#Paul Heyman Booker

[ringthedamnbell]

Top Five Geniuses in Wrestling not named McMahon

Top Five Wrestling Geniuses

Rob Faint Genius: a person who is exceptionally intelligent or creative, either generally or in some respect. I don’t think there is any debate that Vincent K McMahon is the greatest wrestling genius of all time. The question is who is next? This list is my opinion: feel free to share yours in the comments.  Let the debate begin.  Continue reading Top Five Geniuses in Wrestling not…

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

Phil Mushnick is a self-moralistic asshole. He's a racist in articles against Jay-Z and Chance the Rapper. His involvement in this is skewed.

He singularly pushed the false info publicly that Pat Patterson was involved with Terry Garvin and Mel Phillips in their sex abuse of ring boys. But it was proven false through independent investigations.

He was never charged or even formally accused of anything.

Murry Hodgson was trying to blackmail Pat Patterson to publicly out him. He filed sexual harassment charges, but we're dropped after that investigation.

Can't trust Phil Mushnick either, even if Vince is not nearly an angel. Can't trust piece of shit calling a piece of shit a piece of shit. It's all shit. 😅

They didn't mention John Laurinaitis' sexual harassment and covering up Ashley Massaro's rape at the troops tribute show.

John Laurinaitis had been bothering female employees and nitro girls, and female wrestlers since he was an executive in WCW! Even when he was a shit wrestler.

He's even thrown Vince under the bus when the lawsuit came out last year. Then joined Vince's counter suit like a liar sycophant.

[biancabelairs]

finally finished the rumble. quick thoughts:

i think that was the best men's rumble since 2020 and i rly enjoyed it but it was filled with weird ass booking decisions and weirder pacing. gunther and sheamus and cody and brock and lashley and drew all fucking ruled though and the final two stretch was an all timer so

the women's rumble was the best one this year and prob the second best yet for the women besides the first one. rly well paced imo. the final three ending sequence is also an all time rumble finish. it's very very clear they have a problem with everyone from the midcard and down not being over and it's entirely self inflicted and i don't see triple h having the skill to fix that issue when he's pulling shit like barely having becky be involved in the match. still, that aside, i very much had a blast with this one

the entrance times needed to be kayfabed better or that ramp needed to be half the size it was lmao. it wasn't a big issue for the women's rumble, but a bunch of spots in the men's got missed or the timing got all fucked up because by the time guys got in the ring, there were like thirty seconds till the next entrant got announced

the lack of legends and surprises was fucking bizarre. having even a handful in both matches over some undercard talent would have elevated them, but overall i did rly enjoy them flaws and all

i will simply not talk about the lore matches. alexa's a lost cause at this point but get bianca away from this shit, it has done so much damage to her momentum

there's nothing i can say about the main event and post match angle that hasn't been said yet. my god. all time great angle. i was fully spoiled and still losing my fucking mind watching it. kevin took insane head bumps that had me extremely concerned. zowens forever. JEY WALKING AWAY. tremendous stuff. paul heyman for head booker

[wrestlinghistorywithkay]

Milk - O - Mania Is Running Wild: The Time Kurt Angle Brought In A Milk Truck To Taunt The Alliance

Hey Everyone! I hope that you all are having a good day or night wherever you are! Yes, you did read the title of this article right. I’m going to be talking about one of my all time favorite RAW segments , Kurt Angle spraying milk on The Alliance.

The Alliance consisted of wrestlers representing Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) and World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ). Stephanie McMahon was the General Manager of ECW, therefore , her brother , Shane McMahon , was the General Manager for WCW. This was a part of the Invasion storyline , which was the biggest storyline for WWE in 2001 during the Attitude Era. The storyline ran for nine months , from March to November. It actually began when Vince McMahon bought WCW. This would mark the end of The Monday Night Wars. Stephanie and Shane McMahon would make Booker T the first leader for the stable and Stone Cold Steve Austin the second leader. However , Austin was involved in a feud with Kurt Angle. Their rivalry would be taken to another level on August 20,2001.

