Scott- Not sure if you've seen this:
It's an almanac for NJPW from 2014...it's pretty through and well written (a bit generous ratings wise). It's also free and a good primer on NJPW today. Check it out...
More importantly, how good was that first episode of NJPW on AXS? Mauro Renallo is a BEAST and that was exactly what people wanted out of a New Japan show on US TV, with someone to explain all the backstories and call it like a sport.
Why is this on the blog?!?! It's not even a 1996 WCW REVIEW!!!! GROSS!!
ReplyDeleteIIRC Andre's last appearance on WWF TV was him getting laid out by Earthquake.
ReplyDeleteHe accompanied the Bushwhackers at Summerslam 1991. Also went on a UK tour in late 91 which got a home video release
ReplyDeleteAndre wasn't shown again until he was announced for the Rumble although he was quickly replaced. Remember him making a random appearance one week, getting into it with Jimmy Hart, then getting destroyed by Quake.
ReplyDeleteDear E-Mailer:
ReplyDeleteRegardless of how slow, old and fat he looked, you are not beating up Andre.
I remember it pretty well. He disappeared after Wrestlemania VI in 1990 but tried to make a comeback in 1991. He did some house shows and was shown on TV rejecting the various heel managers in comedic vignettes. I think his last WWF appearance was at Summerslam 1991 where he was at ringside for a match between the Bushwackers and the Natural Disasters. He didn't have any interaction with Hogan during this "good guy" time, which is a bit of a shame. (This is where they really could have used a backstage vignette, but they didn't have them yet.) Andre did continue to wrestle almost to his death outside the WWF though. Really, I think he should have retired after Wrestlemania I, though I loved the heel stuff he did in 1987 and 1988. Unlike the cartoony heels of the time who would overreact to everything, Andre was a minimalist who would underplay everything. He could raise an eyebrow and it would be dramatic.
ReplyDeleteDont waste anything on fake sites. First time I will provide you the Job from your home. No need to Come, You can Visit our Website Where You can Get Complete Training About this
ReplyDelete------------> http://w.atch.me/6WFZiI
E-mailer is drunker than Andre.
ReplyDeleteI'm celebrating MLK Day with my support of the New Day faction.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that it's 10 Am on Monday and I'm still in bed.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, I can't wait Mike Enos' thoughts on how to turn Cena heel!
ReplyDeleteMaybe he can get Gisele to introduce a good model for Wilson to tire him out for the Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteI don't need an alarm because I got 4 that get me up at 6AM daily for our ritual.
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying they paid off the refs.
ReplyDeleteNude, eh?
ReplyDeleteThe second most disrespectful match in history behind HBK-Hogan (sorry, Hogan-HBK) was Hogan-Andre.
ReplyDeleteEverybody ready to switch to Enos Avatars?
ReplyDeleteFuck you.
ReplyDeleteMy company also owes me like 2 weeks off, so I'm pretty liberal about taking whatever non-full days I want right now until they resolve the staffing issues.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that you could tell that a ball was light just by holding it seems insane to me. The balls weren't flat. If anything, they let a tiny bit of air out of them that I would think would be mostly unnoticeable by just holding it.
ReplyDeleteWho does Enos consider A+ players? Find out in a month! THE SUSPENSE WILL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteToday is a great post holiday season day to have off. Most of the time, Christmas & New Year's Day aren't usually relaxing, crash out days.
ReplyDeleteI thought cats were the one that would wake you, not dogs.
ReplyDeleteIf you have today off then I officially hate you since I have to be at work and I'm not even getting holiday pay.
ReplyDeleteThe saddest thing about Andre is there's a generation of casual fans who thought (and still think) that Andre was a useless immobile lump. I did, right up until YouTube became a thing and I saw some of his 70's matches. My friends of similar age to me all think the same. It's a shame.
ReplyDeleteI'm WAY ahead of you!
ReplyDeleteObviously he would have had Cena low-blow Santino then hit Larry the Cable guy with the AA when he hosted RAW a while back. That will piss off the fans!
ReplyDeleteI am at work and do not get holiday pay. My company is racist.
ReplyDeleteI got one cat that is banished to the laundry room because the dogs would kill her if she was loose. She screams and yells all day but I have no other option. So it's not uncommon to hear her meowing at 2AM.
