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LividLiquid posted:Having lived through both, 99 before Russo and 2000 under Sullivan before Russo and Bischoff are the two worst periods. What was happening in the summer of 99? I really don't remember this period as being awful, just a decline, please refresh my memory. I do remember Jericho leaving WCW.
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# ? Jun 18, 2024 21:18 |
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Summer '99 is Sid running in to spoil every decent match and Macho & Nash trying to pour poo poo on each other. It also has the Hummer. It's easily the worst period, showing pure contempt for the audience and the talent. I also think Russo's unwatchable but at least he pushed dudes and attempted to entertain someone other than Hulk Hogan. The Sullivan shows barely registered with me, since most of my favorite guys were gone so who the hell cares, let the ship sink.
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Halloween Jack posted:He was at Denny's for a little while, but they had the sense to fire him for calling everything a sidewalk slam. This is the greatest joke in the history of our sport
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What seems to have changed most is that even by spring 99 they've kind of lost any sense of good pacing. You have the infamous Nitro with no wrestling in the first hour, and it's not like they took that time to do angles and major plot developments- it's just a bunch of random filler. Outside of any specific bad angles or booking, it just fails as television. Granted the last Ep on the stream was actually pretty good thanks to some solid matches and Ric Flair still being dependably entertaining in the most bullshit-packed segment of the night. But you can tell it's increasingly an anomaly.
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quote:WAVY TV in Norfolk this past week did an interesting feature on former WCW and WWF announcer Tony Schiavone. Schiavone, now 58, is studying to become a Barista at Starbucks. Best coffee in the world
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Tony Schiavone is like a reverse Pat Cummins ![]()
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It's astounding to me that Schiavone is on the short list of people in the wrestling industry who managed to burn every possible bridge left to them. Hell, even Benoit, Snuka, and Dynamite Kid still have people that defend them.
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Shiki Dan posted:It's astounding to me that Schiavone is on the short list of people in the wrestling industry who managed to burn every possible bridge left to them. Tony didn't really burn any bridges, he was basically done with wrestling after WCW.
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Shiki Dan posted:It's astounding to me that Schiavone is on the short list of people in the wrestling industry who managed to burn every possible bridge left to them. Did Asylum-era TNA ever have Schiavone in it? That seems like something that would have happened.
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RZApublican posted:Did Asylum-era TNA ever have Schiavone in it? That seems like something that would have happened. quote:In 2003, Schiavone made an appearance on NWA TNA during one of their weekly pay-per-views. Schiavone, unrecognizable with bleach blonde hair and a beard, interrupted an interview with Goldylocks and Percy Pringle and proceeded to cut a worked shoot promo.[4] He started by insulting Pringle's weight, telling him to stand near him because he "needed to look thin". He then insulted Goldylocks by claiming she only got her job with sexual favors. Mike Tenay, TNA's lead broadcaster and Schiavone's former WCW colleague, then entered the ring and the two got into a storyline argument over their careers and what happened during the last days of WCW, where both men lost their jobs. The promo ended when Vince Russo entered the ring and promised Schiavone a job with him. However, nothing ever came of that as Schiavone only made one more appearance in TNA[5] and he hasn't been seen on a televised wrestling program since.
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RZApublican posted:Did Asylum-era TNA ever have Schiavone in it? That seems like something that would have happened. he made 2 cameo appearances for TNA in '03, and that's the last time he appeared on a wrestling show.
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Tony Schiavone doing a run-in to cut a worked shoot promo has to be one of the more Vince Russo things I've ever heard.
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RZApublican posted:Tony Schiavone doing a run-in to cut a worked shoot promo has to be one of the more Vince Russo things I've ever heard. Needs more poles.
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Chris James 2 posted:Best coffee in the world The greatest Venti Mocha Bullshit Thing in the history of our bean.
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Starbucks will give you benefits if you work over 20 hours a week so it's possible he has some sort of medical issue he's trying to take care of.
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exploding mummy posted:Tony didn't really burn any bridges, he was basically done with wrestling after WCW. Didn't everybody he worked with hate him?
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natetimm posted:Starbucks will give you benefits if you work over 20 hours a week so it's possible he has some sort of medical issue he's trying to take care of. He's also almost 60 and it's not uncommon at all for people to pick up extra jobs for benefits/something to do at that age. I worked retail for a little over 8 years and there were a ton of people that didn't have to work but did for discounts, benefits, busy work, extra spending cash etc
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Luigi Thirty posted:Didn't everybody he worked with hate him? Yeah, Tony was a pain to work with towards the end of Nitro, but I think the only one who he ever royally pissed off was Heenan. (Mostly because of Monsoon) But its hard to say that bridges were burned after WWF didn't offer him a contract after the sale and he basically chose to leave the wrestling industry to go back to what he originally had been doing. He really never looked back, and he's seemed to be on pretty good terms with Tenay and others, after everything had a chance to simmer down.
