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For this, we're going to tap into the cast of Street Fighter II (not # 1). I may be old, but I'm not that old.

WESTERN CONFERENCE STREET FIGHTERS

(1) L.A. Lakers as.... RYU
It doesn't matter who's the betting favorite for the title or for MVP. The Los Angeles Lakers are the marquee team in the NBA, with the marquee player at center stage. If we were making a poster for the league, LeBron James would be front and center.
(2) L.A. Clippers as... KEN
As Pete Holmes asks on his ill-fated talk show, do we really need another Ryu? Do we really need another L.A. super-team? Does throwing on red jerseys/gis really distinguish one from the other?
But of course, the answer is, hell yes. The Lakers-Clippers has finally become a worthwhile rivalry, with both teams reaching title contender status at the same time. Like Ken and Ryu, these two have plenty of history together. And while the Clippers never proved a formidable rival to the big brother Lakers, their new star Kawhi Leonard certainly did his own damage. Leonard helped the Spurs beat LeBron's Miami team back in the day, and he's on the verge of his second straight championship now. If Leonard can pull that off, he should surpass "The King" and inherit the throne as the greatest player on the planet.
(3) Denver Nuggets as... E. HONDA
Comparing hefty sumo E. Honda to Nikola Jokic is too easy. Too cheap. Too lazy. So naturally, let's just do that and move on.
(4) Houston Rockets as... BLANKA
In Street Fighter, we have some classic fighter tropes. The sumo wrestler, the boxer, the ... green electric jungle monster?? WTF is that?? Similarly, Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets have experimented and developed a monster unlike anything the NBA has seen before.
(5) Oklahoma City Thunder as... CHUN-LI
You may not expected a woman to come into a street fighting tournament and kick some ass, but that's exactly what Chun-Li intended to do. Similarly, the Oklahoma City Thunder were written off immediately this season (with an oveunder of 32.5 wins) only to defy expectations and hold their own. In fact, their winning percentage is even better than last season when they had Russell Westbrook and Paul George. Now facing a Westbrook-less(?) Houston team, they may not be such an underdog after all.
(6) Utah Jazz as... DHALSIM
Mystical yoga master Dhalism may not have the look of a vicious street fighter with his gangly physique, but when he extends his arms he becomes a difficult opponent to land punches on. Similarly, Utah's stringy center Rudy Gobert wins primarily with length (7'9" wingspan.) And while he may still be getting some bikram-level heat from the media and fans after the coronavirus episode, he'll have every chance to prove his worth in this first round matchup against Nikola Jokic and Denver.
(7) Dallas Mavericks as... VEGA
The masked man Vega is among the most dangerous fighters in the game, in no small part to the sharp claw that he's somehow allowed to yield into battle. Similarly, the Dallas Mavericks have their own unfair weapon in Luka Doncic, the 20-year-old who can slice and dice his way to 30-10-10 games. Doncic -- like Vega -- also cut his teeth (and claw) in Spain (playing for Real Madrid.)
(8) Portland Trail Blazers as... BALROG
In Street Fighter, boxer "Balrog" was a shameless ripoff of Mike Tyson to the point where they had to change the name (from "M. Bison") to avoid lawsuits.
Portland may need to hire good counsel as well. After getting whacked by rival Golden State last season, they're taking a page right from the Warriors playbook. Damian Lillard is doing his best Steph Curry impression, launching 10 threes a game this year (and hitting 40%). Without Curry and the Warriors around anymore, perhaps this version has a puncher's chance of pulling off some more upsets.

EASTERN CONFERENCE STREET FIGHTERS

(1) Milwaukee Bucks as... M. BISON
We've seen great players emerge from outside North America before, but none of them have ever been the consensus best in the world at a point in time. Dirk Nowitzki won MVP and a title, sure, but not in the same year. Giannis Antetokounmpo has the chance to do that this season if he can win MVP, DPOY, and a championship all in one fell swoop. If he does, he'll reign over them all.
Like M. Bison, the mystery man has emerged from the far corners of the world and threatened global domination. For you, the day the Greek Freak dropped 40-20 on your team was the most memorable game of your season. But for him? It was Tuesday.
(2) Toronto Raptors as... SAGAT
With all the talk about Eastern power M. Bison, people tend to overlook the destructive potential of Sagat. Remember, this is a competitor who held the belt last time around in Street Fighter I. The Toronto Raptors may still be lost in the shadows of their woodland rival, but they can more than hold their own thanks to their length and title experience.
(3) Boston Celtics as... GUILE
Air Force special operative Guile represents 'MURICA! right down to the flag tattoo on his bicep. Yet, strangely, the film portrayal of Guile had more than a hint of European in him thanks to the performance of Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Likewise, there's nothing more American than the "Boston Celtics," who sport at least 4 different stars born and raised in the good ol' U.S. of A in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker as well as an aw' shucks apple pie coach from the heartland in Brad Stevens. Yet, strangely, there's more than a hint of a European style to their play thanks to their ball movement and socialist scoring (with all four stars between 17-23 PPG.)
(4) Indiana Pacers as... CAMMY
With Street Fighter II characters running out, we're going to have to extend into the Special Edition bonus characters like Cammy. Cammy was the second female character introduced. She was there, we swear. Similarly, the Indiana Pacers are in this playoffs, we swear.
(5) Miami Heat as... T. HAWK
Another add-in character, T. Hawk is described as an indigenous warrior from Mexico "whose ancestral homeland was taken over by Shadaloo, forcing him into exile." Sounds like the plight of sullen and wayward warrior Jimmy Butler to me. After being exiled from Chicago... and Minnesota... and Philly (kinda), Butler has found a new home with this rugged Miami Heat team. If his tribe members can supply enough shooting and arrows around him, they'll be a dangerous party to pass through.
(6) Philadelphia 76ers as... ZANGIEF
Russian mauler Zangief entered the tournament with an unusual approach: strength and size over speed. Similarly, big man Elton Brand prioritized size and strength this summer when he signed Al Horford to go along with Joel Embiid. The twin towers approach needs to work now, because the Sixers don't have another choice now that Ben Simmons will miss significant time.
(7) Brooklyn Nets as... DEE JAY
Another new character, video game makers must have figured Dee Jay would catch on with the young'ins. He's hip! He's cool! He's a recording artist! Heck, even his name is Dee Jay! He's the next big thing!
Similarly, the Brooklyn Nets are banking on being a big deal in the future. Sure, their current roster is a plucky group of overachievers, but by this time next year, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving (if healthy) may have them among the title favorites.
(8) Orlando Magic as... SCOTT and MAX
Shit. We've officially run out of Street Fighter II characters.
Or have we? A google deep dive suggests that the two characters from the intro loading screen have names. "Scott and Max." Similarly, these Orlando Magic may only be here in the playoffs to serve as an introduction to the rest of the action. If Milwaukee is going to run the table, they need to beat somebody in round one. Orlando (minus Jon Isaac) will have to play that role of "somebody."

Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
PREVIOUSLY:

• Observer Rewind - 1987 by SaintRidley
  
• The Complete Wrestling Observer Rewind 1991-2001
  

1-7-2002	1-14-2002	1-21-2002	1-28-2002
2-4-2002	2-11-2002	2-18-2002	2-25-2002
3-4-2002	3-11-2002	3-18-2002	3-25-2002
4-1-2002	4-8-2002	4-15-2002	4-22-2002
4-29-2002	5-6-2002	5-13-2002	5-20-2002
5-27-2002

• We start with more on the death of Davey Boy Smith, including a full-length super long obituary, because apparently 2002 is nothing but people dying. I feel like I've done nothing but recap obituaries since starting back with 2002. Anyway. in the wake of Smith's death, the reaction has sadly not been one of surprise. Anyone who saw Smith in the last 4-5 years pretty much saw it coming. The cause of death, pending toxicology results, was ruled a heart attack caused from prolonged steroid use. But until the toxicology results are back, the belief among his friends and family is that there was probably more to it. Dave talks about the staggering number of wrestlers who have died under age 40 in recent years, with upwards of 20 of them being due to drug issues.
  
• Smith died while on vacation with his girlfriend Andrea Hart, estranged wife of Bruce Hart. Despite that, Smith was actually on good terms with most of the Hart family, although Andrea is not. The Hart family believes Andrea knows more than she's letting on about the circumstances of his death, but she's not talking to anybody. Andrea's children (that she had with Bruce) were also there and they each apparently have different accounts of how he died (he was sleeping! he was in the pool! he was eating!) but they all pretty much agree he collapsed doing whatever he was doing. Andrea told the press that she believed Smith had overdosed, but Smith's dad did his own interviews and denied it, saying his son had stopped using drugs and was clean when he died. Needless to say, most people aren't buying that given his track record. Smith's father decided against having the body cremated and instead ordered it sent back to England for examination to make sure he wasn't murdered. "I cannot believe his death was natural," he said. "If they find drugs in his body, then he didn't put them there. Davey was clean." (Eeeeeeehhhhh....) Shit got even messier when Andrea and Smith's ex-wife Diana Hart each tried to claim the body. Despite her book (in which she accused Smith of drugging, abusing, and raping her), Diana played grieving widow in the media even though they're divorced. It may not have been an act though. Some in the family believe Smith and Diana were trying to reconcile, and they were on good terms at the time of his death. Andrea claimed to be his common-law wife, even though she's still legally married to Bruce. She later claimed Smith had proposed to her 2 weeks before his death and said they were engaged, which was the first anyone had heard about that. Smith's father claims in their last conversation, Davey Boy had told him he was planning to break up with Andrea after their vacation. So who knows. Anyway, both Diana and Andrea planned their own separate memorial services, while Smith's dad is planning his own 3rd service. Smith's body wasn't at either of the Hart family memorial services because, as mentioned, it was sent back to England where authorities are launching an investigation at the behest of Smith's father.
  
• Andrea's service was said to be small and simple, just a few dozen people, and she seemed sincere in her sorrow. Diana's service was larger and more public, with hundreds of attendees and press, along with several WWE names. Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart (who attended both services), Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Jim Ross, and others all attended and several of them spoke. Diana's eulogy featured a professionally produced video featuring Davey Boy footage from WWE that had never aired on television before. She thanked Vince for trying to help Davey with his addiction issues. She never acknowledged everything she wrote about him in her book last year. Smith's children as well as Stampede wrestler TJ Wilson gave speeches as well. 16-year-old Harry Smith was composed and gave a great speech about teaming with his father in his last matches. And then Ellie Hart got up there and....it went about how you'd expect. She started ranting about Andrea and blaming her for not giving the family the answers they wanted and it started to turn into some drama, but the minister gently interrupted her and got things back on track. And finally, Bret Hart gave a speech, directly addressing Smith's children and saying that Davey Boy and Owen would want the children of all these Hart family members to get along with each other better than the adults have. From here, Dave gets into the actual meat of the obituary, recapping Smith's life and career. As always, an excellent read but very long to recap.
  
