sek69

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/1867520/ That amuses me on many levels.

Honky Tonk Man chimes in on the Steamboat-Flair story:

What I was referring to is that Watts having big name matches on TV didn't cost him any money since he didn't run PPVs. Having big name TV matches only helped houseshows, which was his bread and butter. Watts could have a loaded TV show every week, if WWE or TNA does it now they're blowing a potential PPV main event that could earn them money.

I was watching this today, as seen as part of the WM box set, and it was interesting to watch it with more enlightened eyes. I saw things in a way I didn't when I was watching when it happened ( I was 12 at the time). First off, I noticed that what makes Jesse and Gorilla such a good team is that they're both ex-wrestlers. If someone went for a pin too early, they'd call them on it, and by the same token they did a superb job discussing the strategy for each guy in the match. They actually agreed with each other a lot more than I remembered, there was actually very little face/heel announcer bickering. One thing that immediately leaps to attention is not only do they re-dub a lot of the music (Demoliton, Koko, Snuka, Dusty, Slick) they also have the Fink re-record his ring intro over the newly dubbed music. To say it's noticeable is an understatement. They tried to recreate the echo of the real ring annoucement and it just sounds cheesy fake. It's interesting to watch the matches as well. People complain about the boring WWE Main Event Style, but the style they work in most of the matches here isn't too far from what we see today, lots of groundwork, lots of "rest holds" being used as snug wear down moves instead of the loosely applied breathing breaks we see so much now. A more grounded style, yet few of the matches were actively boring. The crowd was into most of what was being offered to them. Something else that gets your attention (especially since it's a recent topic of discussion here) is Shawn Michaels' build. Watching the Rockers vs Orient Express match makes it clear the Rockers were into more than recreational drugs. Even his build during his WWF title run looks puny by comparison. It also must be noted that either Shawn smokes a lot or he hadn't hit puberty by WM 6 since his voice sounds about 4 octaves higher in the pre-match interview. There's also tons of commercials for WM7 with Vince in voice over promising the largest crowd in LA Coliseum history (whoops), which is topped later by Jesse commenting that next year WM is in his town and he already has 20,000 tickets on hold (double whoops since Jesse was gone from the WWF by then). Hearing Vince boast about WM 7 potentially drawing 100,000 is almost worth the price of admission itself. There's also the hilarity of having Steve Allen be one of the celebrity interviewers, even sitting in for commentary for a match. Allen, for those who don't remember was one of the people who helped the PTC gain national attention. I have to say Warrior-Hogan is probably the best match either guy ever had, quality wise. Of course you can't help but think to Hogan's comments on the Warrior DVD where he said that he knew Warrior wasn't going to cut it when everyone was paying attention to him after the WM match instead of the new champ. Seeing as how they did everything but have violinists play a weeping Hulkster back up the rampway, it's no wonder.

Watts didn't have any PPVs to build up either, just the Superdome shows.

I could almost understand it if it was a wrestler, but getting heat for moving Teddy Long's shit? Come on. But as long as guys like JBL and Holly are allowed to basically assault people and not face any consequences, it's going to continue. If you never tell a dog not to bite someone, there's going to be a lot of bitten asses.

I'd tend to believe any book written by someone still active in the business probably is going to suck and/or be full of BS. The best books seem to come from guys who either weren't directly in the business or are retired and don't give a shit if they piss anyone off.

The same thing could be said (and has been said) of HHH, Shawn, Taker, even Big Show. Someone needs to take the Carters aside and explain to them that TNA can be a moneymaker at some point but not if it's the Jeff Jarrett Show.

It's called building to a PPV. Everything's so on-demand these days people want instant satisfaction and quick payoffs for everything, and that goes against the business model proven to be the best money producer for pro wrestling. I doubt the bulk of today's fans could sit through an entire episode of Prime Time Wrestling or Saturday Night, my god...2 hours of jobber matches! The horror!

What amuses me is one of the chief complaints about WWE used to be that it's hard for new guys to establish themselves now that they don't have squash matches anymore. TNA does that and people complain about *that* too. Everyone knows WWE and especially WCW gave away too many money matches on free TV, and now they want TNA to do it too.

Had to post this tidbit from the SD spoilers here: Gyminizers! Get it? They're twins, so Gemini>Gyminize! Brillant, that WWE is.

I know Dixie trusts Jeff's business expertise and all, but how much longer can the Carters ignore the crowd shitting all over everything JJ does? It's starting to get to WWE levels of ignoring the crowd.

Steamboat's been kicking the idea around for a while. He wants to do it, but he doesn't want the fans' lasting memory of him to be a broken down old man.

I don't know why they would do a 15 minute Sportz Entertainment segment when they've been promoting themselves as the wrestling alternative. Not to mention JJ already did the busload of Stings bit when they feuded in WCW.

I doubt WWE even knew she had her own ABC show, all they wanted was a big black woman to give Shelton his whuppin's and wave her aren't-they-hilarious fake nails around. I doubt they even checked her resume, probably just looked at her and said "you'll do".

Seems like Vince does, and that's all that matters in WWE-ville.

I get what he's saying too, but "we can't make it easier on these guys cause we had it hard" is the cause for many of the ills wrestling faces.

So New Japan is turning away paying customers so they can give more tickets away? Do they not want to make money anymore? WWE doesn't even try to hold that suspension of disbelief. What next, will John Witherspoon show up next as Shelton's grizzled dad who clears out the locker room when he takes a shit? The part about not complaining about the schedule pisses me off, as it's a symbol of all that's wrong with wrestling. I don't know if Regal was playing the role of sockpuppet for Vince or if he really feels that way since he's a legit badass, but when most people you work with are on painkillers to some extent or another it's moronic to say people shouldn't ask for a reduced schedule. That sound you heard was the rest of Heyman's hair falling out.

People seem to think if you point out someone is undersized then you must be implying they need to use steroids. HBK's probably not the best example since he most likely can't add weight because of his back injuries, but it does come close to exposing the buisness when a balding 40 year old with a chicken chest can go toe to toe with someone like Kane and only lose because of outside interference.

Flair's book has an ironic twist now, considering the last couple chapters are love notes to his now bitter ex-wife.

You kidding? Steph will be telling the writers to come up with more suicide angles and stereotypical gimmicks while little Vincent Hunter Paul Shane James Kennedy (KENNEDY~!) McMahon-Levesque is pushing his way out from betwixt her labia.

I guess it's time to add Joe to the list of people who are hated in proportion to how successful TNA gets....

For as much of a rep PWI got for being a mark mag, it's funny to look back and see how "smarkish" some of it really was. The heel columns in particular could be written by any of today's IWC.

Called "Good bye WWF as we know" , it's a salute to the pre-WWE era. Watching this made me play a little game called "count the markouts".

That's not exactly what I just read, Sek. That guy was already concussed before the APW trainers decided to put him in the ring with Singh. The kid couldn't protect himself because he was probably still woozy from the first concussion. Singh just happened to be the poor bastard in the ring that day.