Shoots Review and Preview thread

[El Boricua]

 

 

If in the morning you go out and run into a person you classify as a dick, then you've met a dick. If by the end of the day you've met twenty people who you classify as dicks, then...

 

Is Manny still peddling his horse manure of a story regarding the Invader 3 angle?

 

 

That angle they did on TV where Fernandez beats up one of the Invaders where there was a ton of Blood out that guys mouth. Was that legit? Or was it fake blood?

 

 

Common belief is that it was an angle devised to allow Invader 3 time off for a shoulder injury (it was shoulder problems that led to his eventual retirement). It's been said that it was a mix of vodka and pig's blood that was ingested by Invader 3 and puked up when needed. There's still some doubt if he did get injured a bit during the angle, but he was back wrestling four months after the angle.

 

The horse manure aspect I was referencing is Manny's claims that the whole thing was him doing a shoot attack as vengeance for what happened with Brody and that he basically ran out and fled the island like a thief in the night after doing it. Never mind that the angle aired on 5/11/88 (two months before Brody got stabbed), that Manny left a few weeks after (with the angle being that Carlos and Invader 1 injured him in retaliation for what happened), and that Manny would return in 1989 to wrestle Invader 3 at Aniversario 89. Heck, he came back in 90 and 91 and had a series of matches with Invader 1 at that time. Yet stil you have people believing his bull crap about his supposed motivations with what went down. But it's par for the course with all claims made surrounding the Brody incident, people will believe what they want to believe and assume what they want to assume.

[flyonthewall2983]

Let's turn this on a dime a bit. What's the best shoot you've ever seen or heard?

[BigBadMick]

In terms of preparation, detail and actually having something to say, Foleys RF shoot in 2004 or early 2005 was very good.

[Stiva]

Let's turn this on a dime a bit. What's the best shoot you've ever seen or heard?

 

Cornette's 97 timeline is fantastic, even if his knowledge of what was going diminishes in the later half of the year.

[The Thread Killer]

Let's turn this on a dime a bit. What's the best shoot you've ever seen or heard?

 

My top two answers are going to seem hilarious, because they're both with guys who aren't considered great wrestlers by any stretch. I watched both of these shoots for different reasons and found them to be extremely compelling.

 

Kayfabe Commentaries has a series of shoot interviews called "Breaking Kayfabe" where the idea is to not necessarily talk about particular territories, eras of wrestling, or even wrestling itself, but to get to know the guys behind the characters.

 

The first one I saw was with

.

 

I was always fascinated by him because I am a big fan of his uncle, plus for many years he never broke kayfabe and refused to give any interviews of any kind - even in character. This is partially because he stutters, but also because he seems obsessed with carrying on his uncle's legacy and his uncle notoriously never gave interviews.

 

It was only when Sabu hit tough financial times years back and needed the money that he consented to a shoot interview with RF video. Of course, that interview was a total shit show because Sabu was nervous as hell and gave brief answers. As anybody who has seen an RF shoot knows, Rob Feinstein is a dreadful interviewer. He has no idea how to draw his subject out, how to make them comfortable or to follow up on a comment which might lead to an interesting revelation. Feinstein reads questions off a piece of paper: "What are your memories of Barely Legal?"

 

Sean Oliver of Kayfabe Commentaries is pretty much the total opposite of Feinstein, and it shows in this interview. Sabu is totally at ease with him (they had done two previous interviews by this point, an ECW timeline and a YouShoot) so there is a visible rapport. Sabu talks very candidly about his relationship with his uncle, and more interestingly, about his addictions and the death of his mother, his divorce and his stint in rehab.

 

The thing that made this a must see for me was the conversation they had about how much longer Sabu is going to be able to abuse his body. Oliver asks him if he resents the fans for expecting him to almost kill himself in the ring every night, and Sabu's answers are extremely honest. He says that he dug that grave for himself, and he's trying to stay out of it, but he probably won't. It's extremely sad when he talks about Misawa dying in the ring and how he thinks that is the best way to go. Even sadder is when Oliver asks him if he'll know when it's time for him to quit, and Sabu gets teary eyed and admits that it's past that time already.

 

Obviously, if you dislike Sabu or are unfamiliar with his work then this interview hold little interest for you. But even if you aren't a fan, but have seen his work, you might find it really interesting. I found it much more interesting than the standard "What was it like to work with so-and-so" shoot interview.

 

The next Breaking Kayfabe shoot I saw was with

.

