Laz

More like a hardcore Ebert. His word is widespread and has been helpful for aspiring talent for decades, promoters getting them bookings just because the WON said they were a good worker. With that level of influence inevitably comes a sense of dogma, no matter if Meltzer says it's just his opinion and not gospel.

After getting inebriated and wanting a laugh, I went on YouTube and looked up XPW again. I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that TNA at its worst shows more competence in production, talent relations, quality of talent, and booking than XPW did.

If you ever do a Jeff Learns Wrestking tee, the first one has to be a cartoon of Jeff as an old man lying on a bed, snow globe in hand, with the speech bubble saying "Tully Blanchard's a Pussy." Love this series.

Russo in WWF: We see a peak of the crudeness in early 2000, but the weight of going public forces McMahon's hand in toning it down. Jericho gets a stronger push early on but still isn't ME until late 2000 (most negative talk was about his working style and WCW-causes attitude), I don't think we get HHH as super dominant as he was, and the Radicalz (assuming they still jump) are given slightly more to work with angle-wise. We see the Hardys/E&C pushed still, I think the Dudleys are allowed to be more like they were in ECW (right up his alley), and women's wrestling getting a little more serious due to Trish/Lita/Victoria takes another year or two to happen. If Russo is still there in 2001, Austin's heel turn either doesn't happen or doesn't last particularly long (retconned to being a ploy against McMahon). What about WCW? The ratings continue to decline but money isn't lost nearly as fast. We don't get Arquette as champion but the "new blood" still happens in a vague sense (Power Plant kids still get called up and pushed). Hogan sticks around doing Hogan stuff, and that either ends when WCW dies in 2003 or, if things get corrected, when he's forced into taking a lower deal by Turner execs. TNA?! If WCW doesn't still go down in flames then there's no TNA. It's possible Jerry gets back into the business still, but I could see that either being another company entirely or possibly booking up with RF/Gabe once ROH starts really growing later in 2002 (which is a long shot). If WCW lasts longer than 2003ish but still dies? TNA becomes a thing in the sense that ex-WCW guys start up another company. It wouldn't be TNA but it wouldn't be far off.

Loving this show, guys. Jeff's starting to form a real opinion on this stuff, and it's obvious he's starting to become a fan.

In addition, Relapse was one of the most popular metal/hardcore labels around that time (still are big, but not like they were then). Lynn definitely knew of them prior, and the crossover metalhead/wrestling fan audience almost unanimously loved Lynn.

Sting won't move the needle like Hogan did. Period. The allure of the nWo was one part "WWF is invading," but most of it was "HULK HOGAN is a bad guy now." Without Hogan you don't get the casual fan. Also, without Hogan, you don't get the dominance. This happened with the Dungeon of Doom still relatively fresh in fans' minds. Are you telling me that Hulkster doesn't just eviscerate Sting/Nash/Hall by Starrcade?

That's my understanding of it, Log. When he appeared on Corny's "live" podcast from the NWA convention, he outright said that there's wrestling styles he doesn't like (specifically mentioning ECW and lucha) but that he still considers them wrestling. There's talk on another board (same header, interesting ;-) ) about this right now, too. I'm actually a bit surprised at how many there agree with Rip and what he tweeted, but I know there's also some crossover between here and there.

LOVE this. I'm anticipating Jeff seeing ECW for the first time and his reaction. It's also exciting to have something good finally come out of RI.

While I understand (and even agree a bit) with that sentiment, it's still victim blaming because you're telling an individual that their personal property should be expected to be taken from them without permission.

If you are a celeb and you are taking naked pics of yourself, you are BEGGING for this to happen. I wouldn't go that far, but essentially yeah. In the WWE context, a month or so after the Paige stuff, still keeping naked pics (well, I don't get that idea to begin with, but to each his own) on your phone/cloud is really not smart at all. You gotta know some no-life shithead is gonna try to hack your stuff. Hide your intimate stuff somewhere safer. Yeah! Fuck them for thinking their private property won't get stolen!

