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Corey_Lazarus

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Posts posted by Corey_Lazarus


  1. Re: 2/3 Falls

    The Briscoes are notorious for using the 2/3 Falls gimmick over the last few years in RoH. It's a tool that was often used to put over how dominant of a team they are (usually winning two straight falls, leaving no requirement for a third), with a few used to put over new challengers to the RoH World Tag belts (either by having them beat the team in that gimmick, or at least get a fall in).


  2. Blowoff, with the first match very close to it in its importance. The blowoff is where the feud needs to culminate, where everything that you've seen thus far pays off, be it spots used throughout the series or a massive bloody brawl to close the last chapter of a bloodfeud. It's what ultimately leaves those who have watched the whole feud with their opinion, because if the blowoff is great then the whole feud seems that much better, but if the blowoff is atrocious then it can ruin the entire feud (see: Raven vs. Jarrett, "Destiny," from April '03 in TNA).

     

    But the start of it is so close that it may actually even be a tie. For example, take Matt and Jeff Hardy. The WWE has tried to make them feud three times already, with the third time being the charm. The first time we got a sub-par match that was more lame matwork from Matt (no pun intended) back in '01 because of Jeff's inability to land properly after flipping over the top rope, thus temporarily blowing out his knee. The second time? I don't even remember there being a match, considering Jeff was on Raw and Matt on SmackDown. If there was, then it obviously wasn't memorable in the least bit. But this time it's working. Matt can cut a decent promo, and Jeff has learned how to show emotion through his body language. Their first match in this feud at WM25 was one of the few ***+ matches on the entire show, and it was everything it needed to be: Jeff trying to get those few crazy highspots in as a means of both entertaining the crowd and taking the risks that his character needs to take, and Matt gaining the advantage (and the win) due to Jeff missing the mark on these attempted risks. Now? The feud is getting hotter and hotter.


  3. Why?

     

    I just rewatched it, and seriously, that isn't even a blade job, he digs in his skull about 4 or 5 times to get the effect. I know it's New Jack, but did he just not give a fuck beacuse it was some random as kid? Did one of them fuck up? Whatever the case, pretty damn sick. I know that hurt.

    Go get Forever Hardcore. According to New Jack, Kid Kash, and Blue Meanie, Mass Transit (an untrained 17-year-old who claimed to be in his early 20's and a student of Killer Kowalski) was being disrespectful to all of the boys in the back, in particularly Jack and D-Von. He then proceeded to botch spots left and right during the match, stiff them like fuck, and try to look like a big shot in front of the crowd (as it was his hometown). Thus, Jack took the scalpal (which he, himself, admits, as well as poking fun at those who say it was a spike or an Xacto knife) and cut him up to send him a message.

     

    ...the message? NEVER. FUCK. WITH. NEW. JACK.


  4. -Heyman stays with WCW, and gets named as WCW's head booker. He lasts only a few months, but gains a following with the boys in the back for listening to them and helping them develop their gimmicks into characters, aiding them in accenting their positives while hiding their negatives. Bischoff swoops in with the coup he has done, albeit a little later than he actually did. WCW goes from the semi-extreme (think family-friendly ECW) they were turning into directly into the Hogan show Bischoff created by signing the man. Heyman, now with an uber-personal vendetta against Bischoff (because not only was he fired by him, but because Bisch went over his head to do it), goes to ECW and history continues on as it did. ECW may even get a little bit more popular earlier than it did, but ultimately fails anyway. WCW still gets sold.

     

    -McMahon re-signs Bret, and Michaels throws a fit during the main event of SurSer '97 (but finishes the match). HBK demands his release and is granted it, and then bolts off to join the nWo. Bret/Austin headlines WM14 (thus giving us a better main event ring-wise), but Hart soon finds himself at odds again with McMahon and Russo. HHH is given a strong push throughout '98 (stronger than he received IRL) to keep him from jumping to WCW with the rest of the Kliq. Austin/Hart is the primary focus of the main event for the year, with Austin still immensely popular but not as much as he was thanks to the McMahon feud that pushed the WWF beyond WCW. Owen doesn't die due to having a sustained upper-mid spot and not having to do the Blue Blazer '99 angle, and Kurt Angle debuts in much the same fashion as he actually did. Tag division continues growing throughout late '98 and '99 until it reaches its true peak in 2000, with the Hardyz/Dudleyz/E&C feud still the highlight (although occasional matches against the Hart Foundation and DX consistently round out the scene).

    In WCW, Bisch keeps the nWo in the main, but HBK goes toe-to-toe with Hogan backstage for political control. Hogan disappears earlier in the year than he did IRL, and Goldberg's streak is ended by HBK (who shares booking control with Nash) at Starrcade (though the match is much closer and, overall, eons better than the Goldberg/Nash one we got). The main event in WCW has improved dramatically from a match quality perspective, but the fans still want somebody new there. Flair is shown a slight bit more respect politically, but not much.

