The Unknown Poster

Further complicating the Justice League re-shoots is that Henry Cavill is currently filming Mission Impossible and has a mustache which Paramount will not allow him to shave to accommodate the JL re-shoots. They will have to digitally remove his 'stache in post production. Hopefully some footage leaks of Superman with a mustache. I always wondered if they ever have issues with actors looking different for the reshoots. Gal Gadot was pregnant when she did Wonder Woman reshoots. These are really extensive so I'd think physical changes would be an issue. Some actors are only in "move shape" for filming. Affleck has often gotten pudgy when he's not filming. I'd imagine Cavill doesnt always maintain his huge physique outside of Superman. If you watch Batman Begins, it was right after Bale did The machinist where he had gotten super skinny. In various scenes he is too thin, too thick or just right.

Yes but the problem now could be the over-sensationalizing. Because CTE is showing up in practically every athlete who's brain is donated, something is going on here. if we ALL show CTE signs when we're 80, then that tells us this is not a sports-related phenomenon. Its possible that there is no greater degree of dementia in athletes than non athletes. Thats the research that needs to be done. When they studied Chris Benoit's brain, they said he had the brain of a very old man with advanced dementia. Well, despite murdering his wife and child he clearly was not acting like a very old man with advanced dementia. More research is needed. In the case of the NFL, they withheld info from their players so they had to pay and rightfully so. I disagree with older NHL players suing the league because the league didnt tell them facts that no one knew. How can the NHL know what they dont know? There was no fault on the NHL's part that they didnt know about CTE in the 70's. But the NHL could be more supportive of brain research.

It does sound unbelievable. Dave says multiple people saw it. He doesnt say if his sources were the TNA gyys exclusively (which would be biased) or a mix of both. In my mind, if it happened, I'd imagine Strowman joking sort of sarcastically saying "what, you want me to get on my knees and beg forgiveness?" But Strowman is basically a rookie and Angle is a top guy but even still, I guarantee Strowman is in WAY worse trouble if he got on his knees to Karen Angle in public then if he told her to **** off. But he also could have been drunk. Also the story sounds exactly like all the other stories about Karen.

The Irishmen sounds awesome.

I'd defer to the experts on this site, but as a simple fan trying to live a simple life minding my own business, apparently years of this lousy D cant get a coordinator replaced so probably nothing can. Seems to me the success of our D relies solely on individuals making big individual plays.

Here's a fun story courtesy of Meltzer: There was a story 7/17 when GFW had meetings in Nashville and WWE had Raw in the city and some GFW people and WWE people ended up at the same bar later that night. Karen Jarrett came up to Strowman. The belief is that Strowman had no idea who she was, even though it’s not like there are that many woman wrestling fans who look like her. Karen said to him that he was one of her son’s favorite wrestlers and asked for an autograph for her son. I’m not sure what got into Strowman but he was rude, and may have sworn at her (the version I heard had it but that’s from someone far enough away that they didn’t hear the verbiage of what started it but was told he did, but everyone there saw what happened next). It turned into a scene at the bar because Karen immediately cut a major loud promo on him for blowing her off. While she was going off on him, she said how she was going to tell her son’s father about this incident, and her son’s father is Kurt Angle. Strowman did an about face, said he’d sign the autograph and begged her not to tell Kurt or anyone and said he was so sorry. She said she was telling Kurt. He said he’d get on his knees and beg her not to tell Kurt. She said she was still telling him. He did get on his knees in front of a lot of wrestlers from WWE and begged her not to, and she basically said something like now you’re acting like that because you found out that Kurt Angle is the father of her son, but even if he wasn’t, he should have never acted like that to a mother who asked for an autograph for her son, even if it was just another wrestling fan. He did say that’s true and he was sorry. Of course this story will be denied all week by everyone involved

For whats it worth Jones said he would *not* try to out wrestle Brock that much. Speculation is UFC wants Brock vs Jones in December. Jones needs to win this weekend. Any fights before WrestleMania, Vince McMahon has to approve and it sounds like WWE doesnt want Brock fighting. My instinct is that its posturing by both sides. Before Brock signed his current three year WWE deal, he had all but said he was going back to UFC, said all the right things about feeling he was robbed by medical issues and had something left to prove. He was booked to go on ESPN to announce his return to UFC and instead announced he was officially retired and signed a deal with WWE. So it was posturing to get a better deal. Brock is the highest paid guy in WWE next to Cena. And has told WWE he will not be re-signing after WrestleMania but its probably posturing. Vince is always open to special deals with Brock and I think they will let him fight sooner than later as part of a deal to resign with WWE. There is literally no reason to have suddenly changed the planned Roman/Brock Wrestlemania match and moved it to Summerslam (adding Joe and Stroman because they were suddenly more over and because everyone heard the UFC news and assumes Brock is losing) unless you're letting Brock fight and want the title off him in case he loses. Jones would likely beat Brock. Brock likely doesnt care. He got over $5 million for his last fight. So to go and make that much again for one fight? No sweat. UFC looks at it as "making" Jones who isnt as big a draw as his name would make you think. But beating Brock could do it.

