artDDP

Hunter helps Cena win the title and turns heel in a reprise of the corporate champion angle. WWE capitalizes on Punk's babyface reactions and makes him the one chasing the title for a little bit before WWE mismanages the whole thing and it's babyface Rock vs. heel Cena at WrestleMania. This helps make Cena look subservient to Triple H, which is certainly Hunter's wet dream right now, and WWE turns a heel who gets face reactions into a face just to make a buck selling T-shirts in Punk.

I never understood what made Triple H the "Cerebral Assassin". The guy never hatched any intricate plots. He threw a lot of tantrums when he got outsmarted and his plans always involved waiting until someone's back was turned and then hitting them with a sledgehammer.

Why do they make you pay for things like the Smackdown! TV report or spoilers? Those are available everywhere for free.

I was getting off work that day and got a text message from my friend, Chris, that read, "Chris Benoit killed himself and his family." I laughed and walked out to the parking lot. After a few minutes I thought that my friend didn't have that kind of sense of humor so I wrote back with, "What?" He told me it was on every channel by that point. When I got home, just before the Raw tribute aired on the west coast I saw the Benoit story on every cable news channel. I was shocked, needless to say, but I didn't go into crazy Benoit rationalization mode. I loved the guy and owned his "Toothless Agression" T-shirt but I was ready to accept that he did something horrible. Does it make me a monster that I have no problem watching his matches?

I don't know that that would be abnormally petty for wrestling, but it is notable that when presented with the same situation, HHH was actually pettier than Vince. That's kinda impressive. Mick Foley, in "The Hardcore Diaries", strongly hinted that it was Triple H who was against Randy Orton having hardcore matches with Foley to get him over. Foley commented that "those same people didn't seem to have a problem when I was putting them over in those types of matches." Hunter (again) referred to him as "The Incredible Shrinking Man" on live TV. When Hunter cycled off he turned into Dino Bravo.

I used to be pretty caught up with wrestling until 2004. I've seen stuff periodically via YouTube and DVD but there are large portions that I've missed. I read storyline recaps from this board and places like Wikipedia and a big part of me is glad I missed it. I know I was watching every Raw, Smackdown, Nitro, and Thunder in the year 2000 (queue Conan and La Bamba) but, honestly, there are large gaps in my recollection of WCW from that year.

WWE would probably promote it somehow. And, being that Taker has been loyal to them he'll win it in spectacular fashion, too.

That was a fun read, Jerry. I remember being particularly disinterested in almost everything WCW did at that point. If I remember the DDP storyline correctly, casino security footage was found that proved Kimberly won the money at bingo and Page switched her card. The climax to the Badd-Page feud was Badd leaving abruptly for the WWF and Brutus Beefcake, as the Booty Man, taking over and Page losing a retirement match to him. Some student filmmaker allegedly found a penniless and homeless page on the streets somewhere before ultimately he was picked up in a limo and then there was a mystery as to who his benefactor was. Ultimately, Page returned to WCW and they never explained who the benefactor was. Admittedly, I liked the idea of someone finding Page on the street and turning the tape into WCW. That and the police refusing to intervene in the McMahon hostage situation because they thought it was a publicity stunt were nice touches, as opposed to the camera just happening to be there moments before something goes down. Also, Jerry, SuperBrawl VI was the card that WCW was teasing on Nitro would be a bloodbath and Vince fired off A Nasty Letter to Ted Turner tattling on Bischoff for advertising "barbarism".

I remember the "Superstars" angle being mentioned in the WWF Magazine in 1996. They published photos of 'Taker grabbing Sable by the throat. It was described as "too intense for television" and I think was hinting at an Undertaker heel turn?

I haven't followed much wrestling outside of this forum and occasional trips to the Observer and Torch sites so I'll ask... Did WWE really bring Bret back just for WrestleMania and then write him out of the show to get over the Nexus angle? Has he been back since? And, re HHHate: Immediately after Montreal I don't recall an interview I read where Hunter didn't bury Bret and say he was selfish and holding Owen back. He would say that Owen was the better worker, better talent, better character, less selfish, etc.

