Without the Wrestling Thread, There Is...No...You! - - - Part 188

[TheFuture]

Hard to say why they cut the Nikki promo down. It could be something they thought was a little close to the bone in what is their PG non bullying environment.

Or it could be something as simple as them seeing it as a face promo from their current 'top' diva heel.

If they really wanted to do Nikki a favour they'd drop this fearless stuff, it's cringe.

 

[SpideyFan866]

FOX 5 in Atlanta (via ProWrestling.net) reports that Atlanta police have issued an arrest warrant for Heath Slater (real name Heath Miller) for an incident at the WrestleMania 27 after-party in 2011.

Corrine Oliver, who was working security, claims that Slater put her in a chokehold and tried to get her into an elevator to drag her to his room at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. She claims the attack caused damage to five vertebrae in her back.

She reported the matter to her supervisor (at Allied Barton Securities) the morning after it happened, but she waited three months to file a police report. She claimed that she waited for the supervisors to file the report but they didn’t. She also said that other wrestlers saw what Slater was doing and didn’t help. The police report said the incident was a “simple assault/battery”.

WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt said in a statement that the charges were filed against Slater and not the company.

RIP Slater & The Gator

 

[TheNextNolan22]

RIP what little of Slater's career there was left.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

Wrestle Kingdom 9 Sunday January 4 - #TheJourney Jim Ross Part 7
[YT]dQzMsWSjxFE[/YT]

This video highlights the importance of American performers competing in the Tokyo Dome. THIS is how you sell this product to Americans wrestling fans.

 

[sweetre15]

WWE sent the following statement this evening in regards to the reports on Heath Slater:

WWE has been advised that a misdemeanor arrest warrant has been issued against Heath Miller (aka Heath Slater), but we have not seen a copy or been provided with the underlying charges. Once this information is received by WWE, we will take the appropriate action.​

 

[runawayboulder]

Eh, I always find it curious that someone would wait a long time to file a police report. She was waiting for her job to do it....? Why is she not suing her job for not providing a safe work environment by not promptly contacting the police?

I'm not saying Slater is an angel so I won't say RIP to his career yet but then again this is the same company the fired/rehired Emma in a span of 5 hours.

 

[Darkness Falls]

aww not the one man band baaaaayyyyyybeeeeehhhh

 

[sweetre15]

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

We noted before that CM Punk's Art of Wrestling appearance with Colt Cabana had a lot of people within WWE upset, mainly officials like Triple H and Vince McMahon. While most everyone kept quiet publicly, except for Ryback and Brian "BG" James, it's said that most, but not all, WWE talents loved some of the stuff that Punk had to say about the company.
Many people in the company were not happy about Punk complaining about his booking when he was booked better than all but a few talents over the past few years. The feeling among some was that while Punk complained about putting over The Rock, The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, most of them would have loved to been in those positions. One major Superstar that was not named by the Observer felt that most of the interview was "sour grapes."

Others felt Punk came off bad about complaining that he was booked against Triple H at WrestleMania XXX, noting that he would have been in one of the top matches with plenty of TV time to promote it. Some agreed with the "two sides to every story" cliche but there was also a consensus that what Punk said about his experience in WWE was the same way others would describe their experience, except for the fact that Punk made more money than most, and they admired the balls it took to say what he said publicly.

Regardless if the talents agreed with Punk or not, all were aware that even hinting at agreeing with him publicly would be career suicide unless it was done by one of the few "untouchable guys."

 

[Kane52630]

 

[sweetre15]

Here's Meltzer's opinion on the CM Punk situation:

Some people will interpret this as WWE = bad, others as Punk is an egomaniac, some of his facts weren’t correct, and use that to absolve WWE of anything negative. The reality is somewhere in the middle. But on the egomaniac thing, or Punk has too high an opinion of himself, this is a fact of life that people who say these things about main event talent don’t understand. They are all like that or they wouldn’t be main event talent. If you don’t have the confidence that you are the best, you wouldn’t be main event talent. It amuses me when people read books by top stars or listen to interviews and go, “This guy is full of himself.”

