Talk about it here.

I got a kick out of revisiting this segment, which I hadn't thought about in years. My favorite moments were the cutaway shots to a horrified Sean Mooney in the control center. Jake also did a good job selling his anguish, especially when he peeked in the bag. This was goofy, sure, but it was a clever way to create some interest around a feud that could've been pretty meaningless. It was more compelling, for example, than most of the build we're seeing for this year's Wrestlemania.

RIP Damien

I thought it was a stupid premise. Though the presentation is so good you care about where the angle is going.

The Sean Mooney cutaways were LOL worthy. Senseless and deplorable indeed. Mooney's completely natural response is awfully wordy to not be written out in advance. Jake Roberts can get over even the dumbest angles.

Although we did not see the senseless and deplorable act just committed by the Earthquake, we can surmise its outcome. Mooney promises that we will not return to the arena until the Walking Natural Disaster's destruction has ceased, but we will return to the Event Center if the carnage continues.

 

This was a pretty hokey premise and even hokier in actual execution, but...Damian was in his own way an on-air character for 5 years, so this does come off as a fairly major deal. The angle is also helped by some fantastic performances from Jake, Vince, and Piper. As annoying as Vince is calling matches, he's been outstanding when calling angles on these two Yearbooks. Vince laments how a pet loss can affect a person while Jake psychotically tears the bag open with his teeth, "having to put himself through that" as Vince puts it.

Yes. Not much of a match as Jake unleashes Damien right away. Jake puts Damien back in bag and puts it under ring. A little switcharoo. Earthquake splash! Boo! They cut away to Sean Mooney before he landed it. Mooney should have added a stubble to his disheveled look. Bottle of whiskey on the desk too in front of him. Roberts is heartbroken. Nice to finally see this one in full.

I admit it, I cried as a five year old as Jake and Hogan were my favs and Damien hung on my wall for crying out loud. I still have a soft spot watching this now. I had forgotten the Mooney cutaways but they are spectacular.

I guess this is the start of Jake's heel turn, if you want to look at it that way. It's definitely the source of it, as after this feud doesn't go much of anywhere during the spring and summer, we get the stuff with Warrior. I'm actually surprised they didn't touch on this as one of the reasons Jake snapped, although they probably didn't want the fans to sympathize with him at all under the circumstances.

 

As for the angle itself, this was about as well done as could be expected for what it was. I'm surprised they didn't have Andre do this a couple of years earlier, in fact. Jake was first-rate at projecting sorrow, and the announcers did just as good a job here as they did with the casket angle, though Savage was decidedly less sympathetic. Pete's right about Vince doing a masterful job getting some of these more adult angles over; he can be a real storyteller as long as the story doesn't involve wrestling moves.

 

It was obvious something was going on when the refs insisted on Jake putting Damien underneath the ring, which they'd never done before even when he was a heel. I guess the cutaways were ostensibly to reduce the chances of nightmares for the children in the audience, although I think cutting to Mean Gene in the locker room might have been more effective; Mooney's over-rehearsed bollerplate dialogue not only lacked spontaneity, but showed no emotion whatsoever. He read those lines like a rundown of the next card at MSG or a thousand other arenas.

 

One problem I had: Jimmy tackling Hebner. Okay, trip him and hold him down for a minute or so, but for three or four minutes? Where were the other refs to get him off? Where were the threats of suspension? Why didn't Earl just knock him stiff? Better yet, why didn't Quake knock Earl and the other official out before he even started?

 

It's a pity this feud was never blown off. Then again, it wouldn't really have been much different than the Andre feud, except that Quake could move a little better. Actually, they could have started the Warrior stuff with Jake right about now and not missed much.

I never connected the dots before, but, yes, this does seem to be the start of the heel turn. The fallout from this was Jake getting a new snake, Damien's brother Luficer. And, when he turned on Warrior, he told him to open the coffin and find Lucifer waiting for him.

As said above, effective for as hokey as it is. I do think Damian was a major character and killing him off had to have some kind of emotional resonance.