Ask 411 Wrestling: Who Can Save the Divas Division?

Hello, and welcome to a rain soaked edition of Ask 411 Wrestling! I am the extremely wet guy, Mathew Sforcina, and in case you hadn’t heard, Sydney’s having a once in a decade storm right now, so I guess my birthday on Thursday will be damp, if not soaked. Yay.

Before we begin proper, just a word about Len Archibald. If you haven’t been reading his stuff, what the hell is wrong with you? But either way, he’s been hitting home run after hole in one or whichever sporting metaphor you prefer, but sadly he’s having to step away from writing for a bit, due to health reasons and such. Big loss for the site, which will recover I know, but still. Go follow the dude on the Twitters, and, like me, eagerly await his return.

Got a question for me? [email protected] is probably a good place to send it.

BANNER!

Zeldas!

Check out my Drabble blog, 1/10 of a Picture! As it’s my Birthday this week, why not visit? Consider it a present…

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You Get I’m A Wrestler: I maintain that I only bring up my wrestling career when it’s relevant. I’m sorry if you disagree, but I’m not about to stop doing it since it’s one of the few hooks I have, thank you.

Taker V Kane 3- With A Retirement: I fully agree that the match wouldn’t be great, the two don’t have the best chemistry. But for pure storyline purposes, I’d still have them as their final matches. You just overbook it.

Last Week’s Last Week Trivia: I forgot to correct it: The first part of the Abyss thing was that only he and James Storm have been with TNA for its entire run, but he wrestled the first show as Justice.

The Trivia Crown

Who am I? I’ve beaten at least two guys who have beaten Hulk Hogan. I’ve managed to get almost every title that goes with a specific title. I’ve been a politically incorrect champion, the holder of a feast, and I’ve gotten involved with a blow up doll. I lost to the same guy in my ‘last’ match in one company and my first match in another. I’ve teamed with my father, had one female manager but am currently managed by a man, and three of my main finishers were pretty much stolen directly from other guys. Who am I?

DarthDaver has us covered.

Who am I? I’ve beaten at least two guys who have beaten Hulk Hogan (Ric Flair, Kurt Angle). I’ve managed to get almost every title that goes with a specific title (???). I’ve been a politically incorrect champion (Politically Incorrect Wrestling’s World Champion), the holder of a feast (Won a Tag Team Championship contract in Feast or Fired), and I’ve gotten involved with a blow up doll (Used one to interfere in a Chris Sabin match, whilst promoting Jackass Number 2). I lost to the same guy in my ‘last’ match in one company (Samoa Joe in ROH) and my first match in another (Samoa Joe in TNA). I’ve teamed with my father (In JAPW), had one female manager (SoCal Val) but am currently managed by a man (Truth Martini) , and three of my main finishers were pretty much stolen directly from other guys (Diving Headbutt from Dynamite Kid, Figure-4 from Ric Flair, Diving Elbow Drop from Randy Savage). Who am I? Jay Lethal

Lethal owns almost every title in regards to the ROH TV Title. (Longest reign, most defences etc).

Who am I? I’m on WWE’s roster page on Wikipedia right now. I have twice as many WWE title reigns as I do TNA ones (although that number changes if you choose to include a reign that you really shouldn’t). My first ever match was a draw, while the first match I had in one company I won a contract out of. I was the first International something or other, losing it to a guy whose WWE run revolved around ladies. I won another contract by beating a guy who doesn’t give a fuck. One of my reigns was the longest in history, while another one was a whole three days. A guy who hopefully still has his popcorn machine, I am who?

Getting Down To All The Business

Mark starts us off with a request for a history lesson.

World Championship Wrestling, even going back to the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions, was always known for its tumultuous leadership in the office and in the booking chair. Thanks to the WWE Network, I have been going back over the past year and rewatching WCW pay per views, starting with 1988. It’s been a blast for someone who didn’t really become familiar with the company until 1991 and didn’t get to watch on a weekly basis until Nitro started in 1995.

That all being said, what was the trajectory of bookers/bosses of the company, going back as far as you wish? With WWF it was always Vince McMahon with a small rotating group of lieutenants underneath him. But with WCW it was much different. I know Dusty booked in the late ‘80s until he was fired. Then I think Flair booked 1989. And was it Jim Ross/Jim Herd until Dusty came back in ’91? Then I think it went through that infamous era of Bill Watts, K. Allen Frey and Bill Busch until Bischoff took over. Then of course Nash booked an infamous run in there while still under Bischoff I think. And of course it was the notorious run of Russo/Ferrara, the Kevin Sullivan committee and the Russo/Bischoff era. Who booked right at the very end?

