El-P

Credible had a stupid name and a stupid gimmick, and was a pretty bad promo in this setting, but he was a solid worker if nothing less, and a fine bumping heel. He should have been repackaged. That less talented guys like Lance Storm and Spike Dudley (yes, in the same sentence) got more out of their post ECW career is a bit of a shame, really. He could have been fine working undercards in WCW for years. Ditto C.W. Anderson, way too good to just vanish. WCW was the right fit for him. Really, the death of WCW is a tragedy for US wrestlers, no matter how much some people want you to remember it only as this god-awful promotion.

DDP was 45 when WCW went under. So it's not like he had tons of mileage left, but he could have been used much better for sure.

I doubt he would have amounted to anything in WCW. Too small, too "indie", too referential. He would have been lost in the shuffle. Maybe Dusty would have pushed for him a bit, but that would only help him so much. Like FLIK said, Corino had a very nice career in Japan and was a lot more successful than any other ECW guys not picked up (or even picked up) by WWF. Corino had quite a successful post ECW career actually. The same can't be said for guys like Justin Credible or C.W. Anderson.

In the "all pro-wrestlers aren't fuck ups" series, the shoot interview with Jim Brunzell is really good. Comes off like a cool guy, tells a lot of good stories. If you believe his Wiki page he's 62, but he really doesn't look a day over 50. It puts things on perspective when you hear that he had to have shoulder replacement, and that he fucked up his left hips too, and that just because of throwing thousands of dropkicks and falling down on the left side. You don't think of crazy highspots when you think of Brunzell, yet it was enough to do serious damage to his body. Does a great Jim Barnett impersonation, but doesn't say "My boy" sadly.

Tajiri is already past 40. Which seems crazy, but he started in his mid 20's.

The issue I have with Tajiri vs Crazy matches in 99/00 is that there are so many that they kinda blends with each others. That said, they actually did a pretty good job reactualizing themselves all things considered. There's a case for Yoshihiro Tajiri being a top 10 wrestler in the world in 1999/2000.

The answer is : everyone who didn't fit in WWE from that point on, for various reasons. Which makes quite a bit. Talented dguys like Axl Rotten, who got trapped into a stupid act in ECW, would never been given a chance. Guys like Douglas or Jarrett could not get back in NY, not that either of them wanted back there anyway. Raven, Corino & Kanyon just didn't fit. All the cruiserweights not named Mysterio got fucked. Awesome was clearly a case of being a japanese guys anyway, and he was not getting younger, with a banged up bodies and no knees.

Yet he has the power to fire the RAW GM, but not to make himself the RAW GM. We need that Konnan quote John. Now.

Wrestling needs to be done with owners, GM and commisioners storylines, like, yesterday. It got old by 2001, really.

As long as he doesn't review asian movies on Korean sites...

And he was 39/40 in 1999. That's not exactly old either.

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 ?