• WWE Confidential, the new show the company is producing, aired its debut episode this week, focusing on the Montreal Screwjob. Dave once again talks about how Vince McMahon tried to downplay the incident recently, giving an interview just a couple of months ago calling the Screwjob a minor incident that almost no one cares about. Vince went so far as to say he could count on one hand the number of people who even still care about that old news. Turns out one of those must be Vince because this week, they dedicated the premiere of this new show to the story and highlighted it as the most controversial night in the history of wrestling. The hook of the show was Shawn Michaels revealing publicly, for the first time, that yes, he was in on the screwjob and knew about it in advance. Dave says this isn't really a secret. Shawn denied having any knowledge of it that night but as soon as the day after Survivor Series 97, he was bragging to friends about it. Vince McMahon also later confided in Undertaker that Shawn knew ahead of time. So it was kind of an open "secret" that Shawn knew but this is the first time he's admitted it publicly. Triple H still denies knowing about it ahead of time, but Dave is pretty skeptical there too (and indeed, it's later revealed that yes indeed, Triple H also knew). Dave thinks lots of people had to know. Even the guy who cued the music had to know, because Shawn's music was queued up and ready to play the second Vince ordered the bell to be rung. Pat Patterson always claimed not to know and Bret has said he wants to believe it, because he likes Pat, but the way Pat interrupted the match-planning conversation and specifically suggested the sharpshooter spot to them makes Bret question it (I think Patterson still denies it to this day, but I have my doubts there too). Anyway, the show recapped the history of the Screwjob and if you know Dave, you know he's about to poke a whole bunch of holes in WWE's revisionist bullshit. Here we go...
  
• The story of the episode was WWF was close to going out of business due to the WCW war and couldn't afford Bret anymore, so Vince nobly allowed Hart out of his contract so he could negotiate a better deal with WCW. Actually, Dave says, Vince first talked to Bret about deferring some of his contract to later on but that was a couple months earlier. At the time, WWF really was having some financial struggles, but it's an exaggeration to say they were almost driven out of business. They were never even close. But regardless, that's irrelevant because in Sept. 97, they raised the price of PPVs by $10. That added revenue, which was nearly $1 million per month in pure profit, was easily enough to get them out of financial trouble. By the time Survivor Series 97 rolled around, WWF was doing just fine, money-wise, and were only a couple months away from catching fire and getting nuclear hot. So no, they did not need to get rid of Bret's contract. And in fact, in October, a couple weeks before Survivor Series, Vince changed his mind and asked Bret to stay, saying that the financial situation had turned around. But by this point, Hart's negotiations with WCW were full speed ahead and Vince allowed Hart to continue negotiating. But after talking to both sides, it was clear Vince had no real plan for Bret and he didn't really seem like he wanted to keep him, so Bret took the WCW deal and the rest is history. But of course, none of that is mentioned in this show. The episode also claimed Hart refused to drop the title to anyone (again, not true. Only Shawn. Bret even offered to lose it to Brooklyn Brawler if they wanted. In fact, Dave breaks down all the different scenarios that were presented here, and Bret was willing to lose the title to anyone other than Shawn, anywhere other than that show in Montreal, at any date before or after the PPV. They had actually presented Bret with dozens of different scenarios, all of which he agreed to, only for Vince to keep coming back around to Shawn at Survivor Series, which was the one and only thing Bret wouldn't budge on). They also tried to paint the picture that Bret could have taken the title to WCW the night after Survivor Series. In fact, Bret's WWF contract didn't end until Dec. 1st, and he was booked on more than a dozen house shows after Survivor Series and had even agreed to work the early December PPV because Bischoff had given his blessing. There was zero chance Bret was going to show up with the belt on Nitro. There was concern that Bischoff would go on Nitro the next day and announce he had signed Bret, and Dave says it's true that Bischoff certainly was planning to do that. But Bret had also asked Bischoff to hold off on the announcement and Bischoff had agreed. Vince knew about that too, but in recorded conversations with Bret (from the Wrestling With Shadows documentary), Vince didn't seem concerned since the word was already out and everyone knew Bret was leaving already. This just goes on and on. We all know the story already. Anyway, TL;DR - interesting show, but WWE's version of the story is bullshit. But we all knew that.
  
• At the latest NJPW show, Antonio Inoki came out and cut a promo. He talked about being in attendance recently at the World Cup and said wrestling needs something like that. Inoki claimed he had put together a deal with WWE for a joint NJPW/WWE show to take place later in the year. Dave doesn't know if there's any truth to that story, but this is the first he's heard of it and he doesn't think it makes any sense for WWE so he's skeptical.
  
• Usually in Japan, TV-Asahi airs the finals of NJPW's G1 Climax tournament live. But this year that may not happen, as they're looking at airing one of Inoki's MMA shows instead. This is a direct result of the terrible rating the recent Tokyo Dome show drew when it aired live. This company is struggling mightily lately.
  
• Random news and notes: Inoki recently recruited a 23-year old Brazillian MMA fighter named Lyoto Machida to come to NJPW (he never really does anything in NJPW other than train at the dojo, but he had a long career in UFC and still fights for Bellator to this day). Dusty Rhodes is the new co-host of Turner South's Atlanta Braves pre-game show called "Hey The Braves Are Next!" Scott Hall will be working Insane Clown Posse's upcoming Gathering of the Juggalos event. Former WCW wrestler Evan Karagis recently filmed a role on the soap opera "Passions."
  
• In the main event of FOX's Celebrity Boxing show, Chyna lost by decision to Joey Buttafuoco. Chyna's mystique of being a woman who only wants to compete with men got pretty much obliterated here, as the larger Buttafuoco manhandled her with ease for much of the match, which probably makes all those big tough wrestlers who sold for her feel kinda silly. But Buttafuoco came in as a hated heel to the audience and despite how she got pummeled, many people felt Buttafuoco was fighting dirty and cheating, so Chyna wasn't too hurt by it. She talked about wanting a rematch and Dave says if PRIDE really wants to break into the U.S. market, they could throw it onto one of their cards. Hey, this show did a really strong TV rating, maybe a rematch would be just the kind of freak-show attraction needed for PRIDE to get attention in the U.S. Nothing else they've tried has worked. Dave also suggests NWA-TNA could book it, but a worked wrestling match between the two probably wouldn't get as much media attention.
  

WATCH: Chyna vs. Joey Buttafuoco - Celebrity Boxing Match (2002)

• Big Dick Dudley's ex-wife, former ECW valet Elektra, did an interview talking about his death. She said he'd had stomach pains all week and couldn't urinate. But didn't go to the doctor because he didn't think it was a big deal. Then at one point he got up to go to the bathroom but collapsed on the floor and died there on the spot. Jeez. At the time of his death, he had lost over 100 pounds from his peak weight of 320 in ECW several years ago.
  
• Vince Russo is going to be writing a book about his time in WWF. Due to legal reasons and the ongoing lawsuit, it won't include much about his WCW tenure (I think he's written a book or two, but I've never read them, so if anyone has any insight, feel free to share).
  
• Shaun Assael's book "Sex, Lies, & Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation" will be published next month and is getting strong early reviews. Dave has talked to several of the people who spoke with Assael for the book and some of them expect it to be good while others feel that Assael fell victim to the cons and charms of wrestlers who were working him. We shall see, says Dave.
  
• The debut NWA-TNA PPV will feature some sort of tournament to crown a new NWA champion. Dan Severn is no longer the champion after not agreeing to work the show (he already had a prior MMA booking for that date in New Mexico). As a result, the NWA (which is now working with TNA) just stripped him of the belt, which is convenient because they didn't really want to use Severn anyway, so now they can do whatever they originally planned to do with the belt without having to book an excuse to get it off him. The Jarretts and this new promotion now have full control over both the NWA world and tag team titles.
  
• Mike Tenay has been named the lead announcer for the new NWA-TNA promotion. They're also trying to get Lex Luger to appear for the debut show, but Dave thinks its unlikely since Luger is financially set for life and has shown no interest in doing any wrestling since WCW folded.
  
• Jeff Jarrett had talks with Bret Hart about coming in to do a Team Canada gimmick. Latest Dave heard is that Hart isn't interested, but they may bring in some of the new generation of Harts for it. There's been talk of bringing in TJ Wilson, Harry Smith, and Teddy Hart as a new version of the group. Smith is still only 16 and it's way too early to put him on the national stage yet and in a lot of states, he wouldn't even legally be allowed to perform. Wilson is also a teenager, from a bad home who pretty much grew up as an honorary Hart member in the Hart household. And Teddy Hart is a natural in-ring performer who would already be in WWE if not for the fact that during his two training camp tryouts, he had behavioral incidents both times. But they're all talented and will likely be big stars in the future. Last time WWE was in Calgary, Vince McMahon personally requested to meet with all 3 of them for a private tryout, but it didn't amount to anything.
  
• Little bit of a change in the WWF writing teams. Brian Gewertz is now the official head writer for Raw, while Paul Heyman is the lead writer for Smackdown. Stephanie McMahon will continue to oversee creative for both shows and, of course, Vince still has final say on everything. Dave expects this to result in Raw being a more comedic show while Smackdown will be the more serious in-ring product (pretty much, yeah. And thus, we have the official beginning of Heyman-era Smackdown and soon we'll see the birth of the Smackdown Six).
  
• Notes from Raw: show opened with Chris Benoit making his unannounced return to a huge pop. Dave still expects Benoit to eventually be managed by Arn Anderson, which has been the plan for months (and never happens). That was actually the original plan before the NWO was brought in. If Benoit was healthy in time (which, turned out he wasn't so it didn't matter anyway), the original idea was Benoit vs. Austin at Wrestlemania 18 with Anderson managing Benoit. But that obviously all changed. Anyway, what else? Dave once again mentions that Jeff Hardy looks physically awful. He seems to know about Hardy's drug issues and seems to be hinting about it without saying it. Tommy Dreamer continued his gross gimmick by drinking Undertaker's tobacco spit. Lesnar beat Bubba Ray Dudley but had to sell a ton in the match and Dave doesn't get it. For a guy that they so clearly want to turn into a Goldberg-like star, selling for midcarders every week isn't how Goldberg got over. Jim Ross went on and on about how Lesnar has never been pinned, which Dave says is an insult to all the fans who have seen Lesnar do jobs at house shows. RVD beat Eddie Guerrero in a 20+ minute ladder match and Dave says it's the longest match on Raw in at least a year. Dave gives it 4 stars and considering how messy and sloppy it was, that shows you how good it was. Lots of dangerous spots, some botched moves, and most notably a moment when a fan ran into the ring and knocked over the ladder while Eddie was climbing up. Eddie and Earl Hebner started stomping the fan until security dragged him out. Still an awesome match though. And finally, Benoit returned at the end of the show and turned heel on Austin. Dave says Benoit actually isn't ready yet and isn't supposed to be back in the ring until July, but the company is so desperate for anything to give them a shot in the arm that they may have pulled the trigger on this angle early.
  

WATCH: Fan shoves Eddie Guerrero off the ladder

• Notes from Smackdown: the only thing Dave talks about is the Hulk Hogan retirement angle they did and he's got mixed feelings on it. First the positive: he gives Hogan credit for being an absolutely incredible performer when the heat is on. And Hogan gave a tremendous performance in this and Dave doesn't let it go unrecognized. But then the negative: in the promo, Hogan talked at length about when his dad was dying, he was basically expressionless except for Monday and Thursday nights when he'd watch WWF and his face would light up. So Hogan said his dad's last words were he wanted to see his son return to the WWF. So that's all sweet and nice, right? Weeeeeell....Hogan has told a different version of this story in the past. In previous interviews, Hogan said his dad was disgusted by what wrestling had become and he wanted Hogan to "clean it up." The idea that he was laying in the hospital and only coming to life when his beloved WWF was on doesn't exactly jibe with what Hogan has said before. And no matter what the truth is, Dave is uncomfortable Hogan using his dead dad as a way to get this storyline over, but hey, he ain't the first and won't be the last.
  
