Tag: comparison

Landon Knack won the MLB Seoul Series

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

lol’d heartily: while in Seoul, Korea, Los Angeles Dodgers caught on camera marveling and drooling over Korean actress Jeon Jong-Seo throwing out the ceremonial first pitch during an exhibition game between the Dodgers and the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes

Honestly, I didn’t think I’d get as much enjoyment out of the MLB Seoul Series as I did.  I’m so far removed from my general fandom of baseball these days, and I’m so cynical and jaded, that I figured this was all just some typical cash grab by MLB to try and dupe and hoover money out of the Korean market, and that it’s always kind of weird, rhythm-wise when MLB teams play regular season games in Asia during Spring Training, and then come back to wrap up Spring Training before re-embarking on the regular season for 160 more games.

But then seeing highlights of Freddie Freeman acquainting himself to the Korean fans with a blast of a home run, and seeing the Padres’ Kim Ha-Seong coming home and blasting two dingers of his own against the LG Twins were pleasant highlights.  And then there was the gleefully enjoyable wake-up call on the final day of the trip, waking up and checking the score to the Padres/Dodgers game to find out that the Dodgers’ $325M acquisition Yoshinobu Yamamoto, got absolutely blown up, lasted one inning, and took a monumental L to start his MLB career.

I mean seriously, there isn’t a better narrative than a Japanese pitcher getting absolutely shelled while pitching in Korea.  I’m sure he will settle down and have a very fine season and possibly career in America, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t smile like the Grinch upon seeing his woefully embarrassing line for the morning, and knowing he’ll be leaving the motherland with little else than a big-ass L.

However, the best story of the trip, was undoubtedly the hilarious spectacle of the entire Dodgers roster going gonzo once they laid their eyes on Korean actress Jeon Jong-Seo, taking the hill for the ceremonial first pitch. I mean, I can’t blame all these baseball bros, for most of them, they’ve probably never seen a proper Korean celebrity like Jeon, with her perfect face,* slim figure, legs that go to the moon, and for a Korean girl, she got a little bit of booty.*  

*most likely surgically enhanced

And then she proceeds to hit the target pretty impressively, considering she was kicking off on the wrong side of the rubber.  But it didn’t stop pretty much everyone in the Dodgers’ dugout, most visibly Ryan Brazier, Gavin Stone, Gavin Lux from letting their jaws hang to the ground.  And hilariously extra were Tyler Glasnow, Chris Taylor and surprisingly, the happily married Freddie Freeman from staring a little too hard at Jeon.

But to me, the best part about the whole thing is that if there was going to be a singular winner of the entire Seoul Series, it’s definitely #96 for the Dodgers, Landon Knack, who was the guy who caught the first pitch from Jeon, but also got to take his photograph with her afterward.  Without question, Knack is envy of the entire Dodgers locker room, getting to be the guy that got to get up close with the Korean bombshell, and even put a hand on her, during the photograph.

The thing with ceremonial first pitches is that with 162 games plus exhibitions and playoffs for some, there are a whole lot of ceremonial first pitches in a season.  Every now and then, it’s going to be a legitimate A-lister or powerful figure, but for the most part, it’s going to be like the local Wells Fargo regional office’s VP’s son type of guys throwing out the lion’s share of ceremonial first pitches throughout a year.

The rule of thumb typically is that the bigger the celebrity or figure it is throwing out the first pitch, the higher caliber of player will be behind home plate waiting to catch the ball.  When George W. Bush threw out the first pitch, Ivan Rodriguez caught him.  When Pedro Martinez returned to Boston after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, David Ortiz caught him.  The list goes on and on, where depending on the level of celebrity, the higher the caliber of player is waiting to catch it.

And it’s clear that the Dodgers weren’t made aware of who was throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in their exhibition with the Kiwoom Heroes, because they sent a guy with the number 96 out to go catch.  Because the rule of thumb is that the higher and wonkier the number is in Spring Training, they’re younger minor league guys who are actively in a tryout phase with the team.  I actually had to Google the Dodgers’ 40-man roster to even find out who #96 was, and I still have no idea who Landon Knack really is.  His minor league numbers look promising, and I’m sure he’ll have a new number at some point this year, but the truth is that he was the low-man on the totem pole, thrust out there to do grunt work.

