Migs

My gut tells me Punk ends up in the triple threat. Either way - going to be a very interesting Monday night.

Still confused as to why they are airing the ECW TV out of order when they'll have it all up over the next few weeks. Same for WCCW. Hoping they start airing in order at some point.

I watched an ECW Hardcore TV episode on VOD on my Mac Mini last night.

Wondering now if the skipping around in early ECW shows on the Network is to avoid showing Nancy.

For those curious about what will play opposite Raw - it's the Greatest Rivalries DVD and a Legends of Wrestling.

Also, I created an account and am somehow able to see the content - but I haven't put billing info in, so I can't play videos, Strange.

No Clashes, no Bashes before 88, but Starrcade from 83 on is included.

Site is really struggling for me, although maybe this is the universe telling me I should do work at work today. ECW has 4 early episodes up - 10/4/93, 11/1/93, 2/7/94, and 4/25/94. Not sure why the skipping around, although hopefully they start going week to week when they get to late '94 and the TV gets better.

This was pretty fun, but the double juice didn't really work for me - the match hadn't built to a violence level where that made sense.

Nevermind.

FXX is actually a pretty interesting call. They've had trouble getting clearances; and linking Raw with Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the League makes sense from a demographic perspective.

I think there's something to the points made about how being an "old school" wrestling fan plays better than watching the current product. Telling someone you enjoy it for nostalgia purposes positions it with other nostalgia entertainment. When it comes up, I usually tell people I watch old stuff from when I was a kid, and that prompts a conversation either about the Hogan era or the Attitude era. I'm not particularly "closeted" although I don't advertise it. I don't hide it - if someone's staying with me and I want to watch wrestling while I'm on the treadmill, I do it. People who know me know that I'm smart and also a little eccentric - it doesn't seem to detract from their opinion of my intelligence, but it might make them think I'm a bit weird. My fiancee is probably the only one who knows roughly how much wrestling I watch. Blessedly, she was a fan in the Attitude era and gets it, even if she only infrequently watches it with me. She's enjoyed going to Colt Cabana's live podcast and wrestling comedy shows with me. I have one good friend who comes over and we watch 80s stuff and bullshit for a few hours, maybe once every six weeks or so. I'm generally fine enjoying things alone, but it is nice to watch in a social setting every now and then. Also, I would absolutely wear a GoodHelmet t-shirt. I have enough t-shirts of all sorts that no one would bat an eye.

With the Primetime, ECW and WCW TV that has been shown on 24/7 already - do we think they will simply reshow those episodes, starting from the beginning of those shows? Will they pick up where they left off on 24/7?

The Sandman blinding angle from ECW in '94 still gets me to this day. Just an epic performance by all involved, and the moment where he whips off the bandages gets such an incredible reaction.

I'm curious (although probably not enough to watch the show) to see how they edit it. Obviously you cut the fall... do you keep any of the updates from Ross? Just an interesting question that we'll get to see the answer to.

But the chants on Monday night weren't random. It wasn't a "what?" chant ten years too late. They were for yet another "internet darling" that has been pushed heavily but not quite at the top level over the last several years. It doesn't mean Bryan isn't very over, it just means CM Punk is really over as well.

I think a lot of them were. Jericho's matches from the period are pretty shockingly sloppy and messy when re-watched. I think a lot of us were blinded because we loved Jericho's character and athleticism, but if he wasn't in there with someone like Eddie or Benoit to lead the match, it was basically a mediocre spot-fest. He was good at working a cruiserweight match, but if Jericho's goal was to be a main eventer (and it was!), he had improving to do before he got there.

It's a shame he never found a way to do some extended work there, though, because I feel like he could have had a poor man's Bryan-type appeal. I saw him live many times in 01-02, and the guy had an aura and a very natural connection with a crowd. Of course, I also think the most likely scenario would have been him ending up the way Taz did as a wrestler there, because WWE was just not going to let him use his natural character at his size. They were not going to let his little guy kick the shit out of and put holds on, say, Kane. Actually, the Taz comparison makes me think Low Ki was really just a couple years too late to be an amazing ECW guy.

Likely that he isn't in a Top 5 match after working so hard this year. Everyone should watch this interview from last week. He seemed very burnt out and non-motivated by Wrestling or his future in it: http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/1/24/53405...-network-ufc-on Wow, he's always kinda not given a fuck, but this interview suggests he was at a new level.

So, over/under one week until we get an epic episode of the Art of Wrestling with Punk as the guest?

The RVD example above is an interesting one for this purpose. RVD's "improvement" was, at least initially, really just a product of not working in an environment where his match could last as long as he wanted, and working with workers who forced him to keep moving. But the quality jump was huge - ECW RVD in 2000 is almost impossible to watch at times, because the matches are so slow and formulaic, but WWE RVD in 2001 is a joy to watch, having lots of fun matches up and down the card. But if left to his own devices - wouldn't he have wrestled the same way in 2001 that he did in 2000? (I'll say - I haven't watched enough of his post-2001 work recently to comment on how he changed later on). And this would go to the Danielson point - if you believe he'd wrestle a completely different style, basically his 2006 style, in the indies now (not sure that's true, but take it for the sake of argument), then he hasn't improved, he's just adaptable.

Finally watching the Rumble - the Orton/Cena match is hilarious and fascinating. First, I really don't think there was any situation in which those guys were winning back that crowd. That reaction wasn't about the match itself - it was about the booking, and those guys weren't fixing that. That said, Orton was particularly bad, looking just totally lost out there. Cena at least broke up a couple of the chants with big moves, showing a decent feel for timing and how to pull the crowd back a little. It's a credit to Cena that that wasn't a *complete* disaster. Just, like, mostly a disaster.