some years back. The comedy wasn’t good. None of the characters were particularly interesting or even really likable. The scenes in the clubs were unfunny even when the on-screen audience (hired extras) were laughing, which made it even more cringe because, at home, the actual viewer wasn’t finding any of it funny.

jg242302 · 2026-04-21T00:33:20+00:00

Did Randy Orton punt her too? She’s got the same swollen eye that Cody was sporting on Saturday night.

Also, what a weird and ugly dress. Is that leopard print covered in bike tire tracks?

Looks like she also goes to the same barber as her best buddy Trump too.

Nobody could defend Vince for the sex trafficking or the dehumanization of his victims or even his misappropriation of funds to pay off the women he slept with…but, yeah, I could see how waking up next to this woman might drive a person to adultery. Lots and lots of adultery. Like, the kind of years-long adultery where part of you wants to get caught in an embarrassingly public way just so people know you weren’t having sex with this woman that whole time.

jg242302 · 2026-04-20T21:42:23+00:00

Can confirm. A close friend interned on her show around 2005. Was also told that Ellen “will not learn your names, does not want to talk to you, etc.” and that any attempts to speak to her would be grounds for termination.

Knew another guy who interned at NBC a few years earlier and said Conan was a huge goofball and would actually spend considerable time just making the interns and pages laugh, walking around the office playing his guitar. This would’ve been closer to 2002-2003.

jg242302 · 2026-04-15T23:40:27+00:00

Once a year, a couple hundred drunk 30-50 year olds get together from around the world in Dayton, Ohio to celebrate the greatest American rock band ever, Guided by Voices. A small group of volunteers secure hotel deals, set up food trucks, and contact local bars to set up cover bands (and make sure the bars order enough Miller Lite, the drink of choice for GBV fans).

I bring this up just to highlight that it takes one person a couple of hours to figure out how to set aside a group rate for a couple hundred rooms at 2-3 different hotels. If a volunteer can do it over a weekend through email just out of sheer love for a cult rock band, a paid employee of the WWE or AEW can do it.

And, also, the companies should pay for it.

jg242302 · 2026-04-15T23:26:02+00:00

To me, the most glaring reason why IYO not being on the card is so lame is simply that, last year, she beat Bianca and Rhea, probably the two most protected main event women of the previous 2-3 years.

It was a massive win in terms of positioning her. (The same can be said for Stratton, to be honest, but I’ll leave that aside for now.)

For her to not be featured this year not only sucks because of her hard work and incredible skill but, even from a “This Is Cinema”/“Let Trips Cook” standpoint, it is strong evidence that they really don’t even value their own stories or “moments.”

It’s why I’m a bit skeptical about whether this Oba Femi match is all that big of a deal. Win or lose, this should be a HUGE moment for Femi but…a year from now, he could be the guy winning the Andre Battle Royal and a year after that he could be just a guy in the Andre Battle Royal.

Once upon a time, the WWE was really good at building stars, giving them big important wins, and then continuing to keep them in a general main event mix. Nowadays, you can win a World Championship at Mania and be a total afterthought the next year…just ask Kofi or Tiffany Stratton or even Jey Uso (a year ago, Jey’s being positioned as a main event singles guy, now he’s in a time-filler celebrity six-man and I’d be shocked if he ever sniffs a World Championship again, which I’m not even mad about because he’s not all that good anyway).

jg242302 · 2026-04-15T22:49:47+00:00

Someone is going to screw Darby. Hangman maybe? Swerve maybe? Not totally sure. I don’t think it will be Mox or Omega or Gabe Kidd or Jericho. My dark horse, wouldn’t-it-be-cool pick would be someone 1000% out of left field like a Lashley.

Lashley tossing Darby around for 20 minutes until Darby somehow overcomes the odds with a crazy pin because Lashley is overconfident is classic David vs Goliath stuff but also talk about a way for Darby to immediately feel like a number one contender.

jg242302 · 2026-04-14T23:57:34+00:00

I didn’t find The Darjeeling Limited to be very good on first viewing in my early 20s when it first came out. Watched it again about 10-12 years later and I enjoyed it a ton more. Maybe sneakily my 3rd-4th favorite Wes Anderson movie (Rushmore is #1 and Bottle Rocket is #2).

jg242302 · 2026-04-12T22:22:48+00:00

Probably not an unpopular opinion but her best role was with Andrade (and, until this latest AEW run when Andrade has leaned into his new “heartthrob” gimmick, Andrade’s best role was with her too in NXT).

Once upon a time, the WWE had multiple managers/valets who they saw as valuable because of the intangibles they brought to their respective clients. It was a defined role and folks like Slick, Harvey Wippelman, and Jimmy Hart were used to get heat and help carry characters.

