bret hart

Nobu, John Scott & Colin Kaepernick…a New York Jet?- The Daily Spotlight for 2/2

Tom Lynch The Daily Spotlight , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Tuesday Guys & Gals! What you didn’t think after declaring a February filled with updates that I would stop on Feb 2nd would you? Let’s turn on the spotlight & get right into it. 

-Unfortunately we have to start with another sad piece of news on the wrestling front. It’s being reported that WWE Hall Of Famer Blackjack Mulligan was rushed to the hospital yesterday and isn’t doing very well. Mulligan is the grandfather of current WWE Superstars Bray Wyatt & Bo Dallas, which explains why they were off of Raw as WWE actually sent them home to be with Mulligan. Mulligan was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame back in 2006 with longtime tag team partner Blackjack Lanza by fellow Hall Of Famer Bobby The Brain Heenan. This sad news comes just 24 hours after the news about Bret Hart revealing that he is currently fighting Prostate cancer. Our thoughts & prayers are with Mulligan and his family during this very difficult time. 

– Had a chance to catch up on this entire John Scott situation and I can’t get over just how bad the NHL looked during the entire thing. An all-star game is supposed to be all about fun (my main reason why I hate that baseball puts homefield advantage during the World Series on the line during theirs) and it’s supposed to be an event for the fans. Sure, in theory, it’s supposed to be the best vs the best but by allowing a fan vote, you allow fans to choose the players that they want to see the most. The NBA All Star Game is going to be all about Kobe Bryant and he’s obviously not having an all star caliber year for the 9 win Los Angeles Lakers. Can you imagine the outrage if the NBA asked Kobe Bryant to sit out during his final all star game because “the game isn’t for him” or if they questioned Kobe about whether his family would be proud of him for accepting the all star spot despite his bad year? It would never happen! The good news for Scott is that he had the miracle ending and finished with the all star game MVP. The better news is this whole story is likely going to become a movie, and the NHL will look just as bad in cinematic form. 

– So it appears that Colin Kaepernick is seeking a trade out of the San Francisco 49ers organization and is interested in playing…for my New York Jets! Now I’d like to make it clear that I’m not a Colin Kaepernick fan. I always found that he came across very arrogant & I hated the way that the 49ers treated Alex Smith. That said, Colin Kaepernick has led his team (with a defense similar to that of the Jets & comparable weapons on the offensive side of the ball) to a Super Bowl and to two NFC Championship games. Kaepernick is a dynamic dual threat that in the right system can give your team the chance to win any game. I love Ryan Fitzpatrick but he’s only had one winning season and never made it to the playoffs, Colin Kaepernick would instantly become the most athletic quarterback the Jets have had since Bubby Brister….or ever! He’s certainly worth a shot. Sidebar but check out New York’s secondary teams (The Jets & the Mets)  becoming desirable landing spots in the same season, pretty cool to see. 

-Lastly I was able to check out Nobu for my girlfriend’s sister’s birthday and let me tell you, Delmonico’s may have competition for my favorite restaurant in New York City. I grew up the type of guy that enjoyed simple American chain restaurants. Applebee’s, Chilis and Friendlys ranked among my favorites, as I refused to try anything different. Well, over the last decade or so I’ve really expanded those horizons (partially because my relationships had a limited shelf life with weekly trips to Friendlys) andlast night may have been the pinnacle. From octopus to short rib to a variety of raw fish and sushi to a multitude of Sake, I tried it all and loved every bit of it. With a party of 10 we ended up getting 2 dishes of each one of the four course options offered on their restaurant week pre fixe menu. It was so much fun trying the many different delicacies and a major kudos has to be extended to the staff at the midtown Nobu location who treated us like kings and queens, while offering us special dishes on the house. I can’t give this place a higher recommendation and with New York City restaurant week still in effect until Friday, get out there and take advantage! 

That’s going to do it for me as its times to go burn off some of that sushi! Talk to you guys down the road. 

