King Kamala

You're right. With the 4th of July weekend coming up, this is going to be another slow weekfor the All Time Wrestling Roster draft.

I did! For some reason, I ordered SuperBrawl X (not for that match in particular though) and it's probably the worst mistake I've ever made as a wrestling fan. Awful, awful show. You know a show's terrible when the best match involves David friggin Flair.

Honestly, putting this together is a logistical nightmare.I'm basically limited to shows that are available for free online. Frankly, I'd be happy if there were three or four participants tomorrow night.

Alright folks, just when it looks like this project has been killed by my apathy, I've finally discovered the perfect show to watch. The episode of Nitro from the night after Souled Out 2000, which features such gems as Tank Abbott Vs The Maestro, Masahiro Chono and Super J Vs The Varsity Club, Sid Vs The Wall, and Lex Luger Vs Bam Bam Bigelow amongst others. It also has Commissioner Kevin Nash's HI-larious State of WCW address. I posted the links to the Daily Motion videos in the newest Let's Talk About... thread but in case you're too lazy, I'll post them here too. Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six I'd like to do this tomorrow night at 8 P.M. I know it might be short notice but I think watching an episode of Nitro circa '00 will be worth dropping plans for.

I didn't think The Maestro was all that bad. He was a guy that came along about twenty years too late. Though his reason for feuding with The Cat might have been one of the stupidest reasons for a feud this side of Booker T and Edge feuding over a shampoo commercial and Kane and Jericho feuding over spilt coffee. Actually, I don't think The Cat and The Maestro ever even had a match during that feud. I think they just cut a few promos on each other and the feud's "blowoff" was James Brown showing up and dancing with The Cat and The Maestro quietly sulking.

I just hit the jackpot in terms of finding crappy WCW videos from this era. The entirety of the episode of Nitro the night after Souled Out 2000. I might provide some running commentary for this tomorrow, anybody with me? Maybe we can tie it into the seemingly aborted "Kamala's Tape of The Month Club" idea I had a while back. Anyways here it is Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six

Woke up late today so I skipped breakfast Lunch: Vegetable Lo Mein and a Spring Roll from the Chinese restaurant down the street and two glasses of water. Had a 20 oz bottle of A&W Cream Soda in between meals. I try to limit my soda consumption but I had to make an exception. I hadn't had this ina ages. Great stuff. Dinner: Stir fried chicken with veggies and brown rice and another glass of water. I might fix myself some nachos with sour cream later tonight

Damn you again King! I was close to drafting Hardcore Holly with Crash and do the superheavyweight tag team gimmick and pair them against The Skyscrapers but YOU RUINED MY DREAMS!!! *sigh* Anyways, I'm sure this next pick is bound to piss off a ton of people. Not because this man was a well respected wrestler and one of the biggest stars of the 70s but because he would surely have been one of the top picks in the upcoming non-wrestler draft. However, I really wanted a big man showdown and I wanted a likeable everyman to pair up against the arrogant Ernie Ladd. My next pick is one of the most beloved figures in wrestling. There's also potential for a feud with "Superstar" Billy Graham, since the two squared off regularly during Graham's WWWF World title reign. This man is equally as talented as a heel. He's a member of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of '94. Ladies and gentlemen, wiith my 18th pick and the 319th pick overall in the All Time Wrestling Roster draft, I'm proud to select... Gorilla Monsoon!

Yes! Finally Rap is Crap on DVD! I'm also happy that they got the Terry Taylor/Curt Hennig match from WrestleFest on there. That match has never been televised in any form IIRC and supposidely stole the show. I'd like a couple more matches and putting Shawn Michaels/Mr. Perfect on there is a slight headscratcher but otherwise, it's a perfectly fine match selection.

It's available to watch instantly. At least it was a year or two ago when I first watched it. I think you'd really dig it.

Milky, have you seen Across 110th Street? It's on par with Shaft in terms of great blaxploitation movies, I personally like it a little better. Just a really well made film. It's easily the most violent and least glamourous of the genre. An incredibly bleak and depressing movie. Though it's lumped in with the genre, I'm not sure if it's really blaxploitation persay. It had a then popular white actor, Anthony Quinn co-starring . I think of it more as a good crime drama with a predominantly black cast. Good semi-recent review of the film with spoilers

Oooh I love me some surveys. I went more with the definitive matches route instead of the matches that aren't yet on DVD route. Nothing wrong with either method though really/ For the record I picked 70s-80s Pat Patterson Vs Ted DiBiase (for historical purposes, it'd be good to have the first IC champion in action on the DVD. Incidentally, Ted DiBiase was the first holder of the shortlived IC title predecessor, The WWF North American Title.) Jimmy Snuka Vs Don Muraco (one of the most iconic matches in WWF history) Randy Savage Vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (see above) 90s Bret Hart Vs "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (Easily one of the best matches in WWF history. And the first and almost definitely last and only time that the Intercontinental title main evented a major PPV) Razor Ramon Vs Shawn Michaels (again- another iconic match) Steve Austin Vs The Rock (I don't remember this match being particularly great or anything but it's two of the biggest icons in the sport in one of their first matches against each other) '00s Kurt Angle Vs Chris Jericho (For a while in early '00, it seemed like the IC title division was on the up and up. This match is a great example from that period) Randy Orton Vs Rob Van Dam (Again- two more future World Champions showcased battling for the IC title) Ric Flair Vs Triple H (I've always dug this match and once again two more main eventers to stick on there to sell more DVDs)

I thought of Jericho for the weasley, meddling heel(really there's no other choice) right after I typed that spiel but I didn't feel liked editing it. And I don't usually like the World Champ being 2nd banana but I think this case would be an exception.