 

Anybody who has ever been on YouTube knows that New Jack has given multiple shoot interviews with just about anybody who will put a microphone in front of his face. His interviews are always entertaining because he's usually tuned up on something, and basically does the shoot in character, yelling, threatening and making wild claims and accusations. They usually aren't informative but they're pretty much always funny.

 

This interview starts with the tag line: "Do we really need another New Jack interview? This is the first interview with Jerome Young."

 

Don't get me wrong, Jack is his normal over the top self, but he is much more subdued at times. He discusses some amazing topics, like his childhood (his father was an abusive alcoholic who shot his mother. She retaliated by trying to poison him to death.) his criminal history including his incarceration, his substance abuse problems and yes...his reputation in the industry. Special attention is given to racism in wrestling and why Jack never went to WWE. Sean Oliver even revisits the Mass Transit incident to see if there is any remorse on the part of Jerome Young. Highlights of the interview are the revelations that he had never been in a gang in his life, and had never even been to South Central L.A. before he was billed from there. The gang signs he threw up on TV were all fake and he doesn't even listen to gangsta rap.

 

One thing that struck me with this interview is that Jerome Young is not a likeable person. He talks about how he is alienated from his son and only talks to his daughter and how he probably has quite a few children that he's never even met from his days in ECW. Like Sabu, he also sheds some tears at one point, when he talks about everything he has put his wife through (alluding to the infamous affair he had with Terri Runnels) but that she never gave up on him and took him back even after everything he put her through.

 

I'm not saying that this was a "good" interview but it certainly was fascinating to watch. I was more inclined to believe that Sabu was being truthful in his interview, whereas New Jack is notoriously full of shit. However, I appreciated the effort made by Sean Oliver and Kayfabe Commentaries to do something other than the standard Pro Wrestling shoot interview, and to go deeper into the personal lives of the people who portray these characters.

 

They were both very compelling interviews, if nothing else. I don't know that they were informative or broke any new insider information, but they were memorable to me, and that was something.

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/jimcornettewcwtimeline1990/

Jim Cornette takes us through Jim Herd and Ole Anderson's sinking of WCW in 1990. Topics include: Corny's role in getting the Undertaker to the big time, Ric Flair getting heat for setting TV rating records, the moment Herd lost the faith of the wrestlers, how WCW's security staff ruined the biggest match of the year, many stories of WCW incompetence, the Midnight Express' big angle that was scrapped by Herd after it was filmed, why Eddie Gilbert was fired from the creative team, ROBOCOP, Corny hurting himself to avoid trouble with the cops, the night a wrestler challenged a convicted murderer while in jail in the deep south, The saga of the BLACK SCORPION, locker room orgies, Corny's plan to use a gun in Herd's office when he quit and much more!

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/bruceprichardwwftimeline1990/

Bruce Prichard covers the happenings in the WWF in 1990. Topics include: The origins of Brother Love, the Rockers real life brawls with one another, adventures with Damien the snake, a crazy Randy Savage/Elizabeth story, trying to normalize the Ultimate Warrior for the mainstream, defending the WWF giving guys bad gimmicks, racial angles of the era, a funny story involving Slim Jims and the Ultimate Warrior, the origins of the Undertaker gimmick, a legend's gimmick name is created while on the toilet and more!

[flyonthewall2983]

The Supercard show with King Kong Bundy is great. He's a very perceptive, funny guy.

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/reviewing-bruiser-brody-wrestlings-last-rebel/

The wild life and brutal death of Bruiser Brody is covered through interviews with his widow, Stan Hansen, Tony Atlas, Dutch Mantel, Dave Meltzer, Abdullah the Butcher and many others who knew Brody. Atlas' retelling of the moments surrounding Brody's murder is intense.

[El-P]

The Supercard show with King Kong Bundy is great. He's a very perceptive, funny guy.

 

Quite so.

 

The Hacksaw Duggan about the first Rumble, less so, not so much because Hacksaw isn't good, he's actually always a funny and charming guy, but it feels like it's a bit redondant with the Timeline he did.

 

Still waiting for that Savio Vega Back one to pop up. The upcoming stuff with Teddy Hard and Chris Hero just isn't of any interest to me (and I skipped over the Fernandez stuff, no time for that kind of stuff anymore).

