DrVenkman's Blog

Kurt Angle

Shawn Michaels

Kenta Kobashi

Samoa Joe

Hulk Hogan

Ric Flair

Kurt Angle

 

Not the greatest of all time and while the problems that Angle-marks (like me) overlook has been well documented by you, in an environment over overpushed and undertalented bodybuilders or hosses, Kurt Angle is usually guaranteed to have one of, if not the, match of the night inside a WWE ring.

 

 

Shawn Michaels

 

I really enjoyed his work when I was growing up, even when he was the "bad guy" and as an 11 year old I was supposed to be cheering for his opponents, not him. When he went into retirement in 1998 and I had some more knowledge of his backstage antics, I had different opinions on him. In one of those sad things about the WWE, even in HBK's current state, he's probably more likely than most people currently pushed to have important matches to have a match be

 

 

Kenta Kobashi

 

I'm liking what I've seen so far.

 

Samoa Joe

 

Heard all the rumblings about him in 2004, had no clue who he was and often became confused with a character from a N64 WCW game (Boxer Joe?). Since debuting in TNA I have watched some of his ROH stuff and have been quite impressed. Samoa Joe is one of those guys that threatens to one day cause me to just give up on my beloved WWE.

 

Hulk Hogan

 

Quite possibly the greatest sports entertainer of all time. Is hardly a passable wrestler, but with his unmatched charisma (and good timing, and a push from Vince) was able to make the WWF explode. Love him or hate him, it cannot be denied that few people, if any, have been able to make so much money out of so little talent. And yes, he was one of my favourites as a kid.

 

Ric Flair

 

A mere parody of himself these days but entertaining all the same. I had barely heard of him when I first saw him in the WWF but have since watched the "trilogy" with Steamboat (among other things) and he certainly could work a very good match in the day, though nothing stands out as extremely "exciting" or "flashy", just hard work.

 

Vader

Sting

Bret Hart

Steve Austin

The Rock

Triple H

Bill McNeal

Lisa Miller

Phil Hartman

me

British Bulldog

Jenna Fischer

Stanley from the Office

Vader

 

It's unfortunate that what will probably be his last big TV appearance will be looking like crap and falling down on live TV. I quite enjoyed his feud with Sting when I was a kid in 1992 - Vader really seemed unstoppable. The latest work of his in WCW I can recall is feuding with Ray Traylor which resulted in some surprisingly good matches (Spring Stampede 94 is one I recall as being stiff). I never saw his feud with Hogan outside of a Baywatch episode. Misued by the Fed due to politics, he became pretty worthless by 1998 and was cut loose. I've heard good things about his runs in Japan but have not seen nay of it.

 

Sting

 

Sting was the guy that, growing up, I liked and thought was good if and when I watched WCW, but didn't really rally behind him because he wasn't a part of my precious WWF. To be honest, I can't think of any standout "awesome" Sting matches after 1992 (previous to that, early matches with Flair, the FCA match with Foley at Beach Blast, and of course the Vader feud) but he was always over and could work a good match.

 

Bret Hart

 

Often threw an ugly dropkick, and that's about the only issue I have with him (and to be honest, I don't have a problem with his dropkicks, but apparently his version of them are frowned upon at a certain wrestling school in my city). I always thought Bret was great, and the 1997 Canada vs. US angle was a great time to be a wrestling fan from Canada.

 

Steve Austin

 

A good technical wrestler that had me cheering for the heels in early 90s (the Blondes, of course), he managed to turn his post-injuries dumbed down brawling moveset and become the most over draw of the 90s. I know this may not sit well with you, GQ, but I really enjoyed Austin's 2001 work when he became "technical" again, although I have found that I don't think of highly as HHH vs Austin from NWO 2001 as I did 5.5 years ago.

 

The Rock

 

Awesome. He's another guy that got over on limited moves combined with high charisma, but unlike Hogan, could have a match that was actually good for the in ring work with the right opponent. A funny guy, too.

 

Triple H

 

I like him more than most people on the internet. He sounds like a jackass politically, and sometimes I read something in the Observer that makes me want to punch him, but I honestly believe that he has SOME grasp on the industry and I don't believe he'd be the worst guy to run the WWE (when he retires, of course) when Vince or Shane can't.

 

Bill McNeal

Lisa Miller

 

I just received season 4 of NewsRadio in the mail on Friday. Good times. I was watching the episode where Bill is a genie in a jeans commercial before I came to work - excellent stuff. Bill having Cadbury, his manly man (or is it gentleman's gentleman?) butler was really awesome too. I don't think any NewsRadio fan will ever forget his yelling "YES" and "I DID!" at Dave when being question about his hair dying antics over the sandwich machine.

 

Lisa / Maura is cute. I find it interesting that her and Dave seem to be the only two people in the office that actually try to work, yet are quite opposite in personality.

 

Of note, my favourite flavour of donut is plain.

 

Phil Hartman

 

A comedic talent the world lost too soon. I remember him from such shows as The Simpsons, SNL, and NewsRadio. I also recall him being a report in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and I've heard something about Hartman originally having something to do with Paul Ruben's Pee-Wee character.

