cabbageboy

The ladder match (gold medals/WWE title) is an interesting idea, but here's another that I saw on an NWA: TNA show. It was an early outing with Ken Shamrock vs. Sabu in a ladder vs. submission match. The match itself ended up not being that great since they didn't do nearly enough cool stuff with those stips. How about Angle/Cena with those stips? You could have all sorts of cool submission stuff involving the ladder, and you know the finish would have to be Cena climbing the ladder and Kurt getting the anklelock, with Cena either grabbing the title before he taps or being THIS close to the belt but not reaching it before tapping.

The prodigal son has returned. They have to be very careful how they handle this when it comes to the HOF. I don't want something stupid like Michaels doing a Huckster type skit on Bret.

That Joan Crawford stuff is just about the weirdest thing I've read since hearing Robert Wagner had an illicit affair with Barbara Stanwyck in the 50s. I always found it curious in Heathers when Christian Slater used the Joan Crawford postcard as a gay symbol for the two jocks. Maybe it made sense after all. After reading this stuff I don't think it really lends much new insight into Marilyn's death though. Maybe there was some ultra depressed side of her that she never really went into with the shrink?

How about Scandanavians protesting the various Viking teams while we're at it? For the life of me I've never understood this entire issue. I mean 1. Why do Indian groups care anyway? and 2. Why does the NCAA or the various schools actually listen?

Basic top rope stuff isn't banned. Only the 450 and shooting star if you believe this. With Kidman gone I can't recall much of anyone using the 2nd anyway, unless London does it too. I think the final straw might have been when Juvi did the 450 and nearly killed London on Smackdown. That said, it's always awful to ban people's moves. It reeks of 1992 Bill Watts era WCW, where they banned the top rope all together.

As far as the whole shades of grey thing goes, I'd say DOA were the closest to faces in that whole deal. The Nation were of course heels, and Los Boriquas were tweeners leaning towards heels. Thing is, was this angle at all a success? Not really. Know why? No one knew who to cheer. For all the talk about shades of grey, has it ever really drawn money? I mean yeah the whole DX, Harts, whoever stuff was complex in terms of who was good, evil, etc. Thing is, the WWF didn't start drawing huge until Austin was firmly position as a top FACE against Vince's evil heel. DX were most certainly the faces against the Nation. As far as Montreal goes, I certainly liked Bret better but I had no idea what they were trying to accomplish. The early DX was incredibly annoying I thought, at times funny but mostly revolting. I assume since it was in Montreal Bret was the de facto face.

I'm assuming Jillian will eventually do a face turn and manage some other tag team. Just wondering but is this whole brass knucks thing something they are serious about doing, or is it a joke? It's getting hard to tell the difference.

The HBK/RVD match came after the notorious India tour where half the roster was suffering from various plagues. It was essentially fodder for the HBK/HHH feud anyway, which sucked. I'd like to see a rematch of this with a clean finish. I always found it odd that they put Shawn in there with these huge dudes like Vader, Sid, UT, and Nash. While those could be fun matches they are just so unbelievable. I know that wrestling has little to do with real life, but honestly, who would win a fight between fucking VADER and Shawn Michaels? I prefer Bret's stuff against those same guys, at least Bret has the style of offense that makes him winning seem plausible (i.e. takes out a big dude's leg, grounds him, uses superior wrestling skill). For someone making fun of Hogan, Michaels does an even more absurd "hulk up" type spot when he kips up. Never cared for it, sometimes it negates the entire match. Anyway, I've got no problems with Cena/Angle. It's never really mained a PPV has it? And it at least gets Kurt away from fighting retards. Truthfully, there isn't a potential Cena match I'm just DYING for on Raw. Cena/Angle is ok but not amazing, Cena/HBK does nothing for me, and I already saw Cena/HHH at a house show and can safely say that match will suck hard.

I actually wouldn't mind seeing that Starrcade 90 tourney match with Adams/Smiley vs. Rey Sr. and Konnan. It's more of a curio type match than a can't miss match for a Best Of collection though. I think we can agree that there have been way too many Starrcades that were cheesy concept shows. Did any of these tourneys and round robin things ever lead to anything?

Smackdown wasn't amazing this week but I have to say I liked it better than Raw, maybe because Eddie makes this goofy stuff sorta work with sheer bravado. It seems like there are too many guys wandering around with no direction however. Is it just me or is Randy Orton so not over he's under at this point? His reaction was one like "Yeah we know you're gonna push this guy again but it doesn't mean we have to LIKE it." What does beating UT even prove at this point? He had his big shot at WM and blew it, so much like Shawn he'll get the job back from WM but no one will care. Oh, and people are making too much of this Jillian angle. She'll eventually get it removed or something, nothing to worry about. Lastly, if Eddie wanted a son to carry on the Guerrero name why did he give Dominic up to begin with?

