Diamonddust

They claim they want people with knowledge of their product, but they definitely don't want any real wrestling fans on the writing staff. They also don't want any writer that will call bullshit on the majority of the stuff they do or at least try to apply logic to the situations. As many people have pointed out before, McMahon and Kevin Dunn don't see Raw as a wrestling program anymore.

When the WWE has replaced the commercial music WCW/NWA used in the past, it has come across as incredibly bad. They have to replace Gary Michael Capetta's announcing due to the music and commentary being on the same audio track. As a result, it just sounds horrible.

Philly also crapped on Rotunda with a nice "Syracuse Sucks" chant.

They can't show the entrances unless they heavily edit them. All of the wrestlers came out to commercial music, and the WWE is not going to shell out the money to the artists to use those songs.

Same here... I swear... during the Luger/Pillman match... they cut to the crowd, and I'll be damned if it isn't a guy that looks like Hawaiian-Shirt Guy from the old ECW Arena. The fact the show takes place in Philadelphia further adds to it. Also, in a spot that just shows how awesome the character was, there was a small fire during the pre-match stuff for the main event. Some of the leaves being used as decoration on the cage had caught fire, and an extra referee along with a crewman was trying to put it out. Muta goes up there and simply sprays it with the mist. Ross' commentary is also fun to listen to. He's in overdrive mode in regards to talking about the wrestler's athletic backgrounds. He also take a nice shot at the Ultimate Warrior. In the main event, he talks about how Sting started with The Blade Runners. He then says, "I don't think Sting's partner has progressed like Sting has". Granted, The Warrior went on to win the WWF Title about 5 months after this... but it was still a nice shot.

That type of forward thinking and planning for the future will get you no where in the sports entertainment business.

The only thing ECW deserves credit for is getting the ball rolling for wrestling to move away from the cartoony bullshit that dominated it at the time. The When Worlds Collide PPV had more influence over cruisers being used in North American wrestling promotions than their use in ECW did. Eddy, Dean, Chris and the rest of them were only there for a cup of coffee before heading off into WCW. And you're over-crediting ECW for Austin's success. A comment from Austin's ex-wife was the inspiration for his eventual nickname, the promo at KOTR coined him a marketable catchphrase and his feud with Bret Hart made him. ECW, at most, provided a template for his attitude. An attitude that was the main part of the gimmick. He didn't need Stone Cold in front of his name if the attitude was the same. The catchphrase stemmed from the attitude, so ECW's inspiration allowed Austin to become what he did. You could have had Stone Cold Dustin Runnels, with the exact same push and plug everything in with a different attitude and it fails. Actually, some of the names that the WWE had come up with before Stone Cold was selected were down right horrible.

It was Hog Wild, but that was August. Luger won it on the last Nitro before Hog Wild. The WCW PPV main events went like this: February: Hogan defended against Piper March: The Uncensored multi-team main event April: DDP vs. Savage May: Hall, Nash, Syxx vs. Flair, Piper, and Kevin Greene June: DDP vs. Savage II July: Hogan & Rodman vs. Giant and Luger August: Luger defends against Hogan, days after winning the belt on Nitro (Basically, Hogan agreed to the drop so he could win it back on the PPV) September: Wargames October: Hogan defends against Piper November: World War III Battle Royale December: Hogan defends against Sting

It's been said before, but 1997 is the year WCW decided to rest on their laurels because they had so much momentum from the previous year. The WWF was so far behind... why would WCW have to do anything major for an extended period of time? As a result, Hogan disappeared for months, and t he WCW Title went undefended from like February to August. On Raw, though, they were building for the future - Austin's mega-push coupled with the Hart Foundation's dominance and Shawn starting to act like a degenerate. It was one of the few times you can sit back and say, "A wrestling company didn't hot-shot things for a quick fix". They waited things out, and ultimately it paid off.

What? I do not care who you are, boss or not, if someone starts dressing you down in front of a group of your peers you are well within your rights to defend yourself, and not take it like a bitch. Agreed. Still, there are only a handful of people in the locker room that could get away with what Shawn did. A guy in the mid-card or lower couldn't stand up to Vince like that without pretty much throwing his job away right then and there.

Vader just doing the moonsault was always amazing to me.

The look on Bret's face is what nailed it for me. As for the name "The Hart Foundation", I remember many internet sites calling the group by that name before it was actually announced. I'm not sure when they get the formal name.

If you think Raw is going to be brutal, wait until you see some of the "gems" we get with Nitro during this period.

The title was an attempt to showcase some Japanese female wrestlers. It was doomed right from the start, though, as very few people cared and most matches occurred on the WCW Saturday morning shows.

The WCW show this time around is pretty good... some lengthy matches with Ole vs. Magnum and Flair vs. Ronnie Garvin plus Tully is without Baby Doll, which is one more step closer to getting him with J.J. Dillon, and then you know the rest...

The Rockers/Orient Express match is a great, fast-paced tag-match with a killer finishing sequence.

I think Candido was still technically "with her" when she was having her fun with Shawn too. Poor guy, in hindsight. If anyone needs proof Tammy and Michaels were definately having some fun together, watch the One Night Only ppv from England from 97 - there was an interview she did backstage with Michaels in which he was basically feeling her up during it. If I remember the interview correctly, her and Chris were at a point where they had broken up, so that's why she went to Shawn. When Shawn wanted to get married, Sunny called it off, and Shawn got ticked. She gave the impression this was a reason Shawn never liked Chris - before and after the affair with Sunny.

The wildcat was WCW's "mascot"... Wildcat Willy, and no, I'm not making that up.

I'm with you on that.

Probably just trying to get on the winning side.

Sounds like they're doing their best not to kill the Atlanta crowd for the future.

When the whole incident happened in Las Vegas, one of the men that was shot and paralyzed was an independent wrestler (Or at least had been at the time).

Agreed... Another great theme is Muta's. Muta's NWA theme is one of my all time favorites, and easily one of the most badass themes for a character ever done.

Here's one - Why did the WWE(F) used to tape a lot of their studio programs in Baltimore during the 80's? Did they not have the production facilities in Connecticut during the time?

Gotcha. I thought they had St. Louis since Crockett had bought that promotion out and was part of the purchase Turner initially made. As for Memphis, I guess the pre-AWA/WCCW/USWA involvement footage they've used is owned directly by Lawler or something along those lines.