WCW: Heart and Soul

DHK1989 · May 15, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Eddie Guerrero

-Most eliminations: The Unnatural

-Runner up: Chris Jericho

-Winner: Lance Storm

What will be match of the night?

The Mayhem Match

How many championships will change hands?

Zero

franticloser · May 16, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Chris Jericho

-Most eliminations: Bobby Roode

-Runner up: Chris Jericho

-Winner: The Unnatural

What will be match of the night? Mortis vs Punk

How many championships will change hands? 0

General diary comments/questions/critiques: I don't see Punk loosing in his first major defense, even more so after just resigning. I see Unnatural gaining a shot to get the title back though, and maybe descent between Mortis and Unnatural. Would be interesting to have everything fall apart just in time for Enigma to come back from rehab and be the sole focus for James Mitchell.

Dead_Jester · May 16, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Rey Mysterio

-Most eliminations: Sean O'Haire

-Runner up: Lance Storm

-Winner: King Corino

What will be match of the night? Punk vs. Mortis

How many championships will change hands? 0

DGenerationMC · May 16, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Rey Mysterio Jr.

-Most eliminations: Sean O’Haire

-Runner up: Chris Jericho

-Winner: Lance Storm

What will be match of the night? The 30 Man Mayhem match

How many championships will change hands? 0

odan · May 16, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: AJ Styles

-Most eliminations: Bobby Roode

-Runner up: Chris Jericho

-Winner: Eddie Guerrero

What will be match of the night? Mortis vs. CM Puck

How many championships will change hands? Zero

Kijar · May 16, 2020

Steenerico

TAKA

Nakamura

Danielson

Punk

Longest: AJ Styles

Most Eliminations: Sean O'Haire

Runner-Up: The Unnatural

Winner: Eddie Guerrero

MOTN: Punk/Mortis

Title Changes: None

Satyr24 · May 16, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Eddie Guerrero

-Most eliminations: Sean O’Haire

-Runner up: Lance Storm

-Winner: King Corino

What will be match of the night? Mortis vs CM Punk

How many championships will change hands? 0

General diary comments/questions/critiques:

olivertaylor276 · May 16, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Lance Storm

-Most eliminations: The Unnatural

-Runner up: Lance Storm

-Winner: Chris Jericho

What will be match of the night? Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

How many championships will change hands? Zero

SkipMartin · May 16, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Nepotism. But really, the Bulldogs are destined for big things. Not that Steenerico aren't, but Bulldogs should keep their momentum going.

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

TAKA just combined the belts so I don't think it is time for him to drop the title.

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

Other than the Mayhem match, this is the one I feel least confident about. I think you have big plans for the Super Rookie, but I also think you have plenty of time to get him ready for the next level. Daniels could use something to do.

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

I think Bret sees Destroyer as the perpetual bridesmaid after his previous flubs. With Danielson still in the honeymoon phase, I think AmDrag is going take on all comers from here.

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

Similar to my thoughts on Destroyer/Danielson, Mortis has struggled with staying in Bret good graces, but I am hoping a good showing here keeps him in the scene. Mortis is a good first opponent in what I am expecting to be a long run for Punk.

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Rey

-Most eliminations: Sean O'Haire

-Runner up: Lance Storm

-Winner: Eddie Guerrero

What will be match of the night? Punk/Mortis

How many championships will change hands? one

I think this is my first time predicting, but I have been following this game for a while. Always great stuff.

Danny_H22 · May 16, 2020

May 9th, 2004

Official Prediction Lineup:

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson(©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Jericho

-Most eliminations: Unnatural

-Runner up: Lance Storm

-Winner: Eddie

What will be match of the night? Punk

How many championships will change hands? 0

General diary comments/questions/critiques:

Happy0wns · May 17, 2020

Steenrico

TAKA

Nakamura

Danielson

CM Punk

Longest: Jericho

Most elims: O’Haire

Runner up: Matt Hardy

Winner: Unnatural

Morris v Punk - MOTN

Zero

GingeyOne · May 18, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Lance Storm

-Most eliminations: Sean O'Haire

-Runner up: Lance Storm

-Winner: Chris Jericho

What will be match of the night? Mortis vs CM Punk

How many championships will change hands? 0

General diary comments/questions/critiques: A new status quo and roster members coming in, things are looking interesting for the next chapter in the story!

