The 1999 Royal Rumble...Hell most of 1999 WWF in general is very polarizing. I'm convinced you either loved it or hated it and there was no in between.
As I was glancing at the RAW with the DX/Corporation Mini Rumble you had all kinds of crap there in that one show. Some good stories, some odd ones that included trannies. Ryan Shamrock. Billy Gunn being called the best "pure athlete in the WWF". It was just weird, unpredictable shit.
Anyway if the 1999 Rumble doesn't bring a wide variety of opinions I'll be shocked.
For those of you that want to see the DX/Corporate Mini-Rumble here's that RAW episode:
And of course the 1999 Royal Rumble in full because the Dailymotion link to the match only is really poor video quality.
As I was glancing at the RAW with the DX/Corporation Mini Rumble you had all kinds of crap there in that one show. Some good stories, some odd ones that included trannies. Ryan Shamrock. Billy Gunn being called the best "pure athlete in the WWF". It was just weird, unpredictable shit.
Anyway if the 1999 Rumble doesn't bring a wide variety of opinions I'll be shocked.
For those of you that want to see the DX/Corporate Mini-Rumble here's that RAW episode:
And of course the 1999 Royal Rumble in full because the Dailymotion link to the match only is really poor video quality.
I think a lot of the issue with 1999 is that it just didn't age well at all. I remember being thoroughly entertained in the moment, however in re-reading and re-watching a lot of this stuff, it's total nonsense. I will say, though, that I hated WMXV at the time, especially after how awesome WMXIV was.
ReplyDeleteWrestlemania XV is still garbage for the most part...However the Rock-Austin main event gets better each time I watch it.
ReplyDelete1998 and 1999 there was just this weird obsession with factions and stables. The Nation, The Boricuas, The DOA, The Corporation, DX, The Ministry, The Corporation, PMS, etc.etc. make it stop!
I want to read this but Cornette is like the attractive girl with the bad voice and dumb personality. I can only tolerate him for like 5 minutes before i want to punch him.
ReplyDeleteWe get it dude. You hate everyone, you're very outspoken and you have a temper. Awesome
Another great write-up and synopsis, Bayless. I'll probably get flamed like crazy for saying so, but Cornette's blame-mongering and complaining have gotten really old. He was my favorite voice in wrestling for the longest time, but after 20+ years of listening to him rant about all of the conflicts he's had, you start to realize that he's the only common denominator...and he's never accountable for any of his failings.
ReplyDeleteI dont get all of the love this shoot is getting (well the KC Cheerleader at 411 I get him loving it). The only thing worth it is the RoH stuff. It is good, but christ, I am almost rooting for Russo to fight back against him at this point.
ReplyDeleteHe cant work with others because he has to be the one that is right. My boss just got fired today and had the same attitude.
ReplyDeleteThe Russ thing is just annoyning at this point. It was entertaining at first but everything has been said in that feud. Cornette always makes a few good points but it's just not worth listening to him bitch and moan about everything under the sun to hear those points.
ReplyDelete1999 sucked because of the poor in-ring product and the sheer stupidity of the storylines, but you definitely can't say it wasn't fun or entertaining thanks to the characters. I'd watch those shows over the current product any day.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of that had to do with Vince responding to the nWo. He saw that group literally carry an otherwise inferior product to the top of the industry for 2+ years. I bet he figured if just ONE of those factions could catch on with 1/2 the juice of the nWo, the WWF would be all set, especially with Austin on top. I also think there was a bit of a snowball effect there, in that once one faction is in place, the easiest way to generate more feuds/matchups is to create more factions. With jobber/squash matches going by the wayside, they needed matches to fill up RAW, and later Smackdown, with two relatively established guys.
ReplyDeleteI want to like Cornette, but every successive shoot makes me want to scream "MAYBE YOU'RE THE PROBLEM!"
ReplyDeleteHe is becoming more and more ridiculous each and every time, and is becoming more of a child about it too.
I listened to this podcast rant on Kevin Steen the other day, and there's no way I can listen to Cornette on a regular basis. I don't want to listen to him rehash every bridge he's burned over and over again.
ReplyDelete99 is why I loved 97 so much - despite it being Russo's crash TV nonsense there was still an undercurrent of the Southern style - working class hero, arrogant champion who wasn't One of Us, and feuds that went far past the ring. It FELT like Austin and Bret couldn't stand to be near each other, forget Bret-HBK. 98-99 got too Sports Entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI think if they were gonna do the "Austin loses the Rumble, but wins the WM title shot at the next ppv" thing, they should have given an actual wrestler the Rumble win. Kane or Ken Shamrock, as Corporation representatives could have won it by nefarious means, then Austin beats Kane/Shammy at the next ppv to earn the title shot.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bigger fan of Austin just winning the '99 Rumble and telling Vince, "if you want to take my title shot away, you have to do it yourself" and Vince's ego/obsession with Austin leads him to accept a match at SVDM.