If you go Skydiving, the chance of the chute not opening are small but obviously catastrophic. But thats not the same thing as playing a sport that is made as safe as possible, suffering only minor injuries and then suffering major brain issues later in life. There is an issue of liability. When you're 19, 20 etc and feel bullet proof and someone says, you know having multiple concussions could be a problem later, you brush it off. When you're 50 and want to kill yourself you say "no one told us how bad it was" which is the crux of the NFL lawsuit. I think the reason the NHL is fighting their lawsuit so hard (and while I agree with them in principal, I think Bettman has been wholly ridiculous in how he categorizes things), is studies like this dont tell us much at all. There was a study on Rugby players that use comparisons to general public that found no greater degree of cognitive impairment. So the possibility remains that everyone suffers these small concision-like injuries in our lives and if you examined the brains of the general public, they;d have just as many CTE sufferers. The difference is, why do some have apparent cognitive issues and some dont? (One study I saw linked it to steroid use).

I think what started to turn me off of collecting was people saying 'well thats not his *real* rookie card, its just his future superstar card' (or whatever sub-series they'd have. Or, you have to have a specific brand of card. And then they'd create so many sub-series or specials (holographic cards) that it became overwhelming (same reason I stopped collecting comics, when they'd do stupid massive cross-overs or create new titles suddenly).

Further to this discussion, UFC currently gets $120 million per year in TV rights fees. The key to UFC getting $4b sale price was the feeling that they were hugely profitable off the rights fees and that their next deal (current package expires end of 2018 but they can shop around later this year) would be $250-$400 million per. But the excitement of UFC's sale has died a lot since. They chose to sell at the most amazingly timed moment in their history. WWE gets about $140 million per year. Their contract expires Sept 2019. They can re-negotiate/shop end of next year so while the ratings this year are a concern, next year's are the key. An analyst with BTIG claims WWE is under-paid for their programming and could get $400 in their next deal and feels Facebook will step up with a huge offer to stream the shows. One thing he didnt really address, and I think is the main fault in his argument, is what I mentioned before, WWE's 3 million people is not as valuable as NFL's 3 million or many other things because of the stigma of wrestling. If Facebook offered that kind of money, I think WWE has to take it. But I'd be fearful of the decline in viewers versus a cable TV home that you've been at for most of your existence. When WWE went to Spike, even though Spike was a pretty big station with huge penetration, the ratings automatically dropped. Giving up USA would be a dangerous move. Plus, you're only worth as much as someone is willing to pay and WWE literally had no legitimate suiters but USA last time. FB paid $50 million to simulcast NFL so the feeling is, with the big 3 (or 4) sports leagues locked up in cable deals, FB would be willing to blow the bank on a WWE or UFC package.

Reports of Zack Snyder out (or vastly reduced role) of the DC films moving forward. Terrible tragedy that necessitated his stepping back but his vision was poor. Wonder Woman was so much better than BvS. Whedon is spending $25million on extensive reshoot of Justice League. Reports are Snyder's action scenes are "usable" which doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement.

james Cameron in early stages of coming up with a new Terminator trilogy. Arnold also to appear but supposedly the idea is to "pass the torch". They could keep featuring Arnold's likeness as the t-100 forever with CGI which would be cool. And have Arnold play a human character, the one the machines were modeled after maybe (briefly shown in T3 but they could forget that aspect). Cameron regains the US ownership of the franchise next year. So him being involved is really the only way to go.

I used to collect in the early 90's. Upperdeck was the bomb. Havent looked for ages but Im pretty sure I have Teemu, Belfour, Lindros rookie cards. When the Jets were announced as coming back, I was at some comic fair or something and a collectable booth had put together an Atlanta Thrashers 8X10 display with a mini Thrashers banner and the previous season's upperdeck cards for the core players (Little, Buff, Wheeler etc). I bought it for posterity and a Kane rookie card. We moved late last year and are still fixing up the office but I have several of those framed pictures like you often see up for auctions for charity. Hoping to put everything in my office in a bit of a collection display (have a signed Bombers football, signed Goldeyes baseball etc). I dont have anything too valuable I dont think. But things I'd enjoy looking at.

