twiztor

i wonder if this causes the Rockies to rename their mascot? i would lean towards Yes.

it took 3+ years, but i finished my quest to watch every televised ECW show. It was quite a ride. Almost all of this was new to me- a caught a handful of episodes of ECW on TNN back in the day, and i remember watching Anarchy Rulz '99 live on PPV. Other than that, my only exposure was via DVDs: i own all of the Pioneer "Best of ECW" discs, plus WWE's "Rise & Fall of ECW". And One Night Stand 2005 is one of my top three events ever. So i'm familiar with the characters and all of the biggest moments ("i'm pregnant. it's tommy's".) But seeing all of this play out, chronologically, was amazing. I started by watching all of the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance footage i could get my hands on. After all, ECW kinda picked up the pieces of what TWA was doing. They're not really connected. Most of it's not worth watching. The Cactus Jack/Eddie Gilbert stuff is fun tho. Actually, ECW in '93 doesn't really have much to hang its hat on either. Eddie Gilbert is usually the most entertaining aspect of the show, for better or for worse. It's neat seeing people you don't expect pop up in ECW: Jimmy Snuka. Kevin Sullivan. Arn Anderson. Road Warrior Hawk. and seeing early surfer Sandman, suspenders Tommy Dreamer, and the Tazmaniac. But past that, you're not missing much. It starts to turn the corner in early '94, hits like a tidal wave in '95, and arguably crests in '96. But '97 and '98 still have some monster moments. '99 begins the National era and takes us right through to the bitter end. The last few months are especially painful to watch. Some Highlights/Lowlights/Random Thoughts: Sandman's "Life's a bitch. Then you marry one" promo from early '94. This was his heel turn promo and i guess is pretty well known. It was new to me and opened my eyes to what was coming. Hack Myers got super over by the end of his run, but it never gets recognized. He never came back for any of the reunion shows, nobody ever talks about him, etc. Ridiculously distinctive look and ECW was better for having him around. Matt Borne's "Borne Again" showed promise. Kind of a proto-Loose Cannon. But it really was only a couple of promos. It gets talked up a decent amount but never went anywhere. Possibly a shame. Guess we'll never know. Raven IS ECW to me. His feuds with the Sandman and Tommy Dreamer are both the epitome of the company. I could talk just about Raven forever. Lucky for you, i won't. But he got Stevie Richards on the show and over, so that alone would be all it takes for me. Jason, the sexiest man on Earth. What a dumb gimmick that i absolutely loved. When Joey Styles would break out in hives, it never got old. Jason's only line being "How Do You Like My Suit" cracked me up. every single time. Later, when he was with Justin Credible? not so much. Sabu is fucking nuts. Any time he's on TV, he has my full attention. The fact that he's been doing what he does for as long as he has is incredible. Born To Be Wired is a guilty pleasure for me. i never bought Shane Douglas as "the guy". he was good in the ring, good on the mic, but it felt like he had a stranglehold on the title for YEARS. In reality he didn't, but outside of the Pitbull #1 stuff (which was AMAZING), he never screamed 'top of the food chain' to me. New Jack's early Gangstas promos are god-tier. Once he got way far into the weapons and diving and 'natural born killaz' i stopped caring. Steve Corino completely carried late stage ECW for me. From the moment he debuted, he was an absolute standout. From his anti-hardcore stuff early, to managing Tajiri and Rhino, to his feud with Dusty Rhodes, and eventually his title win, i was on the Corino train. me & Jack Victory. the one-two punch of Hardcore Homecoming/ECW One Night Stand is stunningly brilliant. Every match delivered. Every promo rocked. the emotion was real. Hardcore Homecoming: November Reign was ok. One Night Stand II had a great atmosphere for Cena/RVD. Legends of the Arena was just another indy show. Extreme Reunion/Extreme Rising- i've still yet to watch these, but being 10+ years after ECW went under, i'm not expecting much. i could keep going, but i don't want to make this insanely long (too late). Feel free to share favorite moments, matches, whatever you want. P.S. i even loved the ECW Zombie from WWECW week 1. His promo is just the best.

