https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BbY43YbCIAAqD2D.jpg
WWE announced this event today for January in Las Vegas. Has to be to unveil the network, right? I saved the image in case they take it off Twitter for whatever reason and you want to host it. Thought you may want it for a blog post.
Yeah, it's the network. People have pretty much pieced together all the details at this point, although they're still trying to hide it before the big reveal for whatever reason.
PBS?
ReplyDeleteBooker!
ReplyDeleteMy MITB is the still the first one, because I was there =P A couple of other reasons, too; because it was a new thing, it felt like the spots were more natural than some of the more blatant set-ups we have now. Six guys is also the sweet spot for this match; I hate the 8-10 variants because it just feels too clusterfucky, and the premise of the match was pretty fresh at the time: a world title shot at any time felt like HUGE stakes and you could make a case for all six guys having a legit shot at it (this was back when Shelton still felt like he was on the cusp of stardom). Multi-man matches like this get better the more guys you feel like they have a shot; otherwise, you have matches like the first Elimination Chamber where you're just waiting for everyone to get eliminated because it was so blatantly telegraphed that it was gonna come down to HHH and HBK.
ReplyDeleteI like the first one as well. As you said, it felt like a huge deal.
ReplyDeleteBut the Jeff Hardy spot in this match...Just some insane shit.
Oh for sure. The creativity usually goes through the roof with these, which is why MITB are usually pretty damn fun.
ReplyDeleteI wish I was old enough to have been able to be an internet wrestling fan in the very early 90's. I imagine it would have been a ton of fun to have been apart of the community when it was in its infancy.
ReplyDeletePlus with all the tape trading of a lot of the up and comers like Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero, a thriving Japan, makes me nostalgic for something I wasn't even involved in.
Not enough dancing.
ReplyDeleteThis was the first match I ever watched on DVD and to this day it is one of my favorite MITB matches.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Alberto Del Rio has not been nominated Worst Babyface yet is appalling.
ReplyDeleteKennedy won!? Judging by the teaser about not amounting to shit, I figured it was Swagger's year. That was probably 24.
ReplyDeleteTheir just pleasing viewers like you?
ReplyDeleteWho's going to try and rsvp for this with the email listed in the image?
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure that many of my interests translate well onto the comics page, but okie doke:
ReplyDeletePersonal finance, home improvement, gardening, cooking, travel, pushups, and ass.
I'm interested in history in a big picture kind of way, less so about intricate details (ie the migration of peoples, yes; analysis of the consequences of the Treaty of Lubeck on Denmark, no)
I do a bit of computer programming just for fun, but not with any modern or relevant languages (mostly just VB these days 'cuz that's what I have access to and I can tinker with it on the clock at work.) I'm more interested in the logic rather than in any sort of finished product. I have sold a few things.
I like beer. Not just for the buzz, although that's a nice side effect. I like to try different kinds. I honeymooned in Belgium to visit the trappist breweries and I've been to Delerium Café which purports to have the most beers available in the world under one roof. I haven't cross checked that yet, but I am working on it. I've yet brew my own, but will one day when I have the time.
Conan O'Brien makes me laugh. Letterman used to, but not so much any longer. I dig a fair bit of standup too, although I couldn't tell you that I follow any particular comedian.
Movies that I DO like would be Groundhog Day, Cool Hand Luke, Boyz in the Hood, and Oh Brother Where Art Thou.
I've never been into team sports much other than hockey but my wife doesn't like it on, and I'm not SO attached, so I've seen only a handful of games in 8 years. I'll go to a few baseball games a year, but don't watch it on TV or follow it. Football and basketball are pretty much entirely foreign to me, I couldn't even tell you most of the rules for either. For athletic type stuff I've always liked cycling and hiking, and been off an on with jogging and weights.
I haven't read fiction in years, so I couldn't tell you what I like to read. I'm thinking of taking some economics courses since work will pay for that, and so I'll probably be reading a lot about economics if I follow through. For the past few years I've been reading about personal finance, insurance, and risk management. All a little dry.
I have a 14 month old boy and I am really, really excited to build Legos with him. We may also build a train set. We may build a LEGO train set if such a thing exists.
So, what have you got for me Piers? Are there any good comics about risk management? Maybe you should just tell me what YOU like?
Cool!
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing this is outside of a gym. Likely 1998.
Kennedy was the biggest thing in whole of wrestling late 06 - early 07. he could have amounted something more than shit if Benoit didn't go insane. You better watch your fucking mouth Tprincess. you fucking bitch.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that's the British Bulldog and not Triple H.
ReplyDeleteSwagger's year was 2010.
ReplyDeleteSteve Austin looks pretty jacked there. Almost didn't recognize him.
ReplyDeleteHey now, although I enjoyed Kennedy when he was around I can understand why Tprincess and others think of him the way that they do. Kennedy was injury prone and every time he would get momentum, an injury would stop his progress. The Money In The Bank was one of those reasons among others. Eventually he was taken off of TV altogether until May 09 where he had one match and was endevored shortly after because he was considered too rough in the ring. Benoit had nothing to do with it.
