JoeDirt

Wasn't that Japanese company proven to be something that Court Bauer just made up, or am I just imagining things?

Another big problem are their feuds. The best feuds come, like characters, from an extension of something real or at the very least something realistic. In 1997 Bret Hart really WAS somewhat upset that the fans had started to boo him, and really felt the American fans and started to turn on him. That's why that angle worked better than any other "Boo, America sucks!" heel group angle in history. In 1998 it was realistic to assume that the "Mr. McMahon" character wouldn't want someone like Steve Austin representing the company. Of course it wasn't true in actuality, but with the way they built things up with Austin in 1997, and the way Vince was played off as the "heel" in the things with Bret, it was very logical to believe that he could "screw" Steve Austin out of the title. HHH and Orton COULD have been a great feud if built up properly. It is realistic for HHH to get jealous of Orton winning the title from Benoit when he couldn't get the job done. But that turn happened way too quickly. But what about the other feuds? The Big Show/Angle feud isn't realistic at all. Big Show tried to kill Angle, and now we're supposed to boo Angle for shaving Show's hair? I'm supposed to cheer Kane on now because he lost the baby from the woman he basically raped? I'm supposed to boo GENE SNITSKY? Think about it if you look back: If you were asked what the WWF in 1997 was about, you'd probably talk about the formation of the Hart Foundation, the formation of DX, and the rise of Steve Austin. If asked about the WWF in 1998, you'd talk about the Austin/McMahon feud. But what was the WWF "about" in 2002? 2003? What about 2004? There's no overlying story, it's all feuds that last a month or two before people move on to the next one.

Bingo. That's what is missing IMO. Characters that fans care about and want to see win. Actually, I think he was talking about having better angles, not just stars. It's both, really. You have to have guys who can do the job and bring a charisma to the table that guys like Austin or Rock did. Did anyone think in early 1997 when Rocky Maivia was getting booed like hell as a babyface that he'd turn into a huge movie star? Of course not. I'm sure there are people on the roster who could do great if given a chance to succeed. Probably not at the levels of the Rock, but they wouldn't have to. Just give some people the ball and let them run with it, and don't bog them down with horrible gimmicks or storylines. I remember watching the Monday Night Wars DVD and Jim Cornette saying that with guys like Austin and Rock, the best stars' characters are just exaggerations of their true personalities. But now we're getting forced shitty gimmicks like Eugene and Simon Dean, we have too many cliched "America haters" like Dupree, Kenzo, La Resistance, these new Arab guys coming in, the cliched gay guy Rico, who has nothing done to get his character over in a way that Goldust ever did, Mordecai getting dumped as a character because Fertig was nowhere near being ready for the WWE, Carlito Caribbean Cool, and so much more. There is no edge to the product...there is no realism to it. Why should I care who wins the Guerrero/Reigns match on No Mercy tonight? Hell, why should I cheer the Big Show over Kurt Angle, when Big Show tried to KILL Angle just a few months ago? It's non-sensical. Like Rudo said, it feels like you're being force fed shilled crap.

Who did/has done the most drugs in wrestling? Who is coked out of their minds?

The funny thing is that the actual wrestling content is FAR better now than it was when wrestling was "hot", like in 1999 when you had horrible old men in WCW and Russo booking tons of 1-2 minutes matches in the WWF. I think this just goes to show that the most important thing for shows like RAW and Smackdown is finding a way to make the fans, whether casual or smarks, care about the characters they are watching. There just isn't the connection now with 99% of the characters. Do you think Austin would have gotten over as much if he just came out and wrestled every week and never talked on the mic, beat up everyone in his path, did that segment with Vince where he came out in the suit and tie, etc? There has to be SOME creativity in making good storylines, feuds, and creating interesting characters. That's what makes people buy the pay per views, not the anticipation of seeing Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle wrestle a mat classic.

If TNA DOES bring in guys like the Outsiders, Sting, DDP, Roddy Piper, etc in for this PPV, will it really bring in more buys? Will it be worth the cost of bringing them in? Will they really be willing to put over young talent? How many buys do you think Victory Road will get? And based on an argument I saw on another board, here's a question for you...what will get more buys, Victory Road or DVDs and tapes from ROH's weekend bringing in Liger? What needs to be done between now at 11/7 to get you to buy Victory Road? Discuss!

Court Bauer is a weird guy who pulled all sorts of weird shit with H2 and then bailed before the first show could ever happen. Bauer might be one of the worst promoters of all time, as he ran MLW into the ground twice before hyping H2 and never being able to put on one show.

Whoops, it wasn't WCW at the time. I'm an idiot. My bad.