WM2 was (partially) in Chicago and even had the Fridge in the Battle Royal! perfect timing to pull that off.

Green/Fiziev was everything it was speculated it could be. very fun fight! edit: who scored it 30-27 for Fiziev? i had him winning a 29-28 decision, but in no way did he win that last round.

OK, i feel like a gigantic idiot. I always viewed the FTW belt as "Fuck the World", or me vs. the world. but seeing it as "Fuck The 'World' Belt" makes so much more sense that i can't believe i missed it, especially after just watching all of ECW. kudos to you, sir. ok, "belt collector" angle aside, can you imagine the uproar if someone threw down another promotion's belt right now? Omega discarding the TNA and/or Impact title, especially on Impact's next PPV or whatever, would certainly garner some media attention. Of course, it would alienate Impact from wanting to work with them again, but i'm just imagining the possibilities.... Rick Knox is the worst referee in the history of pro wrestling. I audibly groan when he's reffing. Yes, i know that's every Bucks match. His methodology actively distracts me and detracts from the match itself. I'm 100% in favor of the "referee's discretion" loophole, but Knox letting the Bucks do whatever they want in EVERY FUCKING MATCH is absolutely the worst part of AEW for me. It took 18 months or so, but after Double or Nothing this year, i'm not OK with it anymore. and every match just cements that view further.

@Casey i have not seen this one before. I'll probably still seek out Samoa Joe/Necro Butcher, because, you know.... violence. Dog Collar Match: CM Punk vs Raven (7/19/03, ROH Death Before Dishonor) fun promo from Punk before the match starts. He looks like a super low rate Steve Corino with that stringy dyed blonde hair. those basketball shorts are horrible. Raven just dominates early, being in his hardcore element. Punk bleeds in the first 2 minutes or so. Now the Corino comparison is even more apt. He takes a beating. Nice spot where Punk wraps the chain around his leg and delivers a kneedrop to Raven's cranium. Surprised that's not more common in these type of matches. They brawl though the crowd for like 10 minutes, which is too long and i tune out for a bit. Oh, they're back in the ring now. back and forth action, some good stuff. Raven with a series of like 12 clotheslines, which is...something. In the end, we see a ref bump and Raven gets a visual pinfall, but after interference from Colt Cabana and Danny Doring, Punk gets the actual victory. Punk wraps Raven in the ropes, cruxifiction style, and pours beer into his mouth. Tommy Dreamer appears and lays Punk out with a chair. Yeah, this definitely had its moments. It was a good match, and the crowd loved every minute of it. I'm kind of crowd brawling burned out, having just watched all of ECW, but even that was good. The pre- and post-match antics of Punk were easily the best part of this for me.

add in "breakout performance" and "aborted push", and end it all with "creative has nothing for you" and it describes practically every wrestler on the roster of the last 20 years.

also one of my favorite KOs:

i like Glover, but i'm more than OK if he pulls out of this fight and we get Jan/Jiri.

i enjoyed Nick Aldis' reign for the first year plus, and his feud with Tim Storm. Minus a single month reign by Cody, Aldis has had the title for THREE AND A HALF YEARS. that is crazy and way past its sell-by date. the problem is that current NWA is full of third raters. i don't know what Corgan has planned, but i hope it's big. i would love to follow this promotion, but a subscription model with the current roster just ain't gonna cut it. i hope they can thrive by possibly picking up some of the talent WWE cut loose. Or coming up with interesting matches, stipulations, and storylines. Team Challenge Series 2021 is definitely not what i'm looking for.

for anybody hesitating to watch the MOTU stuff because of Kevin Smith's attachment, i think it's very much a non-issue. This doesn't feel, sound, or look like his standard projects. If you're interested in the premise (or the discussion), i'd say check it out.

i miss watching Samoa Joe and wish he never re-signed with WWE.

count me out going forward. this last week was a brutal one and next week isn't shaping ip to be any better. it's been fun, and i'll get @Casey's pick watched sooner or later, but i gotta bow out. edit: @Caseythe SuperClash match is definitely better, but i assumed you had seen that. it's also on youtube if you want to check it out. yeah, this is very early in Madusa's career. Sheri's in-ring career is very spotty as she bounces between territories and roles a lot. they actually teased this match as happening in very early ECW (didn't happen) which is another weird novelty.

i grew up a Bulls fan (like everyone else my age), but my first trip to United Center was for UFC 225 a couple years back. to me, All Out is their WrestleMania, but i'm probably biased because i was at All In and i'm only a couple hours from Chicago. They really do set Revolution up as top-tier each year.

