clintthecrippler

Man, the behind the scenes ECW footage in the Heyman DVD was a huge revelation, that's the first I've heard of any of that stuff even existing. It looks like Heyman might have been the type of guy to compulsively tape everything he did around the arena the day of the show. Everyone focuses on the lost gem matches they would dig up if they ever got free reign to WWE's archives, but between the revelation of this stuff and a lot of the behind the scenes on that History of Wrestlemania documentary from a couple years back, I would think there's tons of this sorts of footage that I would find just as compelling as having access to every Kaz Hayashi match from Worldwide. And holy shit, actual corroboration on Paul Heyman having some sort of history with Studio 54, at the very least for the party with Ric Flair and Bam Bam Bigelow.

Highs: Austin Aries World Title run, the initial Bobby Roode heel turn, the Beer Money/MCMG Best of 7 series, anytime they just let the X Division shine on its own from 2002 through 2006, Joseph Park Lows: Anytime Vince Russo was an onscreen character, TNA Tag Team Champion Pac Man Jones, Abyss anytime he wrestled anyone that wasn't AJ Styles or Sabu, that time the Knockouts Championship was won by having the key to one of four boxes.

I think the real story lurking beneath all of this will be whether or not (a) another network like Fox Sports 1 picks up Impact and/or ( Spike TV takes on another wrestling show. I think if neither of those things happen in the next year, then we may be going a really long time without a true viable No. 2 national wrestling promotion, which in the end would be very bad for wrestling overall. In the end, I do feel bad that so many wrestlers busted their asses and broke their bodies for TNA only to have mismanagement continually fuck up every opportunity they had to grow and said mismanagement to potentially lead to the demise of the company.

Once again for the umpteenth time, Vince Russo books a swerve that will fail to draw money or increase interest or viewership in a product.

watched Starrcade 84 and Starrcade 85. Holy shit, that first hour of Starrcade 84 was total jobber mania. Denny Brown vs Mike Davis, Brian Adias vs Massai Ito, and Mike Graham vs Jesse Barr do not make for a promising start for what is supposed to be the "Grandaddy of Them All." And man, Dusty Rhodes looks like shit here. He literally looks like he has not slept in 36 hours, and that backstage promo where he is resting on a chair with his jacket draped over his chest makes him look like an obese grandma. If not for Tully and Steamboat bringing a good match and the spectacle of Jimmy Valiant and Paul Jones in the tuxedo match (for those coming into this cold, the homeless man in the tuxedo shirt stripping a man of his clothes and trying to choke him to death with a tie is the FACE), this would have been a completely worthless show. Luckily, Starrcade 85 stepped it up quite a bit. Holy hell there was tons of blood on this one. I know it was '80s NWA, but it kind of became numbing after a while. When you have Manny bleeding profusely 30 seconds into his match and Superstar Graham blading after an arm-wrestling match, it's a bit much. But quite a few of the matches are pretty awesome. The Midnight Express showing up for a street fight dressed in tuxedos is pretty swank, perhaps maybe only topped by that time Ernie Ladd showed up for a street fight dressed in a polo shirt, slacks, and loafers. Magnum-Tully still holds up, and listening to them violently screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" into the microphone...well, if you watched it with your eyes closed, it sounded like the goriest most visceral '70s horror flick ever. And Dusty and Flair had a MUCH better match at 85. Dusty's selling here was amazing, I loved him just frantically scrambling outside the ring and over the guardrail when the leg assault started. And on top of that, a new contender for favorite wrestling fan ever, with the guy that spent the entire match shouting "Woooooooooooooooooooo! Woooooooooooooo! DUSTY RHODES! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" only pausing for a few seconds here and there. I bet that guy shot his TV the next week when it was announced that Dusty's victory was overturned.

No shit, given all of the various filler segments they do on RAW just sixty seconds to show Hulk Hogan rescuing Macho Man from the Honky Tonk Man and saying "Saturday Night's Main Event" is now on WWE Network seems like something that could both be super easy to program in and you know, promote the fucking network.

I am not as anti-deathmatch wrestling as others on this board, but I do want to point out that that Nick Gage clip is technically backyard wrestling, as that show was held at a clearing at the house of DJ Hyde's grandparents. That said, if they started taping Superstars and Main Event at one of Vince's mansions - or better yet - on his yacht, I would watch it religiously every week. Back to the topic at hand, I would definitely recommend a chapter on wrestlers wearing white to make their blade job Stan out even more. Was thinking the Rockers wearing white tights in that match against Rose and Somers. I think there was an angle in Memphis where Tommy Rich got bloodied up while wearing a white tuxedo as well.

I anticipate a crowd barely paying attention to what's going on in the ring all night while they are checking their phones for the latest updates on Blackhawks vs Kings Game Seven, silently wishing they hadn't bought these WWE tickets months ago.

Oh fuck, and you didn't even mention the best line of the night. " No, I don't have any issues. No ego. Just a lot of pride. Let's go, Ricky" Jim Ross: "OH MY GOD WHAT A CLOTHESLINE BY LUGER. LEX LUGER WITH A CLOTHESLINE!!!!" Thus ending Jim Ross' refractory period after his multiple excited releases during Dr. Death vs Terry Gordy.

