Strummer

This caught my eye on the Observer site: From the Observer 10 years ago this week: Not a good way to start your first tour of duty in a major US promotion. Thinking about it, Jericho sort of had a sluggish first year with WCW. Wasn't until late 97/early 98 when he really started to get significantly over

That may be true, but the WWF was seen as the much cooler product back then by the casuals. The DX Invasion only furthered that.

Damn, they had the famous JYD/Steamboat/Piper v Savage/Race/Adonis elimination match from February 87 on MSG Classics tonight. Jesus was that a big match to me at that time.

*Spoiler* *Vicki Guerrero comes to the ring and addresses the crowd. She apologizes for getting involved in the Guerrero vs. Mysterio PPV match and said she is going to move on with her life, but first she wants to apologize to both. Mysterio comes to the ring. She apologizes to Rey and they hug. Guerrero comes to the ring and hugs Vicki as well. They are all about to leave when Chavo attacks Rey. He goes to hit Rey with a chair, but Vicki stops Chavo and takes the chair away...then hits Rey with it. Chavo DDT's Rey on the chair. He and Vicki hug and leave Rey laying in the ring.

It's the best-rated show on Wednesday nights, so that may cancel each other out. Jesus I haven't watched an episode in about 3 years. I actually forgot it was on the air. It gets absolutely no buzz now.

According to Keller, Stacy Keibler will have a re-occuring role on the George Lopez Show this season. I guess that's good news but does anyone still watch the George Lopez show? Also, Batista is already dating Rebecca from this year's Diva Search. That was fast.

From a recent Kevin Kelly interview: Hmm, I always thought it was because the matches were so bad. At least that's what was said on the net back in the late 90s when I arrived. Is this true?

Tonight was the first Summerslam I didn't order since 1991. The build up to this PPV was so pathetic that I wasn't going to order out of principle. BTW, I have *never* seen Summerslam 91. Which makes it one of the few PPV shows from the Big 2 I've missed (I'm not counting WCW shows near the end)

Here is what Stephanie said about the incest angle from the DVD: Good for her. I'm starting to think she isn't that bad. Edit: She also reveals that the plan was for her and Hunter to get back together on TV last fall/winter but it was dropped when she got pregnant

I just have to post Meltzer's preview of Flair-Foley for tomorrow. Jesus Dave just get it over with and ask them to marry you.

I guess Meltzer's theorized that he's gone since the company won't let him wrestle live and you can't really push someone if you can't have them on PPV.

According to the most recent WON, Rey is having major knee surgery after the Chavo program and will be out 6 months. Also, Khali is finished

Bruiser is that true? Man, I have some new found respect for Stephanie for shooting that down. Thank God

According to the latest Observer Shawn just signed a 5-year contract for $1.5 million per year. That's insane. Especially during a down period

Watching MSG classics tonight I had forgotten how horrible Ron Trongard and Billy Graham were on commentary. Trongard refers to Smash as "Slash" in the Demos/Rockers match. He also says that Randy Savage stands no chance against Andre while Savage was champion of all things. Graham stupidly says that Andre "smells real bad" while passing the table on the way to the ring. All hail Gorilla Monsoon

Mike Bucci (Nova, Simon Dean) takes over as head of developmental, replacing Tommy Dreamer

The two wrestlers set to retire according to the latest Observer are Trish and Lita. Lita is suprising as she has been involved in main event angles for the better part of a year. The two aren't even negotiating so it's definite they are gone. Somehow I think Lita will cost Edge the title at SS and then Edge will kick her to the curb

I think the basic idea is that Dave didn't like it when Gorilla would point out when wrestlers blew spots or didn't perform moves properly. I have no idea how he thinks that he put himself over at the expense of the wrestlers though.

From this week's Observer Preview: I'm assuming one is Trish. Any idea on the other? (Kane?) Oh and nice of Dave to take shots at Gorilla Monsoon's announcing in today's update (from MSG Classics). The show was only 21 years ago Dave, not that you hold a grudge or anything

When I came on the net nearly 10 years ago Shawn Michaels was a definite smark favorite. There were some who claimed Shawn had "saved the WWF" from going out of business. With heavy influence from Dave Meltzer, Shawn was generally regarded as a great wrestler and possibly one of the best of all time. There were some critics, but as a whole he was considered an elite worker. His backstage antics were mostly ignored as he had great matches that placated net fans. There were some who rated him higher than Bret, which, if claimed today, might get you banned from a few boards. Cue to nearly 10 years later and Shawn is being vilified by many (maybe even most). People are calling him on his politics now and are pointing out his glaring flaws as a worker (no selling, stooging, overselling simple moves, etc.) There are now threads claiming Mark Henry is better than him. He's probably one of the most unpopular wrestlers on the net. So what happened in those 10 years? Was Shawn being overrated back in 96/97? Is he being underrated now? Has there ever been a wrestler that has taken such a dive in popularity amongst "smart" fans? I'd thought I'd start a thread on this as it's the tenth year anniversary of Shawn's mega title push and so much has changed in how fans view his ability

I see someone at 411 dared to write a negative review about Scott Keith's new book and all his fanboys are up in arms. From what I can tell from reading the review, Scott really really really hates JBL and basically calls him a piece of shit as a human being in the book. Oh Christ Scott, the guy got a big push 2 and a half years ago and you're still pissed. Jesus. Get over it.

Another apparent rule of conduct on the Net: Don't dare criticize the ROH crowd at all. They're the REAL fans apparently.

That reminds me of Ground Zero 97 when Vince McMahon brought up the Patriot's Japanese wrestling past and said something like "Well that's nothing compared to the competition he will face here in the WWF" and Herb Kunze nearly blowing a gasket as a result

Meltzer always has

After reading the discussion at DVDVR, I have to agree with people who are defending Gorilla Monsoon for pointing out a wrestler's mistakes in the ring. It definitely made wrestling seem more real and gave it an authentic feel. Like Monsoon, Gene Okerlund was also great at this. They would really rip into wrestlers for not doing holds properly, blowing moves or for not hooking the leg. I have no idea why Meltzer is so against this and hates Monsoon so much.