On the August 20, 2001 episode of RAW Is War , it was declared Stone Cold Appreciation Night . Stephanie McMahon, Paul Heyman , and Austin’s wife at the time , Debra , were standing in the ring with their stablemates surrounding it on the outside . Alliance members already expressed their gratitude for their leader in vignettes. While in the ring , more members paid tribute to to Austin before a video package was played on the titantron. Austin spoke about he was victorious over Angle and kept belittling Taz over not wearing one of his shirts .

Nevertheless, fans caught some relief when they heard Kurt Angle’s music hit . To mock the time with Austin sprayed Vince McMahon with beer, Kurt made his way to the ring in a milk truck in order to face The Alliance. He started throwing cartons of milk at them to get revenge before he took out Shawn Stasiak, the Alliance member who tried to put a stop to what he was doing . Angle soon grabbed a hose and sprayed milk all over the ring, soaking his rivals with it . Jim Ross would declare that ‘ Milk O Mania ’ was running wild and The Million Dollar Princess was now The Dairy Queen , referring to Stephanie McMahon. Angle celebrated what he did by climbing on top of the milk truck and drenching himself with two cartons of milk.

My Final Thoughts:

This has to be one of the funniest segments I have ever watched. I was a young child when it first happened , however, I can go back and watch it on Peacock or YouTube now. Kurt Angle will forever be iconic because of this and his wrestling.

Love You All,

- Kay

[astralbondpro]

The greatest in-ring wrestling for me ever was All Japan 1990 - 1999. With a special note for Bret Hart, because that's my boy. The best television for my tastes was ECW on TNN. Paul Heyman's editing in general, I suppose. It has to be taped for that to be done correctly, to add a footnote. Though, I believe a great booker could put together a combination of pre-tapes and live television that hit the mark, mostly correctly.

[prydonianrenegade]

Watched the clip of Alvarez and Sempervive discussing when the downturn began for AEW, and a thought occurred to me...

Legitimate question: has there ever, in the entire history of the wrestling business, been an instance when a promotion has been able to reverse the sort of commercial slump that AEW has objectively been in since at least post-Revolution (and arguably much earlier) without a change in booker/creative? The only example I can think that even kinda applies is, of course, the obvious one of the WWF and the Attitude Era, but even that instance involved the booker in question completely reinventing his approach at the time, and recognizing that at least in that moment, he had lost his finger on the pulse of the audience. I've yet to see any evidence that TK has that level of self awareness, especially considering how he's leaned into the "for the sickos" edgelord booking bullshit.

Besides which, in the example of the Attitude Era... exactly HOW did the booker in question reinvent his approach? Largely by taking what Paul Heyman was doing in ECW at the time, only doing it with better and more polished talent. While you can make an argument that AEW has better talent than WWE (I'm not sure I'd particularly buy that argument, but there is an argument to be made there), they certainly don't have more polished talent. Also, in that instance, ECW was the insurgency brand. That's the role that AEW has increasingly claimed for itself today. The insurgency brand can't go and start trying to copy what might be working for the establishment brand without alienating a significant chunk of its audience.

I like Mike--he and Vinny are probably the two people in the Observer orbit that I have the most use for--but I gotta disagree with him on one thing. And it kinda surprises me, considering the similar roots of our fandom. But he put forward the contention that what we've learned in the past few years that there's a large chunk of fans for whom WWE is as synonymous with wrestling as Kleenex is with tissues, and that they discovered that when they say they like wrestling, what they like is WWE.

As I've said before, I don't think there's as much difference at their cores between the WWE and AEW products as AEW diehards do. AEW will give you longer matches on TV (gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwddddddddddddd will they give you longer matches on TV) but their philosophy is still informed by a WWE lens of what wrestling should and shouldn't be. I still maintain that there remains an untapped audience of people who wandered away from wrestling who could be wooed back by a truly different philosophical approach than WWE to its product.

But even failing such a change, I don't see how AEW reverses its current trends so long as TK retains creative control.

[wrestlingfaves]

Royal Rumble Marathon: 2003

We’ve rumbled into 2003.

Spoilers for past Rumbles.