After he was on Austin's podcast I thought I'd check out an episode of his podcast to see what it was like. I made it about 6 minutes in. So, I beat you by 1. Yay?
ReplyDeleteI love that Raw mini-Rumble. I'm a big fan of the buildup to the Rumble including some kind of competition for better entry numbers. I even liked the Duke Droese vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley match where the winner got number 30 and the loser got number 1. It's an easy way to add stakes to everyday matches.
ReplyDeleteThey hadn't quite flushed all the Russo out of their system yet.
ReplyDeleteMaybe....but I can't think anybody thought P.M.S would take off like the nWo.
ReplyDeleteA lot of it was due their 'shades of grey' philosophy - just look at the Gang Warz. Between the Nation, D.O.A, and Los Boricuas - who exactly was the face? (And didn't that S. African faction get involved?)
It's funny, WM 15 has a crappy undercard but a great main event. WM 16 had a decent undercard with a sub par main event. Then WM 17 got it just right with a great undercard and an amazing main event.
ReplyDeleteCornette and Russo do have one thing in common; they refuse to place blame on themselves for anything.
ReplyDeleteNow I realize the philosophy of standing by your decisions but come on, freaking Vince McMahon and Eric Bishoff have admitted past faults before.
Yeah, it takes a while to get Russo out of your system. Drinking a lot of water helps it to go a little faster.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the Truth Commission and The Oddities.
ReplyDelete" it led to 3 million people no longer watching wrestling because they were either WCW fans and the new fans that caught on about the wrestling boom left when Austin hugged McMahon, because no one wanted to see that."
ReplyDeleteBOOM. Exactly.
Hey you never know, P.M.S could have been the next big thing with a proper push.
ReplyDeleteNo reason Meat couldn't have been a main event player right? :)
ReplyDeleteWell, he just kept getting tired from having to please the ladies. Boooo!
ReplyDeleteShoot if Terri survived New Jack she would probably break poor Sean Stasiak in half.
ReplyDeleteLOL.
ReplyDeleteI remember thinking that Vince seriously fucked up his neck when Chyna threw him over the top at the end of the Corporate Rumble, after his head snapped back under the bottom rope.
ReplyDeleteI never understood why they had Vince win the Rumble, then had Commish HBK take it away via satellite and just give it back to Austin. Why not have Vince hold the title shot hostage ("I'm going to give it to a worthy member of MYYYYYYY Corporation!") and have Austin "win" it back in the cage match?
The UNION!
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/CKl2hJJCsb4
What were they all about? Lasted like a month or something.
I love 98, love 2000, but 99 just does nothing for me.
Russo killed the business, we get it Jimmy.
ReplyDeleteYeah that wasn't exactly hard to figure out, especially the ex-WCW fans.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that early TNA managed to survive despite having some HORRIBLE non-wrestling stuff going on was a testament to just how starved they were for something not WWE.
You win! Or lose I guess depending on the perspective. But yea, he's amusing for the first hour or so you ever listen to him then je just grates your every nerve
ReplyDeleteThey were all former members of Vince's "Corporation" stable who had broken off from him for various reasons. So they decided to team up to get revenge.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this one princess. I don't know if you even noticed but a few of us requested this in the comments section a few days ago in one of your threads. Time to rewatch.
ReplyDeleteThe Union of People You OUghtta Respect Son
ReplyDeleteOr
UPYOURS
Seeing Test wearing a FUBU shirt made that factgime worth every second.
It wasn't a bad collection of talent either. Foley, Shamrock, Test, Big Show, That's a heck of a stable in reality. Probably could have rolled with that one for a while and drew money against a Rock-led Corporation.
Those vince/Shane training videos are some of WWES best work
ReplyDeleteMan. Vince running in and eliminating Bossman and hhh from behind then doing the Hogan short tear is unbelievably great heel work
ReplyDeleteYeah, it really was a perfect storm. WCW died at a time when WWF was abandoning precisely the things that made them peak to begin with. It wasn't like in 2000 when you might bail on WCW only to find a vastly superior WWF product.
ReplyDeletePerfectly valid point. He is entertaining and very intelligent, but it seems true that he always thinks the problems are in spite of him, never because of him.
ReplyDeleteNo flaming necessary. It's true. He blames everyone else and you never hear him falling on the sword for anything that goes wrong around him. He's terribly entertaining, but it's gotten to be in more of a "laughing at him" way than actually agreeing with what he has to say.
