El-P

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.

Word. Got more focused after the Studd Stable left, simply because it's easier to work a focused match with less people in the ring. Dr. Tom bled a gusher.

Well, I thought this was a bit disapointing. They went too long, and this is a gimmick match that can't handle going too long, as you can strangle/tie up and drag your opponent around so many times before it gets really repetitive, which it got here (kinda like some WWF escape cage matches). I still think it's a good match, but it got too repetitive after a while, and despite the fact it worked for the live audience, they ended up losing me. Coming off watching Sting vs Vader work the same gimmick and have the best match ever of this kind doesn't help either. Also, you can see the finish from a mile away while their TV match had a great ending (although screwy). Good match, but I enjoyed their previous TV match much better.

Good to see him like that. Certainly gives you hope too.

"So, were you a fan growing up ?" "How did you get started in the wrestling business ?" "Memories of X" Indeed.

Man, I remember that show ! Oh man, that Flesh Gordon guy was pretty bad (just the name screams 5th rate). I remember the Equalizer (Evad Sullivan) on that show too, along with Carlos Plata. I don't think more than 3 or 4 episodes were shown on TV.

Well, indeed.

And this guy was made to be a plumber in WWF... And a hillbilly manager for the Godwinns... Huge waste of talent. Anyway, yes, it's a great promo from White Boy, probably his best in SMW thus far. He's both funny, shocking and menacing here.

The match seemed heavily edited on TV, probably for time constraint. Either that or they switched olds in a bizarre way. The leapfrog is clearly the highlight here.