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In Your House 5 (Scott Sez Version)

The Netcop Retro Rant for In Your House V.

(Ugh.  THIS show.) 

- Before I forget, I just want to mention that Smackdown is the greatest wrestling game ever. Seriously. And coming from someone who thought he’d be slavishly devoted to Wrestlemania 2000 forever, that’s saying a lot.  (Written before No Mercy came out, obviously.)  I was skeptical when I saw the initial previews and movies, but having played it for what feels like 48 hours straight (WWF Champion Chris Benoit, BABEE!) I have to say that it not only plays faster and smoother than WM2000, but the moves are easier to pull off, more intuitive, and they look better. The role-playing aspect is neato-keen, as are the backstage brawls and really cool gameplay modes (example: When you play “I Quit”, you actually have to grab a microphone and jam it in the guy’s face). All the Titantron videos for the wrestlers are included in their glory (go ahead – TRY not to mark out when you see the Y2J one for the first time, I dare you). The only major downsides are the sucky and/or non-existent sound (inexcusable for the Playstation’s capabilities), horrifyingly bad Create a Wrestler appearance edit (can’t complain about the move editor though, no-sirree) and the usual fuzziness and jaggies associated with any system not starting with “Dream” and ending with “Cast”. Although if it’s ever released for THAT, I’ll never leave the house again. Overall, call it ****1/2 and an absolute must-buy for wrestling fans. Like with WM2000: Believe the Hype. (And then they went on to make a newer, mostly the same, version for another FIFTEEN YEARS.  Also, what the fuck is a Dreamcast?) 

- On with the show.

- Live from Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of chocolate and some indy promotion with really obnoxious fans and a balding booker. Original airdate: December 17, 1995. (Original rant date:  Sometime late in 2000.) 

- Your hosts are Vince “We believe in free speech as long as it’s the WWF that’s getting screwed over and not some poor documentary maker” McMahon and Jerry Lawler. (No idea what I was referencing there.) 

- Opening match: Sid & The Kid v. Razor Ramon & Marty Jannetty.

Hmm, what a dilemma: Do I explain the circumstances or start firing off the drug jokes? Well, I think we already know what a bunch of potheads the Clique and Jannetty were during this period, so I’ll just explain the setup: The Kid stole Ramon’s private stash, so…oh, wait, I guess I promised not to make those jokes. (Allegedly.)  Okay, so this was a standard “spunky partner gets tired of condescending treatment from overly macho best friend and turns into capitalist sellout” angle, as the Kid joined Ted Dibiase’s Corporation and turned on Ramon, requiring Ramon to really scrape the bottom of the barrel and get a new partner in Marty Jannetty.  (Hey now, come on.  It could have been worse and he could have been stuck with the clown or the pirate or the ninja or something.) It was that old poetic justice thing again, because Marty had been tag champs with the Kid back in 1994 for about 10 seconds, before the WWF came to their senses and realized that the tag champs were MARTY JANNETTY AND THE 1-2-3 KID. Okay, well, I liked them, but they WERE total jobbers at the time. Oh, and by the way, Goldust is sitting at ringside admiring Razor, thus beginning the angle that REALLY changed wrestling, no matter what any other recappers on the ‘net might have you believe in ridiculously long-winded three-part columns on the WWF at this time. No names mentioned, of course. (It was CRZ.)  The angle in question was that Goldust was in fact in love with Ramon and he started quite blatantly making passes at him on national TV, so blatantly so in fact that GLAAD majorly freaked out and they ended up killing off the Goldust character entirely by 1997. The angle changed wrestling because Goldust was the first wrestler to not only be overtly effeminate (like Gorgeous George before him), but to actually display outright homosexual tendencies and then act on them. The Marlena character was added to tone down the character somewhat while under the pretext of creating more ambiguity for him, but the message being sent by the Goldust character was a far more interesting one: Was he a bad person merely because of his sexual preference, or because he was trying to force himself on Razor Ramon, who clearly wasn’t “into it”? THAT was truly the first “shades of grey” angle introduced by the WWF, because really a case could be made that he was doing nothing wrong at first. He was attracted to Ramon and he decided to make it known. It actually took a lot of courage on Dustin Rhodes’ part to go through with the character, because he had to know it would end up scarring his career in wrestling for life, and yet he was never squeamish about doing everything asked of him. Later on, the angle was SEVERELY toned down, to the point where Goldust was now merely “playing mind games” with his opponents and acting out a character like he would a movie scene, but for the first few months Goldust was easily the first halting introduction to the modern Attitude era that would bring wrestling back to the forefront, sleaze and all. ANYWAY, the match itself pretty much sucks. (To say the least.)  Sid and Kid were on the fast track to the titles, but here’s a shock: Sid left the promotion shortly after this, leaving The Kid dead in the water until finally getting fired later in 1996. (The Smoking Gunns were heavily rumored to be quitting at the time, and Sid & Kid were awaiting the title switch to happen any day.  Which of course never did, and then Sid retired due to neck injury anyway.)  Ramon and Jannetty take turns on LONG heat segments with nothing much of note happening aside from some good segments when Kid and Jannetty are in together. Ramon finally gets the final hot tag, and does the paint-by-numbers finish, ending with a second rope bulldog on Sid for the pin at 12:20. Nothing happening here. *  (It was really REALLY boring.  Sometimes I’m hard on a borderline match during the time I wrote this because I was bored or distracted or drunk or something, but this match was the drizzling shits and a whole lot of chinlocks with no flow.) 

