Manic Monday: @CMPunk (bka CM Skunk) & The Current Disgruntled's Real Pro-Wrestling Champions

*This blog post was started on September 4, 2023.

I know, the title is a simple association. My attempts to be Penn Jillette clever can be weak at times. But, if you have read "Sock" by Jillette, his little pop song references can be too subtle for their own good.

It is a bit ironic to use the word manic in the blog post title for myself. My head feels like it screwed on fairly well right now. I say that as I wonder if I sent the wrong emoji to a girl that I have been chatting with the past week from Bumble. She has COVID right now, so obviously, to get immediate responses should not be expected. Ghosting has not occurred with this lass, but, has the corona virus ever been used to get out of a date? Times have only been made weirder since the Trump administration killed the study of infectious disease.

These odd times might be getting to me. If I do something that comes off as stupid, I can see a customer losing their cool and insulting me as a customer service representative. Being "felt sorry for" because I wear a mask and am triple boosted by a moron from Tuscola, Illinois (Wouldn't you know that the big city Angie Zindars group up near and Marissa Embry found work), who does not know how to read receipts expecting me to wait patiently on really got on my nerves recently. It makes me consider wearing my lanyard that has my keys to the building around my neck. "Ask me my pronouns," would at least make that cocksucker (Jillette says this word either represents an awful man or an awesome woman.) genuinely uncomfortable.

To be insulted, $25 an hour seems to be a fair wage. That is the price of a lap dance at Big Al's in Peoria, my preferred strip club. Sadly, my friends from that industry can attest to the treatment they receive.

I wonder if I still have any friends in that industry. Perhaps my attempt to out grow Peoria has finally concluded. There are rumors that I have been chasing down about good friends who are still in the industry, but the last couple of visits, there are hardly any girls dancing on stage (Two shows in one hour was the rate last time.). To the Al's credit, a double Johnny Walker Black on the rocks only costs $12 before 2 am on Sundays.

I have kind of scattered my mind talking about employment. But after this weekend in wrestling, the transition between my employment and that industry is fairly easy.

Pinterest @nsvos92

The Current Disgruntled's Real Pro-Wrestling Champions

Title Histories from April 16, 2023 Forward.

Before I get going, I kind of wish that Cody Rhodes would have defeated Roman Reigns back at WrestleMania XXXIX. If I would have known that asshole CM Punk would try to claim that he was undeservingly stripped of the AEW World Championship, he may have been able to claim the DRCW Modern Poser Championship.

I was working (obviously) on Saturday, September 2, when CM Punk was terminated from All Elite Wrestling. Not wanting to deal with the crowd (and maybe not spending money so extravagantly), resulted in me deciding to watch the show from home. If my little brother was more forthcoming that he was attending the show, my decision would have been different. No date for Monday (which she has since responded to this morning's text), energy was not something I would need for today.

When I found out that was his plan, we discussed Punk a bit. Basically, I determined that he was the most insincere person in the wrestling industry, dating all the way back to 2011. Returning to WWE after the pipe bomb promo essentially ruined indie wrestling until the Bullet Club was formed. Lets face it, it was Being the Elite starting in the middle of 2016 that made Americans look for WWE alternatives. Maybe Jeff Jarrett started that ball rolling in 2015 by allowing for the American broadcast of Wrestle Kingdom 9, but having dealt with a friend who just would not put the effort to find indie wrestling, I do not give that much weight.

Punk should have stayed away from WWE until he worked somewhere else. WWE could not afford that. Punk knew this and took a payday and headaches for it. He was right to walk out of WWE, but he had no intention to put in any effort to save the business like he implied when returning to WWE in the first place. If anything, "The Art of Wrestling" podcast was an attempt to burn television wrestling down to benefit the UFC. When he realized he had to pay to do that, it resulted in him throwing his best friend under the bus.

I did not care if CM Punk ever returned to wrestling. Was I happy that he did? Yes. It showed how influential AEW was becoming. But did I feel like it was a slap in the face of all the indie talent he spat on when I was very active in the business? Yes. Did I expect him to continue doing that? Yes. Did I want him to be the face of the company? Fuck no.

He was a man who thought the business should revolve around him. Great matches is the reason that I watch AEW Collision. A man who has never been humble a day in his life deserves no eyes on him.

After all of this venting, I guess it is a good thing that Reigns went over in April's main event. We can forget that the Real World Championship ever existed.

Only the Best in the World: All of 2021's Champions.

 *This blog post was started on December 23, 2021.