Clearly the mainstays of the Dodgers couldn’t be bothered to go out and catch a ceremonial first pitch, so they sent Landon Knack to go do it, and gee golly I’m sure Knack couldn’t have been happier to do the duty when he saw Jeon Jong-Seo step onto the field and take the mound.  Without question, if any of the players knew who was throwing it, and what Jeon Jong-Seo looked like, we probably would’ve seen Tyler Glasnow or Chris Taylor fighting over who would get to catch.

Unsurprising, as soon as the Seoul Series was over, Knack was immediately cut and sent down to the minor leagues to start the year, because anyone wearing a number higher than 70 typically is, unless they’re one of the baseball edge lords that asks for a high number.  Regardless of if he gets called up or not, gets hurt or not, Landon Knack is definitely going to have a core memory from his brief trip to Korea.  And his teammates will always be green with envy when he inevitably makes his picture with Jeon Jong-Seo his phone’s lock screen, and gets to flash it around when he’s called back up to the majors.

Without question, Landon Knack definitely won the Seoul Series, and MLB players probably will remember this the next time they’re sent out to Korea for any exhibitions.

Not what I was hoping would happen

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Obviously, Blake Snell wasn’t going to stay unemployed forever, regardless of how funny I would have found it if he did go unsigned, because the San Francisco Giants were the team that blinked, and signed Balakey to a two-year deal, worth $62 million dollars.

I do take satisfaction that the money-grubbing Balakey and his money-grubbing uber-agent Scott Boras were denied in getting the long-term, fuck-you-money deal they were obviously hoping to get, but the fact of the matter is that Balakey is still hoovering up a wildly high $31M a year, and from what I understand, he does have an opt-out clause, which means that this is really more like a 1/$31M deal, because Balakey is undoubtedly going to try and pitch his ass off again so he can opt-out and try against next winter, but will also have the safety net of $31M more dollars from San Francisco should he get hurt, or realize that he’s not as good as people think he is and phones it in and prepares to try again in 2025.

It does just suck though, that an obvious money-grubber like Balakey Snell actually is going to make coin, because I am not a fan of such obvious money-grubbers.  I know that everyone is out for themselves, but at least try to pretend like you give a shit about the team, the city, the fans, or community.  Do some public appearances, read books to kids at schools, volunteer at the local grocery stores or something.  Instead, Balakey goes home and streams video games, while airing out his grievances over how he thinks he’s underpaid when he gets to throw a baseball for a living.

Whatever though, Balakey going to the Giants means he’s going to a team that I already like to root against, and despite the fact that they’re the team that signed Korean superstar Lee Jung-hoo, it’s nice to know I can consolidate my want to see the Giants not succeed, with wanting to see Balakey not perform well enough to warrant getting the big money contract he’s hoping to get.

Switching gears though, if there was anyone who didn’t believe that there’s a Colin Kaepernick-like collusion blacklisting of Trevor Bauer, the signing of Balakey all but solidifies its existence, because we’ve just watched a team commit $62 million dollars for a pitcher that is debatably comparable to Trevor Bauer, who has been shouting on the rooftops that he’s willing to play for the league minimum $740,000.

I hate to sound like I’m the world’s biggest Trevor Bauer fan; I admit that I am a fan of him as a pitcher and some of his personal idiosyncrasies, and I was disappointed when his name was associated with a sexual assault.  But I also know that he was absolved of the accusation that got him blacklisted in the first place, and I would like to see him get a second chance in the Majors, because he’s obviously good enough to hang still, and frankly, what I’m finding the most obnoxious aspect of the blacklisting is how every single team has their own history of embarrassments when it comes to housing players with abuse accusations and actual charges, so there’s just something so hypocritical of the entire league colluding to blacklist one guy like this.

I know that there are still several accusations still pending, but call me crazy, but I do believe in the whole innocent until proven guilty thing, and frankly Bauer himself has said that if a team wants to cut him after taking a flyer, they can cut him at-will, but the man just wants a chance to demonstrate that he can still get the job done in the majors.  Let the man pitch, maybe go 4-1, and if it turns out that at one of these future hearings, something comes out that he really is an abuser, than cut him.  It wouldn’t be any worse than Jose Reyes, Aroldis Chapman or Marcell Ozuna getting busted for violence against women but still getting to keep their jobs.

