JRH

For the first 3-4 months of 2006 i didnt have access to it as my cable company didnt have UPN for some reason (thankfully, this meant i never got to see the infamous "Eddie's in hell" promo). Other than that, i've had access to it pretty much non-stop.

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Actually P&G had music for their earliest matches, but dropped it by Summerslam.

Several actually, Hogan, Piper, Steamboat, JYD, Hillbilly Jim, Cpl. Kirchner, Outback Jack, Bigelow, Strike Force, Young Stallions, Sam Houston, and Rockin Robin were all 1987-era faces who had theme music.

There were also cases where music just wouldnt fit. Barbarian, Warlord, and Bad News Brown for example had no music, as it wouldnt really fit their characters. Same with Backlund not having music until his "presidential canidate" gimmick, since Backlund was a throwback to the old school. Speaking of which, was the WWF the first company to use original music (as opposed to the "real" songs that Mid-South, Memphis, World Class, AWA, JCP, and other federations used at the time)?

Did Ventura ever work with Gordon Solie during this run? Thats a combo i would have liked to see.

Didnt they pretty much drop the horror/supernatural elements near the end of their run? I remember when Big Bubba joined and was wearing biker clothes, and you also had Konnan in his gang outfit, a far cry from the yetis or sharks or zodiacs and such.

Didnt the WWF show Rick McGraw's final match AFTER he died (and then announced his death the week after)? I guess the Marella incident isnt that scummy to be honest, it's more of an example of what can go wrong with pre-taped shows (see also the problems that happened with the WCW Disney tapings).

Would Gene Okerlund insulting Brady Boone on the WCW Hotline after his death count (he said the only reason nobody had a bad thing to say about Boone was because nobody knew who he was) qualify? Or how about the WWF not informing fans of Joey Marella's death until after the run of episodes taped with Marella as referee had aired?

Would the NWO Horsemen sketch count? Though to be fair, I remember reading that it was originally going to end with the Horsemen doing a run-in at the end and beating down the nwo (with Arn at the top of the ramp clapping), but they nixed it so that the nwo DIDNT get their comeuppance. Even then, they went after issues that had nothing to do with Arn the wrestler but Arn the person (ie, the references to drinking).

Most inexplicable addition to the DoD was Konnan. I still dont know why they bothered putting him in there, unless they had nothing else to do with him (he actually fit in better with the NWO).

There was also a guy on the indies using the Mortis gimmick even after Kanyon died.

According to Sex, Lies, and Headlocks, the indy fed Windy City Wrestling did an angle where the lead heel beat up a mentally handicapped fan (the way it was worded it made it seem like it was a legit fan and not a plant). I dont know much about this angle, but it sounds pretty scummy to me (even if the fan was just a plant, it's just real cheap heat).

Austin giving a stunner to Stacy Keibler for the "crime" of not wanting to drink beer. Bear in mind that both Austin and Stacy were babyfaces at this time, and it led to nothing, so not only scummy, but pointless. The 2002 Molly Holly angle comes to mind as well, shaming her for both being a Virgin and having a large butt. Im still trying to figure out why she even allowed them to do that angle.

Dont know how good the match would have been, but i always wanted to see Vader vs Nash in some "battle of the powerbombs" thing. I wonder if that was planned if Nash hadnt left the WWF in 1996.

Also for the "it was 1992" list, but check out the 2:00 minute mark of this: which is pretty damn dark for the time period. i Thought the Nailz Beatdown of Bossman was pretty intense as well. Not much talk about the state of WCW in this thread. It seemed that WCW at this time period was a weird mixture of serious wrestling and ultra-campy gimmicks (even the Bill Watts era still had Vinnie Vegas, Super Invader, Scotty Flamingo, Slazenger and Pierce, and that Tom Zenk/Johnny Gunn vignette). Thngs started changing when the luchadors and Guerrero, Malenko, and Benoit came in, but the shift wouldnt be complete until the debut of the NWO.

