Naked Snake

Gold! Thanks!

I enjoyed the film tremendously. It didn't let me down. Can't wait for Episode IV.

At times we have seen a debuting wrestler (think Carlito) win the title in one of the earliest television/PPV matches in their career and then get a push. Other times we have seen wrestlers get a push and then win the title and then continue the push, but not as strong as the initial one that made them a contender (think Batista). So what do you think is better in hopes of getting a wrestler over. For me, I like the anticipation of a wrestler finally winning a title or regaining it, but they lose a little juice as soon as they hold it once, because it's anti climatic. A wrestler winning a title just like that with no real push before does not tell a story, however. Hmmm...

I won't go as far and say I don't care for the Anakin becoming Vader story, but the story that really interests me is the rise to power of Palpatine. His scheming is brilliant, and I hope he has a lot of screen time in this flick.

I always thought this match was a political one. Undertaker loses to HHH, the two politicians switch brands, and Taker gets to become the #1 contender on SmackDown! while hHh gets a custom title to parade around on Raw.

Bret Hart counters Shawn Michaels high risk move into the SharpShooter at Survivor Series 1992.

Hogan turns heel at Bash at the Beach, everyone has that correct. But what people confuse is the fact he gave the same speech on Nitro the next day, which he didn't, he did that the week AFTER.

Did the news do anything for the WWE stock? Did it bump it up or anything?

Thank God for these rates. Now I can finally shut up a friend of mine!

I hit sweet chin music on a kid back in the day. It was a real playground fight.

What was the deal with Savage "retiring" in 1991? Was that just storyline or did he take time off for something?

I like everything about your angle except you burying Batista being old. That's a no no.

Apparently the plan is Orton vs Batista at SummerSlam. But that could change. That's coming from Randy himself though.

For number 2, I would think it would have to do something with the fiscal years. Theoritically, if the WWF fiscal year began in April and ended in March (talking about with the stock era) you could have revenues for 2 WrestleMania's in the same fiscal year. I don't know why they would do that, but sometimes You'll see a WrestleMania in April and then March the next year. You could make your revenue look good if you did that. But you would hurt yourself the next fiscal year. I would imagine this wasn't the case in the pre stock area, but nonetheless I'm pretty sure it's the fiscal related.

I need a Rock fix, and quick Can someone please upload Rock vs Steve Austin WrestleMania X-7 Rock vs Steve Austin WrestleMania XIX Rock vs Hollywood Hogan No Way Out 2003 please!

From Meltzer, regarding that European title match "September 20, 1997: About one hour before the beginning of the PPV show in Birmingham, England, McMahon approached Davey Boy Smith and asked him to put over Shawn Michaels that night for the European title. Smith was apparently shocked, having been told all along in the build-up of the show, that Michaels was going to do a job for him, since Europe was promised to be “his territory”. The explanation, which made and still makes logical business sense, is that they wanted to build for a bigger show - a second PPV show from Manchester, England, Smith’s former home town, where Smith would regain the title - the same scenario the WWF did to draw 60,000 fans in San Antonio with Michaels in the other role working a program with Sycho Sid. So while it all made sense, it was rather strange he wasn't approached with this idea until just before the start of the show. At around this same time period, McMahon approached Hart about working with Michaels. Hart said that he had a problem with that since Michaels had still never really apologized to him for the Sunny days comment and said it would be hard to trust somebody like that in the ring and due to their past, and told McMahon that he would figure that Michaels would have the same concerns, since a few weeks earlier, after first making it clear he would never work with anyone in the Hart Foundation, Michaels had finally agreed to work with only Smith, saying he still couldn’t trust Bret or Owen" The European title match made sense as to why it was booked, after reading that.

Shawn had Vince by the balls. You couldn't fire Shawn because you needed him in that spot. Remember in 1997, he screwed up the booking for Mania and the buyrates were shit. With all that money invested in this Mania (specifically Tyson) you had to have the event go on as planned/built up.

I usually download CDS, and if I like them I buy them. Some people don't get this mentality, but I like supporting the artists if they put out a product I deem is worth my money.

A question Wasn't Scott Hall supposed to go over Austin at WrestleMania X8? Apparently the finish would lead to the brand extension. Anyone know any details?

Shawn's ego at the time was incredible. I don't even know how Undertaker worked with him, but looking at the results in their feud, (No contest, Michaels cheap pin, Michaels cheap casket win) it looked like Shawn truly meant he wasn't going to do jobs for anyone. Michaels was sitting in the lockerroom and he didn't know if he was going to do the job or not. Nevermind his back was destroyed, he still didn't want to put anyone over. Didn't one of the Harris brothers choke Shawn out?

