caley

With the stupid hat with his face on it, that skipping pose into the double-bicep flex, and the catchphrases and passable (for the shouting catchphrase era) promos, I think Buff would have been over huge for a little while as a face, the crowd REALLY wanted to cheer him, he could've maybe been a toned-down WCW version of Val Venis . I also think there's a good chance his babyface run would be interrupted by an upcoming heel just SHREDDING him in a promo (say, Jericho...as he's one of the few young heels who got promo time...I could see him unintentionally stopping Buff's face run with a good mocking promo/nickname) or the crowd tiring of him in a "So this guy is good-looking, girls like him, and he kinda sucks, why are we cheering for him" kind of way.

I often wonder how quickly Mick Foley s WWE career would have flamed out if they had stuck with his original WWE moniker/gimmick of Mason the Mutilator

Is '...All the Marbles' with Peter Falk managing a women's tag team any good? It's on TCM tomorow if anyone is interested.

A late Vince Russo-era WCW Nitro live from my hometown seemed an impossibility, but here it was. My friend's dad had box seats to the arena, so he assured me early on that we had seats. The day of the show, my brother and my cousin and I were shopping around downtown, we swung by the arena to see the big WCW trucks unloading equipment and the like, and while we were standing there, a number of wrestlers showed up and were walking across the parking lot, behind metal fencing: Rick Steiner, Kevin Nash and everybody cheered and yelled at them, in order for them to turn around, wave, nod etc. Tank Abbott showed up and everyone went silent, one kid was like "Shhh, he's dangerous" which I thought was quite funny, my brother looked around like 'I'm not scared' and yelled "Tank Abbott!" Tank turns around, glares, stalks over a few feet then yells "Did you all come here to see Three Count dance?!" to massive cheers before going in. My cousin, after this bit decides there's no way he's missing out on this (Because it wasn't my sky box, I didn't feel like I could invite him and my brother) and buys two tickets for them, basically last row, back of the arena seats. So we hung around near the arena, followed Jeff Jarrett around for a bit until the hotel security guards shooed us away, got lied to by Dave Penzer ("Is Bret Hart gonna be here?" "Oh yeah, everyone is here!") and just about half an hour before the show a big guy in a suit came up to us and asked if we had tickets and were sitting together, and I was like "I'm in a box, but they're sitting together" and he hands my brother and cousin a pair of tickets "Compliments of Mr. Goldberg". So my friend shows up and I'm up in the skybox with him (TERRIBLE seats that are adjacent to the entrance so you can't see the screen which is an absolute necessity at a Russo-booked show...the main event was Goldberg putting Midajah through a table backstage shown on said screen) and I scan the crowd for my brother and cousin and they are DIRECTLY behind the announcers desk for the show. All night long they are on camera (If you watch that show...and I don't know why you would, for a show with Sting, Rey Mysterio, Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, PCO, The Great Muta etc. etc. it is a TERRIBLE show...there's a kid directly behind the announcers who does the RVD pose for the cameras, that's my cousin!), they almost got run over by the Harris brothers doing a run-in, a chunk of table almost hit my brother (Though for him, the most memorable part of the night was when the one kid came up to them and told them that ICP was going to be there and if you chanted ICP's name all night they would come out and bring you candy like some demented Juggalo Santa Claus, I guess, and the kid kept chating ICP all night even though they were not there). My mom remembers later that night, checking on my cousin who was wide-awake and staring at the ceiling and he said "Best night of my life Auntie Liz!" I saw said cousin this past summer, he's married with children now, and 23 years later, he stil brought up that night and how he was telling his daughters about it.

The biggest problem with that run was that Michael Cole and Corey Graves basically sat there waiting for Booker to say something weird or slightly wrong, and then they'd pounce all over him, trying to one-up each other in making fun of Booker who, rather than engage, would just talk about something else which would just make Graves and Cole pick at him some more. I actually think Booker is pretty great and probably the last vestige of the old colour commentator on WWE TV, a la Bobby Heenan or Jesse Ventura. Graves and Barratt are both super-polished and not liable to say anything confusing, or funny or weird, Raw and Smackdown might as well be announced by an AI program. Tazz and Booker (And not always intentionally in Booker's case) will sometimes just go off on a tangent that breaks up their commentator(s) and reminds the viewers at home, that there are in fact human beings calling the action.

I had to Google it, 'twas Fallon Henley as Stratton.

