spman

This thread seems like the opportune moment to bring up something funny I always find with these tapes. I know I've discussed this with DrVenkman before, but I love when they dub commentary over matches that were clearly taped months, or years earlier, while mentioning recent events. A good example of this is The Undertaker's Gravest matches, released in December of 1993, and features an Undertaker vs Mountie matched filmed in August 1992, with Jim Ross dubbing commentary talking about how The Mountie is having a lot of success in the WWF. Let's ignore the fact that The Mountie was off TV by October 1992, while Jim Ross didn't even debut as an announcer until April 1993. By the time this match was ever seen by anyone, Jaques Rougeau was already in a completely different gimmick. I just find gaffes like this endlessly hilarious.

People seem to be split on the Waynes World / Austin Powers movies. I love the first Wayne's World and the first Austin Powers is an all time classic, but Wayne's World 2 is pretty terrible. I've met plenty of people over the years who swear up and down that Austin Powers 3 is hilarious, but I found it just to be another tired retread. I'm neutral on Austin Powers 2, it is mostly just a rehash of Part 1, but it has enough going for it in it's own right that I still enjoy it. Based on wrestling ratings it would go Austin Powers: ****1/2 Wayne's World: **** Austin Powers 2: *** Wayne's World 2: * Austin Powers 3: 1/2*

I was always a big fan of Sid Vicious refusing to do the stretcher job for El Gigante on his way out of WCW in 1991, so they end up having an abysmal match that ends with One Man Gang doing the run in.

I was at the show live tonight. The arena was packed, not a single empty seat. Crowd really wasn't too hot overall, mostly just subdued. Not sure how it came off on TV, but the crowd seemed to crap on both CM Punk and Batista equally. Batista got big heat when he did the complete heel turn on Punk at the end of the match, but it sounded to me at least like Punk was getting more boos then cheers. The show itself was just all right, not enough clean finishes, but enough matches delivered that I went home happy. I have tickets for RAW later tonight as well, so here's hoping that's enjoyable as well.

Just adding my two cents here on the World TOur '96 tape, as DrVenkman said, it truely is one of the most miserable hour and a halves you will ever witness in your life. Even Bret Hart vs Austin can barely stumble out of Negative Star territory, and the tape also features not one, not two, but THREE Ahmed Johnson matches that all get progressively worse. It's terrifying.

This Wargames 2000 match is the worst fucking train wreck I've seen in a long time

Some actors just seem to be critic proof. Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence have been pumping out some of the worst movies of the last decade, but for some reason everything they're in seems to make some dough.

Vince? I thought Kane was asking Lawler for the truth about Andy Kaufman!

What were the circumstances behind Adam Bombs face turn in 1994? I seem to remember it having to do something with Kwang. Did Brian Clarke ever even have any significant programs during that run in the WWF, or was he just mid-card fodder? I don't really remember him having any major feuds other then being the last minute replacement for Ludvig Borga at Wrestlemania X, and wrestling on different teams at Survivor Series 1993 and 1994. I honestly can't remember him doing anything other then being menacing, and jobbing a lot.

I think this seems like the perfect pulpit for me to rant about how much I hate living in Connecticut. Now, when people think of Connecticut, they erroneously think that everything is like Greenwich, but this simply is not the case. While it is true that Fairfield County is one of the most affluent places in the United States, much of the rest of Connecticut is not like this at all. Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, even most of New London is just as ghetto as the worst parts of New York and New Jersey. The middle class here have it rough, the cost of living is so high, and the divide between the rich and the poor is so huge that it just causes those of us in the middle to get fucked. If you're dirt poor, or better yet, dirt poor with children the state is more then winning to provide you with an endless number of entitlement programs to ensure that you're never going to be motivated to work again for the rest of your life. If you're between that 20,000 and 50,000 a year bracket however, you're going to be struggling to survive in CT, especially if you're a family with only one income. Our gas is the highest in the country becasue of taxes, and everything else is more expensive by association. Living on your own in CT is damn near impossible, as even a one bedroom apartment in the crack house projects is going to run you 800-1000 a month before utilities, it's absolutely insane. It's just illogical to me that our taxes are so high, we have 2 Casinos bringing in income, every type of Lottery program imaginable, but still it remains. There was even an article in the paper a few years back that 1 million people in general had left the stat in the past 10 years, while around 500,000 hispanics, particularly Puerto Ricans had moved in. Without getting Race involved, there is definitely a huge social and economic divide in this state that is driving everyone out, and will likely take me with it once I graduate from College. *sigh*

I just got home from this show. Really great just always, but Tag Team formula got a little tiring after a while. ROH has done better shows in Hartford, but this was still great none the less. The main event I felt was the match of the night, although the three way seemed really good as well, damned if I know though as 90% of it took place on the floor and wasn't visible. When people started throwing garbage in the ring, the ROH security guards got PISSED and started attacking people, no lie. When everyone is doing it at once, there's nothing at all you can do about it, and hitting the couple of guys you're able to catch isn't going to help matter at all.

