GuerrillaMonsoon

I need to watch some 88 TBS. That seems to be the common denominator - I didn't like his match with Flair at a time where I loved Flair's matches with anyone. I figured it'd be the tag team with Dustin and nah, that does very little for me when there's at least three other tag teams on the roster that are so much more interesting. There's this weird segment on one of the early Saturday Nights where he's doing a sit down interview with Jason Hervey, only to be heckled from the crowd by Paul E Dangerously in disguise as a cowboy, so Windham sort of half-assedly chases him off, and there's just no pay off to it at all. I remember someone on here saying that Kevin Federline should have been Cena's biggest nemesis over the years and had his own First Family to try and bring him down. Jason Hervey is the most punchable face on wrestling TV I've ever seen. And he worked behind the scenes till the company shut down after it. Why would you not strike while the irons hot here? His heel commentary was good at getting himself over and not much else, but it could have been the start of something. Especially after Heyman gets fired and sinks the DA - him buying their contracts and taking the stable over would have been decent.

Still on my WCW 1992 pilgrimage. I don't get Barry Windham at all. He's just bland and gets a lot of credit for being a more versatile big guy than those of his time. I mean yes - he's got great timing, and he gives his opponent plenty, he bumps credibly for a guy of his size. Otherwise he's not in the slightest bit compelling at all. He feels like one of the first top guys who just roll through spots and going through the motions without letting it sink in. I'm clearly missing something as he's one of the most over guys on the show - is it just a pop for the ZZ Top ripoff theme? The Austin TV title matches are good in theory - I hate the premise of the TV title matches where the challenger has to win two falls to get the title, and if its 1-0 at the time expiry, the champ retains. They should be a showcase for Austin - and given he takes 70% of the match, he is, but the outcome doesn't reflect that over the series of their matches.

There's a lot of revisionist history in the show (mostly around Rocky Johnson's departure from the WWF being linked to him taking a booking in Saudi Arabia for a rival promoter, rather than y'know, the allegations of raping an underage girl). I thought the stuff that was being referred to re: Shawn in this instance were more around how vocal he was around the WM main event in 2000 and how Rock shouldn't be in it, but they also refer it back to around the time of the Summerslam 98 ladder match, so it's probably a bunch of stuff blended in, factually or otherwise.

Remember when they heated up Wrath and Meng as having big winning streaks so Nash could squash them to build to Starrcade? They were both mad over at the time.

That's a terrible trade for Dallas and I struggle to see them hanging onto a playoffs spot with that little depth. Wonder what KD does now.

The Saudi partnership peaked here:

I would have liked to see Danielson tap to Thatcher's armbar. I think the story of Danielson coming in with an injured arm and having to tap to the debuting guy coming in as a much-vaunted submission specialist would have been a nice surprise given Danielson has to win them all. Have MJF decide that his Salt of The Earth is a far superior version, and deciding to give into hubris and give Danielson the match anyway because he wants the satisfaction of making Danielson tap too. You could even protect Danielson by have him tap immediately to protect the arm, or even say he did it to lull MJF into a false sense of security. Very interested to see where Mox/Hangman goes from here. It's been really well done.

We are gathered here today to mourn A man who made six figures for working one date a year around the horn. It was brother Randy who was the fan's pick. A universal seal of approval to whom everyone gave a tick. But could he too suck his own...

I could see Heyman ending up in the spot Scott Levy was in around 1994, where he ends up on the writing team in charge of one of the Saturday morning shows. I wouldn't be surprised to see a prototype of Shotgun Saturday Night occurring early, and as was the case with the ECW relaunch, Heyman's creative freedom gets neutered after eight weeks and they go back to doing the same thing at country club gyms. Whether that's the impetus for him quitting and doing his own thing elsewhere I don't know. I'm guessing the nature of his termination from Turner and the subsequent lawsuit he wouldn't have been welcome back there either. The other issue is that if there's no ECW around that time, I wonder who gets the Tommy Boy Records money. Or if Rick Rubin bankrolls SMW harder if they're a genuine #3

Tommy Dreamer, at best, becomes the guy Cactus Jack wanted him to be in 1995

Would they have been as reliable as Heyman and willing to promote a product that catered to numerous demographics? Everyone else at the time were the erratic cokeheads like Herb Abrams, Joel Goodhart etc, or guys like Cornette and Corraluzzo who just wanted to produce throwback shows for their own enjoyment. Throw in between a series of money marks who didn't have the connections or expertise to run shows frequently enough or sustainably. Also difficult to consider where Memphis fits in here, given they were propped up by Vince just as much as Heyman and Cornette were.