In 2000, if you believe this write-up, I'd say Sabu dodged a bullet when ECW fought his signing with WCW "In 2000, he was repackaged as The Dog when he formed a hardcore tag team managed by Fit Finlay with Brian Knobbs. His mannerisms in this gimmick were those of a stereotypical attack dog and would have habits not unlike dogs, including drinking from the toilet. He was a last minute replacement in their group for Sabu." https://bwwe.fandom.com/wiki/The_Dog

Why were there so many Big Al's in WCW?! I knew Big Al with Tank Abbott and Big Al (911) were not the same person, but I always thought Big Al (911) was the same person as Big Al (Who became The Dog)! But it turns out Big Al Green who played The Dog was neither Big Al (911) nor Big Al (Tank's friend). So at some point WCW had three (!) different incarnations of Big Al, none of whom were the same person?! :hair-tearing out gif By the way, I hadn't seen it in years, but Big Al Green had one of the funniest vignettes in WCW history as The Dog when Brian Knobbs caught him drinking out of the toilet, then drove him out to the middle of nowhere and abandoned him, leaving Green to howl in sadness at being abandoned. I've never been sure, but I've always felt like someone was watching the Simpsons Barbershop Quarter episode when Homer was tasked with getting rid of Chief Wiggum who had his head out the window panting and saying "Where we going" before Homer abandoned him in the countryside leaving Wiggum to howl as he drove away. https://www.wwe.com/videos/brian-knobbs-catches-the-dog-drinking-out-of-the-toilet-and-then-ditches-him-in-the-desert

It was an era of class and honor.

I never had a video store with a set-up like that. SO much WCW! Most of the places here had the bulk of the WWF big four PPVs but very few WCW videos. I remember taking a road trip with a friend to Vancouver and finding the Spring Stampede VHS (The one with Vader-Boss(man) and Dustin-Buck) and spending way too much for a used video because I not only hadn't seen the show but hadn't even seen the box anywhere before. And it was probably the best wrestling-related purchase I ever made. I probably set a record for the most times renting WM IV from a local video place. Even though none of the matches were good, as a kid nothing excited me more than a wrestling tournament, even one as lackluster as that one. If I'd heard of the G-1, my brain would have exploded.

Cowboy shit in your heart sounds like the potential for really bad things, health-wise.

The Zombie was one of the rare times that WWE was trying to be funny and actually WAS funny.

I dunno, man, the immature part of me would have laughed myself silly if they cut to a stall with Roddy's feet shown underneath yelling "ADAAAAAAM!"

Also Shawn Michaels office being seemingly built out of balsa wood. I'm kind of fascinated by how someone in WWE/NXT is completely enamored of Noam Dar. He was one of the few cruiserweights to get promo time during the initial cruiserweight division; goes to NXT UK and gets the Heritage Cup; brought into NXT with a big hype video and the entire Heritage Cup division built around him; given his own group to lead; gets a tournament to face him and they set up a special lounge for him to watch the show from. Someone(s) must really love him. I haven't seen a ton of his matches. What would he be in the ring, say average, slightly above average? Promo-wise, he's got that great accent and oblivious a-hole character down pat, but he doesn't seem as can't-miss to me as one would think justifies this much attention and hype. But someone really must be in his corner, so I wonder if he ends up being one of the biggest stars from this crop of NXTers. Trick's reaction and presentation on this episode really made him look like a superstar-in-waiting. I'm curious where they're going with Thea. I mean, the Chase U gimmick probably isn't transferable to the main roster but I'm not sure the new one will set her apart either. Baron Corbin seems like he's having a lot of fun in NXT, and i still love how Bron looks like his dad but sounds like his uncle. Undertaker is gonna sue him for gimmick infringment if he keeps sitting up like he did on top of that truck. Also, the POV shot of the fire extinguisher coming at the camera was so bizarrely random, it reminded me of that one Arrested Development where they had "gimmicks" to try to get people to watch the show including a "3-D" scene where Gob randomly throws a tomato at the camera.

Admittedly I haven't been watching NXT as much lately..but this is the first definite "Who?" I've had. As in, I haven't even heard his name in passing much less seen a match of his.

Apparently the word going around tonight is that Jade is finishing up with AEW and heading to WWE?!

Figured as much. Since Vince's return-ish, NXT has lost its Women's Tag Champs (the champs were brought up, the #1 contenders, and the belt was just dropped), the women's champion (Indy), the North American title, and now the Women's Title. At this point, Shawn Michaels should make himself the NXT Champ, it's really the only way he can guarantee the belt won't end up on Solo Sikoa.

