King Kamala

Would it be fair to call Thunder the worst major league wrestling show of all time? It's worse than ECW on TNN which occassionally whipped out matches that were better than what they were doing on PPV. It was worse than C list shows like Shotgun, Jakked, and Worldwide if only because there were higher expectations and it's always fun to watch squash matches and third rate gimmicks (The Gambler FTW). I have a feeling there may be a show worse than Thunder but I'll be damned if I can think of one.

Honestly, I wouldn't totally be surprised if 'Taker went as long as Flair did. Hell, look at all the 80s WWF guys still on the weekend indy circuit and they didn't have a three month vacation every year like 'Taker has.

Was there ever a good episode of Thunder. The best episodes were probably servicable diversions. Even during WCW's relative boom period in '98, Thunder was pretty meh. WCW may have had the talent to put on nine hours of solid wrestling each week in '98 (3 hours of Nitro, 2 hours of Thunder, 2 hours of Saturday Night, 1 hour of Worldwide, and the occassional Pro exclusives) but they sure as hell couldn't.

God dammit cabbage. You and some of the board got to get your head out of '06. OK, he doesn't have Bret/Shawn type wrestling credibility (whatever the fuck that is) but once again, who does? He's a perfectly competent worker, I'd even venture to call him good. He's not a mainstream star but once again who is besides the aforementioned big three? Cena probaly has more mainstream recognition than an Ultimate Warrior or Kevin Nash and just about as much as a Ric Flair or Undertaker or Goldberg. It's completely unreasonable to expect every champion to have every champion be a wrestler the caliber of HBK and Bret Hart and/or a mainstream superstar the caliber of Rock or Hogan. Yeah, his character is annoying and it is stale. But he isn't more annoying than a Randy Orton or a Batista or a tired Triple H or a broken down, should be retired Rey Mysterio Jr. And none of those guys catch half the flak that Cena does. It's incredibly easy to blame him for WWE's current woes but also incredibly ignorant. Who does Cena appeal to? Kids. Who does WWE try to appeal to most and who spends the majority of money on WWE? Kids and their parents (Mostly their parents but you get the jist). Look I'm not saying the serious wrestling fan doesn't have his say in the wrestling world and I think with 24/7 and retro DVDs flying off the shelf, they're being treated much better than they were ten years ago. But that's besides the point. Ugh I'm just rambling right now. I'm going stop. Not worth getting an ulcer over arguing John Cena(!!!) with a stubborn buffoon like Cabbageboy (!!!)

It's all about NetFlix. They have pretty much everything except hardcore porn. It's pretty much down to Blockbuster and Hollywood Video right now in Maine and even some of those are closing. There is one pretty cool independent place downtown but I don't get a chance to go there all that much.

I never truly got the appeal of Shaft despite the fact that I own all three on DVD (Shaft Goes To Africa). There are a few cool scenes in each one and the first one is legit solid movie but they all kind of drag. There isn't nearly enough of the camp and corniness that makes me love blaxploitation. They're basically white detective movies with black people shoehorned in as the leads. And according to Melvin Van Peebles, Shaft was originally going to be with mostly white actors and they just piggybacked on the success of Sweetback and rewrote it to have black actors in the lead. Across 110th Street might be my favorite blaxploitation film but I almost think that one's too classy to truly qualify as blaxploitation. I really love that movie though and what a killer theme song. Incidentally, has anybody else checked out the documentary about Melvin Van Peebles, How To Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (And Enjoy It)? Hell of an entertaining movie. I never knew how truly versatile the guy was. BAADASSSSS was also an incredibly fun movie and boasts one of the greatest titles in film history.

