Shawn did a public Q and A and here are a few tidbits I've never heard before.

 

He wrote the Larry King skit during the Hogan feud skit with Stephanie

 

Survivor Series 2002 was supposed to be his swan song and end on one nice moment with him winning the title. (I would assume he meant that losing the next month to Hunter was going to be it for him). So I guess he was really going to retire before Vince enticed him with the Jericho program

 

He requested Curtis Hughes to be his bodyguard before Sid was hired

 

 

- WWE has reportedly made a deal to purchase the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling library. This material was shot in Virginia at ringside next to the ring announcer from Jim Crockett Promotions events. The footage filmed by George Pantas. Unlike previous Mid-Atlantic material that was purchased as part of the WCW library in 2001, the Pantas footage was filmed on Super 8 cameras and was owned by Pantas. Pantas revealed the news in a column for Norfolk Navy Flagship. The footage was also used for a Michael Elliott documentary on Jim Crockett Promotions entitled The Good Old Days, which is currently available on Highspots.com. PWInsider reports that that the purchase was done about two months ago. The footage includes what is possibly the only complete match on film of Ric Flair vs. Buddy Rogers.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Flair/Andre match in there too.

 

 

Is there any Flair vs Andre footage already available?

 

I've seen that footage that was in the documentary and quite impressed at how close it felt. Would be great to see that mastered in HD with some expert commentary hopefully.

 

I'm also wondering if they have raw footage from Florida before it was aired on TV.

 

Never saw it myself but Classics on Demand used to have a Gordon Solie clip show called the Film Room.

Has anyone watched the Kawada vs. Takayama match from UWFi? I think it happened in 96 but I'd like some information on it. All I know is that Kawada was very close to jumping ship to UWFi. Can someone explain why? Also, how was the match? Thanks.

Watched Starrcade 97 for the first time the other day and need to wash away that taste. What's a good bet for an entertaining NWO-era WCW ppv?

After seeing the pic from the Observer main site, man, AJ Styles has some truly regrettable ink.

Watched Starrcade 97 for the first time the other day and need to wash away that taste. What's a good bet for an entertaining NWO-era WCW ppv?

 

Off the top of my head :

 

Halloween Havoc 96

Starrcade 96

Spring Stampede 97

Bash at the Beach 97

Great American Bash 97

AJ Styles is a strange gajin for NJ to push that hard, though, especially given the roll they have been on. Never drew a dime, in a relatively minor promotion stateside and not even big or imposing.

 

But, American fans, like the ones they hope to draw later in the month, know who AJ Styles is, and will probably pay to see him.

Yeah. There's a good stretch of enjoyable NWO-era PPVs in '97 alone. Great American Bash, Spring Stampede, and Slamboree are tremendous for their undercards alone, and even the main events delivered. They aren't the type that dragged the rest of the events down.

After seeing the pic from the Observer main site, man, AJ Styles has some truly regrettable ink.

 

So the story goes he didn't tell his wife about it. So imagine that.

Thanks, guys. I like to go into shows cold, so I'll pick one of those at random at some point. Watching No Way Out 2001 first after the recent three stages of hell references here.

 

After seeing the pic from the Observer main site, man, AJ Styles has some truly regrettable ink.

 

So the story goes he didn't tell his wife about it. So imagine that.

 

Shoot, I missed it.

The Syracuse collectables convention was yesterday, and I found more luchdores. In this case, its AAA figures of Konnan (with hair!) and La Parka. The guy who was selling them said the cost him about $100 each, but he sold them to me for $20 for both. I was the only person who showed any real interest in them, and even knew who, and what, they were. The missus thought I was nust for buying them, until we jumped on eBay and found that same Konnan figure going for more than $80.

The Syracuse collectables convention was yesterday, and I found more luchdores. In this case, its AAA figures of Konnan (with hair!) and La Parka. The guy who was selling them said the cost him about $100 each, but he sold them to me for $20 for both. I was the only person who showed any real interest in them, and even knew who, and what, they were. The missus thought I was nust for buying them, until we jumped on eBay and found that same Konnan figure going for more than $80.

Small world, I saw those too! In that side room with all the Godzilla stuff.

Does Batista wearing red last night confirm the whole red attire thing that is rumored when doing jobs on your way out?

I thought it was baby blue.

Watching Bash at the Beach '96, and is this the beginning of the end of Tony Schiavone as a decent announcer? He's great in the main, but all card long he focuses on the main. Doesn't matter who is in the ring or who is wrestling, he just wants to talk about Bischoff, the soon to be NWO, and the main event. A sad moment for me was when Heenan gives Tenay a hard time for knowing the names to moves, and Schiavone (who used to make an effort at calling moves) tosses out a line about making up the names of moves when you don't actually know what they are.

