Grimmas

Les Moore Retweeted Conrad Thompson ‏@HeyHeyItsConrad 11m11 minutes ago Conrad Thompson Retweeted Zack Greene I hear World on both, US/IC split, tag and women split. Women get SmackDown. Tag go to Raw Conrad Thompson added, Zack Greene @BamaZack @CubeShow @HeyHeyItsConrad Conrad with the news the WWE is going live w/Smackdown and splitting the roster, will a new title come into play? 3 retweets2 likes Reply Retweet 3 Pocket Like 2 More Don't like the two world titles. Would prefer a touring World Champ where the US/IC Titles are the main belts. All the Women on Smackdown sounds good, although no tag titles on Smackdown is odd.

Excerpts from the Pro Wrestling Observer by David Keller from April 7, 2001 Let's start off the WCW news by listing the previous WCW talent that has resigned with the new WCW. Last week we got word that Rey Mysterio Jr., Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Lance Storm, Dustin Rhodes, Jeff Jarrett, Billy Kidman, Sean O'Haire, Chuck Palumbo and Shane Helms have all signed new contracts. Goldberg's contract has been assumed by the new WCW as well. Over the last week, WCW has added Norman Smiley, Mark Jindrak, Alex Wright, Disco Inferno, Billy Kidman, Psicosis, Jason Jett, Kaz Hayashi, Jimmy Yang, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Kid Romeo, Elix Skipper, Jamie Noble and Shannon Moore. La Parka is the first luchador brought back and WCW is looking at more options from Mexico to fill out the curserweight division. The rest of the roster will be filled out with new talent from around the world, including taking on ECW talent. Rob Van Dam already appeared at the final Nitro, but we have learned that Tajiri, Simon Diamond, CW Anderson and Little Guido have all had talks and are expected to sign within a few days. One major change coming from ECW is that Joey Styles will take over the lead announcer position. It seems Styles and head booker Dutch Mantell will be the lead voices on World Wide when it debuts on the USA Network. Scott Hudson will remain as the lead announcer of the b-show Power Hour. It is unconfirmed who will be his partner. Mike Tenay is also staying with WCW, as an interviewer and to help scouting. Gabe Sapoloski, the new assistant booker, will also help out on scouting. He has had a hand in the ECW names mentioned above. He is also pushing for WCW to bring in Low Ki as the next star of the Cruiserweight division. Low Ki will meet with WCW next week. Sapoloski and Tenay will help Fit Finlay, who has been named the new head of talent. He will be the head road agent and will be in charge of talent, a job similar to what Jim Ross does in the WWF. Other news is that Eric Bischoff, even though he will be the WCW President, will not be an on air character. He will, on occasion, appear on television and will be used in a similar role to how Jack Tunney was used in the WWF in the late 80s. The on air matches will be booked by a fictional championship committee with Arn Anderson as the on air head match maker. Arn will be on each show as the voice of the committee. Arn will also be a road agent along with Finlay and Ricky Steamboat. To end this week's report we have more info on both the World Cup and the Clash of the Champions. The full World Cup teams will be: Booker T & Diamond Dallas Page (USA) Yuji Nagata & The Great Muta (Japan) Rey Mysterio Jr. & Psicosis (Mexico) Lance Storm & Carl Ouelette (Canada) Norman Smiley & Doug Williams (England) Nagata and Muta will be on loan from NJPW, as part of the new working agreement the two companies have. Williams and Ouelette will be singed for the duration of the tournament and this tournament will be used as a trial to see if they will be brought in full time. As for the Clash of the Champions "Reborn" on the USA Network on Monday, May 7 as of last week we had the two top matches. Rob Van Dam vs Dustin Rhodes vs Jeff Jarrett vs La Parka in an Elimination Match for the vacant United States Title Booker T & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs The Great Muta & Lance Storm in a preview of the World Cup. Over the last week WCW has announced that IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions El Samurai & Jushin Liger will take on WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo. Shane Helms will defend his Cruiserweight Title against his former friend Shannon Moore. Rumour has it that Don Frye is one big talent WCW is trying to sign, if they do expect him to feud with Goldberg and to debut at the Clash.

