gingears

80/146. I remembered all but two of the NFL guys but that one women's battle royal did me in. Great idea for a quiz.

The Observer report cited there said WWE was not promoting Apple TV as a service because of the fees. It doesn't say Apple TV won't be carrying it at all. It doesn't even really imply it either.

So a RVD match? I like RVD fine, but if he starts wrestling a match in June, he'd better be done by September at the latest.

His stance on F4D was that it was all a work. The storyline was supposed to be patterned after a wrestling match with Chikara itself as the babyface and the corporation closing them down was the heat which, I guess, makes the comeback show the comeback. That in particular came off as very disingenuous when coupled with him saying how crucial it was to keep people guessing so nobody could come forward and squash the rumors. If, by his own admission, the storyline's not finished, why now is it okay to come out and say this now? In keeping with his own wacky metaphor, it'd be like the babyface rolling out from under an elbowdrop, jumping up and yelling "I was fine the whole time!" before taking over on offense. I suppose that would work with Chikara's definition of psychology though, but not after a full year's worth of "selling".

I did not like how he basically reduced it to "if you stop liking Chikara over this, it was never for you in the first place".

The very first time I ever watched WCW as a kid, somebody attacked P.N. News and beat the tar out of him. I got scared because nothing like that ever happened on WWF Superstars, even though Papa Shango was setting people's boots on fire and such. It was just a different sort of violence than I was used to. So much more realistic. Many years later, I read in the Observer that the beat-down was done to cover up the fact that he was messed up from a fight with Rick Rude and they needed to explain why he looked so bad. I instantly remembered it and had a good laugh.

I was required to get a digital cable box to order WrestleMania 17. Maybe that was just a thing with my cable company and not across the board though.

You don't win a pre-Wrestlemania battle royal by accident. Wasn't there something with Japanese press covering the weekend's event because of Inoki's HOF induction that facilitated this?

I always thought Cena would face Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the next season of Total Divas airs between now and then and they could use that to kick off an angle for it. I really, really like the idea of Batista versus Orton. I think, if nothing else, they'll be able to have some fun build-up centering around the other Evolution guy Triple H saw promise in however long ago it ends being.

I am very happy to see this resurrected. I was really enjoying it before your break.

That appears to be the public story behind Davey Richards' RoH departure. I listened to the entire Hero interview and throughout the entire thing his references to NXT are used as "we" or "us". It was very strange for somebody who is decidedly not affiliated with WWE to drop lines like that, but I guess he maybe hasn't had time for it to sink in. I admire how positive he is throughout it all, but it was sort of concerning to hear full-time independent wrestling mentioned as a long-term fallback plan. He out-and-out states that he could, if he wanted, make a six-figure income at it, but I just can't wrap my head around that. For someone that has seen so many contemporaries enjoy so much greater success though, his attitude is remarkable and seems 100% genuine. I've never been much of a fan really, but based on personality alone I hope he gets a second chance there, perhaps as a trainer or something.

I tried to do that recently and only made it about fifteen episodes before giving up. My favorites were The Super Destroyers. The Funk promos are by far the best stuff though.

I have it. Final total was 105 votes, 60% even. "Kurt Angle was poor among historians (17%), and only 58% among reporters, but through the roof among both groups of wrestlers, including 89% among his peers."

Well deserved. Congratulations on seeing this the whole way through!

Going to guess that wasn't one of the ones that grew up with internet.

I suppose that would make the equation Undertaker + Undertaker

I assume the fans that would've been turned off by D-X and other "attitude era" conventions would have just watched WCW instead. Judging by the number of fans that just disappeared after the buyout, I think it's safe to say the WWF presentation in the late '90s/early '00s did repel a certain segment, albeit one smaller (though possibly more loyal) than the one it attracted.

Alright, what about Bryan then? That one is tricky because it has to be someone linked to Trips but I don't think The Shield so maybe someone turning or coming back. Could maybe be Bryan versus Cena stemming from the seemingly inevitable Bella Twins explosion.

Sadly, it sounds like I missed the MOTN. I got home just as Fandango was talking about something. Nothing after that really ever differentiated this from a Raw, even with the big cage in play. Loved the Backlund cameo though, as well as the video game's selling point apparently being it'll give kids a chance to be successful.

I think the boom was also an outgrowth of the grand anti-hero movement and Hogan, via the NWO, was also a big part of that. When comparing Hogan and Austin career-versus-career, I can never shake the fact that, even though Austin absolutely eclipsed Hulk at one point, Hogan was still an important and prominent figure during that time.

"Your voice has changed, but your breath is the same." As far as fart jokes in wrestling go, I'm not sure I've ever seen anything that tops this.

So surreal watching this twenty years later. I'm sort of amazed no snarky heel in late-ECW ever brought this up. It seems like the sort of thing Cyrus would've aired on "the network" to rile everybody up. I loved it though. It's a one-note gimmick, but that suits me just fine. The little James Bond-style circle thing was just the icing on an already cheesy cake.

For reasons that'll hopefully make sense to me in time, I've decided to watch ECW TV from the beginning on. So far it has been better than I expected. I was thinking the reason the Quantum Leap stuff was shown was in lieu of wrestling footage they didn't have, but as it wears on it appears more that they're trying to portray Funk as a big-time actor more so than former NWA Champion and that. Very strange. I'm pretty sure Gilbert was booking ECW at this point, so him as the top heel makes sense, especially given the crew they've got, but he certainly doesn't act the part. He's played up more as Jimmy Snuka's manager than anything early on. Anyway, this segment was a nice little introduction to the main players and the ECW TV Title which, to me at least, seems like a much bigger deal than their heavyweight title at this point.

Thought this one was interesting: Randy Macho Man Savage versus Arn Anderson from Nitro, 1996. It's sort of paced weirdly and has the obligatory unsatisfying ending a TV match probably should have, but I enjoyed it well enough. There's reference made on commentary to a Benoit/Regal match to follow that might eclipse it, but I'm more interested in tracking down Cena versus K-Fed now.

I thought his comment about Jerry Jarrett only pushing talent that didn't fit the WWF mold was kind of interesting, especially since (assuming I have the timeline correct) Lawler had just joined WWF at this point. Still, I think he was right about Memphis' survival depending on not losing top babyface stars at the rate other territories did. I don't think it was as simple as keeping the pay-offs low as I have a hard time believing that was a unique strategy at the time. When looking at what's going on in WWE today, it makes all the "wrestling never changes" lines he tosses out all the more frustrating. Lots of valid criticism about the corporate structure, but a pretty sore lack of personal accountability too. It wasn't an unwinnable game.