clintthecrippler

That Revival match (at Roadblock?) a few weeks before the call up legit tricked me into thinking Enzo was going to be the next huge underdog face.

"The Group"

Not Ottman, that's UK wrestler Giant Haystacks during the very brief WCW run he had as Loch Ness. That may be my very favorite Luger run.

Yeah I get Little Guido and Dawn Marie mixed up all the time too.

It's like they saw the reaction WWE got when they inserted Big Cass into the Daniel Bryan vs Samoa Joe match and took it as a challenge to do worse.

If Chris Jericho told me that was an award he was winning I would say "that sounds made up" and think he was messing with me. And then he would still call me a "mark" on Twitter anyway even though I didn't believe him.

Harley vs David Von Erich is a great "World Champ makes the local rookie look good" match as well. Rob Van Dam vs Chris Jericho never before seen from the ECW vault is fun too. Not so much for the match itself, more so that it's fun watching a bloodthirsty New York ECW crowd respond mostly with apathy and very much not being in the mood for two long haired pretty boys doing gymnastics.

Sarcastic response to that: yep, wrestling was SO much better when guys "knew how to work". My real response to that: its Steamboats triumphant pose at the end that really gets that over with me. Six star match based on that alone.

Isn't the knock with FS1 is that their non live-sports ratings are so inconsequential that even a few hundred thousand viewers would be seen as a massive success? Or has that changed as time has gone on. I could see 205 Live benefiting from having a little bit more exposure through FS1. I think it would be a mistake though to put NXT on regular broadcast TV. It feels like that weekly NXT is a legitimate draw for the Network and I could see them losing a few subscriptions without that as a regular lure to interact with the Network on a weekly basis.

I am curious if FOX valuing WWE programming as a main network commodity with that much value will have trickle down effect and lead to bigger cable deals for some of the larger non-WWE leagues, like when UFC initially exploded for Spike TV and led to folks chasing after Bellator and Strike Force in its wake. I am curious if this will lead to something like NJPW on Showtime or Ring of Honor on ESPN, or if it will just reinforce the general notion to the television industry that "Wrestling = WWE" and no one else benefits in terms of TV profile.

That's also not considering that Ole was making Turner executive money every time he would pop back in for an office gig in the early 90s

Thanks for catching that! I typically avoid the YouTube comments section like the plague. That certainly is a local celebrity circa 1985 to pop a house!

I haven't been able to track down that info at all. I have asked around on a couple of the old-timer boards and no one knows. I have in my head that it's maybe a local rock radio DJ since he has the women that look like 80s rock video babes with him and the crowd seems to pop when he is sent away.

I am curious though if the fact that the last two weeks has seen ratings crater is making anyone at WWE or their new suitors' nervous. Though I also guess that if someone like FOX took notice of the shift WWE can pull the "this is cyclical and ratings always bounce back" card.