Darth Pipes

Federation Era: Definitely WM9. There was not one standout match there and it was a poor show for the new generation of talent, not helped by Hogan upstaging everything. WMIV was not good but you had Savage's great peformance as he won the title and you also had Demolition winning their first tag team title. Attitude Era: Wrestlemania XV: Definitely not much to speak off outside of Austin/Rock. The Road Dogg/Billy Gunn switch was stupid and the matches just weren't that good. Although it does contain one of my favorite WM moments...Gorilla Monsoon getting a standing ovation as he appears for the final time in the WWF. The Philly fans really came through on that one and gave him the respect he deserves. XVI wasn't a great one either. Every match was either a tag team or triple threat match. But you do have the first TLC and that was pretty damn good. Angle/Jericho/Benoit wasn't bad either but they killed the momentum with their stupid decision to have each title contested seperately and the IC title being put up for grabs first. Current Era: Definitely Wrestlemania X-8. The atmosphere for Rock/Hogan was amazing and they pulled the match off well. It should have closed the show. Instead, we got the HHH/Jericho match-up that nobody gave a damn about. There wasn't much to speak of after that.

Both Bruno and Backlund have been offered induction but have turned it down. Backlund has confirmed he turned down an offer and JR has confirmed it as well. It wasn't due to any hard feelings but Backlund really thought he had a last run in him in wrestling.

The heat for that 10-man tag match was amazing. The camera actually shoot twice from all the cheering.

The WWE have allowed fans at the HOF to act like animals for the last four years. The fans there are incapable of behaving themselves and are the kind that make me embarrassed to admit I'm a wrestling fan. I don't mind opening the HOF to the public but it's time they got serious about cracking down on them. Someone on another board suggested last year that HOF tickets should be part of the Wrestlemania package. Fans should be given one warning if they act up and then they should be thrown out if they continue. If they were putting down big money for this (as part of the WM package) maybe they'd be a little less likely to act up.

I'm fine with them choosing to ignore Benoit. He was a murderer and it's not surprising the WWE would want to distance themselves as far as possible. The big difference between him and Eddie is that Eddie only did the damage to himself. I'm not going to knock the wrestlers like Flair or Jericho or Malenko for what they think about Benoit. I can't imagine what it must be like to come to terms with the fact that one of your best friends committed two brutal murders before killing himself. Now I wouldn't be cheering him but they have to deal with it as best they can.

Shiek will be roasted or humbled?

I've heard that Savage's year as champ in 1988 was just as good, if not better, than 1987 when Hogan was champ. Savage was ten times more active on the house show circuit than Hogan ever was as champ. Last year wwe.com made an absolutely idiotic comment about Savage and Lex Luger. They talked about Kurt Angle leaving (as part of a bigger article) and they snidly said it did "wonders" for Randy Savage and Lex Luger. Uh guys...it DID do wonders for both of them. While Luger's life in a wreck and Savage is a mental midget, going to WCW was the best move either of them could ever make. Savage went from being a broadcaster back to being a main event star. He won the WCW title four times. Luger went from being a WWF mid-carder to once again wrestling in main events. He was given the WCW title for a brief time and both him and Savage were major stars in WCW's rise. To make a comment like that was inexcuseable stupidity and blatant ignorance by the WWE. Yoko did come out of nowhere. He became the first long-reigning heel champion since Superstar Graham 15 years earlier.

Would you believe one of the Apter Magazines (I believe it was Inside Wrestling) had an article on this very subject at the time. Apparently, Lawler was wrestling with Jeff Jarrett in the main event of his USWA promotion at the very same time WM9 was going down.

I like the wrestling although you used the armbar to death back in those days. But it's the interviews that are gold and that is where they blow away the guys of today.

The WWF talent pool was very thin during Wrestlemania 11. The Royal Rumble match itself earlier in the year had the weakest amount of contestants ever. And King of the Ring 95 would be a disaster. But I thought HBK/Diesel was good and LT/Bam Bam turned out pretty good itself. Plus, Owen Hart won his first title. Over the Edge 99...well, we know what happened with Owen. As for the card itself, it was nothing special. No matches that really stood out. Taker won his 3rd WWF title that night but it's a match you'll probably never see.

A friend of mine saw Bret vs Yoko in a cage at a house show. It ended with Lawler throwing the salt into Bret's eyes. Outside of the contract signing, there really was no big build for the title match. You realize now that match was almost 15 years ago?

Enjoyed this week's show. I liked how it matched up nicely with this time of year. This week's NWA showed aired on 03/22/86 and I watched it yesterday, exactly 22 years later. As a result, you have references to the NCAA tournament and St. Patrick's Day. Anyway, the highlight was another Midnight Express squash. Just listening to Cornette's commentary and the Midnights embarrassing their opponents is just classic. Arn had an awesome facebuster from the second rope too.