I never liked Brian Pillman in long tights, it never really worked for me.

Was there a reasoning for making Starrcade 89, 90, and 91 gimmick-driven ppvs (89 with the iron man tourney, 90 with the tag tourney, though that was only part of the ppv, and 91 with battlebowl)? Looking back, it seems like they were pushing Great American Bash to be more important during those years.

Cena did wear tights when he debuted in WWE, but they were so incredibly generic that the jean shorts were a step up.

Owen's Nation tights (the "danger" singlet) was pretty hokey as well. He really should have stuck to the black hart singlet.

It may seem external, but ring attire can make or break certain wrestlers (can you imagine Flair in his prime without the "RF" on the side of his tights?). However, what are some of the worst ring attires you can think of? This only applies to stuff worn while wrestling, stuff like Steamboat's dragon outfit doesnt count. Zack Ryder had a hideous pair of tights in WWECW where he had tights where one leg was long and the other was short. IRS was also a ridiculous outfit, he had some good matches while wearing the business suit, true (mainly as a member of Money Inc), but i could never take him seriously with it on (Mr Hughes OTOH, while not the best wrestler in the world, looked more effective in the suit and tie look).

The problem with banning the top rope moves to make it an "outlaw" move, was that it crippled the light heavyweight dvision, which, at the time, was built off high flyers like pillman and liger. By getting rid of that move, you make LHW matches the same as every other match in the promotion. That aside, there was enough good in 1992 wcw to make it worthwhile. 1993, while i liked it while watching, had those atrocious Disney tapings where they pretty much booked the rest of the year right then and there (WWF did the same thing in the late 80s/early 90s, but never on such a large scale), therefore making it useless for any wrestler to try to get over since theyve already penciled in the new champs. Im also kind of bitter that Cactus Jack never got his revenge on Vader (at least have him win a non-title match).

I wonder if it would be possible to turn Undertaker heel in 1995. He was pretty much spinning his wheels during that year, so a heel turn would be something at least. He also had credibility so he could feud with the top guys like Diesel, Bret, Razor, and Michaels. I would have changed his character though, make him darker (not ministry-era style darker mind you) and get rid of the campy horror movie aspects of his character like the coffins and such. Maybe even have him turn on Paul Bearer and take him off tv (he could still work backstage as a road agent).

Parv, you should check The Best of WWF Vol. 16 video tape. It's the only one that WWE COD never broadcasted most likely because there is a New Japan match and an All Japan Women match. This is the line-up: Best of the WWF #16 (WF056) 09/13/85 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Giant Machine 1980s Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Bull Nakano & Condor Saito 1980s Mr. Fuji vs. ??? 10/19/85 The Killer Bees vs. Mike Sharpe & Barry O 04/88 The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules 04/88 Andre the Giant vs. Jim Duggan 1980s Several Outback Jack skits 10/23/87 Junkyard Dog vs. Harley Race (special referee Andre the Giant) 10/23/87 Jacques & Raymond Rougeau vs. Dino Bravo & Greg Valentine First two matches are from other promotions. Mr. Fuji's match is from somewhere in the Middle East. The 85 match is from the Puerto Rico rainstorm card that you may have already seen. The 1988 matches are from Italy and the 87 matches from Paris. It's a cool tape because they left the original commentary in all the different languages. If I remember correctly the matches from France had a ring skirt with a giant CANAL+ logo, so that was quite a different setting for the WWF. I've always wondered about the Fuji match on that tape. Does anyone know if it was even a WWF show, or just footage that the company happened to have?

Rick Steiner definitely comes to mind. Also, Mark Henry originally had "WSM" on the back of his singlet to match up with MVP who had MVP on the back of his attire, but mark STILL has those initials on the back of his singlet. Then you had Al Snow as Leif Cassidy. Not only did he still wear the new rockers outfit as a singles wrestler, but when he came to ECW as Al Snow, he STILL wore the new rockers outfit for a time.