flyonthewall2983
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Everything posted by flyonthewall2983
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I think it's as simple as the two of them not having to work together anymore being enough of a reason that they aren't so tight nowadays. Spend enough time with a person, and it can go either way, but I think given the intensity of the workload they took on in the 80's, and all the problems they each dealt with in the 90's, would take a toll on any two friends even if they have each other's backs 100% of the time. The scissor fight came about because Sid was squawking about Flair being too old, and it just became another way in which Arn suffered for that friendship. But when the nature of the business changed, and they were getting too old to keep that up, they suddenly had new priorities and something like a divorce could unravel that bond you held for so many years.
It's maybe besides the point but I like that he said that the other Horsemen should be in the HOF individually. As long as Arn and Tully are in AEW I don't see that happening unfortunately.
Interesting that they are going this multi-timeline route. I wonder how they see stretching it out over multiple seasons. It'd be really something if they built up the whole show around the POTUS question for him to tell us all "sike!" at the end of the last episode. If he is really planning on running, I'm glad the talk is that it may be for a 2032 run. I wonder if in between that time he tries his hand at state politics, mayor of Miami then governor. To the subject of wrestlers on sitcoms, I heard Meltzer say that networks (probably NBC specifically) considered Bobby Heenan for one. A show about his life would have been perfect material for it.
I found out awhile ago that Dusty Rhodes did some MSG shows in 83, quite some time after that 77-78 run he had with Billy Graham. Was there ever a longer run in the books for him in the WWF around this time or was it just him doing a favor for Vince, Sr.?
And I didn't realize this until I saw the Last Ride doc, but it was as hard to train for those matches because he didn't work as regularly as he used to anymore. He didn't have that routine leading up to those big matches he did 20 years before, especially when you worked with a guy so many times on house shows before it's finally on television. I saw him work Yoko in a house show almost a year before their Royal Rumble match, for example.
It's actually kind of remarkable how a guy with the baggage of injuries he had by the late 2000's was able to have these great matches we'll get to later. It speaks as much to the talent he was paired against but in any match it always takes two to tango. I would argue that the build-up to the match at WM 8 is just as good, if you consider that it really started with the Warrior angle from the year before, when Jake turned heel and aligned with Taker, then him being a supporting role in the Savage feud, leading up to the moment on SNME where he stopped Elizabeth from taking a chairshot. Not saying it's better or worse than the Kane angle, which had as much time to build up to, but it was a good way to turn him face, by making his character the wingman to the most evil heel in the company until he had enough of it.
This faux pas illustrates an interesting point, of how different the company was in those 5 years, and how different Taker and JR were presented. By 98 Taker is a more realized character, now with an exposed backstory. And JR went from being the b-show guy to now the voice of the company, as well as having an elevated role behind the scenes. Guess the only thing that hasn't changed is the WM workrate.
Then following it up with that great match with Shawn a month later. I'm sure there are equal examples to him in terms of guys going out strong, but I can't think of any offhand. 96 was definitely a solid year for Taker, overall. The next night on Raw they started the feud with Mankind, which helped the company out of those dreadful mid-90's doldrums, and really revitalized the character.
What happened to his WCW run in 92? I vividly remember seeing him and The Barbarian behind Cactus Jack cutting a promo (with emphasis on Reed being Ron Simmons' former tag team partner) followed by a real barnburner of a tag match with them against Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham. Then, nothing.
He would be the poster boy, certainly. I watched the match with Luger from 88 in Baltimore, and while I think Luger was good Flair made him better. That's a pretty commonly held belief, but it shows not just his unselfishness but his application of craft because he almost never looked foolish putting guys over either.
For 20 million a year I wouldn't think transferring everything would be so hard. What I'm worried about is how the interface will be affected. Currently on the Network you can skip over matches, or scenes in documentaries. The only other platform I've seen have this is Prime Video, which you can do this with their originals. Peacock doesn't have this.
Comcast has had a streaming box for awhile now, Flex, which is free if you have a subscription. Included in that is Peacock Premium, a 9.99 value free of charge itself. It essentially means (if you're a Comcast subscriber) you can get the Network for free.
Will the Peacock deal screw this up in that maybe NBC tries to buy this for their platform?
I want to say someone mentioned Undertaker being undefeated (he might have even said it in a promo) at WM in the build-up to 13, but nobody used the word "streak". This showed more promise into what a long-term feud between these two could have been. For much of the fall of '91 to the build-up to WM, Undertaker was in both the Jake/Randy angle and in the Hogan/Flair one too. It was kind of one big angle that involved lots of other workers in supporting roles (like Sid until he got hurt and Jim Duggan), but with the world title picture being somewhat separate. Whittling it down by this time and turning Taker face was the right thing to do. Hogan was about to leave and while Taker didn't fill that spot they probably did this as much to maybe groom him for such a position later. This segment is great. People were cheering him for months, and this is in a sense cathartic to see him turn against one of their hottest heels but it also amped the heat up when Jake attacks him, but stalks after him with the casket locked to his hand.
I kind of understand his point of view as far as self-preservation, and keeping the heat on for his own character. "My lunchboxes gotta sell too" is a quote from one of his last shoot interviews that really sticks with me. Hogan should absolutely not have dropped the belt for any length of time during those four years, but that doesn't mean everyone had to drop like flies around him either. At least the guys he could maintain a good pace with. The monsters like Bundy and Kamala had to eat those pins eventually, but I wouldn't say quite the same of someone like Piper, Savage and Orndorff (at least until his injuries caught up with him). The audience turned Piper babyface, Savage moved on to programs with guys like Santana and Steamboat, without either of them being absolutely jobbed to Hogan (Savage doing at WM 5 not withstanding).