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Big Dave



What with Batista being pretty well universally panned right now, I was thinking about when he wasn't.  In 05 when he caught fire, how did that come about?  Was it a gradual thing and I'm just not remembering it correctly?  I distinctly remember it going, one week he was "Batista: Evolution's Heavy.", and the next week he was "Batista: Super babyface, WrestleMania Main Eventer."  Am I remembering it wrong?

Thanks,
Steve Stevens

Wait, Steve Stevens the guitarist?  You were awesome on "Rebel Yell"!

Anyway, yes, you're remembering it wrong.   Dave did a slow burn where Flair and Hunter would be talking shit behind his back and Dave would happen to hear them, thus creating dramatic tension because the audience had info that the heels didn't.  It created exactly the organic babyface turn that Orton should have been.  In particular I remember being really hyped to see Dave win the title in the Chamber when it was vacated there at the end of 04.  

Comments

  1. Yo, Steve. The Atomic Playboys kind of sucked, yo.

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  2. The Batista turn was fantastic. I remember thinking at the time thinking that Cena -- not Batsita -- should have won the 2005 Royal Rumble because Batista already had a hot angle going with HHH, and Cena really had no momentum going into his match with JBL.

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  3. Anyway, I was watching the Batista/HHH promo from Smackdown (via Hulu +) and why are we all kidding ourselves? The ONLY reason Batista is back is so HHH can get his wins back from 2005.

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  4. Batista got over as a face in large part because they were trying to hard to get Orton over as a face they weren't trying to get Batista over as a face.

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  5. I'm watching Elimination Chamber now... they should just pay Batista to stay home. Alberto Del Rio is getting his best reactions -- BABYFACE REACTIONS at that -- against Batista, and the crowd is chanting "BOO-tista!" and for CM Punk, Y2J, Brock Lesnar and Daniel Bryan.


    Also Batista looks in rough shape on top of it.

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  6. I thought Batista needed the win. Batista really hadn't done anything ring-wise prior to the Triple H feud.

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  7. Can the same be said with the Shield now?

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  8. And people thought Rock looked bad. At least he was carryable, Batista is a sight to behold in terms of how terrible he is in terms of in-ring shape.

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  9. So like, when Batista was on the mat, he bald head looked AWFUL. Like my finger after I've been in the pool for too long. It was disgusting and I couldn't stand it.

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  10. Cena hadn't really, though. And there was already a reason for HHH and Batista to feud... Cena and JBL didn't really have a reason.

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  11. This could get over 1000 since it's up an hour early.

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  12. I'm cooking ribs, settling down to see if the Toronto Maple Leafs can win a hockey game, and I might have some beer depending on how the ribs go down. Pretty decent Saturday on paper.

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  13. The Rumble win added more drama to the inevitable face turn for Batista.

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  14. Those backstage segments got Batista over huge. All it took was a few snarky remarks to Triple H for people to think, "holy shit, we LIKE this guy."

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  15. Fun fact: this will be the first ECW ppv I've ever seen.

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  16. Bald Batista reminds me of Moleman. "C'mon everyone. It's like kissing a peanut".

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  17. Fun Fact: I'm really glad we get permission from Bayless as to when we can actually watch something. :-)

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  18. I'll start this motherfucker right now just to spite him.

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  19. Random thought....will the Usos be pushing 300 lbs in about 10 years?

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  20. To be fair. He's getting huge heel pops. Pops which a number of other people on the card would kill for.

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  21. Another gloomy day. I miss the days when Spring actually existed.

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  22. Huh. Is Cesaro nursing some kind of injury to his left arm or shoulder? Seemed to be favoring it on Smackdown.

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  23. hmm. Cagematch has this ppv rated at a 9.17. I'm expecting big things.

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  24. Cagematch is lying to you.

