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Scott Keith Ten Years Ago

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From RSPW July 1993

[email protected] (Eric Chmiel) writes

 

I've said it before: show North American fans Hogan vs. Warrior and then

Owen Hart vs. Benoit back to back. Then ask them to distingush which match

was the ****1/2 and which was the *. Because the concept of "workrate" does not even exist in the minds of most North American fans, I'll bet most people would tell you the ****1/2 was Hogan vs. Warrior. After all, to them Hogan and Warrior are the "better" (i.e. pushed) wrestlers anyway.

 

Keith's reply

 

But this is again the assumption that the only "good" wrestling is the wrestling

that is not power wrestling. Hogan and Warrior might be the "better" wrestlers

in a lot of people's eyes, and it's unfair to say they're wrong because they're

marks. It just means that your view of "good" wrestling has become too elitist.

I happen to enjoy power wrestling very much, and while I wouldn't consider H & W even close to the class of Benoit or Pillman, it's a little insensitive to

consider people dumb for calling the WMVI match better..

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Guest OnlyMe

So what, a guy can't change his mind over 10 years?

 

 

/remembers Keith asking RSPW about star ratings

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In fairness, people do change thier opinions about wrestling as they get older. I was a big Hogan mark in 1993, for example.

 

I just find it odd that his old RSPW posts are by "Scott Alan Keith". Seriously, how many people do you know with 3 first names making up their entire name? His parents had a good sense of humour.

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Guest Dave O'Neill, Journalist

Am I the only person on this entire board who trull appreciates Scott Keith's work?

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Guest Salacious Crumb

Well let's be honest.

 

Whoever asked that question is an idiot b/c Hogan/Warrior was nowhere near *.

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I find him entertaining, although he indeed has gone downhill lately. I can't say it is directly related to the product, as he managed to make the horrible mid-90's era entertaining in his retro-rants, but I think he's either burnt out or has just stopped caring.

 

We share the same viewpoint, so if I've forgotten about an old match, I go find his recap and remember. I don't think his word should be accepted as the word, of course, but I take it for what it is, hence why I don't understand some of the Scooter hate.

 

Although, admittedly, he ain't that good to look at (if those infamous pics are really of him)

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Guest Mulatto Heat

I read him out of habit and to see how badly he'll rip a show apart (and let's face it, many of them warrant it).

 

I also like how he'll rile up the "I MARK therefore I'm a real fan!" fanbase, like the thirtysomethings at the Wienerboard. Half their topics at the "Site Bashing" folder are about him.

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I enjoy his rants.

 

Hogan/Warrior holds sentimental value to me since it is my earliest memory of wrestling. Given the crowd heat, the 2 biggest face draws going back and forth, ref bumps, and surprise ending, it's a **** match for me personally

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Seriously, how many people do you know with 3 first names making up their entire name?

 

One.

 

Dave Stanley Martin.

 

Back on topic, I agree that it's silly to point out that he changed his mind over 10 years. It's TEN YEARS.

 

Also, I read his rants for show recaps almost exclusively, because while I don't always agree with him as far as how good a match is, I've read enough of his stuff to know what to expect out of a match if Keith gives it (X) stars, generally.

 

Also, he can be entertaining.

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I gave up on SK quite a while ago. I can handle negativity when I think it is presented objectively. For example I don't mind, "I don't like Bradshaw and Triple H because I just don't like their characters and their wrestling is not the style I enjoy to watch." However, I get very tired of reading "I hate Triple H and Bradshaw because they are bad wrestlers and they do things backstage to get themselves pushed over other wrestlers and you are an idiot if you disagree with me."

 

I don't like being insulted becuase I don't share someone's opinion of what "a good wrestler" is. Reason #42 why I don't post on the WWE board very often.

