The Viceland Wrestling Documentaries

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 minute ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Everytime they (WCW) tried something different with Pillman, whether it was a failure or successful, they eventually reverted him back to Flyin' Brian until he joined the Four Horsemen. That stunted his career cause he was too old to be a white meat babyface after already being one.

Oh man, how about in spring 1995, just before he joins the Horseman, when he has that awful blond extensions in his hair, and that theme song about how he's gonna keep on rockin' in the California sun?

How on earth did they think that would work for Pillman at that point in his career? 

[Elsalvajeloco]

15 minutes ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

Oh man, how about in spring 1995, just before he joins the Horseman, when he has that awful blond extensions in his hair, and that theme song about how he's gonna keep on rockin' in the California sun?

How on earth did they think that would work for Pillman at that point in his career? 

Yeah, I was going to bring that up since I am rewatching 1995 and that just happened a few weeks prior to where I am now.

It didn't last long apparently.

[Curt McGirt]

I tell ya, the Jushin Liger matches don't stand up to the test of time. No sir.

[zendragon]

I found his WWE DVD to be underwhelming for that reason

[AxB]

44 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I tell ya, the Jushin Liger matches don't stand up to the test of time. No sir.

Well, they were the best Pillman matches of all time, but they weren't in the top 500 best Liger matches of all time.

But then, from the perspective of an early 90s WCW fan, it's a big change from what Brad Armstrong was doing.

[SirSmUgly]

2 hours ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

 

If you want a Pillman hot take, here you go: his last good match was the Fall Brawl 1995 match against Johnny B. Badd, and it was entirely because Badd carried him.

I'm going to get around to actually watching that again not too long from now, but I definitely agree that it was his last good match, and Badd was certainly at the peak of his powers toward the very end of his WCW run. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

Singles match? Probably. I remember that one was good.

As far as, his last good match regardless of the match type? Remember he was one of the men in the Canadian Stampede main event. Probably one of my sentimental favorites of all time.

1 hour ago, AxB said:

Well, they were the best Pillman matches of all time, but they weren't in the top 500 best Liger matches of all time.

But then, from the perspective of an early 90s WCW fan, it's a big change from what Brad Armstrong was doing.

Man, I saw a tag team WAR vs. NJ match essentially with Liger/Samurai vs. Ultimo Dragon and Norio Honaga. Poor El Samurai might as well been in the crowd cause those three dudes just ignored him and worked absolute circles around him. A goddamn barnburner.

[SirSmUgly]

The big Canadian Stampede tag is a good match that gets elevated to great solely because of the crowd heat. Agreed on that one being his final best match, period. 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

10 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

As far as, his last good match regardless of the match type? Remember he was one of the men in the Canadian Stampede main event. Probably one of my sentimental favorites of all time.

I agree that the Canadian Stampede match is great, but I have to admit, I remember Bruce Hart throwing punches at Steve Austin more than practically anything Pillman did in the match, so I hesitate to say that was a good Brian Pillman match unless we also call it a good Bruce Hart match.

Which, I mean, I'd be okay with that, because he doesn't have many and everyone deserves kindness.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

5 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Owen at the end of 97 was a babyface for the first time since early 1994, so it was a fresh concept that kinda went nowhere for a few reasons.

I've always thought about what things would look like if Owen got a quick title run sometime between DX IYH and WM XIV - logically it was Austin's time but still, that was a silver platter angle

[Elsalvajeloco]

26 minutes ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

I agree that the Canadian Stampede match is great, but I have to admit, I remember Bruce Hart throwing punches at Steve Austin more than practically anything Pillman did in the match, so I hesitate to say that was a good Brian Pillman match unless we also call it a good Bruce Hart match.

Which, I mean, I'd be okay with that, because he doesn't have many and everyone deserves kindness.

Listen to me closely...fuck Bruce.

I say that as someone who rarely does that.

He shouldn't be rewarded for going into business for himself just cause WWF never saw fit to include him in anything pertinent. He is lucky Austin or any of the other guys on his team didn't stump him into a fine powder.

That said, you can pretty much subtract the weak point of any excellent multi person match. However, what would be the point? There are guys and gals who have rings in sports who barely contributed but get basically the same glory. 

Funny I should bring up Canadian Stampede and multi man matches cause I watched the War Games match from 1992 last Saturday. Austin and Dustin are in that match as well just on opposing sides. They are easily two of the hardest workers in the matches along with Windham, Steamboat, and Arn. Sting deserves a nod as well. Everyone else? Just there. Hell, Madusa climbing the cage and scurrying away from Sting was more valuable than anything Larry Zbsyzko did. However, I cannot honestly take the background players out of the match just because I don't think matches should be ranked in that way when everything played out perfectly. I looked at great non singles matches like this: if those guys played too big a role or overstepped what they were capable of, then the wrestlers who made the matches have their performances diminished. So is the storytelling.

