Next Exit Observations: 06/29/15

Monday, June 29, 2015

Surprised, I Think Not

WWE's Big Show finally admits Brock Lesnar ring breaking spot was rigged

On the June 12, 2003, episode's of WWE's Smackdown, Brock Lesnar took on The Big Show in a match that would quickly go down in WWE history as it ended with Lesnar landing a top rope Superplex on his 500-pound opponent, with their combined weight causing the ring to break.

Both wrestlers and the WWE have long maintained that the iconic spot was not pre-rigged and that the two goliaths really caused the ring to collapse with their high-flying antics.

A dozen years after the fact, Big Show is finally letting up on the ruse in an appearance on fellow wrestler Chris Jericho's Talk is Jericho podcast.

The seven-foot former champion finally admitted the whole thing was rigged: “I’ve kayfabed this whole thing for years and told everybody, ‘Oh the ring broke,’ and 'It was really crazy timing.'"

He then goes on to explain how it happened: "We did a spot right before we broke the ring where we’re both down and they shoot a real close-up of both of us selling. Well in that time, [WWE Stunt Coordinator] Ellis [Edwards] had airbags under the ring. So they had lifted the ring a couple inches. So now, when I’m standing on that top corner, that ring is like standing on marbles. Because it’s moving. Of course now I’ve got my fat ass up in the air, 500 pounds on a not very stable surface … So then the ring broke. I just remember when it happened because … you don’t know how the stunt is going to look. But man, it was so perfectly timed the way we did it and Ellis did a great job of setting up. That thing collapsed and everybody they bought it so long.

Afterwards, he admitted to lying about the move for years: "And this is the first time out all the interviews I’ve ever done, I’ve admitted the truth that that was a rigged angle. On hundreds of interviews, I have lied right through my teeth and said it's a shoot. But if you get a chance to suspend people's reality just for an instant, for a second, it's good for them"

(SI.com)

The 2015 NHL HOF Class Is A Strong One

Lidstrom, Fedorov, Pronger lead Hall of Fame class

Nicklas Lidstrom , Sergei Fedorov, Chris Pronger, Phil Housley, Angela Ruggiero, Peter Karmanos Jr. and Bill Hay are the Class of 2015 for the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Hall announced Monday.

The induction ceremony will be Nov. 9 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

(NHL.com)