Help me Obi Wan Kenobe. You’re my only hope…haha. So can you help me figure out a timeline and overall list of the WCW regimes with names and dates and key figures involved?

OK, I’ll do my best.

Although the first company to use WCW as a name is the Australian version that ran from 1964 to 1978, the debut of the WCW that we all know and love hate know was in 1982, when in response to Vince McMahon and the WWF beginning to become the biggest company in America, Georgia Championship Wrestling, the first NWA territory to get cable TV access on Ted Turner’s WTBS Superstation, changed its TV show name and thus public face to World Championship Wrestling. I sadly was unable to find an exact date.

GCW/WCW was owned by a conglomerate of The Briscos, Jim Barnett (who had started the Australian WCW, thus explaining how the name came about), Paul Jones and Ole Anderson, who was also booking for the company as it expanded outside of Georgia and ran in NWA neutral areas like Ohio and Michigan.

This set up lasted till 1984, as WWF left the NWA, Jim Crockett created Starrcade, and Hulk Hogan won the WWF World Title. And then April 9, 1984 occurred.

The Briscos sold their shares in GCW to McMahon, thus giving him majority control of the company, and the time slot on WTBS, in exchange for $900K and guaranteed jobs in the WWF (the job that Gerald Brisco had till he retired in 2009), while Jim Barnett also sold, giving McMahon 52% of the company. GCW pretty much ceased to exist at this point, as after a couple of months to fulfil some obligations, and for most of GCW’s office/on-air personnel to quit, July 14 1984 saw the debut of the WWF matches on the World Championship Wrestling program. This is commonly known as Black Saturday.

WCW existed as an outlet for WWF matches that had already aired on other programs for about a year, as ratings dropped, people got angry, Ted Turner gave Ole Anderson another timeslot on WTBS for Championship Wrestling From Georgia as well as Bill Watts’ Mid-South wrestling.

McMahon was losing money on the show, and eventually in 1985 went back to Barnett and offered to sell the time slot back to him. Barnett then directed Vince to Jim Crockett, who was in the process of buying up all the NWA territories that he could to try and take Vince head on, and who had just bought CW(F)G. In March 1985, the timeslot and the WCW name was bought by Crockett for One Million Dollars. At the time, this helped the WWF by shoring up their cash supplies while they expanded. For Crockett, the WCW name and the timeslot back to the way the fans liked it, NWA wrestling with Gordon Solie on commentary, went from there, with JCP (Mid-Atlantic) and Georgia working together, promoting under the banner of NWA World Championship Wrestling in 1986, with Dusty Rhodes acting as booker.

This lasted until late 1988, as Crockett set out to go national, and might well have managed it, but he suffered several setbacks, Magnum TA’s car accident, needless expenses, trying to run shows outside their home areas, not drawing well AND pissing off their loyal fans, and Dusty Rhodes’ booking becoming… Erratic at best.

Crockett wasn’t able to recoup the losses he incurred in his expansion plans, and thus was about to go under when Turner, who didn’t want to lose his cheap but popular wrestling, bought the company outright on October 11, 1988, although the deal wasn’t finalised fully until after November 21 that same year. The first on-air reference was November 5, when Ric Flair opened the WCW TV show with a promo and pointing out a bunch of Turner suits in the audience.

That was also the start of the NWA:WCW brand, with WCW being portrayed as a company under the NWA banner. Jim Herd was installed as the head of the company by Turner at this point, with Dusty staying as booker for a few weeks until he got fired after being told he couldn’t have blood on the show and responding by booking the Road Warriors to jam a spike into his own eye. Crockett takes over booking temporarily (Crockett knows he’s a temp booker at best, he can keep a ship steady but can’t do much more than that), until Ric Flair is installed as booker.

The start of 1990 sees Herd reorganize booking slightly, creating a committee to book, Jim Ross, Kevin Sullivan, Ric Flair, Terry Funk, and Jim Cornette working togther, with Flair, Cornette, and Sullivan running the matches while Ross and Funk oversaw the production of the shows. Flair was still head booker, until March 1990 when he resigns as booker after the boys begin to complain he was booking himself too strongly. Jim Barnett comes back in to head the booking under Herd’s more direct control, with the booking committee now seeing Jim Crockett, Herd, Ross, Barnett, Cornette, Sullivan, Wahoo McDaniel, Jody Hamilton, and Funk all working together, although Cornette and Sullivan dropped down the pecking order since they were Flair allies.