Here is an excerpt from Sex, Lies and Headlocks for those not familiar with some of the details of the "Montreal Incident". I know most of you are aware of the details of what happened, but a few people asked some questions and hopefully the answers are here...somewhere... "Rather than see Turner get his hands on one of the WWF's last bankable stars, McMahon offered Hart and unprecedented twenty year contract. Negotiated in October 1996, it gave Hart a seven figure salary for three years, during which Hart promised to keep wrestling, and a six figure paycheque thereafter, when he would ascend to the booking committee and have a key role as a scriptwriter. But now, a year into the deal, Vince regretted his impetousness. For one thing, Hart hadn't spiked the ratings as had hoped. For another, McMahon had begun talks with a Manhattan investment house about taking the WWF public, and he'd been advised to limit any long term obligations on his balance sheet. So before a show in MSG, McMahon told Hart he could no longer afford the deal they'd struck. He should feel free to pursue his fortune at WCW. While Hart probably could have gone to court to enforce the contract, he sought out Bischoff. The Call Vince received in the barber's chair was Bret reporting he had a deal on the table worth $2million a year. Was Vince sure this is what he wanted? A few half hearted options were explored but none amounted to much of a counteroffer, so Hart said he was accepting Turner's offer. As he walked through the cool air of a Manhattan fall and into a waiting limousine that was about to whisk him away to the movies with Linda, Vince was already thinking about how to make money off of Hart's departure. His next PPV Survivor Series, was due to air on November 9th. He told Hart he wanted him to lose the belt to Shawn Michaels. Michaels and Hart disliked each other as much as two men could. Hart came from a legendary Canadian wrestling family. Michaels was the son of a military man, born on an air force base in Scottsdale Arizona and reared in San Antonio Texas. He had no patience for the pretentious Harts and their stuffy claim to being the self appointed guardians of tradition. When Hart took his brief hiatus from the WWF to pursue an acting career, Michaels moved into the company's top slot. He was understandably piqued then, when Hart returned to bump him down a notch. From his vantage point, Hart saw Michaels as a low class player who was lucky to have gotten as far as he had. "In my absence" he once wrote in a Calgary newspaper column, "the WWF had been overtaken by a prima donna of unmatched proportions." For his part, Michaels argued to McMahon that there was no way Hart was worth roughly twice the salarry. Michaels was younger and a harder worker. Most importantly, he claimed, he was on message. So he wanted a raise or he'd walk. When Vince refused to let him out of his one year contract, Michaels vented his frustration by showing up at a Mobile, Alabama, taping of Raw barely able to stay on his feet and needing directions to the ring. Once inside of it, he let his anger fly by drunkenly quipping that Hart was seeing "a lot of Sunny days lately." The allusion to an affair that Hart was widely rumored to be having with the buxom Tammy Lynn Sytch, who appeared under the stage name Sunny, was a low blow. If there's one pact among wrestlers, it's that what happens on the road, stays on the road. When Raw visited the Fleet Center in Boston the next week, Hart let Michaels know just how much trouble he'd caused by following him into a bathroom and starting an argument that escalated into a floor rolling brawl. After Hart wound up with a fist full of his hair, Michaels stormed out of the building muttering, "Fuck this shit Vince, I'll never work for you again." That was in May. Now it was November, and Hart told Vince that he'd never give up his belt to Michaels. For as long as he'd worked in the WWF he'd done as he was told, but this time Hart wanted to call his last shot. He'd lose to anybody, he said, except Michaels. And he didn't want to lose in front of his fans in Canada. With the PPV days away, a series of negotiations forced Vince to relent. The Montreal match could end in a DQ, he agreed, and instead of dropping the strap, Bret could hand it to Vince the next night at the episode of Raw they were taping in Ottawa. But as his flight landed in Montreal on Saturday, Vince had already decided that the plan was too risky. Word was out on the Internet that Hart was heading to WCW. With the ratings gap finally closing to within a percentage point, he couldn't stand the idea that Bischoff would show up on Nitro crowing that he'd hired the WWF's reiging champ. No. The only way that Hart could leave Montreal on Sunday was without the strap. Hart arrived in Canada on edge as well. At a house show in Toronto on Saturday night, he approached the referee who was scheduled to work the Survivor Series match, a longtime McMahon deputy named Earl Hebner, and asked if anything had changed. No, Hebner replied, the