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rovert

Necro is the opposite of a spot monkey.

ShawnRaven

rovert must have made it into work late

Otis Driftwood

rovert wrote: »

Necro is the opposite of a spot monkey.

Could you explain please?
Im not too up on teh infranetz lingoz.
I would take a "spot monkey" to be a wrestler that does ridiculously dangerous things in ring to make up for a lack of pure wrestling ability.

Based on that assumption,I would consider Necro to be a SM.
EG setting himself on fire to do a leg drop on mean mitch page or been put through upright light tubes by Pondo resulting in him having a gash so large in his arm that you could see the bone.
Maybe I completly mis interpreted the meaning but somewhere on here a couple of wrestlers - Shane McMahon springs to mind - have been referred to with this term.

gimmick

I think a spot monkey would be someone more like Jack Evans or Jigsaw or Ruckus who just do flips and dives and acrobatics inm the most unrealistic offence imaginable.

Necro, while a talentless hack, would be more of a bump machine. But at least he makes his offense look legit ie he will throw a solid looking punch, the likes of the above will do a triple flip and then do a weak looking bicycle kick to the face.

rovert

gimmick wrote: »

I think a spot monkey would be someone more like Jack Evans or Jigsaw or Ruckus who just do flips and dives and acrobatics inm the most unrealistic offence imaginable.

Yeah

There is also no traditional stucture to their matches typically. Just out of context FLIPZ.

Otis Driftwood

The Raw episode right after King of the Ring 98 just started.Never caught it first time around.Jesus Vince had some feckin heat on him!

ShawnRaven

nedtheshed wrote: »

The Raw episode right after King of the Ring 98 just started.Never caught it first time around.Jesus Vince had some feckin heat on him!

Lol he had some amount of heat on him during that PPV when he basically called the entire audience a bunch of failures and under-achievers.
The following Monday wasn't gonna be any different

flahavaj

Working my way through every match rated 5 stars by Meltzer at the moment. Unreal stuff from the 80's so far.

DISC 1
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (New Japan 8/5/82)*****- Named by Dave as the best match of the half decade in 1985. By giving the match such praise one would assume Dave considered it five stars, even if this was before his star rating system existed.
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Nobuhiko Takada (UWF 12/5/84)***** - The first match ever given the official "Five Star" rating as Dave saw this match live on a trip to Japan. The audio is a little low for this match, but the VQ is excellent.
Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody vs. Dory Funk and Terry Funk (All Japan 12/8/84)***** - This is sort of an odd choice for a five star match. It's a great match all right, but the full ***** I dunno... perhaps Dave was just overwhelmed by being there live and seeing Hansen, Brody, and the Funks all in one match. It is tons of fun though.
Tiger Mask II vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (All Japan 3/9/85)***** - Great match, this was state of the art juniors wrestling for 1985.
Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota (All Japan Women 8/22/85)***** - Dave called this his 3rd favorite match of the 80's.

DISC 2
Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichrio Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (All Japan 1/28/86)***** - To quote Dave "Ranks with the best Japanese matches in mat history."
Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham (NWA Battle of the Belts 2 2/14/86)***** - This was the Wrestling Observer MOTY for 1986.
The Sheepherders vs. The Fantastics (Extended Clips - Crockett Cup '86 4/19/86)***** - Dave was there live. It's to bad only clips aired of this, cause what does exist on tape is outstanding.
Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham (NWA World Wide 1/20/87)***** - Dave's quote "I can only think of two U.S. matches worth considering for MOTY, the January television match between Ric Flair and Barry Windham which went 40 minutes to a draw (which was actually better than their match-of-the-year winner last year in Orlando) and the Ricky Steamboat v. Randy Savage match at Wrestlemania." For the record he gave Savage/Steamboat ****1/2