That would have been a pretty good idea. I have no idea why Vince was so determined to keep Savage at the broad booth. I understand wanting to push new talent (at this point in time they had to) but not utilizing someone who had so much to offer was stupid. And despite what wwe.com would have you believe, Savage showed everyone what he still had left in his WCW stint. WM9 was definitely the weakest of all the cards. Even as bad as WM4 was, you still had Savage and Demolition winning the titles. Even Bret/Yoko was a strange main event. As good as Bret was, there is only so much he could get out of Yoko.

His hatred blinded him when it came to the WWF's success. He's be proven very wrong about business dying at the next Wrestlemania. While the company wasn't quite as mainstreamed as it was from 84-85, 86-87 were still two huge years for them. Meltzer also hated Monsoon, who was voted worst announcer of the year for about six straight years. Monsoon might not have been the greatest technical announcer but there are still few people I would have calling a wrestling show. I wouldn't say Orndorff was overrated but very lazy. A lot of time his offense consisted little of jerky knees to the back and forearm smashes. Some funny comments in there, such as the blue cage being used for Hogan's wrestling prowess and Beefcake contributing by standing on the apron, which was absolutely true. Piper was definitely the face in that boxing match. Anyway, I agree Wrestlemania II isn't a show that's aged well. It was spread too thin and most of the matches weren't that good. While I agree that the Savage/Steele feud was memorable, I would have gone with Savage and Santana for the IC title. They were having great matches across the country and a WM match between the two would have been memorable and logical. I heard originally that Bret Hart was supposed to be the opponent of Ricky Steamboat but they decided to go with Hercules because they thought he had a bigger upside. If that's true, that explains a lot about the mentality of wrestling back in those days. But think about how good WM would have been if you have Savage/Santana for the IC title and Steamboat/Hart? But WWF back then was the "larger-than-life" organization and that's what worked for them, despite Meltzer's bitter, bitter whining. Something Michael Hayes said on the recent Legends of Wrestling show was revealing. He said that he saw Savage/Steamboat after Jack Tatum was raving about it. After watching that match he thought "Damn, now the WWF has everything." Basically meaning they had the success and publicity for Wrestlemania and now they had the good wrestling too.

That's because the Godwinns were also using "Dont Go Messin With A country boy" as their theme in 96-97 (when Hillbilly Managed them) anyhow as I said in the general discussion thread, the music editing on wm 8 makes me head hurt. But the show is still one of my favs and it was cool seeing it in digital quality (and burning it to disc of course) and what an ending to the show. the Flair/Savage match is still one of my all time favs, with a LUDICROUS amount of cheating by Flair and Perfect that's too awesome to describe. (outside interference, chair shot, brass knux, to name a few) Even as a smark you still want to yell "WHAT A DICK!" when Perfect breaks up Savages pin attempt after the big elbow. The Post-match promos are awesome as well, Heenan is freaking out, Flair is mad, yet strangely calm as he is already thinking of a plan to get his title back. Savage is completely insane, yelling and ripping his clothes apart. And of course the Bret/Piper match. plus The great commentary makes this show one of the best. Oh yeah, the out-and-out cheating by Perfect in the best. Whippleman gets DQ'd for just coming into the ring. Perfect does that for over a minute and nothing happens. Not to mention physically throwing Savage off of Flair. But it was a classic.

Saw the Legends of Wrestling program last night and I enjoyed it.

That's the definite. That was the high point of Luger's second run in WCW and a great WCW moment.

RIP, Gary Hart. I remember when he was Terry Funk and the Great Muta's manager in 1989. Very much enjoyed his interviews on both WCCW DVDs. He was an engaging speaker and storyteller. Sad to hear that he's passed away.

now that you bring that up, I was thinking why didnt Flair present his side as to why he should be the 100 percent owner of the WWE at that time I was saying this myself. This storyline made no sense. Flair offers no defense whatsoever and just its there. The Board of Directors suspends him for deciding to get back into the ring, ignoring all the times Vince had gotten into the ring the past three years. Not to mention the fact that Vince admitted to actively tring to kill his own company. Just plain stupid. Speaking of Vince...that's the one storyline they've never done. Do a storyline where Vince completely loses control of the company. No power, no nothing. He has to start from the beginning. I think WCW did this with Bischoff. But I would love to see a storyline where Vince just goes around being the bitch of everyone. He used to be the cowardly heel owner but over the years he then transformed himself into the indestructable badass owner that everyone cowers down too. I've never enjoyed that.