- Jeff Jarrett makes his triumphant return after a 6-month contract dispute. Jerry Lawler presents him with a gold record for “With My Baby Tonight”. Nobody cares, as usual with Jarrett.  (Another giant flop of an angle, as this was supposed to be JJ’s shocking return to freshen up the midcard and it just died.) 

- Ahmed Johnson v. Buddy Landell.

This was just a huge inside joke for the smart marks. Ahmed was supposed to be fighting Dean Douglas, but Douglas was on the outs with the WWF and had a “back injury” (wink wink, nudge nudge). (He did actually have a serious injury.  I feel kind of bad now knowing all the shit that Douglas endured, as the fake nature of the injury was basically a smear campaign from the Clique to paint him as a quitter, and it wasn’t until later that people realized Shane wasn’t actually lying about it.  Even more hilarious is SHAWN MICHAELS calling someone out for fake injuries.  That being said, it was a stupid gimmick and Douglas was terrible in the role anyway.) As a result, Douglas presented his “graduate student”, Buddy Landell, better known as “The Nature Boy”. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Landell is wearing a suspiciously flowing sequined robe and using music that sounds suspiciously like that used by another blond-haired Nature Boy when he passed through the WWF in 1992. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Ahmed squashes Landell in 30 seconds and finishes with the tiger bomb. DUD And just because I KNOW someone is going to e-mail and ask me why that was supposed to be funny, Shane Douglas hates Ric Flair with a passion and has been known to spend entire 4 hour shoot interviews whining and bitching about him and the treatment he received, and how he was supposed to “pass the torch” to Douglas and then never did. Get it now?  (Poor Buddy, as he was actually supposed to continue on with the company and get a bit of a push out of this, but something like the day after this show he slipped in a parking lot and injured himself so badly that he had to quit the promotion and never came back.  That man could fuck up ANYTHING ever handed to him.) 

- Hogpen match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley v. Henry O. Godwinn.

Okay, it’s time we had that talk again about why the WWF got killed by WCW around this time. See, the Old Ways of doing things were that a wrestler was given a gimmick, and then became defined by that gimmick rather than developing an actual character. In this case, Godwinn is a hog farmer, so his “speciality” is a match where the loser is the one to get dumped into a hogpen. This mentality survives to this day even with Ken Shamrock’s “Lions den match” and Kane’s “Inferno match” and a multitude of others. Back to Goldust for a second: He was one of the first people to be given a gimmick (movie reciting weirdo), and when that didn’t get over he was given a CHARACTER (weirdo in love with Razor Ramon) and THAT’S what got him over. Vince doesn’t learn very fast, unfortunately, so it took him a while to catch on. (That actually sums up 1995 pretty well.  We were bombarded with pirates, clowns, garbage men, fitness gurus, evil dentists, guitar players, grunge rockers, Ultimate fighters, and vaguely defined Caribbean legends, but in the end the only ones the fans cared about were Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.)   To the match: Neither man is over to great degree at this point, because both are boring with no character at this point. HHH is a Greenwich snob, but so what? Aside from heat for his formal bow, people have no reason to care about him. Ditto HOG, who carries a pig with him everywhere. Big deal, so he carries a pig. HOG ties HHH up in the ropes early on and rubs some slop in his face. Oooo, what political satire by the rapier wit of Vince McMahon, as the inbred hillbilly uses his country know-how to teach that fancy-pants Greenwich snob a thing or two. Hey, guess what: That sums up the NEXT THREE YEARS for the WWF. This match was not only a dumb idea, it was a god damned allegory, too, for the Monday Night Wars! Hunter gets understandably pissed off about this and hits a neckbreaker to take over. Then a kneedrop. Can’t forget the knee. Outside, HHH gets rammed into the stairs. They fight to the hogpen, where HHH nearly gets backdropped into the pen, but holds onto the sides and then drops an elbow on HOG from it. Okay, that looked cool. They head back to the ring as Lawler does some redneck humor. Godwinn takes over with power stuff as HHH bumps around. Back out to the hogpen, where Godwinn tries the slop drop but it’s blocked. He whips HHH into the pen, then hits the slop drop properly. HHH staggers to his feet, and Henry makes that same cardinal mistake: He charges with his head down, allowing Hunter to backdrop him up and into the hogpen for the win at 9:04. Surprisingly well-worked gimmick match. **1/2  (No way, this was terrible.  One star, if that.) 