DISC 3
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka (All Japan Women 2/26/87)***** - Dave's quotes "The battle of the Crush Girls on 2/26 was another of their annual 5 star matches." "Chigusa Nagayo v. Lioness Asuka on 2/26 is as good as wrestling can possibly get."
Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada (New Japan 3/20/87)***** - Dave's quote "This match was sensational and a candidate for MOTY." This is one of the matches that I have never seen on a list of Dave's five star matches before.
Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham (NWA Crockett Cup '87 4/11/87)***** - This is the uncut raw feed version taped by NBC, not the clipped Comm. Tape version.
Lioness Asuka/Mika Komatsu/Kazue Nagahori/Mitsuko Nishiwaki/Etsuko Mita/Sachiko Nakamura vs. Chigusa Nagayo/Yumiko Hotta/Mika Takahashi/Mika Suzuki/Yachiyo Hirata/Yumi Ogura (About 17:30 of 50:00 Shown - All Japan Women 12/6/87)*****- Dave's quote "The main event was by far the greatest match I've ever seen live. In fact, I'd say without question it was better than any match ever held in the United States in the history of this business." As you can see Dave really, REALLY loved this match, and what is shown is indeed awesome. This match was by far the most difficult to track down for the set. About 17:30 of 50 minutes is shown, the VQ is what I would call FAIR-GOOD, but this is the only version that exists.

DISC 4
Toshiaki Kawada and Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy (All Japan RWTL 12/16/88)***** - Dave's quote "the best match in Japan in many moons, in fact probably the best match I've seen in 1988."
Genichrio Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada/Samson Fuyuki vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Masanobu Fuchi (JIP - All Japan 1/28/89)***** - This is another one of the matches that is always over looked when people post Dave's list of Five Star matches. Hell when TravJ1979 dug it up it was the first time I had ever heard of the match. Match is joined in progress a few minutes in.
Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW/NWA Chi-Town Rumble 2/20/89)*****
BONUS: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (New Japan 4/21/83) - Nobody could find definitive evidence that Dave had retroactively rated this match five stars. He may have made reference to it as "oh yeah, that was a five star match" in passing at some point, but there's nothing in print. In the end it's still one of the greatest matches of all time, and I've added it as a bonus since Flair/Steamboat from 3/18 wouldn't fit on this disc.

DISC 5
Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW/NWA - Landover, MD 3/18/89)****** - Dave's quote "This match was significantly better than their Chicago match (2/20) and deserved something like 5 1/2 to 6 stars as a fair grade. Those in the know were amazed at how good this match was, particularly when they realized they had another match later that night in Philadelphia (which wasn't as good, but was still a fantastic match)" Dave gave the Philly match from the same day ****3/4.
Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (2/3 falls - WCW/NWA Clash IV 4/2/89)*****

DISC 6
Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW/NWA Wrestle War ‘89 5/7/89)*****
Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (All Japan 6/5/89)***** - Dave's rating for this match was actually *****+
Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (I Quit Match - NWA Clash IX 11/15/89)*****
BONUS: Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik (Boot Camp Match - WWF 6/16/84) - Again no proof of what Dave rated this match, as he would have had to retroactively rate it. Quite possibly the greatest brawl of all time, and a nice way to fill the extra space on this disc.

DISC 7: BONUS DISC - No Meltzer ratings seem to exist for these matches that I've added as a bonus. The set ended up being a few discs shorter than I thought it would be so I decided to add a few more matches for some variety. Everything on this disc is definitely of "five star" quality, even if it was never "officially" rated as such.
Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, Coal Miner's Glove on a Poll, Tuxedo, Cage Match - Mid-South 3/22/85)
Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum T.A. (I Quit Cage Match - NWA Starrcade 11/28/85)
Curt Hennig vs Nick Bockwinkel (AWA on ESPN 12/31/86 - Taped 11/15/86)
El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (Mask vs. Hair - WWA 7/19/87)

gimmick

PWG: Life During Wartime. 5th Anniversary Show

For fans of production values or good commentary, this is certainly not for you. However, if you can look past them, this is a great little show. PWG, as far as I can see, seem to have moved on from being an almost comedy promotion, and now offers solid in ring workrate.

