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strummer

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Everything posted by strummer

  1. The Demise of the Rockers by Heath Santo This past June, Shawn Michaels, who had found religion, reached out to a suicidal Marty Jannetty and baptized him at the Athletes In Ministry conference in Phoenix. Years earlier, their run in the WWF saw its share of politics, first in 1987 when they fell out of favor with the locker room just days after their arrival. So much so, that exaggerated stories of their behavior at a hotel bar in Buffalo were taken to Vince McMahon. Michaels and Jannetty paid for round-trip airfare from Minneapolis to Stamford with hopes of convincing him not to fire them. In the lobby of the WWF headquarters, Michaels sat with his leg crossed, his snakeskin boot more visible. "Those boots are made for walkin'," McMahon joked. He then let them go in the meeting that followed. "I'm doing this for your own good," he said. "If the boys don't want you here, you won't last." A year later in the summer of 1988, they were back with the WWF and racking their brains in a hotel room for hours trying to come up with a name for the tag team. They had wrestled as the Midnight Rockers in the AWA, a name the WWF couldn't legally use. The next day at a television taping, McMahon turned to one of the agents for help, who said they're called "the Rockers" in the dressing room as a truncated nickname when they're needed for interviews. Feather-haired pretty boys who were always in motion, the WWF billed the Rockers as "tag team specialists." Their first year, they earned around $170,000. That figure rose roughly $30,000 each year until 1992. Around the same time that ideas on splitting up the team were being considered, the Rockers' real-life friendship was crumbling. They had a well-publicized fistfight in a Denver hotel room, but it was what happened after a commercial shoot in Atlanta that really divided them. The Rockers, Natural Disasters, Legion of Doom, and some other stars were chosen to film an ad for a WWF breakfast cereal. Before the taping, McMahon had allegedly assured Michaels and Jannetty they'd be bigger players after they made known their concern over coasting for so long as a midcard tag team. But after learning they'd be paid only $5,000 apiece for the commercial while the other tag teams got twice that amount, a furious Michaels reportedly urged Jannetty to call the office right from the filming studio to tell McMahon they were quitting. McMahon wanted to talk with them about it at TV but they had their minds made up. "There's no need to keep you where you're not happy," he told Jannetty, and arranged for them to finish up in three weeks at a Survivor Series show. While Jannetty was relieved he didn't hold them to the standard policy of giving 90 days' notice and then jobbing them out for three months, Michaels was in disbelief that McMahon would allow them to walk. He went to McMahon and allegedly told him he knew nothing about Jannetty's plan to quit. Jannetty confronted Michaels in a phone call. Michaels told him he couldn't go through with quitting, with a wife and mortgage in Tampa. Jannetty's place in Orlando was paid off. When the Rockers got to the next TV, everyone had heard what happened. Wayne Bloom was said to have even offered to beat Michaels up. The Michaels heel turn unfolded in Corpus Christi. He was to superkick Jannetty and then send him through a window on the set of the Barber Shop, an interview segment hosted by Brutus Beefcake. Michaels was stiff with the kick and Jannetty blacked out. He doesn't remember crashing through the glass. Jannetty wasn't supposed to juice – McMahon had banned any color at that time to attract the family market – but legit glass was in the window instead of sugar glass because they weren't properly marked. He suffered cuts on his forehead, arms, and belly. To sell the injury, the plan was for Jannetty to be out six weeks, but that turned into six months when he had to serve house arrest for a charge of obstruction of justice with violence. A week after the angle was taped, he pulled an officer off a stripper the cop was manhandling after being kicked in the shin. The woman was a friend of Jannetty's who had been busted selling packets of cocaine in the bathroom of a Tampa nightclub. The payback angle had Jannetty coming out of the crowd in Saskatoon to hit Michaels with his own mirror. The outline of a pink broken heart on its surface hid a crack that allowed it to break more easily. Michaels' manager Sensational Sherri took the shot when he pulled her in front of him. Michaels and Jannetty were praised for their house show program that led to the Royal Rumble. Part of agent Jack Lanza's job was to call in from the arenas and report how the matches went. On several nights he was heard saying the match was going to steal the show at the pay-per-view. But their performance when it came time to deliver fell below expectations when Sherri was booked into the match, disrupting its rhythm. McMahon fired Jannetty at the next TV after getting a report that he was intoxicated and passed out in the locker room at the Rumble. Jannetty defended himself by saying that all the guys sleep because they're there at 1:00 with nothing to do for six hours, and challenged McMahon to test him. Such an offense was considered a big deal because Jannetty had a no drinking clause in his contract. He had been drinking when he got into a fight with a hotel desk clerk in Canada over some change from a bill for Chinese food. Curt Hennig, a friend of Jannetty's from their Minneapolis days, was instrumental in getting his job back for him a few months later. Hennig allegedly told him that it was Michaels who went to McMahon with the story of Jannetty being drunk and fouling up the Rumble match. McMahon rehired Jannetty after hearing claims from Hennig that Michaels was in bad shape the night before the show, reportedly passing out facefirst in his food from too many somas. Waitresses panicked and called 911. While it was clear the office saw star value in Michaels and not Jannetty, what followed was a role reversal of sorts when Michaels dropped the IC belt to him as punishment. Several were said to have been in awe over Michaels' pouting backstage. "He thinks this is real," one wrestler was heard saying.
  2. strummer