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The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts- WooNation with Bret Hart 

Tom Lynch The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts, Wrestling , , , , , , , , ,

  

Last month the world of wrestling podcasts continued to grow with the birth of the latest wrestling podcast on the play.it network. Joining the ranks of wrestler turned podcast host along with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Chris Jericho & Colt Cabana is the Nature Boy himself, the 16 time world heavyweight champion, Ric Flair! Five episodes into Flair’s offering, WooNation, and I’ve found the podcasts an enjoyable addition to my weekly podcast listening. I’m actually going to be taking a look at two different Ric Flair podcasts in the upcoming weeks but I’m going to start with an episode of WooNation from two weeks ago when Flair had 5 Time WWE World Champion Bret Hart on the show.  Let’s get into some of the highlights from the show.

Highlights 

 History Between The Two–  Something really cool about the show is that the producer of the show, Conrad, is there to basically make sure that nothing goes uncovered.  Since Ric seems to really respect Conrad he never objects or gets upset over anything that Conrad suggests talking about. Ric reveals first how much respect he had for Bret after Summerslam 1992 when he had his classic match with the British Bulldog.  He goes on to say that he and Randy Savage watched the match in their hotel room the next day on closed circuit and went to Bret’s hotel to thank him for putting on such a great match.  From here, I found that the discussion about the match between Flair and Hart from Sasquactchawan where Hart won his first title to be very interesting.  Flair explains that he found out that he would be dropping the belt to Bret a few days beforehand.  He went on to say that prior to this happening, he wrestled to the Ultimate Warrior and Warrior dropped him on his head which caused Flair to be disoriented.  Due to this injury Flair felt that he could have done better in the match with Bret. Bret on the other hand recalls that when Vince McMahon told him that he was getting the title,  he barely responded because he felt that it probably wasn’t going to happen.  Towards the end of the show, Conrad asks Ric and Bret about the issues between the two stemming from comments Bret made about Flair basically saying that if you’ve seen one Ric Flair match, you’ve seen them all.  Bret didn’t really back off his comments saying that while he respected Flair, he did feel that wrestlers in Bret’s generation used much more creativity than wresters in Flair’s generation.  What was really interesting though was to hear Ric agree with Bret’s comments to a certain extent.  He explained that in his generation there were only so many Ricky Steamboats.  He continued that many of the wresters back then weren’t in the good shape that wrestlers in Bret’s were so they weren’t able to have different types of matches, it was easier for them to have basic matches.  Flair even went so far as to say as great as Harley Race was, he was never in the gym.
 Bret Really Hated WCW– One of the biggest things to come out of this interview was just how much Bret hated WCW, in particular Hulk Hogan.  Hart explains that Hogan was completely unprofessional with Bret during his time in WCW.  He continues that Hulk would cross Bret’s name off of any big spots or plans that WCW had planned for him.  He explains how Hogan really ran the show in WCW and Eric Bischoff, in his opinion, was more just a puppet being that he was so star struck by Hogan.  Hart also confirmed that any stories that Bischoff has been saying about Bret offering to come to WCW with the WWF world title was completely false.  

Bret on Owen’s New DVD– The third highlight for me was hearing Bret’s unwavering support for WWE’s plan to release an Owen Hart DVD set.  Bret explains that he understands why Martha (Owen’s widow) would be upset with WWE but feels that at this point she should understand that at the end of the day Owen was a great wrestler.  He strongl believes that Owen should be celebrated and that Owen’s fans shouldn’t remember him because of the horrible tragedy that ended his life but rather by the great body of work that he put out throughout this career.  I feel that Bret’s support of the Owen Hart DVD project should put to rest some of the controversy surrounding the project.  I agree with Bret that this project should have taken place years ago.

Closing Thoughts

 All in all I felt that this was an absolute must listen to podcast.  The hour plus long conversation flew by and it was really nice to hear how at peace Bret and Ric were with, not only each other, but also with life in general.  I also found their insight into the industry to be so in congruence such as both of their rather surprising criticism of Steve Austin, that at times he really had to slow down.  Other highlights of the show included a discussion of Stu Hart, a discussion about the time both Bret and Ric bled at Wrestlemania 8 after being told that bleeding wasn’t allowed and the response that followed, and a breakdown of Bret’s Wrestlemania 13 match with Steve Austin.  Thus, I strongly suggest you check this episode of WooNation out and if you do, I’d love to hear some of your feedback. Be sure to also check out some of my other spotlight on wrestling podcasts as they continue to get updated weekly.