There is a mixture here of familair and not so familair names - the most recognisable to those who follow the indies would eb the match up between The Age Of The Fall Vs incumbent Champion Roderick Strong and one time stand in partner El Generico, who takes the place of the no showing Jack Evans. This is a predictably fast paced match which is the stand out of the show for me. We also get to enjoy the treturninf Chris Bosh Vs Scorpio Sky. Bosh plays the heel far better than the face so hopefully he went back heel soon after this outing. There is also a fantatsic 3 way tag match featuring The Dynasty of the vastly under rated Joey Ryan and Scott Lost facing the moveztastic Young Bucks (I do enjoy them though as their moveset makes sense unlike the likes of the Vulture Squad) and two Japanese dudes I ahve not heard of.

I should also point out that the main event between Human Tornado and Chris Hero in the cage is an absolute stunner. Nothing pretty about it, but its a good, well sold, believeable fight.

The rest is decent enough as well, even if I did skip the Necro Butcher match.

gimmick

Not read ay reviews of it yet, but I watched OMEGA: Uncommon Passion the other day. Its a very good watch. You can tell that Matt Hardy is a bit of a mark for himself. Its very interesting to see their opinions of their fellow OMEGA "alumni" and where their careers have gone since they closed the organisation. I have not yet watched any of the extras yet.

I am also currently watching CKIKARAS World tag Grand Prix 2006. Too early to make an opinion yet. Seems to be a few too many skinny kids involved for my liking. Thats not to say I am a fan of fat kids either

ShawnRaven

WCW Nitro 1997: March - May 1997

I got around to watching more of these with some spare time in between college assignments.

"Why don't you come on down here, and bring your little bimbo Liz with you!" - Diamond Dallas Page
I quote DDP in this instance primarily because he was about the only one person who benefited in WCW this entire year, primarily down to his feud with Savage and the NWO. Which had started off at Uncensored 97 when Savage and Liz had beaten down DDP and spray painted Kimberley Page. These would be pretty much the last days of the NWO being able to elevate you, because by this stage, it was so watered down that they had the likes of Vincent (Virgil), Mike Rotondo (IRS) and Scott f*cking Norton in the faction. Scott Norton?! Blake Norton probably would have been a better pick for christs sake!

But this program pretty much elevated DDP from mid card joke to main event player (and later on, WCW champion), sadly after a couple of months, this got a little on the boring side probably because 1) Nobody truly bought into Liz being a heel valet, and 2) It was almost the same thing every week (Savage calls out DDP from the crowd, DDP chases Savage, Savage jumps DDP later on in the show). It was the same repetitive junk week in and week out that caused WCW to drop the ball while the opposition were getting their sh*t together with Bret Hart's reunion with his Brother Owen and the reforming of the Hart Foundation.

Ultimate Dragon (never liked how WCW referred to him) was now being challenged by none other than Steven Regal for the Television title. After Dragon had won it from Prince Iaukea. The feud didn't serve for much, but at least Dragon didn't nearly fall flat on his face twice in one show back then, and some of Regal's promo work on live Nitro was probably some of his best. I posted one on the video thread a couple of weeks back. Nwo fake sting angles were also causing the crowd to sh*t all over the WCW product at the time. But thankfully the real Sting would show up again to save us from a situation that Jericho would never have dreamed of back then. And that was the sheer boredom of monday nights!

On a sidenote, back in 1993, Paul Roma was trying to pass himself off as a Horseman, well now his former Young Stallion partner Jim Powers is in WCW as a jobber, looking about twice the size he was when he was in WWE. At least Powers knew his limitations. Benoit is still feuding on and off with Kevin Sullivan, in another feud that's getting somewhat tiring as it had been going on for months now. While the remaining Horsemen are stuck in meaningless feuds. Jeff Jarrett and Bongo McMichaels are now feuding with the likes of Public Enemy, while Hall & Nash are the tag title holders and the most they're doing is cutting a promo each week. Granted they're funny, but I guess that's what guaranteed cash will do for you. Too bad Harlem Heat are suffering as they're supposedly the number one contenders, but they don't have sh*t to do!