This only is temporary, as Ole Anderson became head booker by April 1990. Ole didn’t like Herd, and especially didn’t like Herd signed young up and comers to good guaranteed contracts, and thus began jobbing them out in hopes of them quitting, while bringing in all his old buddies.

This shockingly sunk the company’s finances, as WCW (as it was now calling itself) lost between 5 and 7 million dollars that year, and Ole only booked for 6 months or so!

Clash XIII was Ole’s last major show, as he was fired in early December and replaced with an ad-hoc team of Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Kevin Sullivan, and Ric Flair until Herd could find a new booker. This team did OK, but didn’t last long, as in early 1991, Dusty Rhodes came back and was installed as head booker, with the hope that since he was no longer a full time wrestler, he wouldn’t book around himself as much. Oh ye of little faith.

1991 saw the official debut of the WCW as a separate entity with separate titles and all that, while Dusty installed a committee of himself, Barry Windham, Grizzly Smith, Magnum T.A., Kevin Sullivan, Ron West, Mike Graham and Jody Hamilton as the booking team. While Jim Herd butts heads with Flair, Dusty books with a lot of gimmicks and with Dustin Rhodes getting a big push, among other issues.

Herd got fed up with his attempts at reforming the company being ruined when the guys he hired (young up and comers to good deals) kept getting buried by the guys the bookers hired, and so in mid-January of 1992, he quits/is fired, and is replaced by Kip Frye for all of a couple months.

After Superbrawl 92 in late Feb, Frey demotes Dusty to commentator, and handed over his job to Bill Watts, who was now both head of the company and head booker. Watts then took the company backwards, in terms of presentation and costing, (his contract had bonuses that weren’t as much about making profits as they were about cutting costs, and cut costs he did) installed a bunch of rules that pleased no-one, and was very much not popular. After his run didn’t help the company’s position, and after certain incidents in the corporate side of the company that he clearly didn’t want to work with, the final straw saw Watts and Flair (who was negotiating to return) argue over money, and that led to the suits about Watts to demote him, saying he’d still be on the booking committee but no longer handle contracts. Watts finds this unacceptable, and quits.

Tony Schiavone was tipped to be the guy to replace Watts (he had applied but in his own words only as a formality, he had no real plans/ideas), but Eric Bischoff went to the Turner suits and gave them a very professional business pitch to take WCW into the black, as it were. He was then made Executive Vice President of WCW, leading to Jim Ross leaving the company. Bischoff is put in charge of TV operations, with Bill Shaw as his supervisor, while the booking committee swells to over a dozen guys, with Bischoff joined by Greg Gagne, Bill Dundee, Mike Graham, Larry Zbyszko, Jim Barnett, Keith Mitchell, Michael Hayes, Sharon Sidello (head of the PPV division) and Jim Ross (until he leaves) with Ric Flair joining once his non-compete was up, the group headed by Ole Anderson and Dusty Rhodes as a duo.

This lasts all the way till early 1994, when Ric Flair, in part as a thank you for stepping in to save everything when Sid went crazy with his scissors, and in part because he was the only guy Ted Turner knew and asked the opinion of at a big group meeting, became head booker.

WCW almost died at this point, since 1993 saw the company lose around 23 million dollars, and the higher ups thought it should close. Bischoff was able to convince them it was a credibility issue and convinced them to spend more money on recognized stars, starting at the top with Hulk Hogan.

When Hogan and Savage and all their buddies start to come into the company, Flair and his committee, guys like Fuller and Dundee, eventually quit/are demoted/stop doing the job and the booking is, apparently, under Kevin Sullivan and Terry Taylor, with Bischoff in ‘change’ and Hogan and Savage ‘giving suggestions’. This actually lasts the longest time, as the trio (there are some other people, but Bischoff/Sullivan/Taylor are the main guys) launch the nWo and take the lead in the Monday Night Wars. Although they are the main guys, a lot of guys have input and toss in ideas, Scott Hall being a guy with a surprising number of ideas to his name. But for the most part, the trio last until late 1998…

OK, here we run into issues. Nash, himself, says he didn’t take over as booker until a couple months after he beat Goldberg at Starrcade.

