El-P

Although I totally disagree about Meltzer on how he thinks it was a great match, he still made a great point about how if the same match move for move happened on a ROH show with indy guys as opposed to WM with Taker and HHH, everybody in the WWE locker room would dismiss these guys as "not knowing how to work" and basically just kicking out of finishers back and forth. Well, it was better than their terrible 2001 match at least.

That's what made WCW so great to me. For no reason at all you could get Mike Enos or Mickey Whipreck on PPV. Or Silver King. I loved this WAResque randomness on WCW programs. And yes, Konnan was just terrible at every turn. Part of my top 5 worst wrestler of 1998 in WCW. In good company. He did had some watchable matches against a few mexican workers, but that's about it.

Well, if that's what considered a "very good wrestling show" by 2011 standarts, I must agree with WWE's policy of removing teh word wrestling from their logo once and for all. I hadn't watch a full WWE card since WM two years ago. Man... First though after the show : who booked this shit ? Second thoughts : the best moments were Rocky's promo, Rocky facing off with Austin, and Austin giving a few stunners around. Man, this new guys are all dull as dirt, and the wrestling is flat as hell. Edge is just a terrible wrestler, there's nothing to add about him. I like Alberto Del Rio's character. He doesn't seem too great in the ring, but at least he's got a personnality. Match was average at best. Rey Rey vs Cody Rhodes was decent, but man, Cody Rhodes is as dull as it comes, and what the fuck was this angle with the mask? Awful stuff. And I really laugh at the concept Rey turned into this great storyteller in WWE. What I see is an aging Rey doing the same spots, only slower, and building an entire match (and angle) around a terrible WWE marketed spot. CM Punk vs Randy Orton was the best match of the show, by far, thanks to Punk, who looks like the best worker in the company by a huge margin. Orton is still a black hole, nice to see. He has to be the most manufactured, forced character I've seen, I don't believe his "I'm slowwwww because I'm eeeeevil" act one second. That said, his selling was excellent here, and they did some really good spots and teases. Still, since I'm currently deeply immerged into WCW 1998, I saw the Diamond Cutter, sorry, the RKO, from the top rope coming from miles away. But a really good match though, the only one of the show. Punk is excellent. Orton should send some money to DDP. Man, Sunny looks great, good for her. I don't know who the Core are, they basically look all the same, and from the vibe I get from this match, they are jobbers with the IC (didn't know this thing still existed, but the World Title is the IC title, at least that's what I got from the opening match) and tag titles. Nice to see Kane still has the all time worst lariat from the top rope. What was next already ? Oh, yeah, that debacle of Lawler vs Cole. From all I heard about great built and anticipation, seems like this was put together by the same guy who put together Bret vs Vince from last year. Awful stuff. And really, Lawler does look old, not at all what I was expecting. Still, the dropkick was great, it's too bad those WWE douchebag wouldn't let him piledrive Cole's ass three time in a row after 5 minutes of him getting killed, which was the only thing to do. So yeah, who booked this shit ? As much as JR got annoying during the Attitude era, the announcing was so bad that him showing up just took the announcing of the show in another stratosphere. Seriously, why isn't he doing this job ? And the ring announcer is just as the rest of the product is : dull, clean, manufactured. You hear the Fink introduce the Hall of Famer and you get another vibe. Yes, he's old, and fat, and bald. So what ? He should at the very least do the introductions for the main matches. Triple H vs Taker was straight out of 1999-2000, and I was already fast forwarding these matches back then. Plus it had the super formulaïc "WWE EPIC WRESTLEMANIA MATCH" stamp into it, complete with kicking out of finishers and trying your opponent's finisher. Does absolutely nothing for me. Taker's entrance was awesome though. I didn't bother watching anything beside Trish Stratus entrance, is it me or does she look a bit aneroxic ? I have no idea who "Snooki" is, nor do I care. Man, Cena has another funky entrance. SO, this guy, The Miz, wharever that means, is main eventing Wrestlemania ? And winning it to boot ? WBTS ? Another dull as dirt guy with very limited actual wrestling ability. It shows that all those guy come from the same mold, and it's a mold I'll be happy to break down right now. I kinda like Cena, he's not very good mechanicaly, he looks like a goof, but he's got shitloads of charisma, especially if you're 10 year old I guess, and he works his ass off. But still, The Miz ? Really ? And the only thing they figured to involve the Rock was a *draw*, so The Rock was there to restart the match, only to turn on Cena (which again, was obvious), which allowed that flat heel to win ? So the end WM on The Rock ? Man, felt like a complete nostalgia enfing to me. Really, after watching this, I'll be happy to never watch another WWE event again, although that probably won't happen because I will watch Taker's last match whenever that happens, but if this is what passes for good wrestling in 2011, then yes, WWE isn't wrestling. Either I'm an old bitter guy, either that show really was dull and flat, and full of dull and flat wrestling matches. I tend to think I'm not bitter.... But yeah, it really didn't do it for me, and the way things were booked doesn't indicate any bright future for wrestling, it was all about nostalgia, more than WCW ever was. God bless old footage yet to discover.

