Johnny Sorrow

Over at DVDVR there's a thread about who did the most good/ bad in wrestling and Tom mentioned Sputnik Monroe as doing the most good. It reminded me of the wonderful NPR story about him that I heard when they reran it after he passed on a few years back. I posted it there, but I figured folks here would be interested as well. http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/featur...22.sputnik.html

Honestly? To me, that was the best part of the Hogan heel turn. Hearing Heenan basically say, "I've been telling you people forever that Hogan is a dickhead." was so much fun.

Monsoon and Ventura were more often than not fabulous together. They were never doing a "we can't stand each other" deal. And Ventura was not over the top praising the heels and Monsoon wasn't over the top praising the babyfaces. And they always seemed to like each other. It was a great announcing team. Granted I got to hear them a hell of a lot on MSG and shit and not just PPV's. And I know it's been said and take it for what you will, but Vince made every match seem important when he was announcing. That was good shit.

Ummm, Maria did nothing to make this DVD not great for fuck's sake.. Holy shit. Three discs and she has about, what, 5-9 minutes total screen time? And this "ruined" it? Christ.

Undercard match against Muraco that me and my buddy thought was gonna be awesome, as it was a "dream match" to us.... and it blew. It was after Mania 2 he went back heel and had the awesome fued with Hogan. It was Mania 3 when he was gone.

I always enjoyed his matches with Hogan. The one from "The Big Event" (I always loved that name) is really good.

What'd the white people bring? Bologna sandwhiches? Give me fried chicken and chinese food every time. I always thought that the silliest stereotype ever was the whole "fried chicken and watermelon" deal. Who DOESN'T like fried chicken and watermelon?

Tonight on RAW, though, Miz dominated Cena most of the match and was completely put over as being a tough guy.

Noted Japanese referee.

"In more terrible news this weekend, Ted Tanabe suddenly collapsed after yesterday’s show and fell into a state of unconsciousness. CPR was administed and an AED was used before he was rushed to the hospital." He died shortly after.

Think about that for a minute, and remember who said it. I love Tom Zenk.

I'll miss her on TV. She started out so wooden and uncomfortable and became such a super heel who had a catchphrase that worked like Pavlov and his dogs. This whole, "Evil WWE doing these terrible things to the poor widder woman" talk just comes off dumb. The character ran it's course, and there ya go. And someday they can bring her back and the first time "Excuse me!" comes out over the house speakers the place will erupt. If she makes a statement saying "I quit because I didn't like the character I was playing anymore because of fat jokes", then I'll give it to ya. But people jumping on a high horse proclaiming how "wrong" it was to have Saint Eddie's wife as a conniving heel bitch need to lighten up. Not to get all "serious", but I just doubt that the character of Vickie Guerrerro was designed to "punish". Liska put it better than I could.

Has anything ever come out specifically that Verne Gagne ever did that implied "He doesn't like the coloreds" I read that now and again and I just don't recall him ever being quoted with any racist statements. If he did, please, enlighten me. But if it's all, "he never pushed black wrestlers to the top" then that just doesn't scream "racist who hates black people" to me. That seems more, "I'm gonna give the audience who I think they want based on who THEY are", thinking. It's dopey, but not racist. I'm serious though, did Verne ever come out and say or imply that he "wasn't a fan of the coloreds"?

I always will have a soft spot for Solie just because the first time I ever heard him calling a match was Piper/ Valentine dog collar and he just sounded like he was smart, and it was new to me. The "smartest" guy I was exposed to at the time was Monsoon. And while I've come to love Monsoon's work now, at the time as a kid I'd be like, "Oh what the fuck are you babbling about?" (Not counting Monsoon with Ventura.)

Wouldn't the opinion of anyone who watches that match or any other match be an original opinion? It may be an opinion that is similar to others, but it'd still be an original opinion.

From a local perspective, I can report that almost everyone is saying, "Fuck the fake wrestling. The Nuggets are almost in the finals! WOOOHOOO! We haven't been this excited about a team we didn't care about until they were winning since the Rockies were in the World Series 2 years ago!"

My favorite was during the Hogan/ Muraco match from SNME. Muraco had done the "scraping his nails" on Hogan's back move earlier. Hogan did it back to Muraco and Jesse started yelling about how Hogan wascheating and should be dq'd. Vince says, "Wait a minute, Jesse! You didn't say that when Muraco did that to the Hulk!" Jesse: "Well, Muraco has his nails trimmed." Or something like that. It was hilarious.

Racism and Anti-Semitism aside, that article really is hilariously stupid. "He was a master menu orderer"? Wow, why not say, "He ordered me exotic Jew Food!", since that was his point. And a hilariously dopey one at that. Latkes and Borscht are some wild new cuisine to this guy? Really? Did he baffle his palate with bagels and lox, and wash it all down with mysterious matzah ball soup? Were there macaroons? I hope Paul saved the gifellte fish for next time...cause that's a hell of an aquired taste. I want to have a Seder with Paul Heyman. I'm not Jewish, but I love the ceremony and have conducted it many times for my Jewish patients in the Nursing Homes I've worked in. It's one of my favorite things I do. And when I think Joe Campbell lecturing a class or talking to Bill Moyers about the Hero figure...I think of Paul E. Dangerously. That whole thing read like Paul E. working some clown. I'm not saying the problem isn't there, but that was a laughably dumb article, generally.

Meltzer on one point: Oh, come on. Good read generally.

I think it all stems from the story that Vince Jr. would talk about how Graham should have been turned face and pushed as a huge babyface, and Vince Sr. wouldn't hear of it, and wanted Backlund. Supposedly, Bruno wanted Graham to be the next long term champ as well, but who knows the truth there. lol.

He was on Heat during the Rob Conway "Beat a legend" tour after WWE Homecoming. And wasn't he a "fake" Blue Blazer during the angle that led up to Owen Hart's death?

It's been talked about, I had remembered it, and now here it is. I know it was brought up in a racist moments thread. "Rudy Diamond Has White Feet"

1. 1990-94 may have been a "nothing" time in WCW, but I sure as hell loved it. Those Clash of the Champions from those years are my favorite dvd's to rewatch over and over. 2. If we're gonna talk about the WWE HOF as something more than a fun show...Koko's Memphis work alone puts him in any Wrestling Hall of Fame as far as I'm concerned.

In Jericho's book he talks about Pillman in ECW having the idea he had been pitching to WCW, if he went back to WCW, of having a faction called The Horsemen of the Apocalypse or the Generation X Horsemen that would be Pillman, Eddy, Benoit, and Jericho. They'd have crossed their forearms in an "X" while doing the four fingers.