areacode212

Was this when Bret was in the wheelchair? IIRC, he was legitimately recovering from surgery.

Looks like they only make them available in .mp4, but if you really need to have them in one of those other formats, it shouldn't be hard to convert them. Can't you watch the podcasts using VLC or Media Player Classic or something like that?

I read this on Meltzer's site, then spent 5 minutes staring at the WWE.com front page and repeating "What?" in shock and disbelief. When I saw "Benoit family found dead", I had thought that something had happened to Woman and their kids and that this was the family emergency that he had to rush home for, but then Chris is dead, too? This is just shocking on an entirely new level.

It's hilarious how he's constantly laughing throughout this interview, like he's having the time of his life coming up with all this crazy shit.

Yep, I read the first two issues, and thought they were some of the best comics I've read in the past few years. He managed to get the original Shazam concept entertaining & fresh without making it seem dated & cheesy, or updating it beyond recognition. It's kid-friendly, but adults can enjoy it too. I would love it if DC gave Smith exclusive use of the Marvel Family, but with Black Adam & Mary Marvel playing big roles in the DCU, I don't see it happening.

*SPOILER SPACE* We see Buffy and her commando team of Slayers running around in Scotland, investigating some kind of mysterious cult, or something. She refers to Xander as her "watcher"; now he's basically this "central command" type who issues orders to the squads of Slayers around the world. Also, Dawn has inexplicably been turned into a giant. Meanwhile, back at the hole that used to be Sunnydale, the U.S. military considers Buffy to be a terrorist leader with an army of soldiers. They also capture someone who's been hiding in the Sunnydale rubble (hint: she's been around since the 3rd episode). Eh, it wasn't terrible, but I'm not crazy about continuing the Buffy story. I'm perfectly happy leaving the series as it was. Plus, having Buffy and her strike team globe-trotting, jumping out of helicopters & shooting laser guns isn't really what I liked about the TV show in the first place. I'll keep reading out of (mild) curiosity, though. Peter David's Spike vs. Dracula series for IDW was pretty good.

A few things about Backlund: I heard the Papa Shango deal was just some internet lore (possibly started by Scott Keith) that people have come to accept as fact. Someone once asked Meltzer about that story and he pretty much laughed at it. Backlund was always meant to just be a transitional champion between Bret & Diesel (Nash said that those plans were in place by the summer of '94). After he dropped the title, he was reduced to being a crazy harmless old coot who ran for President, which pissed me off as heel Backlund was pretty much my favorite gimmick during those months leading up to Survivor Series, when he was the crazy, but dangerous returning champion. His motivation was basically that he was never pinned or submitted in the match with the Iron Sheik (remember, Skaaland threw in the towel for him), so he still considered himself the rightful WWF champion. Also, in his mind, he represented a bygone era of values and morality, unlike the degenerates of the 1994 WWF. I loved it because his story built on old continuity from before the big '80s wrestling boom. Also, since he still considered himself the rightful champion, that logic implied that the entire Hogan era was built around an illegitimate champion, which was an idea that I found hilarious & awesome. Back in the '80s, I heard that Vince had asked him to become an Adrian Street-style "punk" heel, but he refused. After that, he went over to Pro Wrestling USA, which was some kind of collaborative effort between the AWA and some of the NWA promoters, but it didn't last long.

I will admit marking out hard for the Powers of Pain when I saw them debut on WWF Superstars. Something about the way they completely demolished their jobber opponents and looked so physically impressive just hooked me. I didn't get a chance to watch much Crockett NWA stuff, but I did remember the angle where they fucked up Animal's eye, and so they retained a bit of that badass aura for me.

Here are parts 1-11 in a Word document. Scott_Hall_Torch_Talk.doc

Even though she got bigger TV time out of it, I think she just didn't enjoy her heel role in the first place (whereas Jericho eats that stuff up). Dave goes into it a little bit in the Observer:

What did he do after the breakup?..I know he was a face but I don't know what led up to the Loose Cannon...damn I wish we could just see whatever footage we wanted... I don't recall any of his matches or feuds, but I vaguely remember him being a midcard babyface called "California Brian" around 1994ish, before he turned heel again.

This is a really fun brawl that goodhelmet once put on a comp tape for me: Muta vs. Liger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us1GTlbWgIU

I'm not a big puroresu follower, so I don't know of any other matches where he wore this mask, but I got it from a match of his with Bob Sapp, which is well worth watching if you haven't seen Sapp's entrance where he comes out to Madonna's "Holiday": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wq0YdbHlxo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUMLgCUen60

Wow, you were at this show? At the time, I read about it in the Apter mags (and saw a picture of Vince sitting at ringside), and couldn't quite wrap my head around the idea of Vince McMahon as a heel. What was your reaction to heel Vince circa '93? I downloaded the match (and the rest of the heel Vince promos from that time) from DVDVR a while back...it was so awesome to finally see this stuff.

Was this the Pro Wrestling USA promotion?

Wow, so far JBL is tremendous on commentary. It's so refreshing to have a real heel on color again. He's a tad too aggressive, but it's only his first week, and I expect him to tone it down more the further away he gets from his old feuds.

The Best of "Stunning" Steve Austin/Hollywood Blondes The Rise and Fall of Bob Backlund

Just got it for $24.99 (I believe it's the lowest price around) at Best Buy! The 2 sets look quite nice together on my shelf.

ARCAAAAAAAAAAAADE! Finally! Hopefully you guys won't kick me out of the club considering I haven't even finished the first set.

"Lazy Sunday" was awesome--it's not weed humor, it's NYC geek hipster humor (Magnolia Bakery cupcakes, sneaking food into overpriced movie theatres, using Google Maps, etc.). Anyway, if you want to download it, I uploaded it to Rapidshare here. You'll need FLV Player to watch it. More of that kind of thing can be found at thelonelyisland.com

From this interview, it doesn't sound like Jericho will be back in wrestling anytime soon. He's not under contract (that extension only lasted through SummerSlam), and he's been wanting to concentrate on acting/music for a while now. I can see him coming back someday, but definitely not this soon.

I hated Mushnick back in the day when I thought Vince and the WWF were wonderful and could do no wrong, but really...he's the one guy in the media who would keep pointing out over and over how wrestlers were dying in droves and nobody was doing anything about it. Yeah, he tends to exaggerate sometimes and get a few things wrong, but the main thrust of his argument is something that I basically agree with.

Yeah, what Placebo Effect said. Funny idea, but the article was just way too long. It would've been better as one of those "News in Brief" pieces. These days, I think the writing in the Onion A.V. Club is funnier than in the main paper.

Ahh, thanks, Bruiser. I've been thinking of picking up that Wrestling Gold set for a year or so now.

Yeah....there are still a bunch of DVDs from the previous DDD sale that are still sitting in my cabinet, unwatched. I think I'll pass on this, unless I think of something that I absolutely need right now. Hmm. I may pick up the Bret DVD. Are any B&Ms selling it for less than DDD's price?