Dooley

Yeah something seemed off with the ordering/editing of the Mania 9 episode with the repeated asking of questions. But I did like Conrad' s evisceration of Bruce's flimsy of "Hulk needed to go to Europe with the title. Bruce did have the line of the episode with "that vulture was an asshole to work with ". This is my favorite wrestling podcast. I like hearing the "office perspective " and the different things that go into promoting and marketing the events. I know Bruce can lean on the BS meter, but he's a really engaging storyteller. I also know that he's running with the "hate Meltzer" gimmick, but it does seem that Meltzer is wrong as often as he's right.

Dave didn't 'give' Mr Fuji anything. The awards in the Observer are voted on by the readers of the newsletter, nothing to do with Dave. It was a reader vote but to suggest Dave didn't have any influence on the process is disingenuous. If he's constantly telling the readership that someone sucks, there is a trickle down effect. Only if you don't have a mind of your own. I won't make any of the obvious jokes.

Dave didn't 'give' Mr Fuji anything. The awards in the Observer are voted on by the readers of the newsletter, nothing to do with Dave. It was a reader vote but to suggest Dave didn't have any influence on the process is disingenuous. If he's constantly telling the readership that someone sucks, there is a trickle down effect.

Yeah, the idea that "nigger" has any sort of separate connotation because it was used in a wrestling locker room is beyond ridiculous.

It's there. Heenan chimes in with "Yes! And he's still got the WWF title!" and keeps ranting.

Quick questions: 1) It was said in 96 that WCW was getting gimmick names cleared for the Outsiders before they just went with their real names. Did it ever come out what the gimmick names were? 2) What was the deal with a proposed HBK-Savage program in 93? I remember reading that Shawn was pissed that it didn't happen.

This was dreadful. Why both WWF and WCW decided to go with drug/alcohol abuse angles in late '98 is beyond me. But ripping the announcers for using "Owen voices" while Owen Hart is still alive is silly. I actually hate the term "Owen voices" even post-Owen. It seems to imply that the announcers should never treat any situation with any sort of gravity ever.

To be fair, TSN was a premium channel with a small viewership at that time.

Jericho's response was great. Otherwise, it was a bunch of guys getting their panties in a knot. I think Bubba's was the worst. "Oh yeah? Well.....someone different than me might kick your ass!"

The Ringmaster and Rocky Maivia weren't doing so hot, were they? That's my point. Russo's rise to power coincides with WWF pushing edgier and more contemporary characters. Or are you still wistful for the days of The Goon and TL Hopper? I think you're forgetting how stale and dated most of the WWF felt in 95-96. This seems like a fair assessment, although I find Cornette to be wildly overrated as a booker by his supporters.

Based on what? Again, watch the TV. Russo got a bigger part in creative right around March '97 if I'm not mistaken. The TV from '97 is light years ahead of where it was a year prior. Val Venis got over solely BECAUSE of his gimmick. No argument there. But that's not the point I'm making. Based on what? Based on the fact he was losing and tried something by going with Russo. If Russo wasn't around he would had tried something different. Val was over in Mexico and Puerto Rico with being a porn star. It seems like a pretty big leap to say that WWF would have gotten better without doing what they actually did just because you think Vince would have "tried something". Plenty of guys have gotten over in Mexico but fallen on their face in the States. Are you really putting forth the argument that the reason Sean Morley was over wasn't because of the Val Venis character? I'm not comfortable that I'm coming off as a "Russo defender" here, but come on. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Based on what? Again, watch the TV. Russo got a bigger part in creative right around March '97 if I'm not mistaken. The TV from '97 is light years ahead of where it was a year prior. Val Venis got over solely BECAUSE of his gimmick. No argument there. But that's not the point I'm making.

I unironically like Sid. Dude looks like was designed in the "Create a wrestler" section of a video game. He had an aura about him that is difficult to match. One of my favourite all-time entrances. His promos are actually pretty underrated, everyone likes to remember the two famous fuck-ups, but going back and watching them they were a lot more focused than people give him credit for. Even stuff like the cartoony "crush crush crush!" promo from KOTR '95 makes me smile. His squash matches were hella fun and his bigger match offerings showed that he could follow if not lead. There were some stinkers to be sure, but I'm not a big "workrate" guy anyway.

All the criticisms of Russo are valid, but to see what influence Russo had on the WWF product one needs to go back and watch the TV in 95-96. With a few exceptions, it was ridiculously dated and stale. Russo pretty much forced Vince into being contemporary and trying new things.

The episode of Raw in '97 with the Hart-Austin street fight deserves another mention. Just a really captivating couple of hours of television where they were trying things that seem cliche now but they hadn't tried yet at the time. The follow-up the next week with Pillman going all evangelical is a worthy mention too.

Someone will have to clarify Taker's post-match promo for me. Because watching it live, I'm almost certain that the show went off the air with Kane doing the Taker pose in front of the flaming casket.

Keeping Hogan heel is unrealistic. WWF fans just didn't want to boo him. Same reason Austin's 01 heel turn didn't work out.

Virgil......as Michael Jordan. I'm just going to leave this here and ponder that.

Fuck these people. The guy beat up his girlfriend several times, until he beat her to death. Every three days of so, a woman dies because she gets beatten to death. This is bullshit. Fuck these people and fuck Snuka. Then why not spend the precious time and money on those current victims of domestic violence (women aren't the only ones abused) instead of going after a 72 year old dude who might have done it over 30 years ago and who now has stomach cancer. At his current shape, I don't see him posing much of a danger to anyone and I have no idea why people here are so supportive of what is basically a waste of resources. I don't know you why you think it's an either/or scenario. Like if only they weren't tied up with Snuka, they'd be making a grand push to help current domestic abuse victims.

Shawn has wanted a Rock match at Mania before. It's Rock that won't work with Shawn.

I hate this logic. It feels like it's from the same people who trumpet "if everybody's special, than nobody is special", which is also BS.

what in the everloving fuck.

Yeah, and I pitched "shoot style" long ago and instead use "UWF-style". We have shoot style now: UFC and other MMA promotions. That isn't "shoot style", that's a shoot. UWF as shoot style pro wrestling still seems accurate.

The idea that Hogan "killed" Hennig's finish is kind of silly when Hogan's whole schtick was taking his opponent's finish and then hulking up.

Did Shawn ever actually use that teardrop suplex? I remember it was his finisher in the video games but I can't remember ever actually seeing him do it. I remember the piledriver finish. Also, Rock using the shoulderbreaker. Yeah.