ReplyDelete1999 was one of my favorite times watching Raw. Attitude era at its peak. From April all the way to September, I had a blast
ReplyDeleteCornette was a really good on screen character and SMW was cool but what's he ever done behind the scenes that anyone should give a fuck about? RoH is a small time Indy and TNA is fucking disgrace. He made no difference in either place despite having a prominent role. Also his whole "I'm so liberal" thing comes across as him trying to disassociate himself from his southern background so he works people.
ReplyDeleteCamp cornette was the shit though. I definitely give him all the props in the world for being a great manager. I think he deserves a spot in the wwe hall of fame.
Exactly, imagine how much more amazing WM 17 would have been with Austin vs Rock vs Meat as the main event! They probably could have gotten the crowd to boo Austin had he focused his wrath on Meat.
ReplyDeleteSkimming through this it seems... If everyone that Jim Cornette had ever met had just agreed to do everything Jim Cornette said, then wrestling would be the most succesful business in the world, right?
ReplyDeleteA lot of Cornette's basic wrestling logic/opinions make sense, but overall the dude seems like a total psychotic asshole.
I was going to say those were the only good things to come as a result of this show.
ReplyDeleteTrying to see what you did there...
ReplyDeletePlus how many fucking shoot interviews can one guy do? Is there a topic he hasn't rebooked or given an opinion on?
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more with u. When nobody likes working with you becomes that consistent, ya gotta stop blaming everyone else. Also, I like fiscal Republican ideas and cornette always has to bash all Republicans as ignorant, psycho, gun toating anti-gay hicks every time he has a mike. Im none of that here in nyc. It gets really annoying when all I wanna hear is wrestling from him.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, I hated Cornette as a WWF manager as a kid. Not hated like "beat him up" but hated as in "this guy is just a boring ass schreechy Heenan-wannabe." And that's from someone who already had watched a bunch of him in the NWA. The Camp Cornette WWF stuff was always terrible to me though.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what the fuck is a LOADED TENNIS RACKET? Worst foreign object ever.
To say ROH is a "small time indy" is a wee bit disingenuous. If you still consider them an indy fed that's fine but they are easily the most popular indy fed in the states right now. By a fairly large margin.
ReplyDeleteThat's a part of it but it's a really lazy arguement by Cornette. We talked about it yesterday but I've heard Cornette himself say business was always gonna fall off because of the nature of the Attitude Era. He said that the Attitude Era was essentially 3 years of everything being hotshotted and that they creatively blew their load. Said a lull in business is always inevitable in these situations. Combine it with austin and rock leaving along with some poor booking decisions amd things were due to go south to a point. I don't think you can point to 1 heel turn and blame everything on that
ReplyDelete1999 might bring a wide variety of opinions but the 99 Rumble match won't. I think everyone agrees it sucked.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't let either one of them book my wrestling company (if I had one).
ReplyDeleteYea. It's annoying because he really does have a few good insights and typically will always say something that makes me go "damn, I never thought of that." But it's just not worth listening to him anymore. And yea, the fucking snide political digs are just obnoxious. I consider myself to be on the left but even then I don't give 2 shits about Jin Cornette political views. I don't want to hear them
ReplyDeleteHere is a interesting blog question. Who deserves to go into the HOF first if at all: Russo or Cornette?
ReplyDeleteVince Russo is public enemy #1 around these parts but you cannot dispute his impact on the product. He helped change the business into what it is now for better and worse and was a major player in the biggest era.
Cornette ran a influential Indy promotion and is a top 5 all time manager, from an era where managers were important and he was huge in JCP and WWF. Everyone loves him as the mxe manager but camp cornette and being yokozunas american liaison was great too.
Listening to Steen on Colt's podcast discussing Cornette/ROH issues and then listening to Cornette rant about Steen....it's easy to take Steen's side even if he was in the wrong. Jim has just become unbearable.
ReplyDeleteThis. I surprisingly won't hate on Vince winning (it's not like he won clean), but the match in general was an example of what Russo had become by that year, going overboard with out-of-the-ring/non-wrestling shenanigans. Whereas 1997 and 1998 were better balances.
ReplyDeleteAs another example, over at the F.A.N. Forums, there's a thread about what things the early IWC did/would have freaked out over. If I recall, RSPW HATED the This Is Your Life skit, no?
One thing cornette is right about is that less people than ever are making a living and the guys doing it are making less money than their predecessors. That's not a good thing.