    NFL Week 8

    Vikings turn the ball over again and the Giants take advantage of the short field again with another Tiki Barber TD. The Giants have 17 points on 63 total yards of offense with 13 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. I swear I have never seen anything like this in football.
  3. strummer

    NFL Week 8

    ...How the hell did that happen? And who are they playing this week? Vikings Minnesota turned the ball over deep into their territory, Giants lose 14 yards on sacks and hit a 50 yard field goal. Giants get ball back and Shockey draws a 30 yards PI call and Giants use short field and score on a Tiki barber Touchdown
  4. strummer

    NFL Week 8

    With 8 minutes to go in the first quarter, the Giants have 10 points on 11 total yards of offense. I don't think I've ever seen that before.
  5. Hogan v Bundy WM 2 Hogan v Savage WM 5 Hogan v Slaughter WM 7 Hogan and Warrior v Slaughter Col. Mustafa, Gen Agnan at Summerslam 91 (First WWF PPV that I didn' t order because of the obvious result of the main event) They even had Sid be the special referee just to add a little doubt in the result Vader v Jim Duggan Starcade 94 Goldberg v Curt Hennig Bash at the Beach 98
  6. This is a great point, and they overrate him in the postseason. Jeter is a very good hitter, in the regular and post season. Enough with the clutch and intangible lines by the media. I wish the media would focus on these numbers a whole lot more
  7. What does this have to do with anything? Interesting stats on Manny: Career Regular Season: .316/.411/.599 Career Postseason: .232/.332/.473 How can he be considered a great hitter, if he can't hit in the clutch!? (Again, it's all irrelevant to the argument.) Yes, I know it's irrelevant, but those numbers caught my eye, just with all the talk of Jeter being clutch and all
  8. Interesting stats on Jeter: Career in Regular Season: .315/.385/.463 Career in Postseason: .314/.385/.469 Almost exactly the same! How exactly does he "turn up his game" and become more "clutch" in the postseason?
  9. Which is why Jeter has about the exact same career batting average as Manny Ramirez. career for Jeter: .315 .385 .463 Career for Ramirez .316. .411 .599 Big advantage for Manny in OBP and a huge one in slugging percentage
  10. Manny Ramirez is a much, much better hitter than Derek Jeter, not even close. Give me someone who can hit over "Intangibles"
  11. Yankees Declined the 2005 contract option on first baseman Travis Lee; declined the 2006 contract option on pitcher Paul Quantrill Red Sox exercise the 2005 option for Bill Mueller
  12. That wasn't the segment where Savage got bit, but I'm still a little fuzzy on the rest myself, so I can't help you out. I do remember that being a nice segment though. Another one that I forgot all about. Found this on Graham's awesome site: Sid Justice fought El Diablo to a no contest when Paul Bearer paid El Diablo off so that the Undertaker could be his replacement; as Justice dominated the Undertaker, El Diablo returned to the ring, unmasked as Jake Roberts, and the two double teamed Sid; moments later, Jim Duggan made the save I could have sworn Savage made the save, but it was Duggan of all people. This was an awesome segment at the time.
  13. From Keller on Survivor Series: "The three Smackdown matches added to the Survivor Series line-up on last night's show were JBL vs. Booker T for the World Hvt. Title, Undertaker vs. Heidenreich, and Eddie Guerrero & Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio & Big Show vs. Kurt Angle & Mark Jindrak & Luther Reigns & a partner yet to be announced. On the Raw side, they are looking at a War Games style eight-man tag match with Hunter & Batista & Flair & Edge vs. Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho & Maven & Randy Orton." Wish they could have another face other than Maven (Benjamin?), otherwise, bring it on!
  14. I believe those shows were the last to be booked by Vince Russo in the WWF. In fact, I'm positive they were
  15. The Flair/Piper/Vince Beatdown on Superstars in Sept. 91. Awesome stuff and the first time Vince took a bump on TV since the expansion. Let me preface this one by saying I was a mark at the time, but there was a segment on Superstars where Sid was supposed to be wrestling some jobber named "El Diablo". As soon as the match was going to start, the Undertaker's music hit and he came to the ring and was going to replace "El Diablo" against Sid. When UT and Sid had a staredown, I was marking out big time. Little did I know how awful that match would have been in 1991. But then El Diablo was revealed to be Jake Roberts in a mask and he gets out his snake. Now, this is where my memory leaves me, was this the segment where Savage gets bit by the snake or do Savage and Sid clean house on Jake and UT? I remember loving this segment as a kid, but the details are fuzzy.
  16. Yeah, what will the Sox/Yanks series be like now?, it will definitely have a different feel
  17. awesome video package on the Sox on ESPN now
  18. the last time the Sox won the series, sliced bread had not been invented yet!!(not till 1928!)
  19. Walker homers, 4-1
  20. From Observer:
  21. RBI double Nixon, 2-0 Red Sox
  22. That maybe the worst base running in the history of the game by Suppan. That was idiotic
  23. Monsoon's selling MAKES the segment, the awkward bump he takes is just so damn funny, I wish everyone on the board could see this segment, it's that good
  24. Kido, the Red Rooster/Brawler segment that originally took place on Prime Time? The one with Gorilla? If so, IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT. I mentioned this segment in the "Funniest Moments that weren't supposed to be Funny" thread. I will say it again, that is probably the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life.
  25. From PWI:
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