K-Nection · May 18, 2020

Official Prediction Lineup:

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Chris Jericho

-Most eliminations: Sean O'Hare

-Runner up: Lance Storm

-Winner: Eddie Guerrero

What will be match of the night? Punk vs. Mortis

How many championships will change hands? 0

General diary comments/questions/critiques: Glad this is back!

Rateddc · May 18, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

Volador Jr. vs. TAKA (©) for the World Cruiserweight Championship

Christopher Daniels vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

The Destroyer vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Mortis vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Rey Mysterio Jr.

-Most eliminations: The Unnatural

-Runner up: Rey Mysterio Jr.

-Winner: Eddie Guerrero

What will be match of the night? Punk vs. Mortis

How many championships will change hands? 0

The Lariat · May 19, 2020

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash:

-Longest stay in match: Rey Mysterio Jr.

-Most eliminations: Sean O'Haire

-Runner up: AJ Styles

-Winner: Eddie Guerrero

What will be match of the night? Punk vs. Mortis

How many championships will change hands? 0

The Final Countdown · May 19, 2020

May 9th, 2004

From Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

Attendance: 42,155

Announce Team: "The Professor" Mike Tenay and Bret "The Hitman" Hart

Joining Tony Schiavone, Don Callis and Maria Kanellis on tonight’s panel are special guests “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Macho Man” Randy Savage

On the Worldwide Live pre-show: The American Outlaws defeated Eric Priest and Masada, Shannon Moore defeated Trevor Rhodes and Samoa Joe defeated Rampage Brown.

The panel welcomed us to the show, and Randy Savage said he’d be scouting for talent for the team he’s putting together.

Steenerico vs. Calgary Bulldogs

I thought this was a solid enough way to open the show, with two rising young teams. Harry was the standout here; he’s come a long way, especially with how young he is. This was Steenerico’s night though; Generico got the duke on Harry for his team.

Savage left the panel after the match and joined Steenerico in the ring. He said he was impressed by them and wanted them to become the first two members of Team Madness, dig it? After a brief conversation, Steen and Generio shook his hand and accepted his offer. Randy looked great here, and hopefully he can help elevate these young guys by association.

Chris Jericho made his official return, walking into the building to a nice pop. He ran into his old friend Lance Storm along the way, and they shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Jericho’s gimmick of a cool returning star, a guy who is coming back to his old stomping grounds to reassert himself and look cool while doing it, got a very good response.

http://i.imgur.com/u0cJ04Z.jpg

This was supposed to be a nice high spot filled bit of action, but it didn’t go quite as planned. Volador looked like he wasn’t having his best night to begin with, plus he and TAKA seemed to have some miscommunication with their timing. The match was okay, but nothing special. To no one’s surprise, TAKA got the clean win to retain his title.

This was a pretty good match; the best on the show to this point. The crowd is still getting introduced to Nakamura but the in ring work is there, and with how strong we’re putting him over the reactions should follow soon enough. Daniels did his job here, which was to do THE job and put the new guy over on his way out the door. Nakamura got a nice feather in his cap by cleanly retaining his title against the former Cruiserweight and tag team champion with a running knee strike to the face, and Daniels did the honors and can now go resurrect his Curry Man gimmick in New Japan.

Stacy Keibler took the departed Savage’s place on the panel, and she along with everyone else admitted she was impressed by Nakamura’s meteoric rise so far in WCW.

CM Punk was interviewed backstage by Becky Bayless. He worked without a script as usual and was phenomenal at it as he spoke from the heart about what being the champion meant to him, and told Mortis and Salvation to take their best shot because they were going to have to pry the title from his motionless fingers if they wanted it back.

http://i.imgur.com/mitTbCm.jpg

This match was fine, and honestly both guys did great, but I didn’t design it to try and be a highlight of the show and it wasn’t. It was a pretty basic big man vs. little man match, with Bryan absorbing a beating but outwrestling his larger opponent en route to a successful title defense.

“Hold your horses there, sunshine.”

