Poison

So after my query about the Hurricane's whereabouts on here like two weeks ago, I'd bought tickets to Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore event in Melbourne, Australia, having not really been to a live event in about 10 years. That event was tonight. Dreamer comes out at the start, says MVP and Magnus couldn't make it but that he has a surprise replacement. Next minute, Hurricane Helms appears: unadvertised, unannounced and a looking pretty unfit. Fair coincidence that.

I wrote a reasonably lengthy post that disappeared on me for some reason. Anyway, a few questions (subject to the caveat that I have not watched WWE consistently since about 2002 so it is difficult for me to recall some things with exact precision): Firstly, what happened to Shane Helms after his year-long absence from the WWE? I seem to recall his comeback being fairly heavily promoted, leading to him wrestling for the US title at one point? Then, within a matter of months, he faded into obscurity and was basically gone soon after. Secondly, watching the WWE Network, why are a number of USWA 'Best Of' compilations categorised as GWF shows? What was the nature of the relationship between the companies? Did the GWF own the USWA video library? Lastly - and this is a comment rather than a question - but I'm surprised Gary Young never got a run in WCW or WWF. It's hard to determine his height from the TV but he has a hybrid Razor/Rick Rude look that I feel might have appealed at that time.

As an Australian, I'm particularly intrigued by this fight. As a pro-wrestling fan, I'd always rooted for Brock because he was great at silencing the critics of pro-wrestling who were otherwise happy to label wrestlers faux tough-guys. However, as a person, I could take or leave Brock. The Stone Cold Podcast episode where he acknowledged he doesn't interact with the boys and basically just resents people confirmed my indifference toward him (at least he's honest). However, I'm a huge fan of Mark Hunt and I'm hopeful that he wins decisively and is rewarded with a Heavyweight title shot. Either way, the build-up is going to be something else. I can't wait.

I've been reading a bunch of books on pro-wrestling lately after not having touched one for four or five years. Firstly, let me add another vote for the Hardcore Holly book. He comes across as a no-nonsense but likeable guy, which is completely at odds with his persona as reported on the interweb. I seem to remember a story circulating when he departed the company that nobody had attended his farewell party. I could be wrong as it seems implausible and I cannot find it now. Anyway, he goes to great lengths to address the misconception that he was this dislikeable bully and my opinion of him had changed drastically by the time I reached the end. Not only is it a great firsthand account of the WWF locker room from the early 90s until his departure in 2009, but he has a fantastic personal story to tell as well. I read Jericho's second book having read his first way back when it was initially released. A great read. I probably don't need to pump it up too much as I trust most people here would have read it already. The other two I've read which I can't recommend enough are James Dixon's Titan Sinking and the follow-up, Titan Shattered. I have not seen them mentioned in the recent pages of this thread but they are two tremendously well-researched and captivating accounts of the WWF in 1995 and 1996 respectively (naturally the 1997 sequel to be released later this year is called 'Titan Screwed'). I bought them from the Book Depository because I like books way more than eReaders, and because of that, they were a bit pricey. However, I'm pretty sure the Kindle version of both is fairly cheap. I had no idea who the author was or what the site 'History of Wrestling' is all about and only came across it as a related product when I was viewing Lex Luger's book (which I did not buy). http://www.bookdepository.com/Titan-Shattered-James-Dixon-Lee-Maughan-Benjamin-Richardson-Justin-Henry/9781326355814?ref=grid-view http://www.bookdepository.com/Titan-Sinking-the-Decline-of-the-Wwf-in-1995-James-Dixon-Jim-Cornette-Benjamin-Richardson/9781291996371?ref=bd_recs_1 It covers quite a few things I knew about, but goes to new level of detail (for example, the author interviewed the lawyer for one of the marines involved in the altercation with HBK that became an on-screen storyline). If you're looking for something new to read, do yourself a favour and try out Titan Sinking. Highly recommended.