He didn't HAVE to win though, in fact it did nothing but set up a bizarre heel vs. heel matchup at Survivor Series 97. People who obsess about Montreal tend to forget that part. I suppose Bret was the face in Canada there, but who gives a shit about that? In the US it was seen as two guys who were both leaders of heel factions. In fact the same results could come from UT beating Shawn with no Kane run in at HIAC, beating Bret (since Bret would be fine with jobbing to UT) since that would pay off that angle from SS 97. UT would have the title, Kane could taunt and threaten, he refuses, then Kane costs him the title at RR 98 vs. Shawn. There was no need to screw Bret Hart, though in the end it brought more interest in the WWF whether it was meant to happen. That said, yes the 2nd reason is more of a storyline reason to hate Michaels (as in he's lucky as fuck and didn't deserve to beat UT). The other two are more real life "I won't lose to this guy" type reasons. They tend to blend together when discussing Shawn.

Well I dunno what the deal is with him not wanting to job to Austin...I mean the guy was hardly active by that point and needed career ending (at that point) back surgery. Jobbing to Austin at WM 14 is a NON ISSUE. It had to happen. What else does it say about Shawn that the WWF was getting its ass kicked while he was on top, but the very second he had a career ending injury and Austin was on top the WWF turned it around and kicked WCW's ass? My brother never understands what I'm talking about when I mention Michaels losing his smile. He honestly can't believe someone would be that much of a wuss on national TV as to say "I am giving up the title and going off to find my smile." I dunno what that Sytch/Hart thing is all about but wasn't it Shawn accusing Bret of having an affair with Sunny behind his wife's back? One thing I will say is that the trifecta of 1. Beating Bulldog in England, 2. Beating UT in HIAC, and 3. Montreal made Shawn the most hated man ever. Everyone tuned in to WM 14 to see Austin finally kick this shit out of this asshole, it was literally the only possibility. And Shawn didn't want to job. Fucking amazing.

I'd just reissue the Best of Starrcade 1983-87 double set. That stuff is quite excellent and let's face it by 1989 Starrcade was crap anyway. Hell, 89 was a goofy concept show with singles and tag round robins, so there wasn't much of anything there. 1990 had the goofy Black Scorpion thing and a tag tourney of little regard. 1991 had something lame, like a lethal lottery or something. 1992 sucked ass. 1993 had Flair and Vader so there's something, rest sucked. 1994 had jack shit. 1995 yet AGAIN was a concept tourney with New Japan vs. WCW. After that I'm honestly drawing a blank for 1996 but there was likely some pointless but solid cruiser stuff. 1997 was a hideous show that was supposed to be WCW's big death knell on the WWF, but they blew it. 1998 had some nice cruiser stuff at the beginning but you KNOW they'll focus on Nash/Goldberg. 1999 didn't have shit. 2000 had some decent cruiser stuff but not much else.

The saddest thing is that everyone bought this for a while, so what does that say about WWE's talent acquisitions of late? Hell if anything this might give them the idea to sign Tatanka.

There's some really cool stuff this month on WWE 24/7: In the Big Ones section they are showing Summerslam 1992, 1996, 1997, and 2002. Also a Clash of the Champions from Aug. 1994, with a Flair/Hogan rematch. There's more History of ECW but it's not yet the actual EXTREME yet, still Eastern. There's some stuff like the Bruise Bros. vs. Douglas/Mr. Hughes in a cage. Get this: the Hall of Fame section is a retrospective on Pat Patterson, including a match from 1979 against a young Ted DiBiase. But what, no IC tourney from 79? Haha. In the specials section there is a Bruno Sammartino retrospective and also a Summerslam Greatest Hits hosted by Sean Mooney. There's another lame episode of TNT, which I won't watch. Some Prime Time Wrestling from 1986 that I will definitely watch. And of course more Monday Night War shows from 1996, this time with stuff like Yokozuna/Bulldog vs. Diesel/Shawn on Raw while Sting/Luger vs. Road Warriors is on Nitro. I'll definitely check those out. To me the highlight is of course the various SS shows. I'll probably skip the 2002 one but most definitely will get a DVD copy of SS 92 (one of my favorite shows ever), as well as catch the 96 show that I've never actually seen.