I hate, HATE when companies run World Title Contender tournaments and the bulk of the top guys aren't in it because they don't want them dropping falls. Even if they said something like "Only competitors that haven't had a World Title match this year or that the names were randomly drawn or based off Win-Loss records" but to have a tournament for a #1 contender -featuring Nick Wayne and his, what, 7 matches he's wrestled?, Jeff Hardy who has been gone more than he's been here and Jay Lethal and Trent Berretta who really hasn't won anything of any substance in a long time and Roderick Strong who's been "injured" the last little while (at least he has some credibility with a win over Jericho)- just annoys me. Swerve's promo was really good but I still can't for the life of me figure out his motivation. To build a rep off Hangman? Why does he care whether Hangman is coasting or not? And if MJF's championship reign is just going to be him making sub-par Attitude Era fat jokes and then telling a story about "When I was just a 19 year old kid?!" then Adam Cole needs to turn on him yesterday. Even Samoa Joe seemed to be rather off his game promo-wise, like when he told the crowd who was chanting "Fuck you, Joe" that their mom was saying that...that doesn't really make sense. Did Joe cut them off in traffic? If the crowd was chanting "Fuck me, Joe" then it would make sense...but that would be an unlikely scenario. Tony being upset at MJF getting beat up is the worst. He's been calling him every name in the book for the past couple years and now he loves him? It's even worse than JR calling HHH and SOB all the time, then putting him over. It's unnatural. Darby stomping Wayne was pretty awesomely brutal. I liked Roderick's neck brace going back on as soon as the match was over. Toni's character is unique but I think it's self-defeating in that it's presented as a heel character but she's so bizarre and silly that she gets more cheers than boos. Toni vs Saraya is going to be a presentation nightmare, as the crowd likes Toni being weird and throwing her shoe, and really hates to cheer Saraya. This Jericho-Sammy/JAS break-up feels like it has been going on for 7 years and AEW hasn't even been on for 7 years (That's my Taz tribute). Is Jericho now the good guy for dumping all his friends, getting duped and being an egomaniac?! Jericho beating Aussie Open less than week after they had tag titles is a pretty bad look.

Seems okay by me

It's friggin' great! Great cast (Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, and my favourite underrated actor Paul Schneider), great score and some of the prettiest cinematography I've ever seen! And this is the best thread title I may have ever seen!

I REALLY want this to happen. Punk should go to OVW they have a doc on Netflix now and remake it in his own image.

Before or after Punk drops his title in a garbage can!?

This is exactly what I was thinking about when I typed the above. The line that always cracks me up is when Walter asks if he still writes and Pilar says "Oh no, he has health problems"

I think you guys are crazy. Keep the title on Orange, his matches almost always overdeliver. Once you officially turn Garcia face, he can win it but it shouldn't be for several more months at least. Crowd is into the International title defences, Orange is getting way over, suddenly taking the title off him now just strikes me as change for the same of change. I say lean into the Orange's getting more beat up story: have him come to ring with crutches, his arm in a sling (only to cast it off dramatically mid-match to put his hands on his pockets!), Or in a wheelchair, wearing an eyepatch. Heck have the Best Friends wheel him.to the ring in an iron lung. I think this Cassidy reign still had legs. I've got a Twitter account that is all sports, no pro wrestling (wrestling Twitter is pretty dreadful for the most part), but there's lots of wrestling that crosses over into my feed with a lot of journalists being fans as well, and there are two guys that dominate the mainstream conversation and it's Roman Reigns and it's Orange Cassidy. Now I can see where one would think you could just have him do the same thing as world champ to draw more attention to it but you're not going to have all the top guys agree to put him over in the same way so you either lose the angle or else end up with a world champ defending his belt against guys like the Blade. It just won't work at that level

The only problem I had with this one was that, logistically, it was worked like a HIAC. Gacy, even having a clue, stayed out of the fight even though he could have interfered. Brutus came dow and chased Gacy around the ring for said key, instead of just climbing over the cage. I dont know why this bugged me so much, but on this occasion, it really did. Elsewhere, I was pretty impressed with Jordan (I can't remember her first name...Delani?!) who does a couple spots that I don't think I've seen anyone else do. Reminds me of Sol Ruca in that respect, although her offence is quite as far along as Ruca's. This one of the first times seeing a Dragunov promo where I thought: "You know...maybe he could make it on the main roster." Would be a pretty great storyline if he was the one to end Gunther's IC Title reign, too which could lead to an eventual down-the-line Gunther WorldTitle Defence when Gunther finally stops him (again).