Literally everyone else puts the date at right after Halloween Havoc when Hogan left for a short break.

So you can decide who you believe.

Anyway, Nash books for most of 1999, which, if you’ve seen the shows, mostly sucked. Bischoff, due to pressure from the higher ups to change the show, pressure to put on a good show, and from stuff not working and a whole bunch of reasons, is removed from his EVP role on September 10, 1999. (This is around the point were exact dates become known). Bill Busch, WCW’s Accountant, is put in charge as Senior Vice President, and he demotes Nash, with Sullivan and Taylor taking back control with Nash on the committee, along with Bob Mould and Craig Leathers (there is debate about who exactly was in charge here).

But then in October 1999, Busch brings in Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera, Russo taking over on the 18th of October. The result of Russo in WCW is well documented, and eventually he was suspended on the 16th of January, 2000. Sullivan is put back in charge of the committee, with JJ Dillion, Terry Taylor and by some reports Ed Ferrara under him. Around this time as well, Bill Busch is replaced by Time Warner programming executive Brad Siegel, who lasted all the way until the death of the company.

The Sullivan committee, having lost wrestlers and ratings, lasts until the First of April, when the Russo/Bischoff ‘dream’ pairing is unleashed on the world. At first it kinda works, and then very, very quickly doesn’t. Bischoff pulls away slowly but surely, leaving after the Bash at the Beach 2000 worked shoot shoot work rant thing along with Hogan. Russo lasts until just after Halloween Havoc, at which point Russo is gone for good, with Terry Taylor taking the reigns, assisted by Ed Ferrara and Johnny Ace, until the company is bought by WWF after Jamie Kellner killed the chances of the company by cancelling all of WCW’s TV shows.

So that’s about as good as I can give you. Hopefully others will have more/better details below to add.

Wow, that was a hell of a question. Took a fair while too. Let’s hope the next one is shorter. Michael?

Which scripted television series have done episodes that parodied or satirized wresting. They don’t necessarily have to include real wrestling personalities as guest stars. Off the top of my head, I can name: South Park, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Boy Meets World, Workaholics, Trailer Park Boys, Celebrity Deathmatch, and Mongo Wrestling Alliance. If a show just had a small scene where they briefly have something take place at a wrestling show, I don’t need it counted, because that’s been done a lot. I mean episodes focused on the wrestling plot. If you can’t find everything, it’s fine, I just want to know what I may be missing, and more importantly — if you’ve seen them — what’s good.

I thought It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia nailed it and made it fun while South Park’s was garbage.

…

OK, this is SO not a complete list, on the basis that I know I’ll forget stuff. Check below because I know/hope that my smart and beautiful readers will have other shows that I’m forgetting. But, here’s a list of shows I think have done stuff with wrestling that you haven’t mentioned. You can decide if they’re parodies or not.

Although it’s not really a TV show as such, perhaps the first episodic thing that had a wrestling episode was the Three Stooges in 1937, the ‘Grips, Grunts and Groans’ short.

Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie have carnie wrestling episodes, if you want to go back that far.

Does a series count? Because there was the TV series Learning The Ropes, where a teacher/Vice Principal was also a pro wrestler on the side.

Nikki, a short lived sitcom centered around Nikki Cox of Unhappily Ever After ‘fame’ ran on the WB for a short while. Nikki’s husband on the show was a pro wrestler, so pro wrestling would often feature in that series.

A show I vaguely remember, Mama’s Family, had an episode called ‘Mama Mania’ with the daughter character having to help an old school friend by being her tag partner for a show, but the friend ends up KOed and has to be replaced by Mama, and they end up winning the tag titles because that totally happens.

Charmed had a show based around pro wrestling training, where they ended up having to defeat demons in the ring, which led to this moment.

Yes, that’s Booker T and Scott Steiner.

The Family Matters episode is similar, with Carl and Urkel having to replace Carl’s old school buddy and his partner after they drink a knock out juice of Urkel’s. This shows wrestling to be a show when the opponents of the ‘Psycho Twins’ turns out to be the Bushwhackers and originally they will go easy on them, but when they find out Carl is a cop they go nuts and shoot.

This ended up in Wrestlecrap, unsurprisingly.

Xena: Warrior Princess had a couple of episodes, one with just a visit to a show and another one where Xena wrestled.