    WCW still dies due to HBK's drug problems ending his career (possibly his life) and Hogan returning to take the spotlight back, drawing away more and more fans in the process. WWF pulls ahead thanks to the Radicalz (and others in WCW) leaving to join McMahon. Austin's neck stays the same, as he spends almost all of 2000 at home rehabbing as HHH/Rock is the top feud of the year. Benoit/Jericho rise to prominence quicker than they did IRL thanks to HHH not having as much political power as he actually did, and the WMX7 main is still Austin/Rock II. Semi-main is Bret/Benoit in Bret's retirement match (Benoit ends his career to the MotN and a standing ovation), and Owen/Jericho/Angle for the IC belt proves slightly disappointing. TLC2 remains intact, and ECW stars show up sporadically here and there.

    WCW is bought out by McMahon, who hires just a select few from the roster and begins to utilize the tape library on DVD releases. ECW is resurrected in November as its own show (the first "brand split" per se) where Heyman is given the book with McMahon overseeing everything he does, and booking with a much smaller roster.

     

    ...wow...


  5. ...anyways, what I learned is, Alter Bridge and Rev Theory are awful.

    Edited for accuracy. Humorous sidenote: there's a band in my area called Red Theory, and when Rev Theory were touring up here with {insert popular radio rock band of '08} less than a year ago everybody was congratulating Red Theory on getting such a big gig.

     

    I got into a lot of the bands I did thanks to ECW. That's how I found out about Anthrax, Motorhead, Bruce Dickinson (and, thus, Iron Maiden), and developed my uber-love of White Zombie (who provided about half of ECW's entrance music between '95 and '98, or so it seems). Following them, I got into even more bands thanks to an interview with Jerry Lynn in World Of Wrestling Magazine (which I had a subscription to before it was cancelled), who gave a rundown of his favorite bands (Slayer, Nile, Dying Fetus, GWAR, and others). What a lovely year '99 was for a 13-year-old Laz.


  6. Lord help me, I will never think of Cena/Michaels from WM23 as anything other than a horrible piece of shit. Yeah, the last few minutes are good, but everything before that? Boring. As. Fuck. You can have great psychology and selling (even if Cena no-selling the knee-work was the opposite of both) while making it interesting, too. Awful match, and definitely the worst HBK has ever had at 'Mania.


  7. I forget where I read it, but it was a great argument for saying that the whole "the business is cyclical" argument is bullshit. A promoter has an idea and forces it into a reality, using a certain group of stars to push his business forward. Sales grow as he continues pushing these stars, so he thinks that nothing can change so long as the show doesn't change. The crowds stop coming after a short while, though, because these same stars weren't the same as they were a few years ago. No new stars have been made. Now these stars don't shine as bright, yet the promoter still can't understand why the fans don't want to see the same people they saw doing the same thing they were doing years ago when they first became popular. So the promoter calls the business cyclical, just to make himself feel better, since there's no way he could do wrong given the money he's made only a few years ago.

     

    I'd say the combination of pushing the same guys in '01 that he did in '98 (Austin, Rock, HHH, 'Taker) combined with the death of ECW and WCW certainly lowered the opinion of pro wrestling in the eyes of the casual fan, and the entire InVasion angle - while producing some very stellar matches - was botched due to none of the true-blue WCW stars being involved (save for DDP, who was always seen as upper-midcard at best, even when holding the WCW World title) and the WWF talent not wanting to do much to put them over since the feeling that "these guys just tanked a company, why should we help them out" seemed all too prevalent. Those, and Vince continued with the same format of the shows as what worked in mid-'97, when it was becoming more and more obvious that shock TV and show-opening promo's from the same people week after week was quite dull, and few want to watch a show that they feel is dull.


  8. 2000: I must be alone in actually liking it. Even at the time I liked it. TLC 0 is, IMO, the best of the wars between the three teams (since it seemed that every other match was just a repeat of the spots in this one), and still has the more popular visual (Jeff Hardy coming off of the ladder with the Swanton to put Bubba Ray through a table in the aisle) of all of the TLC matches. Angle/Benoit/Jericho was solid booking, as it got the two midcard belts off of Angle and onto others without him losing credibility as he was set for a push towards the main event later in the year. And the main event? I never minded it. In hindsight, Foley ruining his retirement was dumb, and definitely set forth his ruining of his legacy for years to come, but really? HHH retaining added to it, in my eyes. Having the face win each and every WM in the main was too predictable. So now you have a top heel who can work his ass off and needs just that little nudge into true superstardom...so why not let him be the first heel to walk out of WM with a win in the main event? I didn't mind it then (huge HHH mark until the return in '02), and I still don't mind it too much now. The rest of the card was average at best, and totally not worthy of being WrestleMania.

     

    X7: I can't add anything new. Top-to-bottom best WM ever, and definitely in the running for best PPV ever (I would say Vengeance '03 and maybe Heat Wave '98 could give it some stiff competition, but X7 would likely win over them). Even the resultant Austin heel turn (which was still VERY entertaining) started off decent enough, but I really think that the Austin/Rock main was just pure icing on the cake compared to Angle/Benoit, TLC 2, HHH/'Taker, and even the Kane/Raven/Big Show 3-way. Wonderful show.