• WWE's first show in Hawaii in probably 15 years is scheduled for later this month. Rock is scheduled to work the show and tickets sold out 2 hours after they went on sale. While we're at it, the Australia show in August also sold out the 47,000-seat Colonial Stadium in Melbourne in only 4 days. Once they scale the stadium for production, they plan to open up more seats.
  
• It's "basically a sure thing" that Hogan vs. Vince McMahon will be one of the top matches at Summerslam. How they get there seems to change weekly. There's been talks of having Hogan take time off after King of the Ring and return for the Vince match at Summerslam. There's also been talk of him sticking around through the entire summer. So who knows? (Ended up being a mixture of both: Hogan stuck around the entire summer, but then he did an angle to get written off TV right before Summerslam. And he didn't come back until early 2003. And, of course, we got the Hogan/Vince match at Wrestlemania)
  
• More info on the incident from a couple weeks ago where Kevin Nash and X-Pac reportedly threw a fit and got the script changed. They were told by writer Ed Koskey what the plans were for them on the show. Nash and X-Pac didn't like it, especially X-Pac since it involved him doing 2 jobs during the same show. X-Pac said he was quitting and told Nash he'd meet him in the car. Nash told Shane McMahon he'd go calm X-Pac down and straighten everything out. Nash and X-Pac came back, had meetings with Shane and Jim Ross, and then later with Koskey and Brian Gewertz (who wrote the show). They managed to convince the writers to change it more to their liking. Nash was also upset about how Ric Flair went on TV and said he'd fired Scott Hall. Nash didn't like the idea of Flair on TV being able to hire and fire people from their NWO, because that kinda takes away from the idea of the NWO as an autonomous, outsider group that doesn't play by WWE's rules. So that's why Nash was able to go out on TV on this night and cut the promo about how Flair doesn't control the NWO. Of course, Hall is still gone, so I guess he still does. Anyway, both Nash and X-Pac were pissed over all this and caused a scene, especially X-Pac, to the point others in the locker room wondered why they weren't disciplined instead of being given their way. But if you wonder that, you clearly ain't been paying attention to Nash over the years. Anyway, X-Pac still did the job in the Hardyz match, but not in the second match.
  
• Random news: house shows in Alexandria and Baton Rouge, LA were both canceled this weekend due to low ticket sales. Shit's selling out in record time in Australia and Hawaii, but they can't give tickets away in Louisiana apparently. Undertakers hips were both banged up after the Hogan match at the PPV but he continued working, although he was limited (and years later, he'd have to get major surgery on both those hips). At Raw in Edmonton, Ric Flair was getting huge pops and "woo!" chants for him before the show started, so they filmed a backstage segment where he told Arn Anderson how much he hates Edmonton so they would boo him when he came out live. Lance Cade won the HWA title from Johnny the Bull down in developmental. WWF was pushing the city of Edmonton to present Benoit with the key to the city on Raw, but Edmonton wasn't so keen on the idea. And finally, during a bikini contest at the house show in Winnipeg, Ivory's top got pulled down, exposing her boob, much to the delight of many in the crowd.
  
• Remember how MTV's The Osbournes was the only show routinely beating Raw in the cable ratings? That's changing. The Osbournes is over for the season, but this week, Raw fell to #4 behind the Lakers/Spurs NBA playoff game and 2 different episodes of SpongeBob. Patrick's a draw, brother.
  
• Raven has been doing commentary on Sunday Night Heat, but he recently asked to be removed from it because he feels like it hurts his wrestling character. Dave thinks this is pretty risky. Raven as a wrestler is probably nearing the end of his shelf-life and lord knows WWE hasn't shown any desire to push him. And he was actually pretty fantastic at commentary. So giving up a safe job that he was excelling at for one that WWE doesn't really seem to see any value in him for seems like a good way to find yourself on the chopping block next time they decide to get rid of some people (yup, he'll be gone from the company in another 7 months or so). For what it's worth though, this isn't the first time Raven has been in this situation. Back in the 90s, he was a manager and commentator in WWF then too, under the name Johnny Polo. But when they weren't interested in using him as a wrestler, he quit the company and reinvented himself in ECW as Raven. Sometimes you gotta bet on yourself.
  
• Jim Ross has a weekly WWE.com article where he usually just shares all the latest injuries everyone has. This leads Dave on a bit of a tangent when Ross wrote about how Triple H has a fractured patella. The injury was diagnosed by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham and Andrews told Triple H to be careful with it, but he could continue wrestling as long as he can take the pain. Basically one of the world's top sports doctors saying, "Yeah you've got a broken knee, but throw some dirt on it, you'll be fine." It's no wonder so many of these guys end up on pain pills rather than getting the medical treatment they need.
  
• Also in his article, Jim Ross admitted that the WWE is not doing a good job lately of providing a product the fans want to see. Dave thinks that's just about as strong a statement he's heard on the current state of WWE from someone so high up within the company. Ross admitted they need to create new rivalries, elevate new young talent, and effectively introduce new stars. However, Ross also blamed the economy and the abnormally high number of injuries everyone is dealing with right now for part of the problems too. Dave says the economy may play a small role in the declining live event and PPV numbers, but usually when the economy is in the toilet, TV ratings go up because people are staying home more. Not the case here. Injuries, yes that's a problem for sure. But the core of all WWE's problems right now comes down to the simple fact that the show pretty much sucks. And at least someone high up in the office seems to finally be publicly admitting it.
  
• Tough Enough 2 is down to the final four. Dave talks about how Jackie Gayda is now the sentimental favorite because she tore her ACL during the show but has still refused to quit, which opened a lot of eyes on her. Speaking of Tough Enough, in a WCW-like comedy of errors, they aired a promo for next week's episode before the current episode was finished, thus spoiling who the final 4 were going to be, before it was revealed on the show people were watching.
  
• The WWF Forceable Entry album has sold around 364,000 copies total since its release. But it's actually considered a pretty huge failure because WWF had to pay so much money in fees and up front advances to the various artists on the album, and they're nowhere close to recouping that cost. (The album eventually sells over 500,000 and goes gold but still a flop).
  

NEXT WEDNESDAY: A look at the dismal state of WWE in 2002, Tough Enough II finale, Riki Choshu's departure from NJPW, Dave reviews several new wrestling books, and more...

Further analysis has come in from the debate, and it is now obvious that Biden had an earpiece and was being helped.
There are photos of the wires in his shirt and sleeve. When he was given his first question, he touched his ear and said "Good luck" repeating what the person coaching him said into his ear piece. (Totally avoided on the MSM).
Chris Wallace has become famous for all the wrong reasons. Look at this page devoted just to Wallace memes. The media is still BEGGING Touchy Joe to cancel all future debates. The Trump team released a list of the 33 lies Touchy Joe stated during the debate. Are the lib voters stupid enough to believe all the lies? Unfortunately, the answer is probably yes.
Meanwhile, at his post debate "rally" he was confused by a train, then the sign on his podium fell off. You can't make this stuff up. Feeble beyond belief. Trump on the other hand was campaigning in MN yesterday, and when he mentioned Omar and her voter fraud, the crowd started chanting "Lock her up".
Time for an aside. Trump has heard at EVERY rally for four years the chant "Lock "X" up". He HAS to know we DEMAND genuine justice for treason, fraud, EVERYTHING! I still believe it is all coming post his victory, but the chance they manage to steal the election looms large.
By the way, he is campaigning in MN, the only state that didn't vote for Reagan. That tells us he is absolutely certain he has all the swing states secured. I mean CERTAIN. We are a month out. This is the time you abandon states you won't win, and throw every last resource you have at the swing states.
Trump is campaigning in uber liberal states almost exclusively now meaning he wants to have a Reagan like landslide, and he must feel very confident about his ability to counter the liberal attempt to steal the election. Mind you, that IS the game plan.
80 Soros funded organizations have aligned to ensure that Trump will "step down" after they steal the election. In Philadelphia, the laptop and memory sticks used to program the voting machines went missing. Want to bet they are found pre-programmed with a million votes for Biden? In NYC, 100,000 ballots were found to have errors. Going back to my point from yesterday. I know that reading about the rampant and open level of fraud we are already seeing is stress inducing. However, look at Trump. Sure he posts tweets highlighting all this, but he has an aura of absolute confidence. Do you think we are aware of this stuff and he isn't? No chance. He knows about MORE fraud than even we do. His confidence tells me he knows he will overcome and counter all of this.
Fortunately, FEDERAL judges keep ruling against local liberal judges who think they are allowed to change election laws with a ruling. The federal judges are reminding them the law cannot be changed by a dude in a robe on a power trip. Only the legislative branch can change the law. The most recent ruling affected North Carolina. The liberal desperation keeps growing. Now Crying Schumer said he wants to add DC and Puerto Rico as states so they can get more electoral votes. Won't happen.
The AP circulated a memo to members to tell the media how to downplay liberal violence. Riots are now to be called "unrest" because it is a less "emotional" term. Remember my common theme? Liberals are ruled exclusively by emotion. They admitted as much. Lets focus on the media for a second. Fakebook has agreed to ban ads critical of voter fraud and anything discussing the election results after receiving an angry letter from the Biden team. Think about that. Zuckerberg lied to Congress, and has been threatened by the president of the US, but follows the demands of a guy who will be forgotten to history in two months.
The former CEO of Twitter said that the people he disagrees with should be lined up and shot. Clear violation of Twitter policy, but of course it is untouched. Note the mindset. KILL the opposition, True evil.
That brings us to RUMOR number one. Q suggested a LONG time ago they were working to create their own news network. One of our fellow readers must have seen some the same stories I have in that people think Trump will announce the new network a few weeks from now just as all the promised tech censorship goes into over drive. If this is true, that would be game changing for many reasons. The most obvious is he would have a platform to deliver his an unfiltered message 24/7. The second is the timing. Not only is it perfect for the election, but ANY new network would draw curious viewers, and this would draw in a billion people almost over night. Imagine having it preloaded with all sorts of short video clips discussing every topic under the sun. Is this a pipe dream? Odds are the answer is yes. However, we have hints.
Trump for the past two months has been attacking Fox news, and just yesterday said he was so disappointed with Fox that he was almost done with them. They don't have time to legislatively counter the tech media censorship, and I find it very hard to believe Trump will accept being silenced at one of the most crucial times of his life. Why would Q mention this years ago? Because it would take years to create. Keep your fingers crossed. Imagine the liberal heads exploding over that. It would be glorious. It would also be a disaster for the deep state. How many news items do I mention every day that I say got NO media coverage? One or more per day. Yesterday it was the 50,000 person prayer group in DC. The other area that is consistently going unreported are UkraineGate, ObamaGate, PedoGate, SpyGate, etc. This is starting to explode, and is not getting the coverage it needs.
Communist Comey testified before Congress yesterday. The point of this wasn't for him to expose his guilt. We all knew he would lie and deny. That is what he did, but now his answers are on record so when documents come out to the contrary, he is in even more trouble. His most common response to questions was to say, "I don't remember". Let's pause there. He was the HEAD of the FBI. He authorized a spy campaign on the president of the USA, something never done before in US history with the consequences being enormous no matter which way it went. Either they over throw Trump which would be gargantuan, or they all get captured as traitors. But he doesn't remember. Just another case. You know, just like them investigating jay walking and parking tickets.
On the same level. Ted Cruz said that he is either the most criminally corrupt or completely incompetent person in the history of the FBI, and he didn't believe he was incompetent. He said that his legacy would be the destruction of the reputation of the FBI that no one trusts any more. Why would we? They are STILL criminal. They wouldn't investigate the Omar voter fraud from last week. But yeah, the head of the FBI doesn't remember an int'l spy ring trying to take down the sitting president. This guy had better get the gallows. Little else would be true justice.
In case you think they aren't scared to death, look at what is happening in the Ukraine right now. A gas company said in COURT they bribed Biden with at least $900,000. NO media coverage. Like I said, at least once a day. It gets worse. A woman working in the US embassy in the Ukraine was just murdered, right as the Ukraine info is getting declassified. Coincidence? There is no such thing. We also learned that the head of the CIA herself, Gina Haspell (my nickname for her is rated M and based on her first name) is blocking the release of declassified documents. This is why things have taken so long to come to light. She is guilty, knows it, and is covering up her own guilt. She should have been removed long ago.
Misc items. In the process of calling Trump names, Biden slandered the kid who shot three Pantifa thugs in self defense. His super attorney, Lin Wood announced they are suing Biden for libel, and they are already suing FakeBook. This kid will be an American hero and millionaire when it's all done. Touchy Joe said Pantifa was an idea. Trump said ideas don't burn down businesses. True. Ideas also don't have web pages that STILL take you directly to Biden's web page. Ideas don't have their own flag and meet with ISIS in Syria. Oklahoma is charging these thugs with terrorism, and the DA said, "This isn't Seattle". Awesome.
On the sports front, the NFL is threatening teams with lost draft picks if their coaches keep taking off their masks. The league is just one big virtue signal lost cause. The woke NBA is currently playing their finals, and ratings are down 39%.
Trump just announced and emergency order concerning rare earth elements. China has bought 98% of the REE mines throughout the world. However, the single biggest mine is in the US and hasn't been mined in decades. This will open it back up, and Alaska is loaded in REE. Those are needed for our high tech military weapons. Trump keeps putting America first.
Mexifornia announced a task force to look into reparations for slavery. Mexifornia was formed AFTER the Civil War and after slavery was banned. What they are doing is announcing they are looking into paying blacks who no longer vote democrat to go back to their old ways.
Here's a fun fact, all of the top ten cities with the highest murder rates are run by libs, as are 18 0f the top 20.
Do you remember the study showing masks decrease blood oxygen levels by 17%? That study was done on a super fit athlete after two minutes of light activity. That figure would be MUCH worse in our typical out of shape obese citizenship.
Dwayne the Rock Johnson has always been politically neutral in public, but has gone full retard, and he is getting blasted for it. The guy who starred in a Saturday Night Live skit as a child molesting robot, and who has said he "eats kids" (adrenochrome) probably has his name on a flight log to Pedo Island.
That brings us to rumor number two. Do you remember the awesome Bush funeral when the wives of The Fuhrer (nickname for Obama), Jeb, Gore, Pence and Hillarnazi received a surprise envelope that SHOCKED them? Supposedly the message was from dear dead dad and said "They KNQW everything. I'm sorry". Note the spelling with the Q. The final rumor is just in, and is in this video. This guy seems very authoritative and actually lists a TON of sources. He says the Pope, Petrus Romanoff, had a child with the president of Argentina that they sacrificed to Satan. He said the Pope has been removed and this will be official in February, Tuck that away. Q stuff, Q posted the fact that the corrupt US attorney of the SDNY was replaced by Comey's son in law.
A handful of people are holding the country hostage, He also noted that Comey's daughter was in charge of investigating the Epstein suicide, and her husband in on the Ghiselain Maxwell case. He just posted a few minutes ago, and get this. The moderator for the next debate was an intern for Biden.
Q also lamented what America would look like if CV-19 wasn't released. The economy, the rallies, reason for mail in voting, etc. Trump could reverse this by ordering everything is opened up, and lets not forget that HE put Fascist Fauxci in place, not Biden.
Images: Hillarnazi, arson, Ruthless, debate, an idea, two visions, AOC, 2020, debate, Wallace, the PedoRock, simple, FBI, Wallace, morons
(Edit: I’ll work on getting his links included available, I just don’t know how yet. There is another labeled “TGIF” that just came in this afternoon. If you find this intel helpful/insightful please join this sub to make sure you don’t miss the next update(s).