We are now in the Ruthless Aggression! era

The undercard:

Rumble promo video.

The roster split is in effect so 15 of the competitors will be from Raw and 15 will be from Smackdown.

The Big Show (accompanied by Paul Heyman) vs Brock Lesnar. Lesnar wins after an F5 to the Big Show.

Terri interviews Chris Jericho

Dudley Boys vs Lance Storm/William Regal for the Tag titles. Dudleys win and become the 16th time Tag champs. They haven’t even been in the federation for 3 years!

Hype video for Nathan Jones. No one cared then, no one cares now.

Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson recap video.

Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson. Torri wins in a nothing match.

Stephanie-Eric Bischoff-Randy Orton promo

Sean O’Haire promo

Hunter-Steiner recap video

Triple H (accompanied by Ric Flair) vs Scott Steiner. Hunter wins in a bad match.

Kurt Angle vs Benoit. Skipping for obvious reasons.

The Rumble entrants, in order of appearance:

Shawn Michaels

Chris Jericho

Christopher Nowinski

Rey Mysterio Jr

Edge

Christian

Chavo Guerrero

Tajiri

Bill DeMott

Tommy Dreamer

B-2

Rob Van Dam

Matt Hardy (accompanied by Shannon Moore)

Eddie Guerrero

Jeff Hardy

Rosey (accompanied by Rico)

Test (accompanied by Stacey Kiebler)

John Cena

Charlie Haas

Rikishi

Jamal (Umaga)

Kane

Shelton Benjamin

Booker T

A-Train (Albert)

Maven

Goldust

Batista

Brock Lesnar

Undertaker

Winner: Brock Lesnar

First-time Rumblers: Christopher Nowinski, Rey Mysterio Jr, Chavo, Tajiri, Bill DeMott, Tommy Dreamer, Eddie Guerrerro, Rosey, John Cena, Charlie Haas, Jamal, Shelton Benjamin, Batista

Most Eliminations: Chris Jericho

Quickest Eliminations: B-2, Tommy Dreamer

Rumble Highlights: Christian comes out as “Chris Jericho”

Rating: 5 out of 10

Wrestlers and others who have passed on: Howard Finkel, Benoit, Rosey, Test, Jamal

Total number of deceased individuals: 4 (tied with the previous year’s Rumble)

[angrymarks]

Mercedes Mone, Paul Heyman, WWE & AEW Videos, Booker T, Maya, Janel Grant, Skye Blue, Mark Briscoe, Bo Dallas - Tuesday #1

http://dlvr.it/T4xL8v

[jcmarchi]

WWE 2K24's Full Launch Roster Revealed

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/wwe-2k24s-full-launch-roster-revealed/

WWE 2K24's Full Launch Roster Revealed

WWE 2K24’s full roster has been revealed. This year offers a staggering line-up of Superstars hailing from Raw, Smackdown and NXT, as well as numerous Legends. 

Over 200 playable superstars will be available at launch, along with 8 managers. Check them out below. 