The returning Steven Regal came down before Bryan could leave, and after “applauding” his student for how far he’d come and referencing the very real mentoring he’d done a few years back, he gave him a parting message. “I taught you everything you know, Bryan, but it’s only a small sliver of everything that I know! Someday you just might find out!” Regal’s cocky wrestling machine gimmick got a very good reaction.

After Bryan left Regal issued an open challenge for anyone who wanted to come down and get a free wrestling lesson. The challenge was accepted by Chavo Guerrero Jr, who had been left out in the cold after losing a Mayhem qualifying match (well, by being in a three way match and not being involved in the fall anyway.)

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Steven Regal

This impromptu match was pretty good, with both guys turning in a solid performance. The in-ring action was great, and the fans reacted decently enough. True to his word, Regal outwrestled Chavo and got the clean submission win with the Regal Stretch.

The panel brought on Torrie Wilson to discuss the Great American Bash on June 13th. The promotional campaign for the event features Torrie as the cover girl on the poster—something that clearly annoyed Keibler. (She was the star of this segment, incidentally.)

The Unnatural and Dusty Rhodes argued backstage, with Unnatural accusing Dusty of punishing him for his “previous life” and ensuring that he lost the world title last month by deliberately allowing Goldberg to sneak in and get involved in his title match against CM Punk. As that argument continued, Goldberg appeared out of nowhere and speared Unnatural to the ground! The former champion rolled around clutching at his ribs while Dusty ordered security to escort Goldberg, who still had not been cleared after his “concussion”, out of the building. Goldberg switched to a brute loner gimmick here, and it went okay.

The panel discussed the world title match. Tony and Piper believed Punk would retain, while Callis and Keibler predicted we’d have a new champion in Mortis.

http://i.imgur.com/haJKoFv.jpg

There was an issue with psychology here, which I kind of expected. It was still a great match though, as both guys are excellent workers that work well together and the crowd was hot for all of the near falls and Punk’s comeback. One of the stories here was that with Enigma gone, Destroyer defeated and Unnatural still licking his wounds from Goldberg’s spear backstage, Mortis had to try and win this on his own. He had a great performance and almost won the title straight up, but Punk had the Flatliner well scouted, avoided it and got the tapout with the Second City Stretch about 22 minutes in.

The panel made their picks for the 30 man Mayhem match, our answer to the Royal Rumble (except eliminations occur by pin, submission and knockout instead of over the top rope.) Tony backed Rey Mysterio Jr, Piper liked the returning Chris Jericho, Callis supported big Sean O’Haire and Keibler naturally said it would be either one of the Jung Dragons.

Various men involved in the main event did rapid fire promos. Among the highlights were Eddie Guerrero, AJ Styles, King Corino, Brian Kendrick, Rey Mysterio Jr, the Deadly Alliance and the returning Chris Jericho.

The 30 Man Mayhem match, with the winner challenging for the World championship at the Great American Bash

Some of the big highlights from this match:

-The match itself had solid in-ring action but the crowd just didn’t stay with it the whole way through. I think part of the problem was that we didn’t have any really hot storylines running throughout this, so there weren’t too many moments of heightened reaction when rivals clashed. This was more about setting the table for the future as opposed to paying off ongoing rivalries, and the match itself suffered for it. We probably would have been better off putting this in the semi main event slot and allowing Punk and Mortis to close.

-Brian Kendrick had a major off night, which was disappointing considering he actually had a fairly significant role to play. Colt Cabana was off of his game too, but he wasn’t doing too much anyway. Funaki’s attempts to engage the crowd as a fun babyface did not go over well at all, but he’s only here short term so it shouldn’t matter too much going forward.

-Chris Jericho and Lance Storm both entered the match early. At times they worked together and at other times they engaged in some friendly technical wrestling competition. Both men had lengthy runs in the match, and Jericho in fact lasted longer than anyone all night before being taken out with a quick roll-up by Brian Kendrick in a bit of a surprise.

-Former world champion Rey Mysterio Jr. looked good in his effort to get back into the title picture. He took on all comers, recording more eliminations than anyone during the course of the match. He was eventually tag teamed by the Dangerous Alliance duo of Sean O’Haire and Shane Douglas en route to being eliminated. Curiously his ally Konnan did not make it over to save him from the pin despite seemingly being in position to do so.

