Hawkeye12

I think they aired Simmon's title win complete on the Power Hour as well. A couple years back that episode was on the Network in the Black History Month collection.

Looking foward to these, when Yokozuna's match as Kokina didn't make the Unreleased set a few months ago I thought maybe it had been lost but here it is. The Network is rapidly becoming what I had hoped it would be from day one with all the updates and still so much more to go.

Mike Awesome (RIP) at One Night Stand 2005. He and Tanaka did their thing which isn't everybody's cup of tea, but they were the best match of the show on a night where a lot of guys that generally worked really well together previously were given the same chance to shine. And as it stands right now, Batista's last match with the Evolution-Shield elimination match was good. But I'd guess he'll be back at some point.

I thought his MSG match vs Rick Martel in December 1989 was pretty good, it's on the Wrestlefest '90 video on the Network.

RIP One of my favorites in Global, and then glad he got a shot in the WWF. When he quit the WWF, he basically retired from the business. Always found it interesting that in the early 80s he did some houses for the WWWF, never TV to my knowledge, often going over. But then waited a few years before returning to the business. He was a police officer back in those early years IIRC, so wrestling was just a part time job. He was a really good powerlifter too, running his own tournaments in West Virginia. His son just debuted in Bellator not long ago. Always wished he'd have waited to quit until after Survivor Series 1991, just to complete that colorful team of Mustafa, Berzerker, Skinner and the Bully, and if he'd made a PPV he'd have been remembered a bit more. His character was also the entire reason Harvey Whippleman debuted, and they fit perfectly together. Then Busick quit and suddenly Harvey was without anyone until they gave him the Warlord and eventually Sid for the WM8 build up. The Dr. Harvey stuff was fun knowing he'd had history with Sid elsewhere, but other than the Bertha Faye angle that I thought was pretty great, I think Busick and Sid were the guys that ever really fit with him.

Goldberg and Ahmed were the two I thought of immediately, and it's not turning heel that was so bad as much as the quick reversal back to face right back where they started with nothing gained. The Road Warriors brief heel turn in late 1988 probably fits that same role, but at least they finally got their deserved tag title reign out of it The crowd wasn't going to stop cheering the Road Warriors, especially when they killed the Midnight Express and Cornette who'd only barely flipped babyface themselves to win the titles themselves. And since he's in my avatar, Ronnie Garvin turning heel on Dusty could've been so much fun, but went nowhere since he left before they did anything with it. Probably not bad enough to qualify for this category though.

I haven't watched many of the RAWs with extra footage, but I did watch the episode with Austin and Undertaker vs Kane and Mankind in the Hell in a Cell and after the show went off the air, Austin actually scored a pinfall to end the match instead of just the brawl to end the show without a finish. Kind of like how we finally saw the end of the Hart Foundation vs Strike Force from the Main Event episode, where it seems they tried to squeak the finish in before going off the air but still missed the pinfall by a minute. I like those kind of little things that would've never seen the light without the network.

To be fair, the big public issues he had raised were offensive storylines (this was back in about 1999) and steroid use, both of which are far better than they were. I have no doubt that there is still steroid use in wrestling, but I also have no doubt that whatever use there is is far less common, and far less condoned by promoters than it was back when Bruno fell out with the company. I think what made Bruno look like a hypocrite the most is that he claimed to be so anti-steroids when he left the WWF, but he never called out the very folks he made money with like Graham that did the very same thing, and then had no problem putting over WCW and even working for the UWF which also had plenty of steroids around. He'd simply claim that those were "real wrestling" companies and not a cartoon, but suddenly the drug issues weren't a problem for him. As long a he was benefiting from them financially, even if he never used them himself, then it was all good. It was a crusade simply against Vince because Vince had no problem replacing Bruno, making the WWF bigger than Bruno ever could have, and this made Bruno just a footnote in history. I'm glad they reconciled in recent years just like Warrior did though before passing.

Great documentary, although I would've liked to see them acknowledge the Main Event title win and leaving WM6 as a babyface back in Canada. Hulk, Vince, Mean Gene and Lawler were great. Flair made me laugh a bit, but not sure he interacted enough with Andre to really be needed in there. Sad that Heenan isn't around to give his input. I remember him saying when he heard Andre call the bodyslam for the finish, he closed his eyes or turned away because he was afraid Andre wouldn't be able to do it in his condition, then he heard the response and knew they got it done.

Based on some Reddit pictures, the place was pretty empty at least by the time Big Show was introducing Mark Henry. Hopefully they'll figure out a way to either start the thing earlier or cut down on speech times.

RIP Johnny V I liked his pairing with Brutus and then the Dream Team. Title change was a good match (so was the loss at WM2 for that matter), and using his cigar to blind Windham was pretty memorable.