Thanks and you are almost spot on.

Excerpts from the Pro Wrestling Observer by David Keller from March 31, 2001 Last Monday was the final WCW broadcast on Turner Broadcasting. The show started with new WCW President Eric Bischoff, who let everybody know this was not the ending, but a new beginning. He directed everybody to the WCW website for information about the return of WCW. He said WCW will be taking a month long break and in that time they would recruit the best talent from around the world to compete. He brought out Rob Van Dam as the latest WCW signing. Van Dam cut a short promo in his style. The rest of the show was pretty straight forward and in between matches videos showing the history of WCW on Turner. Here is the quick results: 1) Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman beat Shannon Moore & Evan Karagias and Kaz Hayashi & Yang (3:38) when Mysterio pinned Moore with a legdrop off the top. 2) WCW Cruiserweight Champion Shane Helms pinned Chavo Guerrero Jr. (4:39) with the Vertebreaker. 3) WCW Tag Team Champions Sean O'Haire & Chuck Palumbo beat Lance Storm & Mike Awesome (3:21) when O'Haire pinned Awesome with the Swanton Bomb. 4) Shawn Stasiak w/ Stacy Keilber pinned Bam Bam Bigelow (1:23) with the neckbreaker. 5) WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo breat Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman (4:43) to retain the titles when Romeo pinned Kidman by pulling his tights. 6) Sting beat Ric Flair (7:17) with the Scorpion Death Drop. Shortly after the final Nitro, WCW announced a three year deal with the USA Network to air their programming. This includes a two hour live show on Wednesday evenings (entitled World Wide) and an one hour show on Saturday mornings (called Power Hour). It also includes 4 (3 in 2001) live Clash of the Champions on Monday nights, going head to head with WWF Raw. The first Clash will be on May 7th and will be the first show back for WCW. WCW Clash of the Champions XXXV "Reborn" will be held on May 7th live from the Greensboro Coliseum in direct competition to WWF Raw. Already announced is a four-way elimination match for the now vacant WCW United States Title (vacant due to Booker T winning the World Title) between Rob Van Dam, Dustin Rhodes, Jeff Jarrett, & La Parka.Also announced will be a preview match for the upcoming World Cup, as Booker T (USA) & Rey Mysterio Jr. (Mexico) faces The Great Muta (Japan) & Lance Storm (Canada). The World Cup will consist of 5 teams of two from various countries competing in a round robin tournament over the course of May and early June on WCW World Wide. The two teams with the most points will compete at WCW's return to pay-per-view The Great American Bash on June 10th to determine the winner. Already announced teams are: Booker T & Diamond Dallas Page (USA) The Great Muta & Yuji Nagata (Japan) Rey Mysterio Jr. & Psicosis (Mexico) The two remaining teams will be Canada and England. There is a bunch of behind the scene news coming out of WCW as well. Bischoff and Fusient were at Nitro and had a meeting with the roster. Talent were given the chance to sign new contracts with WCW, as WCW will only take on one current contract and that is Goldberg's (since it has only one year remaining). Everybody else will have to resign. Word has Rey Mysterio Jr., Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Lance Storm, Dustin Rhodes, Jeff Jarrett, Billy Kidman, Sean O'Haire, Chuck Palumbo and Shane Helms have all signed. Others are all negotiating still. The working agreement between WCW and NJPW is back on as well. Except some talent exchanges going forward. Bischoff let everybody know about the USA Network deal and the return on May 7th. There will be that special, then the weekly live Wednesday World Wide shows, plus house shows on Fridays, Saturday and Sunday. Power Hour will be taped once monthly. WCW will focus on younger and international talent to set itself apart form the WWF. The talent were happy with the announcements and with Rob Van Dam coming in. In the days since the final Nitro, we have learned that Dutch Mantell has come in as head booker and his assistant booker will be Gabe Sapoloski (who has been Paul Heyman's assistant in ECW). These two hope to install stability into WCW programming. With the company built around Booker as WCW World Champion and Golberg in super fights, to go along with the Cruiserweight division. Things are happening quickly in WCW and we will have way more news in next's week issue.