No matter though.  It’s not like I’m actually going to watch a tremendous amount of baseball this season, and frankly the jury’s out on whether or not I’ll actually watch a single full game this year, seeing as how I haven’t done that since like the 2020 playoffs, so when the day is over, I still really don’t care.  But I would like to see Balakey struggle, and despite my optimism that some team would eventually get desperate and pull the trigger on Trevor Bauer, things are looking less and less likely.  Although I definitely wouldn’t mind being incorrect on the latter, because I would like to see Trevor Bauer get another opportunity to pitch in the majors, plus I think he’s better than Balakey.

The Power of The Rock

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

By now, everyone knows that The Rock is back in the WWE, presumably just for Wrestlemania SZN, but the reality is that he’s still back on television, making appearances here and there to hype up the event.

His return has sparked a lot of debate among the general wrestling community, and there are some pretty concrete sides on the field: those fans who dislike when guest stars pop up during Mania SZN, just to hype up the event, and ultimately vanish into thin air once Mania is over, and then there are fans who love it when part-timers like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, or the Undertaker show up for Wrestlemania, because they’re legends, they’re icons from their era, or whatever reason.

Typically, I’m often times in the camp of not really preferring when guests show up for Wrestlemania, because I’m of the mindset that the people who carry the company week in and week out, should be the ones to get the biggest billings at the biggest show of the year.  And in lots of cases, I don’t want to see some older performer who’s rusty, out of shape, and incapable of putting on a good show any more, having the opportunity to do so, and denying one of the aforementioned week in and week out guys in the process.

Stone Cold Steve Austin had a respectable program two years ago, but I’d still maintain that it had largely to do with the fact that a very respectful and capable Kevin Owens was carrying him, and let’s not forget all the times in history we’ve seen the Undertaker, Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan and even Triple H gear up for Wrestlemania, only to be one of the least impressive contributors on the card.

But The Rock, I have to say that he’s just on another level when it comes to drumming up excitement and hyping up a program.  For starters, mythical wife, who actually did watch a little bit of Attitude-era wrestling when she was a wee lass, heard completely independently, that The Rock was back, and put forth her own independent effort to check out his first promos.

Since then, The Rock set an incendiary blaze on the internet wrestling community, diving up the fanbase entirely, and even forcing me to soften my stance on Cody Rhodes, and then adjusted based on the crowd feedback, and has gone full-ass heel mode, and has returned to his Attitude-era roots and is once again doing the lord’s work when it comes to cutting promos and building up hype for a show.

Obviously, I look forward to Wrestlemania just about every year, but I have to say that I’m really looking forward to Wrestlemania this year.  Even if it’s going to be in a cesspool like Philadelphia, I know the crowd will be hot, because Philly fans get hot for wrestling, and The Rock, being the mutant athlete he is, is sure to still be capable of putting on a decent match.

Despite the fact that when The Rock came back, I was just kind of like oh cool, I have to say that the way he just so effortlessly creates excitement and drums up anticipation for the event, is truly why he is the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.  It’s just so easy and organic for him, and now I’m looking more forward to this year’s Wrestlemania than I have in prior ones.  The card seems wildly predictable in what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m looking forward to it this far out, and that, really is the power of The Rock.

WTF is AEW doing #302

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m not entirely sure if Tony Khan thinks he’s being clever, subtle or he’s flagrantly doing it on purpose, but pretty much every wrestling fan on the planet knew that BIG BU$INE$$ in BO$$TON was going to be the debut of Mercedes Mone.

Say what you will though, I’ve been critical about Mercedes over the last year and change, but I’m also critical because I care.  I was a fan of Sasha Banks, dubious in which the circumstances she left under, but happy to see when she re-emerged in Japan, won titles there, and even predicted her inevitable path that would take her to AEW.

And as much as I like the work possible by guys like Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada, their arrivals in AEW didn’t really make me stop what I was doing and carve out time to see them.  But knowing that March 13th, BIG BU$INE$$ FROM BO$$TON was going to be the arrival of Mercedes Mone, I made the conscious effort to carve out time from my generally time-starved life, to tune in and watch, because I was looking forward to seeing Mercedes Varnado, back in professional wrestling.

