Hunter's Torn Quad

Adams was WCW fodder in '98-'99. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> He was in the NWA for a cup of coffee in 1987 as well, as part of the UWF crew.

How can you call Benoit, Eddie and especially RVD "not fast"? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Because he doesn't know what he's talking about. I don't think he ever has.

Do you ever give sources for news like this? And who is "us"?

I loved the three-way, and I felt it was a legit MOTY. If I sat down and watched it again I might change my opinion, but when I watched it the first time I was left feeling like I had watched a MOTY-level match.

The Undisputed champion was meant to be on both shows, with the champion being the only guy able to move freely from show to show. Hunter was going to be the top guy on Raw, and get pushed as IC champion. He felt the IC belt was beneath him, and because of that, and because it would make Lesnar less special, we got the Hunter Heavyweight Championship.

Can someone upload the file to somewhere other than Rapidshare?

And can we keep the requests to two or three people at a time.

Undertaker The so-called locker room leader is nothing more than a self-serving egotist. Mark Calloway, for all of his talk in the past against cancers such as Kevin Nash has wound up being just as big of a cancer himself. His absurd power plays have stifled and derailed careers, and his actions are those of a man who, despite acting like he is ‘one of the boys’ is just another Vince McMahon lapdog ready to say “How high?” when Vince says “jump”. Just a complete cancer in his own right, and equally as bad as Triple H when it comes to putting his own ego ahead of what is best for the company and for business, I have nothing but contempt for Mark Calloway. Kane Kane is a hard worker, and he’s gone further with the gimmick than most thought he would, but he’s so far beyond stale now it isn’t even funny. And it’s the gimmick that has trapped him into being where he is, because he can’t be repackaged, he can’t be given a makeover; he’s forever Kane. Glen Jacobs is trapped in WWE for as long as he needs to make a living, because without the Kane gimmick he has no outside value, and ironically it’s the gimmick that causes him to have no internal value either. Bill Apter Bill is a great guy, and he’s pretty funny. The less said about the ‘Apter Mags’, the better. Eddie Ellner He was one of the few real Apter Mag writers wasn’t he? Didn’t really pay attention to what he had to write, if indeed it was he writing the articles attributed to his name. Booker T Booker deserved his run as WCW champion, even though it was filled with the usual politics and bullshit dragging it down that tended to affect everything in that company. He got an undeserved bad rap during his first year or so in the WWF, and he never really recovered. Criminally underrated by a lot of people, Booker is someone who should have been given a lot more than the meager offerings he’s been lumbered with over the years in WWE. Stevie Ray Stevie Ray wouldn’t be worth $800 a year let alone the $800,000 he got in WCW. What the hell did Eric Bischoff see in this totally useless person? Ice Train It strained my eyes too, having to watch this feckless goon on television. Train had all the talent of a lump of coal. Wait, I take that back. The lump of coal could at least provide warmth. All Train could provide was…was…ok, someone help me out. Charlie Norris Tatanka-lite, Norris might have been even more useless than Chris Chavis. He went nowhere fast, and does anybody miss him? 2 Cold Scorpio Scorpio was a better talent than his pre-NOAH career suggests. He got fired from WCW for pick pocketing while the rest of the roster was off committing arson and murder, which was total bullshit. He had a great run in ECW, which saw him really show off his stuff. His run in WWF was a complete waste of his talent, but Scorpio has to share some of the blame for that. Scorpio can still go when he has to. Rob Van Dam RVD polarizes people; there is no doubt about that. RVD has his weaknesses, like any other wrestler, yet for some reason a lot of people point blank refuse to look past them and admit there are ways to work around them, and instead seem hell bent on using those weaknesses to complain long and loud about how RVD could never have been a main event player. These people have rocks in their heads. When he was at his hottest and insanely over in the WWF, he absolutely should have been given the ball to