Loss

They did. Foley was supposed to take three unprotected chairshots and ended up taking 15. But still, with those chairshots, what supposedly happened is that his wife purposely acted hysterical just to get real emotion for the cameras out of his children. Like I said, I have no idea if that's true or not.

Don't know if it's true or not, but some have said that according to inside sources who helped film BTM, the entire thing with Foley was staged, and they asked Colette to react hysterically so the kids would get upset and they would get a "real" reaction. Don't know if that's true or not, but if it is, it's pretty disgusting.

The NWO parking lot thing is weird and I have no idea what it's referring to. The white hummer angle in WCW WAS resolved on the first Bischoff/Russo Nitro. The Booker T "I still remember" storyline was in late 2003 and everyone thought it would be a Goldust feud, but he was released. I'm surprised they didn't mention GTV or DDP's benefactor.

Rock & Rolls against the Russians. You know, looking at the team names alone, that very well may be the most 1980s match of the 1980s.

Just so you know, this has been a helpful resource and is currently being used. Am I ready for El Dandy? I guess we'll find out.

To quote a good man, "You'll have to elaborate."

I don't even know what to think of it. I just hope that if Vicky Guerrero is doing the angle that it is a free will choice that has nothing to do with the lofty donations being made to their family from DVD/book sales.

What about Dawn Marie?

I don't know if Connecticut law protects gays from workplace discrimination or not, but there could be a lawsuit if that's really why he was fired. I have to question why it took him so long to come forward with this information, though. I also think that him being fired was more of a case of a wrestling promotion having no vision and not knowing what to do with him than anything. That's intuition more than any proof I have of that, though, and it wouldn't surprise me if the opposite was true, considering how much WWE tends to pry in the personal lives of its talent.

From the Torch: Yeah, those male fans sure hated The Rock, didn't they? This is funny. It's probably part of the reason, but it's still funny that they're attributing everything to this.

But seriously, I don't understand why they can't just let guys like this stay in OVW for five years or so before calling them up. Why are they in such a rush to bring in newer talent?

*waits for obligatory "I-never-saw-them-or-heard-of-them" comment from goodhelmet*

I'm telling you, like I said before, if they're going to have all the burned-bridge wrestlers in the company, they need to go all out with it and sign every piece of garbage in wrestling they can find.

Manami Toyota v Kaoru Ito - AJW 03/23/97 Queendom I dig this match a lot, simply because both are so determined to wrestle this match the way they see fit. Toyota starts off with her typical ovaries to the wall style, Ito upstages her at her own game and then takes Toyota to the mat and makes her stay there. Toyota is incredibly frustrated that she's in this position, and Ito starts dropping elbows on her back and all appears to be well, but she goes vertical again, which is Toyota's domain, and pays for it, because Toyota immediately takes control again. Toyota now decides that *she* will give Ito a dose of her own medicine and locks in an octopus before switching to a figure four leglock. At this point, Ito has underestimated Toyota's ability on the mat and it has cost her, and Toyota has underestimated both Ito's aerial ability and her nerve, as Ito has no problem using the table Toyota brought into the match in the first place. The match continually builds within that Top This mindset, which continues when Ito decides to pay Toyota back for the figure four by doing a Boston Crab on her inside the ring and giving 50% off the additional purchase discount by doing a half crab on the arena floor. My favorite spot from Ito, however, is what Tony Schiavone would refer to as a "hair drag and a twist". Now, there are times when Ito is admittedly a little sloppy, just as there are times when she doesn't seem sure what to do when she's left to build to a Toyota comeback, but she's working toward an admirable goal, and I'm willing to cut her some slack for it just because the sheer effort does increase the enjoyment of the match. Also, give credit to Toyota for an inspired performance here, showing that she can sell when she decides she wants to. Her selling is a little shallow at times, however, just because it's more limping to show that the injury isn't forgotten, but she has no issues performing any of her offensive moves at all, at least at first. There's cause without any real effect. She does eventually go outside the ring and require assistance from the trainers, but that spot just isn't the same without Akira Hokuto and spray. There was so much heat and emotion when Hokuto did that against Kandori at Dreamslam, but here, if anything, it derails the rhythm of the match. Back in the ring, we seem to be going somewhere concrete with Ito alternating between figure fours and half crabs, coming full circle with the top this theme and with Ito doing everything she can to dismantle Toyota's taped-up ankle. Toyota's desperation rolling cradle is awesome beyond belief, but she kills it for me by going to the top rope and attempting a moonsault, which she misses but executes with a little *too much* grace, considering the beating she has taken. Just moments later, she does the same thing, hitting a desperation German suplex to stop Ito from coming off the top rope, but immediately going up top and executing a perfect dropkick. This is a weird match to call good or bad because they do something amazing, completely destroy any good will it created, redeem themselves and then tear down the wall again. It's both delightful and depressing. The great does outweigh the bad (which in reality is more just disappointing than horrible), and Ito definitely earns a hard-fought victory. Excellent match, but a really bumpy ride. ***3/4

