Zakk_Sabbath

Impact physically hurts to watch. Especially since you can totally tell that they've moved the Impact Zone from the GUTS Extreme Arena to the former set of What Would You Do? That explains why he blew up so quickly during his matches. Maybe it was a Forrest Gump type situation?

Full disclosure: I was really, really, really young, and still held the mindset that he was an IC-level guy at the time of the Deadly Games tourney. I've watched those tapes many, many times since, and although it makes more sense in retrospect, I'm trying to approach the current title situation with the same level of kneejerkedness (?) that I did in those days How young we talking? Because I like the idea of a 8 year old kid being like, "The Rock ain't ready for that kind of responsibility! Being WWE champ is way harder than taking care of a puppy!" I remember when I was young and I was like "Now that the Hart Foundation have the titles, they're going to have huge targets on their backs! I hope they'll be okay." I think I was around 12 at the time. But I fell in with the wrong crowd... Dave Scherer and Scott Keith had already warped my fragile little mind. Your story is way more adorable.

Full disclosure: I was really, really, really young, and still held the mindset that he was an IC-level guy at the time of the Deadly Games tourney. I've watched those tapes many, many times since, and although it makes more sense in retrospect, I'm trying to approach the current title situation with the same level of kneejerkedness (?) that I did in those days

Maybe my desire to see a newer face on top outweighs all of this "paper champion" talk, but if Seth Rollins ends up as WWE WHC, I'd be perfectly fine with it. I didn't think Rock was ready in '98 or Foley or HHH in '99, but obviously time proved me wrong on those-- I'd love that element of surprise again. Orton and Cena held them too recently, and as great as Kane has been in his Authority role and with the Team Hell No stuff before it, I really have no desire to see him as champ. I'm not a huge Sheamus guy, and I'm still holding out hope that my Cesaro/Sheamus/Barrett "Team Europe" stable will come to fruition., so in my guesstimation, he's out. Plus, I think having a guy on his level as US champ is great for the status of the title amongst the average viewer. Until Bryan can go, I think they should shock the shit out of everyone and go with a Rollins or hell, even Wyatt. Sure, some may say he's not ready, but he just had a long, arduous (to watch..) program with Cena-- if the average fan isn't going to buy Wyatt now, when will they? What about Brock? Sure, he's a part timer, but he's hot off the 'Taker win, and in my opinion, I think it does a lot to raise the profile and mystique of the title when the champion isn't on TV every week. I was probably in the minority, but I thought it was fantastic when the Rock had it between RR and WM last year for that very reason. Plus, it might do a whole lot of good for the the IC and US titles to have them contested in the TV/PPV main events on a more regular basis, as some were alluding to above with TNA and even UFC.

I've never been to the club and I live nowhere near there, but I'm a huge fan of wrestling shows in unusual or non-traditional venues, so I googled a picture of it. I must say, to me, it looks PERFECT for a show:

Best thing about this video was them bringing back the Shawn Michaels blackout "Tell Me a Lie" song for the Cody video. I couldn't believe my ears. That was AWESOME. I've actually never watched the JBL & Cole show, but I've heard fantastic things about it. I guess I picked a really good one to randomly start with. It also made me miss Cody's mustache in a very awkward way. I just typed three massively long paragraphs about how infuriating everything about TNA is, how they're hemmoraging money but will probably toss a bunch of cash at Ezekiel Jackson to be in MVP's little faction because he's another black guy who was IC champ once five years ago for 20 minutes, how stupid Jeff Hardy's Willow angle is, every piece of awesome talent and all the missed opportunities that have fallen through their hands over the years, etc. but really, it was a total waste of time. What I should've wrote is simply: fuck this company.

