El-P

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 ?

Russo gone is good, but as long as Bischoff is still there, nothing will change much, as Russo already lost a lot of imput when Brother Love came in board. And Pritchard isn't the answer at all. They need to get rid of Bisch & Hogan anyway, they are just leeches.

41 ? That means he was only 30 when ECW went under and his body was already broken down. I didn't think he was as old as Raven, but I never thought he was just passed 40. Amazing.

I know this is about TNA and India, but I have no idea what this is exactly about.

This is awesome. And this reminds me I should listen to more Lambchop. Kurt Wagner still has this great voice.

I think Atlas is thinking backward. The most glaring instance to me is Ranger Ross talking about how he was denied a spot, I think with Crockett, when he was told they already had a black guy in the roster. And that's in the late 80's.

Really ? Russo is gone ? It sure took some damn time. Get rid of Hogan and Bischoff, hire some people who know their shit, and maybe there will be some hope.

Actually, the Bret heel turn from mid-98 is greatly entertaining. Excellent promos, excellent TV matches against Luger and DDP. But yeah, overall, huge waste because the booking was awful. I think Mr. McMahon would have surged at some point anyway, as the feud with Austin was foreshadowed by McMahon being stunned as early as the fall of 97. People seem to think that Mr. McMahon just popped up with the Bret screwed Bret promo, but infact it was several months after than the character slowly showed up, and the real beginning of the Austin vs McMahon feud was Austin "ruining everything" with Tyson on RAW.

In other words, we were the one getting screwed.

Tony Atlas got a theory about how there's no racism in prowrestling since most black men ended up main-eventing at some point. What do you think ? On the opposite side of the coin, a guy like Ranger Ross or Curtis Hughes would tell you they encountered racism in pro-wrestling while they didn't before in other domain (football, rangers).

Not fair. I could easily have said the 04/02/95 Weekly Pro Wrestling card since it was one of those once in a lifetime (frankly all of pro wrestling's history of lifetimes) card. Maybe not the best ever, but a pretty mind numbing collection of talent when you think of it... and the ability to see it all one one card, with a number of the matches damn entertaining. That AJPW match isn't close to the best those guys put on, but if I asked every AJPW fan on the board that they if it's the only match between all of the Four Corners that they'd ever have a chance to see... they'd be perfectly happy to see it rather than never seeing them together. John Actually I have it on my hard drive somewhere, but never got to watch it. Gotta find a slot sometime. Yeah, pretty amazing collection of talent here. This won't be duplicated, ever.

Listening to Tony Atlas Youshoot, and it's pretty fascinating to hear him talk about the psychology of his foot fetish. More interesting than the bullshit about how in the days, 70% of working a match was actually real because you had to take care of yourself.

Yep. I enjoy Raven a lot. EDIT : and Dylan (among others) doesn't always get my dry humour.

Wait, what ?

If you mean the Steamboat match, no, I have not. Which isn't very surprising after all.

That's exactly what I was referring to.

Well, I think Roma is underrated as a worker. But he's still a douchebag, and that's the reason he was fired by WCW.

Hey, that brings up an interesting thought. Andre's national heritage was never made into any kind of big deal. In 1980s WWF. When has any other heel from a foreign country EVER had his birthplace just barely mentioned in passing like that? When you're a foreigner, in Vince's world that automatically means that you're given a (usually heel) gimmick which is entirely centered around your foreign-ness. Even most Canadians at some point have a xenophobic slant to their character, despite the fact that most Americans tend to view Canada as basically the 51st state. By the standards of this industry, Andre should've been forced to wear a beret and a stripey shirt and hit people with baguettes. I understand that he was an unique character and treated differently, but it's odd that Vince didn't do even the slightest bit of France-bashing when Andre was a heel. I think the reason is that Andre was bigger than this. He was basically the biggest travelling star worldwide before Hogan, and his status went beyond his nationality. He was *The Giant* first and foremost. I do get a major kick each time I hear Howard Finkel introduces him being from Grenoble, in the French Alps. Usually foreigners can be glad if they get the name of the capital of their country in their introduction. Not only Andre got the name of his city, but the fact they didn't say France but "in the French Alps" was kinda cute. I guess it sounds more exotic or mysterious to American ears, at least that's what I always thought. Well, Frenchy Martin was pretty xenophobic and a total outdated French stereotype, but he was another Quebecois. The reason why their hasn't been I think is simple, because there was no French wrestler on the circuit. Wrestling was big on french TV in the 50's and 60's I think. I know my Father used to sneak in to watch wrestling matches with L'Angle Blanc when he was a teenager. I believe it died in the 70's. So, there was no one to work for Vince anyway. I'm sure he wouldn't have been opposed to make a stereotypical French heel, seen as most Quebecois ended up being heels anyway (Dino Bravo, the Rougeaus, Rick Martel although he asked for it, Pierre Oulette, and the guys from la Resistance). Picking up guys from Quebec was the easiest way to go. Although I wasn't following the scene at the time, La Resistance was just a baffling gimmick. Calling a heel team like the armed force which fought the nazi occupation during WWII is like, WTF ? Was that during the infamous "freedom fries" era when there was some strong anti-French sentiment at least in the American media like Fox ?

I figured you'd say Wrestlemania XXVII.

It doesn't, at all. According to the most recent TVN study of sports fans over the age of 12, not only is the percentage of fans with no interest in wrestling higher than it's ever been, the ones who call themselves avid fans are disproportionately poor and uneducated. I just watched Danny Doring & Roadkill vs Nova & Jazz, and now I'm gonna read a Samuel Beckett play. I feel like a total schizoïd freak.... Maybe. But it's something that just doesn't exist today, and is to invent. One can argue ECW was by some aspect the first post-modern wrestling promotion, although it mostly appealed to young male metalheads who wanted blood and nekkid girls I believe. Roh is another post-modern wrestling company in that it's been self-consciously trying to get snowflakes (which doesn't quite work). And appealed to geeks, I guess. So, we're not there quite yet.

Ok, I see. That would be the ultimate progressive attitude for a wrestling promotion, and I think it's a stretch. It would be cool though. There's no such thing as indifference in these matters.

so many jokes...so little time... Surprised no one did it earlier.