flyonthewall2983

I bet Savage was originally thought of for the Jake Roberts angle Rude did that year, but Randy squelched it pretty quick for obvious reasons.

It's always been a week hasn't it? Or is this another laptop vs. other platforms thing? The weird thing about the schedule for me is the next day tab doesn't work, and I have to click one day ahead to get the previous day's schedule (click Tuesday for Monday's list etc.) Previously on the website it would only go forward to a few days.

Not sure if this has been covered, but their schedule runs a little smoother, and goes much longer than it used to. Right now I can see everything up to next Monday morning.

I hope they do too, as you said it makes a lot of sense, especially since they have multiple channels (not to mention Cinemax, which might come out as a separate app if this is as successful as we all think it might be). Their CTO has resigned since this has become public, as the "Maui" system he designed powered HBO Go, which they are likely steering away from now and the new app will take it's place.

I imagine they'll do more at some point, or that they have more than just what's in that sequence. In other news, HBO's new OTT service will be powered by MLBAM, who of course does the same for the Network. Should be interesting how it will compare with how the Network has done, considering that will likely go in more homes in it's first couple of months than WWE's has done up to now.

I hope they do one on Hogan-Orndorff.

Was there any underlying reason behind Andre appearing at Clash 20 in 1992?

Flair and Savage in WCW was better in 95, when they did the angle with Angelo. I wasn't watching at the time, but that was a pretty new angle to take, attacking someone's elderly father. And I've said elsewhere that I thought their match at that year's Great American Bash was better than their WrestleMania one.

That makes me wonder what kind of heat Randy Orton got when Mick Foley talked about his desertion on national television.

Just got into the Tony Schiavone interview last night and really liked it. I had kind of a sour opinion of him previously because of little things I'd heard in other shoots and of course the over-exposure he had for being the voice of WCW when they started to crumble. But he came across as very human and likable, qualities I thought were just part of his on-screen persona. Him describing leaving WWF and going back to Jim Herd's WCW is as exactly bad as I'd imagine as it was for him.

Mick Foley/Randy Orton. Foley had become this icon of pop culture (which he still is to some degree today), becoming someone audiences could relate to on as deep if not deeper a level than Steve Austin. For a young but impressive punk like Orton to tear him down really drew me in at a time when nothing else was, and maybe a time when they were still willing to let heels become genuinely hated. I don't have a blow-by-blow memory of everything, but I still think it's one of if not the best post-NWO angles ever.

The Clash of the Champions from 1989 that was near an Army base, that looked hot as hell, I think Jim Ross says at a couple of points it was in excess of 100 degrees inside the building. Quite a mix of drunk, sweaty grunts and redneck civilians. The event was sponsored by (I think) Coors, and JR does a good job a few times as a pitchman saying how much he'd like one a few times.

He'd gotten rid of the stache sometime in '89 actually.

So, almost like a "season"? I suppose, but it obviously wouldn't be like that year after year. Just something to reset the clock in a sense and make the titles mean something again.

Announcing teams that are constantly at odds with each other only exist in pro wrestling. That's more commonplace on cable news, and rarely to be seen in professional sports (aside from ESPN's own talking-head shows). Bobby and Gorilla were at odds yes, but they never seemed to put it above calling the action. Same with Vince and Jesse to a degree, but hearing them on some of those old SNME's felt very over-produced (I'm guessing that was the NBC influence more than even Vince's, it never felt like that on what I've heard when they did Superstars). To me there's no such thing as "too friendly" unless it leans too much into stuff that they or others would only get. That in and of itself is entertaining to a degree (Hall and Nash calling matches during those NWO b&w segments and on Nitro).

I had an idea a few years ago that after WrestleMania everyone is stripped of their titles, and everyone's ranking is down to zero and they have to spend the rest of the year building up rank leading up to next year's WM. The way I had it in mind, it would make the titles mean something again, virtually dedicate their entire year of programming as a way to lead up to Mania, and possibly be good television. I really like fakeplastictree's idea for the HOF. It's a rather stiff presentation, and I wish they'd just make it a smaller event for the Network. That sadly will probably never happen in the near future unless the money situation gets so bad that they'd have to, in which case they'd probably just scrap it.

Not with me. He never had a better broadcast partner in WWE than Lawler, and that goes the other way too. They had a chemistry that rivaled Monsoon and Heenan or Ventura and McMahon, but you can tell they had a rapport that went beyond just being professional.

I'll be interested in reading what you have to say. I think the most possible of your doomsday scenarios is USA/NBC dropping off, especially if Vince asks for what he did this year the next time their contract goes up.

Whenever I read stuff like this I always remember Bobby Heenan's quote about how twisted the world is and people expecting to tune in to watch Brutus Beefcake destroy Ron Bass' cowboy hat, or something to that effect. So much shit has hit the fan in terms of world events for the last decade plus, that it's too big for pro wrestling to even quantify and bring down to that level. And when WWE tried the blowback was immense (the "terrorists" attacking Undertaker after the London bombing). Even before that when Slaughter did the turncoat angle, it's amazing nobody was at least attacked publicly for it (in a physical sense, the critics sharpened up the knives and rightly so for that one).

Hopefully they could relegate Taz to backstage interviews or something.

Fritz Von Erich probably qualifies. The guy just looked like someone you didn't fuck around with, even in his golden years. He physically reminded me a bit of my grandpa who was 6'3-4, and even on his death bed had a strong grip.

I'd argue that he pretty much went with whatever the company threw at him and performed the role he was asked to play throughout his time there. Whatever sense of individuality Ventura and Heenan before him brought to the table, wasn't there as much with Lawler. It's not to say he wasn't entertaining, but that he co-opted into a style that was more of McMahon's creation than his own. Bobby and Jesse told things from a strong heel perspective, but would give faces their due or point out if a heel screwed something up. Lawler removed that middle ground completely from his announcing up until he started coming into his own with Jim Ross.

The new doc is pretty good. Only disappointment is that Vince wasn't interviewed or that some more of his big feuds weren't touched upon.

The Flair-Pacino connection brings to mind a missed opportunity when WWE did all those Hollywood sendups leading up to WrestleMania 21. Their version of Glengarry Glen Ross with the Nature Boy as either Ricky Roma or Shelley Levene and Eric Bischoff as either the Alec Baldwin or Kevin Spacey character. I'd prefer Bischoff to the latter just to see Ric call him a see you next Tuesday over and over again.