I hate to go off on a tangent but I don't get why people deride Cena for not being "a mainstream star". Yeah he isn't one and he probably never will be but who is really? There are only three living wrestlers who are; Hogan, Austin, and Rock. And two out of those three barely qualify as mainstream stars. Heck, I'd go as far as to say Austin isn't a mainstream star period. He was one ten years ago maybe even five years ago but he sure isn't anymore. Anyways, I can certainly see why people dislike Cena. Yes, his gimmick is sort of annoying, he's kind of bland, and WWE was really shoving him down the audience's throat for the past few years (They've relented a bit in the past few months). But I don't understand the wide spread adamant, seething hatred for the guy. The man has had too many good matches to deserve that and he's a good talk show guest! I guess Cena isn't supposed to be for jaded, cynical marks like us. Like Wu Tang, Cena is for the children. If this board was around in '86, everybody would have been bitching about how Vince is trying to shove Hogan down our throats. Incidentally, Cena at this point is a better worker than Hogan ever was (got to tie it back somehow). Anyways, if The Rock were to make a return for some reason, I think I'd want him to go against Shawn Michaels. I don't think it'd be a mega dream match like Hogan-Austin but I'd be way way more interested to see HBK-Rock. But given The Rock's apparent dislike of HBK, that match happening is about as unrealistic as seeing Bret Hart Vs Shawn Michaels at this point.

1. Who Should Win? Obviously, neither guy will want to job cleanly and a non-finish would upset the fans. But this kind of match is a "once in a lifetime" type opportunity therefore the finish will be overdramatic and overblown. If I had to pick a winner, I'd say Hogan. Hulk Hogan is the first name that comes to mind when you ask Joe Q. Nonwrestlingfan and even after his trials and tribulations is still tremendously popular. I think WWE has overused Austin just a little bit since his retirement and when he's shown up, it's almost always in dumb McMahon Vs Austin retreads. The specialness has worn off just a tad. I say Hogan wins, perhaps after interference from McMahon 2. Is this match still a money match? Absolutely, this is without a doubt, the biggest dream match in wrestling not involving The Rock and might be the biggest dream match overall. It'd be absolutely huge. 3. Is this a Main Event? I would hope WWE wouldn't use this match to headline a WrestleMania. It's best to use it as a special attraction for a 'Mania or perhaps a main event a slightly less prestigious show like SummerSlam. Say what you want about WWE, but with a few exceptions, the World title match has always been the main event at WrestleMania and if they didn't make an exception for Rock/Hogan, they won't for Austin/Hogan. 4. Does this intrigue you AT ALL? It intrigues me a little bit just to see how they'd pull it off but with both guys in the shape they're in, I don't see it being more than a mediocre, overbooked garbage match. I don't see it being more than a *1/2 match at this point. Honestly, wrestling wise, I don't think it would have been a good match ten years ago when Austin was at his peak popularity wise. Their styles just wouldn't seem to mesh IMHO. 5. Would you order the pay per view, JUST for this match? Absolutely not 6. Will they both get desperate enough? I could see Hogan doing it with his recent trials and tribulations but at this point, would WWE want him back? I think this recent scandal may put a damper on Hulk Hogan. Sure, he'll always have his mouthbreathing fanboys who'd mark out for him if he legdropped a puppy but I don't know if the casual fan is ready to root for Hulk right now. Oddly, I think Austin would be less willing to do the match than Hogan. Austin seems perfectly content in retirement, doing the occassional non-wrestling angle. That and I'm not sure if any amount of money is worth the potential paralysis he'd be facing if he screwed up his neck again.

alf- I love fish in almost all shapes and forms but did you really think this would be an evenly contested battle? Fish (and seafood in general) is probably the most widely reviled non-vegetable behind liver and onions and maybe tofu. Even here in Maine, there's a huge amount of people that don't eat any seafood. And everybody loves chicken. Rarely have I come across a person who hates chicken. It's almost as bad as hating pizza. I picked seafood and there have been several others in this thread but we're a rare breed.

Hey man, don't soil the good name of Weird Al Yankovic by comparing him to those assholes. Even at his worse, he's 10x the talent than those guys.