Oh man, finding stock WCW music in the wild is one of the most satisfying things ever for a late '90s fan. This Kids in the Hall clip is probably one of my favorite instances: They play the Lex Luger theme from a few pages back quite frequently during highlight packages on ESPN, too, which is always a real treat. I was an NWO kid, but I always loved that entrance. I remember when he beat Hogan for the belt on Nitro, I was so fucking pissed off, but part of me still enjoyed hearing that song and watching The Giant clean the spray paint off the big gold belt. Not as much as I enjoyed watching Hulk flip a table and hearing Macho scream "IT WAS A FLUKE, BROTHER!!" however. I can't find it right now, but has anyone ever heard the version of the 1st Chris Jericho theme that has lyrics? We used it in some of my TV production classes in college. I can't remember any of the lyrics except for "THESE ARE THE DAYYYYS OF MY LIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE" I can't remember which stock music library it's from but I'd love to hear it. That theme always reminds me of staying up to watch Worldwide at like 2 AM on local TV. I remember raging the fuck out when it was pre-empted for coverage of the Princess Diana car accident/death. EDIT: Holy shit balls, I found it.

Sorry to bum everyone out, but I have no words for this:

That's awesome. Dave Millican seemed like I nice guy when we frequented some of the same belt collecting boards years ago. Somewhere, J-Mar is sitting there, going "Damn, he got on CNN?! I should've been cooler to people."

Has anyone ever been out near that casino? You get off the highway (you have to pass the NICE casino first, of course) hang a right, and then you're on one of the most fucked up, Deliverance-ass, melonhead inhabited roads of all time. Scary business.

I've been re-watching Raw from the beginning on the Network and just caught a pretty fired-up Lex Express promo against Ludwig Borga last night. Makes me wonder what might have been if the business in general was a little hotter around that time. Obviously, we have the benefit of hindsight, but I've been fixated all night last night and all day today on what things would be like if Luger were as hot as Hogan was in the 80s

I'm sorry, Mr. Testikoff, that's just her sense of humor I have to say, the TNA Monday Night Skirmish was actually kinda fun that first week. My ex girlfriend didn't watch as a kid so she missed the original MNW, but had seen the DVDs and all of that. So it was pretty fun to see it through her eyes for the first time. She rarely swore, but she let out a pretty loud "Oh my GOD is that JEFF FUCKING HARDY!?!" She couldn't believe it when I told her that a lot of weeks were like that for guys like us growing up. Flair walked out on Impact and she was woooo-ing all over the place. It was fun at least for that one night.

A BIG thank you for that transcription. It's kind of weird, but that was one of my favorite time periods as a WCW viewer, just because the uncertainty of the future actually did help to lend a somewhat unpredictable feel to the show. I'm sure it was absolute hell to work for them, but the tension that came across onscreen was organic and real-- and it showed. Say what you want about post-NWO era WCW, but it never felt sterile or lifeless in the way that WWE sometimes did in the mid-late 2000's. Also, I have to share my favorite part: This something that Eric Bischoff said in late 2000. 14 years ago. Let that sink in.

You're probably right. I've just had this weird, unbridled love for clusterfuck matches ever since I was a yout.

Next PPV: Wyatts v. Cena/Rollins/Ambrose v. Evolution in a 1998 WCW WarGames match That... actually sounds pretty rad. Of course, if I had my way, it would be Wyatts vs. Shield vs. Evolution, with Kane ripping the door off to interfere on the Authority/Evolution's behalf. Cena comes down to make the save, but turns out to be the fourth man in Evolution. I'm sorry for bringing my fantasy booking horse shit in here, but I'd certainly pay to see it-- even though it would never happen in a million years.

I missed the Adam Rose debut, and haven't been watching NXT long enough to be familiar with the gimmick. The vignettes made me kinda think he was supposed to be one of those ecstasy/dubstep guys or something.

I like Kane more than most, but I'm still not 100% sure if I can say that his feud with DB is going to retrospectively be a part of one of those "he's set up to fail by the booking" title reigns like, say, Mysterio's run (or even Punk's in some people's eyes). It would have such a bigger "architecture" if they had touched on the Team Hell No stuff more. With the Network, the barometer of what success/drawing is for a guy on top is sort of different now. I'm locked in for another 4 months, what am I, just not gonna watch the June "special event?" And, really, if not Kane, who? Many would say Brock but I'd imagine we're not going to see him until at least SummerSlam. HHH has 1) been done already, and 2) is tied up with the Shield. I wouldn't mind another Cena series, but I don't want to see the belt on him at all (even in a trading back and forth situation) and he's tied up with Wyatt. Read some rumblings about a Sheamus heel turn, and I've read that DB and he like working with each other. Maybe that's the way to go? What say ya'll?