     

    X8: Never cared for it. I dug RVD/Regal, oddly enough, primarily due to Regal busting out the half-nelson suplex and RVD eating it head-first like a fucking champ. HATED HATED HATED HHH/Jericho, for both the feud (before and after WM) and the match itself being all about fellating HHH's ego. Jericho looked like a chump, which wasn't how he was booked in the years prior, and Rock/Hogan was a fun match. At the time? I hated Hogan. Never really liked him much. And I didn't care for the Rock in the ring unless he had Austin or HHH to bust his ass with. So, overall? Bland WM, and one I don't care if I ever see again. 1 match show, which a WM should never be, and that 1 match is a favorite amongst others more than it is of mine.

     

    19: HHH was in full-on suck mode. Solid match, that HHH/Booker, until the bullshit finish. Even having Book win by DQ or count-out, seeing HHH retain but lose, would have been better, but noooooo...HHH felt that the planned title switches later in the year would ruin the credibility of the WHT (which was just put into place about 6-7 months earlier), so Book goes on to lose the one feud he 100% should've won that year. Bullshit. Solid Angle/Lesnar that would have been among the greatest WM main's of all-time had Lesnar not botched the SSP, but even with it? It's still a tight match. Flair/'Taker was meh aside from AA showing up to nail 'Taker with the spinebuster. HBK/Jericho should have seen Jericho reversing that roll-up into one of his own, or reversing it into the Walls to make HBK tap, but I think Jericho's made up for it by essentially owning HBK during their amazing feud last year. And...I don't remember any other matches off the top of my head.

     

    20: Oh man...like X7, everything that can be said has been. Only thing I didn't like was the ending to Angle/Guerrero. Was it original? Yes, of course it was. Did it fit the story of the match? Perfectly. Did it even fit the characters of both men? Indubitably. But it's WrestleMania. Guerrero's first (and only) as WWE champion, and his first true chance at having a classic WM match. And it ends with a roll-up. Sorry, but to blow-off a feud, even one based around whether or not one guy could outsmart the other? A roll-up finish is bullshit. If the finish were similar, with Eddie's loosened boot letting him slip out of the Anklelock and nail Angle with something to lead-up to the Frog Splash I would love it, but the fucking roll-up? Dumb dumb dumb dumb. Never agreed with it. Main event is near-perfect, though, with all 3 busting their fucking asses, and Benoit going over HUUUUUGE. 'Taker's return to the Deadman was memorable, even if the match was a minute of Kane being jobbed to the man who had to pull out all stops to barely beat him 6 years earlier, but I'm having the same problem of just not remembering most of the rest of the show. Jericho/Christian was a very good match, easily ***1/2-****, and Goldberg/Lesnar is worth watching for the crowd reaction, but...no TLC, a year or two before MitB, and the same roster, overall, that had been there for a few years by this point.


  9. White Zombie - Astro-Creep 2000

    Slayer - Reign in Blood

    Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics

    Metallica - Master of Puppets

    Cannibal Corpse - The Bleeding

    S.O.D. - Speak English or Die

    Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation

    GWAR - Scumdogs of the Universe

    The Misfits - Static Age

    The Crown - Crowned Unholy (a re-do of Crowned in Terror with Johan back and slightly better production)


  10. It makes me think that a look into the South Park lawyers' dealing would be mildly fascinating, especially after Imaginationland.

    It's called "Parody." You can use somebody's likeness for the purpose of entertainment without their consent so long as it's done as a parody. Thank Larry Flynt for that addition to the First Amendment. :D

     

    Dammit! I hate having switched band practice to Wednesday's. Now I miss new South Park! And it's what? A few weeks before it's on South Park Studios?


  11. Re: Gilbert

     

    "[benoit] won't draw a dime."

    What were the buys on Rumble '04 and 'Mania 20?

     

    "I would cut your head off if you took my livelihood."

    Not knowing anything about the IRL fighting abilities of either man, something tells me that Benoit could've probably murdered him.

     

    "People were changing the station when he came on."

    Didn't Chris Benoit shine as one of the VERY few brightspots of WCW in late '99? I could've sworn that he was always loved by the fans and the smarks sure did suck his nuts, and he DEFINITELY go over after that awesome Best of 7 series with Booker...yet people changed the station. Riiiiiiiiight.


  12. Also, re: INDY APPLAUSE STANCE~!

    It works in certain matches, like where it's put over that it's just an exhibition, or if the two actually respect each other, or even if it's a case of "who's the better mat wrestler." Otherwise? I don't get it.

     

    -Whenever somebody shows up not scheduled for a match wearing their tights/ring attire. Cena coming back wearing kneepads and his sweatbands is one, but mostly when somebody has a t-shirt tucked into their tights or something...when they're just out there to TALK. Then they get challenged to a match later in the night, or some authority figure books them as a surprise, whatever. I do remember somebody doing that in street clothes and then wrestling in street clothes once or twice, but they usually come out to promo in their gear.

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