I was at a convention last week and overheard a conversation that made me think I was transported back 20 years. There was an indy promoter who was saying he was having trouble with one of his workers and was trying to recruit a guy who I assume works stiff to come in and "teach this guy a lesson". I was kind of amazed this kind of crap still goes on in 2014. Why doesn't this guy just stop booking the guy? Why would he feel the need to pay someone to drive in from out of state just to put this guy in his place? Seems to me it would save everyone a lot of time, effort, and money just to stop booking the problem child. Seems really dumb, backwards, and "carny" to me for him to be handling things this way. I guess people in the South still want to play "rasslin promoter".

Has anyone watched the Kawada vs. Takayama match from UWFi? I think it happened in 96 but I'd like some information on it. All I know is that Kawada was very close to jumping ship to UWFi. Can someone explain why? Also, how was the match? Thanks.

 

Kawada wasn't close to jumping to UWFi. That promotion was on it's last legs at the time, passing through a feud with WAR after being used up by NJPW.

Can't speak for everybody, but I always enjoyed Tony Schiavone's announcing up into (at least) late '97 or so. By '98, he had clearly lost some of that exuberance and enthusiasm, and it was seeming like he was phoning in a lot of the effort.

 

Same with Heenan, really. Maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. I mean, perhaps it was the overall product. Things were still rolling really strong in '97, and the in-ring performances were mostly awesome. It's possible that it factored into giving them reason to call better matches and be more attentive to the stuff going on right in front of them.

I'm currently watching Survivor Series 1990 with my son while he awaits the reveal of the giant egg while playing with a wrestling buddy of Ultimate Warrior I found when helping my mom clean out her garage yesterday. Loving it.

I'm that way, only in reverse (somewhat).

For me, nothing beats kicking back & watching modern wrestling with the ole G-Paw, a lifelong fan himself. His favorite era came and went with McGuirk, Watts, and Mid-South - but he still follows the product faithfully today. It's awesome having him throw fits of rage for the heels, applaud all babyfaces, and pretty much just make behaving like a mark so darn fun. It's why I try not to take all the online criticisms and stuff too seriously. It's SO much more fun to just lighten up & enjoy most of this stuff through those eyes.

 

That being said, I took him to a house show awhile back. Front row seats were cheap enough & easy to come by, so I snagged 'em up. We sat next to some college kids that decided to play dress-up. One was just sporting a ref shirt. The other two had lucha masks. Another in what looked like random indie face-paint. Anyhow, my G-Paw's antics and ringside raving got over HUGE with 'em. He'd go from shouting obscenities at Randy Orton to yelling at the kid in the ref shirt to jump the rail and "DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, DAMMIT."

Just good times.

I'm watching the last Clash and there were sleeper/reversal spots in both the Mongo/Jarrett match and the Wright/Dragon match. I'm curious: Who were the road agents in 1997?

Did WCW ever really have road agents? Did they adhere to any kind of policy when it came to producing matches?

Not saying they didn't or anything. Just that this would be the first I'd heard of it. I know they had Taylor and Sully in the back, but they were booking.

EDIT: Nevermind. A quick (VERY brief, and admittedly lazy) attempt at a search brought up the names of Greg Gagne and Mike Graham as once serving as road agents, but with no time frame given or anything. Hmm.

yeah, i remember hearing that graham was strictly a road agent in 1990 if not before. the company making cuts was why he wrestled again in '91, which gave us one of the all-time classic "only in WCW" matches: DDP/mike graham vs. jushin liger/bill kazmaier at starrcade

I'm that way, only in reverse (somewhat).

 

For me, nothing beats kicking back & watching modern wrestling with the ole G-Paw, a lifelong fan himself. His favorite era came and went with McGuirk, Watts, and Mid-South - but he still follows the product faithfully today. It's awesome having him throw fits of rage for the heels, applaud all babyfaces, and pretty much just make behaving like a mark so darn fun. It's why I try not to take all the online criticisms and stuff too seriously. It's SO much more fun to just lighten up & enjoy most of this stuff through those eyes.

 

That being said, I took him to a house show awhile back. Front row seats were cheap enough & easy to come by, so I snagged 'em up. We sat next to some college kids that decided to play dress-up. One was just sporting a ref shirt. The other two had lucha masks. Another in what looked like random indie face-paint. Anyhow, my G-Paw's antics and ringside raving got over HUGE with 'em. He'd go from shouting obscenities at Randy Orton to yelling at the kid in the ref shirt to jump the rail and "DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, DAMMIT."

 

Just good times.

 

My favorite memory of myself and my late grandfather was when I was about ten years old, or so. I'd found an old VHS recording of the 1990 Royal Runmble PPV at my grandparents house and popped it in at something like midnight. Grandpa got up to use the bathroom, heard it on the TV, and came out to watch with me. We both fell asleep in front of the TV.