Wrestling

[The Unknown Poster]

Colt Cabana suing CM Punk

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/colt-cabana-cm-punk-contract-legal-fees-lawsuit/

 

 

Edited August 10, 2018 by The Unknown Poster

[The Unknown Poster]

- ROH (with New Japan) is going to sell out MSG for their WrestleMania Weekend show (running head to head against NXT).  They sold over 8000 pre-sale tickets and I believe its over 12000 and just opened to the public.  This is really remarkable and exciting.  They have not advertised any of their top stars (Omega, Bucks, Cody) because all have expiring contracts.

This will be the first North American wrestling gate to top $1million that was not promoted by Vince.  It will be the first MSG sell out since 2015 (WWE event with Brock) and before that, 2012.  WWE's most recent MSG event with Ronda and Undertaker did not sell out.   WWE has got to be pretty pissed off about this.

- WWE quarterly numbers: $281,542,000 in revenue and ended with a $9,945,000 profit.  That's $67 million more than last year's quarter though profits didnt jump as much due to executive compensation (stock grants).  WWE is looking very, very good as far as revenue and profit is concerned.

- The ALL IN event has some interesting broadcast partners.  They will air the first hour on WGN America and then the main show will be on PPV, Fite TV and Honor Club.  It will likely be on New Japan World as well, but only for Japan.

The line up thus far:

Young Bucks & Kota Ibushi vs Rey Misterio, Bandido & Ray Fenix

Cody Rhodes vs Nick Aldis(c) - NWA World Heavyweight Championship (with the idea Cody is trying to win the title his dad won)

Okada vs Marty Scurill

Jay Lethal(c) vs Winner of WGN America Battle Royale - ROH World Heavyweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs Stephen Amell (of Arrow fame)

Hangman Page vs Joey Janella

Tessa Blanchard vs Chelsea Green (from Victoria, BC) vs Brit Baker vs Madison Rayne

Rumoured: Kenny Omega(c) vs Pentagon Jr - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

WGN was interested in TNA but it would have meant TNA going dark for a few months before WGN has a slot for them.  The popularity of non-WWE in the US is creating some interesting possibilities.  If ROH or Impact or New Japan got a major national TV deal, it changes a lot of things for them.

- New Japan is marketing a Bullet Club cologne with Kenny Omega as the face of the marketing.

- Brian Pillman II has signed a multi-year deal with MLW (they have TV in the US).

- Lots of speculation that Chris Jericho will end up in Impact even though he said he'd do nothing in North America to piss off Vince.  He's apparently changed his mind.  he also wanted $250,000 (if I recall correctly) to work Winnipeg vs Kenny lol

- Some teasing for an nWo reunion.  Hogan, Hall & Nash were filming nWo related stuff at Hogan's beach shop....and there are rumours they will all return to WWE Tv.

- WWE is looking to scoop up key guys that work for these promotions that are gaining ground (ROH etc).  They signed Matt Riddle after not wanting to because of his pot advocacy and Pentagon Jr & Fenix are on their radar.  Of course, they'd snag Kenny and the Bucks in a heart beat if they could.  And I imagine Cody too

[ediger]

...and it's officaily a sellout

Edited August 10, 2018 by ediger

[The Unknown Poster]

17 hours ago, ediger said:

...and it's officaily a sellout

Incredible. And one of the quickest sell outs on MSG history.  

Boy that contract offer for Kenny Omega just skyrocketed. 

[ediger]

The next couple of years will be fun to watch. It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, these supershows will have on ROH's attendance and overall drawing power in the short term. Obviously for the NYC show and ALL IN you've got a lot of people travelling from all over the place to attend and you have the NJPW guys which is a pretty big attraction. I have to imagine that if NJPW starts doing a full American schedule at some point it will be in partnership with ROH but it seems like that's still pretty far down the road.

[The Unknown Poster]

26 minutes ago, ediger said:

The next couple of years will be fun to watch. It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, these supershows will have on ROH's attendance and overall drawing power in the short term. Obviously for the NYC show and ALL IN you've got a lot of people travelling from all over the place to attend and you have the NJPW guys which is a pretty big attraction. I have to imagine that if NJPW starts doing a full American schedule at some point it will be in partnership with ROH but it seems like that's still pretty far down the road.

Yeah I think new japan has to lock Lenny up to make their US expansion a success. 

The thing is if tv outlets see this and decide it’s worth having non-wwe wrestling.  They used to think wwe was the only game in town.  But with sports tv packages rising someone like WGN or Cuban or TBS might offer a lot of money. 

Even Impact could benefit but their ratings are dropping. Although rumours are Chris Jericho is considering going there. 

[The Unknown Poster]

 

[Brandon]

As soon as the competition cost the WWE some money they will offer ridiculous contracts to squish them. Kenny or Lenny as you call him will get paid a whole lot!

[The Unknown Poster]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

As soon as the competition cost the WWE some money they will offer ridiculous contracts to squish them. Kenny or Lenny as you call him will get paid a whole lot!