ReplyDeleteIf i ever hit the power ball and can but a controlling share if tna I'd hire russo, Cornette, and jesse bake to book. I'd force them to work in one of those glass walled interrogation rooms so I could just sit back and listen. The entertainment value would be priceless
ReplyDeleteCan't they both go in? It would probably cause Cornette to throw his ring in the garbage though.
ReplyDeleteRusso
ReplyDeleteMe too, I enjoyed the Royal Rumble qualifying matches. I don't understand why they don't do that today. They have three hours of RAW to fill up. Why not have some matches that have some stakes to them. I used to like those 30/1 matches but I can see why they don't do that today as they like to keep the entrances a surprise.
ReplyDeletePut them in the same year so they can get into a huge fight before the show and we don't have to hear either of their stupid speeches.
ReplyDeleteOr Cornette as a manager, though personally I was never a huge fan of his managing act. Especially WWF stuff.
Yes, it was universally panned. It actually was a terribly boring, too long sketch but it did monster ratings.
ReplyDeleteWell according to this shoot they were selling between 300 to 700 tickets a show. I don't know if that's great.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is we'll know CM Punk is number one in the next RAW.
ReplyDeleteExcellent recap, but Cornette just gets on my tits these days. As someone said last week, he's always right in hindsight but does fuck all at the time.
ReplyDeleteCornette might have a better all and a longer body of work but Russo high was higher then anything Cornette ever did
ReplyDeleteI honestly wasn't trying to make a PMS joke. Just a joke about pushing a crap stable to the main event in hopes of duplicating the nWo.
ReplyDeleteAll other indy feds in the states would kill for those kinds of turnouts.
ReplyDeleteAt the time as a kid I viewed them as the top stable, and saw him as a cartoon type character for shawn to fuck with. He's no Heenan though.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen you around here before. Your name is rather close to mine. Weird.
ReplyDeleteHere's a question: you just bought tna and cleaned house. You can give the book to ANY 1 person not named Vince McMahon. Who do you hire?
ReplyDeleteI've long been a proponent of giving more recognition to some of the great tag teams of the 80s - I'd induct him & the Midnight Express the same year as the R&R Express.
ReplyDeleteDusty Rhodes or Bill Watts
ReplyDeletePat Patterson, although Raven would be fun
ReplyDeleteYup its got to be Russo. He made a giant impact on the entire industry and may have saved the wwf. Cornette is really just a manager, albeit a legendary one.
ReplyDeleteGabe Sapolsky or Heyman.
ReplyDeleteGabe Sapolsky. Just to see if he could get back to his amazing ROH run.
ReplyDeleteI think they both deserve to go in. But I think if the hof was hypothetically based on merit russo would go first.
ReplyDeleteWith WWE now actually having a good tag division now this might be more feasible.
ReplyDeleteIs the second part true? The high end guys (Cena, Punk, Orton, Bryan, Show, Taker, Lesnar) are making millions. Any one of them probably clears more in a year than the entire 1980 Mid South roster combined. Not to mention guys like Sheamus, Henry, ADR, and the upper midcarders are probably getting paid way more per year than touring territorial stars from 30 years ago, aka the moment that Cornette wishes time had stopped.
ReplyDeleteHell, wasn't Punk prepared to walk away pre-pipe bomb because he already made enough money to retire? At taht point the dude was upper midcard.
Yeah, the business overall has consolidated tremendously, and it does honestly suck that there aren't territories co-existing with modern WWE where guys could make money. But there's still a shitload of money being made off pro-wrestling nowadays, just not in the way COrnette would want. (Which is doing 40 nights in a row in Memphis at $5 tickets with a sandwich eating contest after the main event.)
No one. I shutter the windows and sell the library off to Vince. Mercy kill.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I believe guys are making less. It's a tighter more consolidated business now with less jobs over all I'd bet overall salaries in wwe are up.
ReplyDeleteOr sell the time slot to NJPW and see if a weekly best of with american commentary can gain any traction.
ReplyDeleteIf it's REALLY anyone, Stone Cold.
ReplyDeleteMore realistically, Jim Ross.
It would be the greatest "rib" of all time to induct them on the same night.
ReplyDeleteEh, I don't think Ross would ever be a good booker. Just MODO.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually, sort of left field candidate: Wade Keller.
ReplyDelete" what's he ever done behind the scenes that anyone should give a fuck about?"
ReplyDeleteHe also helped book WCW and WWF at various times. Off the top of my head I don't know what he did or didn't come up with, and he wasn't ever the 'head booker'.
