Cute list, but how the hell do they explain the Blackjack Mulligan-IRS relationship and then completely ignore the more obvious IRS family relationship? Are we back in the 80s, where breaking kayfabe by admitting that Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas are brothers would somehow shatter our suspension of disbelief and cause ratings to drop even lower?
Cute list, but how the hell do they explain the Blackjack Mulligan-IRS relationship and then completely ignore the more obvious IRS family relationship? Are we back in the 80s, where breaking kayfabe by admitting that Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas are brothers would somehow shatter our suspension of disbelief and cause ratings to drop even lower?
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn vs. DDP/Kanyon/Bigelow was a decent little mid-card feud.
ReplyDeleteI will always feel they missed an opportunity to run Benoit, Malenko, Saturn, & Douglas vs. Flair, DDP, Kanyon, & Bigelow in a "WarGames" match at Fall Brawl '99. They didn't even do a WarGames though
Did you know that Tamina Snuka is Jimmy Snuka's daughter?
ReplyDeleteIf Bray was still being protected as a main event guy, I can imagine WWE doing everything they can to make his background as mysterious as possible, but since his credibility is mostly shot there's no excuse for not wanting to reveal it.
ReplyDeleteHell, those two should be feuding on camera with each trying to subvert the other. It would be epic.
ReplyDeleteAnimal must be proud of being related to Big Johnny.
ReplyDeleteDID YOU KNOW?
ReplyDeleteBOD lurker and occasional wiseass Lawrence Talbot is a the cousin of Sheryl Roberts (or Hagood). Talbot admits that this factoid was much more interesting when she was married to Jake "The Snake" Roberts, however.
Corpsing? SEND FOR THE MAN!
ReplyDeleteThat's not the same impression I got. This came off like a Legends piece; I don't think the point was to link it to today's wrestlers (though they do mention Cody).
ReplyDeleteBray and Bo have the exact same smile, and it's creepy as hell when you make that connection.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, I never knew IRS wrestled in shit-colored brown tights before the black pants.
ReplyDeleteWho had better matches in WWE, Lawler or Honky Tonk Man?
ReplyDeleteDespite what WWE might tell the networks and investors, their main event stars aren't really the big draw for the company for the most part. The WWE brand is.
ReplyDeleteNeither had a great match to my knowledge, but Lawler matches were generally more fun.
ReplyDeleteThis will never ever get old.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else remember the first time you heard a heel talk about having kids? I remember being a kid and hearing someone talk about it...and I thought, "what would it be like to live with a guy that was just so mean to everybody?"
ReplyDeleteEven as a kid, I always felt uncomfortable about the Savage/Liz relationship, especially when he was a heel. If you look at Liz, you'll notice she's easily startled when Savage did one of his coked out promos, which made the guy look like a wifebeater.
ReplyDeleteYou think WWE would make more money with an offseason?
ReplyDeleteThat's the thing, I'm not sure if the business model of wrestling would allow for an offseason. I'm talking strictly from a creative standpoint.
ReplyDeleteI knew all of those.. I think I'm one of those "smart marks" Brian Pillman was talking about.
ReplyDeleteTV shows do have offseasons, though. That's the closest comparison to me. And even boxing has its typical "dead" periods where there aren't any big-deal fights happening.
ReplyDeleteI think they should have done Jake the Snake/Sam Houston/Rockin Robin or Roddy Piper and Bret Hart.
ReplyDeleteoh I agree, but it's a known fact that USA and Bonnie Hammer have demanded that Raw feature more "big names" and more Cena and McMahons in the past five years. Thats what USA thinks draws.
ReplyDeleteBolievers are NOT cultists!
ReplyDeletewhile Vince may think TV is his closest comparison, fans do not. Vince may want to be like BIg Bang Theory or Modern Family, but again it is not, has never been that and never will be that. The sooner Vince realizes that he is and always will be a WRESTLING promoter, the better. You can't have an offseason. Period. It doesn't work in a business sense. WWE is not nearly enough in the conciousness of America like the NFL as to give people 3 months to go watch other stuff and then hope they come back. You give your fans way too much opportunity to find other programming. And again, with the network, how do you do an offseason? I get that creatively it might work, but I go back to having titles and not championships. In real sports you win a trophy. You compete and then it's over. Everyone starts fresh the next year. Not sure how the world title works with an offseason. Maybe if someone could elaborate more on a scenario I might be less skeptical.
ReplyDeleteLawler probably had more average or better matches, didn't Honky hit **** with somebody though?
ReplyDeleteif you believe some stories, he was. We all know that he locked her up and was insanely possessive and jealous. But just recently (as a smark fan for years I was shocked I hadn't heard it either) I heard that he hit Liz as well.