Spell checker.  Always does that. 

WWE signed the Hardy’s due to their increased popularity for Broken Universe.  Matt Riddle is coming in because New Japan wanted him. 

Theyve wanted Kenny for years. It’s really a matter of when he decides to go. But man...you have to think the offer goes up.  Usually WWE takes the position that they hve a salary structure and aren’t going to upset it. 

Thats why the WCW invasion sucked (they wouldn’t take the big stars). And why Nash left (he wanted to stay but Vince would t match). 

WWE is basically flush with money and when the tv deals kick in, its massive profits.   They need new stars. It would not be realistic  to think Kenny should walk in with a top tier guaranteed contract and probably pushed even harder than AJ was. 

Even better if it’s an Elite package deal. 

[The Unknown Poster]

Reports of Jim Neidhart passing away, age 63.  Seems legit as it came from B. Brian Blair.

It had come out recently that he was battling dementia.  We worked with Jim in 2004.  Ill come back with a couple of Jim stories in a little bit...

Edited August 13, 2018 by The Unknown Poster

[Brandon]

3 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Reports of Jim Neidhart passing away, age 63.  Seems legit as it came from B. Brian Blair.

It had come out recently that he was battling dementia.  We worked with Jim in 2004.  Ill come back with a couple of Jim stories in a little bit...

The dementia claim would make sense as the interviews with him over the last few years he definitely looked really off.   I always assumed it was because of the excessive drinking and drug usage.  From what I heard from the local wrestling folks that I spoke with...  in the early 2000's they said Neidhart was a complete mess when he was in Winnipeg and came to the ring absolutely hammered and was definitely in a bad place.

Edited August 13, 2018 by Brandon

[The Unknown Poster]

1 minute ago, Brandon said:

The dementia claim would make sense as the interviews with him over the last few years he definitely looked really off.   I always assumed it was because of the excessive drinking and drug usage and from the local wrestling folks that I spoke with...  they said Neidhart was a complete mess came to the ring absolutely hammered and was definitely in a bad place.

Yes he drank a lot when he worked indies.  He worked for a local promotion (TRCW) in 2001, I believe it was and did well but the promoter said he lost money.  I believe they had him fr an out of town show and kept him for a couple shots in Winnipeg when the locals never brought in "names".  

[The Unknown Poster]

 

[The Unknown Poster]

Word is Jim fell and hit his head and the call to EMS noted seizures and convulsions.  So...like just awful if it in fact was a random accident.

[The Unknown Poster]

Ugh

 

[The Unknown Poster]

Here's a brief bio from Dave Meltzer (Neidhart was almost an Olympian!):

 

Quote

Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, best known as a member of the Hart Foundation and Hart Family, who was the longtime tag team partner of Bret Hart, passed away early this morning in Tampa at the age of 63.

According to Ross Hart, his brother-in-law, the death was due to a grand mal seizure related to the Alzheimer's Disease that Neidhart had been suffering from for some time.

Neidhart was a powerhouse, about 280 pounds with a huge chest and shoulders, who was one of the strongest men in the world in the late 70s, as one of the best shot putters in the United States and an Olympic hopeful.

He set the California state high school record in the shot put in 1973 and continued in college, placing highly in national meets. After failing to make the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys after college, he ended up in Calgary, where he started a pro wrestling career.

He married Elizabeth "Ellie" Hart, one of Stu Hart's daughters, and became a regular on the Stampede circuit as one of its biggest stars. He ventured to a number of other territories over the years, most notably New Japan, Florida, Georgia and Mid South, where he formed a tag team with Butch Reed.

When Vince McMahon purchased Stampede Wrestling in late 1984, which was to close it down and get its valuable television network that covered all of Western Canada, one of Stu Hart's provisos was that his top stars, Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, and Neidhart all got jobs.

At first they weren't pushed, but The Hart Foundation and British Bulldogs became the stars of the tag team division. Bret Hart suggested forming the tag team and they won the WWF Tag Team titles from the Bulldogs at a time when Dynamite Kid was so badly injured that he literally had to be carried to the ring to drop the titles in the ring. They were managed by Jimmy Hart and were often affiliated with former heel referee Danny Davis.

They had a second run as tag team champions, beating Demolition at the 1990 SummerSlam.

The Hart Foundation were considered one of the best tag teams of the era. Neidhart, with the more outgoing personality, was the original star and powerhouse of the team. Neidhart was the power man and Bret Hart was the technical wrestler who carried the action inside the ring. While best remembered as heels, they were also strong as babyfaces and it was this period where, in time, people began to notice what a strong performer Bret Hart was.

When Bret Hart became a singles star after the team broke up, Neidhart's career struggled. At one time he teamed with Owen Hart as The New Foundation, and also worked for New Japan, competing in the 1992 G1 Climax, and had a number of WWF returns. His full-time major league career ended in WCW, but he continued to work independents for more than a decade until his Alzheimer's issues surfaced.