finish was still the same. Michaels would bump Hebner and knock him out. then be placed in Hart's finishing move, the sharpshooter. Because Hebner wouldn't see Michaels submitting to Hart, Michaels could escape the loss and Hart could save face before his hometown fans. In the confusion, there would be run ins by DeGeneration X and the Hart Foundation, leading to the DQ. Seeing the worry on Hart's face, he added, "I swear on my kids, I'll quit before I doublecross you." Hart was still jittery when he landed in Montreal, but backstage at the Molson Center he started to relax. After going over their spots in an agreeable fashion, he and Michaels dressed quietly, without much drama. Vince changed beside them, seeimgly in a good mood now that all the details had been worked out. When it finally came time for the match to start, Michaels play it straight, just as he said he would in the locker room. In fact, as the men brawled their way into the crowd, Hart thought he was putting on a hell of a show. For the better part of five minutes, they flung each other up and down the aisles. When they brawled their way back to the ring, Michaels gave Hebner the timely bump that knocked him out and set up the series of spots that started with him placing a submission hold on Hart. Because they still had 8 minutes to go, Hart let Michaels mount his back and relaxed a bit, grabbing a few deep breaths to conserve his energy. He was still gathering strength when out of the the corner of his eye, he heard a director yell, "It's time! Get up!" Hart saw Hebner rise and felt Michaels tighten his grip. Then he heard the words, "Ring the fucking bell" And that was when Hart understood what was happening. Later that night, Michaels would insist that he knew nothing about the deception, and the look of surprise on his face lent him the benefit of the doubt. In fact, he seemed disjointed when Vince barker at Hebner, "Give him the belt" and he had to be told by road agent Jerry Brisco to raise it over his head, thereby letting the crowd know he was accepting the title. Hart had his own way of acknowledging the double cross. Meeting McMahon's stare, he spat at his boss, streaking his face. The backstage area was chaos. While Hebner was being whisked to a waiting rental car, Michaels waited in the locker room for Hart. "You weren't in on that?" he was asked when Hart finally stormed in. "I had no fucking idea," Michaels replied. "As God as my fucking witness. My hands are fucking clean on this one. I swear to God." Vince had retreaded to his own locked office backstage when the WWF's locker room leader, the Undertaker, rapped on his door to say that the Boys were angry and had decided that Hart was owed an apology. Seeing, the politics of the situation, McMahon nodded in agreement and walked into the dressing room area flanked by his son Shane, and road agents Brisco and Sergeant Slaughter, while Hart was toweling himself off. Hart called his ex boss a liar warning Vince that if he didn't leavce the area before Hart finished dressing. "I'm going to punch you in the fucking mouth." But Vince insisted on explaining himself. Yes, he'd lied to Hart, but weren't they all going to be rich in the end? Wasn't that all that mattered? Hart answered with his fist, landing a hard blow to Vince's right temple. Shane jumped on Hart's back, but by then it was clear the long night was over. "Get this motherfucker out of here, or I'll hurt him." Bret said, controlling what was left of his voice. Vince staggered to his feet and left limping down the hall, a dark bruise on his lower lip. By the next morning, the episode had sparked a furor on the internet sites and chat rooms, and the WWF was in turmoil. Staffers stayed up half the night quelling a threatened boycott. In a high stakes meeting with his talent before the taping of Raw on Monday evening in Ottawa, McMahon insisted that Hart was jeopardizing the company, that he'd taken the punch for all of them. When he finally decided to adress the issue for the TV audience the next Monday, he started believing it himself. "Some would say I screwed Bret Hart" he began. "The referee didn't screw Bret Hart. Shawn Michaels didn't screw Bret Hart. Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart." Then he issued this warning: "If were going to ave have problems along those lines in the locker room or anywhere else, okay we're going to have them. But no more free shots."

It's missing the Back in Black nWo dvd. It sucks.

Shawn found religion somewhere in 2001. I think it happened after the whole Wrestlemania X-7 fiasco where he acted like a primadonna when his skits were cut for time off of Raw. His karma was the casket bump that took 4 years off of his wrestling career. But there's also some people saying he took the time off because he knew he couldn't pull his shit anymore with the emergance of the Rock and Steve Austin (among others).

I have to read this again to truly understand it.

Raw in Toronto this past year. "Let's go Chris" which was clever, but also a 50/50 crowd.