JRH

There were several potential matches Bret could have had in wcw (even if one-offs) that could have been good: Bret vs Jericho (i still cant believe they never had a match), Bret vs Raven, Bret vs Eddie Guerrero, or Bret vs Rey Mysterio jr (or any luchador for that matter, even El Dandy).

Update: Finished up the titan trilogy and i have to say that while Titan Screwed was a bit confusing narrative-wise (it seemed to skip around at points, and was stuff on Piper and Nash's backstage scuffle and Tod Gordon really necessary in a book focused on the WWF?), it really picked up when it got to the part about the screwjob, showing everyone's side of the story, not favoring either side (though it's more sympathetic to Bret obviously) but giving all the facts and backstory.

I just got a free trial of kindle unlimited, so i decided to use it to check out the "Titan trilogy" by James Dixon. Titan Sinking was more interesting than you'd think, and seeing all the backstabbing and behind the scenes political maneuvering going on gave me a whole new perspective on the WWF in 1995. Titan Shattered wasnt as good, but that's more due to the fact that a lot of the facts have already been detailed in various other books, shoot interviews, and dvd documentaries. Still, lots of intriguing stuff on a struggling product. Planning on starting Titan Screwed soon, and i wouldnt mind seeing Dixon do a series of books about wcw's turbulent pre-Hogan 90s (1990-1993).

I wonder if they'll ever include the first AWA Superclash, seems odd to have 2 and 3 but not 1 (4 was never taped AFAIK).

Mr. Perfect in 1993 WWF also came to mind. Even though the babyface turn on Flair was a memorable moment, as was the loser leaves town match, he didnt seem to fit in, and the fact that he was still playing up the "absolutely perfect at everything" gimmick as a babyface wasnt helping matters.

What would be better (though more complex) would be an option to put the shows in chronological order. For example, if you watch the "go-home" Raw (ie, the episode that airs the week of the PPV), immediately after it would go to the "go-home" Smackdown, and then after that, goes to the PPV itself.

Sid Vicious vs Nightstalker from Clash 13. Is it bad? Yes, but its not the worst match ever by any means, it just happens to be another bad match on a show that had several of them. Heck, if you want a worse match from that show, check out the Nasty Boys vs Renegade Warriors, or Big Cat vs Brad Armstrong.

Actually, those part-time worker gimmicks do have some justification if the wrestler in question is a heel, since you could then use the kayfabe explanation that he either wants more money or he wants to use the wrestling to feed his ego. However, thats rarely ever been explored in these characters (aside from the musician gimmicks).

The Dungeon of Doom. While the 1995 incarnation was atrocious, by mid-1996 they had pretty much abandoned all the b-grade horror stuff, the master, the dungeon vignettes, and all of the other stuff, and became a perfectly credible group of wrestlers (looking back, they really should have given meng and barbarian a run with the tag titles). However, people still only remember "SULLIVAN MY SON!" and "Where am i? There's no Hulkamaniacs here!"

They probably would have had Andre eliminate a few low level heels (ie, demolition, haku) before having all the guys push him out of the ring.

I was watching a random 1994 ECW episode on the network, and they were actually pushing Mr. Hughes as a top heel. Definitely something they wouldnt be doing even a year later. Other ECW oddballs were Hawk (no animal though), Don Muraco, Dark Patriot, Ron Simmons, and Marty Jannetty. Didnt PN News have a heel run there? I know he got squashed by Spike Dudley on an early episode of the TNN show.

Watching 1990 WCW, Stan Hansen seemed kind of out of place. Yeah, he did win the US title and had that awesome brawl with Vader, but he didnt seem to fit in (though i could see him fitting in well during the Watts era). It didnt help that they tried to make him slightly more cartoony by giving him the tobacco spitting gimmick.

