Celtic Jobber

I'd have to pick Raven, he can't bring much in the ring anymore but he could still be very entertaining.

Just a few other sports stars more well known than Floyd Mayweather: Shaq, Bret Favre, Eli and Peyton Manning, Roger Clemons, Lance Armstrong, Michael Vick, Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones Jr. I could probably name several others, but it's pointless. As a person who avoids sports like the plague, even I have atleast heard of all of them... And I'm going to laugh when WM's buyrate is about the same or less than last year. Most boxing fans think of wrestling as a joke, almost all of Mayweather's appeal lies with them. If Mayweather had appeal to anyone but boxing fans, I could see him possibly helping them sell more PPVs. But paying any celebrity $20 million for one PPV is an insult to every wrestler on WWE's roster.

At the TNA show in NY over the weekend, some of the fans were chanting "Thank you Benoit" after Angle did the triple German suplex spot.

Yeah, I have a hard time believing they would pay him that much. Hell, the guy is virtually unknown to anybody except hardcore sports nuts. Lets face it, the guy is no Tyson or Ali when it comes to being a household name. They could get someone who's actually well-known for that price. But honestly, I don't see much of an upside to paying ANY celebrity such a huge amount of cash for 1 ppv.

Wow, so you've never even seen the match where Hogan won his first WWF title from Iron Sheik? Amazing...

Honestly, I know the name "Tim Duncan", but I really didn't have any idea who he is beyond the fact he's as sports star (and since people in this thread mentioned, I know he's in the NBA). I guess if you don't watch or care about sports, none of your friends or family watch sports, and you don't read the sports section or watch ESPN, it's really easy not to know who these people are. I mean, I know who the big names like Shaq, Kobe, LaBron James, etc. are but thats about it. My guess is that people who are into sports or hang out with alot of sports fans over-estimate their stars' popularity with non-fans.

You made some really good points. As a non-sports fan, I know who De La Hoya is, and I know who Kobe Bryant is. But I've never heard of Tim Duncan or Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather's level of fame is being very over-rated.

But the fact that I haven't heard of him and I have heard of most other popular boxers is a pretty good indication that he doesn't have the kind of wide-spread appeal needed to pop a big buyrate on a WWE ppv (not boxing). Mayweather isn't the type of boxer who appeals to the older crowd, but to the 18-25 crowd. He's young, charismatic, and appeals to the "hip hop" type crowd. I guess because you never heard of him, means he has no wide-spread appeal right? That's not what I'm saying, but I really don't think he has wide-spread mainstream fame. And I'm in the 18-25 demographic... The point I was trying to make is that he isn't on the same level of fame as Mike Tyson. Tyson is/was a household name with most people who've never even seen a boxing match. I doubt the same can be said about Mayweather, at this point anyway. Well thats some dumbass logic... You know how hard it is for someone to reach the level of fame Mike Tyson has? Mike Tyson is agruably the biggest name in the sports history. Just because he's not as a big of a name as Mike Tyson, doesn't mean he doesn't have mainstream appeal, but Floyd has a lot more positive press behind him then Tyson does. It's going to be hard for ANY boxer to ever reach Tyson's level of fame. Yeah, but I keep seeing comparisons made between the two. That's why I mentioned it. I mean, I don't care enough to argue about this anymore. But lets just see how it works out, if the storyline ends up being entertaining and drawing a buyrate, I'll be glad to get proven wrong.

Ok, I forgot about that. LOL

I don't read the sports page or watch ESPN. I like wrestling because it's not a *real* sport, I hate sports.

I know you're being sarcastic, but can you imagine the mainstream coverage Vince would've got with O.J. around the time of Wrestlemania XII?

But the fact that I haven't heard of him and I have heard of most other popular boxers is a pretty good indication that he doesn't have the kind of wide-spread appeal needed to pop a big buyrate on a WWE ppv (not boxing). Mayweather isn't the type of boxer who appeals to the older crowd, but to the 18-25 crowd. He's young, charismatic, and appeals to the "hip hop" type crowd. I guess because you never heard of him, means he has no wide-spread appeal right? That's not what I'm saying, but I really don't think he has wide-spread mainstream fame. And I'm in the 18-25 demographic... The point I was trying to make is that he isn't on the same level of fame as Mike Tyson. Tyson is/was a household name with most people who've never even seen a boxing match. I doubt the same can be said about Mayweather, at this point anyway.