I saw him work a dark match maybe a year or so ago before a Smackdown Taping, he got a big pop and still looked pretty decent in the ring, so I will enjoy seeing him on TV again

Anyone else catch the spot in the Iaukea vs Candido match where Iaukea comes off the top rop and attempts a rollup, but completely misses, but then Candido still sells it and tumbles over anyway? That shit had me in tears!

This weeks PTW had a lot of subtle gay jokes, such as during the Steve Lombardi match, Gorilla says "Lombardi came from the wrestling school of Terry Garvin and Pat Patterson", and of course the Piledrive video they showed is just blatently gay.

I pretty much blame all my mental and emotional problems that I suffer from today back to the years comprising 6th thru 8th grade. It was that point in time before Columbine led to zero tolerance policies, and police officers patrolling the halls, but they were still at the tail end of that Politically Correct counseling not punishment bullshit where bullies just got a stern lecture from the principal, or in school suspension that was a glorified vacation rather than getting kicked out of school where they belonged. Dipshitted assholes went out of their way to make my life miserable, and I didn't do anything to stop it when I had the chance. The few times I did try and stick up for myself, everyone either plead the fifth, or tried to levy blame on me, and who would end up getting in trouble? Me of course, since you can't really argue against a handful of lying pricks claiming I instigated anything compared to one person attesting to be the victim. This pretty much shaped my personality into the loner I remain today. I neglected school work, got mostly D's and C's, and buried myself in television and video games. I was forced into guidance counseling because I was deemed anti-social, a label that pretty much followed me through high school. The anti-social thing eventually became a self fulfilling prophecy as even to this day I'm naturally skeptical of the intentions of everybody and always assume the worst, so I don't even bother to be the least bit outgoing as a result. I've been considering, as of late, seeing a psychologist to try and overcome this problem so that maybe I can perhaps meet more girls, have healthy relationships, and perhaps move on, but as it currently stands, middle school ruined my life.

Although I think DrVenkman and I are the only two fans of this series left on earth, let alone on this board, I find it amusing that despite spending most of it's run booked in the FOX Sports Overrun death slot, King of the Hill managed to get canceled, revived as a mid-season replacement, picked up for a full season, placed in the coveted post-Simpsons time slot, and then get picked up for yet another full season. I think King of the Hill might win the award for the longest running show in Primetime that no one watches, or at least no one discusses.

Just thought I'd put my two cents in on this, the second big summer movie so far this year. It's not a bad film overall, but it's got some pretty severe flaws that are going to hurt it's chances with audiences. I think the biggest problem overall is that it does not know who it wants to placate to. It's rated PG, so clearly by that standard they're aiming for the kids market. Unfortunately, the film clocks in at an astonishingly long 2 hours and 15 minutes, so many kids will be ready to leave halfway through the film. Also, while kids will enjoy the bright colors and the fact paced action during the race scenes, they will be put off by the heavy doses of dialog and exposition which will put them to sleep before they can even make it to the action sequences. Adults and fans will like a lot of the nods to the original series, but will likely end up bored and confused by the needlessly complicated plot and large number of plot holes. Also, the character of Speed's younger brother and the monkey, while clearly written to keep kids engaged in between the scenes heavy on dialog, are combined enough to drag down this entire flick. Although I appreciate the Wachowski brothers devotion to remain true to the style of the original show, and anime in general, I can definitely see people quickly getting tired of all the bright colors in the film, it's just too damn colorful, and it gets distracting after a while. On the plus side however, the race sequences are a lot of fun, and the Wachowski's definitely did a good job at least replicating the feel of the original series. Overall, this film tries to be everything to everyone, and ends up failing as a result. Children will be put to sleep by the length and endless amounts of storytelling, while Adults likely won't appreciate the visuals and the story. I can definitely see dedicated fans being able to look beyond the glaring flaws of the film and enjoy it, but as it stands this movie is going to suffer at the box office, and will quickly be swallowed up by Iron Man this weekend, and Narnia the next. I give the film a C

I've been told that Insurance and Venue are the two biggest expenses when it comes to promoting pro wrestling. It's also very difficult to make money doing, unless you have a ton of capital to invest to start with. You can't draw unless you have established names, and you can't get established names if you don't have money. It's not terribly dissimilar from the movie theatre business I work in, you aren't going to make a dime of profit on the show, all the profit comes from auxillary revenue such as concessions, merchandise, etc.