Who are some guys who just didnt "fit in" to a promotion? Either they were there way too long while the company was changing its image, or they just didnt fit in there to begin with? LOD's 1998 run definitely comes to mind. It was a desperate attempt to fit into the attitude era, but the outfits looked more like they belonged in an 80s sci-fi film, and once the New Age Outlaws became the top babyface team, there was no real reason to keep them around. I wont even go into the drunk hawk storyline.

D-Von Dudley is an interesting case. Outside of the "brothers from different mothers" gimmick (which was slowly phased out as the Dudleys became less of a comedy gimmick, i dont think it was even brought up in the WWF/E or TNA runs), there was nothing stereotypically "black" about him (you could argue Rev. D-Von, but you could also just consider that a 2000s version of Brother Love). The only problem was that for the majority of his run, he was a tag team partner with a white guy, so he never really had a chance to get a personality of his own.

Well, I did say I was getting carried away! However, I do think there is a distinct shift from say, Dusty Rhodes the working class hero, standing up to the Man yet also looking out for others, making saves, mentoring young guys and Steve Austin, who stands up to the Man but essentially has no loyalty or empathy for anyone else. He did save Stephy from the deadly hands of Evil Taker though. And when he had that week as a CEO, he told them to take Vince's salary for that month and give it to Mankind (who was recovering from an injury both in real life and storyline at the time).

Also, i think the hardy boyz were able to get over the "southern" thing not just due to their high-flying style but also by their ring attire. They didnt go for the stereotypical redneck brawler look, instead they had a more "modern" look to them. You may not like the casual clothes they wore, but it helped them get over with the younger crowd who likely dressed like that, and it was a HUGE improvement to their ridiculous neon-covered tights they wore pre-push. With those things in play, nobody cared that they had southern accents.

With them digging up house show footage, I wonder if they'll ever release some interesting house show rarities like that 1991 battle royal with Andre the Giant in it, or HHH vs Lesnar (from 2002), or anything from the pre-ppv KOTR shows (there is handheld footage of the 1991 tournament, but thats it).

Are you going to review the 60 minute "collectors series" tapes as well?

Getting back to the topic someone brought up about escapist entertainment, it should also be noted that a lot of it is now made with an audience of adults in mind. Just look at Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Gotham, Agents of SHIELD, even cartoons like Archer, Rick and Morty, and Venture Brothers. Even stuff aimed at a more "general" audience like the Marvel films have appeal to all kinds of fanbases. Keeping this related to wrestling, thats what caused WCW to overtake WWF in 96-97. By appealing to the college/high school crowd (while still keeping it appealing to younger fans, long time fans, and casuals), they were able to get a wider audience. Vince, on the other hand, was still marketing almost exclusively to the younger crowd (i picked up an issue of WWF Magazine in 1995, and there were only a handful of articles actually about wrestling, everything else was about video games or trading cards or wrestlers extra-curricular activities, which had almost no appeal to older fans, even the apter mags knew they had an older audience in mind). Getting away form this tangent, who was the last wrestler in the WWF (or for that matter, wrestling in general) who had that "blue-collar" appeal? Austin? Bikertaker?

Not sure if i'd call it horrible, but Shawn Michaels vs HHH from Royal Rumble 2004. They had some good matches previous, but that one was just a disapointment.

Arn Anderson vs Paul Orndorff at Cotc XI. I liked it when i first saw it, but later viewings of it left me cold.

The 1987 and 1994 Slammy awards have been removed for unknown reasons.

Yeah, there's a guy you pretty much never hear anything about. While watching some old Thunder episodes, i came across a match with Blitzkrieg vs Kidman. I remember being impressed with this guy when i first saw him, and while the match was pretty good, im not sure if his style still holds up as he basically did the typical cruiserweight stuff, and in fact Kidman seemed to carry the match. Are there any matches out there from his brief run (i think was only around from February 1999 to September 1999, and then he literally disappeared from wrestling altogether) where he really shines?

Thursday Raw Thursday has finally been uploaded.

Heroes of Wrestling and Rodman Down Under both have plenty of potential canidates for worst PPV match.