The Unknown Poster

New rumors have the new series taking place 50 years after TNG and *not* an anthology series. I hope not. Going after TNG just seems silly.

Go Pens Go

Andrew Ladd made some interesting comments to Chicago media yesterday. Said it wasnt about money to him, was about finding the right fit for his family and competing. Implied he'd take a discount to stay. Coupled with the strong rumor the Jets offered 6X6, its got people's panties in a knot. Did Andrew ladd not want to be here? I read somewhere (cant recall), that he wasnt impressed with the "rebuild" plan laid out by Jets management. Although Buff seemed to indicate the opposite when asked, saying the young guys coming up were one of the reasons he wanted to be here.

So nutty he makes trump seem reasoned.

Yeah that Chelsea/Ivanka relationship must be tough. Trump is stupid to play the woman card. It wouldn't surprise me if he chooses a female running mate. But that would be a mistake. McCain made the same mistake and it came across as pandering.

I'm not a fan of Corbin either. SAndow is through though. He won't ever be more than he is. And ziggler is likely in the same boat. They had a real opportunity with him when he beat the authority last year. Super over. But WWE didn't do anything with him.

Whoa Isles

Still married and should be coming back. They've been together since they were kids.

To a degree. But characters still have their place. Kane is a character. HTM would have a harder time now due to his work rate more than his character I think. again I don't know a lot about Jose though I hear he's good. On the other hand Fandango was a character who was insanely over for a minute and flamed out. His a side story about HTM. He was never meant to win the IC title. Steamboat was meant to be a longer term champion but his wife wanted a baby and Ricky asked for a leave of absence. The plan was to put the belt on Butch Reed. Reed no showed. Hogan suggested HTM and the rest is history. There was also the thought of HTM being a short term champion to transition to Jake Roberts but Jake was hurt from a guitar shot delivered by HTM earlier.

So Trump has another big day and is the presumptive republican nominee. Seems to be mellowing a bit to...at least slightly. Looks very much like Trump vs Clinton now.

From TMZ: Sgt. Donlon says airport officials got a call for a "man with a cut on his hand" -- and police and medical personnel responded. Flair was treated -- deemed not drunk -- and was allowed to get on his flight. 9:43 AM PT -- Ric's agent, Melinda Morris Zanoni, tells us she has spoken with Flair and issued the following statement: "Ric has been working every day around the clock, including internationally, for a month straight and has injuries on his hand that were being looked into this morning." "While it is true Ric Flair and his buddies have been keeping airport bars in business since the 70s that was not the case at all in Boston. I just hung up with Ric, he is already on the flight and all is good. Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2016/04/27/ric-flair-airport-drunk-cops-cut-hand/#ixzz472y739Q9

Ric might want to try and get that drinking under control. Hunter can only protect him so much. Might be time for rehab.

The issue with American Alpha was Jordan was a guy with all the tools but didnt seem to have charisma but he has improved a lot. Gable is the star for sure and his size could hold him back in Vince-land. But as a team, they are terrific. My worry with Enzo/Cass is Vince will have a hard on for Cass and want to split them up. Cass is no great shakes on the mic but a young guy that size has lots of potential. Hopefully they stay a team for awhile. And bring up Carmella! Not only is she a good part of the act but it must suck dating when you're on two different traveling circuits.

Ive only seen a bit of Jose in Internet videos but imagine if you could go back and see Honky Tonk Man for the first time. You'd think it was the stupidest thing ever and he ended up a huge star that headlined WWE's B house shows for a year.

TNA put up a graphic of Chyna before their TV last night. Just text, no pics from their archives. And got the year of her birth wrong. There really is no saving this company.

I don't recall details. Lawless said Wheeler told him he attacked them personally. Interesting he didn't mention little as one of the guys that blackballed

Does anyone know the details to this? Lawless was discussing this today and I;ve heard him discuss it before. He wrote an article (presumably in the early going of the Jets being back) that was critical of some players. Those players took it personally and Buff, Wheeler, Ladd, Toby and Stu all blackballed him. What was the story he wrote??

Ratings down 6% from last week. Under 3 million for the third hour, barely above for the second. Yikes.