Funny, WM8 was also the first one I saw. Loved the setting, loved Shawn vs Matador, Bret vs Piper and Flair vs Savage.

Oh, I can't wait to get into 1999 WCW.

There are limits to what I'm going to do for you guys. BUT, there are Rick Martel, Booker, Jericho, Hall, Jarrett, Steiner, DDP and Luger matches. Not a ton to work with. The Martel match is only remarkable because Martel was coming back from knee surgery after he blew it out against Booker (who also gave him a concussion earlier on), and Stevie Ray fucked up Martel's neck. Which led to Martel's retirement. Stevie Ray is easily one of the worst worker I've came across. Really good on the mic though.

Hopefully the 95 yearbook will include "It's not hot ! / There are no Hulkamaniacs here !".

I guess they are progressively trying to erase the "word that shalll not be pronounced" once and for all. Too fucking bad it's WRESTLEmania week-end.

Watching the documentary right now. It's so full of bullshit from the get go I don't know if I'll be able to get through this, despite being interesting in the backsatge stuff. One thing I hate about WWE documentary, is how the just put annoying background music *all the freaking time*.

Poor Billy Graham. He still thinks Bob Backlund never drew a dime and was afraid of him...

Justin Credible doesn't belong here. He's really solid. nWo Sting was good in Japan. Balls Mahoney could be decent, but could be quite bad also, and his gimmick sucks. The Godwinns suck pig balls. Awful workers, both of them.

Scorpio, by a wide margin. And if Aja is considered "black", then yes, by an even more wide margin. I don't get the Butch Reed was a great worker argument at all. Good, yes. But great ? I don't see it at all.

I had no idea he still worked in WCW in 2000 and 2001. He's only 35 *now*, which I find amazing.

The Berlyn match is infamous for Duggan refusing to put him over. I don't remember what happened exactly. Although he comes off as a real good guy in his shoot interview, Duggan also appears to have a problem grasping the concept of putting over younger guys, to the point of him didn't understanding why Steve Austin was pissed about having to do a job for him. Wright is currently my most underrated talent of WCW in 98. He was so good, he could do comedy, serious matches with stiffness, acrobatics, matwork, chickenshit heel, could work with cruiserweight and heavyweight with no problem whatsoever adapting. I wonder what happened to him after the Berlyn debacle.

Insanely retarded unless Lawler isn't physically able to do it safely. But shit, Terry Funk was doing safe piledrivers at the same age, and he had no knees.

Basically. He did just what he had to do to make people happy and stay over. Even after his cancer, Duggan was as energetic and enthousiastic in the ring as he was before. He didn't need to do more and stayed over for his entire with his stuff. He didn't need to work stiff like in Mid South, although on some rare occasions like against Vader or Meng in WCW he could work stiffer again. I can't believe I of all people is defending Duggan.

Unprotected chair shot from a messed up guy = trouble.