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  25. I remember Batista knocking Jericho out cold with a clothesline during a tag match. I couldn't tell if it was work or shoot. That possibility that Dave just knocked Jericho the fuck out made me think Batista is awesome. That was the moment he was over with me. Add to the fact that Ric Flair was his mentor and Evolution was extremely over. Batista got to develop organically, the fans were behind him, not the corporate machine (compared to Orton). His legend grew strong, his recent return was just horrible timing.

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  26. It has 5 of the 6 matches listed at recommended. Wow.

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  27. If anything, his 2004/5 push illustrates exactly what is wrong with his 2014 return.


    In 2004, the office chose Orton and the fans chose Batista.


    In 2014, the office chose Batista and the fans chose Daniel Bryan.

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  28. It's probably the best ECW PPV, but that isn't saying much.

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  29. I'm going out drinking tonight, but I recall watching this PPV and thinking good things. Taz/Bam Bam and Sabu & RVD v. Hakushi and someone else.


    But 3 hours of PPV is a lot of time for ECW to fill.

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  30. If history is any indication, yes. The Rock is the only Samoan to not ending being twice the man he was a few years before, and he was only half Samoan.

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  31. Other than Barely Legal, I don't think you've missed much.

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  32. I might not watch it until tomorrow.

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  33. I'd like to see the WWE Network adopt this as part of his model, the idea that we're all waching the same show, and do their own poll & second screen experience on Saturday nights.


    Not that I'd abandon this thread. Although I am tonight.

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  34. Goddamn, watching food paradise and now I'm craving chicken and waffles.

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  35. Watching Smackdown on Hulu....I fucking love Bray Wyatt.

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  36. The ribs aren't as good as I was expecting. Mini eggs and beer to save the night.

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  37. Upvote. That's my nigga right there.

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  38. He's just getting better too. Nice little match with Show.


    You know, I don't necessarily want to see Show main event anything, but the dude really works his ass off on a regular basis, and seemingly has no trouble putting guys over.

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  39. Gonna do home-made burgers tonight.

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  40. Up to 1991 in my NWA/WCW PPV spree. Somehow I survived Bash 91 with my sanity intact.

    Fun Fact: Dustin Rhodes' first WCW theme song was a soundalike of "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits. Boy, you ain't kiddin'...

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  41. And by that I mean I'm going to throw some patties on the foreman.

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  42. That's how I cook pretty much everything. But now that you mention it I could go for a good home-made burger. Maybe next weekend.

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  43. WWE really needs to revive some form of the Lethal Lottery. What a fun little gimmick.

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  44. They're addictive. I don't really like chocolate but I can't say no to them.

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  45. Cadbury creme eggs? Just had one too.

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  46. Some of those tag matches were death. I just went through 92, and it was pretty good. Didn't care for 91.

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  47. Did the Jesse thread really win... or is it... A CONSPIRACY?

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  48. He and Ron Paul took it over, yo.

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  49. Well yeah, just don't do it with friggin' Mike Graham and Bill Kazmaier and El Gigante. The concept is solid and can make for some amusing spots.

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  50. I have previously dropped that line on him.

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  51. Well if Ron Paul took it over then we know it wasn't a statewide election! BURN!

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  52. actually, that was rather weak. I expect better from you.

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  53. Isn't that basically what RAW Roulette was/is?

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  54. I had sex with multiple married women!

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  55. Random thought....where do these fuckers get their clothes? Savage, early 90s in particular, had some outrageous shit.

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  56. I don't know about back then, but now they have people on staff that make them

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  57. Seriously, what in God's name was Mike Graham doing on your biggest PPV of the year in 1991? It's like if they had cast Eugene Levy in "Ready To Rumble" instead of Arquette...

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  58. I'm fairly certain they're custom made.

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  59. I think you need to up the dosage on your ice cream IV

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  60. Titan has had a costume/prop department for many, many years.

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  61. That might have worked,actually.

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  62. Nah, I'm good for awhile. Culver's had my fave the other day and I went through 2 quarts in 2 days. Need to come down, yo.

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  63. Gotcha. I know they have a road tailor/seamstress or whatever because one of the Funcadactyls pissed her off in one of the Total Divas episodes

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  64. Did they charge them just cost or something then? Some of this shit could not have been cheap.

