Jingus

(sigh) Okay, one at a time: Sorry, but I don't have them. And I could probably only get one of them. I'll try to, but it does involve talking to people I've never met, who've probably never heard of this site, and don't care about the whole mess, so it won't be instantaneous. From what I have heard, Tim emailed three people: RF, and two others. One of the others is completely unconnected with the whole mess. The third is the one who passed the information along, and he's asked not to be named. Why do people keep claiming that I'm lying here? Tim and myself weren't the best of friends, but I'd hardly come up with some bizarre conspiracy theory about nonexistant emails just in a massive plan to get some poor innocent schmuck banned from the board, no matter how much I disliked him. Furthermore, why would I make up all this stuff to frame Tim, when it would only let off the truly guilty party scot-free? The only evidence here points to Tim. No other suspects have been so much as wondered about by anyone else involved. When the only pointed fingers are pointing at the same guy, what else am I supposed to think? The guy who Tim emailed, and the tape trader he told, both have stated their desire to remain nameless here. But let me tell you that both of them are guys that have probably never even heard of Tim Cooke before this whole mess, and have no reason to make any of this up. Like I said, every scrap of information that I have seems to implicate Tim. Rhetorical question: if it wasn't him, who was it? And why would all these people lie about it? And if somehow it turns out that I get proof that someone other than Tim did it, than I will freely and gladly retract the banning and make a full apology. Me too.

OSIcon, I think Rick was referring to the many times that he (and I) have seen moves, sequences, gimmicks, or whatever that some indy worker has blatantly stolen from Japanese wrestling. (Take for example Low-Ki's various thefts from Kawada, Mutoh, and others.) I've seen so many crap indy matches that so desperately wanted to be Benoit vs. Sasuke that it makes me want to puke, and I think that general trend is what he was talking about. And Ricky, Jay didn't break any laws. The guy he got his tapes from lives in Canada. Since RF doesn't have an international copywright on any of his footage, a Canadian copying and selling ROH tapes is completely legal.

Bob, why are you being so stubborn about this? Tim caused problems he shouldn't have caused, going way beyond flaming or offensive messages or anything else that usually gets people banned. What's wrong with giving him the axe? Hell, considering how little he'd posted here over the past few months, all that really did was free up a few minutes a week of his time. As for rules, I direct to you the following quote from Dames's Official TSM Rules and Regulations:

::applauds:: Rick, you just summed up the problem with many American indy workers and federations better than anyone I've ever seen.

OSIcon, although the information did travel through a couple of people to get here, we've got it on pretty good authority that Tim emailed not only RF but a couple of other people as well about the matter.

Stature? Hell, I'm just an unemployed schlub typing on a keyboard. But I do know a damn funny post when I see one.

Yeah, what he said.

. . . f.b.o.p.r. wins.

But Wednesday is TNA Live night down here in Nash-vile, dammit, and I'm fresh out of tapes and money... guess I'm gonna have to tape over some old Raws or something.

Mr. X was Popick, if I remember correctly. Alina was the most sincere (and therefore frightening). Smarkzone was the most persistent. xkiller was the dumbest. That Guy Whose Name I Forgot From the APO Thread was the easiest to flame. But only The Brain could combine all those qualities and many more into one paragon of sludge that makes him the Best Troll Ever.

Trust me, the other source of information exists. But I haven't talked to him myself, it's been through other parties, so I don't want to name him right now until I get the okay. No, he's not affiliated with this website; yes, he is someone you've heard of. (And no, it's not Bob Barnett, though he was asked for advice in this matter.)

Personally, one guy I've always loved to hate was Thernardier from Les Miserables. He was the real villain of the book, not Javert like some people think.

That was a bit of an exagerration. I was pretty hot about it when Jay first told me about it, and let fly with various expletives over the IM convo, but have calmed down since. There was another non-TSM source, which I won't name right now unless Jay got their permission to do so. But it easily could've turned into a situation exactly like what you just described. Dames was honestly worried about being sued, even though no laws were broken by anyone on this end. Anyone who did something like this did it with a mean spirit and a hostile attitude, intending to cause some sort of trouble for TSM members if not the website itself. Tim has been known to be, well, less than polite in the past; so I could believe he might do something like this.

Okay, I had a fairly heavy hand in these events, so let me explain it point by point. 1. In his column, Jay plugs a friend of his, Emo, who sells dubs of ROH tapes. 2. Emo lives in Canada. RFVideo has no international copyrights on their ROH footage, so Emo copying and selling their tapes is perfectly legal. Jay plugging them is perfectly legal. 3. Someone, purported to be one Tim Cooke, went to RFVideo very quickly after the column was posted and informed them about it. 4. RFVideo sent several harassing emails to Jay and Emo threatening legal action against their perfectly legal activities. (This despite the fact that RFVideo sells dozens, if not hundreds, of blatantly illegal tapes containing copyrighted WWF and WCW footage.) 5. Jay tells me about the whole incident, and provides me with more than one pieces of evidence suggesting that it was definitely Tim Cooke who did the "ratting". 6. I suggest to Dames that if this is all true then Tim should be banned, as he's caused unecessary trouble and headaches for people who've done nothing wrong. 7. Tim got banned. Now, Tim has claimed that he didn't do it, and that he was being sarcastic in his conversation on IM where he seemed to admit it. But Jay has always been open and friendly with me, while Tim has not, and I was inclinded to trust Jay more. Thus, it all went down.

A side note, the WWE generally doesn't hire production people or commentators unless they have college degrees in broadcasting, so stay in school, kiddies.

I've wanted to try a pipe for a while, but they're so much more expensive than cigarettes (and hard to hide from parents) that I've never given it a go. Are they worth it?

As an indy TV commentator, let me say that Eric's completely right on pretty much everything he said, and he even gave me an idea with the practicing in the car thing. (I already do that with promos, but hadn't thought to do it with announcing.) Follow his advice.

What else do you expect from the Name Dropper El Grande? I mean, geez, just because I sat around bullshitting with Ricky Morton last night doesn't mean that you guys have to treat me like someone who constantly uses other people's names to get themselves over, because Bill Behrens told me that I'm not like that.

Done, ye scurvy dog of a landlubber.

I think that's a key point right there. A 68-year-old man, recovering from surgery on his groin, probably doesn't have the greatest bladder control in the world. If he says he HAD to use the toilet, I'd believe him.

It's one of those unwritten rules. In most locker rooms, when you meet a worker you don't know, you introduce yourself by your real name. But then, at least half the boys call each other by their wrestling names, anyway. (For example, there's about five or six guys name Jason working the indies around here, and it keeps it simpler to use their work names.) If you ever want to have a good laugh, and maybe watch a fight, convince someone you don't like very much to go up to New Jack and say "Whassup, Jerome." Hilarity will ensue.

Well, considering I work on three indy shows a week and usually go watch TNA live too, yeah, I go to indy shows.

Are you serious? Jesus christ. Well, at least they're attempting to develop somebody's character, although honestly I think that Todd would've been a better choice.

I wouldn't say TSM is so bad now. Sure, some areas like Puro and Comics need a boost, but overall it's a lot better than anything back in the EZboard days, or during the DDT Invasion, or various other times. NHB is a loss, but hell, it's always been a loss at damn near any message board anywhere, so that's no surprise.

Heh, I actually know the girl that acquired the hats for HHH, Taker, and the security guy. Small world.