I still contest that Batman and Robin is one of the most underrated comedies of all time.

My father took me for my Birthday last summer. It's definitely true that it's much more of a party town and the gambling is downplayed much more then it has in previous decades. While there are many extravagant casinos, once you get inside of them, they are all almost identical. I'm hoping to return by myself this summer to experience more of the night life and party stuff, as I missed out on most of that stuff having to spend the week with Pop.

I was pawing through the used CD's at the music store a few months ago, and picked up "After the Rain" by Nelson for 3 bucks. After being seen with it by a friend, it's now become a running joke among us. Anyways, I've really been digging this album lately, I forgot how great a single Love and Affection was. Sure, it may be really gay metal, but I'll be damned if it's not catchy. Does enjoying Nelson mean I might have some undiscovered homosexual overtones? I sure hope not.

Scott Hall is probably one of the best examples I can think of of an guy who managed to get over with the right character and the right attitude despite being a mediocre to terrible worker. People don't remember Razor Ramon the wrestler, they remember Razor Ramon the character. When he wasn't loaded, he was at least competent enough to allow workers like Michaels and Jarrett to carry him to decent / good matches, but in general I think it's fair to say that Razor Ramon matches usually stunk up the joint. I definitely think the Kliq association helped Scott Hall more than anyone else, if he didn't get the rub both in the ring, and backstage, from Nash and Michaels, he would have faded away sometime around the beginning of 1995 along with guys like Tatanka, Crush, etc. His pull with the Klique however gave him a steady push and allowed him to remain in a prominent enough position for the entire Outsiders / nWo angle to happen and be as successful as it was. Do you think the nWo would have been the same if it had been say, Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow invading WCW? Of course not, that's ridiculous. So I guess my point is that Hall is always a guy that has just ridden along on the coat tails of his political allies, he has very few redeeming qualities on his own that don't somehow directly relate to Nash and / or Michaels, and his Legacy will probably simply be becoming the prototype for the behavior we see in wrestlers today that cause them to drop dead before they turn 40. Now as far as the rest of your questions go: Hall was never main event material, no way, he just wasn't on that level as far as in ring ability and charisma go. Strong upper mid-carder, yes, but that's it. I personally feel his best matches are of course the two Ladder Matches with Michaels, and his match with Jarrett at Royal Rumble. I think the 123 Kid angle was fairly memorable as far as early RAW moments go, and the Intercontinental Battle Royal with Rick Martel as well. Otherwise I can't really remember too many other notable storyline he was involved in. I would say he probably had more success in WWF, but he had more of an impact during his run in WCW. Sober or not, Hall shouldn't return to wrestling, except for Fan Conventions and Indy Appearances, he wouldn't be of any use to either TNA or WWE at this stage in his career.

I don't know if this has been mentioend or not, but even at the height of their popularity when any remnants of the past were merely coincidental, WCW still had as it's core base a large contingent of old school fans of southern style wrestling, who were loyal to the wrestlers, the product, and the brand name. No matter what, these fans had no interest in watching Vince McMahon's product, and once WCW was gone, they simply stopped watching altogether. The same can also even be said about the loyal ECW fanbase, although I think it's less true with them because although hating on the mainstream wrestling was the cool thing to do back then, you can be damn sure all those guys were the first onces in line to buy ticekts with WWF and WCW came to town, and many of them are the same people who still watch the product today, but bitch about how much it sucks, and how ECW was so much better back in the day, but still continue to watch nonetheless.

Even though they may not mean much to American audiences, El Santo, Rikidozan, and Karl Gotch all deserve to be on this list simply on the basis of being cultural icons in Mexico / Japan edit: Sorry, didn't see that you limited the list to appeal to US fans, but then by that measure, Mascaras should be out too, I would replace him with Eddie Guerrero.

Geez, here's something I figured would have long since been lost to history, the original Wrestlemania 1 PPV Pre-Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR9jJjoeP5Y