flyonthewall2983

Yeah but Rock/Shawn must have happened at least once in 97, especially when the NOD feuded with DX.

Vader and Savage were in a tag match against each other along with Hogan and Flair for Slamboree '95.

I can buy HHH's crocodile tears, but Vince is another story. I can't recall him ever breaking down as he did like that on camera before. It wasn't a Barbara Walters thing but you could just tell that in his eyes he was feeling something pretty deep. The thing is though, I don't know what he's mourning more, Jim Hellwig/Warrior the man or the creation of his dying. Maybe that, and him driving along with Taker going to the hospital is a reminder of his own mortality in some strange way.

It may have been planned as I think Jake's leaving was rather sudden.

I wish I still had the magazine that came with ordering the PPV of WrestleMania X that had pictures of every match from the first 9. From a young age I knew there was a chasm of difference in quality between their publication and the Apter mags.

Didn't Jake work for awhile for Stu?

I seem to remember Ric saying no in his shoot, but that they worked the same cards in Japan.

Maybe that was him being the uber-heel.

As much as I was interesting in hearing Ted and Slaughter's comments, I couldn't watch any more than a few minutes of it (plus Hannibal was on at the same time which is appointment viewing with me anyway) And with Josh Matthews and Booker T. basically holding court, you knew it would swing in the favor of the hypocrisy thebrainfollower speaks of. It's not taking anything away from the doc Thursday night, it's just that it feels like everyone is wearing the rose-tinted glasses now and that wears thin ultimately.

I just had a funny thought of someone at an indie show doing a "Zombie Warrior" gimmick and instead of running to the ring he comes at a regular walking pace.

Were there any promotions that did it that way?

I liked the ones Hogan had during his mid-80's run after that belt.

Ted really doesn't flat-out say in that the article (even though that's the headline). He just thought that Warrior wouldn't show any gratitude, which is what he wound up doing. I thought that too going in, but am glad I was wrong.

On WWE television, not for long probably. For fairly obvious reasons they don't dwell on dead guys for too long anymore. I don't see those halcyon days of hating him coming back though. They'll put out DVD's and specials on the Network and that'll be it really.

What's a strip show?

Eric Bischoff will be one of Jim's upcoming guests too. Says it's going up May 27th.

Latest Ross Report has a list of upcoming guests including...wait for it...Tony Schiavone.

Is there anyone else? Two people really don't make for a roundtable discussion.

Very, very interesting in that Ted's comments on the Self-Destruction DVD were the ones that stuck out to me. I can't remember verbatim, but he definitely seemed to have the knives out.

On the fan thing alone, I'm sure he's not the only one who acted rudely towards them back then. Faces specifically have that burden of being the nice guy all the time, which is why almost everyone says they prefer working heel. On top of having more control over what's done in the ring, there must be something that gets released that maybe allows them to have less turbulent personal lives than the guy getting all the acclaim. Plus, Warrior was literally an overnight sensation. He rose faster in the ranks than a lot of people at that time when fan support really had to build. That had to play with his head a lot too, and lead to the more dickish behavior. It's only been in these recent years like shakla mentioned, that he's taken his time because he appreciated it more.

Vader told my favorite Harley story, about him beating Scott Norton in what was called the test of strength back then, so bad that a ring on Scott's finger became embedded in his skin.

It really was, to the point of making me re-think my mixed feelings. Seeing all the belts in Triple H's office was cool too, especially the NWA belt Flair gave him.

It's funny because everything I've read about him recently is that he really went out of his way with the fans and more gracious. Yet he never really copped to those previous offenses. What's sad to me is that maybe if he lived longer he would have copped to it and done more to right the wrongs of a guy who struggled with success and lashed out at people. Sadly I doubt it would have extended to things he said online about the world at large. I actually read his Twitter feed and while there were some eye-rollers (most recently his comment about Philip Seymour Hoffman), there were things I actually agreed with. Specifically his condemning the media for fear-mongering after the explosion at the Boston Marathon last year.

I think his interview segments from it are used in these Warrior Week specials.

That's the nature of death though, isn't it? What makes this particular one more interesting is that he seemed willing to move past prior differences and maybe make his own amends that fateful weekend, and who knows if that he didn't die that maybe he would apologize for his comments and behavior.