El-P

The two things I remember about Kanako Motoya (or Kana Mizaki), is that she was a good matworker, and that was she hot as hell. JWP was such a great little promotion.

I should have known.

Schiavone and Jesse are my favourite WCW announcing pair. I never really felt he gelled with Bobby right from the get go, but it's a damn shame that Schiavone became so loathed during the Monday Night Wars. I love Schiavone/Jesse too. The problem is that Heenan really didn't care during the Monday Night War days, and it showed. Tony worked much better with Dusty or Jesse. Once he stopped caring and became cynical, Tony got bad, but it's stupid to remember him only for his last few years. At his best Tony was excellent.

I was about to ask the same question. Very underrated worker, and no, he never got his dues, and never got the push he deserved in the US. What are you watching from Perez : Japan, PR, US ?

Tony Schiavone's last line is simply one of the best ever, and the delivery was perfect. Before he got disgusted with WCW, Schiavone, at his best, was a damn good wrestling announcer.

Yes. She was quite good in the '93 interpromotional stuff I've seen. But she wasn't in any of the highest-profile bouts, and JWP is much much less watched than AJW. The few I've seen from Mighty Inoue from the late 80's early 90's was quite good. Talking about JWP, Commando Bolshoi is a damn good worker that was considered a dud because of the clown gimmick. But she's quite the trooper, and apparently was still a quality worker in the 00's from what I heard.

This lawsuit craze is so retarded.

Joshi has been pretty much forgotten as a whole. I never was under the impression Bull was underrated or anything. I always heard of Bull as being as great if not better than Aja. Ditto for Ozaki, who's been pimped nonstop for ever. I can see why people would not like Masami much because of her late SuperHeel antics, but anyone who's seen Devil even as late as the early 90's knows she was awesome, not to mention her 80's work. Kyoko and Kansai have been pimped as great workers forever too. Yagi is not exactly the lost 90's super worker, as she was always referred to as a great worker, it's just that people didn't pay attention. The last lost great worker of joshi puroresu was Naomi "The Bloody" Kato. No one watched Jd'. Really, as far as joshi worker go, Kandori fits the bill perfectly, she was way better than she was pimped to be in the late 90's when I got into puroresu (the opposite of Hotta). Cuty Suzuki was much better than she was ever given credit for. Asuka has been exposed years ago as a sometime spectacular (in a highspot sense) but formulaic, spotty and selfish worker. One day I'll watch joshi puroresu again. I guess.

Holy shit, that's pretty heavy. Hopefully Saturn turned his life around for good now, but hearing how you can fall off the cliff so easily is pretty scary. Glad the man is alive and getting well.

When did Vince take over Montreal from Dino ? Was that an important market as well ?

Superstar Billy Graham, JYD were pretty shitty workers.

I think Gorilla called Carlos Colon a youngster too in the Rumble 93. Of all people, Gorilla screwing up with Colon's legacy ?

The "guys with ridiculous names with no cool nickname" of the late 2000's is way more annoying. I miss wrestler's names being Greg "The Hammer" Valentine or "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Interesting observation.

First time Kerry showed up on Saturday Night, he was announced as The Texas Tornado Kerry von Erich. Then didn't they drop his name to only keep Texas Tornado ? My memory is fuzzy.

1994 is probably the peak of the Nastys, not that were much better than usual, but they got involved in more really good matches than ever that year. The first half of 1994 in WCW was terrific anyway, some of the best PPV's ever. I love the War Games match, the only drawback to me is the lack of blood.

Just watched Timeline of WWE 1977-1978. Amazing to hear Superstar still convinced that Bob Backlund was a huge mistake, that he had zero charisma, that he never drew a dime and that MSG audience hated him from day one. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Basically, Superstar still seems jealous and bitter about him not becoming Hulk Hogan.

Holy shit.

Don't ask me why I remember this, but before Test even debuted, he was talked about on Kevin Kelly's little radio show they had, Byte This, and they put him over as "having Sid's physical presence and Shawn Michaels's ability and charisma". Yep.

