Corkscrew_Senton

Matter of preference, obviously. I like the bodysuit ring gear because it looks as close to a football uni as you're going to get in wrestling (so that goes with the gimmick) plus it's something that makes him standout.

First time I'd ever seen, didn't realize I'd missed the humor train.

FANTASTIC. That mullet and American flag bandana combo has to be ironic humor, no way someone could be THAT stereotypical....right? RIGHT?

It might be worth adding to the list if the rumors about Gagne offering Sheik a hefty bribe to injury Hulk are true.

Yes, that's when XPW died. However it managed to kill off a great deal of its California fanbase by promising shit and not delivering. Around late 2001, early 2002, they promised a HUGE suprise that would change the company's complexion. Reports I've read said it was supposed to be Scott Hall. Anyway, the surprise didn't happen. Kaos instead brought out homeless people to the ring and claimed that was the surprise. I think around this same time they scheduled an exploding cage match that either didn't happen or turned out to be a huge pile of shit. And of course, there was the genuis idea to put New Jack in a match with Vic Grimes. Jack threw Grimes off a scaffold onto a pyramid of tables, but Grimes missed the tables and damn near died. The show was wrapped up early so paramedics could get Grimes out of there and no refunds were given and they had no make-up show. When XPW moved to Pennsylvania in 2002, it's L.A. fanbase was nearly gone because the company had fucked up so many times.

I always thought HHH going over Cactus Jack first at the Royal Rumble then in the Hell in the Cell was huge. The second match was incredible for me, because I remember thinking, "OK, Foley's retiring soon. He'll get this win and his shot at headlining Wrestlemania." I just knew Foley was winning that match. Then when Hunter won, I was stunned.

Ah, Gorgeous George! My grandpa told me many stories of going to see Gorgeous George live back in the day.

Thanks for the report cabbageboy! Looks like a pretty solid card. I've always heard the Bashams were good outside of WWE. What did you think of Doug's work? I hope TNA can get a decent house show routine going. Might help get the word out more than their horrific advertising.

Interesting, interesting. I really like reading about some of the old school stuff. I got into wrestling watching the NWA on TBS around '88 or so, I'd like to be able to see some more of the stuff before that. I find those kayfabe days really fascinating.

Yeah, Andre should be in the Top 10. My bad, that's a big omission. Superstar Billy Graham, I dunno...he was a transitional champ who was more over as a result of Bruno and Bob Backlund from what I understand. There no doubt Graham played a huge role in future characters like Savage and Hogan, but I think those guys were pushed more and given a bigger spotlight with which to work. I honestly don't know enough about the Von Erichs' history in Texas, hence why I didn't include them.

I'm doing since the 1970s, US only (for the record, if we're doing the world, El Santo tops all these people): 1. Austin: EVERYONE knew about him in the late 1990s, and his unique heelish face character brought in many crossover fans after years of wrestling being considered lame. 2. Hogan: The first glamorous wrestling superstar and the catalyst of the 1980s boom. Maintained his status as a draw even as a heel, and can draw decent PPV buys today just with his name. 3. The Rock: Managed to keep the crossover fanbase during Austin's absence and proved that crossover appeal when he went to Hollywood. 4. Dusty Rhodes: Drew huge numbers in the South and for Georgia Championship Wrestling/the NWA in its cable infancy. His American Dream character was an every-man sorta gimmick, a kind of precursor to Steve Austin. 5. Jerry Lawler: Can't believe he's on no one else's list. The dude drew 12K every week in the same city, he was that over. His angles could incite riots, and his feud with Andy Kaufman was the first big crossover angle. 6. Ric Flair: See: Rhodes, Dusty 7. Bruno Sammartino: Filled Madison Square Garden on the regular. He was the Northeast's version of a Dusty or Ric Flair. 8. Vern Gagne: The Midwest's Dusty/Bruno/Flair. From all accounts, his feud with Nick Bockwinkle was hot enough to fill big stadiums in Chicago and Minneapolis. 9. John Cena: Don't like the guy and I think he's turned off a decent number of male fans, but he's made up for it by attracting new children viewers and women. 10 (Tie): Triple H and Sting: HHH was the number 1 draw for a good two-three years, and drew similar numbers to Cena. It's pretty incredible when you think about his drawing ability as a heel, because unlike Flair he never really had a Dusty-like face foil during his run at the top -- save for Batista the last few months. Sting meanwhile was the only guy making WCW interest in the early 1990s and he had that John Cena kiddy-appeal. Honorable Mention: Rey Misterio: If you live in a high Latino population like I do, you can't underestimate what his presence does. Vince McMahon: He's managed to kill his own heat through overexposure over the years, but without him there's no Austin hype in the late '90s.

