*Disclaimer*

With NinetyforChill.com evolving into more than the rough draft blog for my primary blog, MainEventoftheDead.com needs a new place to test out the formatting of recent blogs. "Main Event of the Dead" is my screenplay about pro-wrestling and zombies. I have a movie website, so may as well have a wrestling site.

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Cancel Culture and The Disgruntled's Women's Real World Championship Part 2

*Title history comprised on 6/19/20. Intro started on 6/22/20.

Wrestling made the last weekend pretty awkward for me. It sucked because I had to process the entire #SpeakingOut not because I felt betrayed by any wrestler. I felt it was just started unfairly. Since I may be empathizing with a potential predator, does that make me an awful person and a hypocrite. The timing of this and me writing content may lead to you deciding that. Here is to coming out the other side and being better for it.

I have written about #MeToo and wrestling on numerous occasions. My first opinion pieces were about COVID-19 denier Ian Rotten and IWA-Midsouth downplaying Michael Elgin's covering for one of his students assaulting a woman and the IWA-MS supporters condoning such actions. It was in March of 2018, so five months after we started hoping Harvey Weinstein would be locked up. These posts discussed how Rotten would still book Elgin because no one deserves to be cancelled, and how I thought it was fair and that time and Elgin's use of the time will determine a return. Get this man a scarlet "A" at the very least.

When I was a Patreon to "The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast", their hotline was used by me to express my displeasure with the Impact Wrestling coverage and positive opinion when they had hired Rich Swann, who had been arrested for domestic battery, and Elgin who, at the most, was a year removed from his infamy. That portion of my call was cut for either allowing me to get out a Targaryen amount of titles (The Student of the Game, Podcat's Favorite Caller, the Concise Contrarian...the Double-Dipping Dandy) or for lighter portions of the call. There was not much support for my stance then and Facebook let me know that. The reaction was much like that of my so called friends did after my July 2015 blog, "Racism Can Play in Peoria. What About Your Local Wrestling". Sometimes it sucks to ahead of the game on social change (in the Heart of Illinois).

Some of those who were upset about me attacking the Confederate flag's perceived meaning may tell you that I was ahead of the game in terms of Rich Swann's indescretions. Perhaps I should be silent since I had been arrested over a domestic dispute. If things were fair, I should have been cancelled before I went on to become the Peoria's lone trained professional wrestler.

Manami Toyota
Pinterest
My innocence was not in doubt to my colleagues and family, and the other party's source on income wrongfully discredited her. Bite marks on my back and a broken nose did not help her case against me. From a karma standpoint, if I was guilty of anything, the next closest friend I had forced me into bankruptcy by holding the memory of my best friend over me for heroin. It lead to the circumstances that fueld my depression which stopped my three-day a week pursuit of indie-wrestling glory, so who is to say that it did not cancel me?

Social media was not around to cancel me, but I was out $2,500 in legal fees to not have the charges pursued and to have the arrest expunged, I spent two nights in the Peoria County Jail, and I lost my booking for the weekend. It may be argued that I got punished more than anyone facing accusations in the #SpeakingOut movement. We just got to be better and encourage addressing the issues sooner.

Sadly we are not at that point, and we maybe decades from there. So the confusion comes to how we speak out. The movement is great, but again my issue is how it started. At least through typing this, I am getting a further understanding of my feelings. Hopefully, I can wrap this up in the next post. But now to the pandering and a reason some will just scroll past my attempt to be enlightened.

The 15th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Manami Toyota (12/4/1995 to (12/8/1996)


The 16th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:

AJWPW's Kyoko Inoue (12/8/96 to 5/11/1997)

The 17th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
Japanese Women's Puroresu Openweight Champion Hikari Fukuoka (5/11/97 to 2/28/1999)
Honor cost AJPW when it comes to this title history. Because of a time limit draw with Kaoru Ito, Inoue relinquished the WWWA title only to win it back by defeating the same opponent...six months later. JWP Joshi Puroresu is the title with the most history after the WWWA.

The 18th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:

JWP Joshi Puroresu's Azumi Hyuga (2/28/99 to 12/23/99)

The 19th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Yumiko Hotta (12/23/99 to 1/4/2000)
Being a three-time WWWA champion surely deserves recognition on this list over Ran Yu-Yu, a competitor whose Wikipedia introduction solely focuses on her tag team exploits.

The 20th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Manami Toyota (2) (1/4/00 to 9/17/00)

The 21st Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Kaoru Ito (9/17/00 to 2/24/2002)

The 22nd Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Manami Toyota (3) (2/24/02 to 7/6/02)
Toyota regained the WWWA championship for a brief run only to lose it back to Ito. Jazz defeating the over-rated Trish Stratus added legitimacy to the reestablished WWE Women's Division after a three-year stint of being the bra and panties division. Unfortunately, this champion lost the title in a mixed tag match to put it back on Stratus. Azumi Hyuga was the JWPO Champion at this time, but her reign would end with the title being vacated. A tournament to refill the vacancy was held two years later and ironically won by Hyuga.