The warriors team mantra since Steve Kerr arrived has been "Strength in Numbers". If Bob Myers, Joe Lacob and the warriors front office and management has a mantra, it would be "fortune favors the bold".
Fate protects those who are aggressive. Fate protects those who bet on themselves.
We hear all the time about how a player "bet on himself", the warriors, as a team, are in the habit of betting on themselves.
These aren't the Knicks, who had the money, the means and the opportunity to sign Kevin Durant as a free agent and declined to offer the full max. These aren't the Boston Celtics, forever hoarding assets and never making a move for a franchise altering star. In hindsight, the Celtics didn't give up that much for 2 years of Kyrie, nothing that will hurt them in the long run, so why didn't they go all in sooner and harder? Fortune does not favor those who sit on their assets and who always plan for a future that never comes. Fortune favors those who know how precious right now is. Fortune does not smile on those who play it safe.
7 years ago, the warriors re-signed Steph Curry to a contract extension. 4 years / $44 million. There were many who thought the extension was a joke. There were many who felt Curry would never be healthy and the warriors had sunk a ton of money into a guy who would never be a contributor for them. Talented as he was, he was fragile.
6 years ago, when Andre Iguodala told the warriors "I'm coming, and I'll wait while you make the cap room", Bob Myers got on the phone, called everyone in the league, and finally, found a Utah Jazz team that was willing to take the contracts of Andris Biendris and Brandon Rush, for the price tag of two future first round picks, to clear the cap room to sign Iguodala.
Its easy to forget, with the benefit of hindsight, just how monumental a risk this was at the time. Iguodala was at the time, a player exiting his prime years, who the warriors were committing 4 years and $12 million per to. Plus, they were discarding two precious first round picks, and the team had, just THAT year made the playoffs for the first time since "We Believe". A young, untested team, with a lot of growing up to do, betting massive draft capital to bring in a veteran player to help them take the next step.
The warriors had built a great culture and a fun locker room that other stars wanted to come and be a part of.
A year later, after a second consecutive playoff appearance, the warriors fired the most successful head coach the franchise had ever known in my time as a fan. I've been a fan since 1990, the warriors had made the playoffs 3 times in my first 23 years as a fan, 2x in the early 1990s, and once in 2007 (We Believe), and never back to back. Mark Jackson had just won 51 games, which was the most regular season wins I'd ever seen a warriors team post.
They gambled, fired him, and hired Steve Kerr. Most teams would have stuck with Jackson, the most successful head coach a franchise had seen in over 20 years. Fortune does not smile on those who play it safe.
Over the next two seasons, the warriors won a title and went to another finals, and they set the all-time regular season wins record along the way. The cap spike of 2016 gave them a chance and they recruited the hell out of Kevin Durant. Durant decided to come, and once again, in one offseason, the warriors completely and totally altered their entire team. They lost half the roster that offseason. Do you remember how many "they lost their entire bench" posts there were that offseason? Bogut was traded to Dallas, Ezeli was allowed to go to Portland, Speights was cast aside to the Magic, the cap hold for Harrison Barnes was renounced, and he went to Dallas, Brandon Rush joined the T'wolves, Leandro Barbosa went home to the Suns, and James Michael Macadoo went to the 76ers. They brought in a whole host of free agents, and put together a roster with duct tape for the following season, including 2nd round pick Patrick McCaw, Zaza Pachulia on the "room" exception and Javale McGee on a flyer contract.
In the summer of 2016, the warriors took apart their entire roster to accomodate KD and put that entire roster back together around him. A lot of popular players had to be let go, a lot of hard decisions had to be made.
It was worth it, they won the next two titles, and barely fell short of three in three years. Along the way, they suffered yet more losses. Jerry West left for the Clippers. Travis Schelenk left to run the Hawks (and is building warriors east), Chelsea Lane joined him in Atlanta, and Luke Walton left to be a head coach, Larry Riley, the man who drafted Steph Curry and Klay Thompson also left.
Fortune favors the bold. Success will result in you losing your people. That's part of the cost of doing business.
I will forgive, to the ends of the earth, a franchise that always goes big, more readily than I will a franchise that always plays it safe. There are 30 teams in the NBA, 30 world class organizations. You can finish in the top half of those organizations every year, and make the playoffs, if you're satisfied with that. Finishing in the top 8 every year and always being in the second round is more difficult, but also doable. On average, a normal NBA team should finish in the top 8 teams (second round of the playoffs) once every 4 seasons. There is only one champion, and the only way to climb to the very top of the mountain is to take big risks that pay off. With 30 teams, all at various time frames and positions, the odds of being the one left standing at the end are, on average, one in every 30. Every NBA team should win a title once every 30 years. Those are such slim odds that if you always play it safe, you will never acheive the variance to ever win one title. Being the top finisher out of 30 means embracing variance, it means never being middle-of-the-pack; you either finish at the top or at the bottom.
At the end of the 2011-12 season, the warriors embraced a short-term tank to keep the #7 overall pick. Its likely if the pick weren't owed to Utah (as part of the Marcus Williams trade years before) the warriors would have tried to win as many games that year as possible. They kept the pick, barely.
With Kevin Durant leaving, and their chances at another title run permanently closing, the warriors did what the warriors always do: Bet the farm, bet on themselves, and bet big. De'angelo Russell is an astronomically high variance move.
Question: with all the super high variance moves the warriors have executed, and how they seem to consistently pay off big for them every time, why would we finally start doubting them now?
The warriors, in acquiring Russell, gave up two first round picks, and have hard capped themselves for the season. They left themselves just enough room to keep Kevon Looney, through some miracle I can't fathom. Have you heard what all the media have been saying?
De'Angelo Russell doesn't fit
The warriors only acquired him to trade him
They got him so that they wouldn't lose Durant for nothing
De'Angelo Russell makes no sense for the warriors
Who are you going to believe? What does the track record tell you?
De'angelo Russell is a pick and roll player, and Steve Kerr doesn't run much pick-and-roll. He also has two of the greatest off-ball threats from anywhere on the floor in NBA history. The motion offense made sense given Steph and Klay's strenghts. Do you think Kerr is like most coaches in the league, who need players who fit his system? Or do you think he's like Greg Popovich, who changes his system to fit his players? How hard to do you think it will be for Kerr to go much more heavily into pick-and-roll now that he has players, in Russell and WCS, who are strong pick-and-roll players? Russell will fit because Kerr will adjust how the warriors play to fit him. Much of the same things were being said when KD joined the team; Kerr adjusted his system to take advantage of KD's unique gifts. That's what elite coaches do.
Here's the secret about the media: they are deeply envious and also, deeply attached to pre-conceived notions. The warriors didn't die a slow death, like so many dynasties do. They didn't lose a star and then spend the next five seasons not being able to compete, like the Lakers. They didn't fade off. The warriors did what Silicon Valley companies do: they analyzed the situation and they shifted gears and they shifted strategies FAST. Within one day, they went from trying to keep KD to aggressively making moves to shore up a post-KD future. No mourning period. No looking at each other and asking "okay, now what?" No slow decent into irrelevance. No hesitation. No doubt. Complete confidence. Fortune favors the bold.
The warriors destroyed pre-conceived notions. When faced with the loss of their super-star, they completely tore apart and rebuilt their roster and they got extremely creative, jettisoning draft capital to aggressively position themselves to land a player that is simply never available to a team with their lack of resources. NBA teams love to "wait and see", to stay patient and evaluate. The warriors don't. The warriors always go big and always go bold and always take massive risks. One day, one of these risks won't pay off. Do you want to bet against them?
Media members never get in position to take these risks because they don't understand them. The media is good at creating a narrative around events after they happen; the media's understanding of team building is passive, rooted in what worked in the past. Creative management has to see the future, and that doesn't make sense to reporters, because there's no narrative to compare it against.
I don't believe they landed Russell to trade him. I believe they landed Russell because he's a 23 year old with an extremely useful skill set, both now and in the future for them to have.
They landed Russell because he's a building block player. It cost them dearly. Jordan Bell, probably Quinn Cook, Jerebko, Cousins, Iguodala, Livingston, Kevin Durant is gone, Andrew Bogut is back in Australia. A lot has changed, a lot of familiar, cherished names are gone. Steph, Klay, Draymond (the 3 amigos), Kevon Looney, and Jacob Evans are the 5 players from last year's team who are locks to return. Alphonso McKinnie and Damian Jones are good bets to return.
Consider this. Steph is 31 years old right now. Draymond and Klay are both 29 right now. No one else who figures to be on the team opening night is older than 27 years old. At the start of next season:
McKinnie will be the 4th oldest member of the team at 27 years old
Damion Lee will be 26, and will turn 27 shortly after the start of the season
WCS will be 26
Glenn Robinson will be 25
Damian Jones will be 24
Eric Paschall, Kevon Looney and De'Angelo Russell will be 23
Jacob Evans will be 22
Jordan Poole will be 20
Alen Smailagic will be 19
There are still a roster spot to fill, and who the hell knows how any of this will shake out? Plus the 2 way deals.
That bench looks horrible. Klay will miss most of the season. It will be Curry, Draymond, Looney, and Russell most nights battling to keep the team in games. Smailagic, Poole, Evans, Paschall, and Jones are 0-2 right now in summer league, and that's 5 players who should make the opening day roster.
They will lose a ton of games next year. I don't think this is a 40 win team, they're too young, not enough talent. An injuy to anyone in their top 4 and they are non-competitive. They have no margin for error, when they had the most of anyone in the league the last 5 years. Getting Russell probably cost them the 2019-20 season. Most teams would not have made that bargain. Most teams don't dream big enough and aren't willing to take that risk. Fortune favors the bold.
I think it will work out for them in the long run, and if it doesn't, I would much rather my team take these massive risks and try to always be the best then to play it safe and never win anything. I will forgive the risk taking.