… OK, seriously, how did we not get a Lucy Lawless match at some point?

That 70’s Show has a semi-famous episode where they go to wrestling, and The Rock played his own dad.

Quantum Leap had a episode where Sam had to wrestle Terry Funk for some reason. But considering how that show worked, it was inevitable really.

I know King Kong Bundy appeared twice on Married… With Children as himself but I’m not sure how closely they fit your criteria.

The TV series version of Honey I Shrunk The Kids is interesting, as it’s a very rare case of WWF and WCW guys working together, as the episode in question involves Bret and Owen Hart as a team, at a time when Bret was WCW and Owen was WWF. Like a lot of these things, they end up ‘injured’ and the main characters have to take their place.

There’s a bunch of other shows with wrestling episodes, Drew Carey Show, A-Team, Baywatch, Night Court, My Name Is Earl, Monty Python a couple times, Kim Possible, Animaniacs, as well as the Bugs Bunny short ‘Bunny Hugged’ which is pretty good.

But my choice for all time best parody of wrestling is Futurama, the Raging Bender episode.

That’s certainly the one that gets quoted the most backstage.

But as I said, I know people below will have more.

Well those two questions took a bit longer than I hoped. Let’s go with fast money round. Connor?

Where do you see Magnum T.A.’s career going had he never been in that career ending car crash, would he have been a future world champion as many predicted?

Of course. Crockett was going to push the hell out of him, he would have been champ in a few months, without question. The NWA World Title was always going to be his.

Now, would he have been successful and led the NWA into a golden age? Possibly. Crockett had a bunch of issues that Magnum going down exacerbated, but him being champ wouldn’t have automatically fixed them either. But I think he would have been a great face champ, sure. But I’m not sure he’d have been the answer to Hulk Hogan that the NWA wanted. Although the Hogan/Magnum feud that would have happened eventually would have been cool…

Evil Jeff?

What was the thinking behind inserting Brutus Beefcake into the Hogan vs Zeus/Macho Man match at Summerslam 89?
When you watch events from around that time you can see the Beefcake is very over with the crowd (for some reason) but they were marketing Zeus as an unstoppable super-monster type and there were surely plenty of faces higher up the card who would have been more suitable to help out Hogan in this scenario than Brutus who was basically a comedy character. Couldn’t ALL have been down to Hogan’s influence behind the scenes could it..?

That he was Hogan’s best friend, and he was over as a face. Warrior was chasing the IC title, Duggan was a little old, and you needed someone there who Hogan knew well since the two of them would have to help Zeus through this if he got lost. I mean, it’s all well and good to think Beefcake shouldn’t have gotten the spot, but who else is left?

Shaun asks a what if.

What would happen in this scenario during a World Championship match (in any promotion) where the World Champion was defending against an obvious jobber. The World Champion decides to not kick out during a pin attempt due to wanting to mess things up without telling anyone?

That World Champion would be out of a job for starters, I tell you that.

It would very much depend on the circumstances. If the champ was looking to get fired, there’s easier ways and ways that make you look better, it’s self-defeating to job to a jobber. If the guy was a friend with the jobber and wanted to do him a favor, it’s just not the proper thing to do, you would be, if not blackballed, seriously grey balled.

So while the champ would get fired/depushed/ruin his career, the jobber would probably get a short push as the ultimate underdog, you’d push him as the sudden sensation and then job him to the next big bad heel you had, then send him back down the card, albeit to a slightly higher point he was at. Unless he got over, then you might push him some more.

Of course, while refs are supposed to count falls like real refs and supposedly they’re told to treat things as legit… A ref can still see a shoulder up if they absolutely have to. So the odds of it happening are low.

But yeah, the champ is fired, the new champ is pushed for a second, and everyone looks bad.

Michael?

Summerslam 1994 notwithstanding, why does the WWE always seem to go with the Allstate Arena (Rosemont Horizon) over the United Center while in Chicago?

The UC, while 20 years old, is still a world class facility and the Allstate Arena is a dump. Not to mention the proximity to the actual city of the two venues. Just never made sense to me.

Thanks and have a great new year!

Three main reasons seem to crop up in theories. There’s no hard and fast reason that is known. But I’ve heard suggested that:

A) WWE has a long history with Allstate going back 30 years, they know the building very well and thus can work in it easily.

2) It’s very close to the O’Haire airport, so getting talent in and out is easy.