ReplyDelete13.
ReplyDeleteWas that the show where he was shown on those crutches? It was so sad to see him in such bad shape when I first saw that.
ReplyDeletePossibly. Unlikely though.
ReplyDeleteRefs generally will move a ball out of play once they or a QB notices the quality is diminishing. The average game used to use around 12-18 balls depending on weather.
The Super Bowl and other high interest games can use many many more due to players, staff and sponsors wanting game balls. The Super Bowl basically has a new ball on every play.
I'm at work too. Salaried, so no extra pay. I don't hate others who get the day off. I just hate everybody all the time.
ReplyDeleteThat "Savage behind bars" shirt was badass.
ReplyDeleteYeah, there's that too. People suck.
ReplyDeleteI am at work and do not get holiday pay because I live in in the UK, where we don't need a day to remind people not to shoot and kill black people.
ReplyDeleteThat said I am looking forward to Football Riot Thursday, for a nice day off.
How so? Just because Hogan won?
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm off this Thursday too! Where are you rioting?
ReplyDeleteBig fan of both guys, but no hesitation at all voting for Savage.
ReplyDeleteSeriously companies, if there's a holiday that you're going to refuse to let us have off, then you need to pay us.
ReplyDeleteCan I be in it please? The New British Bulldogs just sort of vanished at some point, which is a shame. Is it because I have never ever read Archie comics and don't understand all the stuff about Riverdale?
ReplyDeleteThe Mountie sneaks in from behind and shocks Savage with the cattle prod. Mountie stands over Savage and Bret while Jimmy Hart declares him "The true Champion, baby" over the megaphone
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of rioting here in Coventry, but if you've seen the place recently, I don't think anyone would notice :/
ReplyDeleteI don't follow the current British Sherlock Holmes. I did not know until just know that Martin Freeman played Watson.
ReplyDeleteSo Smaug emoting at Bilbo just received new significance.
I didn't notice at the time but Andre looked horrible during his heel run. I remember Quake hitting Andre in the knee with the megaphone and the heels gently helping him to the ground. He shouldn't have been out there if that's the shape he was in.
ReplyDeleteWhen I added the third dog (who was a year old), my two older dogs mixed it up a few times; once resulting in a 1AM trip to the emergency vet for a bleeding leg. By the time I got the fourth, the older dogs were 13 and not scrapping anymore. But #3 & #4 got into it over McDonalds french fries of all things. You seperate them for a while and it's forgotton.
ReplyDeleteAfter that, John Cena should turn his back on all the Susan B. Komen stuff, he should come out saying, "All this stuff is just crap! It doesn't help anyone! Don't give them money!" and then he tears down the pink ropes.
ReplyDeleteMan, the WWE Universe will HATE him for that! Super heat!
http://botchedspot.com/
ReplyDeleteAndre was awesome; even in 1987, way past his prime, he was an effective heel, because he knew exactly what to do.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the fact that he occasionally busted out stuff like that insane flying splash in Mid-South made me appreciate him a lot more.
My strongest memory of that segment is the horrible clothes Andre was wearing. Those trousers, and that shirt. He looked a 70's wallpaper.
ReplyDeleteWould've been awesome for Andre to come out for the save at Wrestlemania VIII.
ReplyDeleteAndre should've let Hogan squash him. Just very disrespectful.
ReplyDeleteWait until Cena powerbombs Dane Cook, who hosts the go-home show for Fast Lane!
ReplyDeleteHaha yes. Also, him slapping Sherri's fine ass
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with most of this. Persuading Owen to stick with wrestling isn't that bad though. Owen could make his own choice. I know your point there is that Owen also could make his own choice on the stunt that killed him. Which is true but unfortunately he had faith in the stunt and didn't think WWF could possibly be putting him in harm's way. I wish Vince just let Owen leave when Bret did instead of keeping him around to spite the Harts. If released from his contract, Owen likely would have hung them up there instead of going to WCW....and he'd still be alive
ReplyDeleteHis facials and selling are some of the best for a big man. He did everything so right. We were spoiled
ReplyDeleteThat wouldn't have made for a very dramatic main event. Plus the rematch did something like a hundred million TV viewers.