run with. The fans were dying to accept him as a main event player and they desperately wanted to get behind RVD as the main man. However, ego and politics got in the way and RVD never get the push he deserved and that the fans clearly wanted. RVD was one of the numerous victims of Triple H’s self-serving attitude when it came to Triple H putting his own fragile ego ahead of what was best for the company. While the boat may have sailed on RVD’s time on being the main man, coming back fresh, he can still be pushed and accepted as a viable player in the main event scene. PN News PN News was fat, out of shape, sucked a great big dick, and was beyond worthless. Van Hammer Looked like David Lee Roth on steroids, and wrestled about as well as David Lee Roth. Hey Van; William Regal says hi. Raven Didn’t I already cover Raven? Raven has a great mind for the business, if a little one-track on occasion. Can talk with the best of them, always works very hard, and is a great talent to have. Jeff Jarrett Jeff is not the man to anchor a national wrestling promotion. He never has been, he never will be, and there is absolutely no force in the universe that will ever change that. Sadly, Jeff’s incredible ego prevents him from seeing this, and, like his equally blind worshippers, Jeff continues to believe that TNA needs to be built around him, and he continues to be its most featured performer, and he will be more so now that TNA are on Spike. The sad thing is that Jeff isn’t a bad worker; he’s a good hand to have on the roster. He just has absolutely no place at all being anywhere near the top level in any way, shape, or form. Unfortunately, as long as his ego demands that Jeff is pushed as the centerpiece of TNA, TNA will never make any challenge to WWE, and that is a very bad thing for the wrestling industry. Jerry Jarrett When it comes to booking things in the Memphis style, Jerry knows his stuff and can do it like few others. Unfortunately, Jerry has displayed a complete inability to move with the times, which is a trap that a lot of his ilk has fallen into. It goes without saying that someone of his booking skill could be a useful person to have on a committee, but only if he shows a willingness and ability to move forward and not stay stuck in the past. Jim Herd Jim Herd was an absolute blithering idiot. Herd didn’t have a clue about wrestling, he didn’t know or understand it to any degree and his complete and totally disregard of common sense and logic led WCW down a dark and scary path that it never really recovered from. I’ll always remember his appearance on the old Wrestling Observer Live show on eYada, when caller after caller tore into him for his bungling, and Herd wound up on the verge of tears. K. Allen Frey Frey knew enough that he knew he didn’t know enough, and let the wrestling people get on with their jobs. Sadly, he wasn’t able to stick around long enough to oversee what might have been a real turnaround for WCW, and instead we got lumbered with a woefully behind the times Bill Watts, and a terrible run that last almost a year. Bill Busch Over his head in all departments, Bill Busch should never have had anything to do with wrestling. Bill Clinton He’s got quite the instrument. George W. Bush A complete buffoon and totally inept when it comes to running the country, George Bush has proven to be in way over his head as president, even with the numerous people that are helping him along who are truly pulling the strings. Maybe that itself is the reason for his almost total failure at being the kind of leader the US really needs, but then again when he’s left to his own devices he can’t even consume a pretzel without choking himself into unconsciousness. I don’t think Bush is an evil person, but in a way he’s much worse than an evil person because Bush thinks he’s doing good, when in reality he’s bungling things to such a degree that someone who really is evil couldn’t screw things up as bad. His recent actions during the disaster in New Orleans have pretty much erased all doubt that Bush is in over his head when it comes to running the country, and you have to wonder if the people who voted him in would have done so had they know what kind of leader he would turn out to be. Jun Akiyama Akiyama has all the talent to cornerstone NOAH, but unfortunately he lacks the necessary charisma and personality to be the figurehead of a major promotion. It’s sad, because he was the lone guy to truly break into the main event scene after Misawa et all rose to the