-The Unnatural was still selling the ribs from Goldberg’s spear as he came out, and it led to a shorter stay than would have been expected from him before the opportunistic Eddie Guerrero eliminated him.

-The final four came down to babyfaces Matt Hardy and AJ Styles and the heel duo of King Corino and his protégé Prince Devitt. The heels double teamed and eliminated Hardy before turning their attention to AJ, who had the longest ring time of anyone left (and was second in the entire match behind only Jericho.) AJ fought against the odds despite his fatigue, and eliminated Devitt with the Styles Clash. But he didn’t even have a chance to turn back around before Corino hit him with a low blow (legal in this match with no DQs) and then delivered a piledriver to win the match.

Corino celebrated after the match, but AJ was in no celebrating mood. He angrily attacked Devitt, venting his frustrations on the double team effort he’d had to try and overcome by bouncing the Prince’s head off of the commentary table.

Show Summary:

Notes from this show:
-Rampage Brown stiffed The American Outlaws on his share of their rental car, and Dusty Rhodes chewed him out in front of the boys until he agreed to not only pay his share, but pay the full amount. Not a great way to make an impression as a job guy, but Rampage seemed to learn from his mistake.

Elsewhere in the wrestling world:

New Japan ran their Wrestling Dontaku PPV. Riki Choshu threw up an absolute stinker of an IWGP title match, a 75 rated defense against Yoshihiro Takayama which was the worst match on the entire main show. He stunk up the ring while Steve Austin was MIA; genius. The silver lining was that the heavyweight title match was only the semi main event. Koji Kanemoto closed out the show with a 97 rated Junior Heavyweight title defense over Jushin Liger in the main event, which tied Yuji Nagata’s win over Dragon Kid for MOTN honors. Thanks largely to those two matches the show was given a 95 overall score, but Inoki needs to get that belt off of Riki Choshu in a hurry.

WWE made no attempt to extend the contracts of Trish, Lita of Jacqueline, but now they’ve brought Ivory back and are going to be using Emi Sakura on a per date arrangement. I have no clue what they’re doing with that women’s division up there.

So you’ll be seeing a major news update with the next post that was entirely AI-generated, but it’s led me down a path that’s going to be changing the way I run this. There really won’t be a huge difference in my presentation, but in-game it’ll be a big change. I will be creating more work for myself (not a HUGE amount, I hope, but there’s at least a little bit for sure.) I’m extremely excited about the possibilities it offers though, so I think it’s worth a try. If it doesn’t work out, it shouldn’t be a big deal to ditch it and go back to business as usual. But if it does work I think it’s going to be a lot of fun for me. Fingers crossed!

I’ll stop rambling about this now, especially since you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about. (Well, you might have SOME idea if you’re part of the Nexus Discord…)

General diary comments/questions/critiques: Glad this is back!

And I'm glad you're back!

DHK1989 · May 19, 2020

Nexus Discord? <img alt="

" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/redface.png.900245280682ef18c5d82399a93c5827.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

joshspicer · May 19, 2020

Wait there's a Discord?

Also: I was so close! Damn you Corino! I almost had it!

K-Nection · May 19, 2020

Quality work as always my friend! I knew better I should've went with Corino in my pick but I really wanted to see Eddie and Punk run you a guaranteed blowout Starcade Main Event...it would be an almost guaranteed 100

JMike · May 19, 2020

I may have not picked him, but I’m just glad that the time has finally come for Corino. He truly is the king, both figuratively and literally.

The wrestlers leaving, resigning or coming back is so weird and yet intriguing, it’s making the diary a lot more exciting in my eyes, especially when it’s people that were signed at the beginning and I thought would be there forever.

DHK1989 · May 19, 2020

Punk vs Corino for the WCW World Title. What a timeline this would've been.