Hell with the exception of the Profiles In Pain one, they all sound like borderline PPV worthy cards. It's worth reiterating that WCW usually seemed to have terrible house shows. Every old house show report I've read, it seems like that at least three or four major guys are missing from the card. Heck they managed to bungle a potentially successful European tour by having The Mamalukes Vs The Harris Boys main event...

I was just wondering when Big John Studd was going to get picked last night after I made my pick. I'm surprised he lasted this long. Sure, he's not an elite big man like Andre, Vader, or Ernie Ladd but he was solid and heads and shoulders above a Giant Gonzalez. Not to mention that he was the #2 or #3 heel during the WWF's boom period in the mid 80s. I was thisclose to picking The Executioners (the version with Big John Studd) in the last round but figured I didn't need two monster heel tag teams. Ah well. Good pick, Cranda.

It really depends on what kind of fish but I'll go with fish. I'm a lifelong Mainer I kind of have to. I love 95% of seafood. Even cafeteria fish stick. I love me some chicken in all sorts of variety but I'd be letting my people down if I didn't pick fish.

I've picked a lot of heels in this draft so it's time for me to pick a babyface. Another guy I'm surprised is still around at this point. This guy is a natural ally/part time tag team partner for Kerry Von Erich and I almost considered picking them together. He's also the kind of babyface that will make the girls swoon which is good to have. He'd make a good foe to pretty much any heel on the roster but I'm thinking of pairing him up against either Don Muraco or The One Man Gang. He's a seven time WCWA World Champion, an eleven time WCWA Six Man Tag Team champion, a seven time WCWA Tag Team Champion, and a former AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion. With my 17th pick in the All Time Wrestling Roster Draft, I'm proud to select... Kevin Von Erich!

Vern Gagne is alive and well. He made a comment on Bored's blog the other day. He's probably laying low after you exposed him as Razateca of the North.

...so can I be the alternate alternate or what?

I really don't know why it isn't more common place. It's basically the same concept as salt and vinegar chips.

Milky, let me be the alternate alternate behind luke-o. I can't believe I missed both of these drafts and I need to share my movie tastes with the TSM community!

It was Evil Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan that killed Benoit and his family! It's still unclear whether The Dungeon of Doom were involved but I wouldn't rule against it.

Cranda lives another day. We often talk about wrestlers and tag teams that are ahead of their time but next choice is a team that came ten years too late. I mean that as the highest of compliments. If this team had shown up in 1982 instead of 1992, I venture that they would have been one of the most highly regarded tag teams of that era (Which is one of the finest for tag team wrestling IMHO). But in The New Generation era, they seemed like relics from a bygone era. Nevertheless, they managed to achieve a fair level of success and win much respect from the IWC. This team would be a natural fit against Strike Force. A classic old school babyfaces Vs old school heel series. They could also play well against pretty much any team I've selected. These two are former USWA Tag Team Champions and three time SMW Tag Team Champions... With my 16th pick in the All Time Wrestling Roster draft, I'm proud to select... "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray and Dr. Tom Prichard...The Heavenly Bodies!

Damn you again King! I wanted Billy Jack to feud with Don Muraco. Ah well! I wasn't going to pick him for another two or so rounds anyways. If Cranda picks who I'm planning to pick next, I'll kill him in his sleep!

His 2001 book is definitely not worth a purchase. Heck, it's barely worth checking out from the library. He glosses over most of his wrestling career and spends the last third of the book talking about how he find Jesus without going into specifics about the problems that led him to hitting rock bottom. If you're going to make a confession, we need details dammit! The only interesting parts of the book is when he's talking about growing up as a wrestler's kid. One of the most disappointing wrestling autobiographies I've ever read. It's too bad his second one also apparently sucks.

Putting vinegar on fries is kind of popular in Maine. We call 'em pier fries.

I'm going to capitalize on Jim Herd's idea and make Ric Flair a gladiator

Really, Russo like storylines are just as outdated now as Rock N Wrestling type era storylines. They were great in their time but I'm not sure they'd work now and I'm positive they wouldn't work to the extent that they did ten years ago.