top, and someone like that really should have been able to get a big run. Satoshi Kojima For me, Kojima is like Akiyama in that he has all the ability to be the figurehead and cornerstone of a major promotion. However, I think Kojima has an advantage over Akiyama, because I feel Kojima has the charisma and personality to succeed where Akiyama has failed. Kojima is the current Triple Crown champion in All Japan, and I think that a long reign can and should establish Kojima has the new ‘ace’ of All Japan, and a real star in Japanese wrestling. Kurt Angle There tend to be two positions on Kurt Angle. The first is that Angle is a tremendous wrestler, a super worker, and is either one of the all time great talents in wrestling or on course to be. The other viewpoint is that Angle is highly overrated by people who hold the first position, and that while he isn’t bad, he is nowhere near as good as people claim. I take the middle ground myself, with leanings towards the second viewpoint. I think he works very hard, even when his health says he should take it easy. He can carry lesser talents to good matches, and he can talk pretty well. However, I do not think he is some great wrestler, and is ‘just’ pretty good. He doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses, but the ones he has really stick out for me. He punches way too much for a guy pushed on his wrestling ability, and his punches are pretty ropey as it is. Jumbo Tsuruta Tsuruta was undoubtedly on of the greats. The ‘ace’ of All Japan for the decade of the 80s, Tsuruta was one of the best workers of all time. His NWA title match against Terry Funk back in 1976 began an almost constant stream of classic matches that only stopped when he contracted hepatitis in 1992. While he wrestled for a few years after that, he was never close to what he once was, and was relegated to the midcard. Hiroyoshi Tenzan Tenzan is like Kojima, in that he has the talent, ability and charisma to be the figurehead and cornerstone of New Japan. Sadly, he has been so incredibly mishandled for the last two years, that I think Tenzan’s chance to be the ‘ace’ of New Japan has passed. He still has credibility in the ring, but I don’t think the fans would take him seriously as a long-term IWGP champion, which is unfortunate. Trish Stratus Trish workers harder than she probably has to, but her dedication means Trish has improved to where she can work good WWE-style matches. Don’t get me wrong; she’s below average as a wrestler. However, for WWE, Trish is pretty good. S_D S_D is a quality poster in the wrestling forums, and he makes a refreshing change from the sea of idiots that the wrestling forums have been flooded with lately. spman Nothing about this person stands out. Star Rating use by everyone and their mother Star ratings can be a useful way to see at a glance what a reviewer thinks of a match, but that only really works if you read a lot of the reviews of the person in question and are familiar with how they judge matches. Even then, however, it only gives you a thumbnail version of their review, and to see the rating given in its proper context you need to read the whole of the review. Canada I have nothing against North Mexico, and I give it two thumbs up. Gorilla Monsoon Gorilla was a pretty decent commentator until around 1990, at which point he went downhill fast. Ricky Steamboat Steamboat was the best babyface of all time, and along with Ricky Morton was one of the best sellers of all time as well. Steamboat never got the break a wrestler of his talent or ability deserved, and seemed forever to be a transitional champion. Steamboat is my pick as the best US wrestler of the 80s. Vern Gagne One of the few men in wrestling whose ego and arrogance approaches Vince McMahon’s level. Nick Bockwinkle Nick was a great talker and a heck of a talent. His articulate and intelligent rants are priceless, and his talking down to Lance Russell and ripping into Memphis after losing the world title to Jerry Lawler remains one of the funniest promos ever. Bret Hart Bret Hart was a tremendous wrestler. He didn’t have the flashiest of styles, but his strength was in telling a compelling and exciting story in the ring, and building the people up so that by the time the match was hitting the home stretch they were going crazy. His moves and execution in the ring always looked crisp, and his selling was top notch as well, unlike a lot of his contemporaries at the time. After all that he has been through in his professional and personal