El-P

Mediocre worker at best. Overrated in every regard. Kinda like RVD with less cool moves. I take the Sandman over Booker any day.

Well said. I like the Sandman a lot. The NOA comparison is totally off for most of his, well, peak. Yes, at the end of ECW, Sandman was basically only a prolongued intro, but it was not the case in 95/97. Tons of worse people have been nominated.

WWECW TV Episode 3 (06.27.06) ECW Match of the week : Sabu vs Roadkill. Basically a little more than a competitive squash this time, with Sabu still kiling himself and ending up with a nasty cut on his back after an atomic arabian facebuster through a table. Yeah, this is ECW for you. I'm surprised WWE even picked up Roadkill, he was overrated in ECW to begin with and his gimmick had no depth to it at all even in the original setting. Squash of the week : Big Show destroying Tommy Dreamer. It's not even a match. Big Show looks like a monster here. If it keeps going that way, it's indeed how he should have been booked since 1999 instead of being just another guy. (yeah, sounds familiar) Throwback sexist angle of the week : The jealous boyfriend covers up his sexy girlfriend's body. This is right out of 1998 Vince Russo booking with Debra and Jeff Jarrett. After this week, I'm not so sure I liked Debra's body better BTW, as Kelly obviously is a 19 year old lingerie model after all. Not exactly the greatest stripper, but there you go. Mike Knox debuts and he has a throwback kinda look which I kinda like. Still, this angle goes nowhere. Kelly wants to show her tits to a guy at ringside, who gets pushed back by Knox. Surprisingly good main event of the week : Kurt Angle vs RVD. Angle can't kick, and he love to transition back into offense by kicking. RVD still can't punch or throw a forearm to save his life, yet loves to do a comeback with forearms. Apart from that, this actually pretty good, Angle grounds RVD quite a bit so we don't get too much nonsense early on and save the big spots for key moments. I kinda like that Angle quite a bit after all, expect for his flat WWE trademarked german suplexes and the overreliance on the ankle lock (with all the infamous obligatory counters). Test is coming. Feel the excitement. All the backstage stuff is awful, with that stale and dull WWE directing and delivery. There was also an awful segment with a short and fat male stripper getting squashed by Sandman. There's a vampire stalking around. And Tazz can't say "exhibitionnist". Those funny guys, ah ah. 2006.06.27 Kurt Angle vs RVD

No matter how off he can be at times about the current product, Cornette is still gold when he tells stories of old school wrestling. And although those familiar with his podcast herd a lot about this year already, there are still some new stuff there, like the Freebirds (Michael & Jimmy) coming off like complete dicks.

Any feud with Jake Roberts post Mid-South.

Yeah, totally. Terrific setting. The match itself is pretty much nothing although the action is pretty decent. Hunter at this point is much more mediocre than I remembered him to be (I used to like him quite a bit back then). The tombstone on the escalator is a classic moment. Too bad they stopped producing those funky Shotgun shows (although the later ones definitely are the worse after they toned down the insanity like Terri flashing or Terry going crazy on the mic).

You can't even make up stuff like this. Dixie is my favourite pro-wrestling promoter ever.

Seriously ? Babyface anouncer Ross screaming "she's a married woman for God's sake", ignoring the fact she had been dumped on live TV 8 months before and humiliated in the process, while the fans were actually cheering for Val Venis before turning on him because Goldust was a cool character, making the heel/face dynamic inexistant and Terri generally being portrayed like a slut (being dumped for being pregnant to the cheers of the crowd, then trying to get back into the favours of Goldust before admitting it was all a lie, after pretending a miscarriage). It was brutal.

The work during the Val Venis feu may have been good, but the feud itself was an abomination and the picture perfect illustration of everything wrong about Vince Russo (misogyny and fucked up heel/face dynamic) Dustin had a good little bunkhouse brawl at Starrcade 99 with Jarrett (not a carry job), and again worked well with him during their tag match in March 2001 tagging with Dusty & Flair respectively (who both sucked by then). Dustin really didn't do shit in WCW, even his feud with Terry Funk stunk. And I love both guys.

