Strummer

Yeah I really liked a lot of his promos and his character fit right in with the grunge/slacker era of the mid 90s. And between Vince predicting this and insinuating all along that Eric Bischoff really had no clue about wrestling maybe he isn't completely full of shit all the time

can the case now be made that Vince McMahon was right about Raven all along? 10-12 years ago it would be considered ridiculous but history hasn't been kind to him

I like how during this time frame there were plants with signs with the most nondescript messages. Like "Hulk" or "WCW # 1" I always kind of hated how Bischoff would put Flair down on commentary. IIRC the Giant/Flair title change match is a total burial on his part (again IIRC) edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZxNGvyeBtc well not really but still pretty smarmy

Anyone else kind of like Vicious and Delicious in 1997 WCW? I loved how Norton would completely no sell Bagwell's gyrating and showboating and stick to kicking ass

One of Scott Keith's reasons for not watching WWE. well Scott Chris Benoit took the life of two other humans and then took his own. How that is at the same level as Owen Hart I don't know edit: I don't want to ever tell anyone how to deal with a death but they were two completely different situations

Tatanka's heel turn killed his career. He was much better at selling a heel beatdown and making comebacks. I was another one who disliked him as a teenage mark but now appreciate some of his work

funny I was reading this review a month or two ago and thinking how much Loss has mellowed since then! Ha! Loss v Alvarez over Shawn./Angle is still my favorite though!

recap of the "Sleeping Giant" angle that set up the Andre/Duggan house show program haven't seen this in probably 20 years or so. Still holds up IMO

who missed their flight to set up this one? another oddball card (Hogan in a handicap match, heel vs heel, midgets, Pedro Morales in the final match in 1986) it's fun searching Graham's (awesome) site for wacky house show lineups. My favorite might be a C show headlined by George Steele vs Danny Davis in a cage match!

This match is at least semi famous for appearing in clipped form on the episode of the A Team Hogan did a guest spot on.

Yes! This is during the Shawn Michaels/Jannetty cage match on the bloodbath DVD that's a great Zucker Brothers-esque line from Raven

that's right as now I remember Heenan mentioning he was first going to manage Ventura before Jesse's blood clots moved him (Bobby) to Studd for the Hogan program

Valentine was actually Hogan's first "No worko with Mr. Stiffo" as he complained to management that Greg worked too stiff and they changed programs. Can't remember who Hogan moved onto (Studd?)

Yikes! at first glance I thought it was Lisa Lampanelli

who is the overweight blonde who's talking about Al Snow fucking Bobcat? about .50 in

you just beat me to it! Ha! Isn't JYD the poster child for bad worker/great draw?

so did SNME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SB2MVhQPcM...feature=related pretty innovative camera work towards the end still holds up

The vignettes building to that match are absolutely hilarious with Dusty going to a bar to "recruit" the Nasties. The dialogue is of White Castle of Fear depth

I'm hearing this second hand but did Bryan really say that Terry Funk didn't know how to work when they were discussing Wargames 94?

That was the night after Judgment Day 2001. Kane had kicked Stephanie in the face the night before and Test made fun of her for it. This was during the period where the WWF was having a bunch of babyfaces trying to humiliate Stephanie to put heat on them. Kane stalked her and dangled her over a railway (which was in reality a mannequin with Stephanie doing a screaming voice over), Rikishi gave her the Stinkface and the previously mentioned Test angle. Problem was Hunter would end up beating them in the end

I think Scott Keith pimping Hennig online for basically a decade as one of the best ever maybe helped shape people's perceptions of his career and talent. Remember Scott's big fantasy booking idea during the Invasion was to have Hennig be WCW's mouthpiece/leader. Hell I'm a big Hennig fan but I don't see how that would have popped business in the slightest I've come to realize over the last few years that the reason I was such a fan was because Mr Perfect was such an awesome gimmick. It's probably the greatest gimmick of the Hogan years and maybe all time in WWF. When Hennig isn't playing Mr. Perfect I tend not to be that interested I was a fan of Owen during my teenage mark days but he was just so bad on the mic that it was difficult to emotionally connect with him. The "underdog" little brother trying to prove himself was such a great story but at least outside the of the ring Bret carried it with his reactions and interviews (and I've never been a huge Bret fan). Owen really needed a mouthpiece. Gary Hart is the first name that comes to mind although that would have never happened

Does anyone else remember an article Russo wrote for WWF magazine back in 98 or so where he essentially buried the Royal Rumble match concept?. His point was that the match was a pointless exercise to get down to the top guys and the WWF was insulting your intelligence by telling you people like Papi Chulo or Chainz had a shot at winning the match. I could not (and still can't ) believe the WWF would let him write an entire article burying their second biggest show of the year. The way he booked the 99 match should tell you what he thought of the match. was it ever revealed what Russo's plans were for the Stephanie/HHH angle? IIRC his idea whas that the entire wedding would be shot from behind with everyone facing the alter and you would see Stephanie next to a tall muscular guy with long blonde hair. Of course the swerve would be that when they turned around it would be Hunter instead of Test

Re: 1999 WWF the period from Post Survivor Series 98 to WM 15 in retrospect is just dreadful, dreadful stuff save a few instances (the cage match at St,. Valentine's Massacre was fun). Post WM 15 to when Russo leaves is a slight improvement I guess but still pretty terrible. For the last few months of 99 there was a strange dynamic with WWE trying to still kinda book like Russo with some traditional Vince McMahon/WWF promotion thrown in

Yeah the final nail was him getting caught smoking pot in front of fans (or backstage workers). Even when he was reprimanded he just sort of laughed it off. Things must have changed around Feb 2006 because even though Rey was winning the Rumble he was not scheduled for the title match at Mania. I can't remember who he was supposed to work at the show before the plans changed