Looks like Brock Lesnar is returning to UFC, hence the fast track of the Roman/Brock issue for Summerslam. Jon Jones is a distinct possibility and both he and Brock say they want the fight.

You are correct. Rating have hovered around historic lows for RAW and it is concerning. WWE promised its investors a far larger revenue package from their cable partner than they got and if their contract was up today, they'd likely get less. Saying that, however, many outside factors come into play. The accuracy of Neilson ratings (and they are adjusting how they calculate actually) is one. The "plus" numbers (the people who watch days later on PVR) which was heavily touted by Dixie Carter but isnt taken that seriously by cable companies because most people watching on delay are skipping the commercials (which is how they make their money). And the perceived value of wrestling viewers. For example, 3 million wrestling viewers is not as valuable as 3 million MMA viewers due to the perception of wrestling fans as lower class. But even if ratings continue to decline, USA might offer WWE a raise. Because RAW is still highly rated compared to most things on USA and cable, it raises the profile of USA. So they might not generate advertising dollars but they earn the right to brag about their overall ranking and *that* helps sell sponsorship. And it really comes down to the landscape of cable money. WWE thought they'd get a huge package last time out because of the skyrocketing fees paid to sports packages. WWE suddenly started claiming it was PVR-proof like other sports after years of claiming to not be sport. WWE was wrong. But content is king and cable companies will want content. UFC's deals expire first and they will tell a big tale about what WWE can expect. WWE has been trying to make itself "cancellation proof" with the Network and in essence, they are very insulated from risk of going out of business under their current model. The cable package more or less represents the gravy of their revenue. One thing that irks me and clearly others is that while they want to be a "sport" when its time to negotiate a new cable package, their booking is so much the opposite of this. They want to be PVR proof but their booking lends itself to PVR'ing because nothing ever happens and there is so much fluff to fast forward through. The point is this, though - ratings still tell the tale. Ratings are at historic lows. The trends of those ratings tell an even bigger tale, that fans are being siphoned off at a pretty alarming rate and are far more likely now to choose to watch something else more interesting. During the Monday Night War, wrestling was dealing a huge blow to the NFL which is insane to imagine. But now, football kicks WWE's ass. RAW is now the "if nothing else is on Ill watch" show. WWE currently has the best collection of talent perhaps in wrestling history (WCW notwithstanding) and is often times painfully boring. When the cable deal expires, will the chickens come home to roost? Probably not. But you can bet WWE is cognizant of the possibility. Personally, I think WWE's end game is a sale to a large conglomerate like Disney that could leverage the obvious synergy or a large touring company such as the case was with UFC. But the UFC deal has hurt UFC badly and they are going to be belt tightening for a long time to pay that debt.

The Angle Homecoming 24 last night was really really good. The Kurt Angle story is something.

But it fits Kurt Angle.... ;-)

If its Jason, or if its anyone really, then it wouldnt involve Steph. The Steph angle was 16 years ago or so, thus, they cant have a love child (plus, Hunter would have noticed if his wife was pregnant). I think the idea would be he fathered a child and supported him secretly all these years. It impacts his career because he's a WWE wrestler. I guess...I dont know. Its probably nothing we've speculated on. lol

And they should absolutely make sure a terrorist who's family has previously financed terror attacks has no way to get his hands on a large sum of money...oh ****

Clearly you were addressing me since I've been among the most level headed people in here, posting thoughts on both sides. And doing so without the rudeness, snark and insults of others. So again, you're very welcome, friend. Edit: if the end result was the widow had her judgement certified in Canada and collected the money, would that not have been better? This government looked awful in how they made this deal and rushing it through.

The lawsuit was a wrongful death one. Apparently you cannot sue for acts of war but you can sue for acts of terrorism. The widow won by defaul as Khadr did not dispute it.

You're welcome.

Unconfirmed "scoop" is Jason Jordan is his love child.

The only reason I'd speculate it being a revival of Angle/Steph in some way is because 1) that was a great angle with a terrible conclusion that is often called the worst wasted opportunity in wrestling history 2) there has been speculation of Angle vs Hunter and if you go there how can you not revisit the original? 3) they did that sort of knowing meeting between Angle/Steph when he came back. Fans clearly remember (or know) there was a Steph/Angle angle. But knowing Steph is unlikely to do anything on screen her kids wont like, I dont see it. And Hunter is far too fragile to allow it. There is a better chance of an Angle/Cole live sex celebration on RAW then Hunter's wife leaving him. But I dont think thats it either. They never got to fully pay off the Vince bastard child angle so maybe they want to redo it with Angle in the Vince role.