ReplyDeleteThe sight of him sprinting down that mile long aisle would have been something to see.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ey7kj_njpw-on-axs-01_sport
ReplyDelete"And THAT will be my chance to get even!"
ReplyDeleteHe wouldn't have made it down the aIsle in time. The Hoosier dome entry was too long and they didn't have carts. Lol
ReplyDeleteOrdered my Extreme Rules tickets yesterday. Should be a hell of a show. Really looking forward to it. Front row upper deck. I'll be the guy in the nWo shirt.
ReplyDeleteI just went back and watched it. Those clothes were hideous. Also, this would have been a perfect opportunity for Hogan to make the save but since his feud with Quake was done he didn't care
ReplyDeleteYupp. He was scheduled for the 91 Rumble
ReplyDeleteHopefully a bunch of guys get in on that lawsuit and the E has to pay out a couple hundred million. Im ready for this company to go under and for those running it to never get another shot in this business.
ReplyDeleteAt least he could have been IN the rumble...
ReplyDeleteBut what a build-up to the PPV of the year!
ReplyDeleteThe fans cheering Andre on as he tries to walk back to the dressing room is amazing. Then Vince makes the producer go to commercial so as to not further embarrass Andre. This was a very well done segment.
ReplyDeleteOwen had faith and trusted in the advice of first Bret and then the WWE, and if people had just let him do what HE wanted to do (go and become a fireman), instead of living vicariously through him as The Face Of The Harts in Post-Montreal WWF then like you say, yeah, he'd likely still be alive today.
ReplyDeleteI have from today to the end of feb. off. I am lucky.
ReplyDeleteI'm irritated because this is a holiday where most people are still working, but MBTA is running on a Saturday schedule.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of brothers that get into it from time to time, though it's been awhile. And, the husky mix we got last seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order.
ReplyDeleteYeah cause the British aren't just as racist as the rest of the world. Lets ignore African and Indian colonialism.
ReplyDeleteYes let's ignore that! Britains great!
ReplyDeleteThe older dogs are sisters and legit got into it once in all the years I had them where I had to seperate them. When they were younger, they would play rough and get on their hind legs (which you're not suppose to let them do). But one was alpha and the other knew her role.
ReplyDeleteJust there to build infrastructure is all. A little gift to the less well off.
ReplyDeleteHogan did fight Andre's son at Superbrawl 96, so at least this piece wasn't completely valueless. Added a bit of historical context.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Enos and Bloom RF shoot he works as a painter in Tampa.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.enosexecutivepainting.com
AWA would still be in business if only that rude Wayne Bloom didn't interrupt Enos all the time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could spend the day tidying up a bit. You know, make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the booking around that entire angle. Andre wants to make a comeback. Jimmy Hart wants him to be Earthquake's partner. Andre says no, Earthquake takes him out. Tugboat turns on the Bushwhackers in a tag match and he instead becomes Earthquake's partner (second choice, I guess). At Summerslam it's the Bushwhackers vs Earthquake and Tugboat/Typhoon. Logical. Andre in the Bushwhackers corner. Logical again. Perfect match to get the Disasters over as they squash the Bushwhackers - and then they try to attack Andre. LOD make the save, setting up a feud with the Disasters once the win the Tag belts (later that day). Glorious, flowing booking in the mid card. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteAnd now we have big show.
ReplyDeleteFrom the things that need to die category.... adding the suffix "-gate" to any scandal. It's very tiresome.
ReplyDeleteIt was old 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteBut he didn't want to stay in post-Montreal WWF, Vince made him cause his contract wasn't up yet. But Vince could have released him if he wasn't a dick. It didn't have anything to do with anyone "living vicariously through him as the face of the Harts"
ReplyDeleteI work in a 17 floor building. Usually, most of the parking levels are full by 8:30. I get here at 9:30, and every level is a ghost town. We might be the only company in this building at work today. Hooray.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, but I take offence.
ReplyDelete1) African/Indian colonialism was specifically the English, not the British. Although you are discounting all of the other European nations here such as e.g. Belgium. (They were in the Congo. Ask Billy Joel)
2) The English are WAY more racist than the rest of the world. WAY more.
3) It's still nonetheless always a big laugh to poke the over-sensitive, over-protective, over-patriotic bear of America.
Unless I missed it, not one person used the
ReplyDeletephrase “Mountie-gate” over the past week or so, which I think reflects very
well on us all.