The Final Countdown · May 20, 2020

May 2004, Week 2 <img alt="5syC0e6.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/5syC0e6.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> May 10th, 2004 Worldwide taping: TJ Wilson defeated Jon Cutler, The Shooting Stars defeated Kaos and Trevor Rhodes and Paul London defeated Eric Young. Attendance: 17,538 <img alt="lWYOTsD.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/lWYOTsD.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Show Notes: -Some of the boys were complaining that Eddie Guerrero was getting a little pushy about religion. This is a touchy subject, and obviously he didn’t really do anything WRONG, so I just gave him a gentle reminder not to get too aggressive with it. -AJ had plenty of points to gripe on about being screwed over by the numbers game, from the Dangerous Alliance screwing him out of the US title AND the Stu Hart Classic, Roode interfering and costing him his match in the UFS finals and then being felled by the Devitt/Corino combination at the end of the Mayhem match. -This was the final appearance for Christopher Daniels, whose contract officially expired two days later. He’s now off to New Japan to return to his Curry Man character. “I’m looking forward to hearing Nakamura on the mic.” –CM Punk <img alt="JJBwRaP.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/JJBwRaP.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> May 15th, 2004 <img alt="xxibFQE.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/xxibFQE.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Show Notes: -Trish Stratus, Amy Dumas and Jacqueline all debuted with cocky Outside Threat gimmicks, and all got an average response. Upcoming WCW PPV Event(s): <img alt="GSbEi9m.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/GSbEi9m.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>June 13th, 2004 King Corino vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship Card subject to change. Please do not submit your predictions at this time.</div></blockquote> News Updates: <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I looked over the photos from the press conference on my computer, searching for any sign that could be gleaned, any indication of why this had happened. I knew what the headline said and what they’d announced to the public, but why had they done this, and why now? My phone rang, and I recognized the number immediately. She’d called me often enough by now for me to have remembered it. “Steph,” I said right away. “What’s up? You calling to set up our next meet-up?” “Not this time,” she said. “Did you hear the news?” “Of course,” I answered. “Do you have any idea why?” “No clue,” she said, “and dad doesn’t either.” “It’s so strange,” I said. “He’s been so aggressive in trying to sign up talent, throwing money around like never before. Why walk away now?” “Your guess is as good as mine,” she said. “Maybe he spent more than he should have and this is him bowing out gracefully, or maybe he was doing all of that to try and prepare New Japan to survive after he was gone. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.” “Guess so,” I said. I’m sure she (and Vince) was just as frustrated as I was to have no clue why Antonio Inoki had abruptly handed his company over to his son Simon and stated his intention to step away from the wrestling business, especially with all the moves they’d been making lately. “I hope you saved some of your money,” she said, her voice lighter now. “If Simon comes in and starts cutting costs, you know dad will throw a blank check Steve’s way.” “Of course,” I said. If the regime change led to roster turnover in New Japan, not only us but WWE, All Japan and NOAH would all be circling like sharks in the water, looking for talent we could acquire (and talent we could keep the other guys from acquiring.) “This will be fun pillow talk the next time we’re together, huh?” she said. “We can cuddle up and compare notes.” “Yeah, looking forward to it,” I said. Neither of us had any clue what this was going to mean, but this was bound to have some kind of ripple effect throughout the industry, in Japan and beyond. </div></blockquote> Petey Williams left the company. I’m not going to lie; this was a major fumble on my part. I thought he had a new written contract in hand and was set to sign it any day, but apparently the offer was never submitted. I reached out to him immediately upon being informed and made him an offer to come back, but we’ll see what he says. Elsewhere in the wrestling world: Jimmy Golden, the former Bunkhouse Buck in WCW, passed away at only 53. Sad news. NOAH drew almost 40 thousand fans to Jingu Stadium for their Silver Explodes PPV. The show was headlined by a great GHC Heavyweight title defense from Jun Akiyama against Ricky Marvin, which received a 97 score. Great, but Mitsuharu Misawa’s win over Yoshinari Ogawa took home MOTN honors with a 99 rated bout in the upper midcard. The show also featured Dr. Wagner Jr. winning the GHC Television title from Pentagon. The show got a 94 overall, which