I had received a flu shot on Sunday. And my dentist told me to wear a night guard...again on Wednesday. It is difficult to see me not being in the best condition for next week's vacation. Too bad staying sterile seems to be necessary. What kind of trouble could that possibly get me in?

Christmas is going to be a small affair. My niece ended up with Covid. She is fine, but the quarantine is making it so my little sister's family will be cleared the day we leave for Florida. My little brother's family has called off coming down because his girlfriend/mother of his child is an ER nurse.

I understand that a nurse should not risk exposure when there are enough issues being brought into her place of work. My mom is of the opinion that she does not like our family or is just trying to control my brother, but she has always assumed that when it comes to the baby of the family. He was at least planning on coming down, but you never know what kind of messages the matriarch is sending. Needless to say, Yule Tide bar hopping amongst brothers shall not be happening either way.

Since I am bringing up a character from "Fight Club", I do not see comparing myself to Chloe being out of line. The end of the year is certain and all I want to do get laid for one last time.

Snapchat has provided enough reason that Omicron is a legitimate problem. Where have all the seemingly legit Premium Snaps have gone? How much does a bot maker earn for all the fake ones out there? Have I missed another calling?

Damn, this is going to be a difficult head trip to transition to wrestling. Since I do not post the "NinetyForChill.com - The #Podcast" drafts on this blog, it is tempting to walk away from this. But I gotta keep "MainEventOfTheDead.com" looking nice. I do not want to provide a reason for those to ignore my calls to produce my z-budget, pro-wrestling zombie comedy. "If the website is shit, surely the screenplay cannot be better," is an assumption I do not need.

What I do need are inquiries. If you want a treatment of my z-budget, horror comedy about a bunch of barely trained indie pro-wrestlers being tricked into fighting off zombies, send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. I will also be happy to receive any advice on how to get this project out of developmental hell. Thanks.

As I stated, it is the end of the year, so might as well give you something related to it. No title bouts are scheduled until the fourth of January, so why not review the title changes that occurred in the world of Disgruntled's Real Championship Wrestling.

The Disgruntled's Real World Championships of 2021.

The Disgruntled's Real Men's World Champions:

The 96th Disgruntled's Real World Champion

AEW World Champion: Kenny Omega (2nd Reign)

He reigned from December 2, 2020 to November 13, 2021.

Omega defeated Jon Moxley for the championship.

Roman Reigns Is No. 5 and Ranting About the Judgmental

*This blog post was started on October 5, 2021.

Last night was dedicated to producing my podcast and laundry. I actually got all that done at a reasonable time, but when I start being productive, I think I might get manic. So all the sleep I lacked due to movie research this weekend still needs to be made up for.

At least that is my story for the headaches. In other words, further deep cleaning my apartment is not on the immediate agenda. The windows are still shut and the air conditioning is running. This is leaving me to prefer the seasonal change from Winter to Spring. I think I would rather deal with knowing when things are warm than waiting for the cold.

If only I could just place amateur wrestling mats on all the floors to remind me of the best times from high school. Why would I complain about near 90 degree temperatures? I did not complain about it back in the day.

That is saying something because weight cutting was never a problem for me. If anyone had a right to complain, it was I. It is ironic how the team I captained was always annoyed by me. They could have not made excuses and be supportive of the coach's agenda.

There were a few good teachers back at Morton High School. I guess I can never have kids because I would not know where to live so that they would be in good schools. Living in the city is what I like, but you know the schools are subpar. Living in the burbs, you know the entitled "old" families have brat kids. Living in the country, what education?

I suppose shit did not get bad for me till I was in fourth grade. Homeschooling might work out after the kids get the socializing established. Your real friends keep in touch. That seems nicer than finding that out after high school.

All this ranting really makes me wish that you could use hyperlinks with my online dating profiles. I would rather be judged on this than "Two Truths and One Lie" boxes.

If that does not turn them off, then the wrestling chat below will. It is better than me going on a rant about the "libertarian" next to me who is reinforcing their racist and transphobic prejudices via fringe video sites. Do I report what they are watching to YouTube just to make sure they know where their content filters are failing?

I guess I should not complain too much about them thinking that they should be allowed to judge people. My hometown will think that I did that in this post. My only defense is, I was just stating my experiences. If you have not had the same experiences than the people you are judging, are you in no position to judge?

Which allows me to go on and on and on about pro wrestling. The worst think you can say about me as a critic is that I am only a critic because I was a failed performer. Personally, I got a suitcase with a weekend's worth of gear in my trunk, so I do not want to use verb tense. Or at least just call me a wrestler who is failing. In the end, those who cannot do, teach.