 

me

 

An interesting character that I have no problems with. Sure, you have a tendancy on the forum to come off like Lyle the effeminite heterosexual, but it's all good. I'm sure things like "High School Musical" really are not awful if you give it a chance rather than call it gay right away.

 

You also tend to talk about all your celebrity run-ins. Really, who does that in this day and age?

 

That reminds me, did I tell you guys about the multiple times I've spoken with Late Show regular Rupert Jee in NYC? Or the time I talked to Petey Williams when I was taking the garbage out in our housing complex?

 

On a more serious note, you enjoy NewsRadio and that's ok in my book. You don't seem to be super harsh on judging wrestling matches either, and sometimes I think the internet needs people like that.

 

British Bulldog

 

One of my favourites as a kid, and it wasn't really until 1999 when he made his (unfortunatley) failed Fed return that I realized he may not have been all I thought he was growing up. When I started watching wrestling in 1991 and didn't understand the timeline of Coliseum videos I would rent, I always wanted Bulldog to beat Mr. Perfect for the IC title. I was happy when he finally got it in 1992, but wasn't exactly sad he lost it a month later to HBK as by that time I wanted Shawn to be champ.

 

Jenna Fischer

 

Hot, says I. Seems like a nice person in the MySpace community. I enjoy her work on The Office.

 

Stanley from the Office

 

There are so many great characters on The Office that it would be a lie to call Stanley "the best" (Dwight), but he's up there. The situations they writers put his character in are excellent - drawing the "black" card, being Michael's "secret weapon" in basketball and then sucking. Oh, and that time he brought his daughter to work and bitched out Ryan? Awesome stuff.

Me

Bryan Danielson

AJ Styles

Chris Daniels

Curt Henning

Stan Hansen

 

Me

 

A rare voice of sanity on the internet and with Mr. Rapp gone, one of the few people I go on IRC to have a conversaion with. Yeah, there are other people who are fine to talk with, but you're generally the person I actively go "!lastspoke" for. Our wrestling fandom differs - greatly - but I credit you for at least getting me to watch SOME puro stuff (and causing me to vote Destiny 2005 as show of the year in the Observer awards).

 

Bryan Danielson

 

Sadly, not familiar enough with him to make a good comment. I enjoyed his match at the ROH show I attended in December (Steelcage Warfare) and other things I've watched are real good too. I think he could do well on a bigger stage in TNA if given the chance.

 

AJ Styles

 

Almost always in a match worth watching, even if it's more highspot sizzle than technical steak. You either love him for being entertaining in the ring or hate him for being a "spot monkey". Bottom line - he tends to entertain me, so I'm cool with him.

 

Chris Daniels

 

A really funny guy and great wrestler. Met him at the September 2005 BCW show (he had a good match with Chris Sabin on that show too). I can never tell this story to sound funny, but someone asked him about the $10 t-shirts he was selling, causing him to go into a totally deadpan (but hilarious) discussion about the differences between a t-shirt and 8x10 photo, as per the signs behind him advertising the $10 photos (not t-shirts).

 

Curt Henning

 

The Perfect one. It's a shame that the wrestling lifestyle can kill such gifted peopleso young (kids, don't do drugs). I marked out big time when I found out he was replacing Nash at a WCW house show in a match against Bret Hart. His 2002 return to the WWE at the Royal Rumble was great and it's a shame things didn't go better for him after that.

 

Stan Hansen

 

Not familiar enough with his body of work (I've seen maybe... one match? A steel cage match against Sammartino, I think). Someday, with the help of the internet, I may get better aqauinted with his work.

 

Jack Arnold

Umaga

Carl Winslow

Candice J.

Buddy Lembeck

Jack Arnold

 

When I was younger I found his TV character to be one angry and scary dad. Future re-watchings of The Wonder Years have shown me that he wasn't all that scary, but he could yell when he needed to. His death saddened us all.

 

Umaga

 

I didn't really like him at first, but (so far) he's one of the few guys the company is giving a lot of wins too without ending it with some stupid count-out or disqualification. His manager is very annoying but I am finding him less annoying as the weeks go by. His match against Hacksaw Jim Duggan at the John Labbat Centre in London, Ontario on July 8th should be a real barn burner.

 

Carl Winslow

 

3 2 1. 1 2 3. What the heck is bothering me? The fact CFMT (Canada's First Multicultural Television) moved Family Matters to a timeslot that interferes with my work. Carl was your typical "I have a scheme / I forgot something / something happened to something and I can't tell the wife" TV husband, but Reggie Vel Johnson had good chemistry with his the other characters, specifically Steve Urkel.

 

Candice J.

 

A weird girl, but it was cool that she was into anime in high school. I liked that about her and I think in high school that caused me to overlook other things that I should have disliked about her. But we've discussed this all before...

 

Buddy Lembeck

 

A great "wacky friend" character who really got on Mr. Powell's nerves. The friendship between him and Charles was one of those things that, if they weren't two TV characters scripted to be friends, would two people like that REALLY be best friends? It could happen. Of course, Buddy went on to become "Bibleman" in a series of direct to video specials about the bible.