Comments that don't warrant a thread - Part 4

[Clayton Jones]

Listened to Austin on TIJ and I noticed he always seems to mention that when Bret helped him get color it had nothing to do with him being inexperienced doing it himself. Did Bret say something along those lines in his book? I have a vague recollection he did but it's been a long time since I owned a copy.

[NintendoLogic]

6 minutes ago, Clayton Jones said:

Listened to Austin on TIJ and I noticed he always seems to mention that when Bret helped him get color it had nothing to do with him being inexperienced doing it himself. Did Bret say something along those lines in his book? I have a vague recollection he did but it's been a long time since I owned a copy.

Bret indeed says in his book that he insisted on cutting Austin because Austin told he him he had never bladed before and too much was at stake for him to try it for the first time at Mania. Of course, that's nonsense since Austin had bladed plenty of times in WCW.

[Clayton Jones]

That's pretty hilarious and about as classic self-involved Bret as you can get. The irony being the real story, that he did it to protect Austin from getting heat for violating the no color policy, actually paints Bret in an even better light.

[PeteF3]

I don't believe that's correct. I'll have to check when I get home but I remember it being all about seniority and how it related to the WWF's ban on the blade.

[NintendoLogic]

3 hours ago, Loss said:

Always weird to me when people retweet and like pro wrestling sequences that I think are actively bad.

 

The sequence works a lot better when you view it in the context of the match. Presenting it as an isolated clip really does it a disservice.

[MoS]

10 hours ago, PeteF3 said:

I don't believe that's correct. I'll have to check when I get home but I remember it being all about seniority and how it related to the WWF's ban on the blade.

Bret definitely said in his autobiography that Austin was nervous about blading because he had never bladed before. He also talked about the no-blading policy in effect at that time, but he definitely claimed that Austin had never bladed before, that Austin himself told him that. I always thought that was just another exaggerated version of the famous "X came to me with tears in his eyes, shook my hand, thanked me and told me I am the best" stories that Bret had in his book throughout, since we have seen Austin blade in WCW

[Laz]

Just watching that NOAH clip, I don't see too much wrong with it, honestly. Those kinds of sequences have become far too overused in the past decade, sure, but at least that one was fairly well done. Each guy was selling as they were coming in, each one was clearly sneaking up on who they hit...

[PhilTLL]

41 minutes ago, MoS said:

Bret definitely said in his autobiography that Austin was nervous about blading because he had never bladed before. He also talked about the no-blading policy in effect at that time, but he definitely claimed that Austin had never bladed before, that Austin himself told him that. I always thought that was just another exaggerated version of the famous "X came to me with tears in his eyes, shook my hand, thanked me and told me I am the best" stories that Bret had in his book throughout, since we have seen Austin blade in WCW

It's bizarre that he would even claim this, knowing that the people who would care the most about the fact are also the best-equipped to disprove it.

[Strummer]

Just realized tonight that Brian Pillman Jr. is a dead ringer for Johnny B. from the Jerky Boys. At least to me. And I just realized I probably really dated myself with that reference (Jerky Boys not BPJ)

[KinchStalker]

Oh wow, I see it. And yeah, as a borderline zoomer, I only know the Jerky Boys through my retrograde musical tastes: specifically, Slowdive's second album title referencing one of their bits.

[Robert S]

15 hours ago, MoS said:

Bret definitely said in his autobiography that Austin was nervous about blading because he had never bladed before. He also talked about the no-blading policy in effect at that time, but he definitely claimed that Austin had never bladed before, that Austin himself told him that. I always thought that was just another exaggerated version of the famous "X came to me with tears in his eyes, shook my hand, thanked me and told me I am the best" stories that Bret had in his book throughout, since we have seen Austin blade in WCW

As I thought that maybe Bret meant that Austin had never bladed in WWF, I looked it up in the book and he wrote:

Quote

I looked him in the eye and said, "What would really make this a great match would be for you to get a little juice." Steve uneasily admitted that he'd never done that before, but he offered to try.

There was too much at stake for him to start practicing at WrestleMania. "Steve, I'd be the first guy to tell you never to let anyone cut you, but in this situation you're going to have to trust me. I'll do it right." Steve quickly conceded that if we were going to get away with it, I'd better be the one to do it.

(...)

I took off into the ropes, but he sidestepped me and threw me out to the floor. I spat out the blade from where it was tucked between my upper lip and gum. As we slugged it out on the floor, I said, "It's time!"

I faintly heard him say, "Maybe we shouldn't."

I reversed his throw and told him, "It's too late!" I hurled him crashing hard into the timekeeper, an he barreled into the steel barricade. I calmly stepped over Steve, with Vince looking right at me and screaming fans only inches away. I grabbed his head and beat him with my fists like rubber hammers. Then I cut him perfectly, less than a half-inch long and as deep as dime slot. No one saw a thing. The blood spurted out of his head as I have him a serious thrashing.

(...)

The next day Vince pulled me into his office as soon as I got to the Rockford Civic Center and asked me whether Steve and I had taken it upon ourselves to get juice. Steve had denied it. So did I. Vince never said another word to me about it.

 

[sek69]

Bret seemed to have a knack for being able to get away with blading during that time period. I don't know if he was just really good at it or Vince thought he'd be dumb enough to confess to it,.

[MoS]

The idea of a nervous Steve Austin twirling the blade in his fingers and practicing in front of a mirror how to cut himself cuz he had never bladed before is as preposterous as it is hilarious. As if it was Dustin blading Austin in 1991 or whatever. I love Bret but he is not nearly as honest as his biggest fans think he is. He engages in plenty of working and bullshitting himself. 

