MikeCampbell

During the Guerrero/Ohtani match from Starrcade '95: Schivone: He's got until the count of five to break the hold. Heenan: He's a stranger to our country, I think he should get a bit longer than five. Schivone: How long, Brain? Heenan: 30 or 35. During the 1990 Royal Rumble after Warrior was eliminated and then ran back in and attacked the heels. Schivone: He's a wild man! Ventura: He's an idiot!

I think a case could be made for Foley doing it for the money and stardom. Foley doing the big bumps in Memphis and Texas early in his career always made him stand out. He could have been given a bigger push in both areas had the bookers been willing to do so. Unless you were Lawler, Dundee, or working a high profile program with them, then that wasn't gonna happen in Memphis and Embry's WCCW booking was pushing himself to the moon. When he came into WCW in '89, bumps like the Clash X dropkick from Mascaras quickly made Cactus Jack stand out from the rest of the JTTS crew in WCW. It was the same deal though, the bookers weren't willing to really do more with him.

Hayes told a story during the Legends roundtable discussion that during the Freebirds short lived WWF run, he showed up to TV absolutely hammered and wasn't even able to stand up on his own.

They breaking Heyman's jaw thing was due to legit heat from Heyman backing out of the scaffold match after it'd already been booked. I was thinking more along the lines of Lawler being just an overall stiff wrestler, the way Kevin Von Erich was.

On his first night in ECW, Paul flat out told D Von Dudley that if he didn't lay into JT Smith with a chair, then Paul wasn't going to be using him. So I can totally see Paul telling Dreamer that if Lawler's cane shot didn't look good then the angle was going to flop, and if the angle was successful then ECW would get a huge buyrate for their PPV blowoff and they'd all make a shitload of money. Outside of Bret talking about Lawler stiffing him with the scepter at King of the Ring and the crutches at Summerslam, I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about Lawler working stiff. I've only ever heard comments about his promos and how well he drew, has anyone ever talked about him being a stiff worker?

I really loved the MMA-like buildup videos showing Lesnar and Rocky both training for the match, along with the voice overs explaining what they did and why they did it. Straight out of Rocky IV (minus the alleged use of steroids).

That actually became a bit of a Dreamer staple. I believe the first time was the Harris Bros pulling him into the post, a few months later Brian Lee put a cinder block on his crotch and hit it with a pipe. The last time I remember seeing it was '99 when Storm did the same thing, only with a chair.

You're right, but the difference is in the presentation. ECW was presented as being an honest to goodness alternative to WWF and WCW. Before anyone asks, no, I never 'drank the kool-aid' so to speak, I never thought the Eliminators were really the best tag team in the world, and didn't think that the RVD/Lynn matches were legit MOTYC's. ECW was also able to, at times, make something out of the leftovers who'd run out of steam (Al Snow, Justin Credible, Shane Douglas). Not that they were super workers or anything, but they were able to adjust their characters and personalities and go on to return to the big leagues. ECW was a third-rate promotion that tried (and succeeded) in being something different. Vince's ECW was a third rate brand that was treated as a third rate brand.

FAVORITE WORKERS: Edge, CM Punk, Eddie Guerrero, Bryan Danielson, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Samoa Joe, Alex Shelley, Shuji Kondo, SUWA. FAVORITE PROMOTIONS: WWE, ROH, CHIKARA, New Japan, All Japan, NOAH FAVORITE MATCHES: KENTA vs. SUWA, AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe, Hero vs. Claudio from CHIKARA, Danielson vs. Roderick Strong, Guerrero vs. Lesnar, BEST THING ABOUT THIS DECADE: The advent of DVDs and DVDRs making it more affordable for footage collectors to obtain footage. WORST THING ABOUT THIS DECADE: The staggering number of premature deaths in the business.

Actually, I was referring to the fact that WWE has always treated ECW as little more than a third rate brand. Anyone who manages to get over winds up being sent to Raw or SD (Punk and Bourne for instance). The yearly draft usually winds up with ECW getting the leftovers who've basically run out of steam on Raw or SD, Goldust, Regal, Shelton, Rosa Mendez, Zack Ryder. BTW, I'm not complaining about the name change at all. I think it's a good idea, since ECW was always more or less a developmental place with national TV.

So after three years of Vince basically pissing on its name, ECW is finally going to be buried once and for all and turned into WWE NXT.

I'd heard that he'd pissed in a trash can before, but hadn't heard the balcony story. I brought it up because that's why Graham says he was fired. The Torch Talk and Hank Aaron issues are both extremely well known as being the last straw.