More for your Michaels hating dollar: Didn't he also refuse to job to the British Bulldog at the One Night Only PPV? Bear in mind this was an English PPV that no one in the US even saw, Bulldog dedicated the match to his sister who was DYING OF CANCER, and fucking Michaels refused to job. I mean what, wasn't beating UT at the first HIAC the next month and getting the title in Montreal enough? He couldn't job to the hometown hero in what was essentially a match that meant nothing outside of the UK?

Yeah his overall historical significance is negligible but he could have been a bigger star with better booking. He probably should have at least won the IC title at some point in 1993, if nothing else to pay off his win streak (Shawn could have beat him in a rematch to end the streak, which makes more sense than Borga killing him). My feelings on it are summed as thus: If he comes back, I won't be upset and might even enjoy seeing him...but if not, no sweat.

People are too used to shows like WM 14 nowdays though, where nearly every match has a story and purpose behind it. I'm not going to wonder about Nunzio getting cruiser shots, because that is merely happening on Velocity...I mean who cares? It doesn't hurt anything. But yeah stuff like Jericho getting a title shot despite not having won against ANYONE for like 2 years. Jericho desperately needs a few wins but as I've said, against who? It's hilarious really, they aren't even attempting to make Jericho a real contender, it's like "Here's some token jobber for Cena to feud with until HHH (the real contender) gets back."

That's great, man. Where is the premiere at and all that? At the moment I am just getting used to this camera, it's pretty mindblowing. Doing test footage and what not, tomorrow going to meet with a guy to test out his mic on the camera. Before I consider doing my own script I might do something with his group, some shock type flick about a series of snuff murders in Louisville (obviously staged) from the killer's point of view.

If they were going to do that finish that match should have been in the middle of the show. Never end a PPV with a DQ. As far as Michaels goes, what the fuck? The guy had a seemingly career ending back injury going into WM 14. Did he honestly think he wasn't going to be booked to job there, especially to Austin who flat out 100% was obviously going over? Hell, did he think he could just do a DQ and hold onto the belt without wrestling for months? There are reasons why I hate Shawn Michaels and this shit is a major part of it.

Tatanka could have been a longer lasting star had they not done the incredibly stupid act of turning him heel at SS 94. That was such a horrible decision in that he never really changed his act any, or sold out by wearing a suit for DiBiase while in the Corporation, etc. I can't say it ever dawned on me that they should bring back Tatanka, but given the foolish way his career was killed in the mid 90s maybe they feel they owe him one.

I agree with Kahran on this one. There doesn't have to be a storyline to every match and even then you can make the storyline the match itself. I mean on Nitro back in the day you'd have Malenko and Rey fighting over the cruiser title...no real storyline, it was (gasp) WRESTLING. As in Malenko had the title, Rey wanted it, they fought over it, etc. Also, a major problem I have with WWE now is the actual in match booking and wrestling. There are way too many dreary restholds, the matches lack excitement, they lack a variety of holds, they lack crisp action. These guys need to sit down and watch hours of Ricky Steamboat matches....no huge highspots that would get someone hurt, but the action is crisp, it moves, there are near falls. Just beacuse management doesn't want people doing dangerous spots nightly doesn't mean everyone should do the opposite and just grab chinlocks for a whole match. Stuff like chinlocks and extended headlock sequences have no business being in a shortened TV match.

It was an excellent match and I think sadly ended up being Steamboat's last match as he hurt his back and retired soon after (at the next PPV). I was kinda hoping for the Aug. 93 Clash show. Would you believe I saw that show originally yet have no memory whatsoever of the Shockmaster? Maybe I missed it somehow. Oddly enough I remember that show itself as being quite good!

Aw man mine is 9.00 a month. Last night I watched that Clash of the Champions from 1994, that was a good show (better than the Keith rant would indicate). Real sweet Austin/Steamboat match on it and the Flair/Hogan main was good aside from the countout finish.

Oh I gotta disagree with some of this. I think Angle was seriously hurt by the whole Booker feud. In fact that was the cherry on top of what has been a truly horrid last few months for Kurt. He tried to rape Sharmell and totally embarrassed himself there, and also got his ass beat down. Taz kicked his ass at the ECW PPV. He gets traded back to Raw for literally 1 reason: jobbing to Michaels. Then he gets to lose his gold medals to a retard. They outta have him either go back to feuding with Shawn again in a rubber match or maybe he could feud with RVD in a contender type feud once he gets back.