is higher than this month’s PPVs from us and WWE. Main Event, the only legitimate PPV provider in Australia, agreed to add Zero-One events to their selection of wrestling shows. Odd, considering they rejected us recently because they felt they already had too much wrestling. Guess they made an exception for a company that will probably do about 1/8th the buys that we would have. RVD made his WWE debut on Raw…and lost to another recent WCW departure, Ric Flair, in the main event. They seem to be teasing a feud between RVD and the Boy Toy. All Japan brought in former NJPW junior El Samurai under a per date deal. CMLL grabbed Perro Aguayo Jr., signing him away from IWRG and X-LAW on an exclusive guaranteed contract. WWE called up Scott Vick from developmental. The Iron Sheik left the business officially. <hr noshade size=3> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Mayhem Prediction Scores: Danny H22: 8 Happy0wns: 8 K-Nection: 8 cmhunk: 8 joshspicer: 7 franticloser: 7 Dead Jester: 7 Kijar: 7 Satyr24: 7 olivertaylor276: 7 Rateddc: 7 The Lariat: 7 crackerjack: 7 Ian carlisle: 6 JMike: 6 DHK1989: 6 odan: 6 GingeyOne: 6 DGenerationMC: 5 Beejus: 5 SkipMartin: 4 Asaemon: 3 </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Standings in prediction contest after 3 shows: Happy0wns: 21 Dead_Jester: 19 cmhunk: 19 Satyr24: 18 Ian carlisle: 18 Danny H22: 17 franticloser: 17 JMike: 17 DHK1989: 17 crackerjack: 17 odan: 16 GingeyOne: 16 Kijar: 15 DGenerationMC: 15 rateddc: 14 Asaemon: 14 SagaJoestar: 13 The Lariat: 13 Beejus: 13 joshspicer: 12 K-Nection: 8 olivertaylor276: 7 Bagins: 5 Nobby_McDonald: 5 smw88: 4 ComicFighter: 4 SkipMartin: 4 cbacon87: 1 Chaossy: 1 Wolfman84: 1 deanohbk: 1 sportsfanmas: 1 BHK6: 1 ElectricX: 1 WilburTrey: 1 Forrest01: 1 </div></blockquote> <hr noshade size=3> Thanks once again to DHK1989 for tallying the GDS portion of these predictions. Next month’s Great American Bash will be the end of this particular contest, after which I’ll probably throw out a few prizes to the top finishers, such as booking MITB or Summerslam in-game (unless BHK6 resurfaces again to claim one of those first), and maybe another in-game relationship between workers or something. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="DHK1989" data-cite="DHK1989" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Nexus Discord? <img alt=":o" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/redface.png.900245280682ef18c5d82399a93c5827.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote> Yep! Not sure whether I should throw an invite up or not, since there’s some “colorful” language used there at times and I know GDS frowns on that sort of thing, but the Wrestling Nexus discord is out there. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="JMike" data-cite="JMike" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I may have not picked him, but I’m just glad that the time has finally come for Corino. He truly is the king, both figuratively and literally. The wrestlers leaving, resigning or coming back is so weird and yet intriguing, it’s making the diary a lot more exciting in my eyes, especially when it’s people that were signed at the beginning and I thought would be there forever.</div></blockquote> I definitely didn't see the likes of RVD, Knoble, Daniels, etc. leaving over the course of the diary, but yeah, I think it's making the game world more interesting. I also think the decision I've made to switch things up a bit, which I hinted at with my last post and will be explaining more fully with my next one, is going to be another shot in the arm for this game world.

Hashasheen · May 20, 2020

Simon Inoki is actually his son-in-law, married to his daughter Hiroko. In Japanese culture families with only one (or more) daughters will either adopt a son-in-law or grandson into the family unit both genealogically and legally to ensure a male successor. It's fairly common in corporate and rural culture, which leads to fighting if the son or grandson being requested is also an only child.

joshspicer · May 20, 2020

Antonio leaving and giving it to his son is an interesting thing for the game to do. Not too shocked but hopefully it does well to serve out history better.

The Final Countdown · May 20, 2020

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Hashasheen" data-cite="Hashasheen" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Simon Inoki is actually his son-in-law, married to his daughter Hiroko. In Japanese culture families with only one (or more) daughters will either adopt a son-in-law or grandson into the family unit both genealogically and legally to ensure a male successor. It's fairly common in corporate and rural culture, which leads to fighting if the son or grandson being requested is also an only child.</div></blockquote> Thank you for the correction! I was going to go back and edit it in, but maybe I'll just leave it as is and have Bret learn it for himself the way I just did <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

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