- Diesel v. Owen Hart.

The Rick already covered the Syracuse thing a couple of weeks ago, so I won’t get into it here. Short version: Shawn Michaels got an enzuigiri from Owen on a live RAW and “passed out” in the ring. Diesel was still on good terms with Shawn at that point, so he wants VENGEANCE! Diesel tosses him around to start and clotheslines him to the floor. Back in, Owen hits a leg lariat and missile dropkick, then he works the leg. The ENZUIGIRI OF DOOM gets two. Diesel recovers and hits Snake Eyes and the Bossman rope jump thing. Big boot and jackknife finish…but he picks Owen up at two. The ref objects, so Diesel clobbers him to draw the DQ at 4:35. Well, that was just about the lamest ending possible. *1/2  (To be fair, no one got a pin off a music distraction at least.) 

- In another Ask the Rick moment, Ted Dibiase introduces us to…Xanta Claus! The best thing about the angle is listening to Vince McMahon’s hyperactive reaction to “Santa’s” selling out and how Ted Dibiase is the most evil person on earth because of it. Just the whole surreal nature of pro-wrestling acting like Santa, too, is not just a figment of someone’s imagination. Anyway, Xanta is of course Ballz Mahoney before he was any good.  (Did he get good at some point that I missed?) 

- Casket Match: King Mabel v. The Undertaker.

Mabel hits a quick Bossman slam, no-sold by the Taker. Bellies-to-belly suplex and a big fat legdrop are followed by a splash, and Mo helps drags UT out and into the casket. They conveniently forget to shut the lid and go celebrate, allowing UT to escape, kick righteous ass, and roll Mabel into the casket for the win at 6:11 to end Men on a Mission forever. Sadly, Mabel would return 4 years later as Viscera. I guess it took him that long to figure out how to escape from that casket. 1/2* (The beating delivered to Undertaker seemed to hint at a much more interesting direction for Taker, but then just degenerated into…this.  Really the feud peaked with Taker destroying the Royals at Survivor Series, and they pushed their luck by extending it here.  He should have just killed Mabel and sent him packing in November in that match and been done with it.) 

- WWF World title match: Bret Hart v. British Bulldog.

Mat wrestling to start, as they trade wristlocks. Bret slides in and out of the ring and hits an atomic drop, but Bulldog catches him coming off the ropes with a knee to the midsection and hangs him in the tree of woe. Odd moment as Davey seems to nail Hebner legit on the backswing by accident, and then he HELPS HIM UP?!? What self-respecting heel would do that? (Waylon Mercy?)  Smack him around now, say sorry later. Bulldog counters a crucifix and drops a leg for two. Cornette delivers a Santa-themed racket shot. Lots of resting here. Bret’s corner bump gives Bulldog a two count. Back body drop (or as Vince would say, “BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK bodydrop”) gets two. Bulldog holds a side headlock. Criss-cross leads to a monkey flip and Bret takes over. Bulldog to the Bulldog gets two. Piledriver gets two. Superplex is blocked and Davey bounces Bret crotch-first on the top rope, and the poor guy goes about three feet in the air on the upswing. Ouch. Bret gets tossed to the stairs and blades. Bret and the WWF have since feigned innocence, but it was such an obvious spot, and Bret did the “blading position” for a minute afterwards, and it was to the forehead (really, now, when do you EVER see someone bleed from the FOREHEAD by accident in real life?) so I’m thinking someone was telling a fib here. (Yeah that would be Bret.)  Bret stands up and there’s a HUGE pool of his blood on the mats. Man, that’s just ugly. ECW’s trained seals chant “He’s Hardcore!” right on cue for that one. Back in, Bulldog gets a piledriver for two. Hanging suplex gets two. Military press gets two. Diving headbutt gets two. He goes for a bow-and-arrow, but Bret reverses to the Sharpshooter, and Davey Boy escapes. Bret bails, and comes back in with a quick german suplex for two. The mat is literally covered in Bret’s blood, although the cut is hard to see because the camera is zoomed out. Oh, and Bulldog’s white tights are now pink. Pleasant, huh? Bret backdrops him out and hits a pescado, then tries what I think was going to be a quebrada (!), but gets caught and powerslammed on the floor. Bulldog pulls up the mats, but Bret blocks a suplex and crotches him on the railing. Back in, a superplex gets two for Bret. Bulldog eats foot on a blind charge. Majastral cradle gets the pin for Bret at 21:09. (A young Chris Jericho gave him that finish!)  Well, that was a pretty underwhelming finish. Good match, though. **** I can’t give the bladejob more than 0.3 Muta in good conscience, because the actual cut was small and he wasn’t wearing the crimson mask.