Alex Wright is turning heel. Like a dancing German gimmick was going to generate crowd interest, regardless of if he's face or heel. Sadly, he hasn't turned into a rivethead just yet.

Ric Flair and Roddy Piper have formed an alliance. Wait a sec, weren't the Horsemen supposed to be heels? Oh i've lost count these days. But because they're going against Hall, Nash and Syxx, they're missing a key member? Who could it be? Sting? A former Horseman let me see, Blanchard? Retired! Roma? Forgotten about! Pillman? Sid? Off working for the opposition.

I got it Kevin Greene!
Kevin f*cking Greene! And we'll so have Reggie White coming in a little later to also have beef with Bongo McMichaels!

So we have Kevin Greene, Reggie White and Steve McMichaels in World Chumpionship Wrestling. THAT'S HALF OF TEAM TAYLOR FROM TWO YEARS BACK IN THE ONE OF THE WORST MANIA MAIN EVENTS IN HISTORY!

And people wonder why WCW went out of business?
Then we have Hogan/Sting, but i'll cover that later.

ShawnRaven

Best Of The WWF - Volumes 4, 5, 6 and 7

Decided to go back older than old school for some of these. As i have em from old tapes that i haven't yet put to DVD yet, so it's a watch while ya dub effort. Some of this stuff takes me back anyway. I'll throw the match listings

Who needs Vintage Collection?

Volume 4
07/13/85 Paul Orndorff vs. Roddy Piper
05/18/85 Don Muraco & Bob Orton, Jr. vs. Hulk Hogan & Jimmy Snuka
06/26/82 Battle Royal
11/14/81 Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan
06/11/83 Andre the Giant vs. John Studd (steel cage match)
09/23/85 Andre the Giant vs. King Kong Bundy
04/21/85 Ricky Steamboat & Jimmy Snuka vs. Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine

Volume 5

11/25/85 Ricky Steamboat vs. Don Muraco
09/10/85 Killer Bees vs. Hart Foundation
10/01/85 Killer Bees & Paul Orndorff vs. Hart Foundation & Barry O
09/10/85 British Bulldogs vs. Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine
1980s TNT Show: "Fuji General"
02/18/85 Wendi Richter vs. Lelani Kai (Kai wins WWF Women's Title)
11/25/85 Wendi Richter vs. Fabulous Moolah (Moolah wins WWF Women's Title)
02/09/86 Jesse Ventura vs. Tito Santana
07/16/83 Andre the Giant, Jay Strongbow, Ivan Putski, & Rocky Johnson vs. Wild Samoans, Samula, & John Studd (3/5 falls)

Volume 6

07/13/85 Terry Funk vs. Lanny Poffo
12/30/85 Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage
1980s TNT Show: Jesse Ventura answers audience question
12/30/85 Butch Cassidy vs. Haiti Kid
09/24/79 Ivan Putski vs. Johnny Valiant
1980s TNT Show: Alfred Hayes gives relationship advice
07/20/85 Ricky Steamboat vs. Bob Orton, Jr.

Volume 7

01/11/86 Terry Funk vs. Pedro Morales
01/27/86 Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage
12/19/77 Lou Albano vs. Arnold Skaaland
07/23/77 Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji vs. Haystacks Calhoun & Tony Garea (2/3 falls)
08/09/80 Tony Atlas vs. Ken Patera
12/85 Slammies highlights
09/23/85 British Bulldogs vs. Hart Foundation
02/28/86 Jacques & Raymond Rougeau vs. Moondogs Rex & Spot
12/14/85 Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

gimmick

ROH: Northern Navigation

This is a really really really good show. Not the best of 2008, but not far off Supercard Of Honor III which as far as I have seen of 2008 cards so far is head and shoulders above the rest.