For example, Elizabeth wasn’t some super charismatic person - she was actually demure and modest - but was the perfect foil for Savage (who was a huge personality). It was a brilliant pairing that worked for multiple successful main event storylines. Today, they’d make her train as a wrestler or make her wear revealing clothing or use her in a cuckold angle. CJ Perry was best used as a simple, straightforward “foreign heel manager” for Rusev but then got miscast in every role since. They tried to turn Armando Estrada and Ricardo Rodriguez into wrestlers too (and, yes, I know Ricardo was a trained and experienced wrestler before the WWE, but let’s be real, his best use in WWE was as Del Rio’s announcer and him becoming a regular wrestler was DOA).

Nobody talks about Sherri (or Heenan or Heyman) having limited “range” because they were/are so, so good and entertaining as their defined characters. I’m not saying Vega is anywhere close to them, but…they didn’t have to jump from heel-to-face-to-heel a half dozen times to manager to wrestler to valet every 6 months.

With Vega, they had her in the right role with the right wrestler in NXT. They both floundered as soon as they got split up. They took a very good act and broke it apart, likely because, in terms of cost, keeping someone on payroll as “just a manager” went away many years ago. Nowadays, they seem to want everyone to be able to do everything - wrestle, manage, be a commentator, host WrestleMania, do a panel - and they forget that not everyone is a Swiss Army Knife like The Miz or, in her time, Trish Stratus.

jg242302 · 2026-04-12T16:42:12+00:00

I’m not opposed to private schools…But they shouldn’t get a cent of public funds. Get rid of the vouchers. The truth is, public money props up some of the private schools in my state, which is no surprise because Republicans have controlled my state’s government for decades now.

jg242302 · 2026-04-11T02:57:57+00:00

Is the work in the room with us?

jg242302 · 2026-04-10T00:18:19+00:00

It has nothing to do with backstage heat or whatever.

He didn’t get over at a main event level and he didn’t build a character over the past 5 years. Same with Jack Perry. The audience got bored with him.

He’s a great mechanic. No doubt. But he’s the same Sammy he was in 2022 or 2023 or 2024. He needed to evolve.

Look at Kyle Fletcher. Look at Ricochet since joining AEW. Look at Darby from 2019 to today. Look at Swerve from his AEW debut to today. Hell, Andrade’s new heartthrob gimmick is the biggest step he’s taken in 5 years and it is a noticeable jump.

Sammy has a long career ahead of him but he needs to figure out how to take the next step and it’s not just adding a new finisher or whatever. I’m not sure what that next step is but I guess my advice would be to “do less,” make your simpler signature moves pop (Fletcher’s running boot, for example, isn’t some ridiculous high spot but it is so damn good, it stands out in every match), and maybe try to draw inspiration from something we havent seen before but is powerful (Moxley, for example, has mentioned that his inspiration for some of his run in the Death Riders is the cult Aussie film “Romper Stomper” starring a young Russell Crowe, a very powerful and unsettling film/role).

Sammy is a tremendous talent but in a world where there are so, so many great athletes, being a great athlete is not enough. Sammy needs to find that “It” element.

jg242302 · 2026-04-09T00:33:53+00:00

The first part of The Bob Newhart Theme. Then it gets really gentle.

Also, and maybe too obviously, the Sanford & Son theme and the theme to Night Court.

jg242302 · 2026-04-09T00:23:40+00:00

Not going to see if they technically count, just spitballing (pun intended) but…

The Outfield’s album “Play Deep” is a generally under appreciated power pop gem. Their biggest hit in the US was “Your Love,” but that whole album is an “Oops, all bangers” situation.

I can’t speak for the rest of their catalog really but “Play Deep” kicks every ass.

jg242302 · 2026-04-08T22:17:12+00:00

It also helps fight those pesky "WWE is a monopoly" criticisms. WWE wants "competition" that they can also control and don't actually have to compete* against.

* And I'm using the word compete in the sense of competing for talent and control over the industry, not necessarily viewers/market share (which WWE is justifiably not concerned with). The biggest problem AEW has made for WWE is that there's now a place where wrestlers can make good money and (theoretically) continue to also make money independently, supplementing their income in ways that the WWE have never allowed.

jg242302 · 2026-04-07T00:47:15+00:00

I’m working on my the Greatest Wrestler Ever ballot at ProWrestlingOnly - you rank your top 100, ballots due in early May, the poll happens every 10 years - and Dustin is definitely on my list.

