Marty

Congratulations Loss! I'm married with no kids. She wasn't a fan before she met me. I don't know if she'd classify herself as a fan, but she definitely doesn't hate it and will oddly watch some stuff that I'm watching. Probably prefers the newer stuff to the old, just for the sake of keeping current. She has gone to a few shows with me. Oh yeah, and unlike me, she likes RVD a lot, is happy he's back and is hoping he'll be there when Smackdown comes to Ottawa in September.

This is a great point. Austin at the end of the day never changed, and because he was a guy who, even if his character didn't always have the most ideal "good" traits (for lack of a better term), would never back down from a fight and at the end of the day, that's one of the strongest qualities of a wrestler. He was a guy who wouldn't make excuses of a fight either. Bret became the opposite of that last sentence and changed not for the better in the fans' eyes. Also, even though it doesn't get talked about that much as Austin's and Hart's performances (deservingly so, of course), I thought Shamrock was perfect in his role. Not overshadowing, but also being audible when he needed to be at the end, to really get over Austin's passing out. Hart's change of character benefitted Shamrock too, as one takedown of Hart was all that was needed. All three were better off than before the match happened, although this was probably Shamrock's peak as far as reaction and presence go.

This. I really hope someone is taking the available video from YouTube and doing some appropriate Benny Hill editing. TNA should never, ever die. The world needs laughter, after all.

A little bit of both. The relationships (Nikki/Cena, Brie/Bryan, Nattie/Kidd, Naomi/Jimmy Uso, etc.) are all real, but I'm pretty sure the whole thing is 100% scripted. Bix gave a nice rundown of how a lot of the timeframes are off if you're a hardcore fan, but if you're completely new to the WWE, or simply a casual follower, that stuff doesn't matter.

I saw that clip. Do you really want Bruiser to torture himself with that?

How is that match a squash? Yeah, the match sucked, but it wasn't a squash.

It might work if Wyatt brainwashes Kane into being a completely mindless drone ala Harper and Rowan. Otherwise, if Kane's character is moreless the same, it'll have "Cena forced to join Nexus" vibes. Fuck, I don't know if it'll be even *that* good.

Hogan's losing it. I'm not surprised Bischoff would've thought revenues would increase simply from going on the road for TV, but I never expected Hogan to be that much of a money mark.

I'm guessing the Victoria release was amicable. Her restaurant in Chicago is getting strong reviews and she's spending a lot of time there. Sounds like she's finally found a post-wrestling source of income (she's had a much-longer than average run compared to other recent women in wrestling). Good for her for bringing in that sort of salary when she was able to.

I realize this may sound similar to an argument on DVDVR about Shawn Michaels sucking on purpose by design, but I think the Wyatt Family beatdowns are supposed to be uncrisp. Harper and Rowan are supposed to be mindless, lumbering leaches. In fact, some of the stuff critiqued about Bray (such as the cartoonish poses) I can buy, but I think Harper and Rowan are playing their roles as best as they could. That they're not as crisp as the Shield is the point, even though I've often heard the argument that Harper is better in-ring than Wyatt.

Where did you meet him? I met him a long time ago and he was a cool guy. I interviewed Hunter and Stephanie at the grand opening of the WWE Performance Center. Cool stuff Jon. In comparison, how did Steph come off as?

Ricky, as a fellow Canuckian, I'd argue that attitude emerged far, far earlier than that time period. Look at the Guess Who's "American Woman", for instance. Hell, I still remember the first Jays World Series when someone in Atlanta was holding a Canadian flag that happened to be upside down. If you heard people discussing it at the time, you would've thought Bush Sr. threatened to bomb Canada or something. No, that (immature, obnoxious) attitude has existed for a long time and still does today? Did you know the U.S. has no fans of hockey whatsoever and that they should move the New York Rangers to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan? It didn't start at the time of the Hart Foundation angle, although that's the kind of egofuck Bret would love.

How about... A series of shoot interviews from past members of the WWE Creative Team, talking about Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon and re-confirming what the ultimate goal of the Creative Team really is.

