strummer

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/31/131010.php Apparently he died of a heart attack

it's true, RIP Mitch Here is a summary from marksfriggin.com Howard said that he got a note from Mitch Hedberg's manager last night and they were told that Mitch had died last night. Artie said there were rumors about his drug use but he didn't know the reason for his death. Gary said the guy who called was actually not Mitch's manager, it was Rick Messina, but he was really sad about the news. Howard and Robin talked about what a good guy that seemed to be. Howard said he didn't seem all that happy of a guy. Artie had a story about Mitch that he didn't want to tell when Mitch was in the studio just a couple of weeks ago. Artie said that he and Mitch had the same agent, Jennifer at William Morris, back in 1998 or so. Artie said the agent was the best chick around but he had to leave the agency for a few reasons. He said that he and Mitch had a development deal at the time over at FOX and it was a $750,000 deal. Artie said he drank it all away... Artie said it was all thanks to that agent. Mitch had a deal for comparable money and the pilot. Artie asked his agent if he could be on Mitch's show instead of getting his own sucky one. The agent told Artie that no one could find Mitch because he got his first payment and disappeared so they weren't going to do the pilot. Howard said those development deals are great and he knows someone who has had about 7 deals which pay really well.

I'll add another question to the discusion, if Vince didn't have the media connections he did in 1984, would the WWF been as successful in the long run? Could he have done it on his own? With no Ebersol, NBC, MTV, Lauper, etc.

I got sick of Austin/McMahon around WM 15, but crowd reactions at the time were saying that the fans still wanted to see the program

From PWI RIP Mr. Senerca

I never understood the booking at Summerslam 89 as Hogan beat Zeus clean in the middle. How would have this led to a singles match as Hogan had already defeated the monster challenger clean? After the PPV, they sort of pretended the pinfall didn't happen as Zeus was back to being the "Human Wrecking Machine". Very weird booking (especially for the time frame) as I thought for sure Savage was taking the pinfall in the tag match.

Backlash is a Raw PPV.

The big deal about the Austin push in 98 was that there were supposedly no credible heels to feud with him after he won the belt. When it was obvious Vince was going to be the top heel, A LOT of the people on the net thought the WWF was doomed because you couldn't have a wrestler feud with a non-wrestler and make it credible. There were tons of people on the net that thought Austin/McMahon would not work.

at the NHB PPV, Vince kept saying "wouldn't it be great to see Hogan and Zeus in the ring at WrestleMania" So it was definitely in the works, but even Vince knew that Zeus was so bad it would have been a disaster.

found this at LOP: According to the Wrestling-Observer Newsletter, there is a rumor going around that WWE Diva Rochelle Loewen has handed in her notice to management. She was one of the former Playboy Playmates signed to the SmackDown! roster and participated in the "Rookie Diva Of The Year" segments at No Way Out. Loewen is reportedly blaming her decision to leave on Randy Orton. She had well-documented problems with Orton in the past, so the likelihood of Orton being the stimulus is very good. Orton was also a major factor in Amy Weber's decision to leave WWE.

Bigelow/Andre aired on Prime Time in the summer of 88 and the announcers were not so subtely burying Bam Bam during the match, now I know why

The fact that Hogan's induction is being televised should be an ANGLE ALERT. Throw in the fact that Hogan cut a promo on Hassan on a radio show last week and you know something is going on. I say Hassan interrupts Piper's Pit and either works Hogan or Austin at Backlash

What are some movies where big time actors look out of place William H. Macy in Down Periscope (This was on today and what inspired me to start the thread) Sharon Stone in Police Academy 4 Danny Devito in Terms of Endearment Colin Firth in What a Girl Wants

update from LOP: Despite there definitely being rumors of Rochelle Loewen's departure from WWE, at this point, it seems the diva is not going to leave the company. Both the Wrestling-Observer Newsletter and PWInsider have been credited with supporting rumors of Loewen leaving, but at this point, such a resignation seems highly unlikely. Loewen had complained about issues associated with Randy Orton several weeks ago; such issues have reportedly not led her to quit.

in regards to Mania this year, a lot of the casual fans I know, some who are on the net and some who are not not, the thing they are talking about the most is Austin on Piper's Pit.

While ECW was probably putting on better matches in 2000 than they had in the 95-97 glory years, the storylines were non-existent. Heyman had hit a serious creative drought and his solution was to give every match 20 minutes and to blatantly kiss up to the smark crowd. For people who loved the 95-97 years, like myself, 2000 doesn't measure up, because the storylines were SO stale and uninspiring (at least compared to 95-97)

Meltzer made a post at the WC board where he said that while waiting in line in Anaheim to get into the show, everybody was talking about the return of the Warrior and no one was mentioning Bret or Shawn at all. It was definitely an Entertainment first/wrestling second crowd that night.

I always saw it as a form of punishment for Gunn, but I don't know if that was the case, since he was getting the uber push by June

from PWI: Russ Roman sent word that WWE.com is now reporting that Chris Jericho (not Steve Austin) will be inducting Roddy Piper into the WWE Hall of Fame on Saturday 4/2 in Los Angeles, California. The final hour of the ceremonies, featuring Hulk Hogan's induction, will be broadcast on Spike TV at 11 PM Eastern.

yeah, Sherri has managed some great workers in her day (Savage, DiBiase, Shawn, Flair, one half of Harlem Heat, and even Summers and Rose were a pretty good team) On the flip side, I've always thought that Bobby Heenan has gotten somewhat of a bad rap because he's managed so many bad wrestlers (Studd, Bundy, Barbarian, Andre when he was immobile, Missing Link, Hercules,etc) When you are associated with good wrestling, people look back at you in more of a positive light. I think Sherri has benefited from that.

My friends and I called jobbers "loser guys". One of my brother's friends was obsessed with jobbers (or "loser guys" if you will), he just didn't understand why they kept getting matches when they never won. I also thought the NWA was "minor league" wrestling, since they weren't on national TV like the WWF. In fact since we didn't have TBS, I thought the AWA was higher up on the totem pole, since at least they had the ESPN deal.

Why wasn't Jake Roberts at Summerslam 89? I can't remember if it was some sort of angle or he just didn't have a program.

I'm pretty sure I read that Shannon Moore's wife came from money, so it's not a stretch that he can afford a hummer.

This might help a little: http://www.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_12467.shtml

yes, I remember the Francine turn for her stripping down to her underwear, probably one of the most unique heel turns in history to say the least.