Strummer

I'll continue off topic. For nearly a decade and a half Scott Keith has convinced online fans that non-finishes can *never* be good so now a new generation of fans blow a gasket anytime a match doesn't end cleanly. And Todd Martin is continuing the tradition by driving home the point week after week I HATE that line of thinking. Sometimes it is good booking to have a DQ or a countout because it protects wrestlers and then you have a reason for the continuation of a program. Having a bunch of clean losses (ala Kofi - Orton) kills programs and stifles progress. and I'd be up for more roll up and quick pins but the WWF had an overload of them in early mid 90s during Bret's first few reigns that made him look less than dominant

read the comments on Scooter's blog under the WM 1 Main Event review with a bunch of people defending Benoit. I know this happens a lot over there but this is the pinnacle

That was a great segment with Vince and Bret to close RAW but it's clear there is no way Bret is going to be able to work a match at mania He looked scared to death when Batista grabbed a hold of him They could go Cena/Bret v Batista/Vince with Bret doing a few big sequences or just have Bret and Vince in the corners

First wrestling show I attended: WWF @ Albany, NY - Knickerbocker Arena - February 18, 1990 Debut at the venue The Genius defeated Hercules after Mr. Perfect interfered The Red Rooster defeated Bob Bradley Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty defeated the Powers of Pain via disqualification Dusty Rhodes defeated Randy Savage via count-out Bret Hart fought Greg Valentine to a draw WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Mr. Perfect

Who: My parents disliked wrestling. Well my mother was tolerant and liked guys like Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon but my father absolutely hated it (still does till this day). I talked to kids at school who watched and had a much older friend up the street who introduced me to the LJN action figures and let me borrow his VHS copy of WM 2 What: I started watching the WWF sometime after WM 2 around the start of the Hogan/Orndorff program. I remember being sick and up late and watching the replay of Prime Time(?) on the USA Network. It was mostly WWF as our cable company did not offer TBS. I used to watch the AWA on ESPN and then later the awesome world class stuff with Embry. Worldwide aired on WSBK out of Boston and that was the only WCW we had. I used to constantly rent NWA/WCW PPVs from Blockbuster. For some reason I loved the old Halloween Havoc shows When: I was a casual viewer in 86 and most of 87 (more due to not remembering when the shows were on) but became die hard around early 88. My father used to tape Prime Time every week for me and we were allowed to get the PPVs although my Cable Company did not offer the non Wrestlemania/Summerslam shows and we had to go to my Uncle's house to watch Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. I kind of fell out of it first part of 1990 as the WWF was in cruise control at the time and I was kind of bored with it. Survivor Series 1990 got me back in and 91/92 hooked me again Where: Schenectady NY/Captial Region Why: The promos mostly. The idea that wrestling could play with your emotions and take you to another world

From having several e-mail conversations with Todd earlier in the decade I believe he is 29 (maybe 28) again this man did not know what the A-Team was

Yes Todd is "boring" bad not "entertaining" bad. "Who's Tubbs?" Tool

She had the best jokes of anyone there. I remember she said something like "Did you know Kevin Sullivan was the first to broadcast Hi-Def TV? In order to enjoy his Nitros you had to be either high or deaf!" Good stuff. not saying anything against Missy but Gilbert Gottfried used the same joke at the Bob Saget Roast

"bump 'round fo me boy I dunn pop't dis territory!"

I'm not really getting on Dave for that remark it's just funny (to me at least) how he has these run on sentences and tangents when he can sum it up efficiently with 5 or 6 words

Paraphrasing Meltz on Observer radio last night: "People don't want to see Shawn Michaels v Bret Hart. Well they want to see it but when the match is over they won't want to" Huh? I know what he was going for but that was classic Meltz double talk

Some Todd gems of the top of my head "Johnny Knoxville is a D list celebrity" "I've never heard of the A-Team and probably no one my age has" (He's in his late 20s) IIRC he didn't know who Piven was either

I know she ran the WWF Magazine in the 80s. I believe she even wrote (kayfabe) articles under an alias

Dave took another shot at Andre the Giant today in his update with another "No one in the business liked him" jab. Anytime anyone says something positive about Andre (this case Bill Simmons) Dave has to step right in and say "Well that's not really true.." I'm not saying that he isn't accurate but it still irks me

I've told this story before but I had a friend in elementary school whose father did jobs for the WWF in the early /mid 80s at the Poughkeepsie tapings. He was barely trained to work and was chosen because he had a "husky" tough guy look. So like that Patera match you are going to see a lot of shitty jobbers during that time frame. I think the WWF became a little better in their requirements for enhancement talent by the second half of the decade

Bryan's voice is unbearable. I especially hate it when he starts a sentence with "People, listen...". You know you're in for some OUTRAGE when he utters those words

Come on it's a Roast!

Wait what? When was this and what was the context? How can you be a long-time wrestling fan of some sort and not know what the A-Team was? Its existence gave us the initial Wrestlemania angle. Cena's music video in 04/05 that had an A-Team theme. Todd claimed he didn't get any of the references and had never heard of the show

Todd didn't know who Johnny Knoxville was. Despite being in his mid/late 20s at the time he had never heard of the fucking A-Team. The A-TEAM This man fits right in with Dave and Bryan as he has no basic pop culture knowledge (and annoyingly assumes his audience is the same) And he seems to be proud of this

This must have been in the mid/late 1986 time period. Scott being in charge probably explains why the WWF was so awesome from a continuity/presentation standpoint during this period. summer of 86 till WM 3 might be the peak of WWF booking. Logical, straightforward and building to the big moment

My favorite talking point on the net during this time was that Rey's decline in workrate came from hanging around Kevin Nash too much. IIRC, around this time Rey/Konnan/Nash and some others took a trip to Mexico and Rey returned bloated and kind of out of shape. Yes Kevin Nash can mess with your workrate via osmosis

I'm not one to point out homoeroticism in wrestling but Hogan ripping off Sid's referee shirt at Summerslam 91 and staring in amazment at his chest post match just cannot go unnoticed

Don't know if I mentioned this here before but I went to elementary school with a kid whose father did jobs at the Poughkeepsie TV tapings in the early/mid 80s and he was barely trained to work (if at all). So yes the WWF was very lenient (cheap/careless) in who they hired as jobbers

Yeah I read that on another board. Reading between the lines it does seem to be the case

According to the Observer, Beth Phoenix is pregnant. Wow that's the first time I can ever remember an active female wrestler getting pregnant while she's still on the roster She'll be out a year (and a half ) minimum