Continuing off of that idea, Cap, I would buy the old "Age of Orton" gas mask shirt if it were still around. Not because I'm an Orton fan but because that shirt's design looked more like a band tee. Merch sales being the metric of drawing ability is like Disney execs justifying Mickey being the mascot solely because of how many Mickey pops they've sold in the parks. Never mind that the biggest film franchise in history is now on their roster (Star Wars), the fans want the MOUSE, god dammit!!

Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock, Hart Dungeon match

I would give a stranger's left testicle to see Punk/Puck.

Something from e-feds in particular, be my role as management or roster: -Come up with a set schedule and base less than half of the weekly cards on current storylines/feuds. Focusing on the emotional motivation for each bout is a quick way to burn out as then each match requires a "big time" feel. That's just not realistic. Having a more sports-centric cycle builds gradual heat, forces the roster to interact (great way to judge potential new stars), and allows fans to buy into the kayfabe again. -Roster interaction is a HUGE thing that often goes overlooked. The Red Sox don't play the Yankees every week and a mid-season game with the Blue Jays could either go squash or highlight a new coach/player/etc. Cena's US title run proves this as close matches with undercard talent elevated all involved. A hierarchy is great, but a perceived glass ceiling kills interest both on the roster and in the stands. -Gimmick matches should be special and fit the talent involved. Not every main event needs to be a cage match (or variation), not every tag match should involve a ladder, and a well-timed street fight can liven up a show whereas a poorly timed one can hurt everybody involved. -Not everything has to be blown off all at once. If everybody on a show has a "WrestleMania moment," per se, then few are going to truly stand out. It's okay to blow off a hot feud between hive events and let others take the brightest spotlights. Think of it as a "mid-season finale."

Russo's still not at Rob Black levels to me. Once he "allegedly" hires hitmen to "allegedly" attempt castration of a former employee then maybe.

This is why Tommy End as Aleister Black is going to be a big deal. He's a killer combo of Bryan Danielson and CM Punk, treats most of his matches as if they were fights, and knows when to amp it up and reel it back. Seeing the potential nerd hate of the new "overtly liberal" Trek raises questions about whether or not you understand the inherent liberal slant of the series as a whole (the Federation are commies), but I'm far from a Trekkie.

Maxwell Jacob Feinstein is going to be a star. After seeing him last night for the first time it's obvious.

The problem inherent to any deathmatch/hardcore company is violence fatigue. I wouldn't say "tone it down" so much as I'd suggest restructuring the cards. The largest spectacle should end the show, so maybe put the No Ropes Barbed Wire Urethra Firecracker Last Man Standing match at the end and gradually build up to it. The "escalation of violence" idea works just as great for overall cards as it does individual matches.

This, the two matches with Jerry Lynn right around it, and the title loss to Jarrett not long after (Russo shenanigans aside) were pretty damn good.

The Apter mags were integral in my growing love of pro wrestling. Inside, the Wrestler, and PWI were regular purchases from late '97 until I went online two years later. I'm just echoing everybody else here when I say that this is a great idea. It makes me wish there were still full-kayfabe wrestling pubs out there.

Bret/Austin, Austin/Rock WM17, HBK/Taker (either), HBK/Angle, Bryan/HHH, and Savage/Steamboat are all close for me. I don't see any way that Bret/Austin doesn't get the most votes because it's a rare combination of great in-ring quality and huge historical significance. As for worst, Lawler/Cole in a landslide. It just...kept...going...

Street Fighter is totally like that unless you actually know what you're doing. Most people are button mashers (I'll include myself), it's the hardcore players that actually use finesse. The "video game wrestling" refers more to the general idea of wearing an opponent's lifebar down with MOVEZ~ than having one strategy and sticking to it, anyway. Even then, though, the comparison isn't totally accurate. Beyond the rise of UFC showing that a submission could literally happen at any time instead of requiring methodical precision in wearing down a limb, most talents have learned from the deaths of Benoit and Misawa and, as such, have considerably lightened up on the stiffness. What we're seeing now feels more like an episode of Power Rangers than anything else.

Bullet Club cool is forced meta humor. Adam Cole "cool" is Dane Cook.

Jushin Liger vs. Black Tiger