But the fact that I haven't heard of him and I have heard of most other popular boxers is a pretty good indication that he doesn't have the kind of wide-spread appeal needed to pop a big buyrate on a WWE ppv (not boxing). And this is aside from the fact that he's feuding with Big Show, who is not in Stone Cold or HBK's league. And here's further evidence I'm not alone in wondering who the hell Mayweather is: http://prowrestling.about.com/b/2008/02/18...yweather-jr.htm

They will by mania, The Clemons, Mcnamee, and Pettittee Love triangle is getting most of the attention now, but I'm sure Mayweather will pop a buyrate. I'm kind of baffled that you know Roy Jones and not Mayweather, its kind of odd. It still doesn't really dismiss the fact that he's very well known, and is a very big deal. Isn't Cena about to leave again too shoot a new movie? When I said Mayweather has no mainstream coverage, I meant that his name isn't in the news all the time like Tyson's was prior to his involvement at Wrestlemania 14, with the Evander Holyfield ear-biting incident and shit. The only mainstream sports star close to having the same effect as Tyson did back then, would be someone like Barry Bonds or even Roger Clemons, but that would be in horrible taste.

You probably are. Mayweather along with Oscar De La Hoya set the record for a boxing Pay Per View buyrate last year. For nearly three years he has been recognized as the best pound for pound boxer by Ring Magazine. I seriously doubt I'm the only one, as Mayweather must only be famous with boxing fans. And lets face it, most diehard boxing fans hate wrestling (and vice versa). I have no idea who he is, but I do know who Oscar De La Hoya and even Roy Jones Jr. are. He has NO mainstream coverage, unlike Mike Tyson did years ago. I mean, hell, Tyson had a Nintendo game named after him, and a high-profile rape case, not to mention he had bitten off Holyfield's ear which gave him tons of press. Atleast among my friends, boxing has been over-taken by UFC in popularity. I mean, I would even say someone like Tito Ortiz is more mainstream than Mayweather. But still, nowhere near as well-known Mike Tyson. This angle could backfire, kinda reminds me of when WCW tried bringing in the No Limit Soldiers as babyfaces and it backfired.

Am I the only one who's never heard of this Mayweather guy? I mean after reading the PPV results Sunday night, I had to Google his name to find out anything about him. I seriously doubt McMahon will get the kind of mainstream attention out of this like he did when Mike Tyson came in at Wrestlemania 14, if that's what he's going for.

I have the WB Home Video version of Halloween Havoc 98 and they trimmed out a couple of lower-card matches to make it fit down to 3 hours. But I think they actually left in all of the Nitro Girls dancing...

Here's the Fifth Estate documentary on YouTube:

Supernatural is a really good show and it comes on CW too. But hardly anyone knows about it because they don't advertise it much.

I don't think Batista got along with Cornette very well. But I can't remember exactly what he said about OVW.

What the hell? I thought Torrie Wilson was married to Billy Kidman? When did they split?