However, having watched BIG BU$INE$$, my thoughts were making these posts pondering whatever the fuck AEW is doing, because I just have a hard time wrapping my brain around their general MO.  I get that I probably fall into the category that’s been so indoctrinated with how the WWE operates, that anything alternative to it just seems rather perplexing, but I’ll also say that I had no problems being a fan of WCW and ECW and to some degree, old NWA-TNA back before the days of Impact.  In fact, I’m still a fan of Impact now that they’re back to being TNA, but it’s just AEW, and now the AEW-controlled Ring of Honor, that I’m just so often scratching my head about. 

I want to like the product as their diehard fans do, but there’s just so much going on that I can’t find the ability to be a fan of the promotion as a whole as much as I just like cherry-picked aspects of the company, like Toni Storm, Will Ospreay, Daniel Garcia, and my growing respect for Orange Cassidy.  And I think it’s very amusing that the some of the guys that are doing the best work for the promotion, are all former WWE hands, like Storm, Christian, Swerve and Samoa Joe.

But back to BIG BU$INE$$, it was obvious the entire show was produced structured around Mercedes getting to open the show, as well as close it out.  Because in no logical reality should a match between Willow Nightengale and Riho be the main event of a show, especially one that had Samoa Joe vs. Wardlow and Jay White vs. Darby Allin on the card.  There are three former TNT champs, a former IWGP champion, and the current AEW champion, and they all played the undercard, just to ensure that Mercedes Mone got to close the show out, even if it meant main eventing a match between two girls who were literally Ring of Honor dark match talent not even a full year ago.

Now I was happy to see Mercedes, but I couldn’t help but feel like the arena wasn’t doing her any favors.  I felt like the acoustics in the arena murdered her entrance music, it was hard to hear the crowd actually chanting C-E-O for her, and when she got on the mic to speak, the echo sounded as if the Boston Garden hadn’t updated their equipment since Greg the Racist Valentine cut his scathing promo with terribly racist undertones. 

She cut a good promo, gave love to Eddie Guerrero, and it will be interesting to see how things transpire, because in AEW there’s either really good workers (Toni, Britt, Purrazzo) and then there’s everyone else.  This won’t be like CM Punk coming in to a sea of talent, Mercedes will have to put on her carry boots on every night, and it’ll be telling to see how she measures up to this responsibility.

Again though, I don’t think it was right to structure the entire show around ensuring Mercedes got to close out the show, especially with the talent they lined up in order to make that happen.  I know the logical program is to work in Willow Nightengale since it was her that Mercedes got hurt against, but she’s still green as baby shit, and I can’t imagine that Mercedes isn’t going to have some PTSD having to work with the person who basically cut her entire NJPW deal short.

But then again, this is why this series of posts is titled what they are, because when the day is over, I really have no fucking clue to what AEW is doing.  And because of that, it really doesn’t matter if they have Mercedes Mone, Kazuchika Okada, or even Will Ospreay, unless they find the magic formula that gives them logical, watchable weekly programming, on top of their propensity to put on above-average pay-per-views, they’re never going to be seen as a superior product than the WWE.  I know they and their brainwashed fans insist that that’s not what the goal is, but everyone knows that’s full of shit.  They all want to have their cake and eat it too, which is that they need to be the #1 promotion, so they can all revel in being #1; but it’s never going to happen if AEW continues to operate in the manner that basically makes AEW, AEW.

WTF is AEW doing #301

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Originally, I was planning on carving out some time to write about WTF is AEW doing after the debut of Kazuchika Okada on a seemingly random episode of Dynamite.  But with the impending arrival that nobody could see coming in Mercedes Mone, I decided to wait until the episode aptly subtitled BIG BU$INE$$ passed by, so that I could actually watch the product for the first time in a while before passing judgment onto it.

But going back to Okada, the man was basically the John Cena of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the ultimate good guy character, highly decorated, and a strong worker, and it was a big deal in the wrestling community when news started bubbling up that his contract with NJPW was coming to an end.

Frankly, I figured he was going to re-sign with the company because it would be a great folly for any promotion to lose their flagship player, but news started emerging that he just mentally done with Japan, and wanted to take his talents abroad to America.  I thought it was a pretty even jump ball on whether he’d go to the WWE or AEW, but really it he was AEW’s free agent to lose.  I just thought that there was a chance he’d come to the E, because love them or hate them, the WWE is still the top of the mountain, and a career can hardly be called a career unless you’ve participated in Wrestlemania, and considering Okada was basically NJPW Jesus, you know money isn’t so much his drive as it is honor, accolade and legacy, and if really wanted those things, he would have to go to the WWE.