Good segment. Bret is much better as a whiny babyface bordering on heeling up than Shawn is as an obnoxious one, as showed by their respective promos. Bret stepping on the belt at the end and flipping the finger is a nice touch. I love Bret during that time. (interesting segment following this, as they made a big deal of the signing of Tiger Ali Singh, complete with Bret Hart giving him the nod… He looks like a guy who's gonna be pushed straight to the top here… well, they were trying different things at least)

So, no one is watching LU anymore ? This was clearly a lesser episode this week. A Puma squash, which is nice, and the confrontation with Hernandez was fine. Daivari really shows me nothing for now. I don't enjoy this feud at all, and I enjoyed Big Ryck as a babyface, so, this does nothing for me as a whole. The ladder match was good though, with an amazing dive by Angelico again. I enjoyed the way they actually teased spots instead of just going insane. Ivelisse getting the cake at the end while everyone is down was a nice touch, but I really can do without women getting punched in the face. The vignettes are still awesome though, and Dario Cueto remains da boss.

Seriously, I need to jump into this at some point, if only to listen to freakin' Roger Couderc. These are all the guys Eddie Carpentier was always talking about when he was announcing WWF Superstars with Guy Hauray. Great thread Dan.

Can't vote at this point. Both are N°1 contender to me. I would need to watch more 70's stuff and more Puerto Rico.

Interesting indeed. I picked Dustin for reasons already talked about by Matt & Dylan, mostly.

Agreed. I guess the whole indy mindset comes from there too. ECW and its "smart" crowds, the developping of tape trading and the aesthetic influence of lucha and puroresu all led to a new generation of workers being too self-conscious about what they were doing, too keen on getting the audience's complicity and approbation. Basically, working for snowflakes instead of heat. That is the real tragedy of the total loss of kayfabe. The whole self-conscious epic mentality derives from that as well, with the added negative of the over-formulaic idea of what a great nearfall is supposed to be. It's not supposed to be kicking out of a finisher. It's supposed to be believable in the sense you really feel it's over (and that's why I love me some Raven matches, because he could build to legit great nearfalls with his dog & pony show that still worked on me 10 years after the fact).

Warrior brought more to the table in the best matches he's been involved in (Rude, Savage), so he takes the cake for me. Sid can be funnier and could be a decent promo. But really, it's like choosing between aids and cancer.

Because guys with piercings listening to metal sure love to throw up on each other and pour hot wax on themselves. Don't they ? Yes, they sure do. Vince was so out of touch and fascinated with crass stuff. It made the Head Bangers look cartoonier than they needed to be. Well, they were still better than Rad Radford.

Dead crowd notwithstanding (yeah, I'm getting too much of Vince calling the action), this is a decent segment in which Austin cuts the best promo of the four, but nothing earth shattering.

Interesting match for Savio is the one from Shotgun Saturday Night where he turns on Rocky Maivia. Works a good babyface match during the first half, then totally changes his style and showcase his heel work, with a lot of agression, building to Rocky's hope spots and comebacks, and bitchslapping him a bit too. Looks just as good in both roles (kinda remember that random Tito Santana vs Koko B. Ware from 91 or so in MSG where Koko all of a sudden worked heel).

I don't really keep track of dates and such anymore, but which one is that ?

I've seen every Hennig vs Rose matches, and I wouldn't put any of them above the 93 KOTR match, really. Bockwinckle was most probably Hennig's best opponent though. Well, he was the best opponent of a number of guys too.

1997 WWF TV. I haven't watched that stuff since it happened. Kinda makes me feel a bit old, but it's awesome revisiting this period which has been my favourite ever for the WWF (and watching wrestling as it happened), up until SummerSlam 98.

A match we'd get a gazillion times during the next two years, but it was still fresh and new at this time. The ending is chaotic and crazy, and the WWF looks like a hot promotion again. It's too bad they gave up on Vader, because he does absolutely look like he belongs here and brings legit star power to the main event scene.

Definitely. This feels like the beginning of something hot, juste like when Hall showed up on Nitro. I haven't watched that stuff basically since it happened, and not only it's great to watch it back because it brings back so much great memories, but it also looks even better with time compared to how things are today. That "jackass" line was classic Austin.

If you have to pinpoint where things really turned into the right direction, this is it. Classic promo from Bret, the first "I've been screwed by you" mention ever, Austin looking dangerously like the hottest thing in the company on the mic. And JR wearing his cowboy hat for the first time on RAW (he wore it on Shotgun the Saturday before). Yes, this is when RAW became hot.