I think for me it'd be cool seeing a Dangerous Alliance rip off in the role of Jim Cornette's SMW invasion crew, but as a pseudo-WCW invasion instead. Heyman turns up after WM 9 with Lex Luger, Vinnie Vegas, Scotty the Body, the Taylor Made Man and El Gigante could have been fun.

Does the MNW even happen if there's not a significant third promotion for most of these guys? Does Austin end up on the radar without the ECW stint? Does Foley continue working Japan/money mark independents instead? Does WCW have the roster to justify the second hour of Nitro without Benoit/Guerrero/Malenko/Jericho/Rey/Psicosis being as well known as they were? Is there that much of a counter-culture that actively protests against the Hogan superhero babyface that warrants the need for Hogan to turn heel?

So Corgan has announced a nationwide tour of Australia for NWA (in some of the most rural spots imaginable) alongside Smashing Pumpkins, Jane's Addiction and Amyl & The Sniffers. Tickets starting at $178. This won't end well.

I do. Can't say I've used it for anything more than AEW (and even then I've never watched Dark).

I'll throw up a what if. What if Paul Heyman ends up in the WWF in 1993 rather than booking Eastern Championship Wrestling?

The top rope rule rears its ugly head yet again.

I think there's some noticeable differences once the Dangerous Alliance is no longer the key player in everything, and its guys just kinda wander aimlessly around, especially without the Steiners around to provide some sick multi-mans. The light heavyweight division obviously goes kaput once Watts comes in, after spending decent time building up Armstrong, Pillman, Levy, Liger as important. For Watts' supposed hard-on for real athletics/sports contests, the emphasis on the top 10 diminishes. I can go either way on the US Tag Titles going kaput, but the Freebirds are a pretty fun TV team. Even just the move away from Frey being such a pivotal on-screen guy I think takes away from Steamboat a bit. A lot of the programs tend to reach their natural conclusion to some degree, but the inconsistent booking of Vader around this time is annoying and a stark contrast to the initial Sting program.

Been watching the start of WCW Saturday Night from around early 1992. The K Allen Frey era shits all over the Bill Watts one from a great height, and yet such a discrepancy in praise.

Is that legitimately him? If so, I want his idea of becoming an honorary uce to replace Sami to become a reality.

Will you stop?!

Quality heeling. It'll be worth $10 by the time the prize drops.

Something I just don't understand - why would the past three years require such a spamming of "once in a lifetime global pandemic creates post-apocalyptic society" TV shows? I just tried watching The Last Of Us. It's good, I'm surprised it's got 9.1 on IMDB but it's not far off, but fuck it, we've lived this to some degree, I don't want to relive it through unnecessarily gritty bleak near-future drama. Nothing about the past three years makes me think "Wow, I really want to watch how bad it could have been".

They did though? Preston's promo on Rampage where he stumbled through telling everyone how well he could talk.

I wonder what that looks like. Toni Storm is a definite on one side, you probably have Willow as a definite on the other. Ruby Soho, Britt and Hayter are almost certainly in, but on what side? Saraya probably but would you want to risk her health in that sort of a match? That gives you 3 on 3 in some fashion. Athena and Shida would be logical choices for 4 on 4. Blade/Bunny, TayJay deserve to be in it for their previous success in these sorts of matches, but not sure the face/heel alignment really suits here. I think you run Toni/Saraya/Ruby/Athena/Jade vs. Britt/Hayter/Shida/Willow/returning Thunder Rosa - Jade stomps a hole in Britt for the win, you run back Jade/Britt and build to Jade vs Hayter title vs title.