MLB

Solid lineup, I know maybe half of these names. Vrij's a badass. Maurice vs. Tamura seems like an important match, interested to see how that plays out. Takayama vs. Volk Han is an inevitable war on the horizon. Are there any championships at stake in the promotion? Is RINGS more of a shoot than Battlarts?

W*ING USA Release: Jerry Estrada Sign: Damian 666

I caught the "Party" Marty episode, I mean wow. A lot of great footage even if you knew a lot of the stories. I did not know Shawn baptized Marty wtf? That's wild. Also, VKM talking about Jannetty, "Dammit! I love Marty but he's got a dark cloud over him!" I had never heard about the scooter incident in India, I can't even- And good grief, did brother Bruti meet his match in Missy Beefcake or what?

New odd couple alert! Bischoff thinks they should take Drew off TV altogether lol. It's another case like AJ Styles and Wyatt resigning for big money and having zero direction, they just don't want AEW to have these guys. McIntyre would probably be better as a heel with Brock on hiatus, instead of a babyface behind Franklin Rollins, Cody and probably even Alpha Academy. Wyatt's delayed return likely threw a wrench in somebody else's plans and we're getting a heavier dose of the JD.

W*ING USA Release: Mustafa Sign: Aja Kong

Punk almost sounds like he's drunk here.

W*ING USA Release: Bob Backlund, Takako Inoue Sign: Giant Kimala II, Balls Mahoney

To a lot of NA fans it made El Dandy a punchline. Sean Ross Sapp could barely contain himself saying Dandy's name. Bret gives token respect to the undercard guys, but I doubt he's watched a minute of any El Dandy classic. I think it was a case on my part of being a teenage fan and not knowing much lucha lore. Kinda like growing up, I didn't know Larry Zbyszko was a bigger deal at one time, I thought he was just an old jobber. Now I see him as one of the all-time great heels.

I tried the search engine to check if it's been asked before, but what was the deal with Bret Hart's trolling of El Dandy in WCW? Did Bret just consider Dandy a jobber in WCW and ignorant of the history in CMLL? Was he friends with El Dandy and it was a rib? There wasn't any intention of a match and it seemed totally random. I didn't realize Dandy was a star until much later in my fandom, and Bret definitely didn't help that perception at the time.

I think I saw that announcement but I got confused with WCW because they've got the American Males, Bagwell and Riggs. What about the Sultan and Kwang? That'd be a pretty badass team. It's interesting in the 1996 project to see scenarios where Jeff Hardy, Stevie Ray and Rick Steiner are pushed as singles earlier in their careers. Although, I guess Rick and Stevie got various singles pushes throughout their careers. In the case of Stevie Ray and Rick Steiner, I know it has to do with their partners being tied up on the untouchable list.

The headbutt was an essential move for some wrestlers like JYD, Bobo Brazil, and Meng. Taking away the coco butt from Bobo is like taking the chops from Flair, what are you left with for offense?

@jeff5819 Examining the WWF's stacked roster, I took a closer look at the possible tag division. The Smoking Gunns are the reigning champions with Headbangers, New Rockers, Pitbulls, and maybe Owen and Neidhart as established teams. I could see Dr. Tom and Chris Harris forming a duo, or maybe with Bob Holly as the New Midnights with Cornette. Tom Brandi portrayed the Patriot gimmick at one time, he could team up with Wilkes? Ultimate Warrior and Renegade?! The top of the card is so packed, there might be teams like Undertaker/Mankind or Shawn/Hunter to give the world title picture some space. Btw, I didn't even notice you drafted "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce. @Perfectly Straightedge ECW has the best tag division in the project, hands down. Eliminators, Miracle Violence Connection, Thrillseekers, young Edge and Christian, RVD and Sabu, the Road Warriors, and the Dudleyz. I could see new teams like Rey and Ultimo Dragon or Billy Kidman and Mikey Whipwreck.

Bray Wyatt has contracted a "mystery illness" that has not been publicly disclosed yet, which postponed his return. Hopefully his health is ok.

