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I agree. There's got to be so much amazing stuff in that vault that they could upload. I'd like to see those old specials they used to run the week before the major PPVs on USA network or things like the SummerSlam special they ran opposite Nitro in the summer of 1997. And, dammit, I want a show touring the prop archives.

Tom Cruise had Shawn Michaels' hairstyle in that movie.

Something happened recently that inspired me to subscribe to both the Torch and Observer. I enjoy listening to the podcasts during the day and reading the content online. I've been watching "Raw", "Smackdown!", and "Impact!" every week since WrestleMania. I've been enjoying my Network subscription as well. I'm not exactly sure what sparked my interest in it suddenly, though.

I had a letter published in "The Wrestler" in 1998. I asked JJ Dillon why Hall and Giant hadn't been stripped of the WCW Tag Titles when they hadn't defended them in more than thirty days. The answer wound up being something along the lines of it being unfair to the Giant to have to wrestle with a partner who isn't always in condition to perform. Holy hell I remember that one. Seriously, I do.

Bret Hart said Dean Malenko's style looked "too choreographed". I think that's a fitting description.

On some other boards I visit there's a few dozen posts a day calling 1999 the best year ever in the history of the WWF/WWE and clamoring for a return to the "Attitude Era". I know it's a small segment of the audience but it does have its fans. I hated it then and I still hate it now. I think it was the In Your House immediately following WrestleMania XIII. It seemed to have a lot of Russo's staples compared to the PPVs just before it. The night after was the Austin-Bret Hart ambulance angle as well. Wasn't this the same time we started getting more and more twenty-minute promos on "Raw"?

I already renewed my subscription and I enjoy what I'm getting so far. While what's available is admittedly great I'd like more stuff like big angles from "Superstars" and "Wrestling Challenge" or maybe upload the entire run on "Tuesday Night Titans." I'm not sure if it would be extremely prohibitive for them to upload entire episodes of the old shows or not but I'd love to relive some childhood memories of The Widowmaker vs Barry Horowitz.

Isn't it a WWE directive to help show off your merchandise?

In the Rock's book he said he sort of vetoed the idea of the guest referee during his match with Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV. I kinda think that's how things went during the years Russo booked the WWF, especially during the horrible year of 1999: the undercard guys were just happy to be doing anything and went along with Russo's plans while the top tier guys usually had to reign in his stupidity. That said, didn't Russo say he wished he didn't have to have the in-ring stuff on TV or was that just something attributed to him? And I've been known to be pretty goddamn foolish with money but I'd rather spend that three bucks on a cup of coffee I'm not going to finish than read or listen to any of Russo's opinions. He probably cites the fact that WWE is still booking Kane in main events as proof they can't innovate like he used to do. I know he was saying that stuff in 2000.

I have seen very little of TNA. I ditched cable in 2006 and didn't get it back until this year. I'd watch with a friend at his place because he DVRed it since he liked a lot of the old WCW guys they had. Whenever I'd watch I don't remember anything compelling me to watch more. Anything except Velvet Sky, anyway. My personal high point was Tony Schiavone cutting a promo on Mike Tenay and the guy in the crowd with his sign visible on the hard camera reading "Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has officially stopped."

In his first book Jericho paints a wildly different picture of Malenko than I was expecting. I don't remember Malenko getting much love online in 1996-97. I think he was over with a certain segment of the crowd because he was different than the rest of the roster (to an extent) and his angles were always based around wrestling until the Jericho stuff. WCW made a Malenko T-shirt, too. It was pretty ugly, as I recall.

At the time my cable guide was listing the main event of WrestleMania XIV as Steve Austin vs. Mike Tyson. I don't think the WWF would have booked a match between Hogan and Tyson. I don't think Tyson would have jobbed to Hogan and no way Hogan would put over Tyson. Too many egos involved. I think it would have been strictly a guest referee or tag team thing.

