Papacita

On one of the rare Raws I've seen in the last couple of years, I remember Vince confronted London backstage and told him to "keep that smile." I thought that was pretty funny.

I owned a "I'd Rather be in Chyna" shirt that--even with my rep as a Chyna mark--I don't think I've ever worn in public without a jacket. Others: A DX blood t-shirt (not sure if it's the original design, but it's the one Austin ripped up on the night HBK rubbed the belt in his face) DX Shirt with HBK on it Austin 3:16 Austin's Terminator-esque shirt that came out in 97 Both the original and Wolfpac nWo shirts Tazz's "pitbull" shirt that came out around 2000 or so Undertaker: "He's got Soul...Maybe Yours"...purchased at KOTR 95 of all places! I had a surprising amount of Rock t-shirts considering I was never that big a fan of his ...probably more I'm forgetting.

I'm pretty sure that the sound in question (the "BRRR Abado" thing) is an actual recording from the M.O.P. song. I actually remember some people on here thinking M.O.P. was gonna be on it when it first came out. As small as it was, they could have some merit if they didn't get permission/ Agreed they should go back to Basic Thuganomics, though.

Not a character moment, but I watched No Mercy 05 shortly after Eddie died. While he was making his entrance, he titantron flashed "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie." Of course, the camera zoomed in tight on him, causing the words "DIE, DIE, DIE" to flash behind his head. I thought that was mildly spooky. Anyway, damn near any of the Eddie explotation stuff after the death. I'm not very religious, but the McMahon vs. God stuff was way over the line.

How's PPV been working for them? I heard it was pretty bad in Canada, but I've never really heard much about their US buys.

I agree on Hogan, as a worker at least. I mentioned in another thread that I've really come to like Rick Martel lately when I never really thought that much of him when I was younger.

I agree with this post. As somebody who didn't see the PPV live, I found the Taker/Mankind match a little boring by the time I got to see it, because I already knew the big bumps were coming. On the other hand, I've come to appreciate HBK/Taker over the years when for the longest time I felt it was overrated.

Rick Martel. Odd because he's one of those guys that you'd kind of expect to be a good worker, but I completely slept on his work. I've been watching a few of his matches lately and I've really been feeling them.

Yeah, Taker was supposed to feud with Nailz in late 92/early 93. After he got fired, Shango got inserted in Nailz's place in their house show matches. I kinda remember WWF magazine hyping a Shango/Taker feud as well; it just never played out on TV outside of the home video match. As for people I knew sucked when I was little...Mantaur was REALLY bad. Though I haven't watched them in years, I remember the tag team Well Dunn being pretty bad too. Also Kwang (I fucking LOVED Savio Vega though), Spark Plug Holly, Kamala (though that was probably more because of the stereotype than anything), and the Berserker (even though me and my friends used to love the "HUSS" thing).

Heenan still hated Hogan after the formation of the nWo. Yeah, but it lost all of its appeal when everybody else was supposed to hate him as well. Also, WCW seemed to take a more serious turn around this time, and what was funny before really didn't fit in with what they were trying to present, thus my saying he seemed lost.

Exactly. I didn't really care for WCW in 97, but Savage/DDP was the shit. Anti-Hogan Heenan was great in WCW from 94-96, but after the turn, he seemed a little lost, IMO. Goldust lost it after he dropped the belt to Ahmed in 96. Seemed like they turned down the gay factor to groom him for a run at Michaels, but he completely lost his edge after that and hasn't been the same since. As for Bam Bam, I could never take him seriously after the loss to L.T. Even with all the bad ass booking in ECW, the idea of him going over somebody like Taz was laughable to me.

Austin's face turn was the first thing that popped into my head. The whole "what" thing didn't help matters either. X-Pac after the 1999 DX reunion is probably the biggest I can think of off hand. A lot of people seem to forget that X-Pac was one of the most over faces on the roster in 98-99, and that he was probably more over than HHH (definitely in the beginning of the 99; it gets debateable towards the summer). Once HHH got the belt, they could've easily worked X-Pac into the title picture, which I think would've been a much better use of him. Instead, they sacrificed ALL of his momentum by turning him heel, and by 2000 people were practically begging to get him off TV. Test is another big one, as he was insanely over via the Steph angle, but he got buried once the McMahon-Helmsley thing came into play. On Ahmed...he was my fucking dude up until he got kicked out of the Nation after SummerSlam 97. He was injured at the time, and then to make matters worse, he ended up reinjuring himself in his comeback match against the Rock a month later. That was it for him as I was concerned.

I put in a vote for Kendrick. The only thing I could see holding him back is his size, and really at Unforgiven he didn't really look out of place against HHH and others.

They're probably worried more about parents than the kids with respect to blood. Besides, blading was getting really cliche in WWE for a while, so I wouldn't mind it if they scaled back. I also don't think hiring an acting coach for the wrestlers is that bad an idea. I don't necessarily like the Entertainment-style approach, but if they're gonna keep putting their wrestlers in positions in situations that rely on acting, they might as well take steps to make sure they're good at it.

