El-P

Holy shit were you right about that. As soon as Watts is removed and Ole gets the main booker position things get bad quick. It's not thet it gets bad, it's just that it gets unbelievably dull. I mean, I'm at mid- April, and it's like *nothing* has happened since Superbrawl. Seriously, expect the TV title tournament that I think was booked by Watts in advance anyway, or taped before he left (since Erik got to the final), it's complete status quo with no angle booked on TV basically. The Hollywood Blondes win the titles in the only big notable match on TV, but nothing happens with Rude (I know Dustin was injured then, but still, you get Rude cutting promos on everyone when he comes back, then nothing), no undercard feud, zilch. The worst of it is the booking of Flair, as he just gets boring after a week or two. Says or does nothing or note, basically a backdrop for Arn vs Windham feud (which would be cool if something would happen outside of Windham walking out on commenting about Flair for like 6 weeks straight). It just got this feeling of nothing happening, of complete dullness. Watt's TV the first months was painfull compared to the Dangerous Alliance days, but at least some stuff happened. Ole's product is all about nothing and squash matches with no angle. The only really bright spot of this period is Cactus vs Vader feud, and it is kinda tainted by the masochistic tendencies of Cactus (seriously, having his nose broken by vader was unecessary) and the fact that we know how it's gonna end up (Cactus amnesic on the streets). Like the impeding Horsemen angle is intriguing on paper (although moves way too slowly), but we know how it's gonna end up (Roma...). The build to Slamboree hasn't begun, but really, WCW hasn't been that boring since, well, the infamous Summer of 1990. Ole must be WCW's worst booker easily next to Russo.

Especially a few weeks after Jerry Lawler having a heart attack...

Not much "Blasphemy!", rather "Scratching my head about how can any wrestling fan not be a fan of Cornette & MX...". Well, I never quite got into pure lucha libre, so...

You haven't seen enough MX, that's all I can think about. Eaton has always been the workhorse, he's not the one who's supposed to be the most dastardly and arrogant one (Lane and especially Condrey were), but I don't see how his style wasn't heelish. The punch in the nose hidden from the referee, dropping the alabama jam while he's not the legal man, the agressiveness. I don't remember if Eaton was already a full fledge babyface by the time WW91 came, but as I said he was a babyface for most of the year, and it's not his best role. His work was still pretty flawless though.

If there was anything dull about this match, it was Brad Armstrong, who's exactly what you describe to me : technically sound but dull and never living up to his reputation. Eaton working face is not as fun as him working heel, but really, he was the best wrestler in WCW in 1990, and once the Dangerous Alliance get started he's on fire again. He shows up in 1992.

I love those Sullivan's vignettes. Sullivan is kinda goofy but looks like a complete maniac too.

Cornette's reaction is gold.

Good stuff again with the Heavenly Bodies falling apart. Cornette was on fire here again.

Disapointing that it was just a backdrop for a promo.

Cool vignette. I don't understand why Payne, who had a good gimmick despite being a rather poor worker at this time, was not given a better ring outfit. He looked like a total generic big guy jobber then.

Mansoon was tolerable with Jesse because Jesse wouldn't let him bully him and with Heenan because they had a comedy duo dynamic, but let's be honest, Mansoon as a purely wrestling announcer was annoying as fuck and was acting like a bully babyface who would get himself over first and foremost (and let's not mention *getting a few shots on Vader*...). I enjoy Jesse/Mansoon and Heenan/Mansoon, but strictly because he had a chemistry with both. Why wouldn't Lance Russel do it ? Probably because he was a great wrestling announcer (I'm getting a few entire years of Memphis TV soon, and I'm pretty excited about hearing tons of Lance Russel one of these days).

Watching late 92 episodes of the Main Event, I got a kick out of two things : Madusa cutting short promos in Japanese (Rude was feuding with Chono leading to HH); Jim Ross talking about WCW going to Philly and dropping the name of Tod Gordon of all people, as he was promoting for them locally then (Viking Hall appears on house show listing during commercials too).

Who's that fat guy behind Flair ?

She always denied it, including in RF's most recent (and quite exploiting) shoot in which she said she alwyas lied her ass off in shoot interviews except on this one. Oh, Tammy... The only thing you can hope for her with the latest ordeals is that she gets things together, get the hell far away from anything wrestling related and doesn't drop dead before she's 45, really. (gotta love Sean making fun of the "Hart Family Handshake" though...)

Well, I was not far off. Yeah, thats was it. And that would have made no sense either.

Yeah, DiBiase, that's right. The Yoko deal was not about him joigning DX rather ?

Yep. She on the other hand looks great. You don't say...

One big rumour around the Internet back then was that it was supposed to be Jake Roberts. He was also supposed to show up in WCW as part as Raven vs DDP angle the year before. Yeah, we were all about Jake Roberts in the late 90's.

Oh, man I can only imagine. I was not pleased in front of my TV screen either. "Everything comes down to logic." Vince Russo in Guest Booker

That is amazing indeed. I demand a picture. (wedding ?)

"It was me all along !" is one of the greatest apex of shitty 1999 Russoesque WWF.

Does anyone pays attention to Nash's loads of bullshit anymore ?

Chiggy = Madonna sounds ridiculous as hell, but as far as being a draw, Chiggy is probably the biggest star in female wrestling ever. Madusa was never positionned to draw in the US, and Trish was most probably a biggest star simply because of the context and era. (Sable didn't draw as a worker of any kind, her fake boobs were the draw during those few months at the peak of Attitude era).

I watched that Guest Booker interview. Yes, Russo's idea of how it could have been booked is better and more exciting on paper than Cornette's, but you can see he only has a general, vague idea of the framework and has zero notions of how to make it work in details. Plus he shows his colors when he says "I don't care if they are heels of babyface, I only care about people watching", which means he still doesn't understand the basics at all (well, that actually appears the very first minute when he talks about the difference between a "booker" and a "writer"). Of course it matters because the entire structure of the product is based on who works with who and the dynamics between characters, and you don't book (or write) the same stuff if the characters are heels of babyface. Anyway, he does seem like a nice enough guy, and he seems to understand a lot of what doesn't work with todays' product (no strong characters, oversaturation), but there's so much bullshit coming out of his mouth it's not even funny. I gotta love him saying every two minutes that everything comes down to *logic*. Holy shit, coming from him that's a riot. I would still take his basic idea for the WCW/nWo invasion over Cornette's to be honest, but I would need someone to actually put it down and lay out the details and execution. You can feel Sean's frustration at times when he would be given answers like "I don't care if they are heels of faces", but Vince is indeed a rather charming individual so I get how he could get by for so long.

I don't have many SMW big shows, but I do have the Bluegrass Brawl. Well, it was decent but nothing special to me. And mostly it showed how much Cornette's criticism of ECW was a bit, if not hypocritical, at least a bit loony to say the least. Cornette booked three main events for this show which were : _matches involving props _gimmick matches _brawls _matches involving heavy juice Not exactly what I would call good booking in that it makes the three matches have a similar feel, plus it really relies on blood and gimmicks which is what Cornette accused ECW of doing later in the decade. Sure, this was basically traditionnal southern blood and guts matches than the car crash ECW style, but still.