I don't feel I can accurately vote in this thread. I don't have enough of a frame of reference. I didn't hear Lance Russel until a local station picked up USWA in 1995 but I did like him. I've only heard Gordon Solie on NWA tapes. And I grew up with Jim Ross and Vince McMahon. I know as a kid the Apter mags made me think Vince was a god-awful announcer. I always liked his voice and the passion he brought to the product but I thought he should know the names of the moves. I appreciate him a lot more now that I'm older. As for Ross I think the fact that his calls are legendary puts him over the top for me. There were obscure comments he'd make that I used to laugh my ass off, like when Terry Funk debuted as Chainsaw Charlie and he's running around the ring. Ross jumps up and walks off saying, "That man's got a chainsaw, the hell with this!" Even though the company seemed to want him out he was still defending every aspect of it, pushing how athletic everyone was and talking up their skills, and he'd slip in his comments about a Head Cheese match being "as ugly as a bowling shoe". I hope that WWE uploads the entire Raw when Vince accepts Austin's challenge to a match from 1998. I thought Ross was just incredible that night. He spent the whole night trying to talk Vince out of it on commentary, pointing out how the office shouldn't get in the ring with the boys and saying things like "If Vince gets hurt who the hell is going to run this company?" It made the whole thing seem real, long before it became comically over-the-top and Vince was wrestling every two months or so.

Oh, and I had two letters published in PWI. They were in 1998, when I should have known better.

So since I made this post I've been able to find PWI almost everywhere but haven't seen a single copy of WWE Magazine. I've checked a few grocers, Wal-Mart, and Target. Haven't been to a bookstore, though. Weird, a few weeks ago I remember seeing that magazine everywhere.

I would love to see the numbers on this. In 2014 does Vince Russo still have a fan following?

Holy hell that was hilarious. I didn't expect to laugh so hard at the description.

I think WM VII was heavily papered.

There were moments of tonight's "Raw" that I really enjoyed and there were plenty more that I just left the room during and didn't bother to rewind and watch again. I really don't think someone like Roman Reigns should be getting beaten down like that by Randy Orton or anyone right now. It's just lazy booking that they seem to be resorting to the same methods month after month to stretch out second-tier feuds. I don't mind the Stephanie-Brie segment being the feature tonight since the crowd was eating that up. I think it's amazing that after 15 years Stephanie getting her comeuppance is still a viable angle. Is Cesaro going to be rebuilt now or did John Cena just have a competitive match with the same guy who was getting beaten cleanly by Kofi Kingston a few weeks in a row?

cm funk, I don't mind the UFC coverage. I like reading and listening to Dave because he covers MMA, pro wrestling, and boxing. I'll listen to some more Bryan & Vinny and maybe it will grow on me. My job gives me a lot of time to myself to listen to podcasts so I'll look for those shows you mentioned, too.

Just when I started to watch regularly, again! But, seriously, they deserve it if they do go out of business. They just never got it and if the story about refusing to sell because Dixie wanted to stay on TV is true then they absolutely deserve to go down in flames. I've told this story a lot on this board but I'll tell it again: I saw a TNA house show in 2011 and it drew about 200 people. I talked with and heard from several people there who had no idea what TNA was or who almost anyone on the card was and just came because there was wrestling in town for twenty bucks a seat. I have no idea how that promotion could be going for almost a decade at that point.

And now for something completely different... http://www.tmz.com/2014/07/28/buff-bagwell-porn-deal-vivid-gigolos-wwe/

Thanks, guys. I wound up getting both the Torch and Observer subs and I figure if I decide I don't like one or the other I can always cancel. So far I'm kind of disappointed by the audio content on both. I listened to this weekend's shows from both sites and don't feel they were really worth downloading. The Bryan & Vinny show was just awful, in my opinion. And, yeah, what's up with Wade's audio? It sounds like I was listening to one of those old "On the phone..." call-in promos from "Raw" in the late 90s. Does Dave not put the current issue of the Observer up in PDF format? It's not a big deal, just that I'm sort of a mark for traditional newspapers and I'd like to read the Observer like a newsletter on my tablet.

Now I'm going to go back and watch WrestleMania VIII and just imagine Vince backstage losing his shit every 45 minutes or so.

According to one of the newsletters (can't remember if it was Bryan's or Dave's) the ECW nostalgia segments ran off viewers on the first night of "Impact!" from New York.