- Oh, to clarify for those who keep asking, the Muta scale refers to the severity of bladejobs that wrestlers do. It’s based on one that the Great Muta did in Japan a few years back against Masa Chono. He ended up with a bloody face, body, and the ring and most of Chono was covered in his blood. The cynical online fanbase was so impressed that they spontaneously decided that from then on, all future bladejobs would be judged against that one, with 1.0 Muta being the maximum and everything else rated below that as need be.

The Bottom Line:

The main event is really good, but it doesn’t save a lacklustre show by any means. (This was the literal definition of a one match show.  Everything else on this show from the opener onwards was wretched.)  This was really the Dead Zone for the WWF, as they tried to rebuild after Kevin Nash wrecked the company (where have we heard THAT one before?) and were just seeing what would get over until Wrestlemania, when Shawn Michaels would be “given the ball” for the first time. But then I’m pretty down on 1995-96 WWF in general, so my apathy to this show is no surprise, really.

Recommendation to avoid.

Comments

  1. I love that main event...even more than the Wembley Stadium match.

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  2. Did Scott and CRZ have a beef at some point?

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  3. "I just want to mention that Smackdown is the greatest wrestling game ever. Seriously. And coming from someone who thought he’d be slavishly devoted to Wrestlemania 2000 forever"

    Why did I even follow you back then? Some opinions are just wrong. WM2000 was a much better game.

    "Also, what the fuck is a Dreamcast?"

    Why am I following you NOW?

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  4. I always thought it was something of an under appreciated classic.

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  5. “We believe in free speech as long as it’s the WWF that’s getting screwed over and not some poor documentary maker” Was this a reference to Beyond The Mat?

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  6. This show contains my all time favorite Ahmed Johnson interview. It in Botchamania 207, I think and it has SUBTITLES!!!

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  7. Fyi. MAbel stayed around til February and then relocated to Memphis wrestling for a while.

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  8. IMO the Muta Scale has long since been replaced by the Guerrero Scale. Hell, Cena's bladejob at Judgement Day the next year was pretty horrific as well.

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  9. Sounds like it to me.

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  10. I love how eagerly Jericho takes credit for one of the lamest main event finishes of the modern era.

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  11. Ahmed was... not a good... talking guy.

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  12. Scott gets the story behind the muta scale wrong? Wha?

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  13. The American InsomniacNovember 18, 2014 at 11:08 AM

    If I'm alone in this, fine, but in 2014, Dustin Rhodes is one of the most over performers in the company, something you probably would not have thought in 2000, or 1995. At least he's one of the most respected.

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  14. Could the documentary line be referring to Beyond the Mat?

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  15. It is. There were rumors of Vince cock-blocking it but then there were more rumors that the original rumors were a work to get more publicity. Or something

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  16. I rented the vhs of this after reading Scott's original rant. Those first few IYH's just had a dead vibe to them. Like televised house shows.

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  17. I'm also surprised Ahmed got so over as a face. Seems like the kind of guy that would scare the hell out of white people.

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  18. Extant1979 - Mr. Cable AccessNovember 18, 2014 at 11:21 AM

    That was my first guess.

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  19. I cheered because I was scared.

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  20. Extant1979 - Mr. Cable AccessNovember 18, 2014 at 11:23 AM

    A lot of us did.

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  21. You're referring to Beyond The Mat

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  22. I'm a little confused of the tag title scene- the Smokin' Gunns successfully defended against the Body Donnas at the Rumble, but then the Donnas beat the Godwins for the (held up?) tag titles at Mania. Was there a Gunn injury? Contract dispute?

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  23. What I remember about this PPV...I had tickets but didn't go for whatever reason. My friend went and he said his seats were so high that you could see beyond the entrance curtain and he watched Mabel and Taker chatting with each other right after walking thru.

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  24. Also Black, Asian, Latino - we were all united in fear of this guy who could probably push off a battleship.

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  25. Where Douglas fucked up was openly complaining about the injury to everyone with two ears and being called out and embarrassed by Yoko in front of everyone about the whole thing

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  26. Pearl River Plunge was a badass finisher tho, especially in 95 where a pump-handle sit down powerbomb wasent all over television

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  27. Shane was in the worst spot ... not part of the Clique but not part of UT/Yoko's crew either

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  28. I love that Bret-Bulldog match. Like it way better than their Summerslam 92 match.

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  29. As a young fan in 1995, this show just fell flat for me. I liked the main event (which they proceeded to air on RAW a week or two after the pay-per-view for ratings) but the rest was not needed. You know the show was bad when Coliseum Video just meshed the highlight matches from this with IYH 4 and sold it as "Winter Combat' or something like that.

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  30. I believe that was on a Euro tour with Trips having to do double duty.

    "Motherfucker we're all injured."

    In all fairness Yoko did 87% his is harm to himself.

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  31. Agreed. I feel SummerSlam '92 is overrated.

