King Kamala

How about One Man Gang with the WCW U.S. title in late 95/early 96? It really came out of nowhere. I mean Gang was a competent big man, but he was at least six or seven years past his prime and wasn't really built up to be a contender for the #2 title in WCW. He appeared shortly before and disappeared shortly after IIRC.

I've only been to about four house shows and two TV tapings (One Superstars in July 94 and one WCW Saturday Night taping in May 98) plus a half dozen or so indy shows so I haven't seen many workrate classics. I'd say the best match I've seen was a Bret Hart Vs Owen Hart lumberjack match from the Superstars taping I attended (It's on a Coliseum tape). It's not as good as their other matches, but it's damn good nonetheless (I'd put it in the ***1/2-**** range) and probably the best lumberjack match I've ever seen (Which isn't saying much since lumberjack matches are my least favorite gimmick matches)

308 And some of the shows are on Universal HD in HD like Knight Rider and Equalizer. Oh, and Sleuth didnt replace Trio..Trio was turned into one of the first ever internet networks and taken off cable. Yeah I know but on my cable system that was what replaced Trio. Marvin, I need to unleash my rage on someone!

I watch it from time to time to see Homicide: Life On The Street reruns. But that motherfuckin' channel replaced Trio, which was one of my favorites!

And lest we forget, a Triple Hesque foe in Jeff Jarrett

Under what circumstances did The Patriot leave WWF? It seems like one day, he was in the midst of a feud with Bret Hart and The Hart Foundation and the next, he was gone. Was it injury? Was he just a casualty of a bygone era?

I agree, Booker T totally busted his ass off to try to make it work but he was just too much of a Rock ripoff and nobody was watching anyways. In terms of booking champions in a promotion like WCW circa 2000, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place since almost no one will be able to draw the fans in. How about the whole saga where Evan Karagias, Madusa and Oklahoma all ended up with the WCW Cruiserweight title in a one month span? Speaking of the TV title what about, Custodian Jim Duggan finding the TV title in the garbage can on an episode of Saturday Night in its dying days and then proceeding to have epic matches/ mini feuds with Steven Regal, Fidel Sierra and Robert Gibson?

So I went to the Smackdown house show tonight at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine. Audience is about half filled, 4,000 people in an 8,000 seat arena. I grab my program and all of a sudden, I hear Chimel come out and he introduces the Miz, who runs down the card. The Undertaker is not here (cue groans of audience). Other than that it's inaudible, I'm still in the lobby but I hear "And his replacement is...." more inaudible jargon and a HUGE pop. So I buy my program and run back to my $20 cheap seat. I arrive just in time to see the Miz leave and Chimel introduce the opening match. Bobby Lashley defeats Finley in around six minutes with a spear in a WWE U.S. title match. Before the match, William Regal ambushed Lashley and pummeled him. The ref sent Regal out of the ring and the match started. Solid match with Finley working Lashley's knee (Good continuity from last night's match). Finley whacks it with the shelleighle, Regal interferes but eventually Lashley has a comeback and wins. After the match, Regal beats down Lashley until the Little Bastard hops out from out under the ring and attacks Regal. Finley restrains him and they all head to the back. Jillian beats Kristal in around five minutes. Sylvester Turkey defeats Gunner Scott with some modification of a fisherman's suplex. I've never seen a developmental guy totally dominate a guy on the roster like Turkey did. Scott got some token offense in the beginning and near the end but other than that it was all Sylvester. Tatanka beats Mr. Kennedy. Before the match, Mr. Kennedy had a funny spiel where he said it's great to be in Bangor. Than the audience booed and he asked Chimel where they were and Chimel told him and Kennedy was like "What Chimel? Are you crazy? We're not in Oregon!" Vito defeats Funaki with some kind of armbar while Funaki has his head up his skirt. A pretty mediocre comedy match, Funaki pretty much got squashed. Paul London and Brian Kendrick beat The Pitbulls (Jamie Knoble and Kid Kash) in about eleven-twelve minutes. Pretty huge heat for this one. Knoble and Kash didn't get much heat when they came out, but progressively they worked the crowd and by the end, the crowd was foaming at the mouth for London and Kendrick to kick their asses. OK match (Bit of a disapointment, but it's a house show so I shouldn't neccessarily always expect a pay per view ending) but it had a pretty cool finishing sequence) Intermission for ten minutes. Noticed the errors in the programs. Animal, Tyson Tomko, The Dicks, Palmer Cannon and a bunch of other people now released were still in there. Khali wasn't in there. Angle was still Smackdown champion, Orton was still on RAW,etc, etc. The Great Khali (With Daviri) defeats Matt Hardy in about two minutes with a chokeslam. Pretty much a squash as expected, Hardy got in some token jobber offense. After the match, Daviri talked about how Portland, Maine and The Undertaker were afraid of Khali and Khali shouted in the mic while the audience chanted "What?" (Whether they were imitating Austin or legitametly were confused as to what he was saying is yet to be determined). Gregory Helms beats Super Crazy in about eight minutes with The Nightmare On Helms Street in a WWE Cruiserweight title match. Chimel introduces Sharmell who introduces King Booker. King Booker has a five-six minute entrance all while Chimel says "All Hail King Booker" over and over again. Audience got pretty annoyed quick. Booker says the audience all wishes they could kiss his feet, but that would take too long. Booker says his peasents have seen enough of him and heads to the back but Batista's music hits over the P.A. Batista comes out and whallops King Booker for a while until Mark Henry jumps him from behind. Mark Henry and King Booker assault Batista until Rey Mysterio Jr makes the save and our main event is started. Batista and Rey Mysterio Jr defeat Mark Henry and King Booker (With Queen Sharmell) in about six minutes when Rey Mysterio Jr hits the 619 on Henry,then Henry stumbles back into a Batista Bomb and then Rey comes off the top with a splash to finish it off. After the match, Batista holds Rey's World title belt and contemplates keeping it but eventually gives it to Rey and the two hug. The two shake the ropes ala The Ultimate Warrior and pose for the fans. All in all a damn good show, except for the 10 year old girl behind me who kept shrieking in my ear for every semi-attractive male wrestler (Eck). The crowd around me wasn't too annoying. Crowd pops 1. Batista (by a country mile) 2. Lashley 3. London and Kendrick Heat 1. King Booker 2. Finley 3. (Tie) Ken Kennedy and The Pitbulls I guess it's cool that I get to say I saw Batista's first match in five months (Unless he fought at another house show or in a dark match, I dunno)