The 23rd Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Kaoru Ito (2)(7/6/02 to 10/20/02)

The 24th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Momoe Nakanishi (10/20/02 to 5/11/2003)

The 25th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Ayako Hamada (5/11/03 to 1/4/2004)
Once again, Jazz could bring the WWE Women's Championship back to prominence, but her title reign ends when the championship is put up in a battle royal to put over a debuting star. It does not matter that the star was Gail Kim.

The 26th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
WWE's Molly Holly (1/4/04 to 2/23/04)
Molly Holly won the WWE Women's Championship from Gail Kim and held it since July. She would lose it to Victoria in an elimination match, so there is no questioning that the most skilled professionals were handling this title. Hamada lost her championship to Amazing Kong, but would win it back at the AJWPW anniversary show. In other words, the booking of the belt was done just to pop the crowd.

The 26th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
WWE's Victoria (2/23/04 to 6/13/04)

The 25th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AJWPW's Ayako Hamada (2) (6/13/04 to 12/12/04)
Victoria was not as lucky as Holly when Vince McMahon came up with his way to put the title back on Trish Stratus. Stratus pinned Lita to become a six-time champion.

The 25th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
WWE's Lita (12/12/04 to 1/9/2005)
Nanae Takahashi's reign with the WWWA championship was brief ending in vacation via injury. Lita had recently won the WWE championship in the main event of Raw three days prior.

The 26th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
WWE's Trish Stratus (1/9/05 to 4/2/2006)
Cannot argue against with a 400+ day reign regardless of my preferences.

The 27th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
WWE's Mickie James (4/2/06 to 8/14/06)

The 28th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
WWE's Lita (8/14/06 to 9/17/06)

14 champions a list seems appropriate, so we will conclude this chapter of the list. The sad thing is that AJWPW folded in 2005 and the Impact/TNA Knockout division is two years away. Perhaps I should work this out further now, but I still got to write an intro, so this entry is too long as it is.

Wagging the Wednesday Night Wars & the Real Heavyweight Championship

War! What Is It Good For? Ratings?

I am a wrestling fan, so this will turn into a wrestling blog, but I have an observation outside of the business. Is Donald Trump shuffling troops and abandoning the Kurds away to distract from the impeachment inquiry? He is going to get impeached, but if we are suppose to further invest our hopes and prayers towards our troops who are getting stationed in Saudi Arabia to attack Iran, Americans will have more patriotic things to worry about. And should we not respect the president for his "victory" over ISIS?

My subheading was the first title that I came up with for the blog. In it was two question. After the last paragraph, it turns out that that war just results in more questions. Why my original title suggest ratings is not about Wednesday Night Wars, it was that people will tune in for war. This at least tells us that Trump is an expert in reality TV. He will get people to pay attention to what he wants us to, even if that puts thousands at risk.

Now I further appreciate my preference to being a cord cutter. It keeps me away from most live broadcasts. And I know Hulu will not inspire me to change the channel when Fox News/Fox Nation try to sell their message on the NFL or Smackdown.

Then again, how am I going to watch All Elite Wrestling? If you are not watching live, how are you helping AEW's side? Maybe Comcast will make it easier once they get back to me about our dispute over DM's (or lack of DM's) about why I still have a shitty modem, why they did not follow up with me as promised, and why I must repeat information the I provided in the DM's to @comcastcares multiple times?

The FCC promised me they would. Too bad we must return to phone calls to do so. My next day off is Columbus Day, so wish me luck in returning their call.

If we cannot work something out, knowing my luck, the feds will read my anti-Trump and anti-Trump supporters blogs and tell Comcast they did their best. Best not to piss off Google then. If my assistant is ease dropping, GITMO may be in my future.

You would think I ought to be more afraid of my girlfriend's Alexa, but she uses it primarily for Christian radio, so it would need to navigate the orders to get me in trouble. The most extreme thing I ever asked it was, "Alexa. Play Ministry." There is a chance that might confuse it as well.

It surprised me that I would have anything to blog about this week. I have been busy enough with my downtime trying to preserve my seventh anime-related website that I have not drafted another NFL fantasy team, forgot to draft a replacement tight end for one of them, or read any comic books. My Saturday shift might be dedicated to binging "Peaky Blinders". Which reminds me, my better half and I best start "Fleabag" tonight.

With nine anime reviews sitting in my drafts a long with eight other blogs to be released, I was fearing that I would lose track of wrestling blogs to move over to my site dedicated to the nuances of "No Holds Barred" and THE REAL heavyweight championship of wrestling. Then I realized that my back-and-forth structure for "Rip 'em System" posts was going to be a blog short. If only there was a title change that demanded debate to determine who the Real Heavyweight Champion was?