No, I agree with you. I never thought about it before when I look back at Russo era, but you're right, and it is an issue. Austin going back to the traditionnal black trunks was cool as hell because it was the dyas of stupid gimmicks and people in full outfits. No one else was in a traditionnal wrestling gear anymore, especially not a simple black one. Then the Rock got the same look, more or less. Then Triple H got into black trunks (which really looked like him copying teh two biggest star of the era). Everyone looking the same doesn't work in american wrestling. I always thought part of the appeal wa also the presentation, the colorful gears and robes. This part has been forgotten today. The biggest star of this era is dressed like Justin Credible. Well...

Yep. It turned the complexion of the company around. I love how there is this myth that WCW created no new stars at all. Well, they weren't main event stars there, but WCW sure did produced shitloads of upper mid card name that were over as hell. Granted, they weren't used at their full potential, but still, when they showed up in WWF, they just took the spot of most mid-carder from the Russo era (poor D-Lo and Val, who got effectively buried in the shuffle because of it). WWF used what WCW produced to enhance their own product, and its not like they used them all at their upmost potential either. Eddie Guerrero was first used very poorly. Saturn who was super over in WCW got wasted. They never knew what to do with Raven, who was close to a main event guy in WCW. Sure, Rey Mysterio got pushed to new hights (and pretty much only because Eddie died in the first place), but rey was a *star* in WCW already. Do we need to mention Jericho ? Really, the afflux of stars from the other companies is a big part of what made the WWF's product so much better in 2000. Sure, you got Angle, who was a pure WWF product, but he was pretty much alone. This is what is lacking today too, big time.

Yeah, because all of a sudden, matches actually mattered. By 1999, the crowds had been taught to only react to entrances and catchphrases. In that respect, NOA were the perfect exemple of the Attitude Era.

Survivor Series 98 is really the starting point of the complete Russoisation of the promotion, with an entire PPV build around : a swerve. A bunch of nothing short matches (maybe one or two got good) and the swerve at the end of the PPV. The entire Russo booking philosophy is there. He has booked the same way for 12 years now. Amazing. Royal Rumble was all about Vince MacMahon winning the match, nice way to shit on your gimmick and the entire PPV again. And WM15 was all about not delivering the matches you build toward by switching championships at the last time (Road Dog winning the IC and Billy Gunn the hardcore, putting them in matches with no build whatsoever, brillant), and the double, triple swerve with HHH and Chyna.

I agree. That's probably also why Russo is still employed in 2010, and probably in 2011.

All I know is that my high school friends and I started ordering WWF ppvs in 1998 and ordered almost every single one. In 1999 we only ordered WrestleMania and SummerSlam, but in 2000 we ordered every single show. '99 was brutal. If they didn't have The Rock and Austin to save most of the shit it would had been the worst year ever. In 1999 I think the only compelling characters were The Rock and Austin. In most of 2000 the WWF tried to make everyone interesting and worth watching. Instead of relying on shock value they tried to create real, somewhat 3-D characters. Mankind was also a pretty great part of 1999, if I recall. Apart from having his head bashing in at Royal Rumble in that stupid match that I hated, and a nothing program with th Big Show, I don't remember Mankind being any part of any important angle in 1999. The big stuff came back in 2000 when it was time to put Stephy's love interest over. But Mick's big years really were 1997 when he broke through, the Ross interview, the first Hunter program which again helped Hunter a whole lot, Dude Love showing up at the top of the cage in SummerSlam, teaming with Austin, then in 98 the Terry Funk and NAO deal, HITC with Taker, corporate Dude Love against Austin, the birth of Mr. Socko and corporate Mankind getting screwed, winning the WWF championship. Foley was at the peak of his stardom. But 1999 really sucked, even Austin was involved in shitty stuff all year long (terrible feud with the Corporate Ministry). I guess The Rock was really the only bright spot, with Jericho showing up and Russo getting the fuck out the other two positive things. And then you had Owen dying. Terrible year, no wonder it drove me out. I kinda regret it in retrospect since I missed out the really good 2000 and first half of 2001 because of it.