Salary is one of the greatest rackets man ever invented.
ReplyDeleteHey, do I look like Fatu to you?
ReplyDeleteI was too young to appreciate 1990-91 Sherri at the time. My appreciation has grown throughout adulthood
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. I just saw "deflate-gate".
ReplyDeleteI guess it depends on the work and 'business needs'. When I worked for a cab company, it was open 365 because drivers had to turn in their cabs and make payments. The job i have now falls under business needs, but we had the option of working on Veterans' Day and will work on Presidents' Day, but today the place is closed. Two of the big bosses are black so I'm thinking that's a factor.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's exactly what it was to do with. Vince wanted Owen to stay because he was treating him as Bret's avatar. Bret saw him basically as the same thing. They both saw Owen as a pawn in their own game. Ergo, they were both living vicariously living through him, as he was now the Face of the Harts in the WWF. Or as you put it, because they were dicks. Which is what I said, but you said it in a less Downton Abbey style.
ReplyDeleteAndre would be proud of how well his son is still doing in the wrestling business, especially in his current Jack and the Beanstalk feud with Roman Reigns
ReplyDeleteThat shit irritates me to no end. And idiots still think it's clever.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt Heenan would have said, "By the time he gets down to the ring, it will be Wrestlemania IX."
ReplyDeleteThen again, maybe he could have started his run in during intermission.
I wonder who will be the next dead wrestler than Hogan buries the hatchet with?
ReplyDeleteHe could have been sleeping under the ring all match, then burst through the canvas. That'd've been a fucking moment.
ReplyDeleteErgo? ERGO? Oh for crying out loud. Why not just say "therefore"? You trying to steal Sandow's old gimmick?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I still kinda disagree. I thought (though I'm not positive) that Owen wanted to retire years before Montreal and Bret talked him out of it. That's not making him an avatar. That's saying to him "you have a job here in wrestling that pays great and isn't as dangerous as fire-fighting" (I know.....cruel irony there). As for post-Montreal, I don't think Vince was using Owen as an avatar, "substitute Bret", or a "face of the Harts." He just kept him to spite him. "Your brother punched me out? Well not YOU'RE gonna pay!" Really, Owen had no place in that attitude era, and visibly didn't want to be there. But Vince kept him to stick it Bret's craw. So I don't think Bret's a dick. Bret gave what seemed like sound advice at the time (If I was Bret, I too would have said "you're gonna give up THIS job to be a FIRE-FIGHTER??"). But because of an unthinkable, unforeseeable accident, that advice turned out to be faulty. Vince on the other hand acted with malice. His whole family was gone from WWF (and disgraced on their way out). Why keep him around?
Reading the SB Nation fan blogs for football teams losing is deliciously funny and depressing all at the same time, mostly because you know ahead of time the feeling that the other fan base is now suffering through. Poor Indianapolis fans must feel like their dog died today.
ReplyDeleteAnd Green Bay. The Packers are all the city has.
ReplyDeleteHas Tommy Dreamer ever done an ECW Timeline shoot? It would likely be the most bullshit-filled 2 hours in pro wrestling history.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens if there's a water scandal?
ReplyDeleteHeh, absolutely. That deal is on a whole different level. Green Bay may not recover for months, and the franchise itself will carry that loss with them for years.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could sit through a timeline of ECW 2001
ReplyDeletewith that guy.
Yesterday erases the memories of 4th & 27.
ReplyDeleteit's sad that Vince McMahon was the one who created an international conglomerate valued at times in the billions, it's almost like he knows what he's doing.
ReplyDeleteDreamer: "You know, I had investors willing to buy ECW for $60 million but Paul wouldn't go for it."
ReplyDeleteAustin: "Right."
I know that's not the exact wording, but I cracked up when Austin seemed just too much in disbelief to bother calling Dreamer out on his bullshit.
So sad infinite sadness
ReplyDeleteIt's so weird that Paul wouldn't go for it. You could've bought ECW and WCW for that amount.
ReplyDeleteI'm still in shock. A horrible special teams botch plus a hail mary 2-pt conversion? It's ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI can't see how their special teams coach keeps his job.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that she was an 'entertainer' of the adult variety at some point. Just in case you wish to Google it for educational purposes...