There have been stories that Shane just didnt have the same level of creativity as Vince & Steph or at least on the same wavelength as Vince. That Shane's ideas were goofy and designed solely for top guys or his friends whereas Steph looked at creative for everyone. Now knowing what creative looked like with Steph in charge, its hard to believe Shane would be worse. Shane pushed for more adult storylines before the Attitude Era, like ECW, was a fan of MMA before it got big (he tried to convince Vince to buy UFC when it was for sale) etc. But Shane seemed like someone who had a life outside wrestling whereas Vince never sleeps and he detests anyone who is sick or misses work. Steph is more like Vince in her view of the business and life/business being the same thing. Once Steph married Hunter, the writing was really on the wall because Hunter was already attending production meetings (where talent were generally not permitted). In fact, Austin had heat with Hunter over Hunter ingratiating himself into production. Hunter was known to sit in meetings and bury ideas for guys he didnt like and push ideas for his friends. But Hunter was more like Vince then Shane so once Hunter/Steph were a couple, it was pretty much a lock that the keys to the kingdom would be theirs. Shane was very talented in negotiating and sealed many of their international distributions deals. He was very well liked and was a good PR guy. He built the New Media department from scratch which is a big money maker for WWE. His division was considered the highest morale and his employees were devastated when he quit. He had ideas ahead of their time. He wanted to create an internet only development promotion that he would run. NXT is this now. Shane, more than the others, is a fan at heart. He would routinely sit in the audience at live shows to feel the crowd and how they were reacting. He believed in bringing in anyone who was cool or over or could make money, for example Scott Steiner. And we know Steiner was HUGE when he debuted and then ran into the freight train known as Hunter. Ive talked to people that have spent time with Shane and he's always described as one of the boys. I dont think Steph has ever been referred to that way. There is value in Shane as an executive. He's smarter than Stephanie, or so it seems, in business and negotiations and just how he relates to people. Steph's role is really just glorified PR now, she isnt in creative and doesnt hold a corporate position outside of Chief Brand Officer. There was speculation about a succession plan as Vince is in his 70's. He has tried to rapidly teach Hunter business and part of the idea behind NXT was giving Hunter his own big projects to prove his worth to shareholders. But if Vince died tomorrow, there is risk the share price would plummet and Hunter might not be accepted as CEO. Whereas Shane might settle nerves since he's a McMahon, has a business degree, spent his life in the business, was an exec VP for years and CEO of a separate business. So you never know. But Shane basically left because he wasnt going to answer to Hunter & Steph.

Id guess they brought up the Vaudevillains because they wanted a heel tag team that were decent workers who wouldnt get cheered for being cool or badass. There are rumors of a brand split coming which, if true, would explain the influx of talent but its probably more likely they are just freshening things up.

Well, I think at most jobs you have performance standards and supervisor reviews and they can determine who sucks and who doesnt. Teaching isnt so abstract that this wouldnt apply...? Im in a unionized environment and it can be difficult to fire a lousy employee unless you do something particularly egregious so I imagine its difficult in teaching.

Is there a desire by the members to "weed out" (for lack of a better term) poor teachers? Or is it a matter of not being able to be that picky?

I remember from my own time in school seeing problem children who, when the parents were brought in, were suddenly perfect little angels. When you have a really good teacher, its all the difference in the world. It makes wanting to go to school an enjoyable experience and you feel inspired and with a desire to learn. It must be hard for teachers who have classrooms that contain kids of various learning means. I always enjoyed lectures if they were engaging. Couldnt do the furious note taking where a teacher just scribbled on the board. Needed that "discussion" to flesh out the material. Different for other people. I recall in high school senior year, I had been putting off taking a half credit science I needed. So I took a freshmen science class just to get the credit. I was already working nights at a job. The teacher assigned us a project for which there was no class time to work on it and you had to work in groups of your own making. So Im about 3 years older than everyone else, working every evening and I go to the teacher and ask if I can do the project myself. I explain the situation and he says no. And when I ask why not, he says being able to work in a group is part of the mark. I was very aggravated...told him I had learned to play nicely in elementary school. Ended up dropping the class and later took a way less interesting science (I think DNA) just to get the credit. The teacher had previously been one I really enjoyed but he was unmoving on this one issue. So I can imagine trying to customize material for different learning styles and situations is a difficult aspect.