spman

Yeah, IYH 2, and this show were only available through WWF Magazine, while IYH 4, 5, Good Friends Better Enemies, It's Time, A Cold Day in Hell, and Degeneration-X were never released at all, or at least in the case of IYH 4, and 5 were edited together on one two hour tape.

1. Would you say this is one of the worst matches in WWF history?In pro wrestling history? Hmm, worst Wrestlemania match of all time, maybe, but I would argue that there have been worse WWF matches overall. Some other really terrible matches to consider though include Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire vs Macho Man and Sherri at Wrestlemania 6, Undertaker vs Yokozuna at Royal Rumble 1994, Jerry Lawler vs Roddy Piper at King of the Ring 1994, Undertaker vs Undertaker at Summerslam 1994, Diesel vs Mable from Summerslam 1995, Warrior vs Goldust from that In Your House PPV where Goldust stalls for the entire match, and of course the infamous mixed tag on RAW with Jacky Gayda. That's just off the top of my head, and I'm sure there are far more, but I would say just about all of those were worse than Gonzalez vs Undertaker. Hell, I watched a fancam once of an Undertaker vs Nailz match at a house show that made the Gonzalez matches look like Flair vs Steamboat in comparison. As far as all time worst including all possible promotions and gimmicks, I don't think anything ever in our lifetime will come close to topping the Doomsday Cage at Uncensored 1996. The idea was stupid, the match was abysmal, the rules were illogical and inconsistent, and it was just a complete and utter mess. The match was so bad that it effectively killed Hulkamania for good until the Nostolgia trip in 2002. Hogan like to argue that turning heel was his idea to reinvent his career and his character, but conveniently forgets that this match single handedly killed any remaining appeal he had with the fans as a babyface. He had no option other then the heel turn, otherwise he would have been done. 2. In a similar vein, where would you rank Giant Gonzalez among the worst pro wrestlers of all time? Gonzalez was bad, no doubt, but I can't really fault him for it. The man was damn near 8 feet tall, so he was obviously going to have limited mobility, and his ability to bump was almost non-existent. However despite his crappiness, both his runs in WCW and WWF were fairly short and it's not like the guy was ever pushed as a main event threat. I am much more offended by guys like Sid Vicious, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, and other guys who got consistent pushes in the main event despite having little to no talent, and refusing th make even the slightest bit of effort to improve. 3. In the past decade, do you think The Undertaker has dramatically improved or do you think he was just hindered in the early to mid 90s by a string of bad opponents? I am conflicted here, I've always dug the Undertakers character, but up until about 2002 I would have definitely included him on the list above with the people I consider to be the worst workers of all time. Somehow though as he got older, he seemed to improve. I however am not so convinced that The Undertaker improved so much as everyone else around him improved. He was no longer working with talentless slugs like Mable, Yokozuna, Gonzalez, and others. I've never seen Undertaker as a workhorse, he's always just been a consistent worker who can be carried to a good or even great match when he's working with the right opponent.

I would say goodbye to: Paul Birchill Kenny Dykstra Gene Snitsky The Highlanders Domino (They'll repackage Deuce with something based off being Snuka's son) Super Crazy Shane Helms Shannon Moore Khali after the Big Show storyline is finished and Hornswaggle I'm not familliar at all with developmental, so I have no clue about anyone being brought up

Unfortunately, I think you are going to find that there is not a whole lot, if any, reverence for Mr. Keith on this board. I personally found him to be amusing around 2000 / 2001, but got tired of him when he started buying into his own hype around the time his first shitty book came out.

