shakla

Is there a thread about non-WWE owned tape libraries on here? If not, there really should be, interesting stuff.

They probably need some time to superimpose a blue dot over Buck Zumhofe's face.

Gary Thorne also did some bowling coverage not too long ago, including the 2012 US Open where big wrestling fan Pete Weber (who does a version of the crotch chop and the RVD thumb point during matches) won and did the infamous "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I AM!" celebration.

I'm surprised they inducted that youngster. Someone asked Meltzer on WO Radio a year or so ago why Gorilla called him a "fiery youngster". Dave said it was an in-joke of sort that Monsoon would say about "unknown" or foreign wrestlers. Can't remember exactly. Colon was the oldest entrant in that Rumble, just slightly older than Flair, Backlund and Lawler.

Who gonna induct Bearer? While some will say "Undertaker should", I don't see it. Bearer has the lowest star power of the announced inductees and will probably be the first induction. Undertaker is not gonna jerk the curtain and break character to induct him, especially with a main event match the next night. I suppose Kane could. Or someone from his World Class days (Hayes?). This is a unique inductee, since (if this makes sense) it seems they are inducting a character rather than the person. They didn't show any clips in his montage as Percy Pringle and he was never (or couldn't be) Paul Bearer outside of WWE. Will be interesting to see how this is handled.

They had actual ceremonies for the 94,95,96 ones. I assume they were taped, not sure if they aired. Thought I saw a clip of the Lou Albano induction somewhere.

A (likely partial) list of edits on the Network: http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/35697-a-look-at-wwe-network-edits A few Qs: Has the cursing on the 2000 Russo WCW PPVs been bleeped/muted? Not just on his Bash at the Beach promo, but I remember Spring Stampede or something like that having a lot of muted audio (including when Hogan was looking for Bischoff backstage) on the WWE On-Demand version. How has Jesse Ventura/Gary Michael Capetta audio been handled? I think Meltzer said there may be an issue, but with this platform rather than home video, it may differ.

Savage did those spots for his action figure and a video game not too long before he passed. For the figure, he said "2011 is gonna be the year of the Macho Man".

They didn't do a graphic for him at the start of RAW or SD, right?

They need to make a Flair "Drunk Panel" edition figure.

They brought Sable back and she's married to a top star now. With them bringing her back 10 years ago, I figure its a good sign that most wounds have been healed. Her main obstacle could be how sexual and revealing she was during her time there. The Playboy shoots (despite being WWE-sanctioned) could also hurt her. But she hasn't been an embarrassment like Sunny in the last few years.

Meltzer put up a poll yesterday on who should be the headline inductee (Warrior, Roberts, Hall, Mr. T) and thankfully, Warrior was hands-down the top choice. Glad to see not everyone is still sipping the 2005 WWE revisionist Kool-Aid.

Was the commercial for a WWF-themed cereal? I was hoping it would be for something like Cracklin' Oat Bran. Any of you think Marty's story about Iron Sheik is true? The one where Iron Sheik beat up a rat that Marty knew. "Marty, she no know how to work". They weren't together in the WWF all that much (maybe '91).

, Going along that premise, these weren't anywhere near as successful, but weren't both Ranger Ross and Sgt. Craig Pittman "shoot" military guys?

Gotta think the Godfather would be up there, even if it's not really a "common" career. IRS deserves a mention, had a 4 year run with the suspenders and tie. And countless mediocre comedic cameos on RAW in the past few years.

Do you think he'll get a graphic at the intro of Raw? I'd say the odds are good, unless they don't want a "downer" moment with the Network launch that day.