ReplyDeleteAuthoriKane: "Now put on that stupid puppet and go plug your comic."
ReplyDeleteGuess I missed that. Makes sense, if they're going to take it at all seriously.
ReplyDeleteMick Foley: "I think I'll just go write another Christmas book staring the Miz instead."
ReplyDeleteI absolutely think that Brock should've went over Cena in that first match, but Brock looked like an absolute monster in there against Cena. Brock did win the rubber match against HHH, but he needed Heyman's help to do it. Brock did not look like the better (kayfabe) wrestler in that feud. HHH did. Brock shouldn't have needed help to beat a mostly-retired Hunter.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Punk situation, nobody has ever adequately explained to me why HHH going over Punk was necessary, or helped Punk in any way.
Completely agree on Eugene, though.
We've all said it before, but the Austin podcast is awesome...but the guy knows wrestling. He's off doing movies and doesn't need it but the guy still gets how it should work. I think if he'd started banging Stephanie it would have worked out better for everyone.
ReplyDeleteBrock looked like a monster until the very end of the match. He probably lost 50% of his heat from it, and it was absolutely unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteWith the Triple H feud, replace HHH's name for Undertaker's and nobody would have any gripes with it. By the way, Brock won with interference because - and this is shocking - he's a heel. But I get it, Triple H is Satan.
With Punk, the story went in several ineffective directions and petered out without any conclusion(s). Triple H went over in their only encounter (but it had interference, so I guess Punk looked like the better wrestler!) and it could have and should have lead to something else down the track, but it never panned out. Likewise, nobody can explain to me that the logical conclusion of all of that wasn't Punk wrestling Nash and Punk beating HHH, but I guess that's just one of Trips' devious schemes and not WWE's ineptitude.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
I'm guessing 1996, maybe 1995? On first glance I didn't notice Hogan's Hollywood beard, and Flair has his gay 1995 hair.
ReplyDeleteMeh, I don't subscribe to the theory that heels always need to be weaker than faces and should always need interference to win.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea if HHH had anything to do with Punk not getting a return win over him, or if it was simply WWE ineptitude. None of us do, really. I can only comment on what happened. I agree that the logical conclusion was Punk beating HHH, but it didn't happen. That doesn't really disprove anything I said.
I don't know about that, though. I just paid $15, face ticket value, for really good seats at a Smackdown TV taping. The arena was not anywhere close to full, but the parents who were in there seemed to be shelling out at the merch tables like crazy for $30 Cena/Punk/Bryan shirts (and even those horrifying $15 Wyatt family sheep masks). I have absolutely nothing to back this up other than general observation, but I'd be shocked if merchandise sales didn't top the gate at a lot of shows like this one.
ReplyDeleteThey got them in the door, and then gouged them on merchandise. I'm thinking that's a pretty solid revenue driver.
AuthoriKane: "Sure, why not? It's not like you can take bumps anymore. 'Hardcore Legend' my mask."
ReplyDeleteYour point was that "nobody has ever adequately explained to you why HHH going over Punk was necessary, or helped Punk in any way" which assumes that WWE had a long term plan. The feud between the two and match #1 was the cause to an effect that was nonexistent. Your point would have merit in an alternate universe where there was an outcome that negatively affected Punk as opposed to one where it didn't elevate or lower anybody.
ReplyDeleteAre the ATGS trolls still there? You know, "X shit his pants," or "What game shows did X's corpse host?"
ReplyDeleteUsenet is still a thing?
ReplyDeleteThis would be great. Love the austin pod, and my only critique, not even criticism because I get why he does it, is he doesn't really push the envelope oncertain issues. Think the Austin/Vince pod would bs kinda like listening to 2 old buddies shoot the shit, which would also be entertaining.
ReplyDeleteIm with Princess, not a huge fan of these types of matches...mitb ladder matches, tlc, etc. Its contrived spot, contrived spot, some other stuff, controved spot. Rinse and repeat. Just not my thing
ReplyDeleteI thought that the first one was great, specifically because the spots didn't really look contrived. The biggest thing was that, when they botched a ladder spot, they didn't reset and try it again, they went with it and did something else. After that it went downhill because everyone is trying to come up with something ,more insane.
ReplyDeleteYea, thats a good point. I actually liked the first 2, probably bc of the novelty, but there was a stretch where I couldnt stand them
ReplyDeleteThey already changed it. It was announced some weeks back that you can now have a strike removed if you complete a treatment program and remain clean for a year. I assume Orton was the main reason behind the change - they simply can't put the title on him for any length of time when he could be fired at any point.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, I just pretend Edge won this match. He ended up beating Kennedy to win the case anyway (after Kennedy's initial injury) and cashing in on Undertaker, so essentially he was "Mr Money In The Bank" for the year.
ReplyDeleteKennedy's win is even more unfortunate in hindsight of Edge's match with Taker at WM24. Had Edge won here, he would've improved to 6-0 at Wrestlemania and had a streak of his own going into Orlando. "Streak vs. Streak" is one storyline they haven't done for Taker at Wrestlemania, and I think there would've been genuine intrigue for WM24 if Edge had also come in with a lengthy streak of his own. Some might've thought Taker would lose since, at the time, he was 15-0 and he could've ended on a landmark number.
