El-P

RVD is the perfect instance of a guy who was given way too much time.

Oh, Smoove... Wasn't he a major lucha pimp during the GWE poll ? On a side note, SC used to be so fun back then. MLW, well, I'll try anyway but thanks for the advice.

EDIT : double post (Sorry. My brand new Imac is crapping out. Fucking OS Lion.)

The most amazing thing to me is Hulk working out to the Stones Roses ! It blows my mind. First time Hogan and good artistic taste are in the same sentence. But really, can you picture the Hulkster working out listening to this : ?

I'm twisted, but not *that* twisted. It depends of the workers involved really, but yeah, overall I agree, there has been tons of good matches that could have been better if given a little bit more time. If anything, sometimes the wrong matches got the time.

Actually, I will. Finishing up to fill the voids of ECW 2000 (which reminds me how bad the Impact Players promos were, and how annoying Lou E. Dangerously's routine is) and then jumping into MLW, which I've never seen before apart from a few matches.

Seriously ? Kassius Ohno ? Who comes up with this crap ? Manatees ?

Edit : double post.

From the Outlaws shoot interview, about Dixie : "She's super sweet, but she's a lamb thrown to a pack of wolves. (..) Wrestlers are horrible people, they will take all they can from you and leave the bones for the buzzards." Indeed.

I really wouldn't call post 98 ECW a workhorse promotion. Yeah, you had Tajiri, Crazy and Lynn delivering the good stuff, but you also had tons of horrible Balls, Baldies, New Jack stuff. The idea that ECW became a workrate promotion in 1999 is way overstated. You get a bazillion Tajiri vs Crazy matches, but at some points it gets kinda old actually. I do enjoy lots of stuff from this era though, Doring & Roadkill, C.W. Anderson, the threesome stuff with Elektra (yeah, I said just that, I don't remember the name of the stable), Simon Diamond. And Corino was really fun to watch.

It was enjoyable at first, but by 1998 he was getting way too obnoxious, especially since by 1999 ECW were not trend setters at all, and the garbage acts were dull and formulaic as hell then. Same thing here. To me the ECW crowd could be annoying, but could be cute too, especially the first few years, because it was fresh. However, lot of house show crowds really fucking sucked, trying to by "smart-ass" for the sake of it and playing "ECW Arena". Things got worst from 1997 and on, because it wasn't fresh and spontaneous anymore, it was an obligatory pose. It sure developped into the horrible Roh crowds, the "This is awesome" and dueling chants nonsense. Give me a 80's Memphis studio crowd instead, please. Or a early 90's Korakuen Hall crowd.

08-10 you were pretty much guaranteed a very good match on every show, often times more than one. Probably the most underrated "run" in recent memory. If I ever watch anything from recent history, that would be WWECW, at least to see how it went at first.

Yep. The beginning is interesting for historical purpose only. Just a glorified indy with a few washed up names from the past. Very few good stuff until mid-94 really, although when Douglas and Sabu show up, it's better on top. One of the big turnaround to me is the Sandman becoming the Sandman, with the infamous "Life's a bitch, then you marry one" promo. Late 94 to early 97 is the peak, and it's an awesomely fun promotion. Agreed. I'll get back to you about SMW once I'll have watched the TV. Yes, it's definitely an acquired taste, and some stuff is really annoying and reminds an era of stupidity (mindless violence mostly, stuff like Balls Mahoney, New Jack jumping from balcony, terrible brawls, violence against women), but if you like the promotion, there's so much good, and even funny stuff on there.

I can say the exact same thing about Spike Dudley. Happy now ?

Isn't it depressing that each year for the past 4 or 5, the big WrestleMania event is all about an old guy retiring, coming off retirement, or having one of his last match. Tells everything about the state of pro-wrestling.

I'm not touching that. That being said, yeah, sometime I feel the same way, I'm like "What the hell, I'm watching 12 years old ECW TV". Then I stumble onto Chris Candido vs Simon Diamond and I think "Aww fuck it, this is great.".

Garrett Bischoff, new World Heavyweight Champion.

When Woman managed the Sullivan/Tazmaniac team in ECW, I swear she looked taller than both of them, wearing high heels and all.

Isn't she the daughter of the owner ? Which would make her, well, the Boss ? She should bitchslap inept people and fire them all. The thing is, Russo and Jarrett have been piping smoke up her ass for so long, and she knows nothing about the wrestling business, that she's still convinced that Russo is very valuable.

"Who the fuck hired Raven ?" Vince McMahon.

I never said that most ECW was horrible. I enjoyed the hell out of watching back ECW mostly from 94 to 97 actually, which were the peak years. 99/2000 were the painfull years. This makes no sense at all. Russo is about hotshotting stuff and nothing making sense because he hates wrestling and thinks nothing matters at all. There is no thoughts at all beyond "give everyone a gimmick, do swerve and humiliate women". Raven is the exact opposite. Yes, he's all about the dog & pony show and not old-school one on one wrestling, but in his case, it actually works very well, usually makes sense, and he's big on continuity as far as character go. The Raven vs Saturn match from Fall Brawl 1998 is an amazing match, and the runs-in are an integral part of why it's so great. I also happen to think his character is more fun than 90% of any other wrestling character.

You mean there are no "Those guys don't know how to work, it's just spot spot spot. We told stories back in the days." and no "We used to work 30 minutes matches every nights, we were having great matches, we drew tons of people. Nobody can draw today because they don't know how to work.", from guys who were barely above average workers ? Seriously, I'll watch that soon. I loved Mike when she was ring announcing for the WWF. Dressed like crap though, oh, the bad fashion sense of the late 80's/early 90's (see also : York, Alexandria).

This too. And he's not above laughing at himself, especially at his poor athleticism (or lack thereof), or the fact he was really lazy at times. He's truly one of the most interesting wrestling personnality to me, as he's got that old-school vibe to him despite being very progressive. Probably the fact that he came out during the dying days of the territories, and that Levy is himself an interesting guy to begin with.

Not many people are capable to work an exciting 30 minute main event period. And I don't think he ever claimed he could (nor anyone else for that matter). I found Raven matches more enjoyable than most stuff on ECW, certainly more enjoyable 15 years later than overrated "technical" demonstrations of Eddie vs Dean, or nonsensical wankery a la RVD, or horrible boring brawls a la Duds. Way more fresh and more fun to watch. Yes there was ton of bullshit, but it was fun bullshit that worked. Just me (litteraly, since I'm probably alone to still enjoy Raven as much as I do).

Oh man... What is she smoking ?