After Lita was announced, I wondered about other females WWE would consider for the HoF. Since no one was announced last night, I wanted to put out a tiered listing of potential candidates. Keep in mind, this isn't necessarily who "deserves" to get in, it's more the chances (IMO) of WWE considering an induction. I didn't include those on the active roster. Also didn't want to factor every possible name. Didn't consider Japan names or vintage names for the most part. To save space, TWD = "Typical Wrestler Death", as Meltzer often puts it. Likely (50+%) Sable (figure it's a matter of time, but maybe it's tricky for WWE to put a PG-rated video package for her) Lillian Garcia (been there 15 years, gotta figure it will happen) Stacy Keibler (talks were rumbling for a return, her sorta-celeb status helps) Possible (26-50%) Victoria (long WWE run, but do her years in TNA after getting a retirement match in '09 hurt from a political standpoint?) Ivory (veteran, good life after wrestling, but is she remembered fondly?) Torrie Wilson (long run, a quasi-celeb, but usually not a "top" name within the divas) Michelle McCool (have a feeling that WWE revisionist history will turn McTaker into one of the all time greats, plus being the first Divas champ) Maybe Pile (11-25%) Molly Holly (clean as a whistle after 'E, but is still young, and is sorta seen as a joke character (wig, "fat ass", Mighty Molly) Jacqueline (maybe they could put her in as a "pioneering" African-American diva, but she had a long TNA run and hasn't been in the 'E in 10 years) Mickie James (political issues plus a TNA run, could still come back, was a prolific women's champ) Melina (backstage politics issues, but she had a lot of title runs and was usually positioned higher among divas) Beth Phoenix (she's tricky, depends if she comes back, but may have done enough with her long title runs) Eve Torres (she was positioned fairly high her last few years, depends if she comes back or becomes known outside of wrestling) Slight Chance (1-10%) Terri Runnels/Marlena (only for having a near 10 year run with 'E) Leilani Kai (former champ, her shoot trailer isn't going to help, and no one remembers her) Rockin Robin (long forgotten, but a former champ) Luna Vachon (TWD, scattered runs, never all that high-profile) Candice Michelle (has/had the quasi-celeb status, but there's plenty of names to go before considering her, plus the foot fetish stuff) Gail Kim (obviously not soon, 2 so-so WWE runs won't help either) Maryse (maybe if she's still pretty 10 years from now) Kelly Kelly (could be a notch higher for being notable, she's still young) Only if they bring about world peace (0%, but alive) Missy Hyatt (long run in wrestling, but nothing (that aired) with WWF, amongst other obvious reasons) Debra (while prominent for awhile, the Austin stuff and Fox News appearances post-Benoit did her chances in) Celebs Maria Menounos (did several matches, including at WM, big fan, probably will get in soon, after some older names are burned off) Cyndi Lauper (appeared on RAW recently, figure it will happen) Snooki (for doing an athletic spot during her WM match, but is she going to be relevant to the mainstream much longer? I don't think Marla Maples will get inducted, for instance) Unknown Miss Elizabeth (she's often seen as a huge oversight, but I think she's a tricky case. First, the TWD/downer factor. It's also tough to induct her before Savage, and who knows when/if that's gonna happen. The montage might be tricky, since she almost never spoke, just stood around, unless they want to use slo-mo wedding footage. And I don't think there's an obvious choice of who could induct her and who would accept. Maybe Steph inducting with a family member no one knows accepting.) Chyna (probably should go in the 0% category, but she was such a big name. At this point, not only does she need to declare world peace, but also needs to at least save Cena from a burning building.) Madusa/Alundra Blayze (it appears the wounds have healed from the belt/trash can spot. But it's tricky since she was never known as Madusa in the WWF. It would be silly to induct her as Alundra, but you'd have to acknowledge her run there, as that experience is weighted more than other promotions.) Mildred Burke (maybe put her in like Gorgeous George was a few years back. Not sure how much footage of her is around tho.)

Certainly an improvement, but the hurdle was not that high, of course. Not only is the Bryan motif inspired by Che, but isn't this also an homage of the Obey shirts with Andre?

Dixie "It's good publicity" Carter and Vince "retired from wrestling more times than the Funks" Russo.

Well they worked together every day for another 18 months after that, and as far as can be ascertained they are still on friendly terms, so I doubt it would really be an issue. Yeah, remember, they had already broken up by the time they became an on-screen couple. Having said that, it should be Trish Stratus. I mentioned this in a BR article this week, but remember: They feuded or teamed off and on for pretty much their entire WWE careers. Their first big PPV match was against each other (Fully Loaded intergender trios match in 2000), they were partners for the "She's All That" knockoff story and the tag against Christian and Jericho, they main evented Raw against each other in a famous match, Lita was Trish's retirement match opponent, etc. I think it should be Trish as well. They are true contemporaries and their full-time WWE runs almost entirely criss-cross, timeline wise. Trish already being a hall member helps. Just hope they don't have AJ induct her. There could be a slight chance of it.

I think about all his shirts have either been that dark red shade or gray. I know you have to differentiate colors between wrestlers, but hardly anyone looks good in those shades. Not to mention the motifs with a beard and/or a goat. At least his new shirt is black, but still with a dreadful "goat beard" drawing.

Like a few of you had said, the match breaks come up quite predictably. Not sure if that's good or bad. Throw guy to the floor/Cole suspense/WWE logo fades before ad. I'm far more annoyed at the increased reliance of having marketed (but not always pushed) stars already in the ring to the home audience, forgoing their intro/theme. Or as I call it, the "jobber intro". Even current US/IC titleholders have gotten jobber intros as of late. How does it help anyone for Ryback to come off like Rusty Brooks on a 1988 Wrestling Challenge ep? It makes the matches really predictable. You figure with a 3 hour RAW, it would be easier than ever to have full intros shown, but apparently not.

Summer Rae was seeking out Kyoko Inoue videos on her own in developmental. That's cool, didn't know that. I know there was a story about her wanting to study Missy Hyatt not too long ago. I watched the Lita video again, it wasn't as bad, no one called her a "pioneer". Just hope Steph doesn't induct her. Don't need her corporate robot speech she did with Trish last year. I know DDP inducting Jake (if it happens) will work out, but I'm not sure how many casual fans know of their connection. More than a few will wonder why the "diamond cutter guy" is doing the speech.

The thing that bothered me about the Lita video on RAW was current Divas like Summer Rae and Naomi talking about what a "pioneer" she was. I doubt either of them even knew who Lita was 10 years ago.

If you can view the WWE HOF's 1st phase as a "company HOF", I think all of the 90s inductees are valid. No one was expecting it to become anything more than that back then. But when it reopened in 2004 and became more of a Wrestling HOF, Dudley and the other usual suspects looked more out of place. The first few classes were primarily guys with strong WWF ties (with a possible exception of Harley Race). Then they inducted some who basically had WWF connections by osmosis (Gagne, Sheik, Bockwinkel). If they kept inducting people the way they did in the 90s, probably would have Rene Goulet, Harvey Whippleman, Brooklyn Brawler and Dick Kroll in by now. Was James Dudley really that prolific of an in-ring manager, or is that typical WWE revisionist (or poorly researched) history?