sek69

HHH can get by on a 2 disc set since he has a match on almost every other set that's released.

I would think that if someone didn't like a thing, they wouldn't waste their time criticizing it. That may just be my take on it. Back to JR, I just love how he reverts to the whole "aw shucks" routine when someone calls him on his hypocritical BS. Along that same note, it's hilarious to suggest someone who's been around wrestling for 20+ years would not know how to "wink wink" suggest to someone that they need some chemical enhancement. Pretty much every company that exists has some sort of "code" that conveys the message that you can't just come out and say.

The new Legends Roundtable is up, and it's about the Territories. What struck me is how the consensus seemed to be that wrestlers today are hurt by not having different territories to hone their craft in, with Hayes in particular talking about visiting OVW and being disgusted at how poor the wrestlers were at cutting promos that weren't spoon fed. I mean, you have Patterson, Hayes, Ross, Foley, and Tazz going on about how WWE overscripts promos and don't give guys a chance to get over. You'd think at least a couple of those guys would be in a position to suggest changing that.

I'm surprised to see the "guy on one leg" comments in regards to Kerry. I thought that was kept pretty hush-hush until after he died.

Not to mention Lawler has been on TV in Memphis for the entire time he's been in the WWF/E, and lest we forget Vince himself did a whole angle down there.

Projects and lists, if you please. PM'd you. -- Loss, 01/10

When Armageddon was here in Pittsburgh, the staging was frigging huge and took up a hell of a lot of seats. Mellon Arena set up for wrestling with the usual Titan Tron/rampway set up seats about 15,000. I think they had probably 12,000 at Armageddon due to the stage setup.

This week's NWA episode marks the birth of the Big Gold Belt, and Ron Bass doing fill in duty for a no-show jobber in what probably was intended as a MX squash.

Ross also has not been part of the creative process since 1995. Come on, do you REALLY think they were trying to find a way to rip off WCW's idea when they came up with this? I don't think they had and conscious effort to rip off WCW. I just felt it humorously ironic that they shit on the idea of a War Games match, but will occasionally build a while episode of RAW the concept that was arguably the most WCW (in both a good and bad context) thing ever. I mean there was an article in WWE mag a while back that buried the War Games match as confusing, so it's probably safe to say that Vince isn't fond of the idea. Hell, didn't Hunter try to convince them to do one and even HE got turned down?

JR did, several times in fact. Another thing that makes my nose bleed if I think about it too much: Vince hates anything that reminds him of 80s (read: NWA) wrestling, but pretty much all the key players of that era work for the company now in some capacity.

Vince apparently hates War Games because it was a NWA/WCW idea, but "Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal" is a perfectly okay gimmick to reuse? Really?

Also on the Pyramid, Wolf proved you *can* use a Canadian Destroyer in a non-wrestling context.

I don't know if anyone watched, but the two hour premiere was tonight. They brought back most of the original games and added a few new ones that fit in well. The Eliminator is still way more exciting than like 99% of pro wrestling. Now they have a pool with fire on top and the contestants have to swim under the fire. They had a former Marine/current mom who misjudged the bars that the fire sets on and finished the course with the veritable crimson mask. Hogan and Ali were decent as hosts (I guess they have good editors), and I can see this being a decent hit considering there won't be much competition. Also at one point the commentator made a joke about what gladiator Crush's (Gina Carano) other likes were. I could almost hear Dave jumping off his couch.

I love how JR somehow can be both a crusty old Okie who appreciates criticism and loves people expressing their opinions, while also becoming extremely thin-skinned and passive aggressive whenever anyone not in TEH BIZ~! questions his abilities or uses insider lingo. I mean come on, it's 2008. I think it's time to stop with the outrage whenever someone uses wrestling-speak on the internet.

LOL (for those wondering, Loss and I were discussing a fellow on DVDVR who posted gems like those in practically every match thread over there. We still don't know what any of them meant.)

Does anyone else appreciate the irony that if TNA had this very same match on the next Impact, people would be absolutely screaming at what an overbooked mess it was? Granted, if TNA did it the quality of the people involved would be vastly different, but still. If the first match is the one I'm thinking of, didn't she have short hair before? I seem to remember that she was sporting that bowl cut style every woman in the world had at some point in the 80s. Meltzer was pretty anti WWF in general and Hogan specifically during that time frame. Hell, he still has snarky moments about Hogan like the aside he did a few issues back where he envisioned Hogan Knows Best as done by the Rey Mendoza (Villano) family.

I don't know, but I'd think that him acting crazy and possibly/probably abusive towards Elizabeth > history and match quality. I mean, it'd be kind of hard for a documentary on him to not paint a negative picture since it seems everyone that ever worked with him is of the opinion he was a crazy sumbitch.

I'm wondering what other folks opinions are on the statement I made in the WCW thread that the Flair-Bischoff spat is what really ended the run of Ric Flair as a top level performer. His in ring work was on a slow decline, but to me it seems as the combination of losing so much steam from being off TV and then being booked in humiliation angles after returning was the end of people viewing him as a credible top level guy.

