What I would give to see Eddie Gilbert run over Pierzynski in the parking lot.... then have him back up and do it again just to make sure.

Hafner is listed at 6'3", 240, I'm sure he could fit at Raw. On the other hand, he can't stay healthy playing baseball, so perhaps wrestling isn't for him.

That's going to be a tough one to pull off, though I do appreciate hearing the name. It's what, almost 15 years now since he died?

Growing up in the Mid-South region, Gilbert was a staple. He seemed to know the business, and I suspect would have found quite a bit of success as a booker/promoter had he lived that long.

I would love to see Hafner cold-#### Pierzynski at home plate while he was distracted by the surprise appearance of Manny Ramirez in an Indians uniform.

On the other hand, he can't stay healthy playing baseball, so perhaps wrestling isn't for him.

Can't stay healthy just hitting and running bases. Imagine what his health record would be like if he had to play the full game.

I wouldn't be able to talk to Lawler about anything else until I picked his brain clean on Kaufman. Has Jerry ever broken kayfabe on that?

Hafner is listed at 6'3", 240, I'm sure he could fit at Raw. On the other hand, he can't stay healthy playing baseball, so perhaps wrestling isn't for him.

Good thing it's not the mid-90's anymore. I envision a character named Pronk entering the ring in some kind of Mantaur-like getup.

It could lead to a pretty epic shoot feud with A-Rod though over who the real half-man/half-beast character in WWE was.

I wouldn't be able to talk to Lawler about anything else until I picked his brain clean on Kaufman. Has Jerry ever broken kayfabe on that?

Yeah, Lawler even did so playing himself in the Kaufman biopic "Man on the Moon."

Growing up in the Mid-South region, Gilbert was a staple. He seemed to know the business, and I suspect would have found quite a bit of success as a booker/promoter had he lived that long.

Eddie had tenures with the book at both Continental Wrestling and ECW, where he mentored Paul Heyman. Heyman has praised Eddie as the sharpest mind he's ever worked with in the business. The guy was a heat magnet.

Yeah, Lawler even did so playing himself in the Kaufman biopic "Man on the Moon."

That came out when I was living overseas and for some reason I have a mental block about it, and have yet to see it to this day. Thanks.

Hey guyz, just popping in between cram sessions to say:

a) Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert was a huge part of my early fandom thanks to GWF on ESPN2. The Apter mags talked him up like crazy, too.
b) RAW 1000 is tonight, and it's a perfect viewing the casual fan. Lots of big names, one offs, and a huge main event with John Cena vs. CM Punk (C) for the WWE championship.

my thoughts on raw tonight:

1, starting with the main event, thank ####### christ they did what they did. punk was stale as hell as a babyface, and having him try to steal the win over cena was great booking. and to top that off, raw ended with punk delivering the GTS to the rock. that's the punk that went through the stratosphere last year, and that's the punk that needs to be at the top of the food chain in the WWE.

2, i am salivating at the thought of a jericho-ziggler match at summerslam. there really is only upside to them meeting at that venue. if you want jericho to walk away from the WWE looking like a million bucks, ziggler is the guy who can do that. and if you want to use jericho as a stepping stone to get ziggler over as a main event level player, that's also a great way to send him away.

3, i'm happy that the WWE finally acknowledged that DX had more than 2 members, but that segment dragged on way too long, and damien sandow was the wrong guy to interrupt them.

4, what was the point of advertising that as a wedding? i know that there's always a gimmick with these things, but if the whole point of this was to name AJ as the GM, i've gotta think there were better ways to go about it.

5, brodus clay: no mas. i mean, there was never any depth to him as a character, but it seems like the powers that be have gone out of their way to make him as bland as possible, and he's just not interesting right now.

6, brock lesnar v. triple H: who gives a damn. it's a meaningless side-show. neither lesnar nor triple H is going to be made into a bigger star because of this, and since neitehr of them are committed to wrestling full time, i just don't see a reason why i should care.

I agree about Lesnar, but I see his point, too. He tried MMA, if I remember, and started getting hurt. He's not likely to get hurt too much in WWE, since he's a retired Olympic competition wrestler (if I remember right), and can probably lay out almost anyone in the WWE if they try a stunt on him. And where else is he going to make that kind of money?

I loved DX, because they were hilarious, but I remember them as a trio, including a very small guy who started out in a second-tier league as The Lightning Kid, and whose WWE name I cannot remember. (I've taped Monday's show, but not seen it yet.)

I also find that it helps, when watching WWE, to treat it as if I were watching the branch of gymnastics called "tumbling", only with people who are three times the size of Olympic gymnasts. If you watch it like that, the guys are pretty impressive, which they are not if you look at them as real wrestlers. Their gymnastics skills are very good for guys their size. Of course, I'm a geezer who goes back to the days of legendary promoter Sam Muchnik (sp?) in STL, and have seen Lou Thesz wrestle when he was still young. Lou was almost always holding the "world" championship in STL, and even as a kid, I could see that he just had wrestling skills that the other guys didn't have. For those of you who don't recognize the name, Thesz was the last guy to hold the world wrestling championship when it was an actual wrestling title, no choreography or leaping off the ropes or anything. A single match could go on for an hour or even more before someone got a hold that the other guy could not break. My dad could remember those matches (my dad could remember Strangler Lewis), which is why I know what they were like, but even I am not old enough to have actually seen them. By the time I was 6 years old, there was no real competition wrestling outside of schools and the Olympics. Thesz was the last dinosaur. I feel very lucky to have seen him before the promotion got completely taken over by the gymnasts. - Brock Hanke (not Lesnar)

I remember them as a trio, including a very small guy who started out in a second-tier league as The Lightning Kid, and whose WWE name I cannot remember.

X-Pac

I've been a casual follower the last few years, but last night was fun. It's always a treat when Rock shows up, and I liked Punk's turn.

For those of you who don't recognize the name, Thesz was the last guy to hold the world wrestling championship when it was an actual wrestling title, no choreography or leaping off the ropes or anything. A single match could go on for an hour or even more before someone got a hold that the other guy could not break. My dad could remember those matches (my dad could remember Strangler Lewis), which is why I know what they were like, but even I am not old enough to have actually seen them. By the time I was 6 years old, there was no real competition wrestling outside of schools and the Olympics. Thesz was the last dinosaur. I feel very lucky to have seen him before the promotion got completely taken over by the gymnasts.

Well, that depended on who Lou Thesz was facing, because he faced everybody. His style was serious, but against someone like Mil Mascaras or Antonino Rocca, you were going to see some jumping and wiggling shenanigans.