They also have the largest 'territory' of any indy. They started in the northeast but have been able to put on shows in the Great Lakes region and midwest.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered if NJ could steal some market share around here. I don't know much about it from what I've watched on youtube but it seems like a vastly different type of show, strictly sports vs sports entertainment and they must know what they're doing. Obviously the language barrier amd getting Americans to her behind Japanese guys would be tough but it might be different enough to grab a niche demographic
ReplyDeleteIts the lack of competition that occurred around that exact same time. Up to that point there had always multiple legitimate promotions. The lack of competition led almost immediately to the wwes take it or leave creative attitude, and only us die hards took it.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna go with Sapolsky, with Caldwell at the Torch as an asst., Beth Phoenix for the Knockouts (if she really wants to stay retired) and Gedo consulting on booking the X-Division.
ReplyDeleteIt would have to have English commentary of course. But subtitled interviews might but to difficult to overcome.
ReplyDeleteThat would be tremoundous. The fucking death glances and digs at each other in their speeches would be worth the price of admission
ReplyDeleteFuck it, I'd make them give their speeches at the same time on dueling microphones.
ReplyDeleteNah, Vince winning to set up Austin/Vince was great booking. It was how they got there storyline wise that sucked. Instead of Vince giving up the title shot and Austin getting it because of the "fine print," they should have had Austing put his career on the line vs. the title shot for the SVM cage match.
ReplyDeleteBut as a sheer business thing, Vince/Austin did a helluva lot of buy, and wasn't a bad match either.
I'd hire Ross to be a 'talent scout' in a heartbeat. But I'm not sure I'd give him the book. I know he booked WCW at various times, but off the top of my head I don't remember when or what angles/feuds.
ReplyDeleteDude. Keller annoys me sometimes with certain things but his bottom line philosophical idea of how wrestling should be presented I usually always agree with. He's got a great mind for things imo
ReplyDeleteRoss as a talent scout could work.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with Cornette on much, but he's dead-on about the GFL-ROH stuff. I attended one of the PPVs on Mania 28 weekend in Miami, and they literally had to stop two matches (one went to finish early, the other had the wrestlers stop competing mid-match for about five minutes) because of technical errors. So bush league.
ReplyDeleteIt took me completely out of the stories that were being told in the ring. The worst was the Adam Cole match (can't remember the opponent), where the producer leaned in during a chinlock and was loudly screaming at Cole to let go and "stall for time."
Yea. You'd have to find a way to get some Rica n's to get behind Japanese wrestlers which would be tough.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, American wrestlers have never made it past a certain level in Japan no matter how great they were. Except maybe the Funk brothers.
ReplyDeleteTotally. He can be slightly annoying in being super hyper and maybe a little repetitive in his audios, but overall he seems like a super smart and actually likeable guy. His overall wrestling principles are dead on IMHO, in that he's common sense (no 50/50 booking, make titles seem important, don't acknowledge that it's fake during the TV shows, make new stars, etc) but he's not some unrealistic smark who wants hour long flippity floppitty matches with respect handshakes at the end and no gimmicks. He understands what wrestling is, just wants a better version of it.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that I think a guy like Keller brings (something that actually makes me like him more than say Meltzer) is that he seems like a modern, plugged-in person. He watches current TV shows, knows pop culture, has a sense of humor.
Think a wrestling federation booked by him would be a nice mix of logical wrestling values but fun, modern stuff as well.
I read a few months ago that the fucking great khali waa making 975 k downside guarantee. He's overpaid based on them wanting to get into India but man that ain't bad for a jobber
ReplyDeleteSapolsky has regressed creatively, in my opinion. I'd go with either JR or Heyman. Heyman's pretty hip to what's going on in the world and would never revert back to the ECW style--he'd fine a way to help things evolve (however, I did hear Curtis Axel spent a lot of time with him...and he didn't really improve that much...and that's the kind of talent Heyman would be working with).
ReplyDeleteJR has a good vision for the future but doesn't forget the old school tactics that work. He can also work with anybody not named Jarrett.
I'd still want to hire Austin, Foley, and Nash as my booking team. Austin could handle the big picture stuff. Foley can handle the creative intricacies and details. Nash could be the filter and whistle blower if something is too corny or stupid.
The impression I got from the observer was that they made less now but I just found this list in 3 different places, but of course it could be total bullshit. It says that they are all the downsides, and its different than that one list that was going around forever, but I have no idea how accurate it is, so for novelty purposes check this out
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ringsideaction.com/2012/10/wwe-talent-salaries/
If, for the sake of argument those down sides are real then the tops guys are making more money than I thought once you add in ppv pay outs, merch etc
Yea. He brings up breaking bad, walking dead, and stuff like that all the time and draws some pretty good character comparisons between stuff like that and wwe guys. I think he knows what will sell, knows what the fans want, and he's always vocal about how the "sports" aspect should be the backdrop that everything else is booked against. He "gets it"
ReplyDeleteI also am giddy about the fact that most of the divas wouldn't have a high enough income to rent ratio to move into my building. Thank you strata, keep that fucking rif raff on the other side of town!