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how successful has the brand extension been? Why? 5/10 The brand extension was a great idea, in theory. Three different shows, three different rosters, three different products. In practice however it has shown that rather then having three distinctly different shows, you've essentially got the A show, the B show, and the C show, with all three being fairly similar in content, and without the entire roster to work with, the weaknesses of each brand are far more apparent then they would otherwise be. In spite of WWE's continual attempt to use the show as a training ground for new wrestlers before they move on to RAW, Smackdown, at least at the beginning of the split, had the far superior product. The Smackdown Six, Brock Lesnar, Big Show, were all staples of the early days of Smackdown, and the show was far better then RAW as a result. RAW for the first year or two seemed to be not only contain lackluster wrestling, but also contain numerous silly storylines that din't build any heat at all. That's not to say Smackdown didn't have their share of retarded storylines, but Al Wilson and Billy and Chuck were hardly pushed in the same sort of serious manner as the Katie Vick storyline, the kiss my ass club, or any of the hundred other stupid ideas that were prominent on RAW during the early days of the draft split. Unfortunately, the death sentence for Smackdown came when it was moved to Fridays. This is without a doubt, the worst night of the week to put a wrestling show. No one is home on Fridays, I personally am usually at work Friday nights, and when I'm not working, I'm sure as fuck not going to spend it at home watching WWE. After the Friday move, it seemed as though both the talent and the writers simply stopped caring about the show. I read the spoilers every week, and there's never anything at all which compels me to watch. That's not to say however that RAW is any better, it most certainly isn't. I skip through RAW on my TiVo every week when I come home from work and watch the entire show in 10 minutes, there are very few bright spots on the show. It seems everyone is either good on the mic but bad in the ring (Santino, Kennedy) or vice versa (Jeff Hardy, Finlay). They just can't seem to find the right balance of good and bad. ECW is hardly even worth mentioning, as far as I, and I think this goes for most other fans as well, am concerned, if you got rid of the entire show tomorrow and just divvied up, or released the roster, it wouldn't have any effect on anything. Here is how I would fix the WWE right now: 1. Combine the rosters, the belts, and everything else that's split. While it is true that without the split, we'd just be seeing Triple H and John Cena twice a week instead of just once, as it stands there's just far too much extra time on each show every week wasted on talent that has no business being on TV in the first place, Khali, Mark Henry, Cade and Murdoch, Big Daddy V, The Divas, etc. etc. etc. Trim the fat on each show, and you'd have plenty of time for all the undercard guys. 2. Slowly reintroduce the concept of jobber squashes to the audience. This is a rather divisive issue with some people, but the fact is that the big matches need to be saved for PPV. Jericho vs CM Punk is not a match that you should give away on free TV. I'm not saying that we need to go back to the old WWF Superstars format, where every match is a squash, except for the main event where MVP would fight Val Venis, but there needs to be less marquee matches on free TV. Now I'm not entirely sure if this would even work with the modern audience, and if there's even anyone still left watching from the jobber squash days, but doing this, along with my next suggestion would dramatically increase house show attendance and PPV buys, since you'd be seeing matches you don't get to see for free every week. 3. Make the A-Level talent work the Hogan schedule. I know this is difficult in the era of monthly PPVs, sometimes 2 PPVs a month even, but if you don't put guys like Cena, Triple H, Orton, Undertaker, etc. in the ring, or even on TV every week, or at the very least reduce their participation to merely angles and promos to build up to the PPVs, people will buy the PPVs and House Show tickets because they want to see the A-Level talent. Shit, back in the day, you'd NEVER see Hogan on TV, except in the weeks leading up to a PPV, or maybe the occasional SNME show. His schedule was PPV and House Shows only, and it worked. 4. Reduce the number of PPV's each month. Now I know this is NEVER going to happen as long as the PPVs continue to be profitable, but reducing the number of PPVs a year down to maybe 4 or 5 would make them seem that much more important. Since this is never going to happen however, perhaps a better solution would be to tie in my idea from #3, and try maybe not having all the A level talent on EVERY PPV. Maybe have a PPV every couple months that focuses primarily on the Mid-Card talent, have the US or IC title in the main event instead of the heavyweight titles. If you at least change it up or make it different every once in a while people will be more interested in watching. 2. Has the extension helped to create new stars that wouldn't have had a chance to shine in the old set-up? Is it more effective than having one brand? Yes and no. While it may have provided the opportunity for talent like CM Punk, MVP, The Hardys, Benoit, Eddie, etc. etc. for shine, I feel it may have in fact provided too much opportunity. For every Mr. Kennedy we have gotten since the start of the draft, it seems as though we've gotten a dozen Simon Deans, Muhammad Hassans, Heidenreichs, Deuce and Dominoes, and Gene Snitskys. While I think there would be less opportunity for certain guys to get a chance at the main event, I don't think it would have hurt the introduction of new characters. 3. What has been the biggest success of the split? The biggest failure? The biggest success has easily been the new generation of Main Eventers. John Cena, JBL, Edge, Orton, Batista, all may not have gotten the oppertunity to become the major stars they became without the split, while guys like Eddie and Benoit more then likely wouldn't have gottne the oppertunity to carry the company as they did. The biggest failure has been the lack of direction for the mid and lower card. Except for the heavyweight belts, all of the titles are worthless. They're usually not defended on the PPVs, they aren't given any sort of importance, and they just don't matter. Except for the main event, it seems like much of the mid and lower card on both shows often gets booked completely at random. 4. Have fans come to accept Raw and Smackdown as two separate brands with their own characteristics, or just tv shows with different wrestlers doing the same thing? WWE has done a good job convincing their fans of the A Show, B Show, C Show concept. I certainly believe that most fans see the three shows in this way, with RAW being the important show, Smackdown being of lesser importance, and ECW not being important at all. 5. How much longer do you see the brand extension lasting? Do you still think it's a good idea? Probably quite a while, and no I don't

The PPV channel went to static for the period in between the Austin Promo and the beginning of Michaels vs Bulldog