In this, we have a great outing from Chris Hero showing a far more serious persona against flippiddy flip Ruckus, a great debut from Kenny Omega who I ahve heard very positive reports of. The stand out on this card is Danielson Vs Castagnoli in an absolute stunner of a match. Danielson, who I am a total mark for, just keeps getting better in my book. The double main event is are both very good matches as well, but I do not understand why the tag is the last match instead of the world title affair. Add in an appearance from Lance Storm, and all in all you have a very good DVD here.

---

I am also making my way through some 90s puro stuff at the moment. The standout being an incredible tag match between Kobashi & Misawa Vs Taue and Kowada. Thanks to Flahavaj for the recommends

grames_bond

i watched the wrestlemania 10 owen vs bret hart match on vintage collection yesterday....man that was great! (just unfortunate about the piss poor title fight that night)

question: did wwe stage a royal rumble in the same arena as wm 10, just a few years ago? (the one the rock won?)

gimmick

Madison Square Garden has been used for many Royal Rumbles, 2008 most recently.

That Owen V Bret match is indeed fantastic. Only shame is the god awful Vince McMahon led commentary.

EdK

Un-be-lievable!!!

grames_bond

gimmick wrote: »

Madison Square Garden has been used for many Royal Rumbles, 2008 most recently.

That Owen V Bret match is indeed fantastic. Only shame is the god awful Vince McMahon led commentary.

and king did get annoying after a while with the constant heel worship! when did wwe decide to stop that and make both commentators babyface fans?

ShawnRaven

gimmick wrote: »

Madison Square Garden has been used for many Royal Rumbles, 2008 most recently.

Many? Slight exaggeration there. MSG has only been held for two of them, being 2000 and 2008. In fact, the Rumble has only ever been held in the State of New York 3 times out of 22, with 1992 being held in Albany, and 2000 & 2008 in New York City.

gimmick

Well JBL was pretty much a heel commentator.

It was actually far more fun with a heel commentator.

ShawnRaven

grames_bond wrote: »

and king did get annoying after a while with the constant heel worship! when did wwe decide to stop that and make both commentators babyface fans?

King had to go the heel worship route. Nobody else of that era other than Jim Cornette was really that good at it. And Cornette was in and out of the commentary booth so often, to cap it off. Vince would never let him commentate his flagship show unless he was subbing for Lawler, nevermind a PPV.

ShawnRaven

gimmick wrote: »

It was actually far more fun with a heel commentator.

Absolutely, because if you watched it in the 80s without Heenan, or Ventura. It would have been somewhat dull.

grames_bond

ShawnRaven wrote: »

Many? Slight exaggeration there. MSG has only been held for two of them, being 2000 and 2008. In fact, the Rumble has only ever been held in the State of New York 3 times out of 22, with 1992 being held in Albany, and 2000 & 2008 in New York City.

yeah it was 2000 the one the rock won, i just recognised the wmX logo was where jeff did the swanton through the tables which made me think about the rumble itself!

ShawnRaven wrote: »

King had to go the heel worship route. Nobody else of that era other than Jim Cornette was really that good at it. And Cornette was in and out of the commentary booth so often, to cap it off. Vince would never let him commentate his flagship show unless he was subbing for Lawler, nevermind a PPV.

really? why would that be? (sorry if its a long winded discussion )

i did like the heel worship stuff it just seemed to really work, and when i was a kid it got me into the action alot more! but when i stopped watchin wrestling for a while, i came back and king had totally stopped the heel worship, any one know why that was?

ShawnRaven

grames_bond wrote: »

really? why would that be? (sorry if its a long winded discussion )

I don't know for sure, but I can hazard a guess.

Vince doesn't like the idea of pushing something he didn't create, which is why Lawler making the move from commentating Superstars, to commentary on RAW was somewhat of a shocker to many people, given Lawler's Memphis/USWA history prior to his WWE debut in 1993.