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  65. Now is this the ECW show with the over the top violence and garbage wrestling?

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  66. Might be some trashy looking bitches too.


    yo.

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  67. HHH: "This is perfect. Daniel Bryan is the perfect decoy. Those nerds will be raging so hard over him getting the belt that they won't even notice me pinning Dave at three consecutive pay-per-views. Fuck, I might even let that troll pin me after only five of his running knees; that'll put him over the top for sure."

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  68. I'm kind of amused by the fact that Repo Man talked in a high-pitched voice during promos, but his in-ring chatter was just Smash. Old habits die hard, I guess.

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  69. That's a good question. My instinct would say no; do Broadway actors get the cost of their wardrobes deducted from their pay? But of course, this is Vince we're talking about...

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  70. I can't even believe that's Smash. He seems so much smaller as the Repo Man.

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  71. You feel the need to watch that show?

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  72. I always figured someone like Rude had a person or company that airbrushed his tights...someone in house would make more sense.


    Huh. I wonder if I'll let this go, or if I'll feel the need to actually "research" it.


    Nah.

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  73. Wasn't Raw Roulette more of a knockoff of Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal?

    At least WWE had sense enough to gimmick their wheel...

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  74. I watched the first few... I also catch it at the gym while I am on the elliptical though the sound is off there.


    (The gym is a place where people go to move their body... on purpose)

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  75. You mean like when I get off the couch and go to the fridge?

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  76. If you don't research it you are a pussy

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  77. Repo Man got pretty fat around the end.


    There's video of him as Smash wrestling in Japan after he was the Repo Man. Kinda weird.

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  78. Sadly I'm a bit more obsessive, it would seem... some old posts on KM claim Rude had somebody in Florida who made the tights custom for him, so I guess he paid out of pocket.

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  79. Stranger in the AlpsMarch 29, 2014 at 5:56 PM

    The VHS copy of this show is $32 on Amazon.

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  80. I always thought Batista getting over was pretty much an accident. There was this 'Past, present, future' thing going on with Evolution with Flair the past, HHH the present and a young Randy Orton the future while Batista was 'just' playing an enforcer type role. It seemed a bit too obvious one of the goals of Evolution was to blast Orton to the top of the card if we wanted it or not. Meanwhile, Batista just stood in the background while the other three did their promos and angles, looking jacked, wearing sharp suits, expensive sunglasses, not saying anything and generally just being cool as hell by virtue of doing nothing..

    The situation actually reminds me of the current situation with D.Bryan. It's a rejection of the person we're "supposed" to be interested in by cheering loudest for the 'wrong' guy instead.

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  81. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryMarch 29, 2014 at 5:57 PM

    Still one of the best slow-burn turns of the 2000s, they stretched it out slowly but surely over about six months, didn't overplay it, and executed it perfectly so that when HHH put him over at Mania (then two more times after), he was fucking made. I still love the thumbs-up/thumbs-down trigger pull on the face turn, esp. HHH's "We can rule together" speech beforehand.

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  82. Probably the same for a lot of those guys then....Warrior too, I would guess.

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  83. VHS? I don't recognize those letters in that sequence...

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  84. I remember it was a random squash match he had against Viscera a couple of weeks before the Rumble when it became very apparent to me that he was about to be HUGE. The crowd was cheering the fuck out of him and JR was really laying him up as a big time player.

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  85. Wonder if Jake paid Rude back for the cost of those Cheryl Roberts tights...

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  86. Probably not a single female in the audience though.

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  87. I have never seen a non WWECW ECW PPV... should be interesting

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  88. You say trashy looking bitches like it's a bad thing.

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  89. I prefer my females to not be single anyway! HEY OH!

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  90. Stranger in the AlpsMarch 29, 2014 at 6:00 PM

    Your local video store would have a section in the back, behind the beaded curtain.

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  91. And $32 is probably what Heyman netted in sales of the video.

