MikeCampbell

It's easy to see why he got over so quickly in '89. He and Spivey were almost Goldberg-like in their dominance. It didn't hurt that they were killing acts that the fans weren't especially fond of, such as the Ding Dongs and Dynamic Dudes.

I was watching Clash of Champions 8 last night, and I couldn't believe the babyface pop that Lex Luger got for his match against Tommy Rich. Especially coming off the Steamboat feud. Did he do anything especially dickish or heelish after the Steamboat turn leading up to the babyface turn the next year? I seem to have a memory of Flair and Sting each receiving some sort of trophy, which Luger breaks (as is the norm in wrestling) but I may have the wrong time frame in mind. Edit: Nevermind, it was actually Clash 9 where he did that.

I love Heenan losing his mind after Perfect gets the pin, screaming that he beat the wrong Doink. When he get called out for admitting there are two Doinks he backpedals to saying that Hennig was wrong to beat Doink.

I'm all for Cena being a full blown heel, but I'm with SLL as far as what to really do with him. The only babyface on RAW currently seen as his level is Orton, and Orton/Cena is far from a fresh program, even with roles reversed. Any word on how long until HHH is due back. I could seriously dig an angle where HHH makes his big return, like in 2002, only for Nexus to spoil it and attack him with Cena being forced to join in. Then leading to a PPV with HHH vs. Barrett, with Cena's freedom from Nexus at stake, only for Cena to help Barrett win to go complete heel.

Vince threatened to fire Austin if he messed up the Judgment Day '98 Taker/Kane match for the WWF Title where Austin was special ref. He still stunned them both and called himself the winner.

The only problem I have, for now, with the Cena angle is that he was still wearing the CENATION shirt, hat, and wristbands. Sek, I'm pretty sure Tarver is out (now they just need to drop Otunga), since Barrett's comment included the line that he wanted to get rid of him anyway.

RE, with all your talk about realisim, what did you think of the Maxx Paine/Johnny B Badd feud from '93, where Badd was shot and "disfigured" by a confetti gun?

What does being a "strong house show worker" even mean? That he was good for live crowds without stringent time constraints? As a sixteen and seventeen year old mark, I was a big fan of the guy, because he was portrayed as a bad ass who talked smack and then backed it up.

1 point for RE on that one. Lawler didn't start until 1970, so it was Lawler working Byer-like spots.

Oh come on, dude, that's a total copout. You don't have to go back and watch anything. You can't come up with a single solitary memory of a match, angle, interview that you found to be eye rollingly bad?

RE, I say this with all sincerity, not to bust your chops like others seem to. Please elaborate on the biggest stupidest, roll your eyes pet peeves that you found when watching varous Memphis stuff.

That's nothing new, though. One of his comments about ECW under Eddie Gilbert's booking was that it wasn't a good product and "very Memphis"

Kurt Angle talks about that in his RF Shoot Interview. Bump training from Dory consisted of something like 300 per day, and all the guys would be an agony at the end of it.

Marty winning the IC Title and "The Kid" upsetting Razor are two of my all time favorite crowd pops for anything, and they happened on the same night at the same show.

What's even funnier to me than the idea of them running without a ring, was the reason behind it. That the guy who they were getting the ring from got beat up outside a club the night before. Is the indy scene turning into 1980's New Japan, with the mob being involved?

I don't think it's really a ban on ROH talent working EVOLVE. Why would they pull Davey, but not have a problem if Hero, Claudio, O'Reilly, and Homicide work there? Granted, Homicide isn't under contract (that I know of) but he returned to ROH and put right into a central angle, so I don't see them *not* locking him in. What sounds more likely to me, given Gabe's history of tantrum throwing, is that Gabe blew a gasket when Davey chose to re-up his ROH contract. The fallout from their argument (either mutually or Davey on his own) was that Davey was done working for EVOLVE and Gabe.

EVOLVE runs once every other month versus ROH running TV tapings every six weeks or so, plus a few DVD tapings each month. EVOLVE's biggest crowd was their first show which was about 500, EVOLVE 2 and 3 were both in the 150 range or so I've heard. I don't know anything about 4 or 5 but I've heard they were both under 300. The only person who ROH doesn't seem to want to be working EVOLVE is Davey Richards. Homicide appeared at the last EVOLVE show, and Hero and Claudio have worked EVOVLE since March. So Davey seems like an odd exception. I'd like to ask him about it, since he works the local indy in my area, but I've never had the chance to. Now, Kyle O'Riley who EVOLVE was pushing as Davey's protege, was just signed to an ROH contract.

He probably can't afford to bring in all of his old favorites, especially when EVOLVE isn't drawing that well. I don't have specific numbers, because Josh doesn't go into specifics with me when we talk about this kind of shit, but (direct from Brodie Lee supposedly) EVOLVE really doesn't pay that much.

John, EVOLVE has never really drawn big numbers beyond their first show. EVOLVE 2 was only like 150 and Gabe blamed that on rain. EVOLVE 3 wasn't much more than that, and, according to my buddy who own the local indy here in Syracuse, Gabe was claiming that it was due to taking place on May 1st, which was a beautiful spring day. I'm not sure about EVOLVE 4 or 5, but I don't think either did over 300.

I think Gabe is right in the sense that three years ago Danielson vs. Sawa would draw 800 fans. Three years ago Gabe was still booking ROH, and could spend weeks pimping Sawa in the ROH newswires as some kind of Japanese hot property and how lucky the ROH fans are that they could get to see him live. The same way he tried pimping Marufuji vs. Shiozaki in NYC as some huge first time match between them, despite it being pointed out that they'd faced several times already in NOAH.

I've been watching the WWE's Elimination Chamber DVD set, just finished the NWO 2008 Smackdown/ECW Chamber match. The thing that sticks out is how in every match the announcers try to give the hard sell to the plexiglass and how it's bulletproof and nothing can break it. Yet, in every match so far, it's wound up being broken. It's also been fun to watch the EC evolve from a glorified cage match into something with a life of it's own. Especially the NYR 2006 and the one from the ECW PPV.

I can vouch for that one. I'm friends on FB with a local guy whose only had maybe six matches, but he talks like anyone who hasn't been in the ring doesn't know shit about shit.

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/video_re...ber,-Disc-1.htm My question about the Elimination Chamber DVD is finally answered. The 2005 Chamber match with Benoit is shown in full, but with some editing on the commentary in regards to Benoit.

The quote above is one of the most annoying things about wrestlers and really anyone involved in the business when they get butthurt over being criticized. Regarding "Sacrificing" their bodies for the business, number one that was their own choice to make, it's not like the WWE universe collective told Vince that unless Matt Hardy dived off a cage through a table, then they'd stop watching the shows. Number two, I'm recalling a great quote that I believe was posted on either DVDR or tOA a few years back. Something along the lines of the wrestlers not sacrificing their bodies "for the business" but rather sacrificing "wrestling" by doing all those stupid bumps and insane stunts that lead to serious injury and shorten careers. As far as being a "fan" I'll refrain from going on a rant, and I'll just say that Matt should realize that a true fan won't just clap and play along, but the true fan would probably tell him that taking falling fifteen feet from a ladder through a table is stupid on his part, when he's a good enough wrestler to get by on that.

I think it was recently acquired upon the realization that time has passed him by and he's not the big mega-star that he was when he wrote his first two books.