Yep, Clash of the Champions 7 is still one of my favorite wrestling shows of all-time. -The show is at an armory fieldhouse in Ft. Bragg, NC, and it's 100 degrees inside, and the crowd is sweaty and mostly drunk military folk and is hot for everything. Atmosphere is just phenomenal all night long, even for '80s NWA/WCW. -A possible legit overlooked classic in Terry Funk vs Ricky Steamboat, and some other fun matches like Varsity Club vs Steiners, Midnight Express vs Headshrinkers/Samoan Swat Team, and Dr. Death vs Terry Gordy. -One of the all-time WCW Wrestlecrap moments with the debut of the Ding Dongs. -My favorite patriotism-baiting match of all-time with the ex-military man Ranger Ross vs The Terrorist...and the military audience eats it the fuck up... -...followed by Gary Hart leading The Great Muta in a martial arts demonstration that Muta refuses to participate in because according to Gary Hart, he is sick of facing inferior "gaijin" competition. -Coors Light was a sponsor of the show so Jim Ross makes references all night long to wishing he was on his couch drinking a nice cold Coors Light. -a drunk fan charging the ring during the Midnight Express entrance, and Jim Cornette simply saying "We're going to make your night by letting you live!" as he gets swarmed by military security. -a plug for THE HOTLINE featuring Jack Victory dressed as an FBI agent and Paul E. being rudely interrupted by a jobber while calling the hotline...also, JOE PEDICINO'S NOSE!

I love at 4:45 of that Flower Shop video when Mean Gene sends it to Lord Alfred, and Lord Alfred is either zoned out, not paying attention, or just numb from what transpired for the previous four minutes.

I honestly think that Rusev and Tensai are proof positive that going with outdated '80s silent methodical foreign menaces that had elements that would have been cartoonish even for the '80s isn't likely to fly on any level with today's WWE fan. Though I think Rusev may have a better shot of evolving organically simply because they won't shove him down the fans throats with wins over Cena and Daniel Bryan within the next few weeks. The problems with Tensai never had anything to do with him being Albert in the past. The problems with Tensai was that they had him do every movement simultaneously slow and comically over-exaggerated to the point where no one bought it, the Japanese manservant thing was corny as shit, and fans don't want to see nerveholds and clawholds in this era. And he never even had the common decency to spit the mist directly in his opponent's faces, he'd just spit into his hand like he was lubing up and then shove it in his opponent's faces. Add on top of that clean pins over John Cena and CM Punk that came way too early in the run, and of course the modern fanbase is going to rebel. There's an alternate universe where Tensai gets over enough for a PPV main event or two. But in that universe, they let him wrestle like the impressive athletic hoss he was in New Japan, perhaps tweak the gimmick to be more direct with the "American ex-pat embracing Japanese culture" angle, have Sakamoto be a cornerman/manager inspired by something more modern than a 1940s rickshaw driver in a "Abbott and Costello Go To Japan" flick, and let him develop a presence with the crowd more organically over the course of six months or so. I do think Rusev has that potential to develop more organically. But again, I think the silent foreign menace accompanied by female Russian manager from a bootleg Street Fighter II knockoff - which is totally what they lifted her entrance music from, right? - is more of a hindrance than a help right now.

What match is THIS in?

Holy shit. That spot may be my favorite spot of the year. It's like the FMW version of the Macho Reviving Elbowdrop. I've was pretty underwhelmed by the series Onita had with Akebono, but this match really felt like the old FMW Onita magic was back. Some fun Japanese old guy brawling, some nutty spots, Fujiwara getting the "FUCK YEAH!" spot of kicking out at 2 after getting hit with an exploding barbed wire chair. And Ohtani's amazing sell on the first explosion bump. I am sad that this wasn't on Wrestlemania for the world to see

WWE has been piping in noise on most of their taped shows since the '80s. Friday Night Smackdown is full of audio sweetening every week. WCW did it a bit too, been a while since I watched from that era but I believe they were even piping in crowd noise on their live shows during the dying days.

Any updates on how things are going with the Roku version of the App? I am watching on my computer and occasionally on my phone, but really want to kick back in my lounger in my living room and watch on the big screen. The only smart device I have is a Blu-Ray Player, which this isn't on yet, and I don't play video games enough to warrant getting a video game system. Was looking at the Roku LT as an affordable device to spend a little cash on so I can finally kick back and watch everything on the big screen.

I think the argument against Martel is mainly more that he hadn't had exposure in the main territories where the NWA champ would be at the most often. The match he had as AWA Champ against Jerry Lawler in Nashville I think is a great example of what Martel as "scientific heel touring champion" would have looked like, but in 1981, he simply did not have the exposure an NWA Champion would have needed for that ability to sink in against local heroes in the territories that the NWA Champion was most important to at that time.

Maybe not as stiff as the Japan matches mentioned above, but I was watching the One Man Gang vs. Big Bubba Rogers match from the Mid-South set last night and thought of this thread. The first half of the match is pretty much just fat guys throwing bombs at each other.

"I was there the night __________ died." "I never refused to job to anyone."

Matt D used the phrase "reality show writers" in one of his posts. Calling out reality shows is generally my response to "you know it's fake, right?" Unless the person doesn't watch reality shows either, that is usually enough to get people to shut up.

I was always bummed that Alex Shelley never came in as Evan Bourne's jock older brother "Steve Bourne" that interrupts his promos by saying "whatever, nerd!", gives him noogies and wedgies, and tells embarassing stories of how Evan wet the bed as a kid. It could have been a pretty awesome "odd couple" tag team I think.

I just watched the first Nitro of 1999 and finally saw the whole thing in context. I did think it was actually really well executed. There was really no indication at all that the swerve was coming and then they really milked it during the Goldberg beatdown afterwards, even handcuffing Goldberg and spray painting him. But I still understand the initial hatred because it kind of does feel like a big reset button. I have wondered for a while now if the legacy of the Fingerpoke of Doom would be less notorious if the following two factors weren't in play: 1. If instead of being opposite Foley winning the WWF Title, it was opposite a less news-worthy RAW. 2. If instead of being a show attended by 40,000 people in the Georgia Dome, it was in a random arena somewhere else in the country.

Shoot, even on a "promotions nationally televised" level, World Class was way worse in '86 than AWA.