The WCW mid and lower card in 1995 wasn't so bad, but the ridiculously stupid booking in the Main Event just overshadowed everything. I contest that the Dungeon of Doom was the single worst long term angle in wrestling history in terms of not just sheer stupidity, but not drawing, and killing the heat of everything and everyone associated with it. The greatest example of this is Halloween Havoc 1995, Hogan and Giant battle in monster trucks, ending with Hogan "throwing" The Giant off Cobo Hall, the announcers selling it like The Giant actually fell off the building, and then the whole thing ends in a schmoz in the ring when Hogan gets attacked by a Mummy. You really need to tripping on some crazy amount of acid to even begin to come up with something that stupid, let alone actually book it on a Pay Pew View. The stupidity in WCW in 1995 was far more insulting then anything WWF was doing. Nothing in WWF around this time, save for maybe King Mable, even came close to topping WCW in terms of sheer stupidity. The Renegade, Dave Sullivan, that match with Dustin and Darsow on the back of the truck, John Tenta's endless number of gimmicks, Hogan beating Vader in a strap match by dragging Flair to the ring corners, a major PPV that has a gate of $0 because you stupidly booked it as a free show on the beach, the list goes on and on and on and on forever. At the very least WWF had a fairly large number of consistant workers that didn't get buried in Michaels, Jarrett, Waltman, Bret, Hall, Hakushi, Candido, etc. etc. etc.

Does anyone recall the specifics of the storyline when DDP returned to WCW in 1994? I seem to vaguely recall something about him being homeless, and Kimberly winning the lottery, and then he had that mysterious benefactor that was never revealed. Anyone remember enough to fill in the details for me?

Rocky IV

Well obviously that would be the case 99% of the time, but they were just taking preventative measures for that 1% of the time someone fucks up.

They made us remove the flat ( 1.85:1 aspect ratio) version of this trailer from all the movies at work, because if you ran the trailer out of frame, you could clearly see penis on the screen....

I use my DVD recorder, since it's much easier and more convenient to store DVD's than VHS tapes. I still have hundreds of VHS tapes that I need to convert over to DVD. From WWE 24/7 I usually record just about everything that I don't already have, both for posterity, and for the fact that I rarely have the time to sit down and watch an entire show, I usually just run it in the background and record it to watch later.

The Doomsday Cage Main Event at Uncensored 1996 and the ME of the Heroes of Wrestling Show are, to me, the most hilarious matches of all time. They are just so utterly ridiculous that I can't even fathom that, at least in the case of the Cage Match, someone somewhere booked it thinking it was a good idea. The Heroes of Wrestling match is spectacular just for Jake Roberts' antics.

I think the deal with the Beware of Dog show was that no one had told Michaels or Bulldog that they had restored power, and were back on the air, so they assumed they were still just wrestling in the dark for the arena only, and as such only worked their generic house show match, rather than the PPV match they had planned. Both were very angry as a result.

So I haven't gotten around to watching it yet, but apparently they've FINALLY stopped editing Benoit out of these shows starting with this weeks episode.

The first PPV I watched live as it happened was Royal Rumble 1997, as my family did not have PPV capability prior to that The first PPV I ever attended live was Vengeance in 2004, where Benoit beat Triple H to retain the world title

Weird Al Yankovic was nice enough to meet with the handful of people waiting outside his tour bus after his show in Waterbury, CT this past summer. Real nice guy, he signed my copy of UHF, and took a picture. Penn and Teller were nice enough to meet and take pictures with everyone after their show in Vegas when I was there this past summer as well. I bumped into Pat Boone once a few years ago in Washington DC I met Todd Grisham and Rajin Singh wandering around Mohegan Sun after RAW back in January That's really all I can think of right now

and even though the Internet was still relatively small back then, spoilers still came out for the show prior to airing, and there were some who felt that it did affect the buyrate in this country.

Bob Holly, Cody Rhodes, Jeff Hardy, Lance Cade, and Trevor Murdoch form a Ku Klux Klan stable and feud with Elijah Burke, Big Daddy V, Mark Henry, Shelton, and Kofi Kingston, and the KKK Stable wins every single match and lynches their opponents afterwards. They pyro would be a flaming cross.

I just want Sargent Slaughter to have a quick cameo somewhere in the film, that would make me happy.

Flair Steamboat Miss Elizabeth Gordon Solie Barry Windham Mike Rotunda Ted Debiase Chris Benoit

Did anyone check out the Boston Show from 86 yet? It was a pretty good Hart Foundation vs US Express match, which was a combination I don't ever remember having see before. The US Express work kind of a heelish style, and actually get put over pretty strong throughout the match, despite the fact that this was right at the end of Rotunda and Spivey's run in the WWF at that point.

I'm on the train home now. The crowd seemed a lot more tepid live then I'm reading how it came across on TV. The show to me seemed kind of lame until Hardy/Orton saved it. The Rumble match itself was hot at the end, but there were just way too many people in the ring at once for most of the match. The Cena entrance was the most insane pop I've ever heard live. I'll continue with more live thoughts when i get home.

I heard this on the Radio driving to work tonight, pretty crazy stuff. For the record however, AICN is reporting that all his work for The Dark Knight is complete.

It has only been a year, but last years Rumble was really bad as well. There was a decent enough talent pool in the match, but it just totally lacked any and all interesting action. At one point wasn't there like 12 or 13 guys in the ring at once? It just wasn't memorable at all.