life, Bret deserves a happy and peaceful life after wrestling. However, for the reasons we all know, that is unlikely to happen. Superstar Billy Graham Like Bruno, Superstar was never a great wrestler, but he had charisma to burn. Graham could talk his ass off, and he was the prototypical cool heel, and the inspiration for numerous wrestlers over the years. Bruno Sammartino Bruno was never a great wrestler, but he had truckloads of charisma, and he had MSG going crazy at times. Never sold-out MSG more times than anyone else, despite legend saying otherwise. Superfly Jimmy Snuka Don’t share a motel room with this guy. DEAN Rasmussen I only know of Dean by reputation, and he seems a bit hit-and-miss. Mitsuharu Misawa Misawa is a legitimate legend in wrestling. The ‘ace’ of All Japan from the moment he pinned Jumbo Tsuruta all the way until he left the company to form NOAH, Misawa has had dozens of incredible matches. His feud with Toshiaki Kawada is probably the best in-ring feud of the 90s, and maybe even of all time. His booking is sensible for the most part, though there are times when he makes some strange or illogical decisions. Antonio Inoki Inoki’s ego and delusions of grandeur have helped to cripple a once great promotion in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Inoki is like Hulk Hogan in that he is totally lost in the world working as to be almost completely removed from reality. For New Japan to get back to where it once was, Inoki has to be removed from the picture, and that is unlikely to happen unfortunately. Keiji Muto Muto is another legend in Japanese wrestling. The pioneer of the moonsault, Muto could pretty much do it all in the ring, and was a tremendous wrestler. In his later years, with his knees falling apart, Muto isn’t at the level he used to be, but he’s still smart enough to know when to do what he is still physically capable of doing. Toshiaki Kawada Kawada is another legend in Japanese wrestling. At his peak, Kawada was one of the best wrestlers in the world. His style was stiff, intense, and very believable. Unfortunately for Kawada, he was never going to be able to surpass Misawa in terms of popularity and importance to All Japan, which led to bad blood between the two, and meant Kawada was one of only two native wrestlers to stick with All Japan when Misawa and company left to form NOAH. Kawada is in his twilight years now, but I think he’s better than Misawa right now, which may be down to his frequent injuries from 1999-2002 giving his body more off-time, and letting it hold together more. Akira Taue Taue was a pretty decent wrestler. Unfortunately, when you’re sharing the spotlight with Kobashi, Misawa and Kawada, a pretty decent wrestler looks like bad one. Taue got a bit of a bad rap during his time in the All Japan main event scene, and the fans didn’t accept him at the level of the other three, which in all fairness he wasn’t at. Right now, Taue is where he should be, playing the part of the grumpy old man at the lower level of cards in NOAH. KENTA KENTA is a heck of a babyface. He’s got that youthful charisma that makes the ladies like him, and he can sell pretty damn well. He can go to the air for some great looking moves, and can bump like crazy. For me, though, he lacks that something to be accepted at that top level, but if he can get that, he’ll be set for life. Yoshihiro Takayama Takayama went from being a terrible wrestler to a pretty good wrestler and a very hard worker. Takayama has taken some insane punishment over last four years, and he hasn’t wrestled since facing Kensuke Sasaki in last years 2004 G1 Climax Tournament and he may never wrestle again, which is very unfortunate. I liked Takayama a lot, and I hope he can wrestle again someday. OVW OVW has been WWE’s developmental territory for almost six years now. During that time, OVW has sent up some really great talent to WWE. Who have then promptly fucked them up seven ways from Sunday by booking them in the completely opposite direction to the one that makes the best use of their talents. With few exceptions, every talented or promising wrestler that WWE has called up has wound up being totally misused to the point that WWE have fired them. The few that WWE do call up and put the effort in with have been talentless stiffs who have been juiced to their eyeballs and will die of a heart attack before they reach 40. OVW, until Jim Cornette was fired and removed from being the booker there, was booked so much better than WWE it wasn’t even funny.