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I think this "deterioration" definitely has to do with the current product, but also with the general laws of entropy. SKeith seems to be branching out into different areas to write about, and wrestling just isn't holding his interest the way it used to. Sure, his rants were enjoyable to some even when the product was shitty, but he was also much younger, and it's easier to bash stuff with glee when you're younger. Now, the passion's gone, so either you go through the motions hoping for a glimpse of greatness (like he did with TNA for a while), or stop talking about it altogether, like other recappers have done (CRZ, John Petrie, etc.)

 

Other than that, I still like his stuff, simply because he's more or less consistent. And his stuff is still entertaining to me, even though the wrestling has been co-opted by all this McMahon-o-mania, so it's not always easy to write an entertaining piece about shit.

 

And JacK (if your serious), Scott Keith is a long-time Internet wrestling recapper, having done reports for almost all the major wrestling TV shows and PPVs for the 18 years or so. He's pretty much polarized the IWC regarding his reputation... you either love him or hate him. Go to 411mania.com under the wrestling section, and look for the TV Reports for his RAW and SD! recaps. Then check out the archives for his PPV rants... they're pretty easy to find.

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Guest netslob

i always like Keith's writing, i just can't stand HIM. anyone who popualted the now defuct Rantsylvania/ Smarks EZ board may know why.

 

besides, i'm a Hyatte man, myself... ;)

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I'm guessing I'm the only person who is thinking 'Who's Scott Keith?'

Fat guy in a little coat.

Hmmm, interesting considering "thesmartmarks.com" are a direct decendant of Keith's "Ranstsylvania.com" fourm on Delphi's website.

 

Anyway, in breif, Scott Keith is a Internet Wrestling Community legend, pretty much rose through the ranks of the old newsgroup alt.rec.pro-wrestling to become one of the preminant wrestling show recapper/tape reviewer on the internet landscape.

 

His "rants" if you will are currently archived at his current place of internet writing employment "411mania.com" (he has also done work for the late and lamented wrestleline.com and his classic stuff shows up on vintage sites like theotherarena.com and kayfabememories.com) The creme de la creme of his work is his PPV rants (I don't know if he has a working archive of all the weekly shows he's done through the years, but for the most part they aren't very special and if the show was awful its a rush job) which he has done just about every North American PPV that was ever offered (one interesting execption is "Over The Edge" 1999 which he has said he does not ever even want to watch due to the death of Owen Hart)

 

He is Canadian (Edmonton area) so he is a workrate freak and biased towards those who exhibit actual wrestling talent over the big and lumbering lunks, lately he has been rambling on the fact that wrestlers with long manes tend to get pushed more often (i.e. Billy Gunn, Triple H, ect)

 

He has also written two books (and a third on the way) about wrestling, so he appears to be working the angle of "this interent thing is my way to the top of the literary landscape" or something like that as over the last few years he's really soured on the product and reading his weekly TV reports you can tell its more like a job than a hobby to him at this point.

 

Well thats pretty much all you need to know, well expect to trace the lineage of this board to him so...

 

Okay Rantsylvania.com was born with Keith and Scott Shannon at the helm and the "rant crew" fourm of fans was created on Delphi (basically others like Keith and Shannon who wanted a fourm to express themselves, mostly with the same views on wrestling and wrestlers as Keith does) and that was sometime in 97-98 I think...

 

Anyway long story short, Shannon wigs out and quits the internet (he has since returned but with some weird poetry blog site that is too out there that only the Ultimate Warrior would be able to decipher) and Keith gets with other Rant Crew members and they put up a brand new site called "thesmarks.com" and due to costs I believe they move the fourms (now renamed thesmarksfourm to I think ezboard.com (some of the members who were there at the time can step in and help with my fuzzy memory) anyway Keith started to get too big for his own site (just didn't want to deal with the headaches of running it) and the site and fourm were heading towards shutting down. Well thats where the guys at thesmartmarks.com stepped up, and moved the fourm here, and the rest as they say... Well you know

 

Steve

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I think scotts suffering alot lately because, well, north american wrestling is suffering, so he's got alot less to work with. Still, the guy is golden when he's *on*.

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