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  32. Ahmed was Goldberg before there was Goldberg. The man was intense and was booked as such as badass that people gravitated to him. He was my favorite wrestler during this period. It's unfortunate he could never work safely with guys, though, because he should've been the first black world champion.

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  33. Pretty steep fall from doing the SummerSlam main event to working for $20 in Memphis.

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  34. Agreed. I think WM 2000 was more fun than No Mercy. No Mercy had more modes, but I had more fun with WM 2000.

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  35. This was brought up in the Teddy Long shoot but Big V could talk. He could also chomp down Viagra and stare at his junk for hours. Truly a complicated man.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrYB-m4H57M

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  36. "It’s based on one that the Great Muta did in Japan a few years back against Masa Chono."

    The Match with the infamous gig was against Hiroshi Hase, not Chono.

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  37. Or Bret's crew. I'm thoroughly amazed that Steve Austin emerged from that landfill as a star.

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  38. Yup that was it. Euro tour.

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  39. My favorite Buddy Landell story is when he rear-ended another wrestling while driving in Memphis because he looked into the rearview mirror to check his hair.

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  40. With a big mouth and inflated sense of importance.

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  41. Well a big DUH on 2000 Scott. Yikes.

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  42. I had a WWF Magazine that listed the Gunns vs Kid/Sid at the Rumble. It was changed to the Bodydonna's and then Billy got hurt afterwards resulting in the tournament that ended at Wreatlemania. He was out until May, I believe.

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  43. But there were 80,000 fans there, and Bulldog was passed out for the entire match, so you gotta factor those two things in.

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  44. Yeah, that was my thought on the "free speech" remark.

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  45. Virgil's Gimmick TableNovember 18, 2014 at 12:04 PM

    He's the Mr. Magoo of wrestling.

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  46. It's also pretty sad that in 2014, Dustin Rhodes is one of the most over performers in the company.

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  47. Virgil's Gimmick TableNovember 18, 2014 at 12:05 PM

    That's because Austin got along with all of them.

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  48. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 18, 2014 at 12:06 PM

    Much, much better AI for starters.

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  49. I thought that was Butch Reed?

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  50. Sure, but he didn't need to be. Injuries derailed him, but for anyone watching at the time he was getting pretty over. If they gave him some semblance of the Goldberg treatment (e.g unstoppable monster) he would've been very successful I think.

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  51. They can all take a back seat to NES pro wrestling (Starman especially) and like it.

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  52. My dad and I still laugh to this day at a Razor Ramon line in a promo on RAW directed at Goldust "You think I'm sexy...you think I'm hot...well...you right!" (Has to be said aloud in the full on Razor voice)

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  53. I remember that. It was awesome. HIs timing is awesome with it too (much like his WCW debut promo)

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  54. He was making more than $20 I bet.


    Not a lot more, granted, but more.

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  55. Do you though? I don't agree with that line of thinking - degree of difficulty shouldn't matter. For instance, some people don't like matches where guys practice in full before hand (I've heard this about Savage-Steamboat and Warrior-Hogan). But why? If the end product is good, why would the viewer care?

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  56. Crikey Mate Down Under AussieNovember 18, 2014 at 12:35 PM

    I wouldn't say the Muta scale has been replaced, it's a classic measurement that all bladejobs can easily be compared to. Cena and Guerrero just come in at 1.1 or 1.2 Muta.

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  57. Given how far behind the pop-culture times Vince usually is, I'm surprised he didn't hire Barbara Billingsley to manage/translate for him.

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  58. I gotta think that if Shawn didn't throw a tantrum and if he didn't get hurt by FaRon, he would've beaten Vader for the title on RAW the night after SummerSlam. Dude was major major over.

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  59. The feud and subsequent IC title match against Goldust was wildly interesting.

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  60. Meltzer has this at ****3/4...mite need a rewatch

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  61. I was about to say ... all the shoots I've watched from that era say Austin was a guy everyone respected and loved working with.

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  62. something kinda sad about that fat ass criticizing anyone.

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  63. Foley said Vince was pissed about it and refused to promote it after saying he would. It is in either his first or 2nd book.

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  64. He was a young guy in the business and he gave Bret friggin Hart the finish to his WWF PPV main event.

    I'd brag to the end of days if I suggested a finish for a main event(even if it was the Bray-hologram thing)

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  65. If the WWE and World titles hadn't been consolidated, I feel like we really could have gotten a great "old dog, new tricks" storyline of Dustin going after the Smackdown title.

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  66. That's more of a compliment to how dedicated Dustin became in his performances. Fans don't care for just anyone. It's WWE that refuses to listen when they do.

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  67. It's just as much a reflection of how WWE hasn't been able to get many new faces over in the last few years.


    Let's not make it out like the roof blows off the building every time Goldust shows up.

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  68. "Ahmed was Goldberg before there was Goldberg"


    EASILY. Dude was amazing.

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  69. It's so true. Dude was doing planchas and slamming Yokozuna...he was awesome.

