flyonthewall2983

So, almost like a "season"? I suppose, but it obviously wouldn't be like that year after year. Just something to reset the clock in a sense and make the titles mean something again.

Announcing teams that are constantly at odds with each other only exist in pro wrestling. That's more commonplace on cable news, and rarely to be seen in professional sports (aside from ESPN's own talking-head shows). Bobby and Gorilla were at odds yes, but they never seemed to put it above calling the action. Same with Vince and Jesse to a degree, but hearing them on some of those old SNME's felt very over-produced (I'm guessing that was the NBC influence more than even Vince's, it never felt like that on what I've heard when they did Superstars). To me there's no such thing as "too friendly" unless it leans too much into stuff that they or others would only get. That in and of itself is entertaining to a degree (Hall and Nash calling matches during those NWO b&w segments and on Nitro).

I had an idea a few years ago that after WrestleMania everyone is stripped of their titles, and everyone's ranking is down to zero and they have to spend the rest of the year building up rank leading up to next year's WM. The way I had it in mind, it would make the titles mean something again, virtually dedicate their entire year of programming as a way to lead up to Mania, and possibly be good television. I really like fakeplastictree's idea for the HOF. It's a rather stiff presentation, and I wish they'd just make it a smaller event for the Network. That sadly will probably never happen in the near future unless the money situation gets so bad that they'd have to, in which case they'd probably just scrap it.

Not with me. He never had a better broadcast partner in WWE than Lawler, and that goes the other way too. They had a chemistry that rivaled Monsoon and Heenan or Ventura and McMahon, but you can tell they had a rapport that went beyond just being professional.

I'll be interested in reading what you have to say. I think the most possible of your doomsday scenarios is USA/NBC dropping off, especially if Vince asks for what he did this year the next time their contract goes up.

Whenever I read stuff like this I always remember Bobby Heenan's quote about how twisted the world is and people expecting to tune in to watch Brutus Beefcake destroy Ron Bass' cowboy hat, or something to that effect. So much shit has hit the fan in terms of world events for the last decade plus, that it's too big for pro wrestling to even quantify and bring down to that level. And when WWE tried the blowback was immense (the "terrorists" attacking Undertaker after the London bombing). Even before that when Slaughter did the turncoat angle, it's amazing nobody was at least attacked publicly for it (in a physical sense, the critics sharpened up the knives and rightly so for that one).

Hopefully they could relegate Taz to backstage interviews or something.

Fritz Von Erich probably qualifies. The guy just looked like someone you didn't fuck around with, even in his golden years. He physically reminded me a bit of my grandpa who was 6'3-4, and even on his death bed had a strong grip.

I'd argue that he pretty much went with whatever the company threw at him and performed the role he was asked to play throughout his time there. Whatever sense of individuality Ventura and Heenan before him brought to the table, wasn't there as much with Lawler. It's not to say he wasn't entertaining, but that he co-opted into a style that was more of McMahon's creation than his own. Bobby and Jesse told things from a strong heel perspective, but would give faces their due or point out if a heel screwed something up. Lawler removed that middle ground completely from his announcing up until he started coming into his own with Jim Ross.

The new doc is pretty good. Only disappointment is that Vince wasn't interviewed or that some more of his big feuds weren't touched upon.

The Flair-Pacino connection brings to mind a missed opportunity when WWE did all those Hollywood sendups leading up to WrestleMania 21. Their version of Glengarry Glen Ross with the Nature Boy as either Ricky Roma or Shelley Levene and Eric Bischoff as either the Alec Baldwin or Kevin Spacey character. I'd prefer Bischoff to the latter just to see Ric call him a see you next Tuesday over and over again.

Okay, now what?

HHH is an older guy, but he had one of his best matches ever with Daniel Bryan in New Orleans. Sting would need someone to carry him through, and yet be a kind of dream match. Trips is not the ideal guy overall, but with what they have to work with, it's the best option by far. They could even bring Shawn into the build-up a bit and get some good moments out of that.

Who would an ideal opponent be?

So it'll be Trips and Sting at WM then?

Vince McMahon has just been announced as a guest.

With WCW specifically, some versions have dubbed themes, some don't. Old WWF stuff is more consistent from what I've seen.

Link?

You can hear some animosity going both ways at the Halloween Havoc show they did together.

Too bad they disliked each other immensely when they were in WCW.

I think about that a bit too JvK but the Mr. McMahon character is so ingrained in people's minds now it would be weird to see him in the booth again. Honestly if Shane ever comes back I think he'd be great as lead announcer. I remember when he did it for awhile on their MTV show with Jim Cornette and he came off pretty well. As to the question, I don't think it's always been perfect. Their best people were Vince, Bobby, Jesse and Monsoon. I've often spoke about my dissatisfaction with Lawler as Heenan's replacement, and I really didn't begin to appreciate him until Paul Heyman replaced him who I hated in the booth then. This was probably one of my favorite moments of Raw ever. http://youtu.be/VsF2l8c5Os8?list=LLEJaY88iIto9lXe23XnHPuw

I believe this was discussed before here, but to just bring it up again, how good a chance is there of the Network being able to have Raw and Smackdown on-demand much sooner than what it is currently provided they end their deal with Hulu?

It seemed like Jake Roberts was going to do one for '91. He would have been a perfect choice.