Now that I've watched the angle on Daily Motion, it's time for Fantasy Booker With King Kamala Classic. I'd book CM Punk ala Bret Hart during his first title run. They've already done the first part well (A well respected mid carder out of nowhere defeats the arrogant heel champion while he's off his game).I'd have Punk declare himself "a fighting champion" and defend the belt weekly against mid-card guys who don't typically get World title shots, building up momentum for a showdown at a big PPV with an unstoppable, established main event heel. Personally, I'd go with Batista. Batista got screwed out of the title last night and effectively did most of Punk's work for him tonight. That jealousy could drive Batista mad and perhaps a weasley, meddling heel could convince Batista that The World title is rightfully his. Anyways, dorky fantasy booking rant over.

I picked the wrong night to miss RAW UGH!

The Maestro was an odd case for certain. He was signed to WCW back in '98/early '99 as Gorgeous George III (He claims he was the original's Great Nephew) and sat on the shelf for months. Then they signed Mach's girlfriend, Gorgeous George in the Summer of '99 so they had to retool him to clear up any confusion and thus the Maestro was born. And the rest is...(non)history. I think The Maestro actually first showed up either during the tail end of the lame duck run between Bischoff and Russo or during Russo's run. Nevertheless, he was around during the Sullivan era. I may be remembering this wrong but the weird thing about him was he would show up on Nitro and do his extravagant entrance and whatnot and the announcers would hype the shit out of him and then he wouldn't show up for a couple of weeks and they'd do the same thing. His appearances seemed really scattered. Maybe WCW couldn't afford to rent a grand piano every week at that point? The Maestro was a character straight out of mid 90s WWF. Ooh, an evil symphony conductor! That's going to pack 'em in!

Hurt his career may have been a bit of an overstatement. It's given him a ton of screentime and one of the biggest pushes he's had in The States and Finlay deserves it. Like I said in The NOTC roundtable, at this point in his career Finlay shouldn't be doing the superstiff brawls that put him on the map all time. At the same time, it has the same effect on his career that "The King" gimmick had on Harley Race and the yellow polka dots on Dusty Rhodes. Yeah, sure they made a lot of money. Perhaps the most money they've made in their careers but it's an odd and slightly embarrassing coda to a career. I have a feeling there'll be a whole generation of fans who will remember Finlay as Hornswoggle's big buddy rather than a kickass brawler.

Three Count's title run with The WCW Hardcore title was during the tail end of Sullivan's run. And yes, The WCW Hardcore title was absolutely terrible. A top contender for Worst Title Ever. Sure, it got Norman Smiley on TV on a regular basis (I've always dug the guy, an underrated talent) but it also gave Brian Knobbs a singles push. There's no reason Brian Knobbs should have been getting anything resembling a push in '00. And I don't want to place all the blame on Kevin Sullivan. Heck, I don't think I can even place the majority of the blame on him. I just couldn't think of a better title for the thread. Maybe "Let's Talk About...The First Three Months of WCW in '00". Anyways, whoever said he was given absolutely dire circumstances to work under is absolutely right. At the same time saying he did well under those circumstances is absurd because almost nothing went well during his run with the book in '00. And bookers have done better with worse situations. I think it was one of those situations where almost everybody had some small share of the blame. But the most blame has to be put on the general apathy of the workers and writing staff. Everything just seemed tired during that period.

Let's refresh our memories on some of the suck, shall we? Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett Vs Sid and Hulk Hogan (Nitro 3-20-00) Big Poppa Pump shoots on Ric Flair Tank Abbott Vs Big Al (SuperBrawl X) Sting Vs The Total Package Lumberjack match (Uncensored 2000) Hulk Hogan Vs The Wall (Nitro 3-27-00)

Yes, it can be the worst Thunder ever. Sid wrestled three times! And amazingly the next week's episode was just as bad! I know I'm going off on a tangent but Sullivan's reign with the book in early '00 is the worst era in WCW history. It's beyond argument really. Worse than Russo because at least Russo failed in a semi-interesting way.

Yes it is that Thunder. For some godforsaken reason, Sid used that godawful Crossface as a second finisher during that time period. He also beat Tank Abbott and Kevin Nash with it IIRC.

I like some of the second tier Skynrd songs, "That Smell" and "Gimme Back My Bullets" but rednecks can have the rest for all I care.

All this Thunder talk has put me on a quest to find...THE WORST (SOUNDING) EPISODE OF THUNDER. ddtdigest will be my guide... I THINK IF FOUND IT (2-2-00)!!! I actually watched that episode "live" and indeed it was terrible. I remember them hyping The Machine (Emory Hale under a hood) and in one of my first smark moments thinking "Wait a second, they haven't talked about this guy before tonight and all of a sudden they're hyping him? I bet he gets squashed!" And what happened? He got squashed by DDP! Reason #1 for this show sucking: Three Sid matches!

So bps is up with another hour and a half to go before HTQ can make his pick and Steviekick can make his pick anytime, right? Man, weekends absolutely kill these things!

I just watched that match a month or two ago on YouTube! Your assesment of the match is pretty spot on. 'Twas a fun TV match while it lasted though. AWA on ESPN was the show I was forgetting. Yeah, those shows were pretty much as bad as Thunder especially the stuff after Curt Hennig jumped ship. Egads! Incidentally, both had Lee Marshall on color commentary for a time. Easily, the worst announcer in professional wrestling. Worse than latter day Tony Schiavone, worse than Michael Cole. Maybe not worse than the guy who did Heroes of Wrestling but closer than you'd think.