To be fair, the DVD is about just the former ECW wrestlers who came through XPW.

Kid Kash isn't the best example, considering WWE fired him for the exact same thing.

kinda doubly sad since Cena is of Italian descent. why is he so hated? I mean hes getting HHH level smarky hatred here (I guess he is like the new version of HHH, beats everyone and stays champ, only difference here is, its not family politics.) Obviously I only speak for myself, but my dislike of Cena isn't "smarky." I don't dwell on him selling or not selling. I don't like him because I feel his character is patronizing. I can't stand the way he comes stomping out and yelling to the crowd, I hate the whole Marine salute jingoistic crap. His finishing move looks like shit -- I mean, it's a fireman's carry, devolved from a pretty good looking Death Valley Driver he used to do back in '03. His other finisher is beyond awful looking -- the "headgrab and scream of doom." That's gotta be the shittiest looking STF I've ever seen. Maybe my criticism of his signature finishers is smarky, I dunno. But that bugs me. I also hate that it's considered "smarky" to not like Cena. If he gets booed on Raw, it's not because he's been booked terribly, it's 'cause the fans are a bunch of smarks! Gimme a break. More people on the Net like him than don't, so I don't really think it's some IWC trend to hate on Cena. I've actually seen other message boards that consider Cena-Umaga the frontrunner for Match of the Year. He's booed because a large portion of the crowd is men over the age of 17 who feel his gimmick is lame and are sick of seeing, every month, JOHN CENA OVERCOMES THE ODDS THE CHAMP IS STILL HERE BUH GAWD! His promos drive me nuts. I'm not kidding when I say one of his promos in the fall kept me from watching until after the Royal Rumble. It was some shit about "up is down black is white east is west," and then to show how anti-authority he was, he uses his move on Tod Grisham. OH MY, he's the new Stone Cold 'cause he took out the announcer for no reason! That promo was so god awful, so condescending, it kept me from watching Raw for like three months. I'll give him credit for improving in the ring by leaps and bounds since 2003, 2004. He still needs to be booked in brawls to look really great, but he holds his own well enough in straight-up matches. But while his ringwork is better, his character and promos are exponentially shittier. I look at the decision to turn him face like I do Austin. Fans cheered Austin despite the fact he cussed and stun everyone, heel or face. Fans cheered Cena for his freestyles and attitude. Now imagine if Austin had been turned from the DTA, Austin 3:16 character to 1987 Hulk Hogan. That's essentially what was done with Cena. None of this is to say I want to see the title hotshotted around the roster, as anytime someone suggests Cena lose that's the conclusion most people seem to jump to. I'd like to see a heel get a decent reign with the belt, and the build with a face chasing the title.

Actually, it was. I do music and movie reviews and decided to do a review for this PPV. As I stated in the review, I hated the gimmic of the electrified steelcage, but the match itself was really good. I enjoyed the wrestling on the show. That's what I enjoy the most, I don't care about gimmics or anything like that. As stated Lynn vs Daniels was what a wrestling match should be. Every match kept me interested in the show except the Blindfold match. I would review WWE like that but I haven't watched RAW in 8 months, SmackDown in almost a year and ECW I catch once a month if that, and I haven't watch a PPV from them in about 4-5 months, with the exception of Wrestlemaina which was very subpar with the exception of like 3 matches. *Takes cover under desk* This isn't going to end well.

That's true, I don't think there's another face ready to carry the company. Problem is, a few years ago guys were being groomed to take the reins of the company -- Cena (obviously), Randy Orton, Batista, Edge and to some extent Christian. Now the company focuses so much of its time and energy on 1. Cena and 2. Lashley, everyone else seems lost in the shuffle. And while I think Lashley is being "groomed," it's a much different and much more detrimental push than the one Cena had in 2004. Lashley's a forced push, no build-up to him at all. So really, there's no one to take the reins if something happens to Cena. Obviously they'd find someone to thrust into the spotlight, but forced pushes don't work (just look at Orton as opposed to Batista. They went the right route with Batista, while they forced Orton there and the fans shit on it). CM Punk may be getting groomed, but it's on a show that gets a rating below 2.0, so tossing him in to that role without a build on the major shows would be the same as forcing a midcarder from Raw or Smackdown.

