Bierschwale Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Now I'm just wondering if Verne banged Bischoff's wife or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Now I'm just wondering if Verne banged Bischoff's wife or not. Sometime in between WCW closing shop and Eric coming into the WWE, wasn't he involved in some sort of sleaze / swinging incident with his wife and another couple, with a criminal element. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 If you think DDP wasn't good in the ring you need to go back and watch Halloween Havoc 98. That match with Goldberg is absolutely brilliant in how it's constructed. You have the unstoppable monster get hurt for the first time and watch him have to dig down and find a way to put away this scrappy underdog that refuses to die in the ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomethingSavage Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 Page had a connection with the crowd. The guy got over, knew how to work an audience, and ran with it. Whether he was the best in-ring talent or not, he was far from the worst - and when you combine that with "big time" presence and showmanship, sometimes things just click. For Page, I think it was a lot of those things. Plus, there's something to be said about his versatility. He could work a safer, smarter, more economical style with Hogan. Ditto for Sting. But then he could have a wild brawl with Savage. He could guide a greener-than-goose-shit Goldberg with his prepackaged, choreographed approach. But he could also go out there have a fun, wild garbage dog & pony parade with Raven and his Flock. He was capable of taking a barrage of suplexes and chops from Benoit. Basically, Page could deliver at any level of the card on any given night. Why exactly WOULDN'T that make him a valuable player on your roster again? And yes. He was over like freaking Rover. You could debate why all day long. Doesn't really matter. Because that's the kind of thing that promoters should always (at least in theory) attempt to capitalize on. Oh. And I always got a kick out of his offensive arsenal, too. I know some will say Page was never any great shakes at connecting the dots & putting everything together in the ring to tell significant or substantial stories, but I always thought he did well enough in that regard. But when it came to short TV matches? He kept 'em entertaining. Even now, I can go back and watch him bust out "innovative offense" - which was a HUGE thing when it came to "smart" fandom around this time - and I simply enjoy the hell out of it. I can understand how knowing more about his friendships with Bischoff, Nash, Hall, etc. might make people second guess his rise through the ranks, but I don't know. It never bothered me. The guy LEGITIMATELY improved by leaps and bounds, and if you were around to follow any of that - I can't see how the criticism is enough to hold anything against me. Page busted his ass, got over like gangbusters, and never really seemed to stop working hard until the bitter end. For God's sake, he was still coming out swinging - trying to have good matches with the likes of the Natural Born Thrillers in dying WCW... and even later with Christian and Lance Storm in WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremebve Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 DDP in 97-98 was probably second only to Steve Austin when it comes to being over with the audience. I LOVED DDP at that time, and I didn't know anything about his friendship with Bischoff. He got over by being one of the best TV workers of his time, which is saying something with guys like Rey, Eddy, and Benoit being around, and having the most over finisher in the business. Not only do I not think that his friendship with Bischoff was too big of an advantage, I think they kind of missed the boat by a year. He was actually cooling off by the time he won the title in April of 1999, Goldberg had overtaken him with the audience. Starrcade 97 kind of ruined everything at the top of the card for WCW. Sting kind of failed as champion, and they gave the belt right back to Hogan. Hogan, who probably wouldn't have put DDP over, should have put DDP over for the title. They could have still had the feuds with Rodman and Leno and DDP would have been super over as champion. The Halloween Havoc match should have been where DDP dropped the belt to Goldberg, because that is where their careers intersected. DDP, who was the #1 face for the last year fighting Goldberg who was ascending to the #1 face spot, would have been huge when they were quickly falling behind in the ratings...but this was WCW and doing the smart thing wasn't really their part of their program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaivl Posted September 3, 2015 Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 And now he's the stepfather of the Bellas. Awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted September 3, 2015 Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 Thinking about DDP would he had even got a shot without the Diamond Cutter? I feel like that move was the catalyst for everything and there is no way he sniffs the upper midcard, let alone main event without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted September 3, 2015 Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 And Daniel Bryan's father-in-law. And maybe Cena's too at some point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 3, 2015 Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 I wish Johnny Ace was my uncle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremebve Posted September 3, 2015 Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 Thinking about DDP would he had even got a shot without the Diamond Cutter? I feel like that move was the catalyst for everything and there is no way he sniffs the upper midcard, let alone main event without it. I agree the Diamond Cutter was very instrumental in putting DDP over the hump. It wasn't just the Diamond Cutter, but the way it was protected and how he kept finding new variations. The move was only as over as it was, because he kept finding new was to keep it over. As much as the WWE tries to push the RKO as better than the Diamond Cutter it is just piggybacking off of Page making it what I believe to be the most over finisher of all time. The ironic thing about this entire DDP tangent, is that Johnny Ace was the wrestler who popularized the finisher that made DDP a main eventer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted September 3, 2015 Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 Yeah as I said last night on twitter when the Ace engagement broke... I made my case for DDP, it was a good case, but it's over. Ace wins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Ewiak Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 And Daniel Bryan's father-in-law. And maybe Cena's too at some point? Ya' know, thinking about it, in pure number of **** matches among families, the extended Johnny Ace - Garcia family know has to rank pretty high - Road Warriors, Johnny Ace, Cena, and Bryan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 The Japanese do not have capital letters. So all capital letters means it's in English, which is obviously the evil language since it is foreign. It's basically the exact same as how American wrestling works through a different mechanism. This is silly. In no way, shape or form is English considered "evil" in Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 Backlund is amazing. White meat babyface turns heel after a 20 year career, and essentially never again breaks away from the heel character. Atsushi Onita, emerging from retirement to revolutionize garbage wrestling. Don't forget that Onita was flat bloke and labouring/doing delivery work to pay the bills until JWP gave him a salesman job. I dunno what it was with FMW, but it's kind of similar to Megumi Kudo working at a kindergarten/daycare between wrestling gigs. Return to civilian life then bleed for everyone's entertainment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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