RavishingRickRudo

Cor Hammers. He helped train Bas Rutten and Team Golden Glory, among others. "HH: Yes, I moved to Holland and my manager got me hooked up with Cor Hammers who is a legend in Muay Thai training. Everyone in Thailand knows who this guy is. He was even recruited at one time to train all of the K-1 fighters. He is really an incredible trainer and I have progressed tremendously under his tutelage. I have only been training with him for a year and a half and I credit my stand up skills to him." - Heath Herring Why does Brazil have such great submission and muay thai fighters? Why does America have such good wrestlers? Why does Mexico have such good boxers? The environment breeds it. If you have someone who is an expert in the craft, that means the people who are closest to him will learn. They teach others. It becomes localized and it grows and develops. After a while, and thanks to things like the UFC and PRIDE, other people start to learn it. However, those who have been doing it longest are often the best. Why, specifically, does Holland have the best fighters? Because they have the best trainer AND they have the best manager/publicist. The "best" Muay Thai/Kickboxing fighters are still in Thailand, however. Just as the best Boxers are in America. There's no reason to get into K-1 if (a)the money is better elsewhere and (b)the culture/environment/tradition tells you to stay home.

You're talking about profits and income, not revenue. That could be because of less money going out (less costs (which it is)) rather than more money coming in. The consumer is spending LESS money on almost all areas of business, there is little-to-no growth there, business is down. What was this about misleading? I got them on the quarterly report emailed to me. It's under: Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Well Gee, they just need to create a new fad! That's the answer! Why bother to CHANGE anything, just make another boom with new stars that the fans will come in droves to pay for... do you know how stupid that sounds, business wise? I'm not saying that being Hot didn't help House Show business, because lord knows it did. But wrestling stopped being "hot" 3/4 years ago. The reason Fans aren't going to house shows is because there is no real reason to. Having the same show over and over and over again with little differentiation or little effect on the TV product doesn't help that. They have to, in one way or another, make House Shows seem important. There are things that can be changed that are house show-specific and they simply aren't changing them. Short Term trends can be just that, however. The WWE's ratings picked up at the end of last summer with Kane going strong - then MNF came and the WWE was back in the 3's. The sample of just a few weeks isn't large enough, or concrete enough to say "attendance is up" or "attendance is down". It's a fundamental principle in statistics that the larger the sample, the better - more balanced - results. My source has 70+ live events, and this "Eddie Guerrero is raising Attendance" claim has _how_ many? I seriously doubt it's 70.

Start out as a mild mark, feel it out, if the waters are safe then you can do some low level smarking.

I thought the last one was the best. She admitted to having the "I want to be a hulkamaniac" tape in her collection, so she better go far! Fantasia and Latoya are pretty-much-well battling it out for winner though.

UFC 40 is top-to-bottom action.

So average attendence fell by 300 people. And this is what you want them to change the entire way they do house shows for? A fall of about 7 percent? I would equate this fall with the lack of a proven draw on the house shows than the actuall format of them. Actually I was looking at this one: Average attendance Jan 2004: 4,140 Jan 2003: 4,730 (12% decrease) Which I stated on Page 2. House Show attendance has been falling for *years*, so this is not an isolated number, infact, IIRC they were once at 10,000 so 4000 seems pretty low, doncha think? Something should change. Also in the last few months according to the Observer, Figure Four, Torch and others live show attendance has been up with even a few legit sell outs. I'm sure this will be reflected on the Q4 reports but until then are we supposed to ignore data coming in that shows an upward swing in live attendance when having a discussion about live attendance? Yep. That's exactly it. "And when their next quarterly report comes out you can make that statement with something concrete behind it. However, right now the best indicator of their house show business is their last Quarterly Report." Again, page 2. That just seems hard headed and asinine. No, it's smart. 3 months (or 1 quarter) is better reflective of the current state of the product; be that ratings, ticket sales, buyrates, etc. Why do you think they have Quarterly Reports? To just pick a few dates is silly, what if they fall again? It wouldn't be balanced. The general business comments were not directed toward you at all nor were they labled as such. There is this general idea that the WWE doesn't make money but is losing money which is false. However, they *are* making _less_ money. Revenue is down almost all across the board, so "business is down" is accurate.