The NBA season hasn't started yet, but that doesn't mean that coaches should feel entirely comfortable in their offices quite yet. Circumstances change quickly, and coaching positions can change quickly along with them.
Through this (super long) post, I wanted to assess each coach's job security for this 2019-20 season. There's no simple or accurate metric for measuring this, so I'm going to give an estimated and subjective appraisal of their chances of getting fired, either in mid-season or at the end of the season.

I LOVE YOU, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME (listed alphabetically by team)

Golden State: Steve Kerr
After 5 years on the job, Steve Kerr has a winning percentage of .785 in the regular season, and 3 NBA titles in the postseason. In fact, the team's 57-25 record last year was the worst of his tenure so far. So yes, his job is safe. Kerr could coach the next 10 years there if he wanted. For Kerr, it's not a matter of job security; it's a matter of health. He's been able to endure his constant back pain in pursuit of titles, but will he have the same resolve if the team sags into "good but not great" status? TBD. chance of firing: 0%. chance of retirement: 10%.
L.A. Clippers: Doc Rivers
A few years ago, Doc Rivers was almost the victim of his own success. His gaudy resume had allowed him to take charge of the L.A. Clippers front office, and he simply didn't do a great job in that role. However, he wisely took more of a backseat there, and embraced the job (head coach) that he's quite good at. The 48-34 record last year re-established his coaching cred, and the new superstars should energize him for a few more seasons at least. chance of firing / retirement: 2%
San Antonio: Gregg Popovich
Along with Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich is firmly in the "you can stay as long as you want" camp. And he nearly has. He's been at the helm for 23 years. Amazing, the last two seasons (47-35, 48-34) have amounted to Pop's worst percentages over the course of a full season. He's one of the greatest ever, and unlike some old veteran coaches, hasn't lost his fastball whatsoever. He's constantly adapted, evolved, and thrived. But as with Kerr, the question is whether Popovich is nearing the end of the road, for personal reasons. He's 70 now, and in control of Team USA. He may hand the baton off and focus on that job going forward. I suspect he'll give it a go in both roles until the Olympics at least, but it's no longer a guarantee. chances of firing: 0%. chances of retiring: 20%.

I STILL LOVE YOU, BUT WE MAY NEED COUPLES COUNSELING (listed alphabetically)

Boston: Brad Stevens
A season or two ago, Brad Stevens was the golden boy coach in the NBA. After a slightly underwhelming 49-33 season, we're starting to see some grumbles about his offense (which isn't as free-flowing and ball-moving as his age may suggest.) The Celtics will replace Kyrie Irving with Kemba Walker, but expectations aren't much lower. If the team can't grab a top 4 seed, those grumbles may grow. And if the Boston-Stevens love affair ends, would he start to eye a move back to the NCAA? Probably not, but we can't promise the marriage lasts forever. chances of firing: 2%, chances of leaving: 5%.
Miami: Erik Spoelstra
Although the Miami Heat have been mediocre lately (124-122 over the last three years), I'm still be inclined to group in Erik Spoelstra in with the "untouchables." After all, this is a 2-time champion coach with 500+ career wins prior to the age of 50 (48 years old right now.) Even if the Miami Heat underachieve and miss the playoffs again, I don't think Pat Riley would want to rock the boat on this culture. Still, Jimmy Butler is a handful, and potential addition Chris Paul isn't a bed of roses either. If Spoelstra can't get "buy in" from his new stars, then there may be more trouble in paradise than we expect. Again, it's a very small chance a divorce happens, but we can't give it a 0 either. chance of firing: 4%.

JUST DON'T EMBARRASS ME IN PUBLIC (listed alphabetically)

Cleveland: John Beilein
It's hard to under-estimate the leverage rookie coach John Beilein has with the organization right now. They lured him from Michigan with a 5 year contract, where he'll be "working for" a front office that features assistant GM Mike Gansey (Beilein's former player.) Simply put: they're going to hand him this team and allow him to build a program in his image. Despite that, it doesn't mean the transition will work like a charm (just ask Billy Donovan.) Beilein is 66 years old, and has never coached in the pros before. He may simply decide that he hates the NBA and walk away prematurely. Still, it's hard to imagine that happening this early barring any unforeseen health issues. chances of firing: 1%. chances of leaving: 5%.
Memphis: Taylor Jenkins
Although they have wildly different resumes and backgrounds, Taylor Jenkins will be in a similar boat to John Beilein. He's inheriting a team that's in a rebuilding situation, and should afford him a lot of patience going forward. The Wharton-grad Jenkins projects as a smart, modern coach who should have long-term success. Still, we can't absolutely guarantee Memphis doesn't fire him after 1 season, because they have done that before. chances of firing: 3%
Milwaukee: Mike Budenholzer
Based on pure coaching talent and resume, Coach Bud has nothing to worry about - particularly after a 60-22 record last season. The only reason that I'm even putting him in this category at all is the potential for off-the-court issues. He had been arrested before on a suspicion of DUI back in 2014, although he was later found not guilty. If something worse happens in that ilk, then he may be in trouble. But barring that, he's obviously safe. chances of firing: 2%.
Minnesota: Ryan Saunders
While interim coach Ryan Saunders (Flip's son) had been a popular pick in the locker room, he still represents a sizable risk by this new front office. After all, he's only 33 years old and hasn't been a head coach at any level prior to that short stint last season. He may be a home run; he may be a strike out. Of course, he'd have to be a wild strike out (with a bat thrown into the stands) for it to amount to a firing in year one. chances of firing: 5%
Orlando: Steve Clifford
Veteran Steve Clifford did a tremendous job in his first year in Orlando, helping the team improve from 25-57 to 42-40 and a playoff trip. There's a chance the Magic may stagnate in R1 unless one of their young players (Jon Isaac, Mo Bamba, Markelle Fultz) takes a "leap," but they should have patience with Clifford for at least another year or two. Barring health issues, his job is safe. chances of firing: 2%.
Phoenix: Monty Williams
One of the reasons we can't claim rookie coaches are entirely safe is because teams like Phoenix have fired them in the past -- including Igor Kokoskov last season. However, it'd be very difficult for any owner (even Robert Sarver) to justify doing it two times in a row. In fact, Monty Williams secured a 5-year deal to help prevent that nonsense. chances of firing: 2%.
Sacramento: Luke Walton
Despite mixed results in L.A., Luke Walton was a hot commodity with the Sacramento Kings franchise, who gave him a nice 4-year contract. Of course, that happened before the sexual misconduct allegations that surfaced since. While that appears to have quieted down, any new rumor or accusation may turn up the heat on Walton. Barring that, the team should stand by their man. chances of firing: 5%.
Toronto: Nick Nurse
Nick Nurse is about as close to "untouchable" as you can get for a coach with 1 year of experience. But hey, that was a heck of a year. Nurse won the title, and outfoxed several great coaches along the way. The Raptors could probably sink down as low as 30 wins (unlikely) and still keep Nurse for the long haul. chances of firing: 1%.
Utah: Quin Snyder
While Quin Snyder hasn't had a huge amount of playoff success yet himself, he's also quickly established himself as one of the better NBA coaches. Over the last three years, the Jazz have played lockdown defense and averaged 49.7 wins. This offseason has raised expectations, but Snyder should be safe for another season or two even if they slightly underachieve. The bigger issue would be if Snyder gets in trouble off the court; he had a wilder history in college prior to straightening out in the pros. chances of firing: 4%.