My personal favorite Piper moment: The debut of Colonel Mustafa. Piper bursts into laughter and says to Vince, "I tell ya, they just get goofier as the years go by, huh, Vince?" Vince's reply is, "Yes, indeed, a former WWF champion now calling himself Col. Mustafa." Any idea why they just let stuff like that air back when Vince would re-shoot and edit his TV to perfection?

They do the same thing on the Raw 15th Anniversary DVD, saying that Michaels-Jannetty was voted Match of the Year by PWI readers. It's amusing considering 20 years ago Vince wouldn't allow them ringside at his cards.

"8 inches of Slaughter Power!" I'm going to behave, tee hee.

Yeah when Vader first came in both Shawn and Taker read him the riot act about working too stiff. But the SS '96 story I thought had more to do with JJ working in the WWF office then jumping ship to WCW. Vince was afraid Bischoff was going to have another "he beats the big guy with 3 superkicks" situation. He couldn't win a green belt at the local YMCA with those kicks, by the way

How come in WCW Roddy Piper, Lex Luger, and Goldberg all got clean wins over Hogan but Sting never could?

I'll defend Gorilla. Just a little, though, because I do think he's a shitty announcer and he's painful to listen to. I think it's a match on the Bret Hart DVD set WWE produced in 2005. Someone goes for a pin and the referee puts his hands on the wrestler's back and pushes himself off to get in position to see the shoulders. Gorilla spends a good amount of time burying the referee for interfering with a pin and says he has no business placing his hands on a competitor in that situation. I thought that was kind of cool and added a little extra air of legitimacy to the match.

I loved this. This was also the same live Thunder where he was asked why someone was wrestling the other and he replied, "Because half the roster no-showed and we had to book this half an hour before air."

I agree that Slaughter was working hard and pulled off a really good WrestleMania main event with Hogan. I can still watch that match today and enjoy it. Slaughter must have been a really tough opponent because Hulk had to get aerial in that match to take him down. I do remember Slaughter getting way too much TV time back then, especially when Savage-Warrior was the most interesting thing going on. I really don't recall much of anything else that hooked me and my eight-year-old friends quite as much. I wasn't a big fan of Jake Roberts so him getting blinded didn't reel me in. I can't remember any other feuds that were really exciting me back then.

I clicked this not expecting to see what I saw. I thought it might be kind of goofy but this is full-on infatuation! I laughed so hard about thirty seconds in. It really did look like Kal was going in for a kiss!

Did Slaughter even draw as the top heel? I remember even as a kid not caring at all about his feud and being much more engrossed in the Savage-Warrior storyline. I think Wrestlemania VII did decent numbers. It's hard to say as it's a really weird time for the WWF. There were a ton of guys left from the late 80s on the roster that were just kind of useless by this point. They've been going over the guys in the 91 Rumble and probably about 22 of those guys will be gone by the time 1993 starts. I remember in an "Ask the Torch" column someone asked where Gorilla got off saying, during the live PPV, that WrestleMania VII was the most-watched PPV in history. Wade said the actual numbers were among the lowest at the time and that there's no way they could tell during a live card how many people ordered it yet.

Did Slaughter even draw as the top heel? I remember even as a kid not caring at all about his feud and being much more engrossed in the Savage-Warrior storyline.

WWE announcers always say, "transpired" when referencing flashbacks. "Take a look at what transpired earlier this evening." "Here's what transpired three weeks ago on Smackdown!" "If you recall what transpired at the Survivor Series."

Wasn't he the one behind all the haircuts in 02/03 because he wanted to be the only guy on the roster with long blonde hair? Yep. Test, Christian, you name it. Also, Mike "Nova" Bucci, from what I recall. If I'm not mistaken the story went that Stephanie thought with his hair he looked too much like Triple-H so it had to go?

Oh, those guys. I was racking my brain trying to think who was announcing WWF matches on MTV.