Death From Above

The only thing I found weird about this was why take out Luger instead of Savage? Yeah Luger was in WWF but he was still seen by the fans as a "WCW guy". Savage would have been a more interesting guy to run the "oh he's out will he return for the other team which is the thinnest of thin veils as team WWF" bit, for me. Other than that, this was pretty good. Hall, Nash and Hogan come off as almost unstoppable together, and Hogan's promo is amazing other than "New World Organization" which he dropped in there twice, which thankfully isn't the direction they went. Just not as catchy. Seeing fans this legit into an angle is exceedingly rare, as throwing trash at WCW events later became a thing to do, but here is really genuine. Hogan just unleashes all this venom and he really sells it as having been built up inside for a long time, like he's been just dying for a chance to let this out and to stop giving a shit what fans think about him. He really burned out badly later with the long promos, but the early parts of the nWo Hogan was totally money. And I don't mind the Heenan line. It's right in line with the sense of paranoia the announcers built up all match. "Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell." - you can almost picture Tony in tears after this match. He's like a grown up kid that's just been betrayed by the Easter bunny. It rules.

Fuck I hate communication entirely through draining bandwidth with GIFs.

I don't know how much of this made the set, but I watched the whole match for the hell of it and rambled a bunch as it went: Fake Razor and Diesel, and The Sultan are dead weight. There's some Mexican presence to pad things out in Pierroth, Mil Mascaras, Cibernetico, and Latin Lover. Mascaras gets a decent enough reaction and doesn't seem that out of place in this setting. But those guys are still filler too. Still just as a group of workers, there have been much worse in this match and overall it's not a bad lineup, though it's very backloaded on the major stars other than Austin so the first half is mainly "everyone considered for the IC title ever and some Mexicans" to the WWF audience. Austin comes out really early, but after he eliminates Jake he really isn't the focus in this for a long time, until around #18 when Farooq hits the ring then everyone but Austin gets cleared out. Then it becomes more focused on him. One of the funny things looking back is seeing both HHH and Rocky Maivia, both doing gimmicks no one really gives a shit about, being just "extra guys" for the most part. It sort of throws you for a loop considering how used you get to seeing them presented as really important later on. Vince's constant "This guy is eliminated... oh wait, no" gets a little old. Vince in general feels like a throwback from the wrong era on commentary and it's a good thing he phased himself out of that role. I wish they'd have given Owen and Bulldog more time together but they only get together here to work a dissention angle despite being tag champs as Owen "accidentally" eliminated Bulldog. It would have been neat to have a story with the two of them working together against everyone else, which could have given a structure to the pre-Bret stage of the Rumble, and they could have done the same angle later. The first half of the match is really just "a sequence of stuff that happens" but is mostly kind of formless. Mascares takes out Cibernetico and Pierroth in quick succession during Marc Mero's entrance, then eliminates himself doing the top rope body press to the floor. I always dislike those "wrestlers are too dumb to know rules" things, but it keeps Mascaras from doing a job (of course), so here it's fine I guess. "Double J" the Road Dog Jessie James has some seriously bad ring gear here that I'd totally forgotten about. Then Bret hits the ring and shit gets real. Austin's reaction when he comes out is classic, and the fans really go nuts as it's clearly the big moment people have been waiting for through the first 30 minutes that gives the match some form. Jerrly Lawler does an awesome 4 second cameo to put Bret over, wher he gets up from the announce table, brags, and is promptly eliminated. Funk and Mankind in, naturally they go right after each other and basically stay out of the way, while Bret and Austin go at it. Terry is the best guy in the match at teasing getting thrown out; he did this in Japanese deathmaches a lot too where getting thrown into/over the ropes was death, so he's really practiced at it more than most. Bret hits an amazing jumping piledriver on Austin just after Flash Funk hits the ring that looks about as "high impact" (to steal a JR phrase) as anything in the WWF. When Undertaker hits the ring at 30, among others you have Austin, Bret, Terry Funk, Mick Foley, Taker, and Vader all in the ring at once, so it's not like there was a lack of star power at the business and of this thing. You also have Kane as fake Diesel, rookie Rocky Maivia who is fodder here, and Flash Funk (with awful body suit). WWF may not have been in the strongest shape at this point but this is still a pretty darn group of workers. Undertaker comes in at 30 and is basically Godzilla, as he should be. Only dead weight in there that wasn't either a star or a future star is Henry Godwin, who Vince seems comically in love with. Sadly the cameras miss Flash Funk getting eliminated by Vader, but they show the replay and it's pretty crazy as Vader stands back to the rope and does a fallaway slam where Flash goes right over the top and to the floor. The next elimination of Undertaker tossing out Godwin with a double choke and a toss is actually pretty damn cool too, though not quite at that level. They run the angle with Funk and Mankind brawling after both being knocked out while all the refs are busy trying to separate them. Bret eliminates Austin but no official sees it. Austin sneaks back in and eliminates everyone in one quick shot and steals the win. This was a good angle as Bret goes nuts, and he has his justification. Really sets up the double turn well. Overall, the first half of the rumble had no real structure which hurts, but the business end of it is pretty good. Didn't really draw as huge a reaction as you'd want, but this was done well. It seems like this company has a bunch of really cool potential matches on the table with these guys, though there isn't that much action in the Rumble that lives up to it. Still enjoyed it as I always like this gimmick match, but in the end without the big angle at the end it would be more bland than you'd figure with this lineup.

Seriously, Russo is the biggest moron ever. SCRIPT SCRIPT SCRIPT

Thanks for that.

Was Tenay really a tape trader back in the day? Was he like an announcer that happened to be into it deep, or a superfan that broke into the business though... however that happens? What's the story with him anyway.

