Diamonddust

Agreed... that was pretty entertaining to watch. I remember the group of people I was watching it with were like, "Damn... Maven's about to die."

My favorite part of 1992 was that it seemed like EVERYONE went into the match wanting to kick Flair's ass. My favorite sequence during the match itself was about midway when Flair ended up eliminating the last man in the ring and getting a breather. Bobby goes nuts as if Flair just won, and then the countdown begins... Out comes Roddy Piper, and the place explodes. Piper just unloads on Flair, who sells it like his world just ended. What makes it even better is that Jake Roberts comes in next and stays in the corner a bit to allow Piper some more time to beat up on Flair... but then Jake sneak attacks Piper. Just an excellently paced and laid out Rumble that told a great story and had the crowd hooked from the start.

Perfect was in 2002, and he wasn't a surprise entrance, he was announced beforehand. Honky Tonk Man was 2001. Nothing will top 2004 for me Still, it was pretty awesome to see Perfect come back. 1992 is my favorite with 2000 right behind it.

From what I've read, that was the original ending for Flair's retirement: He'd win Money in the Bank, cash it in that night, lose to the champion, and leave his boots/robe in the ring as a symbol of retirement.

Why do people always bring up that specific part of the whole DDP debacle? I don't see how the part where Sara pinned him was supposed to be humiliating. Taker dragged DDP out of the ring and chokeslammed him on the floor, then tossed him back in. In kayfabe terms, he would've been completely unconcious. A newborn kitten could've pinned him at that point. Yeah, but it doesn't draw money. Not anymore. As the Hassan controversy proved, that kind of angle causes more negative than positive attention. What. They always said he was Japanese. Yes, I know he was actually Rodney Anoia. You don't think him wearing a Japanese kimono, waving a Japanese flag, being named after the Japanese name for "grand sumo champion", and having the announcers always talk about how he was from Japan all gave the general impression that this guy was supposed to be Japanese? No, there was actually a lot of Japophobia in the early 90s. See Rising Sun for one excellent example. I remember instances where it was listed as Yokozuna being from "Polynesia", still I see your point where most would think he was Japanese.

That annoyed me to no end. He'd do things such as having a major PPV like "The Great American Bash" in Moline, Illinois (No offense to the fine citizens of that town), but then do Nitro at the United Center in Chicago the next night.

Agreed. Heyman was incredible during the initial attack... and then all the wind got let out when he was basically sucking up to Stephanie.

Sure, it's used all the time, but that doesn't make it any less stupid. The last time a jingoistic angle/character got over worth a damn was Hulk Hogan in the '80s, and that's because that was the culture of America at the time. Look at wrestling the past decade and what has gotten over meaningfully: - NWO: anti-establishment bad guys out for their own personal gain - Steve Austin: beer drinking everyman vs. evil rich boss - Original ECW: never used a jingoistic angle. Sure, Heyman brought in the Quebecers and Japanese workers, but it wasn't USA vs. Other Country, it was always about "ECW vs. Other Fed" - The Rock vs. Hunter: Young stars who rose at the same time battling for supremacy. Even as long ago as 1991 fans were sick of the jingoism angles. Wrestlemania 7, All-American Hulk vs. Iraqi supporter Sgt. Slaughter was a huge flop. Just because promoters do something ad nauseum doesn't mean it's good. The reason the Slaughter/Iraq failed is because people were actually getting killed in that conflict... the same goes with Muhammed Hassan.

I'd be up for it.

Agreed. If they do regular TV from Orlando, they don't need to do the PPV's from there as well. I know it cuts down on costs, but taking the live product to other markets is what they need to be doing.

Jingoism is a staple of wrestling... always has been and always will be.

That bothered me as a 100% mark little kid. I remember thinking, "Wait a minute... wasn't he a bad guy, like yesterday?"

Hogan no-selling Vader's powerbomb, which was built up as a legitimate killer of a move, pissed me off something fierce.

