Dooley

What's this story? I didn't start following stuff on the net til 2004 so there's probably a lot of well known dirtsheet stories from around this time I have no idea of. After Pillman died, Vince addressed the troops and admitted that some of his ideas weren't working as well as he'd like and encouraged the talent to be more pro-active in their character development. That led to more "reality-based" characters/promos and less stuff like Thurman Sparky Plugg and TL Hopper.

I'm still waiting for the Al Snow/Steve Blackman buddy cop show where they travel through time.

It does seem odd that everything became so tight after one of the keys to the last boom was shifting a lot of character development responsibility back to the wrestlers (remember the Vince speech to the crew after Pillman's death?). You would think after that showed results, they would have kept running with it.

Always thought Chris was more of the Elite Oligarch Harvard boy rather than Obama-style Harvard. IRS is a little tricky. It's not like Mike played it as a Dem. I was thinking of that bizarre feud between Nowinski and Scott Steiner over their positions on the War in Iraq (Chris was against it, if you couldn't guess. Scott took the "RAH RAH MURICA" side). Struck me as Steiner playing "face", and that was the "face" position in the country at the time. Cheap heat spot, and forced Chris to be anti-war because it was the heel spot. I still love the idea of ANY political movement/position selecting Steiner as their mouthpiece.

I loved this segment. Even though Pillman was physically shot, he was still gold on the mic. I liked the slow burn from traditional prayer into wacky religious zealot "strike him down" ranting. It was kind of sad that Austin had to basically throw Pillman over the guardrail during the escape because Pillman couldn't make it on his own.

It just seems so benign to me that I don't see why people are against it. I think we're all mature enough here to be able to handle the presence of a tick box being available to show support for a particular post. It seems like one of those things where people who were inclined to use it could use it and those who didn't could easily ignore it. There are times when someone has beat me to a thought or made a point I hadn't considered but don't have a lot to add to. The "like" option seems useful in those situations. It's not something that's a huge factor for me, but I can't figure out the rationale of those who think it's going to ruin the board or something.

Love Owen's continued subtle heeling here.

Always preferred Luger, Sting's Vader series notwithstanding. Loved Luger's Flair run, his matches opposite Steamboat in '89 (which are more impressive knowing Steamboat insisted Luger call them), he was solid in the WWF although saddled with a lame gimmick and his career resurgence in 95-97 WCW. Sting's got the Vader and Foley stuff, but nothing else that jumps out at me. The build to Hogan at Starrcade was amazing of course, but Sting didn't really do anything there. You could have any other top guy on the roster in that position and get the same result. Actually, come to think of it, I really enjoyed Sting vs Earthquake in WCW, but that may just be a personal preference. Luger to me is the greatest example of "could've been". By all rights, he should have been the top guy in the business. But a combination of subpar booking and political machinations ensured that he never got above where he did. Luger said that he never got involved with the political side of the business, if he had, his career may have benefitted. Enabling the "like" option would make that more tangible

As someone who used to work in a tech support environment, it's completely believable. You're dealing with idiots greater than half of the time, and it wears on you. Eventually, no matter how well-intentioned you are, you start putting the surliness back at the customers. Anyone that starts to bug you gets "transferred....oops". But really, what do you expect from someone who's barely being paid enough to afford Spam? Also, sometimes when the call volumes are too high, they dump the lines and everyone has to call back in. That's a management decision, not front-line employees.

Never understood why Bundy went back to the WWF at this time. The WWF only offered him a deal because WCW did, right? Seems like he'd have been a better fit in WCW with the rest of the WWF 80's crew.

Agreed. Having Diesel squash Backlund at a house show and RIGHT after SS just kind of made people go "huh"? Not only did you wash out the entire PPV, but you immediately render Backlund irrelevant instead of a viable opponent. Then, in Diesel's first real look as champ, you split the crowd against another face and have him go to a draw. Nobody benefits. It's true they could have kept Owen stronger or given them another PPV gimmick match after SS to have them end it "once and for all". That allows Bret to buy some time get his baggage out of the way before making a run at Diesel. Also allows Diesel to establish himself before a face-face match. As for Bigelow, I understand why they turned him after the LT match because you can't really rehab a heel after losing to a celeb one on one, even one as talented as LT. But you're right that they should have had more foresight to keep more heel challengers in the bullpen. One wonders if they thought Jarrett was going to be in that position, he seemed out of place interfering in the Diesel-Bret Rumble match. It's fun to think about turning Bret at that time. That would mask a lot of deficiencies.