Nope, this is my first IWS show. The only other IWS stuff I had seen was clips from TOD3 and I just saw the IWS 4-way from CZW's 9/11 show the other night. (Oh, and I watched the August and September Bloodstreams.) It definitely wasn't as good as the west coast 4-way on the day show (not as polished or smooth, some awkward moments), but they made up for it with lots of head dropping craziness. Anyways, the first match was decent and after I read the results that 2.0 wanted to win via countout I understood the finish. I just couldn't hear the mic work on the tape, which kinda sucks. Crusher/Frank was decent. It had some really nice spots and some really sloppy spots. They went pretty long (15-16 minutes) and it was a mixed bag. Beef/Paysan was comedy mixed with some thumbtacks at the end. But yeah, I'm going to watch the end of the show here pretty soon, and I'll post a full review sometime later. I'm interested in seeing IWS's next show, but with money going to ROH, IWA-MS, CZW, and occasionally Chikara, I'm glad they're only doing one show a month.

I got the show from SMV. I've seen the first four matches. The only one that was any good was Lauderdale/Ninja, which was a fun spotfest/deathmatch type thing with some nice spots with the barbed wire boards, chairs, etc. The rest hasn't been very good, though Beef Wellington using Sausage link nunchucks was funny.

Nice read.

Meltzer's preview.

I remember thinking this match was a decent power match when I saw it first, and then was surprised to see people on here had it down as one of the worst 20 matches EVER.

Of course Taker doesn't need a title run. But you're looking at things logically here, we can't have that. Angle and Taker will probably have interaction by the end of the year. They usually start their push towards WM around the new year anyways.

I don't see Rey winning it. And from everything Meltzer is saying, it's looking like Angle/Taker at WM. I think that if you weren't a smark last year the Benoit win at the Rumble would have been SLIGHTLY surprising, even though they built him up with the "you'll never get a title shot again and you have to be #1" thing. I kind of wish I hadn't known ahead of time he was probably going to win. Orton is definitely winning the Rumble this year. I'd be really surprised if he didn't.

WWF from Survivor Series 1997 and on! What do you do when you have to work on a Friday night until 2:00 AM? This! Here is my revision of history from a very interesting time in wrestling history. The WWF was going downhill. Bret Hart had just been screwed by Vince McMahon the night before and was heading to WCW, soon to be joined by Jim Neidhart and the British Bulldog. WCW would do big ratings with Starcade 1997 that year, and if it wasn't for the Austin vs. McMahon storyline, who knows what would have happened to the WWF. My revision of history won't be COMPLETE. The WWF did a great job with the Austin/McMahon storyline, eventually taking over Nitro. But let's take a look at things and what may have happened with someone else in control. What if HBK didn't wrestle in a casket match at Royal Rumble 1998 and never got hurt? What if Adam Copeland (Edge) and Christian Cage (Christian) were brought up to the regular roster just a little bit sooner? Well, here's where things stand as I start my booking: WWF world heavyweight champion: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (beat Bret Hart at SS97) WWF intercontinental champion: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (beat Owen Hart at SS97) WWF tag team champions: The Legion of Doom (beat the Godwins in October) WWF European champion: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels (beat British Bulldog at One Night Only) The roster: Singles --------------- Shawn Michaels Steve Austin The Undertaker HHH Mankind/Dude Love/Cactus Jack Ken Shamrock Rocky Maivia Vader Steve Blackman Goldust Marc Mero Ahmed Johnson Farooq Kama D'Lo Brown Interrogator (Kurrgan) Flash Funk Bob Holly Savio Vega Mark Henry Crush Tom Brandi Jeff Jarrett (would debut soon) Terry Funk (to debut soon) Owen Hart (would return soon) Light Heavyweights (tournament) --------------------- Taka Michinoku Brian Christopher Eric Shelley Devon Storm Scott Taylor Aguila (already in semifinals) Flash Flanagan Pantera Tag teams ----------------- Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) The Godwins (Phinneas and Henry) Los Boriquas (Migel Perez, Jesus Castillo, Jose Estrada) D.O.A (Chainz and 8-Ball) Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon The Truth Commission (Jackyl, Recon, Spiper) The New Blackjacks (Bradshaw and Windham) The Quebecers (Debut in January or so) The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy, still just a jobber tag team) Other talent ----------------- Earthquake: John Tenta worked some dark matches for the WWF in early 1998, so in honor of him, why not bring him back in my fantasy booking? We love you John! Edge and Christian: They worked dark matches in late 1997 and early 1998 before debuting in mid 1998. I'm going to use them, I'm just not sure how yet. Any suggestions? Should I bring them in as a tag team, or in separate angles? Sean Morley/Val Venis: Another guy who worked dark matches for the WWF in early 1998 until they brought him in as Val Venis. What do you think? Should I bring him in as Val Venis or as another gimmick? Or just plain old Sean Morley? Is there anyone else I am missing? Please let me know! My first show will be RAW on November 10, 1997, the night after Survivor Series 1997. We'll see how this goes!