ReplyDeleteI really overrated the Colts defense. I thought they were turning the corner and would be able to do enough to at least make it a 24-19 game or so, but that was some major exposure. Had Manning been anywhere close to healthy that game last week is completely different.
ReplyDeleteAndre's last good performance was Royal Rumble 1990. He seemed to have a lot of fun there and interacted with a lot of workers.
ReplyDeleteWhy not 'therefore'? Because I thought of a different synonym first.
ReplyDeleteJesus, this is worse than "Why would you vote for The Mountie!"
Tomorrow: "I left the house, placing my left foot onto the step outside." "I always use the right foot you fucker! Be more normal!"
Anyway.
"I thought (though I'm not positive) that Owen wanted to retire years before Montreal and Bret talked him out of it."
This happened on more than one occasion, is my understanding, including after Montreal.
"As for post-Montreal, I don't think Vince was using Owen as an avatar, "substitute Bret", or a "face of the Harts." He just kept him to spite him. "Your brother punched me out? Well now YOU'RE gonna pay!""
That's what I'm saying. I mean, to me, you're contradicting yourself there, in the bit I've just quoted. Which I say not to be a dick but because y'know, FYI. Owen was there to pay for Bret's sins - THEREFORE he was an avatar for Bret, in Vince's eyes.
Also, yeah. I'm sure that Bret was ONLY thinking of himself. Bret's proved himself so spectacularly selfless over the years that I'm entirely certain that he definitely, absolutely was in no way thinking, "Yeah, stick there, that'll stick it to Vince! Hell, you're a HART! The fans will love you no matter what! Stick around and watch Vince choke on the words "New WWF Champion Bre, I mean, OWEN Hart!" Come on Owen, do it for you! Do it for ME!" Sorry, I mean, I'm not sure, I actually think that's pretty much exactly what happened.
Well, that's why it's likely the biggest pile of bullshit ever said in a wrestling interview.
ReplyDeleteConsidering ECW was only about $3 million in debt and had no TV show it makes zero sense that someone would pay twenty times that.
And even though his second son did poorly in the AFC title game, he's still be proud of him too
ReplyDeleteI about spit my drink out at work when he said that.
ReplyDeletePeople were rating them higher than "meh"?
ReplyDeleteEh...I don't think that's what happened. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. But I get what you're saying. For instance, Bret said in his book about the WM14 main-event that the fans would find Stone Cold to be the perfect person to stick it to the man (Shawn) that screwed Bret Hart. As if ANYBODY was thinking that.
ReplyDeleteHe's trying to save it by putting all the blame on Bostick
ReplyDeleteNothing beats going to work on a day when most people do not
ReplyDeleteSorry Bobby... home and getting paid.
ReplyDeleteWho made the decision to put Bostick out there in the first place? The guy is a 4th string tight end. Chances are he is because he has hands of stone.
ReplyDeleteBig ups to the Batman and Robin viewing party last night. It's campy and cheesy and illogical at every turn and goddamn I love it
ReplyDeleteLol...cheating allegations follow these dickheads everywhere, even though this is stupid and probably bullshit.
ReplyDeletehttp://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/12193345/nfl-investigating-whether-new-england-patriots-deflated-footballs-indianapolis-colts
He wasn't even supposed to catch it, he was supposed to block for Nelson. And you can see Jordy right behind him waiting helplessly for a ball to never arrive
ReplyDeleteIt's cool if we disagree, this is The Internet, it's practically expected of us!
ReplyDeleteI'm just pleased you get what I'm saying, even if you don't agree that Bret was using Owen as much really as Vince was using Owen too. Like you said, Bret was just so obsessed with what happened. I find it really hard to believe that it did *not* shape his thinking at that time, unfortunately.
I don't care what people say about Hogan's various embellishments. Nothing comes close to a wrestler saying that he had investors willing to buy a worthless wrestling company for $110 million
ReplyDeleteI've really come to dislike the Patriots in a profound way, because they just reek of classlessness. I'll always hate the teams in my division, but other than that there are few teams that I actively dislike on that same level. There's only three teams that I dislike at that level, and two of the teams on the list (Pittsburgh and Seattle) aren't even because of the teams.