YOU'RE SAFE (FOR NOW) (again, alphabetically)

Atlanta: Lloyd Pierce
In theory, Lloyd Pierce should be in great shape here in Atlanta. The young team had a solid 29-53 season in his first year, and their young core projects well for the future. That said, expectations will rise over time. Pierce was partly hired for his defensive reputation, but the team only ranked 27th last season. With Trae Young (who graded dead last in ESPN RPM on defense), that may be hard to change. Hopefully rookies De'Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish will solve that issue, but if not, Pierce may start feeling some heat in 2020. When he was hired, the team only gave him a 3 year contract, which indicates that he didn't have much leverage coming in. chances of firing: 7.5%
Charlotte: James Borrego
Like Lloyd Pierce, James Borrego will be entering Year 2 in a rebuilding situation that should lend itself to patience. On the other hand, logic tends to go out the window when it comes to the Charlotte Hornets. Borrego will have to deal with a weak roster, and a shaky front office that just gave $19M a season to Terry Rozier. I expect Borrego will survive for a while, but we can't rule out a house cleaning. chances of firing: 10%.
Brooklyn: Kenny Atkinson
Kenny Atkinson has done a great job bringing the Nets out of a deep black hole rebuild, but now the expectations will vault up with the arrival of Kyrie Irving (and soon Kevin Durant.) Presumably, those stars wouldn't have signed up in the first place if they didn't like Atkinson. That said, their opinions can change at the drop of a hat. A disappointment in 2019-20? Okay fine. Another in 2020-21? Then Atkinson will start feeling that seat warm. chances of firing: 4%
Dallas: Rick Carlisle
As one of the most respected coaches (and a title winner to boot), Rick Carlisle should have job security for life. Still, the NBA will always be a stars league, and Carlisle's star isn't Dirk Nowitzki anymore. It's going to be Luka Doncic (and Kristaps Porzingis' team), and Carlisle will need to appease them to some degree. Missing the playoffs this year may be fine, but whiffing again in 2020-21 would be problematic; it would be the 5th season in a row without a playoff berth. chances of firing/retiring: 5%
Denver: Mike Malone
After a premature exit in Sacramento, Mike Malone has rebuilt his stock by lifting Denver to contender status. He's improved every year, from 30-52 to 33-49 to 40-42 to 46-36 to the breakout 54-28 record last season. Of course, that also comes with rising expectations. Like the others in this section, Malone could survive one regression year, but two disappointing years in a row would be a problem. chances of firing: 5%.
Detroit: Dwane Casey
Of all our coaches, Dwane Casey knows that one should never get too comfortable. After all, he was fired after a 59-win season (and a Coach of the Year trophy) in Toronto. After that, he still had enough leverage to earn a 5-year deal in Detroit, which should buy him quite a bit of time. Still, a 41-41 start was "meh." To make matters worse, Nick Nurse and the Raptors won the title without him (albeit with Kawhi Leonard.) Given Casey's big contract, he should be safe in Year 2 and Year 3, but there's hardly a guarantee he'll survive all 5 years of the deal. chances of firing: 5%.

10 HOTTEST SEATS (in order)

(10) Portland: Terry Stotts
Remember, this isn't a ranking of the best and worst coaches but merely their situations. In fact, everyone would agree that Terry Stotts is a very good basketball coach. In fact, if you asked the other NBA coaches to rank their peers, I suspect Stotts may even crack the top 5. That skill has manifested on the court as well. His Blazers have made the playoffs for 6 seasons in a row, and had a mini-breakout with a Conference Finals trip this year.
Still, making the playoffs doesn't lock in job security in the NBA; winning a title does. And until that happens, the franchise will always wonder in the back of their minds on whether or not they should pull a "Masai Ujiri" and squeeze Stotts out for a younger assistant on his staff like Nate Tibbetts, a rising star in the ranks.
After tasting the WCF last year, can Stotts afford to take a step back? Probably. Losing in R2 seems about right for this team as presently constructed. But what if they lose in R1? Then it becomes more of a debate. I'd still recommend keeping Stotts and tweaking the roster instead (ya'll got any more of them stretch PFs?) but I'm not in charge of the team and I'm not ruling any shake-ups out. chances of firing: 15%
(9) Indiana: Nate McMillan
As with Terry Stotts, it may feel strange to see Nate McMillan on this list. At first glance, neither should be on the hot seat at all. In McMillan's three years on the job, he's guided the team to winning records and playoff trips in each season. The Pacers just finished 48-34 despite Victor Oladipo's injury, and may be better than that this season with new additions like Malcolm Brogdon.
Still, we have to go deeper than the first glance here. Indiana thrives on the basis of their defense (ranked 3rd last season), which is heavily influenced by assistant Dan Burke and DPOY candidate Myles Turner. Offensively, the team tends to look a little scattered and uncreative, which has Pacers fans quietly murmuring about McMillan. They added some new scorers in Brogdon and T.J. Warren, but both are players coming off career years from 3. If they regress at all -- and this team regresses at all -- then McMillan may be in more trouble than we realize.
Am I expected that? Not really. If I had to bet, I would bank on the Pacers winning 45-50 games and McMillan lasting at least another season. But if we're looking for potential hot seat situations, we can't ignore the potential downside here. If they underachieve, McMillan may be the fall guy. chances of firing: 20%
(8) N.Y. Knicks: David Fizdale
We can't judge David Fizdale too harshly based on his 17-65 record in year one. After all, tanking and landing a top 3 pick was all part of the plan. But what's the plan going forward? After striking out with the superstars in free agency, the Knicks signed a bunch of B+ and C+ players to big money. With it, they've attempted to re-set expectations. Instead of landing superstars in 2019, they're going to land them in 2021! Hopefully?
In the meantime, David Fizdale should be able to survive until then. His team is still young, and features first and second year players like R.J. Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, Kevin Knox, and Dennis Smith. Practically speaking, the veterans like Julius Randle and Bobby Portis are meant to supplement that rebuilding movement. Fizdale should be allowed to develop this group, and be afforded some growing pains in 2019-20 and again in 2020-21.
However, there are a few factors working against him. The front office may fancy themselves a playoff contender out East, which may go sour by the end of the year. Moreover, that front office isn't exactly on solid ground themselves after getting pounded by the press this summer. Dolan may want a complete fresh start after this year. More than that, there's a non-zero chance James Dolan leaves town himself, and some super-billionaire like Jeff Bezos uses his change jar to buy the team and mold it into his image. At the end of the day, there's more uncertainty with this situation than a second-year coach would like to see. chances of firing: 20%
(7) Chicago: Jim Boylen
As a well-respected defensive coordinator, Jim Boylen's name has always been bandied about for head coaching jobs in the past. He finally got his opportunity last season after taking over for apple pie Fred Hoiberg in mid-season.
At first, it did not go well. Jim Boylen had about as rocky of a start as you can imagine, earning negative reports in the press about his drill sergeant attitude clashing with the locker room. Still, he turned that perception around and had a decent finish to the year and earned some "buy in" from the players. Better yet, his Chicago Bulls may be a darkhorse contender for the # 8 seed. They have offensive stars in Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen already, so an improved defense may vault them closer to .500. Even if that doesn't happen (yet), Boylen should feel safe knowing he has the backing of the front office.
Of course, that also ties Boylen's fate to that front office. Ownership has tended to leave Gar Forman and John Paxson alone, but it's not a lifetime appointment. If this team doesn't improve enough (and wins say, 25 or 30 games), then there may be a total housecleaning here. I'm a little more optimistic on the Bulls' chances of winning 35-40 games than others, but we can't rule a potential disaster out. chances of firing: 25%
(6) Philadelphia: Brett Brown
After a long dark winter, Brett Brown and the Philadelphia 76ers have emerged from the "Process" intact. In fact, Brown has won more games in each of the last two seasons (52 and 50) then he did over his first three seasons combined (47). But with that comes raised expectations, which may be higher than ever. With Kawhi Leonard out of the Conference and the sheen off the Boston Celtics, the Sixers are the co-favorites with Milwaukee to make the Finals. Losing in the Conference Finals would be acceptable, but a R1 or R2 loss may be stinging.
Would that disappointment be enough to cost Brown his job? It's debatable. His contract extension runs through 2021-22, but that's never stopped a coach from being fired before. Fans may grow frustrated if Ben Simmons still can't shoot, or if Joel Embiid can't stay healthy, or if Philly's defense doesn't look as dominant as it should be on paper (despite Simmons, Embiid, and Jimmy Butler, they only ranked # 15 last season.) It's very possible that Brown becomes the scapegoat here.
Of course, we're talking "worst case scenarios" here. Chances are: the Sixers should be quite good and have a very good chance to make the ECF or the Finals. So while we can't rule out a firing, we wouldn't bet on it either. chances of firing: 30%
(5) New Orleans: Alvin Gentry
After coming over from Golden State, the exceptions for Alvin Gentry in New Orleans were sky-high. Suffice it to say, it's been an underwhelming return so far. Despite the (occasional) presence of Anthony Davis, his Pelicans have won less than 35 games in three of his four seasons on the job.
Oddly, Davis' trade demands may have helped Gentry survive another year. With the blockbuster deal, expectations get re-set and the window extends again. On paper, Gentry and assistant Chris Finch's run-and-gun style should suit this new roster well. Gentry is also someone who's earned high praise from his players and from the media in the past. If new execs David Griffin and Trajan Langdon didn't believe in him, they had the opportunity to make that change this past summer.
But alas, that doesn't mean they won't have that same opportunity again next summer. Gentry's contract will be running out, and the team may decide to go with someone younger than him (he's now age 64.) To earn a longer leash, Gentry doesn't need to make the playoffs, but he has to show reasons for optimism. The Pelicans need to find a clear role for Zion Williamson, and earn some improvement from the cast-off Lakers. There's a lot of talent on the roster, but if the team stalls or looks like a muddled mess, Griffin may likely clean up the picture and chose his own head coach the next time around. chances of firing: 35%
(4) Houston: Mike D'Antoni
Veteran Mike D'Antoni may start spitting out Rodney Dangerfield routines, because the poor guy doesn't get much respect. Despite a great run here in Houston (records of 55-27, 65-17, 53-29), he's still struggling to earn a contract extension from the franchise.
And while owner Tilman Fertitta gets the blame for that, we can't rule out Daryl Morey's influence either. Morey has stated in the past that he thinks coaches' messages tend to run stale after a few years, and that philosophy has born out in their decision making. Jeff Van Gundy lasted 4 years. After him, Rick Adelman lasted 4 years. After him, Kevin McHale lasted 4 years (+10 games). This season, Mike D'Antoni will be entering the dreaded 4th year himself. The Houston Rockets' job essentially has strict presidential term limits, and he's verging on lame duck status.
To up the degree of difficulty even further, the team added Russell Westbrook to the equation. That's not to say it's the wrong decision by any means or that it won't work out (personally I'd still peg them for a top 3 seed), but we have to admit there's a sizable chance that it won't work out. The chemistry for Harden + Westbrook is going to be harder to calculate now that they've both had considerable success (and MVP seasons). And if something doesn't click, it will certainly be easier to blame D'Antoni than the two stars, whose massive contracts run for another few seasons. chances of firing/retiring: 40%
(3) L.A. Lakers: Frank Vogel
It's rare to see a first-year coach listed this high, but this is rare circumstances indeed. Frank Vogel will be joining the Lakers on a 3-year contract, which is quite light for a veteran like him. That fact showcases his limited leverage and his reduced reputation. The Lakers didn't high the coach who guided the Indiana Pacers to the ECF; they hired the coach who led Orlando to 29-53 and 25-57 records. In some ways, Vogel is lucky to have landed any job at all.
But there's no mistaking the fact that this particular job will come with some challenges. Primary among them: the threat of assistant Jason Kidd breathing down his neck. According to some, Kidd was the first choice of the front office, and the conspiracy theory that they simply didn't want to hire him outright (due to domestic violence charges in the past) checks out logically for me. Vogel can't be too pleased to turn on the Summer League and watch his new star LeBron James sitting next to Kidd in Vegas either.
Will LeBron James, Rich Paul, and Jason Kidd conspire to stab Vogel like Caesar? The odds are high. But the question is a matter of "when?" James didn't love David Blatt, but allowed him 1.5 on the job before he got the boot. The Lakers may end up giving Vogel a full season and change to make his impact on the defensive end before considering a full-time change in midseason in 2020-21.
And hey, we can't rule out the "what if it works?" theory either. This team has LeBron James and Anthony Davis, for fuck's sake. They have a legitimate chance to be a great team, and even an NBA champion. If that happens, Vogel won't be going anywhere (at least, not for another year or two.) chances of firing: 45%
(2) Washington: Scottie Brooks
The Scottie Brooks era in Washington has been a disappointment, and it won't get much prettier from here. After the John Wall injury, the Wizards will be entering 2019-20 with one legitimate star in Bradley Beal and a wonky supporting cast. They're a motley crew of decent prospects who may be 2 years away (Troy Brown, Rui Hachimura, Thomas Bryant) and veterans who may be 2 years removed from quality play (Isaiah Thomas, Ish Smith, C.J. Miles.) Realistically speaking, Bradley Beal will have to put in a Herculean effort for this group to win 35 games.
If there's any reason to think the axe will not come for Scottie Brooks' head, it's that this Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis isn't the "off with his head!" type. He's been patience with the Washington Capitals hockey team, as well as this Wizards unit. Former GM Ernie Grunfeld lasted for years past his expiration date. And in turn, Brooks may be allowed to play out another year of his (pricy) contract. Brooks also has a reputation as a good player development coach, which bodes well for his prospects during a possible rebuild to come.
All that said, Brooks shouldn't be investing in D.C. real estate. The clock is ticking. I would fully expect new acting GM Tommy Sheppard to cut Brooks loose and choose his own coach at some point, but we can't be 100% confident it will happen after this season or after the next. chances of firing: 50%
(1) Oklahoma City: Billy Donovan
Given his new status as a /NBA punching bag, it's hard to under-sell just how much leverage Billy Donovan had when he first came to Oklahoma City. We're talking about a well-paid college coach who had won two separate NCAA titles at Florida, and had resisted the NBA calls for years. He arrived in OKC with a 5-year deal in tow, as well as a reputation as one of the best coaches in basketball.
As we now enter Year 5 of that contract, Donovan's reputation has been tarnished considerably. He's been blasted for perceived underachievement, particularly in the postseason. With Kevin Durant, the team blew a 3-1 lead to Golden State, and hasn't won a playoff series since (losing in R1 three times in a row.) In fact, they've gone 4-15 in playoff games since then. Donovan's managed to avoid getting the boot because of his reputation and big contract, but those excuses won't hold off the executioner much longer.
Personally, I'm a little bit of a "Donovan Defender." I don't think he's done as bad of a job as advertised. After all, his worst regular season record has been 47-35. He's kept the team afloat without Kevin Durant. And sure, he probably should have reined in Russell Westbrook, but it's not easy to harness an MVP. The fact that Donovan won 48 games with a guard who jacked up 20 shots a game (at 50.1% true shooting) is oddly impressive in a way. And heck, let's even defend blowing the 3-1 lead. It's not like OKC woke up one morning with a 3-1 lead under their Christmas tree; Donovan used some wily tricks and unconventional lineups to help earn those 3 wins in the first place.
But again, these rankings aren't about my perception of the coaches, but rather my perception of their situations and stocks. In theory, this OKC roster isn't half bad and could flirt with .500 if they wanted to pursue the playoffs. And in theory, if they blow it up, then a college coach like Donovan may be well suited for that rebuild. But in reality, I just don't see an extension here. The marriage has soured, resentment has built up, and a divorce may be best for both parties involved. chances of firing: 55%

Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
PREVIOUS YEARS ARCHIVE: 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998

1-4-1999	1-11-1999	1-18-1999	1-25-1999
2-1-1999	2-8-1999	2-15-1999	2-22-1999
3-1-1999	3-8-1999	3-15-1999	3-22-1999
3-29-1999	4-5-1999

• Davey Boy Smith was hospitalized in Calgary with some sort of spinal infection and is in really bad shape. He's been in crippling pain for weeks with back pain as well as abdominal pains and had dropped around 40 pounds. Tests determined it wasn't cancer and doctors were stumped. Finally, he went to a doctor again last week when his daughter noticed a large lump on his back. Doctors determined it was a bone infection spreading through his body. He was given aggressive antibiotics but that didn't work so now he's hospitalized. Doctors think it's a staph infection on his spine and shouldn't be life threatening, but he'll be hospitalized for a long time and it's unknown if he'll ever be able to wrestle again. Smith described the pain as having a knife in his back 24 hours a day and the pain has gotten worse since he was in the hospital and he could be there for months. He's still under contract to WCW but hasn't been used in several months after injuring his back on the trap door built under the ring that was used for Ultimate Warrior's entrances back in the fall, which is likely where all this stems from.
  
• A Japanese women's wrestler named Emiko Kado was also seriously injured in a match after taking a bump wrong over a week ago and has been in a coma ever since. Dave has very few details on this one, other than she was a rookie and had only worked a handful of matches. Dave says a lot of people have compared this to the 1997 death of Plum Mariko in a match in Japan (yup, Kado eventually dies from her injuries. Later found to be a "sprained acute membrane in her brain").
  
• Wrestlemania 15 numbers are coming in and early estimates are that it did around 830,000 PPV buys, which will make it the biggest money PPV in wrestling history. WWF will bring in more than $12 million just from the buys alone. The New York Daily News reported that WWF had tried to get both Howard Stern and Monica Lewinsky to appear, but they both turned down 7-figure offers. Lewinsky apparently turned it down immediately, while Stern negotiated for several weeks before deciding against it. He talks about how WWF has proclaimed it to be the best WM ever but Dave naturally disagrees and says WM 10 still holds that honor. But he does give his personal picks for the top 10 WM matches ever and he puts Austin/Rock from WM15 at the #10 spot. Just in case you're wondering the rest:
  

1. Michaels vs. Razor Ramon ladder match (WM X)
2. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WM XIII)
3. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WM X)
4. Ricky Steamboat vs. Savage (WM III)
5. Warrior vs. Savage (WM VII)
6. Hart vs. Michaels (WM XII)
7. British Bulldogs vs. Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake (WM II)
8. Ric Flair vs. Savage (WM VIII)
9. Hogan vs. Warrior (WM VI)
10. Rock vs. Austin (WM XV)

• AJPW is expected to officially announce their 2nd ever Tokyo Dome show for next month. Dave breaks down the matches and says that the show will also have an official ceremony honoring Giant Baba, which will also feature legends such The Destroyer, Gene Kiniski, and Bruno Sammartino appearing, all of whom are well-respected legends in Japan and will likely never appear in a ring there again, so it'll be a big deal. AJPW also wanted to bring in the Road Warriors, Steve Williams, and Steve Austin for the show but Dave doubts it'll happen. WWF has big house shows booked that weekend and Austin especially would cost AJPW a fortune to get. And since the show will likely sell out the Dome regardless, Dave doesn't see the point in spending a ton of money to bring him in. No word on Road Warriors or Williams (they do get them, but not Austin).
  
• Wrestling, especially the WWF, is dominating the home video market in the "Sports" listing according to Billboard. Of the top 20 selling sports videos this week, 19 out of 20 of them are wrestling related (mostly WWF). The only thing keeping it from being a full 20-for-20 is the tape of Super Bowl 33 which charted at #9 this week.
  
• The subject of backyard wrestling seems to be the new hot topic everyone is concerned about now. There have been several news stories about it recently and ABC's 20/20 is doing a piece on it this week, featuring interviews with Vince McMahon and Mick Foley, who Dave calls "the crown prince and ultimate hero and god to every teenager who wants to bash a light bulb into their head and fall on thumbtacks." Dave isn't sure that this is worthy of being a big story. Obviously the idea of teenagers doing dangerous moves, blading, falling in barbed wire, etc. is bad. But it's not like there has been a huge epidemic of hospitals reporting wrestling injuries. Dave isn't sure that this whole backyard wrestling phenomenon is common enough to warrant all these breathlessly panicked news stories. Dave talks about how he used to play tackle football in the street with no pads when he was a kid and basically sums it up as, hey, kids do stupid shit and sometimes they get hurt. But unless we start seeing evidence of backyard wrestling causing more injuries than football or skateboarding, Dave doesn't think this is really a story.
  
• Raw won the ratings battle again this week but the gap wasn't as wide as usual, and WCW was even a little competitive for 2 segments. But overall, it didn't make a difference. One of the biggest mistakes WCW has made lately is not taking advantage of their first hour. Nitro is a 3 hour show and that first hour has no competition from Raw. If they were smart, they would use that hour to build the hell out of the rest of the show and do everything they can to keep viewers. Instead, week after week, they just throw out curtain jerking jobbers out there to have boring matches and do nothing to take advantage of the hour lead time they have. So now, even without competition, Nitro's first hour ratings are starting to plummet because the show just sucks. They've managed to kill the one hour of Nitro that should be the most successful.
  
• Brian Pillman's former wife Melanie has apparently been studying the effects of Human Growth Hormone and is convinced that is what killed him, which is why she talked about it on the ESPN show last week. Pillman reportedly was using so much HGH for more than a year but quit cold turkey shortly before his death, largely because he couldn't afford it (Pillman and his wife were having financial troubles and HGH is prohibitively expensive). She believes his quitting led to an enlarging of the heart, which killed him. Dave goes into the science behind some of this stuff but basically says we'll probably never know for sure what the exact cause was, and it likely was a combination of many things.
  
• The newly revived Stampede Wrestling, led by Bruce and Ross Hart, ran their first major show this week. Most of the wrestlers weren't anyone of name value. Stu Hart was there, moving around very slowly, but got a huge reaction from the crowd of about 1,800 fans.
  
• Mr. Fuji filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Nintendo and THQ over the WCW vs. NWO video game. There's a character in the game named Master Fuji that he feels is based on him. Mr. Fuji was at times called Master Fuji when he was in the WWF.
  
• Jake Roberts was arrested in Athens, GA for being $21,000 behind on child support payments.
  
• In news that was destined to happen, Sid Vicious no-showed ECW's Cyberslam PPV and now appears to be done with the company. He missed his first flight, so they booked him a 2nd flight. He called and got that 2nd flight upgraded to first class....and then missed that flight also. Paul Heyman says he talked to Sid the next day and Sid evidently told him that he no-showed in order to get Heyman's attention because he wants creative control. In response, Heyman told him to go get fucked and said that Sid won't be brought back to ECW unless he posts an appearance bond, which he would forfeit in the event he no-shows. So Sid's done in ECW (nah, he comes back a couple more times).
  
• In-ring wise, ECW is now poised to put on the best PPV shows in the U.S. Dave mentions that WWF doesn't have the depth as far as talented in-ring guys goes. WCW has plenty of in-ring talent, but none of them are ever pushed. Meanwhile, ECW has quietly been rebuilding their undercard with guys like Jerry Lynn, Super Crazy, Taka Michinoku, and others. The base of ECW is now built on strong in-ring performers and unlike WCW, Heyman is at least making a clear attempt to push these guys to help them get over.
  
