Mad Dog Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I didn't even like ECW that much and I still managed to find my way to a house show when they came to Columbus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 It also makes me sad and a lot angry that revisionist history has tried to write ECW as a bigger deal than WCW. ECW had ONE year where the inring product was worth a damn. Guys like Chris Jericho were in the company for 4 months. All of those guys that the mutants try to take credit for were WCW products. Hell, most of the mutants don't even know that Benoit was teaming with Bobby Eaton in WCW in 1993. It doesn't surprise me though. Vince will never forgive WCW for almost putting him out of business in 97. ECW was kind of that stray dog he snuck food to and remembers fondly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 ECW was kind of that stray dog he snuck food to and remembers fondly. This might be the best description of ECW I've ever read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 People who loved the original vision of ECW so much should have bought all the PPVs, attended all the shows, etc. and really supported the group when it was around. It always struck me as really lame when "ECW" chants start in arenas, because if they loved the company that much, why wasn't ECW drawing?A national promotion can't exist on a small, loyal, vocal cult following alone. ECW's failure wasn't due to their core fanbase that loved the promotion not supporting it enough, but their inability to create new PPV viewers and arena ticket buyers when they got national TV, partly because the big two had stripped them of most of their best talent and had stolen their vision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Luds Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I was watching Survivor Series 88 a couple days ago and during the Main Event (Hogan/Savage/Hercules/Koko/Hillbilly Jim v Bossman/Akeem/Rooster/Dibiase/Haku), Gorilla Monsoon refers to Ted Dibiase as the "Excellence of Execution". Very weird to hear that term not associated with Bret. Very weird.I think Monsoon also called someone else that too as well, long before Bret got that nickname. I'm thinking Dynamite Kid, but I need to rewatch some matches just to be sure. It's used at least once in one of the early manias. I don't recall who it's used on, perhaps DiBiase or Santana but Monsoon did mention it at least once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 People who loved the original vision of ECW so much should have bought all the PPVs, attended all the shows, etc. and really supported the group when it was around. It always struck me as really lame when "ECW" chants start in arenas, because if they loved the company that much, why wasn't ECW drawing?A national promotion can't exist on a small, loyal, vocal cult following alone. ECW's failure wasn't due to their core fanbase that loved the promotion not supporting it enough, but their inability to create new PPV viewers and arena ticket buyers when they got national TV, partly because the big two had stripped them of most of their best talent and had stolen their vision. When the entire Phillips Arena in Atlanta was chanting for them back in '01, it annoyed me because if they loved ECW that much, why weren't they supporting it when it was around? Could ECW have filled a large arena in Atlanta? No way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I don't think people make that connection though. A lot of ECW's fanbase were teenagers and college students. Not a great group to understand the concept of money. I remember back when it came out that ECW wasn't paying the workers that I had a huge argument with a bunch of mutants on 411 about it. They were swearing up and down that it was just propaganda against ECW or something like that. I'm a big fan of TNA and I buy their DVDs whenever possible. I'm a fan of them and they need the money to continue going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 Fans always pop initially for big surprises and returns though, Loss. I'm not really sure what there is to be annoyed by. Wrestling promotions aren't a charity, if they are losing a ton of money they are doing their jobs badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 What I'm saying is that you would expect ECW to get zero reaction since no one care about the promotion when they were around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 I just saw Lex Luger match where he did a somersault from the apron into the ring to avoid Kendall Windham spearing him to the arena floor. Lesson learned? Never say you've seen it all in wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resident Evil Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 I just saw Lex Luger match where he did a somersault from the apron into the ring to avoid Kendall Windham spearing him to the arena floor. Lesson learned? Never say you've seen it all in wrestling. So very true. That would make a good topic. Stuff that made you think, "I've seen it all now". I remember marking out of mind when I saw the Cuban Assasin doing somersault flips off of the top rope back in the late 80s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 If anyone's interested. NWA Anarchy posts their tv show online for free every Friday: http://colepromedia.com/nwaanarchy.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 Hilarious Meltz tidbit about everyone's favorite Wrestling Superstar: --Yesterday's Los Angeles Times had a note about the San Diego Comic Convention. The reporter noted there was a long line for autographs from actress Rosario Dawson (who costarred in The Rundown with Rock) at the same time there was nobody in line for autographs from Virgil, the former WWE wrestler. Virgil claimed that when he was in high school, he caught 14 touchdown passes from Dan Marino. Never heard that one before. (thanks to Chris Squires) Somehow I don't think Virgil attended the same Catholic high school in Pittsburgh that Dan Marino did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World's Worst Man Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 Just watched KENTA vs. Kenta Kobashi from NOAH's March 5 2006 show. Classic example of a really good match where the crowd just wasn't into it. They built to some great nearfalls, had some nice "counter" near falls, and the crowd just wasn't having any of it. Even Misawa vs. Morishima from that same night had no heat until they started piling up crazy amounts of offense. At least Taue vs. Marufuji had some heat, probably because they were doing some unique things. Gotta say that this show is probably going to be the show of the year, as I can't imagine a better show happening. I still have two matches left, and there's already been 3 good matches, 2 of which were really good, borderline excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 8/8/06 for New Japan: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jushin Liger Giant Bernard vs. Satoshi Kojima Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan The G-1 always brings out the best in everyone from New Japan and they have a really strong field which will probably see Kojima, Tenzan, Tanahashi and Bernard in the semis-finals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 Are people actually trying to bash him for doing that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 Meltzer always has Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikjohns Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 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. The best thing about Monsoon was that as a face commentator, he realised his role wasn't to defend the faces and bash the heels regardless of anything, but to put a positive spin on what the faces did when it was appropriate to do so, and the opposite with the heels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 Monsoon wasn't an announcer, he was a color guy. WWE has never really had an announcer; all they've ever had are color guys. He was Jesse Ventura for babyfaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 I watched Smackdown for the first time in awhile. JBL might possibly be the best announcer they've had in a long time. He actually ::gasps:: puts everyone over and talks about accomplishments in Japan and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World's Worst Man Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 He mentioned achievements in Japan? He'll be fired shortly I suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 I wish Herb Kunze posted on message boards. His custom title could be "A supposedly intellectual person." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted July 23, 2006 Report Share Posted July 23, 2006 * Bret Hart beat Patriot by submission to retain the WWF Title: They ran an excellent package on Patriot prior to the match, showing him in All Japan. Vince, of course, ruined whatever star quality that was supposed to give Patriot by repeatedly saying that he's never faced competition at the level of the WWF's. Regardless of the (lack of) truth of that statement, it makes no sense to make it. IT MAKES NO SENSE TO PUT OVER HIS OWN TALENT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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