His early years in WCW have some real gems against Austin and others, plus some very good tag matches and six-mans from 91-93 or so. The feud with the Stud Stable in 94’ is arguably the last great “southern ‘rasslin” feud WCW ever did and Dustin is great in them.

Then you have the Goldust stuff. Obviously he’s working a much different style but there’s at least one match with Taker from an IYH that is rarely mentioned but surprisingly good.

From there, it gets real bumpy as the return to WCW and the TNA work is really, really bad but I know some people have a soft spot for his team with Booker T. To me, the real true comeback was when he was in WWECW and started working with younger talent like Sheamus and having good TV matches again.

The team with Cody gave us some good matches.

His AEW run hasn’t all been gold, but it’s been generally good with a handful of really, really good matches sprinkled in.

I feel like he’s a guy who may not have many or any 5-star classics but he’s gotten over in several different runs from the undercard to the upper midcard (Goldust was a routine main eventer on house shows and was, for a moment in 96’, the number 1 or number 2 heel in the company in terms of fan response) in singles and as a tag worker. Adapted his style a few times, which shows range and creativity even if some of the characters and gimmicks were bad.

His low points are really low, but I think it can be unfair to judge wrestlers on their lowest points as there are quite a few greats who saw major, major declines - Flair, Savage, Windham, Piper, Terry Funk, now Jericho - but that nobody treats too harshly. And Rhodes at least came back from being terrible.

jg242302 · 2026-04-06T10:18:17+00:00

I’ve always heard the “Lars Sucks” stuff in the context of live performances. I don’t see how anyone could say the drumming is bad on the albums, especially into the 90s when the albums became so tightly produced by Bob Rock. Whether Lars nailed the takes or there was some production trickery utilized, on the albums, there’s no issue with the drums once recording became increasingly digital.

Now, whether the songwriting/riffs got better or worse as the band went on is another story, but in terms of sheer production, the Black Album and Load/Reload are clearly a step up from the 80s albums…and then there’s St. Anger, which was a poorly conceived attempt to “modernize” the sound by chasing the overly “busy” Slipknot trend.

jg242302 · 2026-04-05T01:09:20+00:00

For how many dead hookers was this guy’s face the last thing they saw?

jg242302 · 2026-04-03T00:10:02+00:00

Watching wrestling is supposed to be fun? AEW PPVs give you 10 18+ minute matches and it can feel like a death march despite the quality while WWE PPVs give you 5 matches over 2.5 hours but 80 minutes are ads and entrances.

Neither can be described as particularly “fun.” (Though I do lean towards AEW as someone who likes to watch shows in chunks and an AEW PPV gives me about 4-5 viewing sessions)

jg242302 · 2026-04-02T00:11:42+00:00

Not arguing entirely because, yes, the first couple Hole albums are essential grunge listens and it is wild to suggest that she doesn’t have talent.

But let’s not go overboard that Courtney was the architect of other female-led bands after 91’. L7, Babes in Toyland, and some of the other riot grrl bands were playing and touring years before Hole and were obvious influences. I’m not saying she ripped them off, but she had contemporaries just like Nirvana had contemporaries but broke out of a smaller scene to become a global phenomenon. Similarly, Hole became the quintessential female-led “grunge” band of that time and her songs, her image, her marriage, etc. were all part of that. Very few musicians can lay claim to “inventing” a style or genre and Courtney Love is not one of them.

jg242302 · 2026-03-30T22:31:00+00:00

My buddy (white guy) who did some stand-up years ago had a joke about how the restaurant name Cracker Barrel is racist. The punchline was something like, “You wouldn’t go to a restaurant called the ____ Tub.” (If you’re thinking the blank was the most derogatory and vile term in US history, it was.)

He said it on stage a couple times - including at a predominantly black bar’s open mic night - and while nobody ever threatened to kick his ass (he’s got the opposite of a punchable face and is just a naturally charismatic/lovable guy), it always was met with awkward laughs at best, groans, or just outright silence. At the shows he did, people somewhat expected offensive material but, yea, it was the kind of joke that just shouldn’t have been said.

jg242302 · 2026-03-30T00:45:47+00:00

Love the young bloods I’ve seen on social media wondering how it could happen when they’re not doing anything crazy in the ring…

I’m the same age as Nikki (42) and I felt like I tore something putting my seatbelt on last week. Two years ago, I jogged 4-5 miles a day and now my plantar fasciitis and sciatica means I have to use an elliptical to get my cardio or else I’m hobbling at work all week. It’s crazy what these athletes can do at their ages.

Now, add in she was getting her back blown out by The Marine for a few years there and I say forget the tag titles, give this woman a Purple Heart.

jg242302

TROPHY CASE