Very sad news, indeed.

Rovert made a little post about this over in comments that don't warrant a thread, but after finally seeing this (I got it during KC's buy 2 get 1 sale, so i didn't have to pay for it ) I think it is something that's worthy of it's own discussion thread. This really shouldn't have been an entry in the GB series, because his "booking" amounts to a JCP/CWF merger and which wrestlers he'd have used from each company. That's it. The bulk is Graham talking about growing up in the business, his father running FL, and his time in WCW. And, just like his time on the Rise and Fall DVD the bulk of what comes out of his mouth is complete bullshit. Here's just a small sampling of some of what he has to say. - Magnum's car crash was karma for jumping to JCP from Florida after Mike discovered him in TX. He seems to have forgotten Magnum becoming a big star in Mid South. - He told Vince in 1988 that Vince needed to invest in a developmental program. 15 years later "75%" of the Raw roster came up through FCW after learning under Steve Keirn. - Bill Watts was fired for taking a piss off of the balcony in his office. - The Brody/Luger thing was total over exaggeration by Lex. Luger got tired out and Brody tried to give him time to rest, and Lex freaked out and ran off. - Before the Radicals left WCW Graham (50 at this point) threatened to kick Benoit (33 at this time)'s ass, and Benoit got scared and complained to WCW's HR dept. - Not only did he tell Bischoff to get Hogan, but he also approached Hogan in the gym and convinced him to join WCW. Plus this absolute gem during the "booking" He says that he thinks Ron Simmons and The Barbarian could draw big money with each other, just like their 1992 run in WCW.

I've long since stopped putting stock into anything out of Skeith's mouth, but, just for shits and giggles I'll ask. Is there any possible, or probable, correlation between Shawn's HOF entry and his job to Flair at Bad Blood 2003? Skeith's claim was that Shawn only put over Flair so that he'd get inducted.

When Rock was (arguably) at the height of his popularity as a wrestler, he jobbed cleanly to the Big Bossman.

I made a post over at tOA wondering if TNA would actually release Awesome Kong after the incident with Bubba The Love Sponge. It turns out, Kong apparently wants out. I'd be surprised if it happened, because the Knockouts division, and Kong especially, is one of the few things that separates TNA from WWE and that TNA hasn't managed to totally screw up.

Who: My father, grandfather, and uncles were all big wrestling fans before I was born. My mother actually went into labor when my grandfather came over to my parents house to watch wrestling with my father. What: WWF at first, and then later on AWA and WCCW from their daily ESPN airings. I discovered NWA/WCW a few years later. When: From, more or less, the moment I came outa the womb. There's an old photo somewhere of myself as a baby with my grandmother and there's a wrestling magazine sitting on my parents old dining room table. Why: I really don't watch anything new anymore. It just got boring for me in the summertime and I haven't had my interested sparked again yet. I watched the 1/4 Raw and 1/4 Impact and neither of them especially thrilled me. The only fed that really interests me right now is Chikara, and they're in their yearly hiatus right now. I'm content to just watch older stuff and things like shoot interviews for now.

I've been watching Impact off my DVR, the segment involving Hogan, Hall, Nash, and Syxx Pac (that's what TNA calls him, right?) was making me cringe. And you just know that, with Russo booking, it's gonna come to head at the next TNA PPV when they're attacking a babyface and Hogan comes to save and does the shocking swerve. So far, the only thing I can really compliment is the Knockouts Tag Titles match.

I guess I made the right choice when I decided to pass on getting it. Speaking of Graham and Kayfabe Commentaries, has anyone seen the Terry Funk Roast? Missy Hyatt flat out lets Graham have it, and it's glorious.

I just finished watching RAW off my DVR, the first time I've watched a complete WWE show in more than six months. I thought Orton/Kofi had a good match, and enjoyed the 4-way match. The rest was completely skippable to me. The Bret/Vince confrontation just made Bret look stupid.

It's a good thing Jeff only signed a short term contract. He was indicted by the grand jury today for his arrest in September.

I'm guessing that Bix is referring to Gabe not being a big fan of Mexicans. When doing play by play for an ROH show in '04 with Mark Nulty they were talking about masks and Nulty mentioned how Mil Mascaras used to wear his mask everywhere and Gabe said (really quietly under his breath) "That's because he has the face of a Mexican."

Gabe Sapolsky said on "Forever Hardcore" that the Eddie Gilbert booked ECW wasn't a very good product, so take that for what its worth.

My daughter is born on the same day that Doc passes. RIP Doc, you'll be sorely missed.