Teaching is still an expression of passion. And I can go on to say that if people gave a shit about me and my passion, my pro-wrestling, Z-budget, zombie-comedy feature film, "Main Event of the Dead" would not be in development hell or I can at least participate in a wrestling scene where there are few who have put in the time to be true professionals. Downstate Illinois without friends makes me want to consider taking up auto-erotic asphyxiation.

With the scenario above coming off as a plea, I might as well make it official. If you want to help get "Main Event of the Dead" off the ground, send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. I would appreciate any advice on how to get the feature to a crowd-sourcing stage and am more than happy to send out a treatment of my script. Thanks for the consideration.

Obviously, I am just writing what is immediately coming to my mind with this post. That was not necessarily my intent, but now we have the party next to me watching anti-vax videos. It is just building up the angst. So how much fun do I think me taking up the old Apter Magazines format will be?

Lets find out.

 *Blog post was started on April 5, 2021.

Daniel Bryan, Will Ospreay, and Why Every Heel Should Be John Lithgow

Watching NJPW's Sakura Genensis at Ryokogu was probably the best way to start off this WrestleMania week. It was a solid card with great upcoming bookings lined up. And perhaps it will line up Kota Ibushi to appear at AEW Double or Nothing. With Cesaro versus Rollins and Zayn versus Owens this weekend, I think it is okay to be optimistic.

Thankfully for me, "Being the Elite" will be my Monday night wrestling fix, so Vince McMahon cannot screw the vibe up. It sucks for AEW that they cannot use Impact Wrestling as a lead in any further. This does make booking the first Impact after WrestleMania interesting. We know that AXS TV will never beat USA in the ratings, but if they book Kenny Omega, can he keep NXT under one million viewers.

Two paragraphs, both of them either hint or state Kenny Omega's influence on the business. He is obviously the heel with the most power. Sorry Roman Reigns. If only you did not have to share it with Paul Heyman.

Perhaps if Reigns would do some weaselly stuff. I know that is what Heyman is for, but the biggest news not directly involving the IWGP Cody-versal Championship (should I have called it the Tattooniversal) is Will Ospreay delivering an Os-cutter to his real life girlfriend Bea Priestley to show that the IWGP World Championship is worth more than his lover.

 

Does Being Goldberg Free Mean Too Much Prestige?: Disgruntled's Modern Poser Championship - Part 3

*Blog post started on September 23, 2020.

It has been a tough couple of days, but I think I am over all the obstacles. My fingers are crossed that I will get a day off next weekend at my retail gig, but I should not set my expectations too high.

Saturday featured a flat tire that barely survived the drive to my nine-hour shift at the retailer. I did not account on the time that would be lost. When I attempted to change the tire during my lunch, the screw securing the spare would not budge. So a nine-hour shift with no food turned into a 10 and a half hour ordeal. Here is to hoping roadside assistance will forgive me the $95 service call I had arranged, which I cancelled a half hour later after my manager's tire tech friend volunteered to save the day.

Needless to say, Sunday was a long day since the ex-girlfriend must visit Skimble before noon, I had to get the tire replaced, and time was needed to be reserved for the laundromat. Thankfully the NuEra Dispensary is next door to the laundry. But between that and the exhaustion, I failed to notice one of the SnapChat girls I have been flirting with waiting to be picked up at the laundromat.

Monday was just a wash because I had to try and look good for my practitioner appointment on Tuesday. It was not an overly attentive ordeal, which left me without showing her notes asking about self pleasure affects blood sugar. Some new pills were assigned to me and I was given a flu shot. Then I decided to drive to Morton to fix my sister's Fire TV Stick and any other electronic malfunctions my family faced. As this is being typed, the aches from the shot and drive are finally wearing off.

I would like to blame my worn out state of TNT and the debut of "AEW Late Night Dynamite". Of course the NBA programming did not end when it should have. With the 22nd being "National Voter Registration Day", it is nice to know the NBA is doing its damnedest to get Trump out, but the post game could have been 10 minutes shorter. My DVR will only record the scheduled time slot. When I caught on to the show running late, the knowledge that I had to watch it live sank in. That is not a great way to end the day that started an extra two hours earlier than normal.

Especially when there was not a major draw for the show. Matt Sydal versus Shawn Spears was a good main event, but with none of The Elite or a title holder, I just do not think it is the time filler TNT was looking for. It almost makes me wish we had more tertiary titles to make the show seem significant. That is why there were European and Television titles right?

