MikeCampbell

Another thing I thought was funny, in hindsight. After establishing Siaki's character as the arrogant prick, with all those interviews where he said it was always about Sonny Siaki, etc. His first singles match sees him putting over Slash.

I remember when NJ wanted him to drop the ROH Title to Shinya (not yet Togi) Makabe at a show in LA, but I don't think that was related to him turning down touring there. I could be wrong though.

"If he wanted to" is the key word there. I seem to recall hearing that Joe was offered a spot with NJPW in '03 or '04, when he was still ROH Champion, and turned it down due to the pay.

Speaking of Sports Review Wrestling, does anyone remember the OJ Simpson issue? The feature was some sort of crazy fanfic with various wrestlers and personalities playing the roles of the players in the Simpson trial. I can relate to what Blehschmidt says about feeling like a kid in some respects by reading them. The Apter mags were intrinsic to my childhood, between my father, grandparents, and uncles they were everywhere. I remember thumbing through them before I could even read, just looking at the pictures. To add to your list, John, two other quarterly mags were the Wrestling 83, Wrestling 84, Wrestling 85, etc. that RZombie and I are both big fans of, and there was also "Wrestling Superstars"

Something I just remembered, did anything ever come out of that bizzare angle where Ryan Shamrock was collecting money from random people each week? I can only assume the point of Omori was to help get over the NWA Title. It's funny that NOAH decreed that he not do any jobs. He only went over to the U.S. because he was in Misawa's doghouse, and before he went over, NOAH was jobbing him out to everyone under the sun.

Good call, Loss, that's probably his best moment on commentary, although I do like his sign off from Bash at the Beach when the nWo formed "Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell. Straight to hell." How was Tony in the WWF? All I can recall from him is the 1990 Royal Rumble, and one funny exchange with Jesse after Warrior was eliminated and then ran back into the ring and attacked the heels. Tony: Oh, he's a wild man. Jesse: He's an idiot!

What I'm loving about this whole deal is that friends of mine, in my general age group (mid-late 20's), who have followed the business just as closely as I have are 100% convinced that it's a shoot. I got a text from my high school best friend in all caps saying "PUNK IS SUSPENDED AND OFF TV! WHAT BULLSHIT!"

Did it look to anyone else like Bourne/Cara botched the finish of their match. It sure liked like Sin Cara was doing La Mistica to me.

I know that's where the phrase "Daddy says sell!" originates, but I don't think Buddy was frustrated in other promotions for having to wrestle George Gulas.

I would guess he's referring to Brian Christopher, Jeff Jarrett, or Jamie Dundee.

Jim Ross announced that the WWE is planning on releasing a DVD based on the Montreal Screwjob later this year. Both Shawn and Bret have signed off on participating.

I'll say up front, I'm 99% sure this won't happen. But, given the WWE's disdain for the internet, how great would it be to have them pull a giant work and "release" Punk after he wins and let him work a few indy shots with the belt? Meanwhile, Cena is on RAW cutting promos telling Punk to be a man and come back and defend the title.

So it's come out that the "Power to the People" voting for RAW the other night got screwed up somehow and a few wrong choices were listed as winners. Sin Cara actually got voted to wrestle Bourne, not Mason Ryan. And the stip for Dolph/Kofi was supposed to be no Vickie, not 2/3 falls. I'm not so much surprised it happened. Seriously, besides his mother, who would ever vote to in favor of watching Mason Ryan wrestle at this point? But I'm a bit surprised that it happened to the 'E. This is something that seems taylor made to blow up in TNA's face.

Cornette himself has said that Brian Lee wasn't his ideal choice for top babyface. He wanted Brad Armstrong, but he was in WCW at the time. The Orndorff heel turn is my favorite early SMW angle so far.

The best thing that came out of the DDP turn was the Sting match on Nitro where he won the title, which they negated by the end of the show with Page getting it right back.

The problem I have with the double suplex pin is that it seems like 99 time out of 100 the person doing the suplex seems to be purposely doing a shitty job of the move so that they both wind up on the mat.

The announcers acting like they didn't know anything about the backstage skits was annoying to no end. The worst was when there were like 4 weeks of Torrie Wilson talking to the camera, and not a word about it from Tony, Bobby, or Mike. Then when she shows up with David and is with the nWo, they're all "Hey, it's that girl we've been seeing on TV all month!"

I had a letter printed in the "You Asked Us" column of "The Wrestler" when I was fifteen. I'd asked JJ Dillon why Hall and Giant weren't stripped of the WCW Tag Titles for failure to defend them, when Flair had been stripped of the U.S. Title for that reason (hey, I was still a total mark). "JJ Dillon" replied that he didn't recall the particulars of the Flair situation, but that Scott Hall hadn't exactly been in condition to perform (this was late '98 when he came out on Nitro drunk every week) and it was unfair to the Giant. My favorite of those mags is still the Wrestling 83, Wrestling 84, Wrestling 85, etc. quaterly mags. My uncle had given me a couple of them in the early '90s and I'd gotten a few more back issues of them from the forms in other mags.

The thing that always stuck out to me was on the first show when Jeff Jarrett was burying the Gauntlet for the Gold match and Hall and Shamrock came out, as babyfaces, and told Jeff "You're right about this battle royal, it sucks."

This. I'm recalling the first time I saw the '83 Tag League match between Jumbo/Tenryu and Brody/Hansen. I was shocked at the distance Tenryu got on his back elbow.

I remember Zybyszko always coming up with stupid nicknames for heels. The New World Odor, Chris Jerkico, etc.

Aren't the big names of TNA (Sting, Angle, Hogan, etc)'s salaries covered by Spike TV?

Is there any correlation between TNA completely going off the handle and Russo's return? The first REALLY bad thing I'm remembering is Voodoo Kin Mafia and their quasi shoot promos on Vince and DX. I know TNA had been stupid before that, such as everyone thinking that Nash was really going to put over Chris Sabin. But at least that had those funny promos with Nash and Shelley. Nash: I drew 43,000 people to MSG Shelley: Does MSG hold 43,000? Nash: It did that night!

I was 12 years old in 1995 and without cable all I got to watch was WWF Superstars. Aside from the sweet ass angle with Sid laying out Shawn after 'Mania, and then discovering WCW Nitro late in the year, it fucking sucked to be a wrestling fan.

That's the power of Vince Russo! I haven't watched a TNA PPV since 2008 or an Impact episode since 1/4/2010. Does TNA still call themselves "The New Face in Professional Wrestling?"