Today he's best known as the father of Natalya, and appeared on several episodes of Total Divas.

Another daughter, Jennifer, was years ago the girlfriend of Mauro Ranallo. Ranallo noted that Jim Neidhart had always shown him nothing but love during that period. 

He had a number of legal issues late in his life and substance abuse issues that led to rehab. He had divorced Elizabeth but they later remarried.

Natalya was scheduled to face Alexa Bliss in a non-title match on Raw tonight, but it is believed that she will be flying home and that match will be changed.

 

[Goalie]

Fun fact... Who was Neidhart. Who was a masked wrestler lol. 

[The Unknown Poster]

13 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Fun fact... Who was Neidhart. Who was a masked wrestler lol. 

Yup!

 

[Brandon]

That Who gimmick I think was done as a punishment to Anvil.    

I can't remember which shoot interview I listened to but Anvil was known to come to PPV's or other big match ups completely f'd up and then would torpedo the original plans for what they had.  He owed Stu a lot because he kept getting him his job back with the WWF.   

[SpeedFlex27]

7 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Ugh

 

Only Brett Hart is left from this photo. Sadly. Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Brian Pillman & Davey Boy Smith are all gone. 

[SpeedFlex27]

Alzheimer's sucks. 

[The Unknown Poster]

16 hours ago, Brandon said:

That Who gimmick I think was done as a punishment to Anvil.    

I can't remember which shoot interview I listened to but Anvil was known to come to PPV's or other big match ups completely f'd up and then would torpedo the original plans for what they had.  He owed Stu a lot because he kept getting him his job back with the WWF.   

I dont think it was a punishment.  I read a report from Bruce Prichard's podcast where he said Stu asked WWE to book Jim because his outside bookings had dried up and it was just the first gimmick they sort of had in mind.  Just to tell the silly jokes.  He was basically enhancement talent, so he was a veteran that could have decent matches with the guys moving up.  A better punishment would have been to just have him be himself and beat him into oblivion every week on TV.  The gimmick sort of protected him.

[Brandon]

Everyone knew it was the Anvil though?    From the shoot interview it sounded like Neidhart was fired many times because of his drug problems and Stu always got him back in?

[The Unknown Poster]

4 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Everyone knew it was the Anvil though?    From the shoot interview it sounded like Neidhart was fired many times because of his drug problems and Stu always got him back in?

Everyone knew.  It was just to be funny.  I think he did three matches as Who and that was it lol.  My impression is he was tough to deal with if he didnt have family around to look after him.  Like, he fizzed when he went singles and was back for the team with Owen...then gone, then back for the Hart Foundation.  Bret always seemed like he had him under control for the most part.  But honestly, how much would he had been back if he wasnt married to the Hart's?  Probably not much.  But Bret surrounded by his family made sense, especially for Owen's heel turn.

An interesting footnote is Pat Patterson came up with the brothers feud idea and pitched it to Bret with the idea of bringing in Bruce Hart to feud with him.  Imagine that.  Yikes.  They thought Bruce could carry it better than Owen.  Bret nixed it and said only Owen could tear the house down with him.  Bruce was not happy.

But Bruce also cost the family big time.  When WWE bought Stampede Wrestling in the 80's, it was because Stu had a wide Television reach throughout western Canada and was drawing big houses for an indy (they drew 6500 in Vancouver).  Vince wanted the TV penetration (much like the reason he targeted the AWA as well, but didnt respect Verne enough to buy him out, just attacked him).

The deal was Vince paid $1 million to Stu in 10 yearly installments of $100,000.  Stu had to shut down Stampede and couldnt run but would receive a percentage of all WWE gates in his territory (making Stu a WWE local promoter).  That local promoter deal, they used to do all over, Bob Holiday was the local promoter in Winnipeg.  I think it was 5% of the take (maybe 3%).  And Stu wanted Vince to hire his top stars (Bret, jim, Bulldogs).  

None of the 4 were pushed because Vince didnt actually want them.  I recall Bret was billed as "Cowboy" Bret Hart.  I think it was Bret that suggested putting him and Jim together and their matches with the Bulldogs tore down the house all over.  Anyway, Vince paid the first $100,000 installment.  But Bruce, who funny enough wasnt included in Stu's demand for Vince to hire, didnt even know.  He was the booker and basically ran Stampede.  He was on the road coming back from big houses in BC when he heard the news that Stu had sold and Stampede was shutting down.

So Bruce said screw it and ran 1 or 2 "independent" shows.  Vince used that as a breach and never paid Stu another dime.  Stu said he would start up then and Vince said go ahead...Vince had his TV network and his top stars.  So Stu started Stampede again and thats what most of us remember growing up as the one with Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Larry Sharpe etc.  So Bruce cost his dad $900,000 plus his cut of WWE house shows 

[Goalie]

People like to talk about Bret being the bitter Hart.. But its truly Bruce.