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  70. Does anyone else remember them showing some of the matches from this show on Superstars a week or two later? I definitely remember seeing the casket match being shown.

    I always took it as a bad sign that they were showing parts of this show for free. I mean could you imagine them giving away PPV matches for free today?

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  71. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 18, 2014 at 2:44 PM

    Yeah, at least as far as WWf/E shows goes. I bet some of the later WCW shows did worse, and I'm sure this show did better than the last few TNA PPVs combined.

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  72. I agree. Lauding Bret's individual performance given the circumstances is one thing. But I don't think the circumstances should make one consider it a 5-star match when they would have otherwise considered the exact same match, say, a 4-star match.
    Now, I'd have to watch it again to know if I would say this specific match is overrated for those reasons, but I agree with your point.

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  73. Gunther the Nasty LoserNovember 18, 2014 at 2:48 PM

    " Also, what the fuck is a Dreamcast?"

    It's thinking

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  74. Gunther the Nasty LoserNovember 18, 2014 at 2:50 PM

    I always thought the hog pen match was decent

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  75. Gunther the Nasty LoserNovember 18, 2014 at 2:51 PM

    Where's Magoonie?

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  76. "- Your hosts are Vince “We believe in free speech as long as it’s the WWF that’s getting screwed over and not some poor documentary maker” McMahon and Jerry Lawler. (No idea what I was referencing there.)"
    I think that was a reference to Barry Blaustein, who was doing that wrestling documentary around this time where he talked to Mick Foley, Terry Funk & Jake Roberts, and the WWF promised him all this advertising and behind-the-scenes stuff, only to turn their backs on it because it "gave a negative impression of the business", fucking him out of a lot of hype.

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  77. Well, don't feel bad if you didn't order the PPV and missed the amazing main event... because they gave it away free on RAW a few weeks later anyway (in black and white).

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  78. Gunther the Nasty LoserNovember 18, 2014 at 2:53 PM

    HEY GUYS

    I think Scott was referring to Beyond the Mat.

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  79. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 18, 2014 at 2:54 PM

    Me too, though I haven't seen it in a LONG time.

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  80. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 18, 2014 at 2:55 PM

    That thing that people played Crazy Taxi on before GTAIII came out.

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  81. He should get a HOF induction just for that accomplishment.

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  82. No, it has to be something else.

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  83. I've been wanting to play GTAIII again recently. I now regret my old habit of trading in older games to save a few bucks; I wish I had them all back. I started walking to this comic book/used game store downtown to specifically buy it not long ago, but saw my friends at a bar and went there instead.

    Also, the Dreamcast is my favorite console I never actually owned.

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  84. Even the most frightening person becomes awesome if they only target bad guys. It was part of why fans still loved Demolition & the Hart Foundation, even though they cheated as babyfaces.

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  85. I think they did that in the UK. We didn't get the In Your House shows in full until 1997.

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  86. Ahmed was before my time, but looking back on him, I don't see it. Yeah, he had a pretty good intense charisma to him and did some impressive power stuff. I'd say that and a cup of coffee makes him Ryback before there was Ryback, as fans weren't yet jaded and snarky enough to have that kind of lukewarm reaction to such a character.

    What set Goldberg apart from other one- or two-dimensional power guys who couldn't really work was the fluidity and suddenness he did his moves with. It looked like a real MMA guy working over some tomato can. Ahmed was certainly a better athlete than Ryback, but mostly moved with that same kind of stilted, stiff nature.

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  87. Yoko? I never heard that before. What's the story?

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  88. That's shocking, I would have thought a rematch of the greatest match of all time would have broken records.

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  89. What set Goldberg apart and got him over was his intensity and charisma. The MMA moves were just an added bonus.

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  90. Vince Russo says all the Japanese look alike, so no worries.

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  91. And Warrior was Ahmed before there was Ahmed. Did anyone come before Warrior? I want to say Hogan, but Hogan seems different.

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  92. What's the best fifth show of any PPV Series? Wrestlemania V sucked, Summerslam 92 was disappointing, IYH5 sucked. I am drawing a blank here.

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  93. He was over enough to be champion, but I think Vince woud have waited until WM13 to put the belt on him. Putting the the title on Ahmed on a nothing show would have been putting money on the table and Scott knows all about that.

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  94. Hold that 10 for Johnny B. BadNovember 18, 2014 at 3:32 PM

    My favorite Ahmed interview quirk was how he couldn't seem to call Michael Hayes by his correct stage name ("Doc Hendrix") on camera. International Incident is a good ppv example of it. "Listen Mike!i-mean-doc."

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  95. Billy was injured so the Gunns were stripped.

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  96. I guess that would fit, but I don't think anyone called Warrior a Road Warriors rip off mainly because they still had Demolition on their roster.