The other thing with a book is that it would be about 95% dependent on who put the thing together. If it was just some bullshit apologist book it would be DOA for everyone.

I will read the e-book if it goes on Amazon for free.

... And Wikipedia tends to be pretty tame at listing everything on those fronts. Still, that made for some reading.

I would rather the old dudes stick to wrestling each other if it keeps them out of the main event next year. That's of course assuming they don't end up headlining with Cena vs. Undertaker, though I have a hard time seeing what they actually gain long term doing that match now unless they use it to turn Cena heel at the cost of the streak. And I have a hard time thinking they end WM XXX with a heel winning. I wouldn't mind something like Punk/Austin underneath the main event but I'm hoping they find a way to get away from having a nostalgia act headline Wrestlemania personally.

TNA have failed as the #2 company. If there is to be one though at any point in the next generation though, I actually think the "have a studio that cuts our travel costs down" might be part of the way it happens. If wrestling wasn't so stigmatized in the TV industry I actually think that sort of thing would have been tried more, but it is hard to get your foot in the door. It's really amazing how often in all forms of promotion (not just wrestling related) that people who should know better get this totally backwards. People try and generate interest by overextending themselves, hurting the bottom line, when it is supposed to go the other way. Generate demand then move up when it's (relatively) less risky.

It was a strange decision from the beginning. Having very limited travel costs and a fairly sweetheart deal with the Impact Zone was a nice edge for them, all things considered. Never really understood the reasoning behind walking away from that.

I could see it working in a Kane going back to his roots kind of way. His character does seem like the cousin of dudes like Leatherface anyway. So Kane as the Wyatt's PG Leatherface, sure. I can dig it.

Only thing I didn't like about the Wyatt debut was rolling a rocking chair down to ringside, which is stupid but typically WWE stupid at least, and certainly no more worthy of scorn than a thousand other things they've done. Well that and fans chanting Husky Harris because they're just so cool. But there's nothing you can do about that. Otherwise it was a great debut. The promo right before they all showed up was really about as good as that sort of hillbilly cultist thing is going to get in wrestling. I mean I've outed myself several times as being a fan of that goofy Doomsday Preppers show and these guys were at least as creepy as two thirds of the nutjobs on that thing (and I assume half the people on that show are actors playing versions of real people the producers just don't want any part of), and they got there without showing me their collection of automatic weapons. Also I love that theme song.

I thought his Starrcade match with Nash was shockingly good until that dumb ending. Of course that could just be my amusement at Tony Shiavone nearly having a heart attack at Kevin Nash trying an armbar. Killing his character when they did was sheer insanity. The egg could not be unscrambled.

I can't believe they are still operating with two world titles in 2013. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Not the Rangers but the Islanders I'd go for. The Moose Jaw Moose Jaws would be pretty epic. Also the flag thing has absolutely nothing to do with Canada. Pretty weird example. That shit would draw the same reaction anywhere.

I actually just started re-watching the Mid-South set the other day myself. Thing is just a madman once you get into it.

Yeah they can say it's up all they want but it's Error 404'ing all over the place.

Beavis and Butthead doing shoot interviews would be so much better than RF. "So, like, is it true that taking steroids shrunk your nads? Huhuhuhuh."

I'll never forget Funk getting kicked in the head by a horse making international TV.

Check the main DVDVR page again and there is a link to the new forum now. Though it still seems to be very much a work in progress, probably still uploading things and going up and down. Probably best to give it a day or something.

It would be neat to have mirrored threads for the 80's project on each place because in theory that would make it pretty tough to lose both.

Wrestling companies in general don't like to make radical shifts in direction, often leading to their downfall. Really, Vince has only made three really big ones: 1- Hogan and the TV boom in the war against everyone 2- The Attitude Era when challenged by WCW 3- Corporate WWE in a post-king of the mountain era Which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's still more radical shifts than almost all of the major other companies put together. Most of them were good at one thing and went down with that. WCW tried a radical change with Russo but that was an absolute disaster from the beginning. All of the old territories couldn't change and died. ECW was always what it was, and in hindsight never had any serious hope of gaining support from the TV world by their very anti-establishment nature. Japanese companies, to me as a long time viewer, all seem very deeply established as having a specific "style" they present as part of their brand that really didn't change that much in short waves aside from the NOAH split in all the time that I followed it closely. FMW made a shift in it's later years, and the company imploded (not that I'm saying that's a straight line reason why). But generally the changes have been either gradual or nonexistant. It's really hard to have a radical shift in style and pull it off, and very rare. WWE won't try another one until there is a really good reason to, which being as it will not be competition from the outside means as long as they are profitable this is what they are going to be.

PWO is the best wrestling forum, for the sheer hardcore crowd it attracts. At least for me it is because I'll always be into "what's good" more than "what's new" so the historical slant here fits well. It's like a librarian convention of wrestling historians. People here know their shit to the point that I feel pretty useless around here being out of the loop for a few years and being very rusty, despite the fact I've probably seen more wrestling than 99.995% of the human population. DVDVR sub-boards are great, and (given the size of the place) surprisingly well behaved by internet standards. That's probably why it has thrived while so many others on all subjects have not, and has managed to maintain a loyal community. Yes there are some goofy characters (one or two that should have been nuked ages ago) but it's nowhere even close to as nasty a place as most big boards have become. I wouldn't have even bothered stepping in to run the music polls over there (which were quite small time, but a good education) if it wasn't for the fact I just happen to like most of the people, which made it worth biting the bullet and stepping in to save the thing in the first place. I don't think message boards have died so much as you've had a lot of splintering into small groups on subjects, like this one. Partially because it makes crowd control a lot easier probably. It does make finding new boards a pain on a lot of subjects, but I still feel like there's a ton of them out there.