Standard Al Snow spiel then. When was the point Al Snow went from movezy, indy darling to "selling tickets is all that matters" bitter dude? Was there some sort of mental breakdown involved? Al Sow was already unbearable when he taped his second Shoot Interview. He was alla bout defending WWF, about how he was the only one responsible for not making the most out of the great opportunity Vince gave him, about how people who never worked in the business don't know shit about it. Really went from a fun guy to a über serious, bordering agressive and delusional guy, sounding like he was brainwashed by his second WWE stint. Of course the most ridiculous point he made was "There is only ONE pop per show. At the end. All the other pops are not really pops, and it only leads to the real POP at the end." Or some nonsense. I really don't want to hear this Guest Booker issue. Plus when did Al Snow became an expert on how to work a match, when all he did during his career was pretty much spot matches. Not exactly the posterboy for psychology, building a match, nor drawing money for that matter.

Actually, after watching Hogan vs Bret from the last Nitro of September, the whole "Bret shows that he truly respect Sting and turns face" deal ended up being a swerve. Which make the awkward and weak face interview quite cool in retrospect, because Bret really looks like a total asshole now. I've been swerved by WCW 13 years after the fact, I feel a bit like an idiot... But I'm glad Bret is still a heel, I totally forgot how his career went in WCW so I really watch this unfolds like it's the first time I see it.

September : _Man, that Warrior feud is unbearable, the worst thing I've seen thus far, by a huge margin. Not even "so bad it's good", it's just plain godawful, not even funny in a ridiculous way. _Way to fuck up Bret Hart even more. After hitting his stride as a manipulative heel, having really good match and delivering really good promos, they turn him face again for zero reasons, and he does look awkward apologizing to the fans for his attitude, and just plain stupid and weak having been "put on the wrong tracks" by Hogan. Bret really had no chance of making it in WCW, the way they booked him was just terrible. _Raven vs Saturn may be my favourite feud of the year thus far. Their match at Fall brawl is amazing in how they got the crowd rocking, with at least 4 credible false finishes. The pop Kidman got when he betrayed Raven was huge. The next day he wins the cruiserweight title (Juvi ended up being nothing but a transition champ), and once again gets a huge pop. In two days, they made Kidman *over* as a face. _Ernest Miller in my TV, and although he's finding his niche as a heel, it means more bad matches (expect a good one with Psychosis). _Ric Flair comeback was clearly the highlight of the year in WCW. Just an awesome moment of TV, just a vibrant, for the ages promo. This Horsemen comeback was really well built, with some of the best promos of the year from Anderson, Flair and Bischoff. _Jericho doing the Goldberg entrance and losing his way through the building was way more funny than he should have been. You get the feeling Jerich was really coming up with his own stuff. _Wrath, looking like Adam Bomb again after getting rid of the Mortal Kombat outfit, is getting a big push as a monster. I don't remember if that went anywhere, but he's more fun to watch than Goldie to me. Yeah, Goldie's boring me. _Disco Inferno trying to make the weight to compete for the cruiserweight title = fun. Serious anti-american Alex Wright challenging other european wrestlers = fun. Norman Smiley showing up = fun, although the crowd doesn't know how to react to him at this point. _Nick Densmore is a jobber. _They run quite a bit of "shoot angle" apart from Flair's comeback : Eddie Guerrero cutting s "shoot" promo on Bischoff, which was awkward as hell and not very good at all, complete with throwing coffee over himself (ah, the joy of learning those insider infos back in the days), and Scott Hall showing up "drunk", which is funny once, but gets annoying and nowhere fast. Well, it's a bit better than during the summer thanks to Flair's comeback which was exciting, and the undercard getting a bit better.

Hennig's multiple comebacks over the years, leading each time to him departing the company before the angle he's involved in could amount to anything, is the strangest occurence of 90's WWF.

Well, Court Bauer told that story again last week on Alvarez's show, that Vince loved Pirate of the Caribbean and wanted Burchill to have the gimmick. So, where's the truth here ?

Yeah, Slater was really good, and the only criticism I ever heard about him is the Nise Terry Funk argument. Maxx Payne didn't had much opportunity to shine, but I think it's safe to say he was pretty good. I wish he had showed up in ECW. I also wish his behind the scene footage would eventually show up somewhere.

Am I the only one thinking Tiger MAsk IV has been the best thus far ? I heard he's been quite lazy since he's been in New Japan, but in MPro, TMIV was quite the worker. Misawa didn't do much memorable as TMII, and Kanemoto from what I remember wasn't very good as TMIII.

The Godwinns do suck and should be forgotten.