Disc 1 ... First, I have to point out that the VQ is pretty amazing here. I know Will sought out the best possible VQ on every single match. There are other HF sets out there I've come across in the past, but none look this crystal clear. And if WWE sold this exact set, it would cost $300.00. Am I making my point clearly enough yet? Anyway, the set starts off with a bang by showing Austin/Bret from Survivor Series '96. Match still holds up as a terrific one today, and actually gets better in some ways every time that I watch it. I love the finish in the sense that Austin is so stubborn that he refuses to let go of the hold and it ends up costing him the match. What I find weirdest is that JR is trying to get the story of the match over, and Vince doesn't seem to understand what he's doing. JR says there will not be a lot of high flying, and I think Vince somehow took that as an insult to the match and says, "I don't know about that. I think you're likely to see it all." Funny. Anyway, great, great, great match that I'll have to review in full sometime. Next up on the set is Bret against Owen from the 11/25/96 RAW. I'm impressed that there's no drop in video quality at all between PPV and TV. Good match, but they do steal some sequences directly from the WM X match, like the slapping contest into the rollup and Bret working over Owen's arm early on. This is a nice contrast in that it shows Bret as a babyface still getting cheered before the darker days ahead, but it's also apparent watching this match why WCW were kicking their asses at this time. These matches, at this time, were a dime a dozen, and in addition to the storylines not being as old-fashioned on Nitro, you had all-action matches with guys pulling off the spectacular on the undercard. In some ways, their patience paid off, but it's obvious at this point just how far off they are from where they need to be. That is, until Austin runs in for the DQ. It's like the volume is immediately turned up when he runs in and when he's about to Pillmanize Bret's ankle, we get a staredown between Austin and Davey Boy, who tries to prevent this from happening, leading to problems between Owen and Davey Boy, which results in Austin leveling Davey Boy with a chair. Next up, we have Vader v Bret with Shawn doing commentary at ringside. Shawn's commentary is interesting. "Who drew first blood? Bret drew first blood. I simply held the World Wrestling Federation championship and defended it to the best of my ability while Bret set at home and bashed me the entire time out of pure jealousy." Blurring the line indeed. Anyway, this isn't as good of a match as you'd expect, but at the same time, it is a nice sense of foreshadowing for what would come later on the set, with Bret eventually snapping and Michaels expressing his frustration. Finally, we get the full 1997 Royal Rumble. I'm not going to watch the entire match or anything at this time, but it's worth pointing out that after Bret was screwed at the It's Time PPV with Shawn Michaels interfering and costing him the title, he rightfully wins the Royal Rumble while the ref is distracted, but Austin comes back in and tosses Bret for the real victory. That's a quick, overall view of Disc 1. More to come.

This is the thread we'll use to discuss stuff on this set. If you're interested in seeing how you can pick up this set, send a PM to goodhelmet and he'll advise you. Set looks like this: I'm about to start on Disc 1 now.

12/11/99 - Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda v AKINO & Ayako Hamada (ARSION) Epic. If a better heel performance exists anywhere in the world in 1999, I have yet to see it. Unbelievable drama and visually stunning, as the LCO invade ARSION and completely wreak havoc on two rather plunky babyfaces in AKINO and Hamada, laughing and smiling all the way. The LCO are completely ruthless and destroy their opponents all over the building, on a physical, emotional and psychological level, against a team who appear to be totally overmatched until the final minutes when it kicks in that they really are fighting for their lives and at that point, they desperately try everything they know not to keep or gain an advantage, but to end the match just to get out alive. The LCO attempt far less pinfalls on their end, as they seem to be having fun torturing the spry youngsters from the hometown promotion, covering them both in their own blood and smearing it all over a concerned Aja Kong at ringside. It's really hard to do this match justice by talking about it because seeing it conveys a story that words really can't. I am incapable of doing this match justice. The upset finish is the best possible ending they could have done in this context. ****1/2

What about a roster? I don't like doing complete fantasy booking. I'd rather, for example, book WCW's 1999 roster.

Sure.

I think great booking tailors itself to the talent instead of expecting the talent to tailor itself to a style. That's obviously a big problem in WWE, and really, it's often been a problem in a lot of US promotions. I also think the belts should be pushed harder than any of the wrestlers.

Or Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone, during a WCW versus WWF feud, with a bottle of hard liquor between them.

I believe WWE is God's promotion, because if the marketplace were the same now that it was even five years ago (no international PPV buyrates, less international touring, weak DVD market, etc), they'd be running a money-losing operation. New technology, and their willingness to use it to their advantage, has kept them in the black now for a couple of years. Just yesterday, it was announced that whenever WWE commercials are aired for PPVs or house shows, you can press a button on your remote and order immediately. Things like that only help them.

As much as I hate to say it, the product is far more interesting right now with Vince settling vendettas and booking on the brink of insanity than it was in, say, 2003, when he was just coasting along. The problem is that this will come crashing down in a bad way eventually.

Could be interesting over time, although they'd probably have to run small venues in the US unless they snagged a few free agents that could headline for them.

Don't know if it's making a huge difference or not, but I believe TiVo recordings are now being factored into television ratings.