With Cornette, in the 80s, Cornette was better than pretty much any manager that WWE had had, by that I mean Heenan, Hart, Slick. Cornette was just the better antagonist. Not taking anything away from Heenan, Hart & Slick. It was the same when Dusty Rhodes came over to WWE in 89, Vince tried all he could to bury him (and failed). And despite Flair getting a title run in 1992, Hogan still got pushed heavier than him while he was there, and then when Hogan left, Savage got the big push.

Basically if you ran against Vince at any stage, he never let you forget it. Especially if you had the misfortune to have to work for him later down the track.

ShawnRaven

grames_bond wrote: »

i watched the wrestlemania 10 owen vs bret hart match on vintage collection yesterday....man that was great! (just unfortunate about the piss poor title fight that night)

Just want to go back to this, as it so happens i'm watching this today (been watching the Mania's each night, as i always do this time every year to build up to Mania).

There were actually two title matches, both of which were poor, but it goes to show you how over Luger was, despite being a shell of who he was in his NWA days prior to his accident. He wasn't as over as Bret, but he was over. I still say that was booked terribly. That should have been Luger over Yoko, then Bret over Luger for the final match.

Instead, they went for a Hennig heel turn, which made no sense as he wouldn't go back inside the ring for another two years or so after this. That said, Hennig appeared to make the right call, as you're not supposed to fling managers in the ring, and then when Luger put his hands on Hennig, who was places as referee, Hennig rightfully DQ'd him as he was trying to get the managers out of the ring.

Just amused me at the time, anyway.

krudler

Today I watched Wrestlemania X-7, not all of it, although if I had the time I would have, just the main matches, Benoit/Angle, TLC, Rock/Austin, Taker/HHH, what a hell of a ppv, the creative writers should be made to sit and watch this to show them what a big ppv is meant to feel like, the crowd was into pretty much everything, whiet hot for the title match, Austin gets one of the best pops of his career for his entrance

ShawnRaven

krudler wrote: »

Today I watched Wrestlemania X-7, not all of it, although if I had the time I would have, just the main matches, Benoit/Angle, TLC, Rock/Austin, Taker/HHH, what a hell of a ppv, the creative writers should be made to sit and watch this to show them what a big ppv is meant to feel like, the crowd was into pretty much everything, whiet hot for the title match, Austin gets one of the best pops of his career for his entrance

Myself and Minto talked about this in the most recent podcast we did (cheap plug, i know) I think the only thing preventing this from being the best PPV of all time for me (narrowly beaten by Wrestlewar 89) was the wretched ending. Pretty much an unwritten rule of Mania was that you never send the crowd off on a bad note, and that ending did exactly that. That could have been saved for the next nights RAW or something.

But it is an awesome PPV, and it's aged very well, which is more than I could say for Wrestlemania X8. Even the womens match was watchable. Jericho/Regal was a hell of an opener, and the only turkey on the card was Eddie Guerrero trying to carry Test, who i think got injured at this card as well.

Wrestlemania 17 - Definitely The best show WWE has ever put on.

Wrestlemania 18 - I always thought this was a terrible PPV. I remember watching it on paddys night back in 2002 and thinking it was s***! Especially comparing it to the Wrestlemania the previous year.



I just got finished watching the complete 1997 WCW Nitros recently and it was a complete let down. I cant believe it was beating Raw back in the ratings back then especially in the 2nd half of the year. If I hear that feckin nWo music again i'm going to scream. The amount of times it played on Nitro in one episode alone is a joke (Even though the likes of Bagwell, Norton etc had their own nWo music different from the main one). Every week was the same, Hall would come out and do his stupid "survey says" s*** and the nWo would beat down on some one or "take over" the show. Terrible stuff!!