ReplyDeleteThat was me on Christmas Eve
ReplyDeleteLiving in Yinzer country, I can see why non-Steeler fans hate Steeler fans. I hate most of the Steeler fans and I am one.
ReplyDeleteReally or are you being sarcastic? We rag on a lot of what the wwf does historically but this was one I thought they nailed.
ReplyDelete12-year-old Scott was terrified of Andre.
ReplyDelete32-year-old Scott on the other hand would be jamming hot pokers up Andre's ass for how bad the match was.
Andre seemed to be having a blast in that match. I always liked his performance in the Rumbles he was in. 1990 especially.
ReplyDeleteWell you and I are a rare breed here on the internet. Most disagreements on the internet lead to name-calling and bullshit.
ReplyDeleteOne last note on Bret, for all his bitter bullshit over the past decade, I'm happy to see that he finally made peace with the likes of Shawn, Vince, Flair, etc. If he can ever get over Hogan in 1993, I think he'll finally be fully absolved of bitterness.
Renallo did an admirable job of cramming the entire history of professional wrestling into that one match.
ReplyDeleteTerrible. Guy made an executive decision that ultimately cost his team the game. And I don't put the blame solely on Bostrick. There's plenty of that to spread around.
ReplyDeleteI live in a state that is being inundated with northern transplants, especially from Pennsylvania. Before Carolina came into the league, this area was split between Washington Redskins fans and Atlanta Falcons fans. Carolina's arrival drove Atlanta fans away, but people from Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio have inundated us with Steelers fans (a Pittsburgh-Carolina game in Charlotte is almost always a 50/50 split). They're obnoxious about it too, which makes it worse. I respect the franchise immensely, but the transplants rub their history in our face because we're still relatively 'new' in the league.
ReplyDeleteSeattle fans are in that same category, but I hate them the most because of how savagely they and their sports radio hosts mocked us in 2006. Never, ever will forgive or forget their classlessness.
I'm a Pats fine and I thought Brady airing it out on 3rd down on his last drive was a dick move.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, I have a daily thread that I can somewhat participate in.
ReplyDelete....
.....
....
....
.....
Oh well, carry on.
If you're up 16 with four minutes and the game comes down to an onside kick, you can't put it on a special teams guy
ReplyDeleteTommy put Bret Hart to shame on that podcast. Don't forget the story about the Terry Funk match where the whole arena was openly weeping.
ReplyDeleteI HAVE A DREAM...THAT ONE DAY...THE MORNING BoDERS AND THE EVENING BoDERS CAN STAND UNITED IN ONE THREAD...
ReplyDeleteSee, I used to like the Patriots; I even bought a jacket that had their three SB patches on it. I was crushed when they beat the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, but Tedy Bruschi was one of my favorite players in the league for a time. But at some point after they beat Philadelphia in Jacksonville, they started morphing into this dickhead juggernaut that always just soured me. That sour feeling grew over the years, to the point that I actively root against them out of spite. I don't even know if I'll watch the Super Bowl to be honest, that's how much I've grown to detest them.
ReplyDeleteAnd then his coaches totally threw him under the bus.
ReplyDeleteI'm writing in my vote for The Mountie. Who's with me?
ReplyDeleteWhat channel is AXS on on Dish?
ReplyDeleteAnd it's raining. It's a holiday, it's a raining and I'm going to work.
ReplyDeleteBest day ever!
They're all trying to save their skins. Even after the game, they backed up the bus and hit him again
ReplyDeleteWe kind of had the same dream. Except mine had more ninjas.
ReplyDeleteWatching MSG RAW from '97 on the network. Yeah, Bret Hart really doesn't fit into the Attitude era. It's a pretty good show top to bottom and then Bret comes out at the end and just looks and sounds like a relic.
ReplyDeleteThe Packers will not win another Super Bowl with their current coaching staff, McCarthy included.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I know a ton of Pennsylvanians have moved to North Carolina because there's no jobs here.
ReplyDeleteWas 2006 the Delhomme meltdown?
Oh, and Shawn is on so many drugs.
ReplyDeleteHim getting the boot was the catalyst for the turnaround. Nobody saw it coming at the time, though.
ReplyDeleteOh, I normally call people names still :)
ReplyDeleteI dunno. I think until Bad News Allen / Brown returns from the grave to apologise to Bret for how he handled some of their Stampede feud, Bret will never be truly at peace.