If they are a top guy, either they are being honest with you and are, to a degree, full of themselves, or they are putting on fake performance. Privately, there isn’t one of them who doesn’t think they are the best, some are more subtle about it than others. And as time goes on, the ones who are comfortable with it, hold back on the fakeness a lot less. Punk was not the greatest natural athlete. He did not have a look that would have gotten him a push in another era. He had tons of great matches because he was in good enough shape to do so, worked hard enough to do so, and was smart enough to understand how to do so. His promo ability is top tier on the all-time list, which is something that is a combination of hard work, practice, and ego. If you knock him for thinking he should have had a WrestleMania main event, just remember if he wasn’t thinking that way, he’d be just a guy in prelims who would have never gotten higher than those in charge pegged him to get at first. And if that person had complained, nobody would give a rats ass what he said, true or not. Everyone has different goals.

From the outside, the idea that someone believes they succeeded or failed as a pro wrestler based on whether they got a WrestleMania main event sounds like somebody with a major problem. While there is some realness to it, it’s also in other ways a fake honor chosen largely by one guy. It’s a guy who has a great track record historically at building his company, but also has greatly lessened the overall popularity of the industry at the same time, and whose track record at knowing what top talent is in this day and age and being ahead of the curve on it is spotty at best. The reality is this is a company that wanted to fire Punk years ago, that fired Daniel Bryan twice, and would have totally botched this year’s Mania had Punk not quit. They even came close to cutting Cena, whose charisma was obvious in his first week of training school to anyone with an eye for talent. And it was a company determined to put Orton vs. Batista as last year’s Mania main event. Worrying about their judgment to define how you look at your career is ridiculous.

This is essentially my slam dunk statement to anyone that just goes "he's a mark for himself".

 

[E-Man]

Yeah. It does trip me out when people ***** about Punk saying that he should be in the main event at Wrestlemania. Why in the hell wouldn't he, and why shouldn't a guy that skilled get a shot at the biggest showcase? The only thing to really hate Punk for is his so called attitude problem, but I'm a fan. I don't care about his backstage attitude much because it's all about the promos he cuts and matches he has. He's been top notch in both of those for as long as I've known about him, so it makes no sense to criticize him for wanting to be in the main event at the biggest show. If he didn't have that ambition he'd be a nobody, so Meltzer is spot on.

 

[sweetre15]

Yeah. It does trip me out when people ***** about Punk saying that he should be in the main event at Wrestlemania. Why in the hell wouldn't he, and why shouldn't a guy that skilled get a shot at the biggest showcase? The only thing to really hate Punk for is his so called attitude problem, but I'm a fan. I don't care about his backstage attitude much because it's all about the promos he cuts and matches he has. He's been top notch in both of those for as long as I've known about him, so it makes no sense to criticize him for wanting to be in the main event at the biggest show. If he didn't have that ambition he'd be a nobody, so Meltzer is spot on.

It also annoys me when people say that about even guys like Bret Hart or currently Dolph Ziggler because they show/have shown drive, passion, confidence and take/took pride in their crafts. It's a good thing when talents don't just settle when they feel like they are capable of more.

 

[Slushy]

Kane52630

Ah yes, Halloween Havoc 1999. Russo's first WCW PPV and it was a bad one. Russo told Hogan to go lay down in the middle of the ring with the plans for him when he came back, which of course, Russo didn't follow up on. Then Goldberg squashes Sting in 3 minutes in the main event to win the title, only for the decision to be reversed the following night on Nitro!

On the bright side, the Goldberg Vs. Sid match with Vicious bleeding like a stuck pig was awesome!

 

[E-Man]

The Wrestling Thread has to make Roman Reigns look strong.

 

[Calavera]

that cm punk story ripped my heart out

 

[chamber-music]

I'm sure there isn't a wrestler in the locker room who doesn't feel they deserve a seat at the top table. If they don't then they don't belong at the top table.