I thought Flair would beat Hogan at Havoc 94 because there was no way WCW would let a long-time WWF guy go over a near lifelong WCW guy in a retirement match on PPV. Never underestimate the power of Hogan in finishes that make no sense. Why didn't it make sense for Hogan to win? You're talking about a match between the two best wrestlers of the era. WCW signed Hogan to be their main guy so why wouldn't Flair "pass the torch" to Hogan? Hogan getting a win (or several wins) over Flair, fine. You need main event guys having even feuds once in a while. But if: 1. You're running WCW 2. You've got Ric Flair, who has been the guy who represents WCW in the eyes of the fans. 3. You have Flair taking on Hulk Hogan, who was still seen as a WWF guy by most of the fanbase. 4. Your fans are booing Hogan despite there being no doubt that he's supposed to be the babyface in the feud. 5. You book the blowoff as a retirement match. Logical booking is you'd put the long-time WCW guy over the long-time WWF guy. This was such a smart move that when Nitro first went on the air, WCW literally used to give away Hulk Hogan T-shirts with the stipulation "you have to wear it if we give to you" to make it look like Hogan was seen by WCW fans as the top babyface and Flair was still getting larger pops than Hogan in a lot of towns after his comeback started. WCW/NWA fans always cheered for heels, especially Flair. I see your point, though. That and there was a large contingent of fans that hated seeing a WWF guy beating up the torch bearer for NWA/WCW for so long.

I agree on Russo in 1999, although what really got me is how he booked Wrestlemania XV - Everyone expected Road Dog to be in a Hardcore Title match and Billy Gunn in an Intercontinental Title match... so Russo "swerves" us all and flip flops them. Absolutely pointless booking just to tick people off.

Technically, Tazz beat the Bossman by dq after about a minute... Of course, he spent the next 5 minutes getting beat down by Bossman and Albert to no heat, so I see your point. Not too many jobs bother me, but I don't think HHH should've gone over Booker at WM 19 or JBL should've gone over Eddie at the GAB 04 for the brand's respective titles after running horribly racist angles for both of them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of JBL's lines during the feud with Eddie came from Eddie himself.

It was in my backyard, and I didn't go... so I guess you can blame it on me.

When WCW halted Nitro in the middle of the show to change the set to "NWO Nitro".

No worries... it's still one of the most entertaining and informative interviews to be found.

-The Horsemen losing the 1997 Wargames Match -The way the Wrestlemania 2000 main event was developed and carried out

Is this the 1st shoot he did (More so his history in the business) or the one that concentrates on OVW?

And here this whole time I thought the smarks loved The Fed, all wondering how Nitro kept winning each week, concluding Turner had used his money to rig the ratings. Actually, now that I think about it, that doesn't sound "smart" at all. Either way, funny to think considering how often the comments in here are about how poor Nitro has been in 1997 compared to Raw. Montreal was still fresh in in the minds of everyone at that point (January 1998). The WWE was in the biggest of holding patterns from November 1997 until March/April 1998 as they waited until they could crown Austin champion at Wrestlemania.

But by TNA standards, that makes him completely worthless as a booker. In regards to Kong, as much as I like a dominant "monster" running wild, putting them into a title program is always tricky. If you let them win a title, what can they do after that? They have to lose it eventually, and then what? The monster has been beaten. Monsters worked way better in the territory days when someone like Kamala could come in, destroy Jerry Lawler, and then have a couple months on top while Lawler fights to get the rematch and wins in the end... then Kamala would go to another territory.

Just doing an opposite of the Worst Promo thread and wondering who you think gave some of the best promos? We already know the obvious ones - Flair, The Rock, Dusty, etc... who are some that don't get their just due? I know some people hold him in high regard, but I'll have to throw Michael Hayes out there. He was the walking definition of someone who could talk people into an area, and the box office numbers he generated are the proof. Even though it was as if he was riding on the high end of a bender most of the time, he still had far more charisma and talent on the microphone than a lot of others.

I found Roundtable on the second page of the Legends section. Finally got a chance to watch it and thought it was really good. Got to see all kinds of cool clips from the various territories. Patterson was excellent here and Michael Hayes was good, although I found his constant interruptions to be annoying. Foley and Taz, when they actually spoke, provided a good counterpoint for the guys who really missed out on the territories but they probably should have been replaced by guys who really lived the territory days like Rhodes, Graham, and Lawler. I actually didn't have a problem with Foley since he worked World Class, Continental, and Memphis. Taz somewhat justified his position by saying ECW was the last territory, which in a way it was... still... Lawler would have been great on the panel. You know it would have lead to him and Hayes getting into it over some slight Hayes thought Lawler did back in the day.