I think Kennedy's perpetual stream of debilitating injuries actually helped him massively. He was immensely dull and uninspiring in the ring, but his promos were pretty decent (although that's relatively speaking, given how shocking most mic work was during this period). Constantly being out gave him an enigma - you were left wondering 'what if?' whenever he was gone, and speculating about the great things he'd be capable of once he was back and at 100%. His TNA run is a pretty candid demonstration of his severe limitations as a worker.
ReplyDeleteApparently not. Besides I think at this point in his career he wants to be main eventing, not in midcard hell jobbing to Tensai or whatever.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of fanny packs in one place.
ReplyDeleteWWE employee that got fired as soon as he corrected Vince: "Uh Vince, Blockbuster Video is pretty much dead. Netflix, Redbox and Blockbuster's own ridiculous prices contributed to that".
ReplyDeleteVince: "What the hell is Netflix? And what's this thing that's called Redbox?"
Vince after being informed about Netflix and Redbox: "What do you mean they don't make VHS tapes anymore?"
Princess, the reason Kennedy "never amounted to shit in the company" was because he unfairly had the briefcase taken away from him when he got hurt (he went from being "out for months" to "week-to-week" faster than your head could spin once that went down) and made an enemy of the WWE's Golden Boy (ya know, the guy they've been protecting for years just as Cena said on Monday). There was a reason he was obviously going to be the winner for months (I believe I called it as far back as Survivor Series, and stuck with it even when the majority of the IWC got fooled by the Edge "WM winning streak" think they pulled out of their asses at the last second), and it was because while he was average at best as a wrestler, he was a clear step above most of the roster from an character and entertainment standpoint. Let's be fair in our assessment, please; after all, Trips is the only one who doesn't deserve that kind of treatment ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat movie.
ReplyDeleteWow, Hogan hardly wrestles and he STILL gets Most Deteriorated?
ReplyDeleteIn a last ditch effort to save his career, Ziggler offers to use Zune in a catch phrase that won't get over despite the alliteration.
ReplyDeleteWeren't Keiji Muto/The Great Muta doing it first?
ReplyDeleteYou would have loved it. In the early 1990s wrestling looked to be on hard times. WWF was hurting, this was just after the WWF Steroid scandal. WCW was beat up financially. Many younger fans had left or had grown to be teenagers and twentysomethings, and bailed. The rise it enjoyed in the mid-late 1990s was amazing. It really started with Ted Turner buying WCW. Vince McMahon rose to the competition, and the boom fueled demand for guys like ECW. There were several companies going at once. WCW, WWF, ECW, a company Sgt. Slaughter set up called the AWF, it was amazing. Plus some of the most diverse rosters ever. Good times.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen them in a while. I don't go back to visit as much as I used to, though, and a lot gets drowned out quickly in the Robby threads on Google (My only news reader now.) They may still be there.
ReplyDeleteHog Huckster (Formerly Don Martin, I believe) is still there, and occasionally posts on topic, though he posts a lot of obscure Youtube videos and goofs on them.
Watch Star Wars, the original version. Or Gone With the Wind, or The WIzard of Oz....
ReplyDeleteYeah it sure sounds like it. Granted, I was just a kid so even though pro wrestling in the US was on the decline, I still enjoyed the hell out of it.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that if there was any type of consolation, it seemed like there was a great talent pool that was just being misused. That was always the consolation for me when I was a huge ROH fan back in the day (04-08) but I just don't see it anymore. I feel like wrestling now is what it is.
AuthoriKane: "What? Who? Fuck off! Who was talking to you?!"
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I don't know. I love watching Muta work; the man has a grace about him I've seen nowhere else. I don't know if he did a Makind/Foley type gimmick first. I have limited knowledge of him. Saw him some in WCW, have seen some WCCE footage.
Usenet works great if you know how to properly utilize it. Use a website like nzbs.org and a program like sabnzbd and you can get pretty much anything. I have it set up to grab all my shows, and I usually get them within 10 mins after airing.
ReplyDeleteLiterally about 3 minutes ago....
ReplyDeleteTape trading back then was awesome. I got some kick ass tapes from RSPW back in the day. Best of Jericho, Best of Kamala, Best of Dynamite Kid in Japan, Best of Brody in WWC and tons of USWA, SMW and ECW shows. What a great time to be fan back then.
ReplyDeleteYou figure WWE must've soured on Kennedy by taking away the briefcase when he was injured. The injury was originally supposed to keep him out for months, but who cares? The MITB was good for a full year. He could've kept it and gone under the radar, making it an even bigger shock when he DID cash it in months down the road.
ReplyDeleteAs it was, he was able to return in something like two months, so it was hardly that big an injury.
Is he still talking about who's "nothing but a jobber"?
ReplyDeleteHe won the award last year despite not wrestling a single match.
ReplyDelete