Marty

Loss, it's the match I PMed you about not long ago.

I need to re-watch it, but Slaughter-Sheik 05/21/84 is at least ***, if not more. For continuation of a blood feud with incredible heat, this is as good as it gets on U.S. soil.

By the way, this thread really makes me wish the WWE would make a Sgt. Slaughter DVD. There's so much material of his that they own that it's VERY doable.

I don't know about that. Off the top of my head, Bob Backlund's title loss to the Sheik was at the very least watchable, and I enjoyed a couple of the WrestleMania tags Sheik was in with Volkoff, against Windham/Rotundo and the Killer Bees, even if neither match was spectacular. I'll go as far as saying that Iron Sheik is better than Kurt Angle, as far as amateur wrestlers who were able to transcend into pro wrestling.

Loss, you're off your game. You forgot Buff Bagwell.

To be fair, HBK did give a pretty big rub to Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XIV. Austin was pretty popular at the time already but it certainly helped. Disagree about Undertaker, at least regarding the Brock Lesnar feud in 2002. I thought Brock should've beaten Taker in September, but the Hell In A Cell match really helped make Lesnar, and it was probably Lesnar's best match at that point too.

For what it's worth, he was on the Warrior one, although his comments were from back in the day during that all-day WrestleMania special in 2000. Maybe you're thinking of that one?

Not to nitpick, but I don't think HHH ever participated in the Road Warriors' DVD. I haven't watched the main feature of that set since I bought it, so I'll need to double-check.

Bought it today and watched it. The documentary is one of the finest the WWE has ever done. Participants include (forgive me if I forget any): Graham, his wife Valerie, Vince McMahon, HHH, Hulk Hogan, Jim Ross, Bruce Pritchard, Ric Flair, Gene Okerlund, Dusty Rhodes (who spoke an awful lot), Jimmy Hart, Bobby Heenan and Christian. Graham is remarkably honest and sincere. He's not afraid to point out any mistakes and take the blame for them. Everyone speaks of him in a positive manner and those such as Vince and JR credit him for being man enough to come back from his mistakes. The realities of his past (drug use, steroid use, etc.) are brought up and done in more of a sad tone, not a destructive tone like, say, on the Ultimate Warrior disc. Everyone praises him as someone who transcended the business. I found it funny when Hogan credits Graham as a huge influence, and HHH afterwards still says that Hogan is a Graham rip-off. Only part of the documentary that really caused me to roll my eyes is when HHH mentions how it was a big honour to induct Graham into the Hall Of Fame, when he originally wanted to induct Race afterwards, and really only inducted Graham because Vince chose Flair for the Race induction. Not that HHH doesn't admire Graham, but it makes me shake my head when he tries to give this impression that Graham was the be-all and end-all, when it's no secret he has some greater influences. The extra matches are mentioned above (the Dusty Rhodes match is the Texas Death match which was probably the best on the set). There's also some promos there, from the AWA, WWWF, Mid-Atlantic, and WWF (during the comeback). Also two other stories from Graham, one from Jimmy Hart, and a Bruce Pritchard impersonation. Recommended for the documentary. If you like the extras, it's an added bonus.

Now I'm going to have to re-watch that match. Sid being the voice of reason? Will wonders never cease?

I agree with Sek about Yokozuna. Maybe it's due to seeing the same dull product these days, but I'm appreciating Yokozuna even more watching the old shows from the 90s. I also really, really liked his entrance at WrestleMania 10. The lower positioned camera during the darkened entrance really gave the atmosphere of a larger than life monster about to wreck havoc. Regarding WM11: So that spot wasn't a work (with Michaels and the photographer)? He did something similar at Hell In A Cell versus Undertaker, but I don't know if it's the same case here or not.

Loss makes a really good point, especially after that script of RAW hit the internet a short while ago and was as descriptive as it was.

Thanks kjh.

Am I the only one who's wondering out loud why Johnny Ace still has the Head Of Talent Relations position?

Saw it in the stores yesterday. The matches mentioned above are there, but they also say there's 6 matches. Right now, I don't know what the other 2 are.

I think you summed up the differences in the eras perfectly in that one sentence.

I prefer 80s WWF over the current product. The work may not have been great, and there wasn't much room for other top babyfaces with Hogan being there, but I look at it this way: Unlike Hogan, is there anyone today in the company who has the potential of being a long-term draw at all? The booking today is handicapping that a LOT, but still, with the lack of development a lot of the new guys face in OVW, as well as most of the guys that have been around a while now (HHH, HBK, Angle) having never drawn that greatly themselves, I don't see the money potential like the 80s was facing say in, I dunno, 1983 or so. Also, the matches may not have been great in the 80s, but neither is a lot of the stuff today. There's really on a few workers in the company that you can count on to deliver on a nightly basis, meaning those that can deliver a strong story in the ring (Rey, JBL, etc.). Many of the others, especially the younger guys, are good athletes, but are best for spotfests and not much else, and even when they're good, which they have been, the WWE never gives it the same attention they give to the usual suspects. This, in my opinion, contrasts to the 80s way of booking, where your workrate guys got to stand out in certain cases. Take, for example, WrestleMania 2. It may not have been the main event, but the Bulldogs and Dream Team got to close out the Chicago portion of the show with the best match on the PPV. There's also the times that the Harts and Bulldogs main evented the odd show and went to curfew, even at MSG. You'll never get to see stuff like that today.

As a fan of Jericho's, I'm also happy to see him looking very relaxed. Makes me kinda hope he's done with wrestling too. He seems quite happy. On a similar note, I did also catch the beginning of RAW and man, have Edge's biceps shrunk! He looks like he's around my body type now, which is average.

Yeah, that's the one, Rudo. Got it on discount yesterday. And yeah, it's that match. I like the Eddie match even more. It's almost a mini-prototype of the work Eddie did with Bradshaw the year after.

Agree on the quality, or lack thereof. Although there's a bit of unintentional humour there, as it kinda looked like Shawn wanted to do another of his "bad back" psychology matches, with Angle's lack-of-psychology saving us from that. Nevertheless, boring match. I never thought I'd say this, but I made a mistake watching the John Cena DVD (of all things) before RAW. Even Cena DVD smokes RAW. Albeit, the Cena-Eddie match on that disc ain't bad. For matches where one guy is clearly outperforming the other and trying to hide both the other guy's weaknesses and make a good match out of it, it isn't as good as Bret-Yoko from WM9. But Eddie made a damn good effort. I wonder if Cena misses working with guys like that on Smackdown...

Now that would be hilarious. Does Vince not have certain people around as consultants? If so, I smell Office Space plot for Matt. It's too bad he and Lita aren't back together, albeit briefly. I could see Amy Dumas being the type who would go to a hypnotherapist.

Weren't Stephanie and HHH also trying to talk Vince out of the Katie Vick angle back in the day?