ReplyDeleteYou don't want carny, former strippers in your neighborhood? Prude!
ReplyDelete::awaits for the downvotes and white knighting::
Since they are gutting the company I go with Heyman or Dusty.
ReplyDeleteIf that's anywhere near the real thing, then that's a lot of guys making a SHITLOAD of money. Obviously the travel/hotel expenses cut down on that, but territory wrestlers had to pay their own way too so that's a wash.
ReplyDeleteAgain, less wrestlers are employed today, but I can't imagine that the total amount earned by the modern WWE roster isn't more than what the combined territory rosters were making in 1980.
At first I was thinking Gabe but heyman has grown on me after reading these comments. He has ALOT of creative strengths but he also strikes me aas a guy you don't want to give to total control to since he does have some major flaws also. Guess this is true for most tho
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could give them complete control. I like old school "sports" pro wrestling but I don't think they're current enough to know how to sell that
ReplyDeleteHeyman as ONLY creative, and kept 100% from the business side of the equation would be worth a try, at least.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm weird since I enjoyed it. But I liked everything Rock and Sock did together. Such a fun pairing. By the way, didn't Meltzer or somebody do some investigating and found out that segment really wasn't the top rated segment in Raw history?
ReplyDeleteHe's pretty good at the creative side but even he had faults. Ecw never knew how to end or blowoff a feud properly
ReplyDeleteYeah if this is accurate (big if but still) those are way bigger downsides than Vince was doing when say Nash and hall jumped. Cm punk could easily be clearing 2.5 plus with his ppv $ and t shirts. With 600k downside d bry is probably making a run a 2 M's with all his shirts and main events on ppvs and house show demand. Plus work horse guys like del Rio and Cody are pushing 7 figures too.
ReplyDeletePlus putting the World title on Justin Credible. I don't give a shit if he was the "only option" at the time. If that was the case the company just should have shut down then and there.
ReplyDeleteThere must be plenty of places around here for skank hoes to live. Just not in my fancy building damnit!
ReplyDeleteExactly. ADR probably makes more per year as a midcarder than say Jerry Lawler ever did in his heyday.
ReplyDeleteShit that kind of cash must go a long way in-Bombay
ReplyDeleteKid toucher from RF video.
ReplyDeleteNah, you're not weird. I would have liked it had it been about 10 minutes shorter, just dragged to me.
ReplyDeleteWhy they didn't just put the belt on RVD for three years like hogan is mind blowing to me.
ReplyDelete*coughrvdneverwinningthetitlecough*
ReplyDeleteDana White might be interesting
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you want to stare into the abyss, but there are lots of posts about wrestling from 98-2000+ located here. Be warned, it is scary.
ReplyDeletehttp://forums.delphiforums.com/nwwwo/start
Yea. They still had some options left. I've heard heyman in a few interviews still defend hin as a potential star if they would have stayed in business
ReplyDeleteRoss booked most of 1989 NWA/WCW, I believe. Plus I blieve he had a hand in the old UWF shows. The good thing is that most of his feuds had logical paths (Funk being at ringside for Steamboat-Flair, for example).
ReplyDeleteBring the pitchforks,I actually like this rumble.
ReplyDeleteExplain.
ReplyDeleteThread jack-Rex Ryan signed a 3 year deal to stay with the jets. I'd say getting the 2013 jets to 8-8 was his best coaching job yet. Every time I watched them play they looked like a 3-13 team to me.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, I hope he gets a lot of slam dunks from the 300 yard centre ice!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of, if not my least favorite, Royal rumble. Still like pizza or sex, even a bad royal rumble is still OK.
ReplyDeleteIt made sense in booking perspective how Vince acted,sure it would way better if Austin drawed 1 and Vinny 30.Also this rumble had a decent pacing,some comedy with GILLBERG and Vince desperate as SCSA was coming close to get him.
ReplyDeleteAlright,you can downvote me now!
The retroactive down grading of Rock vs Austin at wm15 is crazy. Great match that defined the style for an era
ReplyDeleteMaybe if inflation is calculated into the mix. But just like society you have a select few at the top making bank and a lot of guys making, um, less.
ReplyDeleteThe #s themselves are higher, but I can't fully accept the math b/c it's way too easy.
Fuck it. I like me some Rex Ryan
ReplyDeleteCornette b/c he was good on both sides of the curtain.
ReplyDeleteSpacing is your friend
ReplyDeleteIt was either that or a feed me more joke.
