flyonthewall2983

I'm on the last chapter now. Reading about his childhood, and his time in Los Angeles and Portland was eye-opening.

Perhaps TMI, but Woman wielding a cane in her ECW days (which I came across mostly by the Apter mags) had a profound effect on me.

Prichard and Cornette talking him up makes a little more sense now.

Fair enough, but keeping The Patriot gimmick on Del Wilkes in 1997 seemed a little odd.

There are five guys I can think of off the top of my head that WWF let keep their established gimmicks/names as opposed to reinventing them into a new character. Andre(maybe?), King Kong Bundy, Kamala, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair...and The Patriot. I can understand why they would hire Wilkes, but why let him keep the gimmick people saw him use in WCW? Was it part of some bigger deal they were trying to put together with the Japanese?

He'd be a transitional guy at best with the IC belt. He worked a match with Lex Luger in February of that year on Raw that I remember not being half-bad when I watched it a few years ago. The program he had with Randy Savage was about as good as it would get for him. Their match at X is a highlight for so many reasons now, and he did as good a job being the heel (as well as Mr. Fuji actually getting to be a heel manager as opposed to the guy who just waved the flag for Yokozuna), letting Savage truly shine in the ring for the last time for the WWF.

Friday's show will be about WWF promoting ECW in 1996-7

Yeah, but how far? He could have been a good IC champ, for a little while. Average ring skills. and not great on the stick from what I remember either.

Not good for merch, brother.

Trying to make the connection between Warrior's tights in that match and Rick Rude's was pretty pointless too.

He did say he thought they would have only gotten about half of the building sold at one point, with no chance of filling it to capacity. I believe his rationale about the whole thing. I have no trouble believing that the Slaughter angle would have infuriated some crazies, which would have warranted stricter security measures that could have proven too costly for Vince to cover. I don't know about the whole thing about the gov't footing the bill for security at the Super Bowl, however. I'm quite sure the NFL could have paid for it themselves. It's interesting that even after they went ahead with Slaughter being the guy to feud with Hogan, that they teased a Tugboat/Hogan feud a few times anyway. Hogan and Tugboat got into a skirmish at the Royal Rumble, with Tugboat eventually being dumped out by Hogan and the opposite happening on a Saturday Night's Main Event later that April.

It was 1978's Paradise Alley, which included Terry Funk who subsequently appeared in Over The Top. I would venture to guess they wouldn't have edited out any references to Hogan at even this early a point, but we'll never know.

"it would have improved a lot to have been the shits" Bruce on the WBF. This week's episode is great.

Didn't happen at either show but the only time the same match ever happened on both a WCW and WWF PPV in the same calendar year was The Rock & Roll Express vs. The Heavenly Bodies

Next topic of conversation will be WrestleMania VII, which is a little odd because wasn't he gone by then?

I would have kept Flair around until WrestleMania, where you could do the loser-leaves-town match with Perfect. Or maybe even the returning Hogan, with Flair cutting promos about how good the place has been without him all these months anyway. Then put Hogan in a more light-hearted program with Lawler, ending with a satisfying match at King of the Ring. Then feed him to Yoko at SummerSlam. Keep the title on Bret. Do what they eventually did in 1997 and work more and more Canadian shows. Give him more solid programs with Bam Bam Bigelow, Savage and Mr. Perfect. After SummerSlam start a feud with Yoko, who by this point amasses an incredible amount of heat from the Hogan program. Maybe let Yoko win the title on a Raw, which Bret wins back at WrestleMania X.

I'd love to see a compilation of movie quotes used in promos.

https://smile.amazon.com/Rowdy-Roddy-Ariel-Teal-Toombs/dp/0345816226/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474812284&sr=1-1&keywords=roddy+piper A book is coming out next Tuesday, written by his two children, about his life. Really, really looking forward to this one even if I take the claim that it's as great as Bret's book with a little salt.

I knew it was a good idea to skip the first 30 minutes. If he's got to vent about Meltzer & co. I understand but I don't have to listen to it either. But otherwise, this is probably the best wrestling podcast I've ever listened to. Got to admit I really underestimated Conrad when I heard him on Flair's show, and now I'll probably start listening to that soon too, now that I'm more endeared to his voice and knowledge. As for Bruce, I understand the complaint that he's still clearly loyal to Vince, but I look at it as an asset. In the whole realm of shoot interviews, and now podcasts, there are not that many guys who were on the creative level who didn't seem to still have as high much regard for Vince and WWE like Bruce does. I don't know the whole story of why he's gone from there now, but it appears that he wasn't screwed on his way out or anything else that shows any animosity towards the McMahons. I find that a little refreshing.

Regarding Bret's book, hasn't he talked about updating it? It was published after his reconciliation with Vince, but before his with Shawn Michaels. Towards the very end he has some pretty harsh words for him and Triple H. Would be interesting to see what he could write about all that came after it was published.

Couldn't think of anywhere else to put it as it probably doesn't warrant a thread, but I just read on his wiki page that his youngest son died earlier this month in a motorcycle accident.

It might be lazy but it's more common in entertainment than you think. Do we ever find out why the villains of James Bond movies want to rule the world? No. Do we care? Not really, because they're that good. Same goes for DiBiase during this time. Admittedly it was not as compelling as him trying to buy the heavyweight championship, or the feud with Jake Roberts, but it was effective. I actually think it would have been better if he bought Dustin off, but I doubt that would have happened even if it was pitched.

No, he didn't talk I don't think, he couldn't. It was a "Hey, look who's here !" moment. Sable did it too when Russo was in charge (or maybe they were together, but I doubt it), but they could not use her anyway. DUMBFUCKERY. That's right. A very odd moment.