Excerpts from the Pro Wrestling Observer by David Keller from March 24, 2001 Today it was made official that Fusient Media Ventures has purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS Inc.) a division of AOL Time Warner. Fusient CEO Brian Bedol and his business partner, Steve Greenberg, have named Eric Bischoff as the new WCW President. Fusient has secured the WCW brand, tape library, and other intellectual property rights. As of press time there is no word on what talent contracts Fusient will be taking on. The final performance of WCW Monday Nitro will be live on Turner Network Television (TNT) on Monday, March 26, 2001. WCW will not continue on Turner networks. That fact almost ended the purchase, however it is believed WCW has made an agreement to move to another network once the purchase is finalize and after Monday's series finale. Since the deal was just made public today, officially, there is not much known about WCW's future. The original plan was to take a month off and return to pay-per-view on May 6th with a show called "The Big Bang". No word on if that is still in the works. Although no arenas have been booked going forward. At the final Nitro, Bischoff, Bedol, & Greenberg will be in attendance and will address the talent. We will have more news in the next issue.

The worst camera thing is every replay that starts in slow motion and then on the impact speeds way the fuck up.

The most true statement ever typed on this board.

Voting on lucha? If that's a month or so out, I can watch the discs I missed and vote.

Between dishes and walking the dog my commute that adds up time.

Seriously? You are trying to link people not wanting 4 hour podcasts with ADD?

I would love to do shorter podcasts, but I also don't want to skip things I feel that need to be covered on that topic. Also, it's hard with me and the co-host I have and the guests I have. When it's just Parv and I, it is a nice time. Us with anyone else and it's epic length proportions.

I originally wanted the Super Show to be a weekly hour show... it didn't work.

There is 120 teams.

Beast and LowBlow will take over the reveal of the tag list. A big thank you to them.

Ok.. my busyness is not slowing down anytime soon. Anybody want to take over the reveal of the tag team lists?

