Diamonddust

Agreed... he was bumping pretty well for S.D. Jones in the match featured.

The Meadowlands show is a nice little trip down memory lane... Gary Cappetta is ring announcing (I had no idea he worked for the WWF back in the day), and Howard Finkel does color commentary with Gorilla... Steve Lombardi wrestles as simply Steve Lombardi... but is hailed from Brooklyn as a sign of things to come... Bobby Heenan wins a singles match! The heat for JYD/Orndorff is great... that crowd hated Orndorff and was throwing stuff at him until JYD came out.

Agreed. I don't think The Rock would ever do anything to disrespect the business considering he grew up in it with not only his father but both grandparents on his mother's side. (And judging by the stories of Mrs. Maivia, she would easily kick Rock's ass, and he'd probably agree).

bahahaha! HHH is such a dick, i would find this hilarious if it was happening to a wrestler i didnt like. Agreed... If someone really wanted to be a dick back and risk his job for the sake of being funny, they'd turn around and make a crack about all the money they made with HHH on the top of the card. Most of the time, comments like these come from a level of fear or being threatened. I don't know how HHH could feel threatened by Jericho, other than HHH knowing Jericho doesn't really need this job and can use that as leverage, as opposed to many of the other workers who have nothing to fall back on. If Stephanie is in Jericho's corner, that further complicates things and adds to the insecurity factor.

Wasn't that the one where Hennig slammed the door on Flair's head? Yeah... I remember being pissed off at that ending. If I remember correctly, it was Nash captaining the NWO "B" team of Syxx, Bagwell, and Konnan against Flair, Mongo, Benoit, and Henning, who of course had gotten Anderson's "spot".

Is it safe to assume they also haven't invited Randy Savage? Of course if they have, and he attends, I'll mark out like a little bitch. Hell, I'll take something pre-taped from Savage. Good question. It's a wonder if the relations with Savage will ever thaw so they can do a proper "Legends" package with him... including the Hall of Fame.

Agreed... although there would be some WarGames matches I'd want over others - basically any of the ones from 1987-1992.

I wouldn't be shocked if Tommy Dreamer picks Magnum vs. Tully, especially if it's the I-Quit match.

I wonder if they get Damien Demento to come back since he was in the first Raw main event?

What that doesn't say is that the WWE probably wants him to stay if they ever want to run Puerto Rico without headaches in the future.

I remember some thinking it was going to be Mike Tyson as well.

The "Hard Times" promo is legendary. Easily my favorite Rhodes promo. "A man works a job twenty years... they kick him in the fanny, give him a watch, and tell him a computer done took his job... that's hard times!" As for Jake, I remember when I was a little kid, I was at the pediatrician's office. He knew I liked wrestling so we would talk about it for a bit, and he always said if he was flipping the channels and came across it, he would notice how Jake Roberts would get his point across without yelling like a madman.

The irony being both Ventura and Sheik were already well known to those watching TBS at the time.

My pick: McMahon votes himself greatest Superstar in the history of Raw... Actual greatest Superstars in the history of Raw proceed to make his special night a living hell.

Points for McMahon! An Al Snow joke!

Which is the problem the card faces when you try to get everyone a Wrestlemania payout.

First, the internet has minimal effect on business, either way. The internet fan makes up a very small percentage of the total fanbase. Secondly, how does a lack of surprises hurt the business? If what is planned has enough interest, the people are going to pay to see it, regardless of how many people actually know about it in advance. Surprises are good, but it's a big reach to say that a lack of surprises somehow hurts the business. Agreed... Mick Foley winning the World Title on a taped edition of Raw and having the results out there a week in advance surely didn't hurt that episode.

That and all the fans know they aren't going to see anything "special" happen at a house show anymore.

It wasn't a picture of who's going to be there. It was a picture of I guess 'candidates' for best RAW superstars ever. I mean, it had Lita, Booker, Angle, Yokozuna for goodness sakes...so yea, it wasn't a picture of who's going to be there. Of all the Raw reunion specials, my favorite is still the one they did in Dallas where the had all the legends in the ring... Rob Conway gets involved... and they all proceed to put the hurting on him. The best part, though, was when they had Kevin Von Erich break out the Von Erich Claw in Dallas one more time. I'll never forget the crowd going absolutely nuts for that.

At least The Godfather was over with the crowd.

You're right that we'll end up getting the 1997 MSG Raw, but it's still a very entertaining show. I kind of hope that one wins... the Cactus/HHH match is fun, especially the "interview" Dude Love has with Mankind to introduce Cactus and then HHH sells it as if his world just ended when Cactus Jack appears to a huge ovation.

Agreed. It's like Jim Cornette said in his first shoot interview - It doesn't matter if you can execute the perfect triple moonsault... if you don't know when to turn up it or when to back up like a chicken shit... it doesn't mean anything.

In the Legends show this month of 24/7, Foley recounts a great line by Harley Race: "If my left doesn't take him down, I'll go around him and see what's keeping him up."

Yeah, if I remember correctly, the tapings for the original ECW on TNN debut went very badly for whatever reason, and Heyman decided to re-air PPV matches in its place.

That's what I've noticed in quite a few good cards, anyway. Should you go with what would likely be the best match first, like at Bash at the Beach '96? Well, that depends. Do you have a hot angle that you'll be running at the end? If so, you want to give the crowd time to cool down before burning them out. If you don't have a hot angle, and want to try and maintain the crowd's focus on the show throughout, then you probably shouldn't put that sort of match at the beginning, but rather two before the main event. You don't want that great match to overshadow what you're going to do last, like turn a major star heel. Build things up slowly. Throw in a comedy match 2nd from last, and you'll keep the crowd's attention. Sometimes you run the risk of doing too much, like at Mania 18. If you have a match like Rock/Hogan that everyone's DYING to see, you damn sure had better put it on last. Otherwise, your crowd is going to be GONE at the end. Figuratively speaking, of course. They'll be there, but they aren't going to be primed for the main event. Wrestlemania 17 is a very good example of match placement in terms of not burning out the audience with the gimmick battle royal taking place after the insane TLC match and before Taker/HHH and Austin/Rock.