ReplyDeleteIf they did ever decide to join the two of them, it shouldn't take much to shift his character from "comedic inspirational speaker" to "inspirational speaker who's really a vicious psychopath."
ReplyDeleteTEW tells me the change in gimmicks requires at least 28 days off-screen.
ReplyDeleteAny basic cable network that would carry wrestling -- USA, SyFy, Spike, etc. -- has more than enough knowledge and experience working with shows that have offseasons. It's not like it would be a foreign concept to them.
ReplyDeleteAs far as titles and championships, I don't see how that would be a problem. Whoever comes out of WrestleMania (season finale) with the titles comes back in July (season premiere) with the titles, and we begin to establish new contenders. Doesn't seem that complicated to me.
just don't like it one bit. But hey, that's why we debate around here. Thanks for the response.
ReplyDelete*cough*Empty*cough*arena*cough*match*.
ReplyDeleteSorry, something in my throat.
He said in WWE, not in their careers :)
ReplyDeleteStan Hansen had a fat wife and nine kids to feed.
ReplyDeleteYou know, WWE started adopting that philosophy back in the mid-2000's, and yet they have tenaciously held onto certain talent to the detriment of the company. If they truly believed that philosophy they would have cycled through the roster much more than they have. Unless we interpret their belief in the brand to be so strong that they don't think they need to developed new talent, which is a pretty scary thought.
ReplyDeleteNikki's implants are also distant cousins with Lita's.
ReplyDeleteDamnit. Negative points for being a dick.
ReplyDeleteSo does this mean they can stop calling it the WWE Net Pak?
ReplyDeleteWho's the genius who came up with that one? As a Shaw customer i'm still not interested until they add the over the top online portion that loyal WWE fans of Botswana,Liechtenstein & Grenada enjoy.
Was the new TNA TV deal ever officially announced?
ReplyDeleteIt was but a quick Google search shows that it wasn't picked up anywhere aside from Wrestling Newz sites.
ReplyDeleteI remember discovering Nitro on TNT in what... 96? And their teletext service had the 'latest news' on WCW. My mind was blown. The show was the motherfucking shit at the time. I remember an awesome tornado tag match with Hogan/Savage vs Kevin Sullivan and... Ric Flair? It was tame as Hell, but I hadn't seen ECW yet so I was all 'OMG WEAK CHAIR SHOTS.'
ReplyDeleteWCW... sigh.
So, still no Netflix-like app? Fuck them. Still no buy.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, WCW was on teletext too? Damn, feels like I missed out, I would have wanted to see that.
ReplyDeleteSo what's the purpose of having government regulators if they don't do their job?
ReplyDeleteTo make them feel important?
ReplyDeleteNo Canadian content? But now how are we supposed to watch Bret Hart matches with a tear in our eye? (rim shot)
ReplyDeleteSo big business can pay lip service to democracy while working towards world domination. Helps when you have a conservative government in place.
ReplyDeleteLet me know when there's an app I can watch it on like the US version.
ReplyDeleteBret Hart matches are to guys what the Notebook is to women. They both tell such beautiful stories.
ReplyDeleteMatt and Jeff Hardy. One's charismatic to the point he's embarrassingly weird at times and the others bland as shit. Aside from being addicts and crazy they have nothing in common.
ReplyDeleteI was always torn on Flair in the WWF because he came across as such a gentleman in interviews. He was always polite to Mean Gene.
ReplyDeleteLafayette, La. -- Is that like when you buy fireworks in states that don't allow it and have to declare what city you're transporting them to?
ReplyDeleteI'm picturing him going her one of those punches where he'd step into it. And of course a flying elbow off the kitchen table.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Lawler feuded with Bret for 10 years and squeezed in boring matches he lost in between.
ReplyDeleteHis debut, I believe. He still wears the shirt and tie I think.
ReplyDeleteIt's gotten him hired at least 3 times so it hasn't been that bad a deal for him.
ReplyDelete"Cue Sega Genesis Moonwalker music"
ReplyDeleteSeems weird they never brought Animal back when Laurinaitis was the main heel of Raw. Seems like Animal could have played the Brisco/Patterson part.
ReplyDeleteI dunno -- in years past, Chikara has done fine with that (creatively speaking, I mean. Though I can't get into the current Flood storyline for some reason).
ReplyDeleteI thought this kind of shit only happened in America.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but top level boxers fight once or twice a year, UFC guys once every 2 months at most. It's not close to the same thing.
ReplyDeleteActually, they seem to have done their job properly in this regard.
ReplyDeleteCanadian content rules only apply to Canadian broadcasters. Rogers is not the broadcaster, just the carrier. Cable/satellite providers are allowed to carry non-Canadian stations, they just need to prove that there is not a Canadian equivalent that would be harmed by the competition and have them added to the list of approved channels.
