Smelly McUgly

The pandemic basically killing this iteration of the NWA is a high-key bummer. They had something there where they could have shared talent and had a nice little studio show. They had some feuds and angles that I was really into (Edwards/Pope, Zicky Dice's improbable TV title run) and they had something with that Rosa/Kay series that got both of them more over while they were building up Kamille in the background as a killer. But yeah, I think it's dead. I occasionally catch MLW now, but that incarnation of the NWA was the thing that brought me back to weekly wrestling shows for th

I hope we get Scorp on that episode. It's a bummer that both Road Warriors are passed because having one of them on that episode would be great, too.

Here's my hot take: They never should have put that Pillman/Austin gun angle on TV, but it was entertaining as shit. I enjoyed it, fuck it, I admit it.

I just finished the first ep of Pillman, and I know that they're not going to bury the dead (I know, I know), but Pillman got off quite easily for fucking with Rochelle - it was all about how shit Melanie was, and obviously, yeah, she was shit, but it's not like she was pulling puppet strings and Brian was just too darn willing to go along with it. Though of course, I get why Rochelle's child would focus her fury on Melanie and not her dad. Really, I just have a lower opinion of Pillman than I did before at this point and I feel bad for Rochelle's child.

I gotta be honest, I bet kids do. I can still recite billed heights, weights, and places of birth off of random '90s WWF wrestlers who I loved as a kid. Razor Ramon, 6'7, 287 from Miami, Florida. Bret Hart, 6'1, 235 from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Undertaker, 6'10 and 1/2, 328 from Death Valley. I think stating the size of a wrestler really does add to that larger-than-life feel that the company is going for. EDIT: For example, I just saw @Matt D's post and immediately had Howard Finkel's voice in my head: "weighing in at 303 pounds, from Venice Beach, California...Huuuuull

Oh no, my favorite grumpy old poster. We used to talk about the Seattle area all the time. Fuck.

On the other hand, his stiff chops work perfectly with Blassie's jelly-legged wobbling.

Bryan in Hoodslam, please. ...no, I'm being serious here. Bryan vs. Drugs Bunny = $$$

At least at DVDVR, Hogan is rated pretty properly. Besides anything from Japan where he worked harder, he has good stuff stateside like the brawls with Slaughter.

This is a fair counterpoint. I think it would be fine and Austin getting set up for a defense against a hot heel who wins the Rumble would have worked. Hey, you can still run Austin/HBK after Michaels wins the Rumble. The bigger issue would be what heels to set Austin up against in the run-in. At that point between 11/97 and 3/98, they're still trying to get their budding main event heels to that level (The Rock, HHH), and their established heels are probably past the point of putting them in that spot (Faarooq being an example of this off the top of my head). The other option is just to

They should have just had Austin beat Bret for the gold, finally get his win, and close that feud out. If necessary, have Austin win on RAW in the run-up and then retain by double-DQ in Montreal. @GuerrillaMonsoonI agree in hindsight. Bret and Razor are clearly ahead of him on the totem pole for his whole run there in terms of fan support. Probably the best answer of all is to just transition the title onto Razor from Bret via a transitional champ instead of wasting him in a feud against Jarrett. Every Rumble would come down the pike and Razor wouldn't be in any of them. Wrest

Hogan would do petty heelish shit all the time (see the Sid elimination at RR '92), so let's not try to rehabilitate his character as simply a smart babyface. He was, in fact, a dick when it came to his character.

That WoS revival was dire, but in fairness, they just followed the dwindling base of increasingly hardcore fans. Is it even possible to re-train an audience to appreciate a different in-ring style or cadence to a show anymore? I don't know that I feel confident that the modern UK wrestling scene could pull it off if they tried.

It's harder to do great comedy than great drama because of how precisely comedy has to be timed in order to hit, and also because pleasing a broad audience who likely has different comedic tastes is harder than nailing the universal emotions involved in drama. I've read countless actors say that comedy is harder to do. That seems like it applies in wrestling as well. Les Kellett is fucking great, so I'm on board with Gordi here.

The five bucks a month I pay for a VPN has served me well in these times. If that's affordable to you, you should look into one.