Bump. Gonna continue on this soon and hopefully do some fun stuff. I'll try and stay away from doing what the WWF did do for the most part, though I may have to go with the Austin/McMahon storyline down the road since that worked out fairly well, huh?

I was in the Minneapolis airport recently and on a vending machine was a sticker with a picture of Andre the Giant on it that said Andre the Giant has a posse. I read today that over 400,000 of these stickers were plastered around the world back in the day...does anyone know what the hell I'm talking about?

Matches announced so far: CZW title: Messiah vs. Kaos Ironman title, no time-limit: Chris Hero vs. Homicide Rave, M-Dogg, Sabian, and Ruckus vs. Dutt, Red, and Maximos Ghost Shadow vs. Spyral Roderick Strong vs. Jay Lethal Plus Eddie Kingston has made a "white trash challenge". Looks decent so far.

Definitely see Cash and Bailey winning that tag gauntlet.

Vince recently opened a religious website, and this is posted there. Thoughts? ============= "In my world, the world of professional wrestling, champions aren’t made. . .but rather created. You see, everything you see that takes place inside a wrestling ring is an illusion. The ring is a stage with the wrestlers serving as its’ actors. Nobody beats anybody—wins and loses are determined by the “booker”; the person writing the script. That’s where I come in. From the late 90’s to the early 2000’s, I was the most successful writer in the history of professional wrestling. My success was based on television ratings and during that period the World Wrestling Federation was reaching an audience of over 8 million people every Monday night. Perhaps my greatest claim to fame--being the brains behind the transformation of Dwayne Johnson. . .today you know him as one of the top movie stars in the world—“The Rock”. But, even as great as the Rock is—even he never beat anybody in becoming the World Wrestling Federation Champion. No, my pencil beat his opponents for him. My pencil was responsible for rewarding the Rock the WWF Heavyweight Championship of the world. My pencil was also responsible for stripping him of that same title. Stripping the title. . .that’s the basis of my testimony. The fact is, away from the lights, the camera and the action---there was only one person in my life that I should have crowned the true Champion. One person who was solely responsible for giving me the success I attained—the money, the prestige, the glory, the interview with Ms. Morning herself, Joan Lunden--the one man who I couldn’t have done any of it without. But unfortunately, I never stripped him of the title simply because I never gave it to him. As a matter of fact—I turned my back on him . . .ignored him. Why? It was simple . . .I didn’t need God. You see in my mid-30’s I was solely responsible for my success. It was all about ME, ME, ME. I was in TOTAL control and basically invincible. I didn’t need anybody—my friends, my wife, my kids and certainly not God. God: he was for those who were weak. He was a crutch for those who couldn’t stand on their own two feet. I was way above that—I was a giant in the wrestling business. I was Superman and no one could even tug on my cape. And, I did whatever it took. Whatever glued those eyeballs to that television set. . . I did it. Sex, violence, drugs, nudity, homosexuality, transvestites, men beating women, the killing of household pets, castration, the unnatural love between mother and her son, demonic worship, demonic sacrifice, blasphemy, degrading the cross, there was nothing off-limits; the fact was—I was the Anti-Christ of sports entertainment. Did I know it was wrong? Sure I did. But in an effort to stay on top, in an effort to please my boss, in an effort to be a “worldly” success, I simple hid behind the excuse—“I’m not writing this show for kids”. But the fact was—kids were watching. They were watching and we knew it—that’s why we were shipping out Stone Cold Steve Austin lollipops by the truckload every week. In my heart I knew it was wrong. You see, my heart wasn’t on the same page as my genius—as a matter of fact it wasn’t even in the same book. No, inside, deep within my soul, something wrong was going on. There was an internal struggle. My whole life was based on at least trying to do the right thing—but right now. . .at this point in my life. . .I was no longer listening to my heart. There was a part of me that just continued to push primarily because I was afraid of my own failure. But turning my back on my heart, or my “spirit”, almost became fatal. I became possessed by my success. There was only one small problem—with every goal I achieved I still felt emptiness. I keep reaching for “something” and it was just never there. . .I kept coming up empty. The status, the money, soon none of it meant anything. I just kept searching for. . . I don’t know what. The depression that followed was inevitable. The job now controlled me. I was a prisoner of my own success. In an effort to save my sanity I switched jobs. I jumped ship to Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling. From there things went from bad. . .to worse. The new challenge made no difference. What’s the point of achieving your goals when the end of the journey never satisfies you? At