Like many niche channels on the list (e.g. Al Jazeera or Court TV), there is no Canadian equivalent to the WWE Network and the regulators would have been hard-pressed to block it based on any of the intervening comments. They had no reason to block the application from what I can see.
It's too bad the Rougeau Brothers migrated.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about an NFL-style offseason, but taking a month off at the beginning of summer and around Christmas, when business is shit anyway both financially and creatively, wouldn't be a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteSo does Canada get espn/fox sports, cnn/foxnews/msnbc, usa/tnt/tbs/ mtv/vh1/comedycentral/bravo?
ReplyDeleteESPN/Fox Sports/Fox News/USA/TNT/MTV/VH1/ComedyCentral - No
ReplyDeleteCNN/MSNBC/Bravo - Yes
TBS - We did once, then it became Peachtree TV or something.
I actually never knew that between roddy and bret
ReplyDeleteYes to most of those. We don't get Comedy Central or ESPN, though, because there are Canadian equivalents. In the 80's/90's, there was far less concentration of ownership in Canadian broadcasting and a proliferation of Canadian versions of American channels (such as TSN or the Comedy Channel).
ReplyDeleteIn recent years, everything has been gobbled up by a few huge corporations and this has changed the dynamic of the industry significantly. Now, the trend is to adding channels "to the list" or rebranding existing Canadian channels with American brands (e.g. HBO Canada).
Mr. Snrub's list is more accurate than my "yes to most" statement. I believe that we get the International version of Fox Sports though.
ReplyDeleteThat ending was one of the most memorable WCW moments, for all the wrong reasons.
ReplyDeleteI went through a "metal phase" in college, and I still thought Megadeth was a pretty lame band. Not as bad as Motorhead and it's garbled lyrics, but still pretty lame. And "Crush 'Em" was awful.
ReplyDeleteRick Steiner's push is still arguably the dumbest thing about WCW in this time period. Random de-pushings is pretty standard for wrestling, so guys like Benoit & Saturn never getting their chance is par for the course, but Rick should NEVER have been put in a situation to crush so many guys. Just an unprofessional shit worker.
I would never consider someone a great worker if his matches were as boring as Del Rio's were, even if they WERE solid on psychology. Matches also require pace, flow and character to be excellent, and he failed at all three of those. He was bland and showed no personal fire or anything like it- you can't just blame it on the booking.
ReplyDeleteWatching him wrestle was like watching flies fuck (thank you, Carlin).
If you are a false, you will be burned and died.
ReplyDelete.... Wuh?
ReplyDeleteFunny how stuff like men slapping women around is actually hard to take, while more cartoonish stuff like Steve Austin flipping women the bird and giving them Stone Cold Stunners is both awesome and funny.
ReplyDeleteI always love a good random over the top politically incorrect moment
ReplyDeleteAgain, all of this is subjective, and I'm definitely a mark for the guy, but I didn't find Del Rio's matches boring. He used (by WWE 2010s standards) innovative moves, interesting psychology, impressive athleticism and a sense of (by WWE standards) realism to his matches. Some of his moves, like his backstabber and armbreaker, looked like they'd actually hurt.
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as character and fire, I think that does fall on the creative team. When Ric Flair is cheating in a match, it comes across better and the crowd reacts more because Flair's character and the storyline he's in have been built up enough that the fans care. They want the babyface to beat him, and they hate Flair because of the story. Think about a Daniel Bryan match. The fire is there because the crowd is chanting "Yes!" in tune with his kicks to the chest, and because the story he's in and the character he's been given have drawn in the crowd. You take away the crowd element and Flair and Bryan are just stringing together moves like every other wrestler.
When Del Rio is barely given a character -- really, after his initial heel run as an aristocrat snob, what was his character? -- and rarely given a story line to follow, why would the crowd be invested in his match? So you can see where the lack of reaction or investment gives his matches a ho-hum feel.
The last time Del Rio was given something to work with in WWE -- his feud with the returning Batista -- you see he was a lot more interesting (in my view, at least).
I loved the west texas rednecks angle. their second song entitled "good ol' boys" was great that they sang over Jeff Jarrett's music he used in WCW in 96-97. Also Kurt looked like he had fun with that angle. Now the No Limit Soldiers that wrestled for them were a joke. Chase Tatum and this one giant black man they called Swole haha.
ReplyDeleteI really wish they would have had Golberg beat up BOTH sides, as far as paying off the usage of megadeath (IE rock and roll > rap and country combined).
ReplyDeleteEarly megadeth is still good. In particular "Peace Sells..." through "Youthenasia" are solid metal records with some catchy songs.
ReplyDelete