Waylon Mercy was a great gimmick. Even JR put it over in a recent blog. It's a shame that Spivey's body came out. He could have been big around that time. I was a fan of the Austin heel turn. To me, it resurrected a stale character. I found him stale but others didn't and that's why it was an ill-fated decision business wise. But I'm glad they did it. Everyone acts like it was shocking but to me it wasn't. I thought the general consences was that he was going to go heel. Austin/Rock was the most logical main event. I think everyone thought that but there was definitely a feeling of not wanting to see another Austin/Rock match too. HHH/Taker was real good. They only wrestled each other because they had no other one to fight but it worked very well. Heenan and Mean Gene's return was the highlight of the gimmick battle royal. I remember Test just cracking Guerrero across the face with a big boot.

Watching this again, I couldn't believe how bad the Harts vs HBK/Knights match was. Even Shawn Michaels couldn't save it. This is the only time I would have wanted to see Lawler in a match instead of HBK. Lawler at least would have contributed to the story, which HBK simply doesn't. Obviously, we know the real reason Lawler wasn't in there. But without Lawler to cap off a red-hot, months-long feud, the match fizzles. It's clear that Bruce and Keith Hart hadn't been in the ring for years. The Knights are either washed-up (like Valentine) or nobodies. Even Michaels is off his game in the ring. Worth it only for the Owen Hart blow-up at the end. I think this PPV was the only one ever to take place in the old Boston Garden. Agreed about Heenan's classic performance and it was cool seeing the Smokey Mountain tag team titles being defended.

SHARE!! Yes, do tell, please. I don't currently have 24/7. To sum it up briefly, he told a story about looking all over the SkyDome for the Warrior after Mania ended and finally found him in a dark room, all alone, sobbing about how he couldnt believe what had just happened. They could have done so much more with this show. I thought that they would at least have expanded it longer than an hour or had a second part. I hate to hear that. The roundtable discussions are easily my favorite part of the 24/7 service. The quality has gotten a little low recently, though. They also could have done a whole lot more with the discussion on the territory system. I remember it being said during its run, but I'll say it again... not having Jerry Lawler, Dusty Rhodes, or even Mike Graham for that episode was absolutely ridiculous. Agreed. While I like Tazz and Mick, and they were able to discuss the end of the territories and the beginning of the indepedants, neither of them had any business in that segment. Lawler, Rhodes, and Graham weren't just stars in the heyday of the territories but they were bookers and owners.

I've got to agree with this. I was never a fan of the Flair/Taker match and I actually thought Flair couldn't keep up with Taker in this one. Arn's run-in was great though and that was probably the most perfect spinebuster ever. Also, the reasoning behind the WWE Executive Committe stripping Flair of power in the weeks leading up to this was stupid. They did it when he agreed to get into the ring, ignoring the fact that Vince was constantly getting into the ring. Not to mention the fact that Vince had just told everyone that he was going to "kill" his own company weeks earlier with the NWO. Anyone else remember this stupid storyline? I thought that HHH/Jericho should have ended the show leading up to this, since it was the world title bout. After watching it though, I have to say that Rock/Hulk should have ended it. It was a special match that the fans were totally into. Like Warrior/Hogan. That's what should have ended Wrestlemania. No one gave a shit about the title match.

This is easily my favorite show on 24/7. I started watching NWA wrestling with the first Clash of the Champions in 1988. I always enjoyed it but I missed all this classic stuff and it's great to finally watch it. Guys like Flair, Dusty, Cornette, Arn, Magnum...they really knew how to tell a story with their awesome promos. I agree the most recent show was really good. Arn carried that jobber to a very good match although my favorite had to be the Midnight Express squash. Between Cornette's "worried" commentary and the Midnights embarrassing their opponents, it was an entertaining segment, one of which you don't see even now. Like I said, Cornette's gold and I have to laugh whenever he calls himself a macho man.

I originally saw this PPV over my cousin's house. WMVIII was always one of my favorites. The two matches alone made it. Piper/Hart as a classic "face vs face" contest and one of the best of Piper's career. Flair and Savage was just as good, if not better. That's a match that doesn't get talked about much but it really is a classic. The "She was mine before she was yours" storyline was awesome and it capped off a feud that went into WCW and featured five world title changes in two federations. Warrior's return was also a highlight and I always got a kick out of Gorilla's reaction to Luger calling him fat. Interesting about them altering Flair's music. Flair's theme in his first WWF stint was a second-rate version of his 2001 theme. I actually noticed music editing with of all people, Hillbilly Jim, whenever he appears on 24/7. His "Don't go messin with a country boy" has now been replaced with the Godwins generic hillbilly music.