WF011: Wrestling's Amazing Managers Bobby Heenan is a first-time host here. He's pretty funny through out and it's an obvious good choice. The Good Don Muraco & Mr. Fuji vs Ricky Steamboat & Junkyard Dog (8/17/1985) Before the match we get Muraco on a beach getting massaged by three girls in bikinis. As for the match, we get a really long shine including Steamboat getting his revenge by choking Muraco with the karate belt. Finally Steamboat is the face in peril and what's strange to see is that Fuji is a valuable member of the team. He's actually treated as a credible partner. We get a second face in peril with Dog this time and then Steamboat gets the HOT tag and I mean HOT! Lots of editing so no rating, but just a fun tag match. Johnny Valiant vs Steve Lombardi (8/17/1985) A nothing segment on TNT with Valiant and Beefcake before the match. However the match is clearly awesome! Valiant is a master cheater using a cable to choke, the announcer's table, the guardrail and body slamming Lombardi onto the concrete. He even flexes to piss the crowd off even more. Lombardi gets a little comeback and slams him on the floor in retaliation. HUGE LARIAT by Valiant leads to the win. Valiant is freaking awesome!! The Grand Wizard and Don Muraco Promo It was great! Wizard says Muraco is the world's best surfer and wrestler and is humble. Muraco then does this egotistical rant which was insane! "I have put aside all my concerns for the ocean. i have put aside all my concerns for the sky and the sea. All my efforts are put into wrestling." I love Muraco! Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik w/ Freddie Blassie vs Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (3/31/1985) We cut right to the hot tag and Windham hitting a mighty fine bulldog. Cane and new tag champions. So we only got the good parts of the match. What puts this into the good column is the post match promo where Heenan calls out Blassie's white lie. Greg Valentine and Jimmy Hart on TNT Valentine has a "Rock 'n' Roll shirt with a skull on it that is awesome. He loves rock 'n' roll, not punk rock like Lauper. He's bringing in Jimmy Hart as his manager who used to play with the Gentrys who had a huge single. They hype WrestleMania. Andre the Giant vs Big John Studd w/ Bobby Heenan (3/31/1985) We cut right to the finish and Andre throwing out money. Still a cool moment. Bobby Heenan giving love advice on TNT Q: Do wrestlers make great lovers? A: They are the second best, next to managers. Q: A 69 year old wife says her husband will not make love to her anymore and asks for advice. A: Get out of the rocker, put on some nice cologne. Q: My husband has a six inch scar on his face, it turns me off. Since most wrestlers have scars, can I get some advice? A: She should be thankful he has six inches of anything. Andre the Giant vs Big John Studd w/ Bobby Heenan A super fun angle where Studd grabs the scissors to further cut Andre's hair. Andre with the comeback and he grabs the scissors, but Bundy arrives and the two of them squash Andre. Managers attempt to sign Randy Savage Blassie, Hart and Heenan all make their pitches. Heenan offers riches. Jimmy Hart offers a bargain, as he will be cheaper and check out his suit which looks as good as Heenan and Blassie's, but only cost 15.99 from Memphis. Think of the money he can save them. Blassie managed a world champion and can get diamonds. Randy Savage introduces his manager All the managers are there, but he chooses Elizabeth instead. McMahon loses his shit over her beauty. Manager of the Year Award Ceremony Voted by the fans and Mean Gene tells us 1 million votes came in. Heenan was the top heel vote getter at 179,321 votes. However he somehow pools all the heel's votes together and has 519,711 for the win. Runners up were Hillbilly at 519,711 and Albano at 314,166. Hillbilly then gives his votes to Albano, making him the manager of the year. Heenan nails Albano with the trophy and Bundy and Studd squash Hillbilly. What a weird voting system. Lou Albano on TNT Heenan warns us to get out our rolaids, because we are about to be sick. He rambles on in his entertaining fashion. The Bad Wendi Richter vs Fabulous Moolah (7/23/1984) Weirdest editing ever we go from mid match to a replay of the finish. WTF? Wendi Richter w/ Cyndi Lauper vs Lelani Kai w/ Fabulous Moolah (3/31/1985) Just clips and it seemed like a botch was still left in. Cyndi is great here though. Uncle Elmer & Couson Junior w/ Hillbilly Jim vs Barry O & Jerry Adams (9/10/1985) We get some fine dancing by Junior and Elmer, but we only get the opening of the match before we move on. Andre the Giant & Pedro Morales vs Lou Albano & Afa (8/23/1980) Albano walks out and Afa gets squashed. This is a prelude to a future tape all on Albano. The Ugly George Steele w/ Lou Albano vs Nikolai Volkoff w// Freddie Blassie (7/13/1985) We get a cool visual of Albano taking Steele to the ring (from backstage) while Volkoff sings. An absolute nothing match where Lou chases Blassie away and a double count out. The announcing here was insane. I know it's the 80s, but Monsoon says "To feel all the Ethiopians you just need to get Volkoff to sing, food will come flying out of everywhere." Not to be turmped by Lord Alred who tries to claim that is how they can raise money for aids in Africa. In The End Highlight? I really loved Valiant cheating like a moffo, but nothing really sticks out on this tape. Recommend: It's a solid tape, but nothing you need to go out of your way to see. Next up is Wrestling's Country Boys!