WCW I became an on-air character—I was a television star now. But, when the show was over. . .I was alone. I was sinking further and further into my own darkness. I didn’t even know my own family any more. My wife would tell me over and over again that she was raising our kids as a single parent—but here pleads for help fell on deaf ears. I just didn’t care anymore. When WCW was eventually sold I hooked on with another wrestling company—great, new challenges! But, who was I kidding? I was becoming hopeless by the day, by the hour, by the minute. What added to the misery was the feeling that I was free-falling from my peak. In my mind, I was soon becoming day-old newspaper. I just couldn’t accept the fact that at my mid-point in life, “my prime”, so to speak, that this was all there was. This is what it’s all about. No, this simply couldn’t be the meaning of life. What, God creates us only to then let the joke be on us. I wouldn’t accept that. . .I couldn’t accept that. But, at that point in time there was no other explanation. The truth was that I didn’t even know who I was anymore. My heart that was once my guiding light was becoming as black as the darkest night. I was quickly becoming filled with hate. I now even began to despise those who were once close to me. Friends became enemies. . .I hit rock bottom. I wish I could tell you it was a lightning bolt. . .but it wasn’t. . .it was more like a caffeine jolt. My heart, tired of being ignored for so many years decided to take a stand. I was overcome with a fleeting rush of, “What are you doing? Look at yourself. . .what have you become? For years I have been trying to tell you something—for years I have been trying to get your attention. That guiding light was always inside of you. You never understood why you always felt different from everybody else—well. . .do you understand now?!!!” At that moment—everything changed. My heart came out from within and blanketed my entire body. The spirit that was begging to come out for all those years was finally released. I was at peace with the world. . .I was at peace with myself. There was a calming that I had never experienced before. A force way beyond my control directed me to church that week. I didn’t even tell my own wife that I was going because I was too embarrassed. I had never “needed” any spiritual guidance before—remember I was always invincible—I could do it all—ALONE. That Sunday, in a sold-out auditorium the preacher was speaking directly to me. Every word was aimed at my entire life. I left church that day shaking. I now knew what it was that I was searching for for the better part of 20 years—and he was there all along. He was inside of me. . .he was in my heart. . he was truly God. From that moment on my entire demeanor changed. To put it as simply as I can—I couldn’t even as much as throw a tooth pick on the floor because I now understood that God created everything on this earth. I dove head first into the book—and just couldn’t get enough of his word. I became involved in the church—attending two different sermons, at two different churches, back-to-back every Sunday. I lived for the Lord; my true father. I wanted to do EVERYTHING to glorify his name and his kingdom. I took that faith to work with me, and now rather than hate a business I once loved I take every opportunity to share the word with those wrestlers who I can feel are reaching out and looking for the same thing I was. I got to know my family again—I fell in love with my wife one more time. I was truly reborn. I turned my life over to God and finally handed my maker the title as the one, and only, true champion of the world. In his book, “My Utmost for the Highest,” Oswald Chambers states, “Either Jesus Christ is the supreme authority on the human heart, or He is not worth paying any attention to. Am I prepared to trust the penetration of His Word into my heart, or would I prefer to trust my own `innocent ignorance?” So, now I ask you? Are you prepared? Are you listening to your heart? Or, are you being guided by the unknowing ways of the world--settings and situations that in the long run mean absolutely nothing. At one point in my life I made over $500,000 per year. Having been there and done that I can tell you from the bottom of my heart money isn’t going to bring you happiness—neither is success—neither is notoriety. What’s going to bring you happiness is what’s living inside each and every one of you right now. The voice that you hear every day. The voice that you try to ignore. . .just like I did. But I’ll tell you this—all of you will come face-to-face with your rock bottom for the simple fact that WE CAN”T DO IT WITHOUT HIM. He created us, he has the instructions, he knows what makes us tick. . . he knows our hearts. Listen to your heart. Let the Lord show you what HE intended for you—not the road you paved for yourself. Because at the end of the day it’s not about us at all—it’s all about him. Can you hear him right now? Are you going to listen, or turn a deaf ear? The only thing that depends on it is your eternal life."

I think that's a pretty fair assessment.

Will a channel like C-SPAN or anyone show a replay of this debate?

Dunn and Marcos!

I wonder what they're going to play up for comedy from this debate.