Do people honestly think all the wrestlers are sitting in the back saying I don't deserve to be at Wrestlemaina or headlining a PPV?

 

[sweetre15]

I'm sure there isn't a wrestler in the locker room who doesn't feel they deserve a seat at the top table. If they don't then they don't belong at the top table.

Do people honestly think all the wrestlers are sitting in the back saying I don't deserve to be at Wrestlemaina or headlining a PPV?

Oh of course not, though I wouldn't be suprised If some think that by being subservient soldiers and doing everything asked of them, WWE brass will return the favor by giving them the slot as opposed to rocking the boat.

 

[Slushy]

Jesus Christ, this Punk shoot Part 2! Calling McMahon out on his fake apology bullsh**.

 

[Wheels]

Jesus Christ, this Punk shoot Part 2! Calling McMahon on his fake apology bullsh**.

Wow, really?

 

[Kaleb]

Enjoyed the second part of his Podcast,One thing is noticeable on part 2 of the podcast is how mellowed out Punk is and now seems more appreciative of his fans.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

Only things I've heard with the second part of the Cabana/Punk interview is how CM Punk had to apparently make ROMAN REIGNS look strong and how Punk thought Vince's apology was ********.

 

[H.U.S.T.L.E.]

It could have been handled better , but Punk had been ignoring them for months. Punk left them between a rock and a hard place. I don't think Triple H really likes the guy who called him a doofus and as history shows us Triple H can be very self serving. Triple H probably had no issue pulling the trigger on that one , but I don't think he did anything underhanded or sneaky. The papers on the wedding day could easily of been coincidental.

I doubt it was coincidental. Punk even says that he told HHH about his wedding two days before it happened (and AJ had already put in for time off) - the termination papers were dated the next day. Highly suspect.

Wow, really?

Yep. But again, people really buy Vince's statement? That's more news to me.

Most interestingly was his comment that The Rock texted him on Thanksgiving and was all like "Why are all your fans mad at me?" HA.

 

[Wheels]

Oh I know Vince was probably not straight up about it. I just am always amazed how Punk does his thing. People don't handle McMahon like that.

 

[Superark]

credit www.pwinsider.com

THE ONE ASPECT OF THE CM PUNK STORY THAT ISN'T BEING TALKED ABOUT...BUT SHOULD BE, RIGHT NOW
by Mike Johnson @ 3:15 AM on 12/4/2014


"Goodbye to me and you.
Goodbye to the life we knew.
One last long embrace.
Let go and walk on through."
- The Bouncing Souls, "Night Train"

I am sitting here at 3 AM in the morning, shaking my head.

With all the madness regarding CM Punk speaking out about his frustrations with the WWE machine and explosion that followed his interview with Colt Cabana on Cabana's podcast, the one thing that I thought would actually outrage wrestling fans last Thursday the most, never actually did.

If CM Punk hadn't walked away when he did, chances are the man would be dead.

Punk, if his version of the story is to believed - and it certainly appears it should be, as when the hell does anyone face WWE's legal team head-on and live to tell the tale without a gag order? - alerted WWE's doctor on three different occasions about a lump Punk discovered in his back.

By the third occasion, the lump was purple and hurting, yet his request to "cut this thing open" was turned down because he had to go wrestle for up to an hour in the Royal Rumble.

Then, after the Rumble, a concussed Punk demanded it be removed and was told he'd have to be on medication first and it was his concussion talking that he wanted it out now.

Of course, based on the timeline of the story, Punk had already been dealing with the lump, had been medicated to the point he sh** himself on national TV, concussions, injuries, etc. dating back to the European tour, which was November 2013.

That's two months of Punk working hurt, half-broken from injuries, squatting in corners just trying to "will himself" into getting back into the ring during tag team matches (as he explained on his return appearance on Cabana's podcast, which was released just a few hours ago) and dealing with an undiagnosed staph infection that was coursing through his body. Unable to sleep, unable to eat, unable to train properly, is it any wonder Punk kept getting injured?