Yeah, it's amazing how much it stands out in hindsight, though.
ReplyDeleteBret could of played a grumpy old man role like Bob Backlund did. It wasn't like Bret didn't have massive heel heat.
ReplyDeleteThey've been happening in RRs since the beginning of time.
ReplyDeleteEven though he was limited Andre did some cool shit in that heel run. The start to the Duggan program was tremendous. The stuff with Jake Roberts. The Rumbles. You wish all those things happened when he was ten years younger so he could go a little more but the guy was a hell of a performer.
ReplyDeleteTJ: Mark Schultz went on a Twitter rant a week or two back about how much he hated his portrayal in Foxcatcher despite previously praising the film. He's gone back to praising the film and said his negative comments were because he was "temporarily insane": http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/19/mark-schultz-angry-outburst-foxcatcher-director-bennett-miller
ReplyDeleteLooks like Kurt Angle isn't the only Olympic gold medalist wrestler who has a tendency of going temporarily insane on Twitter.
The wheelchair interview?
ReplyDeleteI think him leaving also helped the Era fully begin. If Shawn is still around, a bunch of other guys like Rock, Foley and HHH probably don't get pushed to the next level.
ReplyDeleteNah, 2006 was the injury game. We went into the NFC Championship on the road after two straight playoff road games in Seattle without our #2 receiver, no tight ends and our fourth-string running back (our top two running backs were hurt, and our third string guy got hurt in the 1st quarter). We were forced to use our fullback as our halfback and wound up losing by ten I think.
ReplyDeleteNow I never liked Matt Hasselbeck (he's affectionately 'Matt Hasselbitch to me, now and always'), but Seattle as a franchise was innocuous enough not to dislike or hate. But before the game, there was a huge stink in Charlotte because Seattle sports radio hosts went on their shows and kept calling Panther fans redneck, inbred hicks and trolled the fuck out our fanbase after the game. Not even Falcons, Bucs or Saints fans got as mean-spirited or douche-y as Seattle fans did in 2006.
That's right. People only have tears in their eyes for Bret matches. They don't openly weep.
ReplyDeleteIt was somewhat cheap. It's built around the whole Canada/America thing. I would argue Shawn, HHH, and Chyna had much more legit heat. And damn, Rock had so much heat even though he was nowhere near the main event picture.
ReplyDeletePillman was pretty hated with the Goldust/Marlena angle. Owen was always hated as a slimy, weasely heel.
Bret really just had Canada.
No, Austin stuns McMahon episode
ReplyDeleteThat movie was not good. Very boring, and Carrell's "amazing" performance was one-note.
ReplyDeleteProbably true, they were letting him do whatever he wanted, he would have sabotaged Austin.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, the Steelers put them down lol.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah that game rings a bell now.
It was tough because even though the Canada/America thing gave Bret a lot of heat, I think, deep down, American fans didn't really want to boo him.
ReplyDeleteWhen a well-respected wrestler gets to a certain point, it's hard for the audience to hate him.
I rooted hard for PIttsburgh to win that game. Like I said, the franchise as a whole is wholly respectable, and I like the way the Rooney family operates. It's just some knuckleheads down south a ways who remind Panthers fans that their team doesn't belong in the league.
ReplyDeleteYou probably just haven't seen him live. I heard you really need to in order to appreciate how large he his. He has big hands you know
ReplyDeleteIm not into nationalism. Leopold was a dick. The Kaiser was a dick. The Dutch and the French had their share of assholes. The Americans, the Japanese, the Arabs, even the Canadians are assholes . And its not like the people of Africa were so great to each other before , they were assholes too. We are all alike in that way. People just like being mean to each other. Its the entire worlds favorite past time.
ReplyDeleteI have seen him live! From my seats, he looked tiny!
ReplyDeleteRenallo killed it as he usually does on commentary, the guy is just an absolute machine when doing Boxing and MMA, and now wrestling. Josh Barnett on the other hand was horrendous, he barely added anything and sounded very uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't help that Shawn was booked the way he was. He was simultaneously running as a heel against Taker and a face against Hart. It was weird and confusing.
ReplyDeleteThe Rooneys are a bunch of money grubbing pricks just like the rest of the owners.