ReplyDeleteThis is why we needed the New Jack interview. I love Corny, but most all this stuff has been covered before and, as said below, he sounds more and more petulant after every one...and he's seemingly done hundreds of these.
ReplyDeleteTBF, what kind of "difference" were you looking for? If it's "compete with Vinny Mac", then no one was going to do that. If it's "keep us from going kablooie with stupid ish", then he was good at what he did.
ReplyDeleteWell, I heard so many bad things about this Rumble, time to decide for myself.
ReplyDeleteWe're all off the hook. Hhh will happily suck his own dick.
ReplyDeleteCan someone tell me when the Rumble match starts?
ReplyDeleteNever mind.
ReplyDeleteTurn a profit or produce good TV. I agree he was also good in ovw.
ReplyDeleteI have warm memories of 1999 mainly because of the environment in which I watched wrestling - it was college, and we usually had a good crowd for both RAW and the ppvs. In retrospect, yeah, this was crap.
ReplyDelete"This is a two-disc shoot that runs for Two Hours and Fifty Minutes"
ReplyDeleteThe average wrestler could have answered these questions on one 60 minute disc. Even the Ultimate Warrior was like, "GOTDAYUMN you talk too much" after reading this.
They should give his brother the job in Cleveland.
ReplyDeleteBooking team: Raven, Jake and Scott Hall.
ReplyDeleteI would have Patterson put together the matches but not for angle advancement.
ReplyDeleteThe more Ryans in the nfl the better in my book
ReplyDeleteJust the fact that there isnt two big promotions hurts. When I was a kid there was WWF wcw and a ton of indys equally successful as roh like a gwf. The fact that theres less guys making a living is a bad thing regardless of how many busses cm punk buys.
ReplyDeletethats not all he raises
ReplyDelete1999 gave us King of the Ring Billy Gunn.
ReplyDeleteI think he's just ashamed of being so associated with the deep south. Its like Vince trying to tell himself he's an entertainment mogul
ReplyDeleteI think he also helped book WCW when Watts was in charge as well.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned this before, but the angles with Flair in 1989 were incredibly well booked. Not only the way the Steamboat feud transitioned into the Funk feud, but from there it went into the partnership with Sting, the reformation of the Horsemen, and Flair turning on Sting. Luger's heel turn around that time also made sense - he was the U.S. champion, he was upset that Steamboat was the #1 contender, so he attacked Steamboat to prove that point.
I think that's huge for a # of reasons - competition brings out the best in things (including the wrestlers themselves, one of HHH's problems.....even though it's somewhat self-promoted, but that's a side issue), guys could treak their characters, indy promotions could picks from a larger pool of guys, different ideas could be promoted, AND more promotions = more places to be = more money.
ReplyDeleteIn THAT respect, he has a point.
No way was there 3 million people watching WCW at the end.
ReplyDeleteWell he was yokozunas american liaison. That was highly charged political gig in 1994
ReplyDeleteOh, and Cornette also ran the WWF/E's "developmental" in OVW for a while... you know, where Cena/Orton/Brock/Batista were "polished" up...
ReplyDeleteOther than (eventually, hopefully) NXT, who's put more into the WWE's current talent pool?
Yeah, overall he's done a decent job. But they need to bring in someone who actually gives a fuck about offense and understands it, and just let Rex stay out of the way. In today's NFL you can't ignore offense and the quarterback position the way he has.
ReplyDeleteI just think that was heyman outsmarting himself by trying to show the world he repackage Aldo Montoya as a big star. He couldn't
ReplyDeleteI think we can all agree that "A+" isn't a very accurate description for this one, amiright?
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify why I wrote this, I agreed with the "Austin hugged McMahon, no one wanted to see that". I've gone on about it at length before, but I felt the abandonment of that core dynamic would alienate most of the fanbase that came on with Austin vs McMahon.
ReplyDeleteOne explanation I heard was that he was waiting for ECW to break through a bit more before putting the belt on RVD.
ReplyDeleteYea. He would have ridden him forever just because he was to stubborn to realize he had backed a steaming pile of shit
ReplyDelete1: I'm reading that as "WCW fans + Austin Heel turn dislikes = 3 million people (if not more)".
ReplyDelete2: Fans were giving up on WCW well before it died... and I bet WWF (plus the various indies/etc...) pulled in/kept around less than 50% of them.
That's like the synopsis of 20 different nfl teams tho.
ReplyDeleteNeither. Maybe Cornette as a manager, but Russo shouldn't be allowed anywhere near any HOF.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to attempt the "even if it's bad, it's still good" trifecta tonight.
ReplyDeletePT Anderson. Best director in the world, maybe he could book a good wrestling show.