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  92. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CdVTCDdEwI

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  93. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryMarch 29, 2014 at 6:02 PM

    The one that sticks out for me was when he was starting to get some "cheer the cool heel" crowd momentum not unlike Orton during his Legend Killer ascension, and they had a Beat the Clock Challenge where HHH told his cronies that the goal was to have HHH win it. Then Batista win out, DESTOYED Rhyno, and had so much time left over, he yelled "Plenty of time!" and gave him another Batista Bomb to pop the crowd huge. HHH was pissed Batista defied the order, to which Batista said Rhyno pissed him off, and HHH got in his face, Batista snapped back, "Now YOU are starting to piss me off!" to more crowd approval. Flair defused it to keep them together, but those two crowd-pleasing moments combined with the always-effective "heel mistreating the guy the fans want to root for" angle and from there, it took off to stardom.

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  94. I'd catch anything from Francine--err, I mean I'd do everything to Francine...

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  95. Hey look, it's Dean Douglas.

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  96. Just watched a WCW PPV where Douglas was teaming with Steamboat....totally different dude. Of the non-dynamic variety.

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  97. And he just dropped an f-bomb.

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  98. I missed Joey announcing him and didn't realize who it was

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  99. My 76ers go for history and that 27th straight loss tonight. 26 is currently the record for consecutive futility in the four major American sports.

    That seemed weird to me to be that low. What's even weirder is 26 is the record in 3 of the 4 major sports.

    MLB: Louisville Colonels 1889
    NFL: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1976-77

    NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers 2010-11 and 76ers

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  100. hahah at Shane's reaction

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  101. I would like to have sex with Francine

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  102. Looks like someone broke his fucking arm.

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  103. We cuss! Cause we're EXTREME!!! FUCK YEAH!!!!

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  104. Surely at one point during ECW's run New Jack did a run-in on Shane and wapped him with a skateboard... I mean, cmon, it's so obvious...

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  105. Stranger in the AlpsMarch 29, 2014 at 6:03 PM

    5 rubbers at once?.....or 6?

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  106. Man, I could have really gotten into this kind of shit as a teenager. lol

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  107. Go for the glory! Don't chump out now!

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  108. She's apparently a soccer mom now. Odd how things turn out.

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  109. I think Sandman dislikes aluminum cans.

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  110. I was just thinking that... it is a shame I didn't pick up on ECW back then... the 17 year old in me eats this up.

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  111. Well, she already has the balls in her chest.

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  112. Yeah but this was the 1990's when people just did more drugs to heal a wound

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  113. Stranger in the AlpsMarch 29, 2014 at 6:06 PM

    Hey Top 5er, I didn't get your opinion on my ECW review the other day.

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  114. What the fuck is that?!

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  115. That audience in the background looks like they got lost on their way to the rape convention.

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  116. I am still not convinced Nicole Bass was born a female.

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  117. You mean balls in her mouth, right?

    Oh wait, I just got it...

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  118. This is not the same without the real music.

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  119. Nicole Bass has to have a penis.

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  120. Sounds reasonable.


    "I broke my fucking neck!"


    "Coke it up, dude."

    :: snort ::


    "Thanks, Vince."

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  121. I'd give that dog a bone.

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  122. I'm stoked for the tag match with man Hayabusa.

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  123. Sadly I'm not even aware of the difference.

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  124. Who are these ugly bitches? My GF just asked did I think the big one was hot

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  125. I knew it wasn't original but I don't know what it is supposed to be.

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  126. So wait, are Jason and Buff Bagwell secretly related? Did Jason introduce Buff to the world of male gigging?

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  127. Your dick is what you mean by a bone AMIRITE?

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  128. Nicole Bass, I believe they called her Asia (cause bigger than China) was their answer to...well, Chyna.

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  129. Total spotfest.

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  130. I watched the '91 version just last week, fun little show. This would be perfect for a three hour RAW, with the winner getting a title shot. Kind of tough to sell a PPV where you don't know the matches beforehand though.