No way Steamboat wouldn't work ME in ECW. Aside from the afforementioned history with Douglas (that feud just writes itself), he'd be--with maybe the exception of Funk--far and away the biggest name on the roster. Sure, he wasn't known for his brawling, but neither was Austin when he came over, and he never worked outside of the title picture. Depending on when he joined, I could see him taking the belt from Shane and then having to fend off Benoit and Malenko, who are out for revenge...more as a way to elevate those two than anything. I could MAYBE see him joining Foley in his anti-hardcore stuff in 95, or maybe even coming against him as a defender of the hardcore fans, but I can't see him being all that effective in either role and he probably wouldn't last all that long. As far as WCW, it's surprisingly hard to say since I just can't picture him in Nitro-era WCW (in fact, I never realized the debut was so soon after his retirement). I like the suggestion of a feud with Vader, since I can't ever recall them facing...plus Vader destroying Steamboat would probably do more to build Vader up than beating Duggan would. IIRC, there was also a bit of mystery as to whether Savage would come into WCW as a Hogan ally or an enemy...I could see Steamboat playing a minor role in that situation. Eventually, he settles into a feud with Arn Anderson, Col. Parker and the Stud Stable, which bleeds into the Horsemen reformation in fall 95, and a minor feud with Benoit and/or Pillman. Outside a couple of title matches against Flair, the eventual Savage rematch is the only other option I see for him, and that could take place in 97 once Savage joins the nWo. In fact, let Savage retire him, and have him be a casulty of the nWo.

What all has he been doing that's hurt him so bad? Is he that prominent that people would actually notice him?

I dunno how the crowd would take to it, but I would mark so damn hard if Colt and Punk won the belts.

I agree Hogan is the man, but let's try not to forget that without Austin, there is no 2000 WWF. Part of the reason that 2000 was so profitable was due to increased public visibility and avenues opened as a direct result of the popularity gains in 98-99. Taking nothing away from the Rock and others, but it's easy to reach those heights once the plane is already built; Austin made them profitable when a lot of people thought they were on their last leg. The very fact that the 2001 downturn was DIRECT BACKLASH of them changing Austin's character speaks volumes for the man's importance. And Roddy Piper, Randy Savage and even Ultimate Warrior weren't exactly chopped liver in 80's and early 90's.

I didn't like the McMahon angle at all, even though it got people talking. I haven't seen any of the other stuff, so I can't comment.

On topic, if you're talking all-time WWE, I don't see how you can say anyone but Hogan is the face of WWF/E. As much as I loved the Attitude era, by 02 Austin was nearing irrelevancy, and Rock seemed to step away just as he hit his peak. On the current product...to say that it's the best ever is a BIG ASS STRETCH (I know it's all opinion, but I'm not sure I'd put this current era over the Flair era of 91-93, much less 97-2000), but I think you've gotta give them their due in that they've been on their shit in a lot of aspects this year. HBK/Jericho has been flat out the best WWE feud of the decade, and while I don't like the handling of Punk's reign, on the Raw side at least they've been doing a great job with younger guys like Kofi, Priceless and others. Granted, I watch very little WWE these days, so maybe those saying it's abysmal are seeing some stuff that I'm not seeing, but I can't help but feel some of you are being too hard on them.

Just my warped attempt at humor.

I dunno if this was made clear, but Dr. Black WAS NOT Benoit's doctor. Given that they've worked his violations into the shows, I wonder if they'll try to make this into a storyline. I could see a "Did Jeff get his third strike" angle doing big ratings. They could use it to promote the move to the new network.

I stopped watching Smackdown regularly in 04 so I haven't seen a whole lot of Taker in a while, but this is the most off-putting thing I see with him. I like his actual in-ring work and dig when he tries to use the MMA stuff, but all of that seems out of place with the whole deadman character. It just irks the shit outta me when I see him go through all the supernatural stuff with the big, dramatic entrance, then when the lights come back on, he just throws his hands up like your average dude on the street. I always preferred the old school gimmick to the new one, but if he wants to wrestle that style, I just wish he'd go back to the old BikerTaker gimmick he was doing prior to Mania XX.

Not to beat a dead horse, but again, both sides were aware of the risk airing the segment. I agree that comparitively, much more fault lies with WWE, and I'm not disputing that they had the power to remove the segment on their own, but in the event they didn't deem in necessary, it's UPN's job to step in and do something. UPN knew about the bombings, they anticipated the backlash (that they, not WWE, inserted the warnings supports this), and they let it air anyway. WWE shouldn't have put them in that position, but the fact is that they did, and therefore UPN deserves its share of the blame for not handling it correctly.

In fairness, a lot of the blame for that angle lied with UPN too, who could've just as easily decided not to air that segment. As you pointed out, everybody knew well in advance that that was a sensitive area, and I think it was actually UPN's idea to put the ticker in there. Not to take any of the blame off WWE, but it was kinda weak for them to come down on WWE like they did when they have ultimate control of what gets broadcast. But yeah, I didn't mind Hassan when he was around. For all you can say about his gimmick, he was probably the only one of the new guys around that time whose push didn't really seem out of place. Back in the day, a lot of us were initially resistant to pushes of guys like Brock and Orton because it seemed as if they had pegged those guys for top spots and were gonna make fans accept them if they had to drag them kicking and screaming (as opposed to a Batista or Cena, whose big pushes really came after fans started reacting favorably). While Hassan was booked strongly out of the gate, they didn't try to make him seem like he was more than he was and didn't try to shove him down the fans' throats. They gave him just enough time to develop an on-screen persona and kept him just strong enough so that by the time he was programmed with Shawn Michaels, he was established enough that the pairing didn't really seem all that far-fetched. Compare that to when Chris Masters was paired with Michaels a few months later. His mic work gets a bit of a bad rap as well. He wasn't Foley level or anything, but he was completely passable and better than a lot of guys who were in WWE at the time.