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  97. Maybe he did have a bit more of the intensity and charisma than guys like Ryback and Ahmed. But I still submit he didn't necessarily have it more than other guys cut from that cloth, and that the fans were eating it up more because the way he moved in the ring was so far above and beyond what they did.

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  98. To be fair, it was a cheap B-PPV. You basically only needed one great match (which IYH5 delivered) to be a thumbs up show.

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  99. The Champion is you

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  100. What was Eddie Guerrero's Judgment Day blade job on the Muta Scale. 1.2?

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  101. GAB didn't start as a PPV until 1988.

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  102. I wouldn't argue too much against that. Summerslam 92 was a better match, imo, but IYH5 is easier to watch on the rewatchability scale mainly because Bulldog had a more defined character at that point as opposed to 92, where he just played a bland babyface.

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  103. Royal Rumble 1992?

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  104. I got the documentary reference, not the VKM is for free speech ref.

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  105. Austin didn't get along with the Kliq at the time. Austin only became friends with Shawn after Austin retired. And while Austin didn't have his own Kliq to back him up, he did have Jim Ross championing him.

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  106. In 1995 he probably didn't get much more than a $20 for the summerslam main event.

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  107. Royal Rumble was not a PPV until 1989. So fifth is 1993.

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  108. I liked GAB 1992 a lot, but i like tag team wrestling. So that gets my vote, without putting any thought into it

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  109. That's true, the backflip he use to do was always awesome.

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  110. If we are just going by PPV, that is ghe 4th

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  111. Ah fuck it! Oh well. Zanatude is right.

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  112. I have a soft spot and sort of love this PPV along with IYH4 and Bunkhouse Stampede... so bad it's beautiful

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  113. Austin and Nash were definitely tight at the time, but Big D was on his way out anyways.

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  114. Survivor Series 91 has Hogan losing... that's always a thumbs up from me

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  115. I remember they showed IYH: It's Time on Sky1 on Boxing Day. They heavily censored the Taker/Executioner match, but it was a great time to be a fan :P

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  116. Further to this, I think Vince has acknowledged that he largely brought in Austin in the first place because he could make almost anyone look good in the ring. As far as I can tell, wrestlers tend to rate the people who make them look best in matches, so I can imagine pre-injury Austin was a popular guy with the boys. Interesting that his originally intended status as enhancement talent could well have inadvertently helped his ascent backstage.

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  117. If they had booked Bret & Bulldog to be world beaters, it would have done better business.

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  118. To be fair, Dok Hendrix is a stupid name and Michael PS Hayes is a great name.

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  119. I just realised something. Billy was injured in the beginning of 1995 which resulted them being out of the tournament (though I think the injury was fake), Billy was injured again in the beginning of 96, and in kayfabe he was injured again by the beginning of 1997 when Bart broke his neck. The guy must have had some wild New Years Eve parties to always come out hurt.

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  120. I'm pretty sure had Jericho's career had not panned out the way it did, he'd still be bragging about it at his local bar in order to score free drinks of people.

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  121. Nobody bought Bulldog as a top guy by this point. Also, great matches don't always = ratings/buyrates.

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  122. I want to say the D-X PPV did around the same numbers as this one.

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  123. Adam "Colorado" CurryNovember 18, 2014 at 4:24 PM

    IYH did pretty bad too.

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  124. Because when WWF was rallying in 98-00, the big push was about how fans had freedom of speech and could bring signs saying whatever, etc, etc.

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  125. It was Raw over a couple weeks towards the end of the year. They definitely showed Bret/Bulldog and I think a couple others.

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  126. That was the first one on PPV, so it'd be Starrcade 1991.

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  127. That's right, the CCTV thing. I liked Starrcade 1991, but I know a lot of people don't like the Battlebowl concept.

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  128. There were two No Mercy PPV in 1999, 2000 was 3rd, 2001 was 4th so that would make 2002 the 5th No Mercy and that's a great show. BOOM. You just got Vandelayed.

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  129. Halloween Havoc 1993? Slamboree 1997?


    TJ: There's an entry for "WWE Purchase" on TNA's wiki page, as a currently empty subtopic. Someone's optimistic... :)

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  130. UK PPV so I counted it towards my tally.

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  131. yeah and the years before that were just tours nor one time shows

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  132. The fifth Vengeance PPV was in 2005 and that was arguably WWE's best show that year with Batista-Hunter HIAC and Shawn/Angle 2.

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  133. If No Way Out of Texas doesn't count as the first No Way Out then No Way Out 2004 had Guerrero's title win and Cena tapping out.

    The 5th Unforgiven and No Mercy's in 2002 was pretty good too.

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  134. Atleast a 1.0 I think anytime you tap an artery that well (Eddie, Orton at New Years Revolution, Cena at Judgement Day 05) you earn the full monty

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  135. Eddie needed a blood transfusion after that. That's crazy.