No one reading this is an idiot. The readership here especially knows how dangerous and painful professional wrestling is. You also know how celebrated the talents who have that finesse in the ring with the crisp timing and the ability to make others better are amongst fans like yourself. Punk was certainly one of those personalities, and perhaps even more celebrated than most, because he was the first "indy guy/ROH guy/whatever" to break through the mold and become an international celebrity - but by the end of his run, sickness and illness meant that Punk was playing the role of a stunt driver who was navigating hairpin turns in a car with no breaks inside a dark fog while his arms were tied behind his back.

We all know the story of what happened. Punk walked the day after the Rumble. He disappeared. He later revealed he was suspended, fired (great wedding present, by the way) and eventually learned he was actually suffering from a staph infection.

"You should have died," was the comment Punk repeated from the doctor that treated him and at the very least, saved Punk from a scary hospital stay and indeed, at the worst, Punk's life.

The reality however, is that by walking away, CM Punk, saved his own life.

Imagine if you will, Rod Serling style, a world where Punk sucked it up and kept working, concussed and sick. Sure, we get our CM Punk vs. Triple H feud and Punk kicks out of the Pedigree and gets the win with the Pepsi Plunge (my column, my fantasy booking). He gets more money, but how much more damage has he put into his body? How many other concussions would he have suffered? How many other issues with knees and elbows and shoulders and ribs?

Most importantly, how long does that staph infection go before the sack on his back bursts and Punk has staph coursing through his bloodstream? How long before CM Punk, literally, drops dead for professional wrestling?
CM Punk, the 14 year old straightedge skater kid who pulls himself out of the Chicago streets to become a huge sensation and millionaire, dead. It could have easily happened. CM Punk, wrestling tragedy because he put the business before himself.

Some of that comes from pressures put on your by management. Some comes from within because you are trying to prove you are the best in the rat race and that you deserve the money, the attention, the position and really, the attention of the boss that is putting the pressure on you to begin with.

Don't believe me? Let's take a quick journey, just off the top of my head.

Bob Holly, in his autobiography, goes into great detail about how he nearly lost his arm to a staph infection because WWE's doctors didn't properly diagnose it and John Laurinaitis pushed him to go on a tour of Europe because "he was needed." Holly ended up working meaningless battle royals and undercard matches but he was "needed." He was in pain every night and when he returned home, nearly lost the arm, was told the WWE doctor was responsible for him nearly losing the arm and ended up out of action for a long time before returning - and that was only after the last ditch effort to treat the infection, which had spread to the bones in his arm, worked. Had it not, amputation, caused undeniably by his decision to go do what his job asked him and put taking bumps over his own health.

For all of his insane antics and claims, Kurt Angle has long-claimed that he requested time off to deal with personal issues and was denied by Vince McMahon. One crazy version of that story that is often shared by friends of Angle is that Angle was told that he was an Olympic gold medalist and if he could win the medal with a broken neck, he could lick his issues while on the road. Whether that is true or not, I cannot tell you, but consider those stories passed around for the last decade and compare them to Punk's stories about being called to come back to work early, literally as he's walking out of a hospital. The anesthesia hasn't worn off, but we need you in a TLC match.

Then there's the worst case scenario, Eddie Guerrero. When poor Eddie dropped dead in a hotel room, his wife told WWE.com that he had been so "road tired" in the weeks leading up to his passing. Bob Holly in his book described it as basically WWE working Guerrero to death, including a depressing scene that literally stayed in the forefront of my brain since I read the book - Guerrero, in so much pain that he's laying on a trainer's table, unsure of whether he has to go to the bathroom or not. Think about that level of pain. Think about that level of commitment to drag yourself out and go shimmy your shoulders as you play "Latino Heat."
"You should have died," the doctor told CM Punk.

Eddie Guerrero did...and out of that death came the WWE Wellness Policy. People have knocked it and criticized it but one thing you can't deny is that it has helped and the WWE world is far better with it, then without it - but it's not a perfect system...and the Punk situation shows how far from perfect it truly is.