2019's Disgruntled Wrestling Fan's Real Heavyweight Championship Title History

The 85th Real World Heavyweight Champion:
IWGP's Kenny Omega (January 1 to January 4)
(To see how we got there, check out "A Wrestling Weekend Past and All the Corrections").
Pretender(s): NWA's Nick Aldis; ROH's Jay Lethal/Matt Taven

Since Matt Taven was claiming to be the Real ROH World Heavyweight Champion, it would not be fair to Flair (1991 throwback) to discount him as being in contention.

The 86th Real World Heavyweight Champion:
WWE World Heavyweight Champion: The New Daniel Bryan (January 4 to April  7; 4th reign)
Pretender(s): IWGP's Kazuchika Okada; ROH's Matt Taven

Okada was the first IWGP champion to hold the Real Championship, but because Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jay White failed to defend the championship after Kenny Omega lost it, conventional wisdom dictates that a true champion is one who can defend their title.

The 87th Real World Heavyweight Champion:
WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Kofi Kingston (April 7 to October 4)

He has never got to wrestle the style of matches that the five prior champions have, but he has been able to stay with the same company for eleven years and be the best performer at times during it. He may be too good to ever allow to face the likes of Okada or Omega

The Current (Oct 11) and 88th Real World Champion:
AEW's Chris Jericho (October 4 to at least October 16 [Darby Allin's challenge], 2nd reign)
Pretender(s): WWE's Brock Lesnar, NXT's Adam Cole, ROH's Rush

I know this comes across as an AEW mark's opinion, but the Ring of Honor's roster is not what it was when any of the former Real Champions who represented the title had to contend with. With AEW taking most of the Being the Elite cast, the gaijin element in NJPW went with it (At least in terms of those who identify as North American. Chase Owens is an honorary Tongan). Brock Lesnar's WWE Championship victory has only added to the disgruntled's need for another championship option. The Universal Championship ruining Bray Wyatt's Fiend does not make that an option.

Chris Jericho had to defeat Kenny Omega to be in contention for the title. Pac's one pinfall loss and a victory over Omega shows how stacked the AEW roster is. The challenger that all eyes are focused on, Cody, is a former Real World Champ. And speaking of eyes, not since World Championship Wrestling did another World Championship have so many looking at it. 

The AEW World Heavyweight Championship cannot help but be the top title despite such little history behind it. It could be argued since the WWWF title was in primarily contested in the country's most influential city, it was reasonable to say it was the only other important American version of the world heavyweight championship. When Chris Jericho is the first champion, all seems right with the wrestling business. The Invasion was over by that point.
See more pics of Eva @ instagram.com/maineventzombie
Eva saying, "This is my hand. There are many others like it but this one is mine." (at Champaign, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4i3h3zpvMv/?igshid=1f0yfk718dnf6


Monday, June 22, 2020

Chris Benoit and Fear and Loathing Between 8 to 11 p.m.

*Originally posted at maineventofthedead.com on March 20, 2015.

I think this blog's title is pretty clever based on when it's being written. Clever enough that it may get some people checking it out when I hashtag RAW it on Monday. But I still need to deliver a take on wrestling to avoid disappointing those who clicked on a link to a blog that is more self-deprecating than a Colt Cabana podcast.

Can we induct Chris Benoit if we inducted him as Chris Benoit-Balls? I think that shows the WWE's shame in him while the fans of the best wrestling and those who were inspired as performers at least get the solace that he is not forgotten. And we can all agree he was a douche the last weekend of his life because I do not think we would attach balls to anyone who was not that.

Or can we differentiate the wrestler and reportedly good man for 39 years and some change from the monster he ended up becoming. Chris Benoit goes in the hall of fame. Chris Benoit-Balls gets placed in all the articles written about the man's final hours. It's kind of like Flash vs. Reverse Flash.

Personally, I think Benoit-Balls should refer to anything after the purchase of WCW in 2001, when Vince could have gone PG to begin with and limit the number of concussions that drove Benoit...Balls mad.

I think if you do not eventually accept Benoit...Balls into the hall of fame, your ignoring what maybe the reason why the product has been on the decline. It became a kids' product instead of a wrestling promotion because it was becoming too dangerous to be about action and left out faux Italians with socks to be exploited. Of course Vince McMahon is well known for expecting fans to ignore the obvious. That is why the NFL and WWE share the same doctors who downplay the existence of CTE, let alone correctly diagnose a concussion. Can we really buy the end to Owens vs. Zayn since it depends on us believing Dr. Chris Amman can recognize brain trauma?

So for the time being, I guess I will ignore any way of putting money into the Vince's pockets. The hours have come out for next week, and fate has helped insure that there is no way the McMahon clan will get $9.99 from me or probably my pal from two blogs ago who texted me on Monday begging me to get Mania.

Eva says, "Why think outside the box when you can dominate it?"