I'm really torn on whether or not I enjoyed the finish to Cena/Wyatt with the kid doing the demon voice. I really, really wanted to, but I'm torn whether I'm feeling more like "Damn, Bray is gonna take that kid back to Carcosa and he's never gonna be heard from again" or more like "This was rejected from a WCW Se7en vignette." The match itself was not their best by a long shot, but I'm sure the chemistry will evolve if they decide to keep the feud going til next month. I felt like they were a lot less tentative than at WM. Evolution/Shield is a MOTYC for me. Reigns looked like $$$$, the usual tag formulas were executed perfectly, and the brawl through the crowd really added a lot to the match. Rollins' dive from the bleachers was one of the coolest things I've seen in a minute. I might have even liked this match more than Shield/Wyatts from EC, to be entirely honest. Which is saying a lot since I've been pretty critical lately about anything involving HHH or Big Dave. I actually really enjoyed Bryan/Kane. I've been reading a lot of mixed opinions here and elsewhere, but even if it wasn't a classic, it was still a good-natured, fun, unassuming tribute to the late 90s IMO. Saw the forklift and immediately thought of the Rock/Mankind Super Bowl finish (thank God we didn't get that.)

Not really wrestling related, but I just saw this video on reddit /r/obscuremedia for the first time in my life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFdzSex9kDM Could totally picture Dusty being all like "We'll just put an extra R, baby, no one will ever know"

I'm picturing Sting telling Cena he's gotta turn on him like Desmond telling Charlie he has to die on Lost. I keep having these visions brotha

Man, that picture of Bo looks just like this lesbian I used to buy pot from in college

Crazy Horse, Overlord, Parade of the Dead (which you may have heard as the theme to that TNA-ECW tribute PPV some years back), Black Sunday, Southern Dissolution... pretty much the whole album is good to great. The ballads are a little meh at times, but I really enjoyed it. Really, really trying to get into the new one, but it's not... great. Not as bad as Shot to Hell, but my hopes were much higher. Just no energy, no danger... I don't know what it is, but something in the sound has changed. He alternates between being faux-Eddie Vedder/Chris Cornell and faux-Ozzy on the vocals. He should probably just get a singer and start a new band, but I guess BLS probably still pays the bills. I dunno. I'll give it another taste when I'm not feeling quite as cynical. blabbermouth.net and bravewords.com, obviously. Metalsucks.net has some crappy opinions sometimes, but they cover a pretty wide selection.

Man, they need to start putting WCWSN on the damn network, you guys got me jonesing for some Gambler. EDIT: DUDE, YOU GUYS, I FOUND A SITE SELLING A DVD OF GAMBLER MATCHES FOR $22.50, AND ONE OF THEM IS AGAINST RICKY STEAMBOAT.

That's awesome, man. Bridgeport hates Randy Orton hard. There was one SD! in town where they were building to an Undertaker match, and people wanted to kill him. My story is also from Bridgeport. I went to a house show about three or four weeks ago, and the Shield did their entrance through the crowd near where I was sitting with my friend and his nephews (who are like, 7 and 9, I think). The youngest boy just absolutely loses his mind, yelling "THEY WERE SO CLOSE I COULD SMELL THEM!!" My buddy says, "What are you talking about?" and he goes "I HAVE NO IDEA!!" They were basically these kids, except replace the T-rex with Roman Reigns:

How many guys have been horrible in the ring yet so tremendous as a character and over with the fans that they totally deserved at least a secondary title push despite being unlikely to ever have a good match unless being carried by a vastly superior worker? Some may think I'm trying to be a snarky prick with this answer, but honest to God, I've gotta say Goldberg. If we're talking strictly guys who never ended up with a World title, then I'll have to rack my brain a little further. I absolutely love this video. I posted this on reddit a while back, but got no responses beyond the usual goofing on Diamond Dave "skibbity bop bop"-etc. Great insight from a guy who, in another life, would've made a tremendous heel manager.