The NWA still needs to get back on its feet, so a blog about unnecessary championships seems like a fools errand at this time. Tertiary titles lack an impact at this time, unlike the poser championships that claim to be the end all be all.

The Disgruntled's Modern Poser Championship (2015 to 2020)

The 34th Modern Poser Champion:

Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher (10/4/2015 to 2/25/2017)

This is a tough spot to figure out in the lineage. The TNA Championship was vacated in October 2015. With the Universal Championship established in August 2016, I though bigger names were going to be left out if we let Timothy Thatcher carry the title despite it was established as the DGUSA placeholder. In the end, only one name gets left out if we use the Evolve Championship in the lineage since Fin Balor only held the newest belt for a day.

The 35th Modern Poser Champion:

WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens (2/25/17 to 3/5/17)

Owens won this title after it was declared vacant, but was able to hold on to this championship for six months. Bobbly Lashley had only just won the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship a month prior. The biggest problem for Impact at the time, a side from dealing with Jeff Jarret's GFW, was the Hardys had taken attention away from the title when the Broken Universe was established. If you do not care about a championship, where is its importance.

Zack Sabre Jr. was the man who ended Thatcher's reign, but he was established as a cruiserweight stateside.

We're Number 5: The Disgruntled's Real Secondary Champion

*Blog post started on July 9, 2020.

If it was not for picking up lunch, business is slow to the point that I wonder if we have lifted the lockdown in Illinois.

With my commute taking me an extra five minutes, I do not wake up with the time to watch Wrestletalk's daily YouTube video. This means that, if I had the nerve to watch it while on the clock, I would have to wait till we close the lobby for the last hour of my shift. Hence, it is very easy for me to run out of work acceptable websites to kill the time with.

When you got to pay the rent, you cannot go to Ebay or Amazon for that one item you know a local shop will not have. That is another indication that I need to spend more time in Chicago if not relocate up there. I am also jealous of my college age coworkers who do not have to worry about credit card debt or bills. Go ahead and buy those toe rings. If you already added another three months to your leave your parents' place, what will another quarter-year matter?

Anyway, my taste for rare and vintage goods leaves me in a place where shopping is just looking. The search query starts reasonable, "blank championship belts", but when that may only score me a handful of results, the next 15 minutes are devoted at looking at championship belts from the past. It pains me not to add them to my collection (currently made of toy replicas, the NGW Unrecognized Interim Light Heavyweight Championship [Thanks Jakks Pacific] and the UFC championship that was going to be converted for my Peoria-based promotion that my partners flaked on [impractical for the first, unnecessary for the one who got to book Scott County Wrestling for a blip], Legit Championship Wrestling), but it can help me kill some time. I want to know the histories of these belts, so Wikipedia ends up deserving a few bucks from me.

It is fun to catch up on the past, but it maybe more fun to determine how essential these titles were. Who can deny that despite it tendency to be wrong, judging in generally fun? I suppose as long as you are not judgmental, there is nothing wrong with it. Then again, if you are spending time focused on your internet activities, you probably are quick to conclusions.

Fortunately, since the internet encompasses everything, there are plenty of harmless results to mock. In modern wrestling where half of the promoters are clueless (WWE, Impact, lets not get started on the indies), there are bad decisions that most are quick to anger about. If it ends up involving a title, the frustration goes nuclear.

I consider myself to be a very trustworthy person (Hence my frustration for lack of support when it comes to my B-movie production "Main Event of the Dead". Send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com to request a treatment for the zombies versus the indies film. I am also open to receiving suggestions on how to get this project off the ground.) and a very empathetic one at that. To end this frustration about who is worthy to call themselves a champion, here is my title history for The Disgruntled's Real Secondary Champion.

One question before we begin. Do we include the WWE Universal Championship in this list? It has yet to earn the distinction of being a World title yet. Kevin Owens and Bray "The Fiend" Wyatt both lost it to Goldberg. Roman Reigns and Finn Balor never got to truly defend it. Brock Lesnar was never around to defend it. Kofimania trumped Seth Rollin's reigns.

I suppose it is best not to because that would throw in all of Impact's Heavyweight Championship incarnations. It is best not to ask for headaches. Like the previous title histories for Disgruntled Real Championships, the start date is Starccade 1983 the first "pay-per-view".