I've seen a lot of people criticize Punk for "not getting a second opinion." If you have a doctor that is supposed to be who you go to and is working for you, you are going to assume that person knows what they are talking about. That's why they work for WWE right? Then consider here is Punk, concussed at least part of the time, medicated, injured, no appetite and exhausted. In the midst of that WWE grind, why would he even think to doubt? When would he have the TIME to doubt? He's trapped on the wrestling treadmill, just trying to live up to the reputation and work ethic that's made him his name while also living up to what's required of him by WWE.

You listen to the doc. It's not like these sort of issues don't have happen across the scope of life. Jonathan Larson, a well liked playwright and composer went to an emergency room complaining of pains in his chest. He was told it was flu or stress and sent home. Several days later, he dropped dead of an aortic dissection, which was missed.

The night Larson died, his musical "Rent" debuted. It went on to become a Broadway smash, a feature film and changed the entire Broadway community. Larson never got to experience any of that, because of an error made when he sought out help.

He was dead at 36 years old. The same age CM Punk is now.

Punk sought out help and no matter the cause, an error could have been the cause of yet another wrestling tragedy. Luckily, CM Punk gets to be a success story, however. He, thanks to his wife telling him to go to her doctor, was able to get healthy again. He, unlike Larson or Guerrero, gets to go on and experience what's going to be next in his life. He gets to succeed and fail and live off the money and the legacy and the brand he's built for himself. Comic books, acting, writing, kids, grandkids, whatever his life is going to bring for him. That's awesome.​

But no one should be deluding themselves for a second - CM Punk was almost another pro wrestling tragedy and just because he narrowly avoided crashing while making that hairspin turn; just because he kicked out at two - doesn't mean that the wrestling business should be saying "Whew!", ignoring it, and moving on to the next story.​

​

What pro wrestling should be doing is getting pissed that someone who carries none of the excuses of "He used steroids/painkillers/HGH/drugs, etc." could have ended up in the same place as a lot of other talents. Punk didn't have those demons and he still could have dropped dead.

That in itself should be enough to make WWE re-evaluate everything they do to protect the wrestlers and make sure it's enough. I'm not saying WWE will always do everything right and there will never be mistakes. No one will be able to avert every tragedy. No one.

But, when that tragedy could easily have been tied into mistakes (accidental or otherwise) that can be traced to the very system designed to assist and help WWE wrestlers, that should be enough to piss off WWE management.

The pressure to perform will always be there...but the pressure to perform while the same medical doctors who are protecting your best interests are telling you it's OK to perform, while they are also working to make the company happy? Now things start getting complex and you start to wonder where priorities lie and things start to get twisted...and THIS is exactly why WWE needs to really examine the system, because it needs to keep evolving so something like the Punk situation never happens again.

Maybe the CM Punk issue was just, genuinely, some mistakes. Maybe it was, as Punk colorfully claimed, "laziness." Maybe it's a mixture of reasons, but at the end of the day, the man could have died from what happened. WWE needs to see what led to things getting to that point. The last thing they can afford in the era of PG programming is another wrestling tragedy.

In all the talk of Punk vs. WWE and apologizing and wedding day terminations, etc., I really, truly hope that someone working in the Stamford offices or Dr. Joseph Maroon in Pittsburgh or just someone with a voice in the process and some common sense is looking at all this from outside the WWE bubble and realizing that medically, they pretty much failed CM Punk and he was almost a corpse on their watch. Then I hope that person has the courage to speak up about it.

If someone doesn't voice this and WWE doesn't look into things (and again, this is a complex issue) and evaluate what the hell happened, then CM Punk's other claims that WWE are only really trying to protect themselves against future claims so they don't end up in the same position the NFL is currently in, well, then they look pretty spot on...that's pretty damn depressing.

If Punk is right, not only would WWE have lost CM Punk, but they also potentially lose the chance to protect the next Punk......and that's why I'm sitting here, shaking my head at 3 AM in the morning, hoping that Punk isn't right, but fearing that he is. And, to make matters worse, a week later, I've yet to see anyone voice that concern...so really, for all those bumps and all those bruises and all that talk of how he was a quitter, how concerned was anyone that CM Punk nearly worked himself to death? How concerned were you?