They sold it as a "new era" for the WWE. It wasn't.

But really, can you blame Cbacon for mistaking the two? It's like mistaking French Vanilla for Light Vanilla.

You know what would be interesting. If some of the RAW guys on Smackdown (Dupree, Jindrak) got the cold shoulder from the locker room and HHH sees the opportunity to get new lackys.

This "trend" is based on HOW many months? Or should I say weeks? Hardly comparable to the quarterly statement which had concrete figures. If anything is "misleading" it is this. Who said that the WWE is losing money? I said their live event revenue decreased. Which it did and has. You see no reason to stop? How about falling attendance despite lowering ticket prices? They have to build interest in the shows and they aren't going to do that running the same programs.

They sure updated the profiles of the wrestlers on wwe.com quickly. All bios mention the draft, and Rene Dupree's talks about how he is now free to be a breakout star since his tag team is broken up. Maybe because they already did them on the weekend?

The WWE has certainly changed forever. This new era will be nothing like the old one. What a historic event. I have never seen anything like it.

Or, we could go the abstract New Yorker approach when trying to caption this. Orton: "I wish I was taller." Ric Flair: "I can't find my receipt, my place's a stye." Triple H: "My wife is a slut." BRILLIANT!

HHH: "Damn, I wish Dave would hurry up.." Flair: "WHOOOO! Batista! You sure do know how to work your way around my WHOOOOO! Don't forget about The Champ and Randy, Romeo. They need servicing too."

There was an article in a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine that had a cop who actually pretended to be a 14 year old boy (specifically) and specialized in dealing with people like Rob Feinstein. He described the type of person who does that sort of thing and its a must-read for anyone who 'cares' about this issue.

Dynamite, can't you see how having the same matches on the shows effects those 2 things?

....except for the matches being the same And that's what I'm arguing. Having the same matches over and over and over again doesn't help when business and interest is down. It's counter-productive. They could get away with it in a peak because people wanted to see guys like Austin and DX, or the show in general because it was hot, but they don't really have that now. There are so many things they could do with house shows that they don't care to do because they don't see it as important. They are too focused on increasing TV ratings because they assume that once interest in TV has gone up people will go to the shows; but why would people now go to the shows if they can see it on TV? They are drawing less than 5000 fans to their shows; UFC draws more, TKO draws more. Now, if you can make the case that they run shows once every 3 months, but they don't have television either. The WWE shouldn't be doing these numbers with the resources they have and this is a very important issue that is being overlooked and brushed aside by sarcastic remarks like the one you made.

Christian and Booker T had a title change, didn't they?

Rudo, it is warranted. Not because business is down...but because of the reason given. House shows are down simply because there is no importance there. And you don't think every match being the same isn't a factor in that? Why should people go out and see something they'll see on TV? Or why should they see something that won't affect TV? -------------------- RRR, house shows have ALWAYS been handled that way, from way back in the territory days. Hmm... somehow you've gotten the impression that I buy the "It's always been this way, so it isn't wrong" approach. I don't. In case you haven't noticed, Wrestling hasn't been run by the brightest-of-folk, so maybe their methods have been flawed. House Show business needs to change, they need to do something about it, waiting for a turn around in general business isn't going to cut it.

Yeah, Dead Cordy was great Even though they built up Champion Cordy well with the Painful Visions and whatnot, I still couldn't accept her as a selfless champion and lover-of-Angel (despite her initial crush on him in Buffy).

Actually, Lorne never lost his ability, but Cordy did something to him. When Angelus had his soul put back into him, Cordy made it look like it actually worked, but in fact it didn't. That is when Lorne lost his ability, to quote Lorne, "That explains why my mojo's been gunked up. Queen Bee-atch put the whammy on me." Ah this too... I have been trumped Did I mention how much I hated Evil Cordy... or even Champion Cordy... Have I mentioned how much I'm happy Cordy is gone

Yeah, which is PERFECT because it blurs the lines between right and wrong which was/is a theme of Season 5. Hows about this: She-who's-name-must-not-be-said (Jasmine), who may or may not have been a powers-that-be (I think they said she was), brought Angel back because Angel fucked Darla who gave birth to Conner who fucked Cordy who gave birth to human Jasmine. Afterall, _everything_ that went on in their lives was meant to bring about Jasmine.