On that one I'd have to agree. Kurt was portrayed as a funny little dork for far too long to ever be considered cool. He's still no less cool than a balding 40-year old who is still being called The Heartbreak Kid.

At least Angle is somewhat credible when he's going crazy on someone and beating the shit out of them. I can buy Kurt being a badass. Not sure I'd pay to see it, but I can believe that he can be a badass

Is there anyone else left worth shooting on?

USA don't want the mess that comes with having the Hassan character. They also don't want Smackdown.

Lame. Kurt shaves his head and looks cool, not like a balding loser like Michaels. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That comeback was indeed laughable.

He missed three months in the fall of 1993 due to a contract dispute. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It was closer to six weeks, but point taken.

Shawn's flying forearm looks weak as shit. It looks more like a flying punch.

Danny Basham's real name is Danny Hollie.

Whoa, Matt Hardy's punches are weak? They usually make a solid thud I thought. Hit and miss at worse, but not weak. Anyways, yes, Shawn doesn't have great punches and overall, Jericho does work stiffer. But looking at both guy's offence (Lionsault, dropkicks, flying forearms), neither guys' signiture moves are hard hitting. How is one more believable than the other? How is a Lionsault more hard hitting than a forearm? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Matt Hardy's punches look like he's flapping his arm to dry his armpit. They may be stiff, but they look incredibly weak, and if they look weak then it doesn't matter how stiff they really are, because nobody is buying the punches. With the Lionsault, you can actually see Jericho landing on his opponent, and it looks like the guy taking the move can get winded from it. Shawn's forearms are as bad as Matt Hardy's punches. They look like he's tapping the guy a couple of times and all he uses them for is to transition into his next highspot.

Jericho works a lot stiffer, or at least his work looks stiffer than Shawn's does. Jericho actually looks like he's hitting his opponent and his stuff looks like it really hurts. Shawn works far too light, and his punches are some of the weakest outside of Matt Hardy's.

Not really. Jericho still sells when making his comeback. Jericho also makes his opponent look good without making it obvious he's making them look good.

He wasn't. He'd wrestle two or three times a week. That he didn't wrestle a full schedule while everyone else did didn't endear Hogan to the locker room.

Turning back the clock to keep using the trial version of ABBY Fine Reader has stopped working, so I need new OCR to convert scanned documents to text files. Does anyone know of any other program I can use instead?

Didn't All Japan run the Tokyo Dome for Hansen's retirement? Yeah, and in that manner it was a great send-off. But in-ring wise he spluttered around for a while, and his last match was teaming with Maunukea Mossman against, I think, Tenryu and Kawada in Budokan. I just think his last matches, and his last match especially should have had a better build, with maybe even a retirement tour of some kind.

The same thing he was doing for almost all of 1997. And 1995. And 1994. In fact, come to think of it, he's never been that active a wrestler, has he? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That bears some investigation. What have HBK's most consistent years been? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As a singles wrestler, either 1993 or 1996. He was off for a lot of 1994 and 1995. He was off for a few months in 1997 after 'losing his smile', and when he did come back he would only work major house shows and refused to work a full schedule.

He’s like the Little Engine That Could. He thinks he can, he thinks he can, but when he tries to come up with something intelligent he falls short.

Miss Alexandra York If we’re talking solely about the Alexandra York character, then I enjoyed her. She was an enjoyable midcard character, and the York Foundation could have been a quality midcard stable, and filled the undercard with some solid matches. Elizabeth I was never a fan of Elizabeth. Elizabeth dying was her own fault. Missy Hyatt Again, never a fan of Missy, but she has a great body that seems to keep her head from floating away. Beulah Beulah seemed like a really nice person, who should never have had the hassle of being involved in wrestling. I was never that much of a fan of her character, but as a person I hope she stays out of wrestling now, and enjoys a life outside of the business. Stan Hansen Hansen was the best worker at being a complete bully and coming across as mean, angry and a totally unlikable bastard in the ring. Hansen showed a lot in being able to hang with the young crowd for as long as he did, and it’s a shame that he wasn’t able to retire in a manner more befitting of someone of his stature. Vader Vader was the best big man wrestler ever. He could work US style, Japan style, strong style, shoot style; Vader could just about do it all, and I’m convinced he could have pulled out some Lucha if he had put his mind to it. Time and injuries have not treated Vader well, and he is now a shell of his former great self, and I wish he would know enough to call it a day and retire from the ring. Bam Bam Bigelow In his prime, Bigelow was really good worker who put in the effort. It’s a shame that Bigelow has turned into a complete asshole and become a total mark for himself. Michael "P.S." Hayes Hayes could talk with the best of them. His ring work wasn’t as good as his mic work, but it wasn’t that bad really. Outside of The Freebirds unit, it seemed like Hayes was always treading water. Apart from a short feud with Ric Flair in 1988, bookers seemed to make that a self-fulfilling prophecy, as he was always treated as an afterthought when not in some form of the ‘birds.