CM Punk is a damn lucky man. He escaped like Indiana Jones from the Temple of Doom out of professional wrestling. I however, remain worried for the next guy who won't be lucky. They may not walk away. They might instead be left in the ground.
Mike Johnson can be reached at [email protected].

 

[Superark]

Wrapped this in a spoiler tag so I wasn't taking up too much space.

credit www.pwinsider.com

"PUBLICITY STUNT" - CM PUNK RESPONDS TO VINCE MCMAHON'S APOLOGY
by Mike Johnson @ 1:33 AM on 12/4/2014

Spoiler

As noted on the main page of PWInsider.com, former WWE champion CM Punk returned on Colt Cabana's "Art of Wrestling" podcast.


During the conversation, the apology Vince McMahon gave about the timing of Punk's termination from WWE (which came on his wedding day, as Punk revealed last week) was brought up.


While discussing how other wrestlers may believe they know what's going on in his head and that he might return after a few years off, Punk's responded is, "I see their point of view, but Motherf***er, they didn't fire you on your wedding day. They purposely and maliciously tried to ruin a day that is supposed to be special to everybody. It's your wedding day."

Punk said he didn't want to hear it was coincidence or that, "the lawyers didn't talk to talent relations." Punk said he spoke to Hunter on 6/11. On 6/13, he received a Fedex overnight with a document that was dated 6/12. He said that was the timeline.


Punk said his wife AJ Lee asked for that time off so she could get married and go on her honeymoon. The week after the honeymoon, she was back on TV. Punk said he doesn't want to hear it was a coincidence.


Punk then said he will address the apology from Vince McMahon. Punk said it it was sincere, "You wouldn't have used it as a publicity stunt on Austin's podcast. You have my phone number. You have my address. You can show up when you are a ten minute f***ing drive from my house and apologize to me like a man."


Punk said that's the timeline. He was sick and tired and sick and hurt and burnt out and he walked and, "I can do that because I'm an independent f***ing contractor."


Punk said he was suspended and no one contacted him to tell him he was unsuspended and they wanted him at TV. He said he got those "we need you at TV" type of calls the day after his elbow surgery and walking out of knee surgery.


Punk said, "They could do it then, so where's my f***ing phone call?" He said he was suspended and maybe in those two months, "I'd be feeling better or I'd come to my f***ing senses, but nobody ever found out because no one ever reached out."


Punk also commented, indirectly, on Vince McMahon saying Punk's communication skills were possibly the issue. Punk explained that every six months, there was a new head of Talent Relations in WWE. "There were all these people who had no business" being in that position. He said they were the head of Talent Relations and "you are supposed to relate to the talents but no one knew how to talk to these people."


Punk said he's a wrestler and the head of the HR department doesn't know anything about taking bumps, what a payday is or anything else.

Punk said, "It was a publicity stunt. You are sorry. Great. Be a man and call me."


Later on Punk said he didn't want his podcast appearance to turn into a back and forth. He said he isn't replying and this is the close of a chapter in his life. He wanted to get things off his chest. Cabana said the appearances were meant to be the ultimate closure.


Punk said People have asked him if he accepts the apology. He commented, "I appreciate the sentiment but that was not a real apology. He knew about it. He know about it since June. Why didn't he apologize in June if he really felt bad about it? He wanted to wait until a TV camera was in front of him, so he could cut a damage control, and 'Oh Gosh, I'm really sorry.' Well, if you really were and if you really wanted to talk to me, you would have responded after I got ahold of everybody in the office and you would have said, 'You're unsuspended. We need you back on TV' like you did when I was walking out of the hospital still anesthetized."


To listen to the entire interview on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast, you can at soundcloud.com/coltcabana, you can go to iTunes.com and subscribe to Cabana's podcast at this link to get the episode.


PWInsider.com will have additional details on Punk's comments tomorrow.