The Triple H DVD should be interesting if there's a documentary portion, since they seem to have an alternate universe set up for DVD releases. While the marriage to Steph is teased and hinted at on TV, it's openly discussed on DVDs. One memorable example was Triple H talking about doing the whole "going home to meet your fiancee's parents" deal with Vince and how it was more awkward than usual on the Greatest Families DVD. Not to mention Hunter seems to be the type who gets all kayfabe-ish over the strangest things. He's not quite at the level of an Arn Anderson where it's as if everything in wrestling is a real occurrence, but he seems to slip in and out. I'd wager the Chyna era will be excised from history as well.

Well considering the whole reason Zodiac unmasked was because Orton was going to jail, there wasn't much point in building him up as a major heel. Not that Whelan didn't constantly cockblock the promotion with his Ward Cleaver sensibilities, but in this case it was justified.

Not to mention you've watched hundreds of matches and aren't completely sick of him, that's a sign of how great he was too. Watching WCCW from 1983 and NWA Saturday Nights from 85-86 on 24/7 drive it home how he could talk a crowd into a building as well.

Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin (2/12) This will probably be a a pretty solid set. I'm guessing it will be heavy on the WWF era, but there should be space for some of his WCW work and maybe even a World Class match or two just to complete the picture. This could end up interesting since allegedly Austin was lobbying hard to include some matches with Benoit, so this may end up being a test of the embargo on his likeness appearing on TV/DVD again. Triple H: King of Kings (3/25) I think I've reached the point of accepting Triple H is going to be a fixture of WWE for a long time, and it's probably time for him to get the deluxe treatment since his last DVD came out before they started going all out for every release. I hope they include some of his WCW matches as well, since I don't think that's seen the light of day since they originally aired. Evolution of the Hardys (5/6) It occurred to me watching the "Big Bangs and Dazzling Debuts" on WWE 24/7 that the Hardys have been around for a long ass time. Their "official" debut (as the Hardy Boyz) was in 1997 but they were around as a jobber team a while before that. This might end up being the surprise DVD of the year. The Rock (6/3) I can hear it now, people are going to bitch about this having too many promos. Not to mention his whole career was during the Blur-O-Vision era, so my Spider Sense is telling me that people will end up disappointed over this. It should be a pretty solid set if you aren't expecting wall to wall matches. Best of Starrcade (7/8) The best thing about this is that the release date is 3 days after my birthday, so that's a guaranteed gift right there. I guess we can chalk this one up to Dusty's influence, plus it has to be better than the THV releases. Life and Times of Mr. Perfect (8/5) I wonder if this will include the Bockwinkel draw. It's long for a non Bret Hart match to be included on a WWE produced DVD, but it would be a nice thing to have in DVD quality. It'll be interesting to see how they handle his issues in this new "no one in WWE ever had a drug problem" world. I guess we'll find out he made it through the match with Bret with the help of magic pixie dust. SummerSlam Anthology (8/5) Is it just me or is SummerSlam the one "major" PPV that doesn't seem to have that aura of the other ones? I mean, Mania is Mania, the Rumble has Flair winning the title, Survivor Series has the screwjob and the multiple tag matches. SummerSlam just seems to be a regular PPV that's been around a long time. I may end up Netflix'ing it at some point, but I can't see investing in 20 DVDs worth. Edge (11/4) My enthusiasm on an Edge DVD is tempered by the knowledge my favorite segment of his will almost surely not be included (CHRIS BENOIT IS HERE AND HE'S REALLY ANG-RY!). This will probably be one of those DVDs where you think "Really? This guy gets a DVD release?" but it ends up reminding you of all the awesomeness he's been involved in. Randy Savage: Macho Madness (11/18) Depending which way they go, this could either be one of the real top notch releases or a ridiculous hit job. I guess it's hard to not make Savage sound like a nut, but if Vince can make up with other people he's had issues with why not Randy? Sting (12/9) The first impression is that it's hilarious that WWE seems to not even be aware or care that Sting has a contract with TNA. It seems odd that they'd do a DVD of him since he's never had any inclination to sign with WWE. If any DVD on this list ends up not happening, I'd wager this would be the one.

Didn't DDP's injury come from that superplex spot where he pretty much had to land wrong to avoid killing Bob Holly? I remember watching that match and they landed so awkwardly Page ended up kicking Holly in the nuts on the rebound. Also, what I fear is the "nothing will change so we shouldn't even bother trying" mindset you see in politics taking hold in regards to wrestling.

I just wanted to isolate this because I would hate for this to become an accepted viewpoint at any level. The Benoit situation combined with similar stories of sudden violence towards families (including children) from oft-concussed NFL and NHL players has brought attention to the fact that repeated concussions (from not letting the brain heal properly) are nothing to fuck with. Athletes with brain injuries often find themselves working on autopilot doing what they were trained to do when their mind fails. That could be an NHL enforcer squaring off for a fight with his 4 year old daughter, the former boxer that was in the nursing home my mom worked at cold-cocking nurses, or a pro wrestler killing his son with his finishing move. These may be extreme examples, and certainly not the fate of everyone that gets a concussion, but too many have the "that won't happen to me" mindset that needs to be shaken up.

Man it's odd watching the debut episode of Prime Time. I'd never seen a pre-Gorilla/Heenan show, and Jesse's fresh from his in ring career still using his promo voice instead of his announcer voice.