[SteveJRogers]

Was there a more discussed literal MacGuffin in wrestling history than what could be in Undertaker’s urn?

The way it gets talked up about on TV in the early years of the gimmick, you’d thought an “endgame” would have been revealed at some point!  

I know at the end of the day, it’s no different than what was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, but I can’t think of too many unresolved and discussed storyline threads that revolved around a singular object like it (as opposed to “who did what to whom” plot threads).

[Marksman]

15 hours ago, MoS said:

The idea of a nervous Steve Austin twirling the blade in his fingers and practicing in front of a mirror how to cut himself cuz he had never bladed before is as preposterous as it is hilarious. As if it was Dustin blading Austin in 1991 or whatever. I love Bret but he is not nearly as honest as his biggest fans think he is. He engages in plenty of working and bullshitting himself. 

A lot of the time Bret seems to be so convinced on working people that he's bought in completely to his own fiction - I can totally buy him absolutely believing that's what happened, even when it's clearly ridiculous.

[strobogo]

Steve Austin had gigged in the past, but not bladed. A very distinct distinction, you see, so Bret is correct.

[Rah]

6 hours ago, SteveJRogers said:

Was there a more discussed literal MacGuffin in wrestling history than what could be in Undertaker’s urn?

The way it gets talked up about on TV in the early years of the gimmick, you’d thought an “endgame” would have been revealed at some point!  

I know at the end of the day, it’s no different than what was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, but I can’t think of too many unresolved and discussed storyline threads that revolved around a singular object like it (as opposed to “who did what to whom” plot threads).

Kid me thought it was his parents that he killed in the fire. Bearer would show 'Taker the urn as a reminder of what he had done both as a motivator and as blackmail to control 'Taker. There was also another fan theory that 'Taker was actually dead and his spirit was summoned through the urn.

As for any official explanation, the closest we got was Punk, during their feud, saying it had Bearer's ashes inside it (following his death).

[NintendoLogic]

The WWF may have had a no-blood policy at the time of WM13, but I doubt Bret and Austin took it upon themselves to get color without permission given all the close-ups of Austin bleeding. When Bret bladed against Davey Boy at IYH, the camera crew went out of their way to avoid showing it. Also, the finish doesn't really work without blood.

[fakeplastictrees]

Is there a reason Natalya doesn't know how to do a proper sharpshooter? It's been years. Despite being related to Bret Hart and having two years (if not more) access to Sting, she still does the shitty version of one. It looks like shit and I don't believe she ever did it correctly.

[KinchStalker]

I've had Fujinami's attempt to sing his own entrance theme ("Magic Dragon", a lyrical rewrite and rearrangement of an Eddy Grant song) stuck in my head for the past three days. I had to know more about this song, which conjured images of Fujinami laying it down in a recording studio whilst Inoki cheered him on in the booth (à la Boogie Nights). So I looked into it, and found out some funny stuff.

1. The vocal version was only used once (oh, to have been in that crowd), after which an instrumental version was hastily substituted. Fujinami refused to release it on CD a few years later, so it languished in obscurity until it was released on a 1999 King Records compilation.

2. Kengo Kimura said "that's not singing, that's noise." Ever hungry to outshine his tag partner in something, he put out a pair of his own singles (here's one of them). However, as Inoki told him, “there is a difference between ability and popularity,” and sure enough, Fujinami’s single outsold his.

3. Kendo Kashin used it as entrance music during a 2004 European excursion and the 2005 G1 Climax, and remarked that “no matter where in the world you play it, it will make the audience laugh.”

4. According to an uncited claim on its Japanese Wikipedia page, it has gained a minor resurgence in recent years through being featured on “Tatsuro Yamashita’s Sunday Songbook”, the radio show of the King of City Pop himself.

It wouldn't fit on this forum (maybe DVDVR?), but I think there's some potential for a tongue-in-cheek thread evaluating the musical forays of vintage puroresu. Though of course, joshi made an entire cottage industry out of it and any examination of the subject would be incomplete without them.

[Mad Dog]

6 minutes ago, fakeplastictrees said:

Is there a reason Natalya doesn't know how to do a proper sharpshooter? It's been years. Despite being related to Bret Hart and having two years (if not more) access to Sting, she still does the shitty version of one. It looks like shit and I don't believe she ever did it correctly.

I think her general lack of talent has something to do with it.

[Ricky Jackson]

13 minutes ago, KinchStalker said:

It wouldn't fit on this forum (maybe DVDVR?), but I think there's some potential for a tongue-in-cheek thread evaluating the musical forays of vintage puroresu. Though of course, joshi made an entire cottage industry out of it and any examination of the subject would be incomplete without them.

Hell, I want to read it. Start it. I dont think it would break any pro wrestling only rules 

[Matt D]

 

[strobogo]

Could have sworn there was a long stretch on the internet where Natalya was hyped up as an all time great female worker

[MoS]

3 hours ago, Rah said:

Kid me thought it was his parents that he killed in the fire. Bearer would show 'Taker the urn as a reminder of what he had done both as a motivator and as blackmail to control 'Taker. There was also another fan theory that 'Taker was actually dead and his spirit was summoned through the urn.

 

This reminds me of one of Meltzer's all time great snarky moments, when, in response to a reader's question, he wrote a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek kayfabe account of the familial history of Kane and Undertaker