Some Iron Maiden ones: Killers Best of Kowalski and Karl Krupp. The Number of the Beast Covering Dan Severn's NWA title run. Piece of Mind Incomplete compilations of The Genius Lanny Poffo and Damian Sandow. Powerslave Kayfabe Commentaries-produced documentary with a set of interviews discussing the abandoned original gimmick of Harlem Heat and Col. Robert Parker. Somewhere in Time Collection of various matches from various promotions where the dates and/or places are vitually unknown. Blu ray exclusives discuss the many title tournaments taking place in Rio de Janeiro. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Shoot interview and career retrospective, both with promoting and matches, of Ross Hart. No Prayer for the Dying A Wrestlecrap-produced DVD covering tasteless death-related events in wrestling. Examples include Stephanie McMahon's confrontation of Fred Blassie, Eddie Guerrero's low-rider being blown up, Chris Kanyon at Kemper Arena at Slamboree 2000, etc. Fear Of The Dark Compilation of matches where blackouts happened, such as the original Beware Of Dog match between Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith and the Playboy Bunnymania Lumberjack Match at WM24. The X-Factor You guessed it! The complete run of the stable consisting of X-Pac, Justin Credible and Albert. Virtual XI Kayfabe Commentaries-produced DVD, re-booking Undertaker's 11th WrestleMania victory, if Nathan Jones actually worked that match. Brave New World Yet to be commenced title, will commence once Stephanie and Triple H fully take over. Dance of Death Currently being produced. Covers Tensai's current babyface run. A Matter Of Life And Death Large box set of documentaries covering ONLY the very final days of many promotions, such as WCW, ECW, SMW, World Class, etc. and also looking at how far away from that time period other promotions such as TNA and ROH really are. Produced by WWE. The Final Frontier KC-produced. Pat Patterson guest stars and re-books the WWF in 1995 only slightly, this time introducing a wrestler working an astronaut gimmick (along with all the other occupation gimmicks in the company) and booking how far that gimmick can go.

I tend to think SS97 is pretty dull when lined up with ONO as far as quality goes. The only significant parts, in terms of story, would be the Bret-Shawn exchanges, but that's something that can still be captured with the finish, which is probably all you need. I'd argue One Night Only in full is more essential. Probably Taker's best singles of the year and one of Bret's best too.

This made me instantly think of my answer for this question, which is Crush. As in, Hawaiian colourful babyface Crush. I thought he was the new heavyweight superhero babyface, the new Hogan. And believe it or not, my reasoning had a lot of "smart" value to it, as I knew Ax was gone and Smash went on to become Repo Man, leading me to think, "Okay, Crush gets to be Crush still. He must be a big deal." Then he lost to the Doinks and his stock immediately dropped in my eyes.

I can't remember where I read it, but someone fantasy booked the Wyatt Family's debut as them attacking the Shield, leading to just about the entire locker room praising them and looking to Bray Wyatt as a leader (just as he predicted)...only to eventually find out that these fuckers are FAR worse than the Shield ever were, eventually leading to a Shield face turn. Regardless, PVR'ed RAW and was only interested in checking out the Wyatts' debut. Count me in as impressed. I was worried, especially with the announcement of their debut (which I feel they arguably shouldn't have done, as whether it's TV or PPV, they're the types whose debut should be left as a surprise). I dug the dark entrance with the lantern. The beatdown possibly could've been a little more unique, but it was alright. Bray played his role well. But...yeah, fuck the "Husky Harris" chants.

http://www.wwe.com/superstars/fandango 244, 6'4". I think it's funny too. But trying to connect the dots to what Michaels said.

Closest guys (billed) to the dimensions Shawn states on the roster are Sandow, McIntyre and Fandango, I think.

Fantastic interview with Sandra Toffoloni, sister of Nancy, who gives incredible perspective to the events six years ago and how things lead up to it, with respect to what Chris and Nancy were experiencing. http://the2count.com/?p=765

But the TLC3 match with Benoit was released on the Best of Smackdown DVD in 2009 which included Benoit, and was rated quite highly in the countdown. Even showed him entering the ring on a solo shot. With Jericho and Benoit being interlinked, I strongly agree. For years the two went hand in hand for me. In 2000 they produced some classic stuff, mainly an absolute belter at Backlash 2000, and a great match at Judgement Day 2000. Although I was super let down by the 2/3 falls match at SummerSlam. Old post of mine there...so it took me a second to remember what the discussion was about. Anyways, TLC3 was used in the SD 1999-2009 set, but only clips, not a full match. TLC3 did get a full-match release, but it was on the very same Ladder Match set mentioned earlier, which was released before the double murder-suicide. The only times they do release full Benoit matches is when they're, for lack of a better term, "forced" to. I say "forced" because they choose to release what they do, which includes the Anthologies he winds up on (SummerSlam, Elimination Chamber, War Games). This seems to be, at present and at best, their policies with the guy for these things. Hunter's set coming up seems to be your doc/set of matches sets, which won't be out of the ordinary. I can't see the full quad tear tag making it, especially since HHH and Steve don't go over. I'm guessing, though, with the company line of HHH being an all-time great worker and such, the Iron Man with Rock will finally make its DVD debut, sans blurs no less.

Also, apparently Timeline: History of WCW 1996 with Kevin Sullivan is out June 25th. Robert Fuller is doing a Guest Booker out July 11th, though I don't know what it's covering.

What happened? "Cornette has had a falling out with __________" is something you can pretty much set your watch to. http://www.infinitecore.ca/superstar/index...?threadid=74987 Thread that Mike and El-P were referring to.

Henry's acting had me fooled too, but I'm happy with the results. Fine RAW tonight.

That was tremendous.