I’m on TV! Well, actually the YouTube show. Well, you can’t see my face, but if you squint, you can see a purple blurb which was the EVOLVE hat I was wearing.
So WALTER is now a full-time member of NXT 2.0.
Except that he introduced himself on tonight’s show as “Gunther”.
And WWE just filed a trademark this week for the name “Gunther Stark”.
Which was the real name of a Nazi U-boat captain who died in action when U-740 sank in the English Channel in 1944.
GOTT IN HIMMEL Bruce Prichard is bad at his job.
I’ve been on camera for a couple of WWE shows and at least one ROH show. The best one was a Smackdown taping in Portland in December 2013, where I was sitting in the second row on the aisle on the hard cam side, and the Shield made their entrance down the aisle I was sitting next to. I patted Seth Rollins on the back, then patted Roman Reigns on the bicep - and his bicep was so oiled up that my hand was dripping wet afterwards, so when Moxley came by I patted him on the back with my other hand.
If you care to look up the episode on the Network, I’m the guy wearing a Hulkamania shirt and a Rey Mysterio mask.
Surprised they want to change his name, it’s already a single word and wwe loves that shit
AEW Dark Taz/Excalibur moment of the day
Bear Country vs Brandon Bullock & Jameson Ryan
Taz: I found it interesting that Bear Bronson was flexing, like a bodybuilder. Where bears, in the woods, they lift trees. They don’t lift weights, which is interesting.
Ex: Do they lift trees or do they sharpen their claws on trees?
Taz: Well, they do both. That’s why they’re strong. Spend some time in the jungle like I do, my friend, and you’ll see.
It could be worse. When Jeep Swenson was going to debut in WCW back in the 1990s the creative team was going to call him “The Final Solution”!
(“The Final Solution” was the wording the Nazis used to refer to the killing of the Jews in Holocaust.)
Letting people keep their indie names was Hunter’s idea, which means Vince has to bury it because I’M VINCE MCMAHON I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE STARS AND NOTHING THAT ANYONE DID ANYWHERE ELSE MEANS SHIT AAAAAAAAAAAAAH STEPH GET ME MY ICOPRO AND STEROID SMOOTHIE I HAVEN’T HAD MY FIX IN ALMOST FIFTEEN MINUTES NOW AND I NEED TO SCRIPT RIDGE HOLLAND’S FART JOKE PROMO IN TIME TO JOB HIM OUT TO HAPPY CORBIN ON MAIN EVENT
I remember you posting that. Was it really over 8 years ago? Sheeeeeyit.
I missed that one, but there were a few other exchanges I thought you might use in your AEW Dark Taz/Excalibur MotD, @Knowed_Out. At least one other during that match (though I would have to watch again to remember them).
As dumb as the name change and the trademark are, as long as WALTER is just “Gunther”, keeping the theme of single-name characters, it shouldn’t be…too…bad. After all, the translation is “battle warrior”. The bad optics of the trademark (which may have been necessary to avoid other trademark issues - just guessing on this) will soon dissipate.
There were two other spots I considered. One in the Adam Cole match where Taz said Britt Baker was his own dentist. Later, Anna Jay came out with Negative One, and Ex asked if Taz remembered having 10 year-old energy, and Taz responded “Yes, when I was 8.” The imagery of bears bench pressing trees tickled my funny bone the most, though.
More likely explanation is that Vince just now found out about Game of Thrones and ordered that they give him the last name “Stark” and nobody bothered to Google Gunther Stark before they filed the trademark.
This is the kind of shit that shouldn’t happen in a multi-million-dollar-valued publicly-held company. A simple Google search before applying for a trademark should be S.O.P.
Wouldn’t be the first time. Remember the “Submission Sorority”?
I am really enjoying watching Hook.
I kinda see him as the (much more enjoyable) dark mirror to Orange Cassidy.
AEW Dark Taz/Excalibur moment of the day
Gunn Club and The Acclaimed vs Dark Order
Mark Henry joins commentary.
MH: So with the Dark Order, you have 5 and 10. You know why 6 is afraid of 7?
Taz: Cuz 8… 9 ate 9.
MH: You’re the worst! Cuz 7 8 9!
Taz: That was it! I knew that 7 was in it!
MH: You are horrible at math.
Taz: I’m the product of New York City public school system, my friend.
Ex: PS FTW.
MH: Geez.
Taz: In the 80’s. That was even worse.
…
Ex: Colton makes the tag to Austin Gunn, one half of the Ass Children.
Taz: Now you’re going even deeper, Excalibur. C’mon, you’re better than that. I would hope you are.
MH: Or you could say, it happened today.
Taz: Right. Or you could say, The Children of the Ass? Is that OK? I wouldn’t know if Colton and Austin would mind that. Children of the Ass. Like chosen of the gods?
MH: Wow.
Taz: (sings) Children of the Aaaass! Something like that.
MH: You are off the rails.
Taz: This is Dark, bro. This is how we roll.
Mark Henry didn’t bring too much to the commentary sadly. He definitely couldn’t keep up with Tax and Excalibur, but he was starting to get rolling by the end of the show.
Yes, Henry’s delivery is more relaxed than Taz & Ex. He works better with Paul White and Tony Schiavone on Dark Elevation IMO.
@Knowed_Out , did you ever find Taz and Ex’s e-mail addresses, and mail the Dark quotes of the day to them?
No, the best I could find was AEW’s general email address, hello@AEW.com. I didn’t get a response.
Maybe if I took up Twitter I’d have a better chance of reaching them, but I consider it the downfall of humanity.