ReplyDeleteAndre's face turn involved a one-off interview on the "live audience" Prime Time Wrestling show the night after Mania 6 - probably pretaped in advance. He came back to sell a possible feud with Heenan and Quake between 1990 and 1991 - but his failing health and being crippled from his disease kept his appearance down to managerial guest spots and one more Prime Time spot.
ReplyDeleteAndre still looked imposing - even as sick as he was - but where I thought he was still mobile (at least) in 1989 -- he couldn't really fake it anymore by 1991. I think there may also been rumors of a Rumble return in 91 - but nothing came if it.
In 1992, Andre shockingly showed up on WCW TV for a clash special. As a Mark kid, I almost excepted to see Andre join WCW and was shocked by his death in 1993 before knowing the grissly truth of his condition.
But his face run was more or less a hero goodbye. Andre never did a on screen peace thing with Hogan. He did confirm himself a face several times in his guest spots -- attacking Heenan and selling a injury from Quake, which was to explain Andre's legit use for crutches. Andre continued to wrestle in six man tags in Mexico and Japan - but he never returned as a active wrestler after Wrestlemania 6.
By then, I was so bored of Shawn (and to a lesser extent, Bret). He'd been in the main event as face, heel, 'tweener and although the matches were fantastic, it was a godsend that Austin and the new crew took over when they did.
ReplyDeleteIf only today's regime could understand that. Instead we get Cena, Orton and countless authority factions.
Enh. It's hard to judge owners. The guy who owns my team has no facial expressions, and looks like a human-bulldog hybrid.
ReplyDeleteThere's a really strong parallel. Cena in a lot of ways is the Bret of this era. He's a safety blanket Vince refuses to let go of, and it's stifling the growth of anyone new. In some ways Cena taking time off or disappearing for a while would be good as it'd really force a lot of these guys down the roster to sink or swim. That's really what happened with Austin, Foley, Rock, HHH (Trips to a lesser extent, he was buddies with HBK which I'm sure yielded influence in terms of his spot, but he also did work his ass off).
ReplyDeleteIf you look at Mid '97, Vince is still trying to push people like Ahmed Johnson, Faarooq, LOD. It really took the aforementioned group of guys having the opportunity and just taking it away from the guys Vince would have probably leaned if the crowd didn't make the decision for him.
I mean, christ, Vince is trotting The Patriot out there in a semi prominent feud at one point.
where's dock muraco to jerk off to this?
ReplyDelete"Cause the wheelchair interview episode made him look like a relic too.
ReplyDeleteAgree.
ReplyDeleteI find it incredibly easy to judge the owners. They fucking fleeced the taxpayers of that city and state. Every sports league should be on the Green Bay model if they want money for stadiums. Its your team you build it. Or its our team and we'll build it.
ReplyDeleteThe only Super Bowl match up shittier than New England-Seattle would be Dallas-New England, or something really atrocious and no-name like Tennessee vs. Tampa Bay.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this one he kind of stumbles from a mundane shouting promo about Taker and HBK and wrestles Goldust in a match that kind of looks like it's from two years ago (On this same card, HHH and Cactus Jack have a brawl that's pretty insane and then Bret comes out after it just further highlighting the difference between where the product was going and where Bret was).
ReplyDeleteBret flips off the crowd during the match and it just looked awkward.
I was wondering what the fuck the colts did to him.
ReplyDeleteYou said this yesterday.
ReplyDeleteWatching 96 year old Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer in a match would probably make me weep too, but for entirely different reasons.
ReplyDeleteI will say this every day to mourn and lament a worthless Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just to piss you off. But because I care about you.
It's only a holiday for teachers and government workers. It seems that way to me, anyway. I don't know anyone who has the day off.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'd argue that Carolina vs anyone else in the Super Bowl would be worse, but that's a problem we will never have to worry about.
ReplyDeleteFor an exact parallel with Cena, imagine Bret still on top in the WWE in 2004. No Austin era, no Rock era, no HHH era, just Bret doing the same catchphrases with the same character all the way from 1993 to 2004. Would've sucked.
ReplyDeleteDunno; we beat the Cowboys the year we went to the Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteAs I said yesterday.
ReplyDeleteBostick is driving the blame bus, but about 3/4 of the team is on it, as well as a few coaches.