EDIT: Damn, cheetoe beat me to it... Oh well, here's a few of the more interesting parts of the Sun interview with Heyman: How was it for you to see ECW - your baby, the thing you created - almost destroyed in front of your eyes? It was a very rough road because, make no mistake about it, Vince McMahon has every right to do anything that he wants with ECW. He bought the right to exploit the intellectual property of the brand. It’s his, he owns it, and nobody can question whether or not he is entitled to do whatever he damn well pleases with it. Rob Van Dam has articulated on this brilliantly in some recent interviews and it kind of brought back the memories of that time in 2006. I tried to resign, and in front of other people because I wanted witnesses, several times in last two months of my tenure in WWE/ECW. I offered my resignation to Stephanie on several occasions. I told her the tensions between me and Vince were getting in the way of the brand, that Vince was taking everything personally, and that it was neither fun, creative, or productive any more. I thought if I left, Vince would give the brand the TLC - um, that’s Tender Loving Care, not Tables Ladders and Chairs - it needed. Stephanie kept trying to get involved, but Vince was on a tear. I dare suggest that Vince was craving for someone to compete with him on any level, in anything in life, and also at the same time, hating to lose, said: “I have the original owner of ECW, I have the original creative mind of ECW, and you know what, we’re gonna battle over the creative direction of this product.” And, at the same time, it’s like the WrestleMania main event - because it’s a predetermined finish. At the end of the day, Vince has to determine what the direction is. I’m not there to compete with him. I’m there to help him. I’m on his side, I’m his tag team partner. It just became misery to work there which is why, as Van Dam has pointed out, I just wanted out so badly I finally couldn’t take it any more. When did that happen, what was the actual date, because no one has known where you’ve been for a long time? The final straw was the December to Dismember Pay Per View. That show was just a wreck. I knew it going in. I kept trying to pitch different things for the show that week, that weekend, and even the day of the show. All day long on the day of the show, I kept coming to Vince saying: “The people are going to throw this back in our face.” Can you give us some examples of the things that you wanted to do that Vince said “no” to? I thought the undercard was horrible. I thought that the design of the show itself made no sense. I just felt that the entire layout of the show, the entire complexion of the event was a downer. I also thought that we were doing Bobby Lashley no favours the way he was going to win the title. Lashley winning the title, especially if you eliminate Rob Van Dam and CM Punk early, would be leapfrogging over RVD and Punk. Van Dam was the sentimental favourite, Punk was the kid that all the crowd was getting behind and they wanted to see the upset. If you don’t appease the need for the audience to see that new hero get crowned like Punk did the week before at Survivor Series when DX let him say ‘Are you ready?’ then the audience will feel ripped off. If you don’t put that spotlight on Van Dam, with whom the paying customers have just taken this long ride back into the title chase, then the paying customer will feel ripped off. My opinion was to start the chamber off with the Big Show saying: “I’m a seven foot tall, 500lb giant, I’m gonna mow through every one of you.” And the first to take him on would be Punk. Playing to the fact that UFC is so hot and in the public consciousness, Punk chokes out Big Show in the first round of the Elimination Chamber, four-and-a-half minutes in, and now the champion is out. You know for a fact, before any two contenders lock up, I’m getting a new champion at the end of this match. Then, the first guy to come out after Big Show v Punk, would be Van Dam. You let Van Dam and Punk fight it out, and then you start feeding in the heels. Vince hated this. He especially hated the fact that Big Show liked it. Even though he was being choked out within five minutes, Big Show liked it? Of course, because he was making a new guy! Big Show is so underappreciated in terms of how smart he is to the business, and how willing he is to make new stars. Vince wanted all babyfaces out of the way and for all the spotlight on Lashley and for Lashley to do a Goldberg-style two minute squash of The Big Show. At that point, not only did I realise that this is going to suck, not only is everyone going to throw this back at us, but this show is going to run short. And during the show, I pointed all this out to Vince, which just angered him even more, and he didn’t care. His attitude was: “When this broadcast is over, people will see a new champion, they’ll have a new hero and they’ll all be happy.” When I went to Vince right before I went out to introduce the Chamber, I pointed out again to him “Vince this show is horribly short.” I had this idea of getting 15 minutes out of the crowd, but Vince said: “No, no, no. Just go out there, make your point, and introduce the Chamber.” Which is why, when I was in the ring, I made the statement: “ECW will live long after I am gone.” Because I knew, either when I went back into the dressing room, or within the next day or two, it was time for me to leave.

Former WWF jobber-to-the-stars Virgil gets pissed and cusses out the guy doing a "bullshit shoot interview" with him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgDnGM9Xoyo

In his YouShoot interview, Honky Tonk Man said Savio Vega was originally slated to be his protege' before they went with Billy Gunn.

Kids at wrestling events are the most vulgar demographic I've ever encountered. I've been to shows in Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Youngstown and it's the same everywhere. If I have kids, it makes me want to keep them away from wrestling. I totally believe it. I was at the Georgia Dome Nitro in July 1999 when Bret Hart came out and did the speech about Owen Hart. There was this kid a few rows back making jokes about Owen dying and the fat ass rednecks that likely brought him to the event were laughing their jumbo asses off. If I had been a little bit older (I was 15 at the time), I probably would have made a scene about it. Maybe the kid didn't understand death or that Owen was really dead, but it was really disconcerting to hear such a small kid say such offensive things. I was in 10th grade when Owen died, and I remember the day after it happened most of the kids at school were making jokes about how "the nugget finally got flushed", and how they never liked Owen anyway. Even though everyone was atleast 16, I have a feeling most of them probably thought wrestling was real, and hated Owen because of his heel character. I've never noticed many potty-mouthed kids at WWE house shows, but I've been around quite a few moronic, drunk adults going on about things like how much better WWE was when Stone Cold was around.