The 1st Disgruntled's Real Intercontinental Champion:

Tito Santana - MADHOTCOMICSPLUS.COM

WWF's Don Muraco (2) - January 22, 1983 to February 11, 1984.

Muraco was feuding over this title with Pedro Morales, the man who was suppose to be the man after Bruno Sammartino's eight year reign. This title history shows they went to war over this title for two years. NWA's United States Champion Greg Valentine won the belt in a brutal feud with Roddy Piper, but won it due to referee stoppage for a cut. The NWA National Championship changed hands only eight months prior when Larry Zbyszko purchased it.

The 2nd Disgruntled's Real Intercontinental Champion:

WWF's Tito Santana (1) - 2/11/84 to 9/24/84

The NWA United States Championship would be vacated during this reign only to be won back by the champion (Wahoo McDaniel) in a tourney to determine it.

The 3rd Disgruntled's Real Intercontinental Champion:

WWF's Greg Valentine - 9/24/84 to 7/6/1985

The 4th Disgruntled's Real Intercontinental Champion:

WWF's Tito Santana (2) - 7/6/85 to 2/8/1986

The 5th Disgruntled's Real Intercontinental Champion:

WWF's Randy Savage - 2/8/1986 to 3/29/1987

The 6th Disgruntled's Real Intercontinental Champion:

WWF's Ricky Steamboat (1) - 3/29/87 to 6/2/87

The 7th Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:

NWA United States Champion Nikita Koloff - 6/2/87 to 7/11/1987

It only made sense that, while Hulk Hogan was the Heavyweight Champion, the undercard had to carry the slack for the low work rate of his reign. The Honky Tonk was more of an example of knowing that pro-wrestling actually had rules due to tendency to be disqualified or counted out. Politics may have also helped Honky into this position.

Koloff won the vacated NWA United States Championship in the classic best-of-seven series with Magnum T.A. It is difficult to let the need to reestablish the lineage leave the feud from the history of secondary champions. A month into Koloff's reign, he also unified the NWA National Championship with his U.S. Title, but that title was reinstated during this reign as well.

The 8th Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:

NWA's Lex Luger (1) - 7/11/87 to 11/26/87

The 9th Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:

WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man - 11/26/87 to 8/29/1988

Dusty Rhodes defeated Luger for the U.S. title, and then booked the Double Championship away by vacating it. I suppose when you have a work rate World Champion in Ric Flair, you do not need to emphasis a secondary title's importance.

The 10th Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:
WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior (1) - 8/29/88 to 4/2/1989

The 11th Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:
WWF Intercontinental Champion Rick Rude - 4/2/89 to 8/28/89

The 12th Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:
WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior (2) - 4/2/89 to 4/1/1990
It is tempting to want to void the Warrior, but he showed the meaning of the secondary title when he challenged and defeated the World Champion. As Pro Wrestling Illustrated always implied, this belt was suppose to represent the number one contender. Bill Apter must never had played "Punch Out" to understand the nuances of why it was not. Then again, no promotion separated competition into, lets say, regional divisions to better define a title's meaning.

The 13rd Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:
NWA United States Champion Lex Luger (2) - 4/1/90 to 10/27/90
This is before WWF realized (and perhaps all domestic promoters) the storyline opportunities that double champions provide. Warrior vacated the IC title which was not filled until Mr. Perfect won a tournament to claim it. Perfect ended up defeating two-time Double Champion Tito Santana in the final, so it is hard to say the belt lost any prestige during the vacation.

Lex Luger has never been considered a great worker, but he had become synonymous with the US title. He was in the midst of a 523-day long reign (longer than Honky's IC reign) and would eventually pull a Warrior when he won the World title as a secondary champ.

Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig

robschamberger.com

The 14th Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:
NWA United States Champion Stan Hansen - 10/27/90 to 12/16/90
It is tempting to give this title to Kerry Von Erich, but since they put the IC belt back on Mr. Perfect, and he did not have a notable feud afterwards, he ended up as a failed WWF outsider.

The 15th Disgruntled's Real Double Champion:
WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect - 12/16/90 to 8/26/1991
You cannot argue Lex Luger was a better performer than Curt Hennig, regardless of their WWF feud's result. I do find it ironic that Luger became the man to represent America under Vince McMahon after becoming the best United States champion elsewhere.

I tried to make it a decade into this title reign, but justifying why I should do this seems to have taken too long. With no explanations needed, hopefully I can dive right into the next installment and perhaps come up with a better name than double championship. Respect must be shown to the current IWGP champion.


Wagging the Wednesday Night Wars & the Real Heavyweight Championship