ReplyDeleteVince forfeited the title shot and declared he would give it to a "deserving" challenger. Shawn then notified voiding the title shot constituted forfeiting the Rumble win... it was a giant mess.
ReplyDeleteI take it HHH isn't an option either? Raven, Tommy Dreamer, and Jake Roberts as bookers, JR and Cornette as the talent guys, and Jeff Jarrett heading up the production department.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can respect Sean's attempt to "expand the concept" of Breaking Kayfabe, yeah, I think I'll keep passing on the series.
ReplyDeleteVader has been world champ for both All Japan and New Japan. Stan Hansen was a huge star. Hell, even Scott Norton was IWGP champ. There have been quite a few really successful Japanese tag teams with N. American guys.
ReplyDeleteOverall, N. American guys have had better success in Japan than vice versa.
If HHH is an option, I ONLY bring him in if he understands that he WILL NOT BE ACTIVE TALENT WHILE BOOKING. No wrestling, no Authority, NOTHING on air.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree about Russo. He literally changed-the business, is partially responsible for the hottest period in wrestling, wrote both raw and smackdown for close to two years and got wcw handed over to him. They put bill watts and Vern gagne in, might as well put in Russo.
ReplyDeletewhich led to his legendary feud with Rock that set the wrestling world on fire
ReplyDeleteLots of NFL teams have mediocre or bad quarterbacks. But they're at least trying - they just bring in the wrong guys as quarterback or coach or coordinator or both. But the attempt is there. Rex Ryan shares his father's contempt of anything that happens on offense, and doesn't seem to even be trying to put together a modern NFL offense.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Cornette's NWA Stable of Double J, Barry Windham, and the RnR Express... and then the NEW Midnight Express. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteExactly. You had actual backstory and everything, and legit reasons why guys feuded.
ReplyDeleteI mean, really - who in their right mind would not want a guy who booked Bash 89?
Conversely, I don't like Authority Figures hand-seeding the number 1 entry to punish someone. That just makes me wonder, if they really want to punish the guy, why don't they take him out of the match entirely? The illusion that the matches matter and the wrestlers are fighting for some tangible benefit is necessary for me to suspend my disbelief.
ReplyDeleteWell, it led to Billy Gunn getting his face shoved in a fat woman's ass, so it was something anyway.
ReplyDelete1999 was such a weird, weird year. Not just in wrestling, but pop culture as a whole. It was almost as if America universally decided that we would close the millenium out in the most absurd ways possible.
ReplyDeleteCornette seems to just want to do his job well, be a good craftsman, and stay out of all the political bullshit. Unfortunately, the political bullshit is in every office everywhere these days, and he doesn't seem to be able to deal with that.
ReplyDeleteBe personally honest, respectful, and accountable, don't fuck around behind people's backs, and keep the long-term view in sight. About 90% of his complaints seem to stem from someone failing to do that.
Ross booked Bash 89. I think he knows a thing or 2.
ReplyDeleteYou could even do a gimmick where cartoon divas get raped by an octopus.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, the right answer to this question is none other than our very own Jesse baker
ReplyDeleteWorse storylines and ratings than TNA has now?
ReplyDeleteSOLD!
He also booked that weird round robin starrcade tournament. I don't know how good Jr would be but I'd tune it for awhile
ReplyDeleteRe: jobber: you could even do a gimmick where an octopus rapes a cartoon diva.
ReplyDeletehaha. This has Japanese Vinces name all over it. I once saw this clip where it was a game show and the contestants would get enemas and they'd compete to see who could then spray it out the furthest. They'd measure this shit and do it in like a live crowd and everything. It was all kinds of weird
I agree with this completly. Plus Benoit, albert, bam bam, mvp etc. Who's the most successful Japanese to north america guy ever? Ulitimo Dragon? Hakushi? Chono? Masato Tanaka was way over in ECW. I'd say ultimo dragon I think though.
ReplyDeleteYeah he had done a lot of stuff, plus ovw. I'd put him in the hall of fame if I had a vote.
ReplyDeleteI know need to know the weirdest Japanese shit people have ever seen. I don't think i can lose this
ReplyDeleteBy far the worst Royal Rumble, by a landslide, simply because it was used solely as a tool to get over the Austin/McMahon storyline, and they didn't even try to portray it as anything but. Nobody but Austin or Vince had even the slightest chance of winning, Vince made a mockery of the event by doing commentary during a chunk of it while still an active participant, and there were too many dead spots. I'd still have the same opinion of this one even if the middle portion had been filled with Benoits, Guerreros, Angles, etc, because this Rumble was merely a prop.
ReplyDelete