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  131. How you doing Brazil?

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  132. Asya was an entirely different person. Late '90s wrestling had a weird fetish for female bodybuilders.

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  133. The real music was a huge part of ECW.

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  134. Way to wait for Lynn to hop up, Justin.

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  135. Enter Sandman is the only one I really know about

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  136. No shit? Well, fuck me. Clearly, I wasn't watching all that closely.

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  137. I always wanted to like Justin, but the guy was just so fucking awful.

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  138. Plus he had all that tit fat removed from his chest.

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  139. I recall Joey Styles once making that joke, well before Christi Wolf debuted in WCW.

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  140. He was Aldo Montoya, right?

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  141. He looks like an air conditioner repairman or some shit... doesn't he have ties to the Clique? I would think they could get him a job

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  142. Meh. There wasn't much I really dug about ECW. I only watched their PPVs because I had a gimmicked cable box.

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  143. He just made it. He said Bass should be called Russia because she's bigger than China.

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  144. The other thing about Batista was unlike most monsters who get pushed, Dave got to look different b/c of being in Evolution. He came out in tailored suits and fancy sunglasses .... I don't know he just seemed different because he was just a hulking maniac.

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  145. Started college whenesday,until tuesday were just doing tours in the campus(the biggest in Latin America) and watching seminars,the veterans are nice,much better than the Physical education,ADM,economy,zoology ones.


    I'm happy yet afraid,I can't fuck this up.

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  146. ah, yes. Wrestling in a shirt and sweatpants Rock.

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  147. He was their bag boy when he wrestled as Aldo, and I believe a friend of Waltman so that maintained a loose connection.

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  148. Was Justin Credible part of the Kliq? Or just a friend of Scott Hall?

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  149. And there you are. (Not watching the ECW show.)

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  150. Thank you,both of you.

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  151. I don't understand what is going on here... it seems as if they are trying to hurt each other... that is not what entertainers do!

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  152. Just to be safe, take one of Paul's otters for good luck.

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  153. Christ. How many people does Credible need in his fucking corner? Why not just bring in a baseball team?

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  154. ...and the crowd is more interested in catcalling Chastity. Story of Justin's career: being overshadowed by other people.

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  155. I watched the Wolf of Wall Street,Leo,don't give it up yet,you still gonna get a Oscar.

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  156. I could see this happening in reverse with The Shield ... They want to push Reigns heard but Ambrose could emerge as the bigger star

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  157. They're up 13 right now I think the 26 thing might be a thing. Like number 28 in the rumble.

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  158. Stranger in the AlpsMarch 29, 2014 at 6:16 PM

    Wasn't Chastity a legit porn star?

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  159. I actually like the idea of an entourage. I always thought heel Santino should have a Eurotrash collection of stragglers following him: Italian photographer, German bodyguard, taller Nordic girlfriend, etc.

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  160. I'm baffled how he doesn't have ten.

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  161. "Woo" for a chop has to be the most universal thing in wrestling... like go to an indy at an armory and all 30 fans will woo for a chop, ECW mutants do it, kids who were born when Flair was on wife #7 etc... it is the BAH WEEP GRANA WEEP MINI BON of the real world.

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  162. Well they are playing the Shitty Pistons...

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  163. ...and WCW still hired her until someone did five minutes of Internet research and then she got fired.

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  164. Money, just left on the table.

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  165. That was his best since The Aviator.

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  166. Adam Rose has one.

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  167. That was the universal greeting in the Transformers G1 Universe

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  168. I see your chop "Wooo!"s and raise you "WHAT?!" chants...

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  169. Yeah, it's the only good thing he has so far besides that first theme.

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  170. I'll be working tonight. So yeah, a hearty fuck you to everyone enjoying Heatwave. Then again, my job is pretty damn cool.

    I rescind the fuck you. Have a great night..I'll check in on breaks...

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  171. Oh. I was a ninja turtles kid...

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  172. Because you are only allowed to like 1 thing?

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