That opening video + the ramp/light entrance + ring apron introduction for Hangman & Dark Order is arguably my favorite moment in wrestling from 2021 so far. I didn't know just how invested i was in this story until that moment. When Page fully goes over the roof will blow off whatever arena they're running. same for me. I was really looking forward to FTR/S&O, but felt very deflated after the elimination tag and never got back into the show fully. @S.K.o.S.is right that based on the story they're telling, Page SHOULD fail and the Dark Order should stick by him, but man, it really did take a lot of the energy out of the crowd. my stupid pneumonic device for FTR: Bald may be beautiful, but Hair is CASH money.

@Casey sorry about being late with this, it's been a rough few days. will watch your selection as soon as i can. i love me some bloody brawls! this isn't WWF, this isn't Joshi, this. is. AWA! in a rematch from their SuperClash II match, Sherri Martel defends her Women's Title against Madusa Micelli.

big fan of the He-Man cartoons, both the 80s version and the 2002 reboot. Thought this series was awesome so far and am very much looking forward to the 2nd half. i think a big problem is that they leaned heavily into this being a direct sequel to the 80s series. it didn't match that in story, in tone, in animation, or really any other way. it is an awesome story, but it is not the same. IMO that's why there's a lot of resentment (well, that and misogny). i marked out for:

take care, @Gordberg. i've enjoyed your AEW posts in particular.

i'm not sure on your question, but the ad for the TJ episode of UFC Chronicle really pisses me off. It frames the whole thing as an inconvenience for TJ and that he is the victim of the whole thing. Like, it's a minor setback that he'll have to work hard but can overcome it. NO MOTHERFUCKER, YOU CHEATED. Your punishment was a 2 year suspension and the stigma you earned of not playing fair. that being said, i don't really get upset over bad/questionable decisions anymore. They'd have to be especially heinous before it would upset me. If you're fighting and it's close, then anything can happen. I do believe UFC and whoever else should better educate judges and commissions, but you can only do so much. If you, as a fighter, have multiple fights where you lost a close decision you feel you should have won, i would advise you to do more to prove that you won. more output, more pressing the action, more varied output, do whatever you can to solidify the win. don't just coast because you feel like you're winning. Some of this can also go back on the coaches and corner people.

i scored the fight for Sandhagen and feel like the judges were overvaluing TJ's takedowns and holding him against the cage. But i'm fine with the decision. It was close either way. Sterling's getting some surgery done. Best case scenario, he will be available to fight late in the year. I expect it'll be longer than that and UFC will crown in interim champ.

ha, i just watched that whole broadcast a few weeks ago. i forgot how long Piper's fight scene in They Live was. also, the second part of the double feature, Immortal Combat, is not good at all. also timely because they're making a Roddy Piper They Live action figure (see the merch thread)

just saw an article that Vince, HHH, Steph, Nick Khan, and others just cashed out a portion of their stock. to my financial peeps, is this a common occurrence? does it play into the larger "WWE is for sale" narrative? does WWE have any big negotiations coming up that we know about? https://amp.wrestlinginc.com/news/2021/07/vince-mcmahon-and-top-wwe-executives-cash-in-on-company-stock/

and can't feel the ring bouncing like crazy when someone interferes behind their back and hits their finish.

i understand where he's coming from, but i feel like that's a false equivalence. WWE can make plenty of money off of performers, whether they "improve their game" or not. Dave's just too deep in the wrestling bubble.

i forgot about that! i think they teased it on one episode of BTE and never mentioned it again. would be a great callback!