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/bret-hart-behind-closed-doors/

Bret Hart covers the basics of how to become the best wrestler possible. Topics include: His jobs before being a worker, being shot on while wrestling, why he did not give it his all every night, how the Montreal Screwjob helped create the internet smark, Ric Flair sabotaging matches against Hart, how to not let the fans ruin matches, helping Owen become a great heel, his real life feud with Shawn Michaels, how Montreal is linked to several major downturns in Bret's life, Stampede's greatest heels and more!!

[flyonthewall2983]

[El-P]

With the *free* weekly podcast, this is more irrelevant than ever. Wish he would work with KC though.

[sek69]

Do guys just forget RF was a pedo or do they just not care? I want to ask that of everyone I see doing a video for him.

[Robert S]

In wrestling there are worse things than a 30-year-old having sex with 16-year-olds. Did any wrestler ever refuse to work with Jimmy Snuka? How many people went back to Puerto Rico after the Brody thing?

[El-P]

This qualifies as corruption of minor BTW, not pedophilia. Not the same thing, really. But anyway, this is neither here nor there. He sucks, and not just…. (refrain from making a joke here).

 

(and yeah, Snuka, Barr, Rockers drug-fucking "rats" (which qualifies as rape BTW) etc… this is (was ?) a sleazy business. One case I can think of was Kanemura, after he sexually assaulted a women wrestler in a locker room, he was basically blacklisted)

[BigBadMick]

I wonder how different Schiavone found RF's 'ask questions flatly from a sheet with no follow up whatsoever' from Conrad's prepared, thorough grilling.

 

I have my issues with Big Conrad at times but he puts an honest effort in, and to be fair he works better with Schiavone anyway.

[SPS]

This qualifies as corruption of minor BTW, not pedophilia. Not the same thing, really. But anyway, this is neither here nor there. He sucks, and not just…. (refrain from making a joke here).

 

(and yeah, Snuka, Barr, Rockers drug-fucking "rats" (which qualifies as rape BTW) etc… this is (was ?) a sleazy business. One case I can think of was Kanemura, after he sexually assaulted a women wrestler in a locker room, he was basically blacklisted)

 

What?! W*ING Kanemura? I never heard that one.

[El-P]

2008. Actually it was not a female wrestler, it was an employee of the company, Big Japan. He was basically sexually harrassing her until he was denounced by Big Japan's ring announcer. Public apology, got fired, disappeared from basically all the promotion he was working with at the time, and he was everywhere back then. I think he promoted for a while, but that was really the end of the game for Kanemura.

[SPS]

2008. Actually it was not a female wrestler, it was an employee of the company, Big Japan. He was basically sexually harrassing her until he was denounced by Big Japan's ring announcer. Public apology, got fired, disappeared from basically all the promotion he was working with at the time, and he was everywhere back then. I think he promoted for a while, but that was really the end of the game for Kanemura.

 

Wow, can't believe that was the end of Kanemura but that does seem like a sleazy thing to do no matter your line of work. Thanks for explaining.

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/hornswogglewwetimeline2007/

Hornswoggle covers his time in the WWE. Topics include his relationship with Finlay, Khali being a diva, defending bad gimmicks, The Miz living his gimmick, the best celebrity guest stars, Vince's limo blowing up, keeping the talent in the dark on roster moves, the Benoit murders, drunken midget antics, being named Vince's son, Swoggle's run with DX and more!

[Sidebottom]

With the *free* weekly podcast, this is more irrelevant than ever. Wish he would work with KC though.

 

There is still value in a video product for me. There's something about being able to sit down with some snacks and being able to watch something that can't be touched in terms of entertainment.

[BigBadMick]

I agree. And the idea of a full, albeit swift, overview of a whole career in one sitting is appealing to me.

[flyonthewall2983]

Tony's looking well for someone who would be easy to cop to being old and fat.

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/kayfabe-lies-alibis-secrets-ring-dusty-rhodes/

Dusty Rhodes covers many issues from his time on top of the wrestling world. Topics include: Nearly coming to blows with Lex Luger on JCP's plane, Ric Flair's heat with Rhodes over the airplane, the movie that inspired "War Games", what the longest rivalry in wrestling has proven to be, how the WWWF used Rhodes to boost Bob Backlund to stardom, why he willfully botched the UWF talent merge with JCP, MULKEYMANIA, the pot head who was running the 6:05 wrestling show for Turner, the night they had to do a TV taping with no ring, how Dusty would expand ROH, the saga surrounding Magnum TA's accident, what wrestling music video made him cry and more!!!