If I had to pick between Raw 97 or Nitro 97 id definitely pick Raw.

krudler

X-8 wasnt great, Regal and RVD had a great opening match, Hogan and Rock is an average match but a great spectacle, the crowd reaction makes it, Austin was completely wasted in his midcard match with Hall (Hall was probably a different kind of wasted, bah-dum tshh) and HHH may as well have fought Stephanie in the main event since the fued was more about the two of them and Jericho was just a bystander

SR, I agree with what you said about the ending of X-7, the crowd seemed a bit confused as to cheer or boo Austin, I remember thinking at the time had Austin turned heel or Vince turned face for a few mins until JR kept reminding us about Mcmahon was the devil incarnate, still an incredible ppv though, actually 2000-2001 was a top year for most of the ppvs

callaway92

krudler wrote: »

X-8 wasnt great, Regal and RVD had a great opening match, Hogan and Rock is an average match but a great spectacle, the crowd reaction makes it, Austin was completely wasted in his midcard match with Hall (Hall was probably a different kind of wasted, bah-dum tshh) and HHH may as well have fought Stephanie in the main event since the fued was more about the two of them and Jericho was just a bystander

SR, I agree with what you said about the ending of X-7, the crowd seemed a bit confused as to cheer or boo Austin, I remember thinking at the time had Austin turned heel or Vince turned face for a few mins until JR kept reminding us about Mcmahon was the devil incarnate, still an incredible ppv though, actually 2000-2001 was a top year for most of the ppvs

Wrestlemania 2000 though was a steaming pile of shít

Anyways..For WM X-8 Hogan vs Rock definetaly should have been main event..HHH vs Jericho wasnt a great match even and the crowd only came to see Hogan vs Rock so they were bad for the "Main Event"..HHH return that year was the starting of what is still today..A disaster for Pro Wrestling and Wrestlemania Title matches

flahavaj

Deleted User wrote: »

Wrestlemania 17 - Definitely The best show WWE has ever put on.

Wrestlemania 18 - I always thought this was a terrible PPV. I remember watching it on paddys night back in 2002 and thinking it was s***! Especially comparing it to the Wrestlemania the previous year.



I just got finished watching the complete 1997 WCW Nitros recently and it was a complete let down. I cant believe it was beating Raw back in the ratings back then especially in the 2nd half of the year. If I hear that feckin nWo music again i'm going to scream. The amount of times it played on Nitro in one episode alone is a joke (Even though the likes of Bagwell, Norton etc had their own nWo music different from the main one). Every week was the same, Hall would come out and do his stupid "survey says" s*** and the nWo would beat down on some one or "take over" the show. Terrible stuff!!


If I had to pick between Raw 97 or Nitro 97 id definitely pick Raw.

Raw 1997 is greatness. By far the most entertaining period in Bret Hart's career.

As for what I've ben watching, I've been watching Phil Schneider's comps that were released years ago omn deathvalleydriver.com. Basically back in the day he would put anything awesome he was enjoying at the time on taoe and relese it for a small fee. itv must have been an amazing thing back in the day of VHS when Japanese and lucha stuff was much harder to get your hands on to have this stuff all available on one tape. Well anyway its all being re-released by an awesome comp-make called Goodhelmet on DVd in updated VQ. I'm really enjoying getting these in the post every few weeks.

The diversity is great. one minute you're watching a much underrated Ricy Steamboat Vs Rick Rude Iron Man match from '92 (which is MUCH better than Hart/Michaels btw) and the next your watching some incredible lucha guy you've bever heard of do stuff that makes Rey Mysterio look like a backyarder. Theres also a wildly entertaining 6-man 2/3 falls match from WCW With Steamboat/Dustin Rhodes/Koloff Vs the Dangerous Alliance. Great little match with great comedy, good stotytelling and a beautifully timed and executed finish. Larry Zbysko is awesome here playing the bungling idiot whos on the verge of getting the boot from the Alliance.

Also gat Goodhelmets Best of 2008 comp in the post last week and I've just watched the first few matches. Im gonna take my time with this one and enjoy each match for what it ius ans they're invariably all pretty good stuff.