I marked out last night while watching a 1996 tag match between Rey Jr/Konnan and Jerry Estrada/Juvi in IWAS. Rey came out to "A Little Respect" by Erasure! I'm a big fan of Erasure and their other hits like "Chains of Love" and "Love to Hate You".

W*ING USA Release: Heavy Metal Sign: Damiancito El Guerrero (thanks @cad!)

USA Owner(s): Kiyoshi Ibaragi and Atsushi Onita Commentators: Kris Kloss, Dave Meltzer, Vic Venom (Vince Russo) Backstage Interviewer: Kimona Wanalaya Non Wrestlers (5 of 5): Victor Quinones (manager), Sonny Onoo (manager), Beulah McGillicutty (valet), Steve Corino (referee), John Zandig (W*ING security) Ring announcer: TBD Location: Los Angeles, CA Champions Roll Call: W*ING USA Grand Championship - Hayabusa W*ING USA Turbo Violence Championship (*TV title) - Vacant W*ING USA Women's Championship - Megumi Kudo W*ING USA Trios Championship - Vacant Official W*ING USA Roster: Abdullah the Butcher Aja Kong Alundra Blayze (Madusa) Balls Mahoney Bam Bam Bigelow Bash the Terminator (PCO) Boogie Man Buddy Landel Chyna Cobra (Fake Sting) Crash the Terminator (Hugh Morris) Crypt Keeper Dory Funk Jr. Dr. Wagner Jr. Dump Matsumoto Fabulous Moolah Gladiator (Mike Awesome) The Great Sasuke Hayabusa Headhunter A Headhunter B Homicide Jason the Terrible Jeff Hardy Ken Shamrock Luna Vachon Mascarita Sagrada Jr. Masato Tanaka Megumi Kudo Mikey Whipwreck Mitsuhiro Matsunaga Mr. Pogo New Jack Nightmare Freddy Raven Sabu The Sandman Shark Tsuchiya Steve Blackman Super Crazy Super Leather (Cpl. Kirshner) Tarzan Goto Terry Funk Tommy Dreamer Vampiro Virus (Damiancito El Guerrero) WING Kanemura Trios Division: Onita Office (Atsushi Onita/Tarzan Goto/Terry Funk/Dory Funk Jr.) Mr. Pogo/The Headhunters (w/ Victor Quinones) Gladiator/The Terminators Dr. Wagner Jr./Super Crazy/Mascarita Sagrada Jr. W*ING/FMW Originals (Masato Tanaka/Mitsuhiro Matsunaga/WING Kanemura) Ex-ECW (Sandman/New Jack/Balls Mahoney/Mikey Whipwreck w/ Beulah McGillicutty) Sonny Onoo’s Nightmare Network (Nightmare Freddy/Crypt Keeper/Super Leather/Jason the Terrible/Boogie Man) The Flock (Raven/Vampiro/Virus/Luna Vachon) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Onita Goes to Hollywood" Due to mounting debts, legal pressures, and his 1995 retirement from FMW, Atsushi Onita has relocated to the United States to pursue acting. After being impressed with Bret Hart's appearance in Lonesome Dove, coupled with the box office success of 1995's Rumble in the Bronx starring Jackie Chan, Onita decided that Los Angeles is the perfect location to start his new career as an action film star. After moving into a hotel in Hollywood, Onita starts the process of auditions, acting lessons and seeking representation in the acting field. However, after six months, Onita becomes disillusioned with the early rejections from casting directors and craves a return to the wrestling world. Onita falls into heavy drinking, hanging out in Hollywood poker rooms almost in total anonymity, getting into fights, and sleeping with various LA escorts. At the same time, the bubble has burst on the Japanese deathmatch scene. IWA Japan has closed it's doors, and Victor Quinones is also seeking greener pastures. Seeing the rise of ECW on the east coast of the United States, Quinones contacts former W*ING Owner Kiyoshi Ibaragi about the possibility of investing in a new wrestling venture based out of Los Angeles. Upon speaking with Ibaragi, Quinones learns that Onita is currently residing in Los Angeles and would be open to serving as a figurehead for the new promotion called W*ING USA. Onita agrees to join Ibaragi and Quinones, along with further investment from Onita's wealthy stepfather, to open a large warehouse/office to host the events in Hollywood. Onita also lives inside the venue. The first phone call Onita makes is to Terry Funk. Funk wants to wrestle against his family's wishes, but Onita manages to convince him to serve in a commentary role in order to give more exposure to the younger talent. Funk begrudgingly accepts this as a favor to Onita, with the understanding he would return to the ring once W*ING USA has established it's younger core to the new audience. Onita also contacts former ECW valet Kimona Wanalaya about serving in an office role as Onita's personal secretary and backstage interviewer onscreen. Tarzan Goto is brought in as Onita's bodyguard and locker room enforcer. W*ING USA relies mostly on tape trading for it's major shows but it will be presented chronologically for this project. Through a liberal performing arts grant received by Onita, W*ING USA has a monthly one hour show on LA public access to promote the monthly bigger events that are distributed on VHS. There are two shows that will be posted each month (TV and the VHS taping). The first taped event will be entitled '96 Tears. Everything is built to the 1st Anniversary Show that will be held in a larger venue (not sure exactly where). There will also be surprise "pop up" shows in cities where the other promotions run their flagship events (Wrestlemania, Starrcade, etc). Episode #1 of W*ING TV begins with Ibaragi picking up the phone and calling Onita to launch the promotion......