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Aesop Poprock posted:He's also almost 60 and it's not uncommon at all for people to pick up extra jobs for benefits/something to do at that age. I worked retail for a little over 8 years and there were a ton of people that didn't have to work but did for discounts, benefits, busy work, extra spending cash etc Yeah, when I worked there we had a few people with "real" jobs and lovely benefits who would find a way to shoehorn in 20 hours a week because Starbucks had a better health/dental/vision plan than your average office job.
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exploding mummy posted:Yeah, Tony was a pain to work with towards the end of Nitro, but I think the only one who he ever royally pissed off was Heenan. (Mostly because of Monsoon) Foley was buddies with him and said that despite the "that'll put butts in the seats" call (which obviously wasn't Tony's idea) they remained on decent terms
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Aesop Poprock posted:Foley was buddies with him and said that despite the "that'll put butts in the seats" call (which obviously wasn't Tony's idea) they remained on decent terms Tony did his boy a solid with that one.
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Didn't Tony call him immediately to apologize for that?
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Halloween Jack posted:Didn't Tony call him immediately to apologize for that? He did, and I believe Foley's wife told Mick "Tony's on the phone, and he sounds so sad."
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the few times Tony's popped up on wrestling podcasts he seemed like a really decent guy, if a bit exhausted by the wrestling business. Then again, the poo poo he's seen over his career would wear out anyone. I'm glad he's alive and not bilking 40somethings for $30 autographs.
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Some people just like to work. Keep themselves busy, have camaraderie with their coworkers and unlike volunteer jobs you don't have to deal with anything sad or creepy.
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Is he not the radio voice of the Gwinnett Braves anymore?
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Luigi Thirty posted:Is he not the radio voice of the Gwinnett Braves anymore? The interview said that it was going to be on the side of whatever else he was doing.
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Yes https://twitter.com/WWEBigE/status/740537380650655745
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For all the condemnation of Tony's announcer work I've heard over the years I will take his 'banter' with Heenan any day over the soulless corporate message replay devices masquerading as commentary that is modern WWE commentary.
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ChrisBTY posted:For all the condemnation of Tony's announcer work I've heard over the years I will take his 'banter' with Heenan any day over the soulless corporate message replay devices masquerading as commentary that is modern WWE commentary. There's nothing all that wrong with Tony. He's got a good sportscasting voice and he's got that similar instant credibility JR has. He has a good way of getting his voiced really pinched and panic-sounding when something exciting happens. I mean it's not GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY THEY KILLED HIM, but he certainly had a charm. Tony was never really the problem with WCW commentary, its more that they never got anybody who had chemistry with him AND cared AND was competent. They closest they got on those three metrics was Mike Tenay, who was not that bad either, but certainly didn't really #gamechange anything by his presence.
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Tony's signoff at the end of BatB 96 is still one of my favourite bits of announcing ever. Straight to hell.
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Imagine Mick's HitC bumps with modern day announcers. It makes me cringe just thinking of it.
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HE JUST GOT BROKEN I HALF MAGGLE I LOVE IT
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WE GOT A FLYING FOLEY!!!
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Tony is a fine announcer with a good voice, they just stuck him with lovely color guys who didn't care anymore (Brain), were incoherent (Dusty), were awful (Larry Legend), or were Mike Tenay.
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Tony also had to announce for a ton of historically bad wrestling shows. If all JR got to commentate was Brawl For All from 1999-2001 before vanishing off the face of the earth people would think little of him too.
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Luigi Thirty posted:Tony is a fine announcer with a good voice, they just stuck him with lovely color guys who didn't care anymore (Brain), were incoherent (Dusty), were awful (Larry Legend), or were Mike Tenay. What about mongo
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Sushi in Yiddish posted:What about mongo He's got a bicycle
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Sushi in Yiddish posted:What about mongo Mongo ruled shut up
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# ? Jun 18, 2024 21:18 |
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Sushi in Yiddish posted:What about mongo Mongo, Heenan, Tony owned and I will not hear any other opinions on the matter. The funny thing is, even when Heenan doesn't care, he's still better than 90 percent of all announcers.
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