sek69

Most of Heyman's worked shoots were promo form. The only time I can remember a worked shoot in ECW was the whole Benoit breaking Sabu's neck deal, which was more of them making lemonade from lemons, since it was a real fuckup they they were able to use to get Benoit over as the Crippler.

Interesting tidbit on the OVW tapings, where Johnny Jeter turned heel on his partner Matt Capotelli (who has a legit broken leg). Heyman usually isn't a worked shoot kind of guy, so I'm thinking this might have been a chairshot gone wrong. Either way, I hope one of our collectors can track this down when it becomes available.

Bill Watts: His story's sad to think about, he went from having shows in the Superdome to selling Amway products for Jesus. It wasn't even his fault his company went bust either, the area he promoted in had an economic disaster and suddenly everything went poof. Watts was probably the best motivator in wrestling. It's amazing seeing guys that did jack shit in every other promotion suddenly tearing shit up for Watts. Guys like Rick Steiner, One Man Gang, Jim Duggan all showed why the Big Two were so quick to snap them up. Fritz Von Erich: I think saying he had one angle and drove it into the ground kind of sells him short. All his feuds involved his sons, yeah, but the Von Erichs-Freebirds stuff was pretty early in the territory's run. The Kevin/Kerry vs Chris Adams/Gino Hernandez matches were pretty good, and I dug the feud that Kevin had with Al Perez over the WCCW title. It's also worth mentioning that he was doing stuff like music videos before Vince was. Jerry Lawler: You know, they really missed the boat with the Lawler Hates ECW angle by not mentioning that Lawler was doing "hardcore" about 20 years before Paul Heyman bounced his first check. The only real knock I have against him is that he always had to be the champion wherever he goes. It's kind of ridiculous to look at the title history of the USWA and see Lawler winning and losing the belt 30 times, sometimes every week. Dutch Mantell: He does a good job keeping up the traditions of Memphis style, but he wears out his welcome too fast to make a long lasting impact. Jim Cornette: Probably one of the most brilliant wrestling minds alive today. I'd say it was mind boggling how he was marginalized by the WWE, but it really isn't. Only they would put him in a position to fail rather than tap into some of his vast knowledge and love of the business.

I was....12 years ago, but thanks for playing.

My favorite Bill Watts moment was when he had that job with the WWF for like a second, and he ran into HBK who was pissed that Watts punished him for being late to a show back when he was a Mid South jobber. Watts replied "well, were you late for the next show?" and HBK answered no, and Watts came back with "well I guess it worked then, didn't it?"

Hey, just so you guys know I have DVD burning capabilities too if you need an extra set of hands.

Also, reports are that TNA isn't paying for its timeslot after all and Spike is planning to give Impact all the push it can.

TNA looks to be on the verge of becoming really good, yet I hear they want Triple J to be the focus once they move to Spike TV.

Here in Western PA we have the International Wrestling Cartel (that's right, the IWC). We get a lot of TNA guys and a lot of the local boys are surprisingly good for the usual "indy lifers" you normally see in small feds. They have a weekly TV show on a small power independant station, and they have a Super Indy tournament that features some really good matchups. They have a website where you can see results and order DVDs. I'm thinking of grabbing a few when I get done being goodhelmet's DVD whore.

I'm a big NWA fan (still am actually), and it always frosts my cookies to see 80s stuff listed as "WCW". WCW didn't exist until 1991 or so, just because Turner rebranded everything doesn't mean JCP and whatnot becomes WCW. Sorry, but that's always been a pet peeve of mine, same as people who can't figure out that the NWA and WCW world titles had separate lines.

I like that plan, one reason I didn't join in the tag tournament is in the WWF one you could tell some people got voted against due to the voter not being fully aware of their work. It was more like a "Greatest WWF worker You've Seen" Tournament.

You haven't paid much attention to wrestling have you? Bret got some of the loudest pops in Canada before all the Montreal stuff happened, I can't see how he wouldn't get a monster ovation if he shows up this Monday. The above quotes pretty much reveal you don't pay attention to wrestling, but just to catch you up, every time WWF/E has been back to Montreal since they have to make some reference to what happened just for the sake of it. There's also been the constant "re-enactments" of Montreal where they try to do the same finish.

I've been watching the hell out of some Mid South/UWF stuff and being compared to Watts in that era is a complement. Not everything he tried worked, but from 84 to 86 he had some solid results. I was impressed how he booked Jim Duggan, for example. Character wise he was pretty much the same Hacksaw we saw in the WWF, yet in Mid South he wasn't portrayed as an idiot. It was almost surreal seeing Hacksaw cut pretty much the same promos that would be viewed as goofy a year later and come off as the lovable (if not somewhat simple) top babyface. It really showed what Vince missed out on by relegating him to a comedy act.

Depends if they were referring to Bill Watts on his own (Mid South) or Bill Watts working for someone (WCW).

Shamelessly stealing from Loss, but with a twist. Bill Watts Fritz Von Erich Jerry Lawler Dutch Mantell Jim Cornette

I hope "Austin" was in on the joke, otherwise this could cost WWE some money.

What's the deal with Lesnar anyway? It appeared to be a done deal but WWE.com is so OMGITZASHOOT~! now it's hard to tell what's real and what's work.

Eddy and Chris were neck-and-neck to me until Eddy started having his problems. He really didn't seem to have any enthusiasm from the time he won the title until his current program with Rey. I'm digging Eddy more now just because he seems to be enjoying his work more. Lately it seems that if Benoit mails it in any more his matches are going to start coming by UPS.

I was going to start a thread about this week's RAW, then I realized absolutely nothing of note happened.

Next week. 8/15. Raw. In Montreal. Let the Speculation Begin. It happens every time WWE heads north, but now it actually has a chance in hell of happening. Personally I hope it happens. I've never been a huge Bret fan, and as I discussed in the WOL thread, I don't think he was completely without blame for what happened. Having said that, if WWE never ever does anything right again they need to have him make an appearance next week. The reaction he would get would quite possibly be the biggest pop in wrestling history. It would make the reactions that made Flair and Hogan tear up when they returned look like X-Pac heat by comparison. Bret deserves his chance to say goodbye on his terms, Canadian fans have had to put up with Montreal getting rubbed in their faces since 1997, and WWE needs the closure to hopefully get the fuck over it already If they do it the right way, there wouldn't be a dry eye in the house, since you'd have to be a cold son-of-a-bitch to not get the least bit choked up at the thought of a guy dealing with what he dealt with and getting the chance to end things the right way.

I guess the answer is Rey *could* be made into a credible champion, but it would take more work than the WWE creative team would be willing to do, since they'd need to think of unconventional finishes to compensate for the size differences. Since they probably spend most of their time trying to get over the latest jacked up stiff Vince wanks himself to, they can't (won't) spend the time needed to get someone like Rey over as a main eventer. It's too bad, Rey gives them a chance to tap into the Hispanic market they really haven't been able to capture since Pedro Morales's title run.

I wonder if they're interested in this St. Louis and World Class stuff just to pad WWE 24/7 or if they plan some historical DVD releases.