Happ Hazzard

Jesus, Davey looks massive there, bigger than he ever was in the WWF. When they came to the WWF he and Dynamite were about the same size. Dynamite just got smaller while Davey got bigger.

It probably would have been similar to Flair vs Nikita or Flair vs Hawk. Warrior would have developed a bit more as a worker in the NWA. But so much of Warriors act was specific to what the WWF was at that time, with the music, running to the ring and shaking the ropes etc, it's hard to imagine him in the NWA, particularly in the studio tapings they were still doing in 1988.

It's hard to say, Watts didn't like Hellwig, but he liked Sting. Sting would have stayed all muscled up instead of slimming down and wouldn't have become the worker he ended up being. And I don't think he'd have become the Ultimate Warrior as that was largely based on Hellwig's Dingo Warrior character from WCCW. Maybe Fritz would have made Borden the Dingo Warrior instead of Hellwig. There's a lot of ifs or buts contained within the question. I do think Sting would have had more long term success and a lot more longevity in the WWF than Warrior did. But he would have developed into a totally different character and wrestler than he was in WCW in real life.

The classic WWF locker room background(with the lockers and a payphone) that Mean Gene etc would interview the wrestlers in front of, was that just a green screen thing or a physical prop they'd bring to events? I suspect the latter just because the green screen for stuff like Vince and Jesse introducing the shows in front of the live crowd is blatantly obvious when looking nowadays whereas the locker room isn't. Also, was the Shockmaster going to wrestle in a mask that he'd wear under the Stormtrooper helmet? Obviously he wasn't wearing a mask on that fateful night and he didn't wear one when he eventually wrestled in the Wargames but did they originally plan for him to wear one in the ring? Because they had to realise that the fans wouldn't take the former Tugboat seriously as a new character.

Dune and The Batman have been delayed until October 2021 and March 2022 respectively.

Eddie Van Halen, dead at 65. RIP.

There was a story, presumably on a Mero shoot interview, about him being invited to a Turner function celebrating the African American community (with the likes of Muhammed Ali and Hank Aaron in attendance) and having to be very evasive when asked what race he was.

I didn't know where else to put this, it's very funny. [/

They always referred to Mr Perfect as "Curt Hennig" even when he hadn't been called that on WWF TV in years. But Jacques Rougeau was "the Mountie" from the moment he debuted in that gimmick. They also refused to call anyone "Ricky" it was always "Rick Morton", "Rick Steamboat" etc. Balls Mahoney was always just referred to as "Mahoney" in the Apter mags. There were other weird idiosyncrasies they had too, such as the naming of the titles in USWA, what USWA called the "Unified World Champion", PWI called the "USWA Champion" and what USWA called the "USWA Champion", PWI called the "Southern Champion". I get that it was because they didn't recognise USWA as having a legit world championship but it was still confusing.

Jackie Stallone, the manager of all the "good girls" from the original GLOW, has passed away at 98. She was also the mother of Academy Award nominated actor Sylvester Stallone. RIP.

Kind of, he cut promos on Honky in IWCCW but never wrestled a match for the promotion. I don't think he had any matches at all in the year between him leaving WWF and joining WCW.

By the time the move comes out, Hardy will be the oldest debut Bond, beating out Roger Moore who was 45 for LALD.

The main problem I have with the show is that it's 35 years since the events of the original movie. Both Johnny and Daniel should be over it by now. And it seems unrealistic that both of of them became first time fathers at about 40. It seems like the 90s didn't happen for either of them. They lived the 80s lifestyle in the 80s then got married and had kids in the early 2000s. I think the show is playing fast and loose with the timeline and both characters are supposed to be in their mid 40s (which to be fair, they can both pass for).

Greatest squash match of all time:

Djokovic eliminated from the US open for hitting the ball at a line judge.

Anyone know what this "Wrestling Underground 1" thing on UFC Fight Pass is? At first I thought they'd changed the name of Submission Underground for some reason but now I see its a separate event held after SUG 17.

When did a victorious wrestler's theme music being played after the match become the norm? I'm guessing Hogan in the WWF but when? IIRC it didn't happen at WM1 but did at WM2.

Who is the guy on the left? Others are Adrian Street, Bruno Elrington, Mick McManus, Masambula and Mike Marino.

The "Final Match of Survival" was a weird thing in that there was no way to explain how it worked on TV without acknowledging the existence of babyfaces/fan favourites and heels/rulebreakers which WWF never did.

Just read the name "Butch Masters" in some AJPW results (teaming with Stan Hansen) and decided to look him up, I remember seeing him listed (as Giant Warrior) in the PWI500. How come he never got a chance in any of the major US promotions in the late 90s? WCW especially seemed to be signing just about anyone, and you'd think with his size (listed as 7' tall) WWF would have been interested. Very similar look to Kevin Nash, since he wrestled in Britain I'd be amazed if he wasn't used as a "Tribute" version of Nash or Diesel somewhere along the way.

Bobby wasn't that bad a promo in his early days: I think he just never got any better due to his being managed by Jimmy Hart, then Cornette, then Heyman.

Eddie fell out of the ring while trying to help free Test but they edited that out of every release of the event after the fact, its only on the live broadcast version (and probably the immediate encore PPV showings)

Torrie Wilson's dog Chloe has passed away. RIP.

Thanks for the recommendation, I managed to pick a used copy up (for under £5!) and it came today, in good condition and looks awesome from what I've looked so far. Text in both Spanish and English.