Raw

Akira Tozawa

Alexa Bliss

Becky Lynch

Bianca Belair

Big E

Braun Strowman

Bronson Reed

Candice LeRae

Carmella

Cedric Alexander

Chad Gable

Chelsea Green

Cody Rhodes

Damian Priest

Dexter Lumis

Dominik Mysterio

Drew McIntyre

Erik

Finn Bálor

Giovanni Vinci

Gunther

Indi Hartwell

Ivar

JD McDonagh

Jey Uso

Johnny Gargano

Kofi Kingston

Liv Morgan

Ludwig Kaiser

Maxxine Dupri

Natalya

Nikki Cross

Otis

Piper Niven

Raquel Rodriguez

Rhea Ripley

Ricochet

R-Truth

Sami Zayn

Seth “Freakin” Rollins

Shayna Baszler

Shinsuke Nakamura

Sonya Deville

Tegan Nox

The Miz

Tommaso Ciampa

Valhalla

Xavier Woods

Zoey Stark

Smackdown

AJ Styles

Alba Fyre

Angelo Dawkins

Ashante “Thee” Adonis

Asuka

Austin Theory

Bayley

Bobby Lashley

Butch

Cameron Grimes

Charlotte Flair

Cruz Del Toro

Dakota Kai

Elton Prince

Grayson Waller

Isla Dawn

Iyo Sky

Jimmy Uso

Joaquin Wilde

Karl Anderson

Karrion Kross

Katana Chance

Kayden Carter

Kevin Owens

Kit Wilson

LA Knight

Logan Paul

Luke Gallows

Michin Mia Yim

Montez Ford

MVP

Omos

Randy Orton

Rey Mysterio

Ridge Holland

Robert Roode

Roman Reigns

Santos Escobar

Scarlett

Sheamus

Shotzi

Solo Sikoa

Tamina

Xia Li

Zelina Vega

NXT

Andre Chase

Angel Garza

Apollo Crews

Axiom

Baron Corbin

Blair Davenport

Bron Breakker

Brooks Jensen

Brutus Creed

Carmelo Hayes

Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo

Cora Jade

Damon Kemp

Dijak

Drew Gulak

Duke Hudson

Fallon Henley

Gigi Dolin

Humberto

Ilja Dragunov

Ivy Nile

Jacy Jayne

Jinder Mahal

Joe Coffey

Joe Gacy

Josh Briggs

Julius Creed

Nathan Frazer

Nikkita Lyons

Noam Dar

Roxanne Perez

Sanga

Scrypts

Thea Hail

Tiffany Stratton

Tony D’Angelo

Trick Williams

Tyler Bate

Veer Mahaan

Wendy Choo

Wes Lee

Wolfgang

Legends/Alumni

Andre The Giant

Bad Bunny

Batista

Beth Phoenix

Big Boss Man

Boogeyman

Booker T

Bray Wyatt

Bret “Hitman” Hart

British Bulldog

Bruno Sammartino

Cactus Jack

Chyna

Diesel

Doink The Clown

Dude Love

Dusty Rhodes (Part of the Nightmare Family Pack)

Eddie Guerrero

Eric Bischoff

Eve Torres

Faarooq

The Fiend

George “The Animal” Steele

Harley Race

Hollywood Hogan

Hulk Hogan

The Hurricane

Jake “The Snake” Roberts

JBL

Jerry “The King” Lawler

Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart

John Cena

Kane

Ken Shamrock

Kevin Nash

Kurt Angle

Lita

“Macho Man” Randy Savage

Mankind

Maryse

Mighty Molly

Molly Holly

Muhammad Ali

“Ravishing” Rick Rude

Rick Steiner

Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat

Rikishi

Rob Van Dam

The Rock

Ronda Rousey

“Rowdy” Roddy Piper

Scott Hall

Scott Steiner

Shane McMahon

Shawn Michaels

Stacy Keibler

Stephanie McMahon

Stardust (Part of the Nightmare Family Pack)

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin

“Superstar” Billy Graham (Part of the Nightmare Family Pack)

Syxx

Ted DiBiase

Triple H

Trish Stratus

Tyler Breeze

Ultimate Warrior

Umaga

Uncle Howdy

The Undertaker

Vader

Wade Barrett

William Regal

X-Pac

Yokozuna

Managers

B-Fab

Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

Cathy Kelley

Mick Foley

Miss Elizabeth

Paul Bearer

Paul Heyman

Theodore Long

WWE 2K24 launches on March 8 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. You can read our in-deph hands-on preview here, watch us play a few matches in this episode of New Gameplay Today, or check out our gaming-focused interview with one of 2K24’s cover stars, Cody Rhodes. 