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  136. Virgil's Gimmick TableNovember 18, 2014 at 7:42 PM

    Actually Austin did get along with most of the Kliq. Nash and Hall were friendly with him since the WCW days and Waltman liked him from what I gather. And be didn't have any animosity with Shawn and Triple H for a long time from what I've heard.

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  137. Yeah Austin has talked about traveling with Nash especially when they were in WCW together in the early 90s. He was also tight with Foley, who came in later.

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  138. Respect for the dead, bro.


    Pancake platters.

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  139. That's who it was...he rear-ended Butch Reed and got fined like $2000 for it as the story goes.

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  140. Rant was done in 2000, so it's right timeframe.

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  141. Well that doesn't matter cause the plunge is actually a double undertook sit out powerbomb. Any idiot knows that.

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  142. I need a Japan-to-US conversion scale. How many Austins (the famous WM13 "blood from a stone" cut) to a Muta?

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  143. IYH 4 & 5 were so bad, they were never released on video. I had an old Coliseum Video that was a couple matches from each show put together. Called Winter Combat I think? Anyway, I loved that tape because of the Bulldog/Bret match.

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  144. Summerslam 91 disappointing?


    Surely you jest.

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  145. For sure -- by the end of 1995, the PPV universe was closing in on about 29.5 million homes -- so about 88,500 buys for IYH 5. WCW Greed did rougly 43,000 buys in a 42 million home universe.

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  146. I think they raised the price starting with this one actually, $19.95 instead of the usual $14.95.

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  147. 2000 Scott: Me So Solly! Me flappy the dickie wrong time!

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  148. I own nearly every European Dreamcast release and a few US or Japan-only titles. It's my favourite console that I've actually owned. The games are still great fun today if you've got someone to play local multiplayer games with.

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  149. I still cling to my dream of him challenging Brock Lesnar and being almost murdered by him. I think it would do wonders for him, Brock and Cody.

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  150. Now if you cheer for the wrong person you get ejected for being a trouble-maker. It's a slippery slope from freedom for all to despotism.


    WWE: mirroring the rise and fall of America since 1997.

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  151. Summerslam 1991 was both a terrific show and only the fourth Summerslam.

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  152. I LOVE that Bret-Bulldog match. One of my favorite matches from 1995.

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  153. Bingo! JR's Ross Report spent 70% of its space mocking WCW for "trying to tell its fans what to think," whereas the WWF embraced the public's right to support or oppose whoever it wished.

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  154. I understand both views. At the end of the day, I tend to give more weight to what the two guys (or girls) in the ring do, because they shouldn't be punished for the failures of the announcers/bookers/whatever.

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  155. Every time Nash tells a story about that time, he attributes "Motherfucker" as the first word from whoever "wins" the argument. "Motherfucker, not everything is about you!" etc.

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  156. Everyone in the WWF back then had those. Except maybe Taker, I guess.

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  157. He and Shawn did not get along as things progressed, especially in 97 and 98. Austin and Bret were much tighter.


    All three had professional respect for one another, of course. Just not personal.

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  158. Man, I tried to watch that match recently and it was super boring. And I loved Ahmed.

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  159. Ahmed was so cool -- planchas over the railing, powerbombs, spinwheel kicks. Mind blowing stuff at the time.

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  160. I have my doubts Vince would put the main title on someone who looks like Ahmed. Maybe I'm too cynical. But I have my doubts.

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  161. People here can say what they want negatively about the Attitude Era, but one thing is clear -- crowds were WAY more into the shows back then. Today, everyone sits politely unless something incredibly shocking happens or they get a classic match. Back then, people were standing and yelling during curtain-jerking matches from people like D-Lo. Does anyone on today's roster (outside Bryan) get pops even as consistent as, say, the APA's during the Attitude Era?

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  162. It's not that bad of a finish.

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  163. Undertaker on hard mode. I still have nightmares about it.

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  164. That's the thing: I don't consider it "punishing" them, because they aren't the only ones responsible for the outcome. Sometimes actors give great performances in bad movies, y'know? Refs (both as performers and in their actual role in helping with in-ring direction), announcers and definitely crowds can make a match better, too. Goes both ways.

    Don't get me wrong, though: the in-ring action, I'd say, is the vast majority of the equation. But the other stuff plays its part.

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  165. How the fuck anyone could think Smackdown's animations, especially early Smackdown games, looked better than the AKI games is mindblowing. The animations in WM2000 and No Mercy fit perfectly between realistic and impactful. Moves like the stalling Piledriver, the DDT where the opponent lands sideways and the Hangman's Neckbreaker still give me a chubby to this day.

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  166. Wrestlemania V is my personal favorite, or at least most watched, Wrestlemania so I must recuse myself. A neighbor had got it and taped it to give us a copy so it was likely the first PPV I saw same day as the event.

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  167. You're a little unfair to the SmackDown game series. Really, play any game from Here Comes the Pain or later, and then play either of the first two. They don't even feel like the same series.

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