Here is the top 100 if you count only top ten votes: 1 Ric Flair 2 Terry Funk 3 Stan Hansen 4 Mitsuharu Misawa 5 Kenta Kobashi 6 Toshiaki Kawada 7 Jumbo Tsuruta 8 Genichiro Tenryu 9 Daniel Bryan 10 Jerry Lawler 11 Negro Casas 12 Jushin Liger 13 Nick Bockwinkel 14 Rey Mysterio Jr 15 Bret Hart 16 Randy Savage 17 Eddie Guerrero 18 El Hijo del Santo 19 Tatsumi Fujinami 20 Shinya Hashimoto 21 Shawn Michaels 22 El Satanico 23 Vader 24 Yoshiaki Fujiwara 25 Steve Austin 26 Ricky Steamboat 27 Buddy Rose 28 Chris Benoit 29 Jun Akiyama 30 Harley Race 31 John Cena 32 William Regal 33 Kiyoshi Tamura 34 Volk Han 35 Andre the Giant 36 Jim Breaks 37 Dynamite Kid 38 Roddy Piper 39 Kurt Angle 40 Akira Hokuto 41 El Dandy 42 Dick Murdoch 43 Aja Kong 44 Arn Anderson 45 Bob Backlund 46 Hulk Hogan 47 Yuki Ishikawa 48 Billy Robinson 49 AJ Styles 50 Lou Thesz 51 Brock Lesnar 52 Hiroshi Tanahashi 53 Akira Taue 54 CM Punk 55 Manami Toyota 56 Curt Hennig 57 Meiko Satomura 58 Tully Blanchard 59 Tiger Mask 60 Masaaki Mochizuki 61 Mick Foley 62 Keiji Mutoh 63 Jack Brisco 64 Blue Panther 65 Ted DiBiase 66 Steve Grey 67 Dustin Rhodes 68 Sami Zayn 69 Devil Masami 70 Rock 71 Rick Rude 72 Bull Nakano 73 Owen Hart 74 Too Cold Scorpio 75 Scott Steiner 76 Antonio Inoki 77 Low Ki 78 Giant Baba 79 Brian Pillman 80 Minoru Suzuki 81 La Parka 82 Nigel McGuinness 83 Pat Patterson 84 Gorgeous George 85 Chigusa Nagayo 86 Eddie Gilbert 87 Jaguar Yokota 88 Atlantis 89 Fit Finlay 90 Mike Quackenbush 91 Kana 92 KENTA 93 Sting 94 Dusty Rhodes 95 Atsushi Onita 96 Buddy Rogers 97 Nobuhiko Takada 98 Rick Martel 99 Riki Choshu 100 Terry Gordy

ROH could have the greatest booking ever and it won't matter, because their pricing and distribution model is insane. No matter how great a ppv is, it is not worth a month of WWE Network, Progress and two live EVOLVE shows. It's just not and can't be. VOD's should be out within a day. Everything should be live, why not? Is it that much more expensive to have it live then to tape it and put it out on VOD? If that's true, at least it needs to come out quicker.

Besides me and Musgrave going crazy almost nobody knew who he was or cared. He was the least focused on of the four in the match too and didn't factor into anything. His one dive did get a reaction though.

Being live at the ROH tapings I have to say everything was solid, but nothing got me excited for anything going forward. Just a bunch of solid matches with one really good one (Kushida vs O'Reilly).

Where the Big Boys Play are doing the WCW shows.

It's absolutely insane. You could get NJPW World, WWE Network and an EVOLVE show one month for the price of one ROH ppv. There is no justification for that price and I can't believe anyone buys it.

Greatest twitter exchange ever? Gabe Sapolsky ‏@BookItGabe 44m44 minutes ago I want to make it clear we do not condone with EC3 said. However, we are going to let the wrestlers handle this in the ring. Drew Gulak ‏@DrewGulak 36m36 minutes ago @BookItGabe you built a Cage of Death before, right? Gabe Sapolsky‏@BookItGabe @DrewGulak Zandig built it. With his hands. Drew Gulak ‏@DrewGulak 25s25 seconds ago @BookItGabe oh good cause we're friends on Facebook. Say the word.

There was talk of Nakamura losing the Shinsuke and it was even presented that way on the program guide.

no.maybe i should leave the jokes to you?