I don't personally care, I really don't...but MJF needs to cut out the *OMG WHITE PEOPLE ARE WEIRD AND LAME* thing he's been doing recently.

I thought RVD and the Hardyz looked like they can still go. Jeff's still hitting the corkscrew plancha and the swanton bomb. RVD was in good shape, he's 52 (same age as Jericho) and nailed all his signature spots. Yeah, I think this is what Lufisto was talking about with the return of the Diva. Anna looks like a supermodel and it's not about "the work". I don't think teenage boys were too upset over it. Shida went over anyway, she's the champion. Shida's finisher looked shitty and it was a bad camera angle.

I checked out the clip mentioned here, it was interesting. As Michael Cole would say, it was VINTAGE~! Bruce. BP's arrogance cracks me up, I do find him entertaining. I can't blame Bruce/WWF for believing they were above it all, they were and still are. At the same time, it's crazy to me how Bruce buries Sasuke like he was a nobody. You could tell BP gave *zero* fucks about anything Sasuke ever accomplished and regarded him like a joke. Heyman was the one telling WWF to look at TAKA and asking to use Sasuke, Paul always had great vision and respect for talent. Heyman really understood where things were going a lot more than Prichard.

@Control21 I checked out Akihiro Gono aka "The Magic Man" and he's quite the character! Hopefully I'll be exposed to some more of these personalities I am not familiar with through this project.

Some early roster thoughts.... ECW - Looking to forward to see how the new wave is greeted by the originals. I love the Mass Transit and mystery benefactor detail of the storyline. I lucked into a hot angle with Sandman, Beulah, and Tha Gangstas joining W*ING USA. I have some guesses as to who the mystery backer is. There are the makings of a new Flock with Raven, Kidman and Whipwreck, and perhaps there will be a new Triple Threat with Douglas, Candido, and ??? WWF - Definitely the most starpower in the project when you factor in '96 Nash. Battlarts- Not sure if even Onita wants to fuck with these guys. Big fan and it has a lot of potential!

Savio Vega should be removed from W*ING USA's roster.

W*ING USA signs future XPW and Wrestling Society X play by play announcer Kris Kloss to round out it's broadcast team.

@SirEdger I wasn't familiar with Spellbinder/Phantasio before the draft but he's pretty cool! Big guy at 6'3, 275. I could see him fitting in with W*ING USA or with Sullivan and the Dungeon of Doom.

Thanks, Jeff. I don't have huge plans for Anderson but I am messing around with a WCW parody faction (kinda like bWo) that includes Buddy Landel, CW Anderson and Fake Sting. I am doing trios titles instead of tag teams and I needed a third guy if I'm moving forward with the gimmick. I'm gonna wait to see what WCW does before I start spoofing them, but I wanted to have Anderson ready because he's perfect casting.