flyonthewall2983

More episodes coming Monday

The Von Erich story would make for a better movie. It'd have to be a long one (maybe up to three hours), but either a mini-series (or a "limited" one) would be prone to using deaths as gimmicks for each episode I feel. I honestly don't see it happening, while Kevin is alive. If it were, it would probably be shaped around the Christian angle and be made like some of those things passing for movies that churches promote (and you occasionally see guys like Shawn Michaels or Sting in). Brian Koppelman, who now runs Billions for Showtime, almost had something set up at HBO about 80's wrestling and went as far as interviewing Vince for some reason. I think the best basis for a series would be the Monday Night Wars, but perhaps fictionalized to a degree to free up creative license to utilize so many of the real-life tragedies and comedies that went on behind the scenes in the 80's and 90's.

Someone made the comment on reddit yesterday that they felt if Savage had the spot Hogan was given in 84, the WWF would be no less a success than what it became. I conceded that it was interesting but made the points that Hogan already had a rub from being in the Rocky movie, being a top face for Verne, as well as being familiar with the people in the WWF from his earlier time there. Savage was only established in Memphis by 1984, and to my knowledge didn't spend any long amount of time anywhere else before going to New York in 85. I find this an intriguing possibility for a few reasons. Randy had the same kind of intensity and ability to do stuff off the top ropes and in cage matches that Snuka had, with the added attraction of being able to cut a hell of a promo. He could have gotten over with that NYC crowd the way he would later, but when it was less geared towards Vince's vision I could see the persona getting over without the flash and hype WWF would be known for later.

I watched the men's Rumble cold last night, and really liked it. Brock was impressive and if he wanted to shut those up who said he had no stamina, he certainly did that to me. It's not Flair in 92 great but it was an effective gimmick which helped the match. I was never a big Edge fan but I like that he's getting one more run, and he looked great in there mixing it up with the newer guys.

I'm sure that could be a whole episode by itself

Luger's legacy to a lot who might not see him in the light some of us do here is showing up on the first Nitro, screwing over Vince and overall indicative of a guy who went into business for himself. The way I see it, that return to WCW revitalized him from a performance and character standpoint. He thrived more running with the established talent like Hogan and Savage as well as the guys he came up with like Sting and those he came up under like Arn and Flair. I've heard Flair in shoot interviews put over their matches in 1988, emphasizing his conditioning and ability to break out his strength towards the end of long matches. It's nice for me to hear Arn put him over like this because I remember the Halloween Havoc 96 match between the two and how awful it was seeing Arn stretchered out. It's no wonder he felt that way about Hogan too. He got to see Hulkamania at it's absolute peak nationally in 88-89, and maybe had a bit of envy for the guys who took the big boot and leg drop every night. I remember the two or three matches they had in 1996 on Nitro being very good actually, and in hindsight is shocking seeing Hogan put him over.

It probably turned the conventional thinking on Jake around and as a result he wound up being one of the most over faces in the company for four years straight. So (between that and the failed attempt at a program with Hogan) what might have been perceived as a failure wound up being in their favor. Now applying that to Arn and Tully, it probably wouldn't have worked at all, so I see the overall point with regard to the discussion spurned on by the story he told about the Young Stallions. They had a hierarchy and routine down pat by 1988, after a few crazy years of the road schedule ping-ponging across the country, so anybody thought of as throwing a wrench in the plans maybe deserved getting the third degree from the established talent. Getting back to Jake, it's a shame he never stayed in WCW long enough to have a feud with Arn over the DDT. Jake popularized the move and could take it from anywhere but Arn elevated it's use, especially in the 90's as a singles wrestler.

Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Steve Austin/Steve Williams Halloween Havoc '92. You could probably do a compilation of just great tag team matches from this era

Here he is with a much better band

Now he's suing someone over a shirt. I think a better title for the thread would be "The Cancellation of Jim Cornette". Unless he starts drinking Sprite by the gallon and moves into his nearest Dairy Queen I don't think this is a very apt description of what we're seeing.

I think Meltzer said the same thing. SNME was 90 minutes and basically booked like an episode of SNL would be. Put your top matches up front, and slowly dwindle down from there. 2 hours is fine. Even going into overtime is okay as long as it isn't done every week then it becomes part of the format. WrestleMania over two days would be great. Or just put it all on Saturday night. Sunday is only good if you're going to start in the afternoon and end in the evening.

He discusses The Irishman with Rob Van Dam on the latest episode. I'll have to listen to that once I'm finished reading the book and rewatch it again.

True. I do wonder if his presence in it gives the company's PR department a little, if any, unease however. That aside, I have no real problem with him being in. Certainly being booed by the audience at MSG helped.

The one I stand by is 1. Not on the McMahon shitlist (consider everybody still not in). 2. Long-standing relationships with them (only reason Trump is in that makes sense to me). 3. Made an undeniable impression on the business. All in that order. But as to what role they fulfilled in the business, sek69's criteria certainly has merit too.

Think this in the wrong thread.

I don't see his family signing off on it. I have a feeling they'll get someone really low on the D list, to counteract the star power Batista will bring to the event. Either Bam Bam or Vader for the posthumous spot. I say it every year but I'd like to see Haku get in. Maybe Tommy Dreamer (is he still with WWE?) or one of the ECW originals. Drawing a blank on the lady wrestler/valet they'll put in, I can't even remember who last year's was. Same for tag teams, as the most obvious ones might not have a good chance unless Demolition and others mends the fences. Powers of Pain would be a cool choice.

How much box office did Lawler rake in that year?

HBK and Hunter (though he'll likely put Batista in) inducting NWO would be cool. I think Hall and Nash should have done the honors for DX last year. Nobody did, they just came out to their music and got on with it. Maybe the same this year. I think everybody NWO should be in.

Batista and the NWO (Hall, Nash, Hogan, Waltman) were announced this morning as being the first inductees of the 2020 class.

To my surprise they added more episodes from 1993 up to the one the night before Slamboree. And they kept in the theme music.

It confirmed that the only time him and Tully faced the Bulldogs was at that Survivor Series match. I also didn't know that their first WWF match was where the whole shenanigans between the Bulldogs and Rougeaus took place. It's too bad the Brainbusters didn't work some of the heel teams they had at the time, I'm particularly thinking of the Rougeaus who they would have matched up perfectly with.

Me and my brother had Hogan, Warrior, Beefcake, and Bossman from that group. Macho King, Bushwhackers, Rockers, Tatanka, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Mountie, Rick Martel, El Matador were the other Hasbros. Had the ring, of course. And had the Hogan talking doll which sounds much less audible now than the one they used in the show.

It's so brief I forgot he was even in it. I bet the guy who named himself "Jewish Lightning" would be good for a shoot interview or podcast about his time as a fan and dealing with both companies. I either forgot or just never knew that ECW (annoyingly referred to as "Eastern Championship Wrestling" on the show) had a line of their own. They even did commercials.

Watched this last night. Admittedly I have not seen the other episodes so I went into the series cold by going straight to this. Funny intro, annoying voice-over guy, silly editing and overall a childish approach which I guess is appropriate. It gives the briefest overview of wrestling's popularity before settling in during the Rock & Wrestling era, and the first WWF toys. Someone referred to those big bulky things as dog toys which made me laugh. I recognized Cody Rhodes (who only has one line in the whole thing), Justin Roberts and that's it. Zack Ryder was interviewed and his collection was shown off, but his stuff didn't make the cut.