I think the idea was that if Flair cranks the crazy heel-ness up to 11, then Hogan is a more palatable choice for the fans as face. Didn't work, but I think that's the logic.

Hmm....what do all these things have in common?

Looking back at it, it seems like Diesel's reign was kneecapped as badly as Warrior's was. Not saying either guy was better than they were, but their booking as champ certainly did them no favours. The other thing about the Shawn turn was that even the promo up to the turn didn't foster much sympathy for Shawn. He basically blames Sid for the loss and tells him to take a hike, Sid responds by telling him to show him some respect. Shawn blows a gasket and Sid clobbers him. It's no wonder the crowd thought Sid was turning. Very clunky execution, reminiscent of Demos-PoP at SS '88 where the crowd actually thought Fuji was turning face,

Agreed. At the time, the buzz was LT was going to do another show. Diesel/LT vs Shawn/Sid could have done good business. From there you can do the turn and bump Sid up to no. 1 heel if you're determined to get a Diesel-Sid main.

Don't know why people are sour on Yoko showing fear. If Yoko's not scared of the casket, then why make the stipulation? It would have killed the match dead for Paul Bearer's big contractual manuever to be met with a "pffft....so?"

I was re-watching that recently and I remembered Bret Hart talking about how Shawn doing all those flashy moves was going to turn him babyface and either he was doing it on purpose or just had no idea. Watching the match I just assumed that Shawn knew he was going babyface soon, due to how he worked the match. ​ Apparently he just doesn't understand wrestling. Nash has talked about how Shawn was determined to blow him up and make it a one-man show, even down to botching taking the powerbomb at the end. He understands, he's just that much of a prick. They did rush the face turn as when Sid punked Shawn on Raw, the crowd was loving it. It wasn't until Diesel made the save that they were like "oh, we're supposed to cheer him now?"

The idea is that Goldust wants Pillman gone so desperately and is so sure he'll win that he doesn't think about the consequences. No worse than the other dozen variations on this angle. And Pillman cutting promos is always a good thing, even if he was physically done.

I see what you did there.

I guess this wasn't a thing until at least 95, no? I don't know the historical origins/timeline of BSK. But while Taker would've had the clout to tell of HBK/Razor, Fatu still wouldn't have. It'd be like Savio going after Bret and Lawler for going too long or something. Savage was a legend-in-residence and respected in the room. Fatu, while strong & intimidating, was much farther down the pecking order.

Apparently Bob Holly talks about Savage yelling at Shawn & Razor in his book as well. Holly was to have been in the 10 man tag that got scuttled. Savage had the clout to give two of the bigger stars a dressing-down for being selfish. The Headshrinkers wouldn't have.

I couldn't get anyone to touch this before: Shawn and Razor only went :17 long? Shawn himself said that Savage came up to him afterwards and told him it was a great match but that he was selfish from taking time from other people, didn't he?

Is that true? He didn't really do anything physical that would disprove a disability claim. Even if it was true, why would that make him leave WWF? He was in WCW six months later & wrestling, one has to think he could have done that in WWF had he so desired.

I was always a fan of "The Perfect Hoax". Mr. Perfect spends a couple of months stealing HHH's women from ringside, leading to a match between them on Raw. HHH "injures" Perfect in the back beforehand, leading Mero to tke his place and put his IC belt on the line. Perfect turns on Mero, HHH wins the title and the two cackling heels leave together. Loved the execution, Perfect was great especially in the pre-match for Mero-HHH where he's talking up Mero but also volunteering his title to be on the line.

Clearly they feel they haven't lost enough money in the venture yet. Why Jarrett & Keith wouldn't say fuck it & just start fresh is beyond me. One would think Keith knows enough media types to score a deal on a low-rent cable channel.