In addition to the regular stadium seats at 80K there are 24 sections that appear to be about 15x25 people each on the floor not counting the ringside "triangles" for lack of an exact shape. That's 375 per section times 24, so 9000 people. The four ringside sections look like at least 750 people each, so another 3K. 80 plus 9 plus 3 is 92K so it's going to take a lot of convincing to me that it wasn't really close to 93K people in that place unless the Lions worked their maximum attendance and take away from the starting number. There is no chance there is only 78K unless a quarter of the stadium bowl is empty or tarped off somewhere. Super Bowl XVI there listed an attendance of 81,270 for reference in 1982, which given my estimate of 12K on the floor, is 93,270 (97 people above what WWF claimed).

Conversely, and it's been several years since I watched it, but from memory I'm sure Leilani Kai was quite negative about Moolah in her interview with RF. Is she another who's changed her turne? She wasn't happy with how things played out her last year or so as the Glamour Girls, and blamed Moolah for that. She said Moolah tried to become the manager for the Glamour Girls rather than Jimmy Hart, and then she had them regain the WWF belts from the Jumping Bomb Angels on the last show of a Japan tour when they were supposed to do it at WM4. Then Vince got pissed and cancelled their PPV match. But that's just wrestling business stuff, not even close to what the other handful are claiming. You'd think if she thought any of that had gone on, that'd been a good time to air her dirty laundry.

I hope if Shane is out, then they have Kane team with Bryan. Probably Kane's last WM appearance, would rather see it be meaningful than just being in a battle royal. I'd say it'd be kind of ironic as Kane has tried to kill both Shane and Bryan at points in his career, but if you ruled out everyone he's tried to maim, you wouldn't have many left on the roster LOL. Big Show and Undertaker being his most frequent partners, and having done the same to both of them.

The rumors for WM 25 were Hogan vs Cena and Edge vs Big Show based around Vicki. When Hogan couldn't go, they made that a 3 way feud with the belt on the line. Here's hoping Hulk comes back, be it for more extras footage for DVDs and the Network, or the Smackdown Commissioner. As much as I love the idea of him being Braun's teammate, I just don't see any way he can wrestle at this point, he's 64 now. Even if he looks in great shape on the outside, his body probably can't take much more than a couple bumps for a match. He could win a battle royal like the Iron Sheik at WM17 where he doesn't have to bump, and he can sell a ringpost shot like he did at WM32, but a full match would seem unlikely.

There are 2000 new seniors just from the D1 FBS level every year. There are at least 10 indoor leagues in the US right now for probably another 1600 players, many from D1 schools. Countless semi-pro guys that could earn a spot with a tryout too. Finding talent isn't going to be an issue, it's only 400 players for each league. There are at least 30 guys cut just from NFL camps every year, that's 960 guys right there.

Last weeks SD number also did it's best rating in the previous 11 months though, so this week really just built on that. Hard to say if Bryan really had much impact. This week went up four percent, but last week was already up seven percent.

CFL still only allows 20 American guys per team to begin with, they'll fill those spots with guys that are already happy there or want another opportunity like Johnny Manziel. The XFL and AAF will give undrafted college guys and guys in all the indoor leagues that are everywhere now a chance to play outdoors again though and for more money. My co-worker played at Iowa State and then four years indoor here locally, but he just went over to Hungary to play (they are allowed only two American players per team in that league) so it's an awesome opportunity for guys like him to keep pursuing their dream without having to travel that far away. He had a tryout in CFL a month ago himself, so that may still work out for him. The orginal XFL and the UFL both had plenty of former NFL players and college stars, but neither had any real impact on the CFL.

Looking at results so not sure the episode numbers are exactly the same on the Network, episode 52 has Bret and Disco among a very underwhelming lineup of matches. Norton and Benoit had singles matches on episodes 11 and 14, depends if you are Fargo or Terre Haute. Goldberg wrestled on both episodes also.

I thought that was odd too, it literally ends with the last episode before Bischoff was "demoted" on 9/10/99. Probably just a coincidence and the others will be up shortly too.

This is definitely the first class missing any 80s level feel to it outside Hillbilly Jim, but I suppose that's bound to happen at this point as most of them are in besides Bundy, Honky, Vader, Beefcake, Midnight Express, Demolition, One Man Gang, Patera, etc that probably deserve a spot legitimately. I wonder if they'll start adding some of the 70s and 80s guys that have passed like Bigelow into the Legacy wing rather than a full induction to catch up a bit.

Dunn was on the first couple seasons of Tough Enough, and made at least one appearance in a Coliseum Video with Sean Mooney.

Didn't WCW Main Event air on a Sunday? It did. WWF All-American wrestling was on Sundays as well, always had to tape it when I went to church. But I'm not sure there were any exclusives on the show, just replays from the other syndication shows, so that may not count.

In addition to the ones mentioned, I look forward to the Megapowers circa 1992 vs Jake and Berzerker, although more to see Hogan work with Jake and Nord since they had very little interaction otherwise. Hogan eliminated the Berzerker from the 92 Rumble and only the brief clips from the Jake match in 86 in the local promo segment that I'm aware. I feel like Hogan and Nord would've worked great together, Hogan selling Nord's power moves like death and then Nord with his incredible bumping for the comeback.

I'm guessing they'll do a simultaneous submission spot as the finish for WM, or at least have Angle trap HHH with the ankle lock long enough for Ronda to get the armbar.