 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

5 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Listen to me closely...fuck Bruce.

I say that as someone who rarely does that.

He shouldn't be rewarded for going into business for himself just cause WWF never saw fit to include him in anything pertinent. He is lucky Austin or any of the other guys on his team didn't stump him into a fine powder.

That said, you can pretty much subtract the weak point of any excellent multi person match. However, what would be the point? There are guys and gals who have rings in sports who barely contributed but get basically the same glory. 

Funny I should bring up Canadian Stampede and multi man matches cause I watched the War Games match from 1992. Austin and Dustin are in that match as well just on opposing sides. They are easily two of the hardest workers in the matches along with Windham, Steamboat, and Arn. Sting deserves a nod as well. Everyone else? Just there. Hell, Madusa climbing the cage and scurrying away from Sting was more valuable than anything Larry Zbsyzko did. However, I cannot honestly take the background players out of the match just because I don't think matches should be ranked in that way when everything played out perfectly. I looked at great non singles matches like this: if those guys played too big a role or overstepped what they were capable of, then the wrestlers who made the matches have their performances diminished. So is the storytelling.

 

Now I'm just mentally calculating who was better at ringside and cage-scurrying, Madusa or Sensational Sherri, so I'll be thinking about this all night. Look what you're doing to me!

[Curt McGirt]

If those WCW crowds got to see the Liger/Sano feud from then, they would have lost their fuckin' minds.

[Cobra Commander]

Brian Pillman and Eddie Gilbert had some parallels, at least in regards to having drug problems while having friends writing newsletters who'd downplay their flaws

[odessasteps]

1 hour ago, Cobra Commander said:

Brian Pillman and Eddie Gilbert had some parallels, at least in regards to having drug problems while having friends writing newsletters who'd downplay their flaws

Imagining Brian married to Missy.

[Curt McGirt]

Well, considering who he WAS married to... close enough?

EDIT: Oh, hell. We have two episodes for the next season right there. Eddie and Missy. Missy not being on yet is criminal. Maybe they're asking for too high a price to appear. And man, she has to have ALL the dirt, you just know from reading her Tweets.

Edited May 21, 2024 by Curt McGirt

[odessasteps]

I was thinking something alone those lines, but didn’t want to say it. 
 

Missy has been a talking on there, so I can’t imagine she’d be adverse to doing the show, depending on the topic. I have heard she doesn’t necessarily like discussing Eddie or at least certain things. And she likely has some kind of NDA from the WCW lawsuit. 

[username]

I think people are being a little hard on Pillman as a wrestler here, but his untimely death does sort of distract that he was pretty much past the productive point of his career. He was a physical wreck who showed basically nothing in his entire WWF run and who never really seemed sure how to proceed beyond the whole worked shoot deal behind his compelling ECW/late WCW work. Before that he was a fine hand and yeah that brief time the Loose Cannon thing was clicking was good stuff, but the amount of stuff about him you'd have to change to make it so that he had stuff left to contribute is so significant that you wouldn't really have Brian Pillman anymore. 

[Cobra Commander]

how does an NDA with a company that merged into another company work in the scheme of things? like if Missy's NDA is with Turner Broadcasting, does that mean that WBD is certainly the heir to all the Turner legal leftovers? or is it an NDA with specific people or what?

[odessasteps]

It's possible there's some kind of deal between Missy and Eric, but given some of the things he has said about her on his pod, maybe not. 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

I don't blame Missy if she doesn't want to talk about the moment where her career was basically imploded because she was sexually harassed, but she was blamed for it because she was sexually active. When the only defense to "hanging up pictures of a co-worker having her breast exposed without her consent" is "well she has sex a lot so she must be okay with it", and somehow HER career was what was ended... I wouldn't blame her for being upset, and I wouldn't fault her for claiming she's under a NDA so people leave her the hell alone.

[Cobra Commander]

Missy will show up in reenactments for the upcoming Dark Side Of The Civil War series

[Curt McGirt]

Christ, I didn't know the whole story about that. That's terrible. And yeah, she doesn't have any obligation to say shit. I would have rather NOT known that.

[odessasteps]

For people who more info, BTS did a Patreon episode about the lawsuit earlier this year. 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

For people who more info, BTS did a Patreon episode about the lawsuit earlier this year. 

No thanks, Bix doesn't need to be given any money to slutshame anyone, he'll do that for free.