I wonder if Rey will make a special guest appearence seeing that it's 6/19.....I doubt it. I've been out of the loop with wrestling for about three or so years and am starting to get back into it a little bit. So can someone explain to me, why people watch Raw over Smackdown?

If we're going on basis of drawing people to shows and pay per view buy rates, than no WCW Champion from mid 1999 till the end deserved a World title and no WWE/F champion from 1993-96 or 02-present deserved it. As for my choiced I'd have to say Billy Gunn's out of nowhere King of The Ring win. To make it even worse, WWF totally abandoned the push when they realized Billy couldn't cut it and made him look like a complete ass (pun intended). Personally, The King of The Ring never had the same prestige as it had before.

Sorta, Tatanka won with a sunset flip and Kennedy kept trying to hold the ropes but Charles Robinson(Who was trying to pull him off) kicked his hands and Kennedy then fell for the awkward sunset flip. Technically, Batista was the replacement for Matt Hardy, but he was in a main event instead of against Khali. A ton of people around me thought Batista was going to fight The Great Khali, which thankfully never came to frutation.

Whoops it was the spinebuster not the Batista Bomb.

Wouldn't you want to forget it? Eh it was a pretty good show. I got to see Funaki. Another weird thing about the show, Scotty 2 Hotty was born and raised about ten minutes away from Portland and he didn't appear at all at the card. Hmmm, it seems as if his days are numbered. Although I've been saying that for a good three years.

I dunno, a souvenir to remind myself I went in case I ever get amnesia. I like getting the program for some reason.

You know I'm not sure. Tatanka got a reasonable sized pop but it was more people were cheering against Kennedy than for Tatanka. Kennedy is great, his mic work reminds me a bit of Chris Jericho circa 1998. As for Sylvester Turkey, his name was pronounced Tur-Kay for some reason. I guess they don't want people gobbling at a monster heel. Looking up online, he's a former NCAA Champion. Perhaps this could be a sign of a future feud with Angle?

I'm going to a Smackdown house show tonight, so I might put up my report on here. Sounds like a cool show you went to.

Yeah I totally agree with the JBL/Cole chemistry being off. It was too argumentive and a bit too mean spirited. I think Cole should be more flabbergasted by JBL's remarks ala Gorilla Monsoon's reactions to Bobby Heenan's comments.

Another solid Smackdown. Mysterio/Helms and the tag match were all good TV matches, and the main event was solid. As much as I wasn't looking forward to it when I bought the tickets, I'm really looking forward to the Smackdown house show I'm going to tommorow night. Despite the fact, the main event might include Mark Henry.

I loved JBL's hyperbole about Finley and Regal teaming up "It's like the Huns and The Mongols teaming up!"

Aw man, I'm already really digging JBL as Smackdown heel commentator. His commentary during King Booker's entrance= Gold! This is the first time since Heyman that the WWE's had a genuine heel commentator and I'm lovin' it!

Feast, was the film that was documented on Project Greenlight 3. It's about a bunch of people trapped in a bar in the middle of nowhere by some mysterious monster. I imagine it's only Midnight Showings since it's not very good and was supposed to come out a year or so ago.

I've been renting a lot of documentaries from Netflix lately. Two documentaries I've watched in the last two nights. Overnight: 7/10, an interesting documentary on the rise and fall of Boondocks Saints writer and director, Troy Duffy. It's basically 90 minutes of Duffy being a dick to everyone of his friends and then slowly falling down the ladder of success until he is blackmailed from working in Hollywood. It was a very entertaining documentary, but it wasn't very well made and the filmmakers left a lot of questions unanswered. A Perfect Candidate: 8.5/10, a documentary from the same crew that did The War Room. It's about the 1994 U.S. Senatorial race in Virginia between Oliver North and Chuck Robb. A really eye opening look into two nasty, smear campaign.

I saw them open for U2 last October in Boston. They weren't bad, just kind of there...went on for about ten minutes too long.

As a Worldwide watching mark, I enjoyed watching the dynamic duo of Jim Powers and "Hardwork" Bobby Walker job to the lower mid card tag teams of WCW. It was a rather short lived team but I'll always remember it! Er...maybe not.

I think they not be neccessarily underrated but I thought The Orient Express got a fair shake. They were a talented team but they rarely ever won a match against a name team not named The Rockers.