Γ) It’s cheaper.

One of those three. I suspect #3.

Nightwolf wants to defend then question.

Before I get to my questions, allow me to defend Sting/Undertaker. It is the only fantasy match left that can still happen. WWE blew their chances on the other match ups. I mean let’s look at the Tale of the Tape:

Sting:

1. Cornerstone and Loyal to WCW ( 1987-2000)
2. Staying Power ( Survived the 4 Horsemen, the rise of the NWO, The Rise of Bill Goldberg, the Fall of WCW)
3.Master of Mind Games
4. Harbinger of Justice
5. Mostly Silent
6. 12 Time Heavy Weight Champion ( In various promotions)
7. 2 Time U.S. Champion
8. 4 time Tag: Team Champion

Undertaker:

1. Cornerstone and Loyal to WWE ( 1990 to Present)
2. Staying Power( came in at the height of Hulkamania, Survived the rise of Stone Cold, The Rock, DX, Survived the Rise of John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, etc)
3. Master of Mind games
4. Harbinger of Justice
5. Mostly Silent
6. 9 time Heavyweight Champion ( various Promotions)
7. 6 Time tag Team Champion
8. Royal Rumble
9 22-1 at Wrestlemania

I mean think of How the storyline would play out. Both men have accomplished everything in their careers. They are both franchises and Icons. They are survivors that managed to stay relevant, when all others faded into memory. They have been Harbingers of Justice, dealing Justice to those who are pure evil. They have won multiple titles and honors. The only thing they haven’t done is face each other. On one side you have Sting: The Franchise, The Icon, the Vigilante and on the other side you have the Undertaker: The Phenom, the Deadman, The Demon of Death Valley. Who is the greatest Supernatural Force in the Universe. They battle at WM 32 but they both mysteriously vanish thus bringing an end to their legendary careers. It’s the greatest story ever told

If you say so. I mean, I get the appeal, I really do, but I just think that the match isn’t big enough that there aren’t bigger/better usages of the guys. I’d want Taker and Kane to take each other out while I throw all the money in the world at Shawn Michaels for Shawn/Sting. But failing that, Sting/Taker isn’t a bad match, by any means.

I just want Taker and Kane out together.

1. Over the years we’ve seen many superstars that are 2nd and 3rd generation compete inside the squared circle. Is Curtis Axel the biggest disappointment to his family’s legacy? I mean he hasn’t done anything relevant since losing the I.C. title and I’m surprised the E hasn’t let him go

And I LIKE David Flair, but honestly, the talent levels there are just way off. Speaking of…

2. Do you think there is a Diva currently that can bring the division back to prominence like it was with Trish/Lita? My pick would be Charlotte

Not a Diva by herself, no. But Charlotte V Bayley, given some time to build, and a decent match length at Wrestlemania where Bayley finally wins the Divas title after chasing and fighting and clawing and struggling for months? Yeah, that would become the moment all female wrestling moments are judged by in WWE.

Rahil?

When videos get taken of YouTube are there legal consequences against the uploader ?????

Yes and no. Youtube’s terms of service say that they can take down a video for any reason they like, as well as for reasons specified. A lot of videos that are removed aren’t looked at by humans, they are just computerised removals, which is why you can file a claim against it. If it’s because of nudity or whatever, it ain’t coming back.

But if it’s a content ID issue, which is what I assume you’re referring to, there’s a process. The claim is made. If the uploader disputes the claim, the rightsholder can either release their claim or uphold their claim. If they uphold it, the uploader can then appeal (assuming they are in good standing with youtube), at which point the rightsholder can again let the claim go or file a DMCA notice.

That’s when the legal issues come in, as once that notice is filed, the video is taken down, and if you still want to fight it, you file a counter-notice, and if the rightsholder doesn’t give in, then the lawsuit is filed, and you’re in the hands of the lawyers.

Unless the rightsholders go to the lawyers early, at any point they can skip ahead to that if they so choose.

Youtube has some leeway with copyright law in that they aren’t held responsible for this sort of stuff provided there’s a “notice and takedown” system and that repeat offenders get blocked.

But if your video is just taken down and you don’t fight, you get a black mark from Google, but there’s no long term legal issue, the takedown is enough. Unless you fight it.

And on that somewhat non-wrestling note, I bid you goodbye for this week! More details for the above questions or birthday wishes below, and I’ll see you all next week!