First up is one of the lesser-pimped companies in Japan Big Japan. better known for their ridiculopus deathmatch tournaments, they've mad a cult-like name for themselves in the last few yars witha crop of younger workers. Match is a tag-match Takashi Sasaki/Yuko Miyamoto Vs Daisuke Sekimoto/ Yodhihiti Sasaki(BJPW 1/2/08). Sekimoto is probably the best wrestler in the worls you've never heard of. Hes a ridiculously well-built light heavy weight with some innovate offence including a dead-light German suplex where he literellay dead lifts his opponent off the ground a and fold them over on their neck. He recently was booked by WxW for their Gold Carat tournament in Germany and stole the show over there. Expect him to be the next breakout Japanese star to wow people on the US indies and I'm sure he'll crop up in ROH before long. Anyway the match is really good with a fantasytic finishing straetch if you can forgive the tendency towards finisher overkill.

Next up are two old favourites Bryan Danielson Vs Low Ki PWG(1/5/08)
This was a dream match as far back as 2002 when they tore it up on APW's King of the Indies and the first few ROH Main Events. 7 yeras on and they're aas good as ever with stiff poffence and a very cleverly worked MMA style shoot match that showcases a side to Ki thats vastly underrated:his matwork. I much prefer the Low Ki that works here and in his recent Nex japan than the Gangsta heel persona he portrayed in ROH in his 2nd run and TNA. Danielson is just his usual great self, I'm nearly bored with saying how good he is now at this stage.

Onto Jersey All Pro for Teddy hart Vs Homicide Vs Eddie Kingston (JAPW 1/19/08) this nis an INSANE brawl that goes all over the arena and the lack of concern for each other's safety in this pone is at times alarming. Teddy hart is truly one of the most captivating workers in the world when hes's in the mood and here he literally moonsaults off evrything he can find in the arena. hes such a wasted talent, if he just got his head right he's be bigger than Jeff Hardy, i'm convinced of it. Alas he seems destined to slum it out in the minor indies for the rest of his career having burnt his bridges just about everywhere, most recently in AAA where he had been on a great run tagging with Jack Evans. Homicide and he have been feuding forn 4 years in this prromotion and the hatred is stil there tio be seen in this match. There's no one better than 'Cide to play the out of control brawler, there one great spot where he even goes after Hart with a broken bottle, sure you wouldn't see it outside Ruby's of a Friday night.

Finally for now Bryan Danielson vs Tyler Black (ROH 1/25/09) Perfect plucky young upstart wresltles established main eventer match up here. Black is great as the cocky little b*stard that shows Danielson absolutely no respect with arrogant slaps to the face throughout the match, to the point where you're just willingDragon to bate him semseless. Danielson is typically masterful here, playing pure babyface. the way he holds the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout is a lesson for any aspiring wrestler;wrestling is as much about engaging the crowds emotions as it is about crisp ringwork etc. The way he can pop a smarky crowd like th ROH audience with such simple things as stomping on a guy's hand of a wristlock thats cranked in oh-so painfully is a joy to behold. Hes the only wrestler Ithink i've ever watched that I could watch all day without ever tiring of him.

I also watched an old Memphis DVD i found when I was sorting through my collection last weekend called Madmen, Maniacs and Lunatics that gives a brief synopsis and clips from soe of the greatest feud os Jerry lawler's run in Memphis. Included are clips of the Andy Kaufmann stuff with lawlwer that are portrayed in "Man on the Moon." Kaufmann must be by far the best non-wrestler celebrity to involve himself in the business. His interviews were something else and you really got the impression he "got" the business. The Letterman skit was unreal.

they also show some of the insaneTerry Funk/Lawler feud icluding the best quality in terms of VQ footage that I've seen of they're grotesque yet brilliant Empty Arena match.What a match that is. Funks selling and the way he uses vocals throughout the match to make up for the lack of audience reactions are fascinating to watch. His blood-curdling dcreams "Me Eye, My Eye I'm Blind" are something yo never forget!

Also watching a career comp of Jake Roberts' great stuff. As well as all the old classics such as the Undertaker feud (well the build-up anyway was good, whatever about the pay-off) and the greatness that was the entire Savage feud, theres also his pre WWF days including his stampede run that was pretty good too.