But as frequently boasted on the internet as well as, on-screen, AEW gave Okada 14 million reasons to come to AEW instead, and he’s also using his general comfort and familiarity with many of the workers, the infrastructure he got to see during the last two Forbidden Door shows, and Kazuchika Okada is poundsign-ALLELITE.

So naturally, they take the guy who’s basically never been a heel in his career and immediately align him with the dastardly power-tripping EVP version of the Young Bucks, and bring out Okada to be, a heel.  Sure, this will allow the Bucks to be his mouthpiece to make up for his weak English, but they’re already taking a guy out of his comfort zone and presenting him to an audience that they’re grossly overestimating at their knowledge of Okada, as this asshole from Japan who’s doing everything for the money.

And in a promotion that has Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, PAC and Chris Jericho, among other notably active strong workers, Okada’s first feud appears to be against Eddie Kingston, a current triple-blet holder, that I personally can’t get over his sheer lack of physique and general not looking like a wrestler, to take seriously as one, but AEW fans seem to be really high on him, because I guess he gives okay promos, but still, I feel like it’s a real bumpy start for a guy the caliber of Okada, to come in and steamroll the generally well-protected Kingston.

Which in itself is going to be interesting, because Kingston has been beating reputable guys left and right over the last few months, including most of the names listed above, and it’s very apparent that he’s going to roll over for Okada, and frankly much like FTR a year ago, I think his run with multiple blets is coming to an end, as he’ll probably drop his whatever blet against Okada, followed by the ROH World Title to the still-sentimental favorite Mark Briscoe.

All I really know is that while watching BIG BU$INE$$ where there was a six-man tag match with Okada and the Bucks against Kingston, PAC and Penta, I almost fell asleep.  Sure, a lot has to do with my general lifestyle and always being tired on account of work and parenting, but also the fact that the match made little sense in terms of storyline.  I get that they’re kind of easing Okada into the promotion by having him do tag matches and learning what the crowds and the full-time AEW atmosphere is like, but they’re also putting out boring-ass product in the process.

It’s clear Okada has no idea what he’s doing as a heel, because his trademark music hits, and the guy just walks out like Dean Malenko without any of his posing or grandstanding he did as NJPW’s Rainmaker, and he just looks really lost out there.  And frankly a match with as much talent in the ring as this one was on paper, should not have been as boring and meaningless as this was.

Honestly, as big of a deal as Okada’s migration was on the internet, AEW somehow managed to take the biggest star of Japan, and somehow make him look like a luxury cog in the machine.  I feel like Shinsuke Nakamura’s transition into the WWE is the blueprint of how to bring an import over, and I feel like AEW grossly overestimated their audience’s familiarity with him, because I’m going to go out on a limb and assume the casual AEW fan doesn’t know who he actually is at all, and now they’re seeing someone who’s just kind of performing mid, and will have to dig out of a hole to earn the respect of the causals.

Turns out that I did have a lot more to say about Okada than I thought I did, because I feel like I’m at a good stopping point for this post, and can take some time later to opine on Mercedes Mone, because as critical as I’ve been about her over the last year and change, I still am a fan of hers and want to see her succeed, and on that same note, I’d rather have a post about Mercedes be solely about Mercedes, and not be buried behind a wall of text about Okada.

Angel Hernandez already in mid-season form

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

..is the obvious line that 80% of the vested internet has utilized in some shape or form, but honestly there’s really no better way to explain how MLB’s best-worst umpire managed to eject a player, twice, in a single Spring Training game.

In short, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn is ejected from a no-stakes spring training game for daring to have the audacity to question the strike zone of the routinely worst-rated umpire in MLB, Angel Hernandez.  Angel, who is as soft as airport single-ply toilet paper, demonstrates his constitution by throwing out a veteran player from a meaningless Spring Training game, instead of perhaps laughing or having a little fun in a game that does not matter.