[chorusfm]

Oscars 2024 Nominations

The 2024 Oscar nominations have been announced. Best Picture American Fiction (Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers) Anatomy of a Fall (Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers Barbie (David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers) The Holdovers (Mark Johnson, Producer) Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers) Maestro (Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers) Oppenheimer (Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers) Past Lives (David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers) Poor Things (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers) The Zone of Interest (James Wilson, Producer) Best Directing Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall) Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest) Best Actor in a Leading Role Bradley Cooper (Maestro) Colman Domingo (Rustin) Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) Best Actress in a Leading Role Annette Bening (Nyad) Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall) Carey Mulligan (Maestro) Emma Stone (Poor Things) Best Actor in a Supporting Role Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction) Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon) Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer) Ryan Gosling (Barbie) Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things) Best Actress in a Supporting Role Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple) America Ferrera (Barbie) Jodie Foster (Nyad) Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) American Fiction (Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson) Barbie (Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach) Oppenheimer (Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan) Poor Things (Screenplay by Tony McNamara) The Zone of Interest (Written by Jonathan Glazer) Best Writing (Original Screenplay) Anatomy of a Fall (Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari The Holdovers (Written by David Hemingson) Maestro (Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer) May December (Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik) Past Lives (Written by Celine Song) Best Animated Feature The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki) Elemental (Peter Sohn and Denise Ream) Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary) Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal) Best Documentary Feature Film Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek) The Eternal Memory (Nominees to be determined) Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha) To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim) 20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath) Best International Feature Film Io Capitano (Italy) Perfect Days (Japan) Society of the Snow (Spain) The Teacher’s Lounge (Germany) The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom) Best Animated Short Film Letter to a Pig (Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter) Ninety-Five Senses (Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess) Our Uniform (Yegane Moghaddam) Pachyderme (Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius) War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (Dave Mullins and Brad Booker Best Live-Action Short Film The After (Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham) Invincible (Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron Knight of Fortune (Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk) Red, White and Blue (Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales) Best Documentary Short Film The ABCs of Book Banning (Sheila Nevins and Trish… https://chorus.fm/news/oscars-2024-nominations/

[ringthedamnbell]

Booking Dangerously: Looking Back At Wrestle Party '85

Paul Heyman's very first show as a wrestling booker....Booking Dangerously: Looking Back At Wrestle Party '85

Brian Damage Every success story has their humble beginnings. Long before he became a successful manager named Paul E. Dangerously and even longer before revolutionizing wrestling in the late 1990’s as booker of Extreme Championship Wrestling…there was an event promoted by a young Paul Heyman called Wrestle Party ’85. Today, we look back at this event and how it helped launch the career of Paul…

[cavenewstimes]

Konnan Teases Big News For AAA, Lucha Fans

Feedzy Read More  By /Aug. 8, 2023 4:31 am EST As the person most responsible for introducing Rey Mysterio to fans in the United States — from convincing Paul Heyman to giving Mysterio a shot in ECW and selling WCW booker Kevin Sullivan on the idea of signing an undersized luchador – Konnan has contributed greatly to the evolution of pro-wrestling.  In a recent interview with “Under the Ring,”…

[mrawkweird]

Paul writing his will TONIGHT.

[biancabelairs]

fellow bloodline/zowens enjoyers how are we doing

[jazzy-tzw]

Booker please just pimp slap Paul for being in your view with that damn belt...

[astralbondpro]

Regardless of your opinion of the hot product at the time, the most popular professional wrestling has always been a complete zeitgeist of the time. In the 80s, Vince McMahon tapped into that larger than live action hero trope of the time, and made a ton of money from it. In the early 90s, Paul Heyman tapped into that counterculture realness of America, and created something that was subsequently ripped off. WCW came in with the nWo, and then the WWF followed with the "Attitude Era." I hate that era of the WWF vehemently, but there is no doubt that it was tapping into the world around at that time. Again, it was insanely popular. Now we're in an age where wrestling is insanely profitable, but ironically not very popular. WWE missed the boat of cultural zeitgeist, and instead found a comfortable niche. Sanitized professional wrestling that is easy to sell, but devoid of... much of anything. On the flip side, you have AEW. Which frankly in the most kind way, is boring message board smart mark wrestling. People call Tony Khan a good booker because the matches are good but.. does that take a genius? Most people have good matches this day. I feel like no wrestling is tapping into the culture it exist in, and therein lies a problem of popularity. I'm not sure exactly what that specific idea is, but it's not happening. I don't even know if it's for me, I would assume not. I'm getting old. The closest thing to interesting I have seen in wrestling in over twenty years was season one of Lucha Underground, and they shit that bed so hard that it imploded.