Petey

Cornette was still around on TV a bit but I meant in terms of his influence on the booking/creative team.

To add to the discussion about the Russo/Cornette booking timeline, Cornette said in his 97 WWF Timeline that he went on a vacation at the end of 97 and missed a week or two of creative meetings and when he returned, he pretty much wasn't invited back to said meetings and that was that. I think it was during this time that Russo gave Vince the ultimatum. So it's not impossible that Russo was the lead non-McMahon guy for all of 1998 and a majority of 1999.

While it might help NXT to keep Bailey down there for a while, does it help her as a person? I imagine that even if she doesn't get over on the main roster (and if she doesn't, it probably wouldn't be her fault), she'd still be making way more $$ than she would be headlining NXT shows.

I was actually thinking about this early this morning and the answer is, I don't think the talent is there to create a legitimate "alternative" or #2 (1995 WCW as an example). If we use 1994-1995 WCW's blueprint of hiring older wrestlers from the previous US wrestling boom and putting them in a new environment, that's impossible to duplicate since the last time US wrestling was mainstream was like fifteen years ago. So if there aren't wrestlers of a previous era that can come in and work for the other company, then what? I used to think that it was creating an "alternative" based around workrate, essentially like mid-00's ROH but built better for a bigger audience. Problem is that with WWE's new focus on in-ring performance and signing all the super indy guys for NXT, that type of company would basically just be a lesser copy of WWE/NXT.

I really liked the main event (I'm a sucker for overbooking if it's done rarely and with meaning) and the show as a whole. I LOVED Owens/Zayn and the ensuing brawl during the IC Championship match. I haven't watched much WWE in 2016 but this show was just really fun.

I know it's not what I picture, but I'm having a blast at picturing guys like Baron von Raschke and Stan Hansen at "wrestling school".

Yeah I feel like Cena will wind up being Shane's avatar (if Cena gets healthy in time). I don't really understand the story though if Shane's supposed to be the babyface, why would Undertaker want to beat him?

My favorite version of Rock was in 1999 after his babyface turn, which I'd say was also when he was at his "dickest". Of course, I am a horrible person.

RVD in ECW and early WWF oozed charisma but was never a great promo.

Hogan pinning Sheiky seemed as good a "this will change the business forever" moment as any other.

Styles trying to put Reigns in the Styles Clash looked ridiculous because AJ is so small.

I'm a year younger than you and totally agreed with everything you said. As a young pup, I thought DX was awesome. I didn't find any of it embarrassing at the time. I thought they were super cool. My parents also let me wear my DX Two Words Suck It shirt on the last day of 5th grade (June 1998) and I thought that made me very cool.

It's funny, I didn't start watching wrestling until the early 90's, so I didn't understand Piper being billed as Hogan's equal in 96 because I knew him mostly as announcer who occasionally wrestled. I was completely unaware they were rivals in the 80's. I didn't even think of Piper as a main eventer. I know I'm mostly in the minority on that one but I was always underwhelmed by the feud in WCW.

I totally had those cards as a kid! Still might be somewhere.

Didn't GTV reveal that his woman was setting him up? Speaking of... GTV might be the biggest loophole/unsolved mystery of them all.

Love them both. JCP was well before my time so my first exposure to David was on 24/7, but I thought he was great. Sure, he was basically a small market baseball homer in pro wrestling form, but I enjoy listening to him on the shows. Agree with everyone else saying Tony was great, namely before WCW went down the tubes.

Sunny was definitely the more talented of the two. However, Sable was booked great in 97/98. I think Sunny was more attractive but Sable's character of "innocent girl in a terrible relationship" really resonated with a lot of people, namely the guys who were used to seeing their attractive friends dating douchebags. Sable had the girl next door thing down pretty well. But in terms of talent and attractiveness, I go with Sunny, but I understand why Sable had a better run.

I'd love pre-91 issues of the Observer. I love reading the recaps of 80's Observers on here. Being able to read them would be just splendid.

I'm the same way with the sleeping thing. I pretty much always throw The Network on at night as I'm getting ready to go to sleep. It's probably why it takes me forever to get through things. I actually find it difficult sometimes to fall asleep without having wrestling on in the background unless I'm just beyond exhausted. I guess wrestling just really relaxes me/helps me unwind. That said, sometimes if it's a weekend and I'm watching wrestling during the day or even a shoot interview/podcast that I find interesting, I'll wind up falling asleep. It's almost never out of boredom either.

I feel like MITB is one of their more successful non-WM/RR shows, so I doubt it's going anywhere. I do agree that I think it negatively impacts the World Title. I'd rather MITB essentially be handled the way it was booked with RVD/Cena. Wrestler challenges Champion to match at later date. That way if the challenger loses, he doesn't come off necessarily looking like a scrub and you're not forced to always have a title change.

Wow. I was shocked at the result.

I don't necessarily disagree but I'd suggest Rock is at least close.

Was just about to post what Will said. Thought it was a really good match. Steen/Owens is a really good pro wrestling. His in ring charisma is great. He'd be a great fit in any era. Also, Cena was terrific but that's unsurprising at this point.

Threads like these make me wish I was about ten years older. It must have been cool to be apart of the early IWC (I know, that's a terrible and broad name but it fits here).

T&T Era for sure. One more dig at WCW.