The gist of the article is that PRIDE isn't likely to be able to stay in business much longer by themselves, and they've been talking with WWE and UFC about a possible buyout.
I don't know a whole lot about MMA (and I don't generally agree with MMA and pro wrestling being considered one and the same, despite what Meltzer and Alvarez seem to think), so I can't speak about UFC's options, but WWE? I've all but given up on watching their current programming - and I really WANT to like it - so I'd rather they get their pro wrestling shows in order before entering into another new business that they'll probably just fail at, like the XFL, the WBF, the record label... the linked article has a comprehensive list of WWE's non-wrestling failures.
I think the fact that the fights would be sanctioned by real athletic commissions would prevent the WWE from fixing fights. However, I can see the UFC deal with them taking half the fighters and the rest migrating to K1.
Originally posted by the article...there's also the well-documented fact that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has never displayed competence in any business outside of his core business of pro wrestling, with unsuccessful business ventures in nutritional supplements (IcoPro), a bodybuilding league (WBF), the movie industry (WWE Films), reality television production (Manhunt, Tough Enough, WWE Diva Search), a professional football league (XFL), the book industry (WWE's self-published novels in which McMahon solves crimes), and yes, even promoting legitimate shoot-fights on national television (Brawl for All).
That first part about Vince is a little harsh (yet true, I suppose) but what's this about novels in which he solves crimes???
Originally posted by DJ FrostyFreezeThat first part about Vince is a little harsh (yet true, I suppose) but what's this about novels in which he solves crimes???
Big Apple Takedown. (The W at Amazon) I have too many legitimately good books laying unread around my apartment to justify reading this, but you gotta figure anything that looks this bad has to be... really bad.
How have I never heard of this book?!?! That might be the most unintentionally funny book on the market. I might have to track one down for shits and giggles.
Oh, and if Vince buys Pride...well, my sympathies go out to Pride fans.
Dean! Have you been shooting dope into your scrotum? You can tell me! I'm hip!
Originally posted by DJ FrostyFreezeThat first part about Vince is a little harsh (yet true, I suppose) but what's this about novels in which he solves crimes???
Big Apple Takedown. (The W at Amazon) I have too many legitimately good books laying unread around my apartment to justify reading this, but you gotta figure anything that looks this bad has to be... really bad.
How could you pass up a book like this? Book Description December 2001: Vince McMahon steps out of a snowy night into a diner in upstate New York for a meeting with old friend Phil Thomson, now a highly placed government official. Thomson has a strange proposition: creating a new covert black-ops group using the Superstars of World Wrestling Entertainment. The WWE's talented men and women are perfect. Highly skilled athletes with the ideal cover, they travel all across the country and the globe; no one would find it unusual to find them in a town one day and gone the next. The government would train and support the wrestlers in every way possible except one: no one must know the truth.
March 2006: The Superstars have been handed their latest assignment -- take down a commercial-grade methyl-amphetamine plant that is bankrolling terrorist activities in Europe. Their mission seems simple and straightforward, until a member of their team is taken prisoner. Now all that they've worked so hard for is in jeopardy, and one of their own might be killed...
And look at all of those glowing reviews! Those have to be from WWE employees, right? Or maybe this book is actually... not shitty like I think it is??
Originally posted by StaggerLeeI think the fact that the fights would be sanctioned by real athletic commissions would prevent the WWE from fixing fights.
The fact that there's no point in a worked-fight promotion purchasing a shootfight promotion unless they're going to promote shootfights would prevent WWE from fixing PRIDE fights. But the real problem would be the public perception that WWE is incapable of promoting a legitimate contest. All through the run-up to the XFL there was this atmosphere of suspicion that Vince was going to rig football games, not because there was any motive to do so but simply because the Vince is a wrestling promoter.
This review has to be saved here for posterity, I think...
Canon worthy-- 5 stars
In my life as an English Professor, I have had the joy of reading any of a lare selection of classic books, brilliant treatises on the human condition, and some of the most brilliantly revolutionary prose that hallmarked the great movements in human history. I feel, though, that my faith in literature has been increased to a level I truly did not feel possible after reading this book.
It is truly rare when a book changes your life in a fundamental way. For some, the Bible was their path to a new and better life. Others feel that Paine's Common Sense is a truly great piece of political propaganda that tries to raise humanity to a higher level. Others, on the other hand, are partial to Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto.
I say "A pox on ALL of these houses".
Like a very special episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger", WWE's "Big Apple Takedown" manages to simultaneously make one weep at the emotionally taut imagery, laugh at the rapier-sharp wit, and contemplate the deep, inner discussions of the soul that are the hallmark of sweaty guys with questionable drug habits.
And, honestly, the book is a little infuriating. Why IS the government wasting its money paying for a military with many nuclear missiles when ALL that is needed to save the world from evil and chaos are the occasional errant chair shot, a knee to the groinal region, followed by an overly elaborate finishing sequence?
The decision to use WWE superstars --- "wrestlers" does not remotely do legends like HHH justice, let's be frank --- to sniff out a drug cartel is the kind of inspired genius that makes lesser authors like Poe weep in their beer. You didn't see George Orwell use imagery as subtle as a glistening body of pure, pent-up, moderately eroticized squashing drug kingpins in 1984, did you?
I tell you, next to this book, Madame Bovary has as much plot as a 3rd grader's book of Mad Libs.
I, personally, enjoyed the discrete reference to another classic of American literature --- "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", with a plot that, bluntly, ripped off this book's plot in the most diabolical and sinical of manners.
Kudos to you, WWE. You have clearly demonstrated that the dramatic masterpiece that is the average episode of RAW is not an accident. This is the book that makes one appreciate the subtlety of a good fart joke or an unexpected "puppies" reference. I can only hope they keep Mr. Josephs on the payroll to produce storyline that can even approach this level of inspiration.
That is one of the most brilliantly snarky book reviews I think I've ever read.
"Hurt me if you must, but let the duckie go." --The Oracle of the Sunken Valley, The Order of the Stick
Five-Time W of the Day (5/27/02; 7/3/02; 7/30/04; 8/28/04; 12/16/05)
The Only Five-Time (and Last) N.E.W. World Heavyweight Champion
Certified RFMC Member-- Ask To See My Credentials!
I own Big Apple Takedown. The book is AWESOME. I hope they come out with more. Its bad, but so bad its good. The fact that Chavo is some awesome computer hacker and Batista has a fear of small spaces is so awesome. The most realistic part is how Torrie's job is to be a total slut.
That list of failures is a little silly. Tough Enough ran for three seasons, so it could hardly be considered a failed venture. The Brawl-For-All and Diva Search were part of WWE programming, not an "outside" business plan. They were Vince tinkering with his wrestling shows. The Big Apple Takedown is extraordinarily dumb, but other WWE books-most notably the earlier biographies that they put out-have been very successful. And WWE Films doesn't seem to be doing too badly churning out their Z-movie silliness. IcoPro, the WBF and XFL, fair enough...but it feels like they're stretching with the rest.
To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires, and lights, in a box.-Edward R. Murrow
List of guys who deserve to be on the List but were omitted. Abdullah the Butcher. Nikita Koloff (hell, he was so hated in the mid 80's Flair had to work as a face). Fabulous Freebirds. Kevin Sullivan (if the devil isn't on the list, the list is a joke)....
Thread rated: 4.80
This old hunk of junk rendered your page in 0.308 seconds.
#
#
#