It was all those Beach Boys records he was listening to!

That one sentence about Amazing Race is smarter advertising than anything TNA has done EVER.

Who are you talking about that you don't know? I'll run down every one I don't know as I scan the WWE homepage. Keep in mind I stopped watching regularly about 3-4 years ago Bobby Lashley Elijah Burke Kevin Thorn Matt Striker Mike Knox Armando Estrada Chris Masters JTG Kenny Dykstra Robbie McAllister Rory McAllister Santino Marella Shad The Great Khali Trevor Murdoch Boogeyman Daivari Dave Taylor Deuce Domino Hornswoggle (Looking at the photo did they copy the lame-ass WCW version of a rabid Irish midget? Good god!) Montel Vontavious Porter The Miz All of the Women that aren't Lilian Garcia, Torrie Wilson, Victoria, and Trinity. I also know Eddie Guerrero's widow by name alone and I'm curious as to what she is doing on TV. Umaga would have made my list if I didn't recognise him as a previous member of 3 Minute Warning. Burke is hardly jacked. He looks under sized anyways. Striker is short and cut but he isn't roided up. The High Landers are just tall scottish guys. JTG? The guy is about 5'7 and is skinny as hell. MURDOCH? He's Dusty Rhodes fat. Dave Taylor looks like my dentist. MVP is far from jacked. Estrada isn't even a wrestler, he's a voicepiece with no body at all. Khali is a 7'6 guy with a thick frame. Thorne is hardly ripped, just tall and thick. Miz is a frat boy, all of them look like that. Of that entire list, only 2-3 of them can be noted as a roid monkey. Davari is known for his incredible work-out system. Eddie's widow is there to keep a paycheck for the family. I don't think he was calling those people juicers, just listing who he didn't recognize on the roster.

Do people who say this sort of thing ever think about what they're actually saying? ripn tna iz da kewlest~! How was that statement ripping TNA? Here's how I interpret that comment: everyone's problem with TNA is they're supposed to be the "wrestling" company as opposed to "sports entertainment." The complaint with them the last seven months or so is it's been the latter. So qdes says that he can't be entertained by PPV caliber matches. Seems real contradictory to me. Just for the record, I think it's stupid to have the match on free TV when it should be saved for PPV, but my point is if wrestling matches are impossible to entertain him and segments are impossible to entertain him, then it just becomes a matter of ripping for the sake of ripping. EDIT: I didn't mean YOU were ripping TNA pointlessly, HTQ, if that's what you meant.

That's good point. I should rephrase my point, rather than it being the same people they'll hold onto, it'd be the same numbers by trying something new.

I'm going to continue to stir the pot by tossing out another rating from the same week of Raw: April 21, 2003: 3.8 2003 was one of the worst years for Raw in terms of quality. You had Steiner feuding with Chris Nowinski at this time over the war in Iraq, Triple H had just finished squashing Booker T in a racist angle, and Nash was being brought in as the new main event feud. Yet it drew the same rating as last Monday's Raw despite this new legion of Cena fans.

April 19, 2004: 3.8 April 16, 2007: 3.7 Those are the Raw ratings for the same week in 2004 and this past Monday. 2004 is before John Cena was ever world champion, and obviously long before the God-push. That week was also longer after a Wrestlemania than the Raw of the same week in 2007. Also, the 2004 Raw was broadcasted on a much less-watched network (Spike vs. USA).

HOME RUN! This is what I've been saying for a few weeks now. WWE has its fanbase that will never, ever stop watching. Those people will buy PPVs of ANYTHING. So they have this guaranteed fanbase that's always going to be there...and right now, that's all that's there. So I'd say it's time for them to take a risk. Try something new. They did it with Steve Austin, a character who cussed, drank, beat the shit out of people and got over for the first time by blaspheming with his Austin 3:16 promo. It paid huge dividends, and it didn't steer away the existing fanbase. So what I'm saying is, trying something different isn't going to drive away the already-watching fans, so if it fails you've still got those folks. But if it doesn't fail, you can bring in new fans again.

Do people who say this sort of thing ever think about what they're actually saying? ripn tna iz da kewlest~!