Obviously, a fat veteran like Lance Lynn probably couldn’t care any less, but understands that he still had a job to do on the day, which was to throw a set amount of pitches, as part of some Spring Training throwing routine he’s probably utilized forever, considering he in his 13th MLB season, so instead of hitting the showers early, he trudges over to the bullpen to get his throwing done.  Apparently Angel Hernandez saw an opportunity to phish out some more attention, so instead of letting a dead horse lie, he flexes on Lynn some more, and demands that he also leave the bullpen and get the fuck off his field outright.

At this point, it’s apparent that Lynn is annoyed, and that’s probably the intent that Angel wanted, and it probably annoyed the piss out of him that Lynn didn’t seem to care about getting the hook from the game, but now that he’s going to have to go out of his way to finish his work or cut it short outright, it is rightfully an annoyance, and that’s obviously what Angel wanted to get out of him, because it really is what Angel Hernandez lives for.

This is all just hilarious because every baseball fan and their mothers all know that Spring Training games don’t count for shit, and are nothing but ceremonial cash grabs for MLB teams to rake in tourism dollars, while players and personnel get glorified paid practice time.  Sure, umpires need a little time too, to perhaps iron out any modifications in the rule book, see real-time use of the updated pitch clock, but the strike zone is something that is for all intents and purposes, unchanged from year to year, minus the personal subjectivity that every individual umpire has.

Angel Hernandez tossing anyone out, much less once, is a testament to just how soft the guy is, and just how much he craves and seeks and does whatever it takes to garner attention onto himself, regardless of just how much he vehemently denies doing such.  There are reasons why he’s pretty much the most well-known umpire in the game, and for all the wrong reasons, and it’s always a redundant question every season how he somehow manages to have a job year in and year out.

Much probably has to do with the long-standing, reoccurring lawsuit he has against his own employers, citing racial discrimination, and the sheer headache that MLB probably wants to avoid by keeping him employed versus the mountains of litigation he’d bring down on the league if they were ever to fire him.  It’s like he’s basically holding a gun to the head of MLB to ensure that he maintains his employment, no matter how grossly unqualified he is to keep it.

No matter, it’s not that I really care about this so much as it’s just ironically funny whenever Angel Hernandez’s name gets brought up.  Usually it’s not happening in the springtime unless it pertains to his lawsuit, but in Angel’s world, there’s no time that shouldn’t be Angel’s time, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise that if there was going to be one noteworthy ejection that happened in Spring Training, of course it was going to be done by Angel Hernandez.

Happy trails, Virgil

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Lonely no more: Mike Jones, better known as former WWE wrestler, Virgil, passes away at the age of 61

I know it seems like every single wrestler from yesteryear that passes away was a favorite of mine in some way shape or fashion, and after twenty years of brogging, there’s no shortage of wrestler eulogies that I’ve written in my own way, at this point.

But Virgil, this guy, was truly a guy that I can’t say was necessarily a favorite of mine, but he was something of an icon in his own way, that I was fixated with, pretty much from the time I learned of his existence until the day he passed.

When I first got into wrestling, a lot of it had to do with the fact that I actually got into a WWF video game first, the arcade version of WWF Superstars, before I actually parlayed it into indulging in the real life variant of the game on television, into the life-long fandom that still maintain today. 

In the game, the final bosses were the tag team of “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant; but before you actually started playing against them, there’s like a 12-second cutscene prior to the match where you see “Mean Gene” Okerlund interviewing both DiBiase and Andre, but also standing with them was a jacked black guy in a shiny tuxedo counting money.

When I started watching wrestling, and the first time I laid eyes on the real-life Million Dollar Man, sure enough, there was the same jacked black guy accompanying him, holding the money, and that was when I first learned of the existence of the real-life Virgil.

Little did I know that he was named Virgil, as a personal attack from Vince McMahon to rival promoter/booker/wrestler Dusty Rhodes, whose real name was actually Virgil, and in only a manner that could come from Vince McMahon, he slapped basically a slave persona onto a black man and called him Virgil.

But throughout the years, it became quickly apparent that despite Virgil’s imposing stature and menacing scowl, he was tantamount to the WWF’s punching bag to the stars, and in just a few short years of getting into wrestling, I’d seen Virgil get his ass beat by Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan among others.  He was a jobber before I even knew what a jobber was, a term I wouldn’t learn until like 12 years later.

Continue reading “Happy trails, Virgil” →