WWE treating each market the same is stupid. At a time like this, when House Show business is down, they should be trying to fix it. They are not. Since House Shows are a key business driver and a source of income for your employees as-well-as a factor in the morale of wrestlers, it is important to get House Shows "up". So your sarcasm isn't warranted and this is a problem that gets understated both by people here and the WWE.

After seeing most of Season 4 now, I have a couple questions that I'm hoping someone could answer: The whole motive behind the deal with W&H was that Connor could live a normal life, at least for Angel? Yes. Which brilliantly worked into the theme of free-will. However, each one of them had their reasons to stay there (Fred with the science office, Wes with his books, Gunn with the conduit - being important, Lorne with the celebs). But if you look at it in relation to Jasmine and how they started to blur the lines between right and wrong, it's pretty neat how they played it up. How did Lorne lose his ability? Wolfram and Hart extracted his "reading" of Cordy; which foretold the arrival of The Beast and Jasmine. That messed up Lornes ability; he didn't "lose" it though. Can't help you on the Buffy stuff though, I'm a Season 5 expert

I really love this one. It brought a smile to my face and I did a lil dance in my chair. I hope Joss reads this!!!! STATIC Murphy's Second Law of Combat: If your attack is going particularly well, you've walked into an ambush. I know that a couple of people who are not real thrilled that some of us soldier-type guys shout out firefly-isms during combat, and I can honestly understand that. However, I hope that Joss and Tim read this and find it inspiring, and I hope that everyone feels their guts knot up as much as I did. . .and maybe a tear or two will well up in your eyes, as they are streaming down my face just from the telling of this. . . As you all know, I've been a soldier stationed in Afghanistan for quite some time now. Many of you know that I'm posting this from my own home tonight, as I have been permitted to come home for ten days on leave. It's been a very long time since I've been home. I flew from Afghanistan to Frankfurt via military cargo jet (C-17 for those 'in the know'), and the next morning, we got on a commercial flight to Chicago. I got off the plane, grabbed my big-assed duffel bags and prepared to wait in line for customs, and to my delight, the Customs officers were pulling any soldier-types out of line and passing them through, with a pat on the back and a 'welcome home'. I immediately had to re-check my bags for my final flight, and after doing so, I made a beeline outside. I crossed the street and walked into the snow, the first I'd seen since January 2003, and stood at the base of the American Flag for a second before I finally became overwhelmed and fell to my knees. I grabbed a double handful of snow and rubbed it all over my face. When I stood up, I realized there were almost 20 other soldiers with me, all who had the same idea. Most of us didn't know each other at all, but for that moment, we were brothers who had been best of friends all our lives. We decided to head on inside, and one young man, his name was Mike, was still overwhelmed with emotion and could not stand. Another soldier, a friend of his, went to lift Mike, and I took Mike's other arm. Mike smiled weakly and thanked us. Here's where it gets tough to even tell the story, and I hope Joss and Tim read this. . . Mike's friend said, "You know the saying, Mikey. . .when you can't run anymore you crawl. . ." and before he could say anymore, I finished it for him. "And when you can't do that anymore, you find someone to carry you." Mike and his buddy, and about half the guys who were standing there with us all smiled. We looked up at the flag and Mike said, "They didn't take the sky from us." Turns out they were all Browncoats, and they were home from Iraq for good. Joss, Tim and all the rest of you. . .I don't know if you had any idea that what you created would be so powerful, and provide such inspiration for those of us who serve, but it does. Thank you. And to all of you whom I've come to call my friends on this site, thank YOU. Because of your love and support, the 'bad guys' are unable to take the sky from ME. I'M HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!