• New Jack's trial in the Mass Transit incident has been postponed until May.
  
• ECW has a lot of potential deals in the works to try to bring in money. There's been discussions with TNN about ECW getting the Friday night time slot that RollerJam currently has. The first season of RollerJam just ended and was a ratings flop and it's unknown if the show will even get a 2nd season. They're also still working on a video game deal, negotiating with 2 companies: Take Two Interactive and Acclaim (they end up going with Acclaim and, in fact, Acclaim ends up buying a 10% ownership stake in ECW, but we'll get there). Heyman has also had meetings with WWF about some licensing ventures. All of this is basically an attempt to bring in much-needed cash for ECW. They recently got that big loan and that has smoothed things over for now, but it's not a permanent fix.
  
• Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch made their return to ECW at the most recent Arena show. Candido had noticeably lost weight but looked good. Sytch looked better than she did a few months ago, but still looked like she's been through hell. For now, they're not really being written into any storylines, but if they can stay clean, Heyman plans to ease them back into the mix.
  
• WCW will be getting a visual overhaul this week. New logo, new set design for Nitro and Thunder, and other little visual changes. Given the state of WCW right now, Dave says that's like putting a fresh coat of paint on a house that was just hit by a tornado. Speaking of, apparently the new stage set isn't the safest and all the wrestlers backstage were making bets on who would be the first to trip over it while making their entrance.
  
• Scott Hall is scheduled to be out for the next couple of months and when he comes back, he will be working a 5-nights-per-month schedule (Nitros and PPVs only). Obviously, a lot of people in the locker room aren't going to be happy, since Hall is making a guaranteed 7-figures per year, while guys who go on the road, work all the house shows, all the Nitros, Thunders, and PPVs aren't even making a fraction of that. It's basically the same deal that Hulk Hogan has. And while Hall is undoubtedly a big star, he's not Hogan. But Dave says once they opened the door a crack and gave Sting a similar deal to Hogan, it led to the inevitability of other top stars angling for the same deal. Basically, WCW is going to end up where all the top stars only work TV and PPV and it's going to kill house show business. But then again, Dave says that Hall has been such a disaster in the last year or so that this is probably the only way they'd be able to use him effectively anyway.
  
• Bret Hart had surgery to repair a groin tear and will be out for about 6-8 weeks. After they did the angle on Nitro with him quitting, they didn't mention Bret at all on TV this week (since doing so would give away that it's an angle and, for whatever reason, Bischoff is still intent on trying to work everybody with these "shoot" storylines). Of course, if they never mention Bret's name during the next 2 months, everyone is just going to forget about it. "But WCW would rather try and fool people and not get something over than emphasize something other than Hogan's program and get anyone else over," Dave says.
  
• Chris Jericho's sidekick Ralphus is done on TV and believe it or not, word is the reason they got rid of him is because he was getting too big of an ego (yeah I think Jericho has confirmed this).
  
• Random notes from the latest Thunder tapings: during the NWO battle royal, "The crowd went dead, like they had each individually had their hands covered in Novocaine." Describing the whole show, Dave says, "This was basically everyone just goofing off because nobody cares." At one point Norman Smiley did his big wiggle dance and the camera cut away to a crowd shot so as not to show it. Just overall a total shit show.
  
• No word on Kevin Sullivan's scary collapse backstage last week, but he was perfectly fine the next day. And I think that's the last we hear about it. Seems like that'd be a bigger deal but whatever.
  
• Chris Benoit was on a radio show in Toronto and had some interesting stuff to say. When a caller asked if there was a conspiracy to destroy WCW from within, Benoit said, "It appears that way." Benoit also said that when he signed a new contract last year, he had vowed never to complain about WCW again, but then said Bischoff hadn't delivered on promises that were made so...he's back to complaining again. He said he's still wrestling for the money and that in 3 years, he'll be 34 years old, be a free agent, and will have a lot of money in the bank. So at this point, he's basically just going through the motions and collecting a check. Amazing that WCW, at least temporarily, managed to kill Chris Benoit's passion for wrestling. His entire identity—prior to, ya know—was that he was borderline obsessive about pro wrestling. And WCW made him not care. During the show, Benoit also complained that Kevin Nash only pushes his friends.
  
• Several Canadian indie wrestlers had tryouts with WCW before Nitro last week (Mike McFly, Greg Pawluk, Eric Freeze, Todd Douglas, Gary Williams, Peter Smith and Scott D'Amore).
  
• MMA fighter Tank Abbott has signed a WCW contract and will probably end up working with Goldberg at some point. Dave says he always knew Abbott would end up in pro wrestling, given his charisma, but Dave is "betting strongly" against this working out.
  
• WCW execs were so upset with how the company (and Bischoff especially) were portrayed in the ESPN show last week that they have cancelled all planned media pieces. No more media outlets allowed to film backstage and Bischoff cancelled an interview on TSN's Off The Record, saying he wasn't doing anymore interviews due to the ESPN show, which he apparently feels misrepresented him.
  
• Chad Brock, a former WCW jobber, has a country song out called "Ordinary Life" that is #7 on the country music charts. Enjoy. I didn't.
  

WATCH: Chad Brock - "Ordinary Life"

• Kevin Nash reportedly told Vampiro that he's being taken off Nitro and Thunder and won't be on TV at all. There was a lot of heat on Vampiro after a recent match with Juventud Guerrera, with everyone feeling like Vampiro was careless and didn't protect Guerrera in the match.
  
• Fitness model Trish Stratus, who has reportedly been trying to get into the WWF, was backstage at WCW Nitro when they were in Toronto recently, looking to get hired there also. I'm befuddled that Trish had such a hard time finding a job in wrestling in 1999.
  
• WCW ordered a ton of new business cards, stationary, etc. that features the new logo. Except they goofed and the address on all of it lists their headquarters as "Altanta." Ha! Calssic WCW.
  
• Time Magazine is doing another one of those Man of the Century online polls and Ric Flair is in 2nd place (behind Jesus Christ). More than 20 million people have voted, making it the biggest web pole in internet history and Flair has over 310,000 votes. But the editor of Time.com has said that Flair will be removed from the poll because his ranking is due to "unfair lobbying from wrestling websites." The whole thing led to Time posting this notice on the poll: "Whimsical candidates and others who do not fall within the spirit of the title will not be counted." Word is they are planning to remove Jesus from the poll also, although they're hesitant because of the flak they know they're going to catch from religious nutcases and wrestling freaks whenever they remove the top 2 gods from the list. Funny enough, if you remove Jesus and Flair, that would bump 3rd place up to #1. Who's currently in 3rd place, you ask? A former painter named Adolf Hitler.
  
• Mick Foley's knees are in bad shape and he needs to take time off to get them worked on, but with this month's Backlash PPV being built around him so much (he's on the poster and commercials), he felt now wasn't the time to take time off so he's planning to work through it.
  
• WWF will be running a special on UPN later this month that will somewhat act as a pilot for their planned women's show. It won't be all women though, since they need to draw a big audience, so expect a couple of the male stars. But it will be primarily focused on the women. If the show is a success, the plan is to run a new 1 hour show on UPN starting probably in August, that will air in the middle of the week, probably on Wed. or Thurs. (needless to say, the idea behind this show changes somewhat).
  
• A biography about Mick Foley is being written by ghostwriter Lou Sahadi (turns out Foley wasn't happy with Sahadi's version of the book and decided to write it all himself and the rest is history).
  
• Shawn Stasiak will be starting with WWF in about 6 weeks. He's currently undergoing a hair transplant before he starts. Matt Bloom, who has been working in Memphis as Baldo, will be starting around the same time. The original plan was to book him as George Steele's son but that idea seems to have been dropped.
  
• Bart Gunn suffered a concussion in his knockout loss to Butterbean at Wrestlemania and was still disoriented even the next day. All told, the Brawl For All concept has been considered a flop. Savio Vega suffered a neck injury he still hasn't recovered from. Steve Williams was brought in to be a top guy and ended up getting injured and humiliated by Gunn, which not only killed his planned push but has pretty much wrecked his entire aura as a tough guy which his whole career was built on. And Bart Gunn, who WWF officials apparently thought had a legit shot against Butterbean, got murdered on live PPV and they haven't mentioned the match on TV since. So really, nothing was gained in the end.
  
• Steve Austin and D-Lo Brown are in a 1-800-COLLECT commercial that started airing this week.
  

WATCH: Steve Austin/D-Lo Brown 1-800-COLLECT commercial

• Steven Regal has been released by WWF. He's been in drug rehab for the past few months and was only 3 weeks away from completing it. Since he was almost done with treatment, he was allowed to leave rehab and go home for a weekend and, well...it went poorly. Apparently that was the last straw for WWF and they fired him.
  
• Shawn Michaels' promo that he cut at Wrestlemania was apparently not what it was supposed to be. Dave's not sure how it was supposed to be different, but apparently Shawn went off-script somehow and it led to a lot of heat on him about it, which is why he wasn't on TV the next night. Speaking of Michaels, he just got married last week in Las Vegas to Whisper of the Nitro Girls. The two have only known each other for a few weeks (and now they're coming up on their 20 year anniversary together).
  
• Forbes Magazine had a really interesting article about how pro wrestlers have basically no leverage when it comes to their paychecks. The story noted that on average, wrestlers only get about 15% of the revenue that the business generates and compared it to the NBA, who's athletes get 48%. Dave has talked about this in the past actually, when people would write in and say that WCW wrestlers were overpaid and Dave would respond saying that, given the money WCW brings in, the wrestlers are actually underpaid. He's compared it to different sports and it's the same across the board. Players in MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, etc....all of them are paid a much higher percentage of the revenue than either WWF or WCW wrestlers are (this is still true to this day). Point being, wrestlers BADLY need to unionize. Anyway, in the Forbes article, they talked to Ken Patera who was a major star in the 70s and 80s. Patera said that at his peak, he earned $140,000 per year but after expenses (mostly travel and hotels and whatnot), he only netted about $42,000 in his best year.
  
• Random Dave thoughts: he says Stephanie McMahon has been very good in her limited role on TV lately. He also thinks X-Pac is the best in-ring worker in WWF right now.
  
• The plan was to do an Austin vs. Rock rematch at Summerslam, but instead, they're going to rush it and do it at this month's PPV. The reason is that they realize they can't keep Rock a heel for much longer (he's just too popular) so they need to do the rematch now.
  
• On the WWF website, Vince McMahon once again called Phil Mushnick a liar and a gutless coward for not appearing on the Fox News show to debate him face-to-face. Conveniently, they left out all the other details about Vince backing down from debating him over the phone, or how Mushnick was never actually scheduled to appear in person in the first place or any of the, ya know, real facts.
  
• Someone writes in to ask Dave if he was paid for being a UFC judge at their PPV awhile back and says that if he was, it would compromise his ability to cover the promotion fairly and he should disclose it. Dave responds and said he was not paid to be a judge and he agrees that it would have compromised his ability to cover them fairly and says that if he had been offered money to be a judge, he would have turned it down for that very reason.
  

WEDNESDAY: WCW fires Davey Boy Smith while he's hospitalized, WCW Spring Stampede fallout, wrestling mainstream media coverage, NJPW Tokyo Dome show, and more...