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I just have a few questions: 1. How come Vince never pushed Adam Bomb? The guy had a decent look, and he was no worse in the ring than plenty of guys who Vince had pushed. 2. Who is the most famous WWE wrestler without a Wrestlemania appearance? It’s gotta be Kamala right?
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Sep 8, 2019 03:45
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Rusty Shackelford posted:Kamala was in the Gimmick Battle Royal at 17. Dammit I forgot about that one. Kamala was legendary amongst my friends and I as a kid. His original WWF run had ended by the time anyone started watching wrestling but we all knew who he was due to the LJN toy line. He was never on the old PPVs though so none of us actually saw him until he returned in 1992. Rusty Shackelford posted:Ivan Putski, Dick Slater, and Professor Toru Tanaka are my guesses. I was thinking more "wrestlemania era" when I asked this but those are good answers. I still can't believe Zeus was scheduled to headline at one point. Ganso Bomb posted:drat! I did a quick Google for him + WrestleMania and didn't see anything at first glance. These are all good answers too. I'm surprised Patera didn't make it in an early battle royal.
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Sep 8, 2019 12:57
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Who are some wrestlers who were either way ahead or way behind of their times? What I mean is someone like Steve Blackman was not very over during the attitude era, but he’d likely be a huge Indy star if he was around now. And on the flip side someone like Ryback was about 10 years too late.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:54
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MassRafTer posted:How would Steve Blackman be a huge star, he'd be nothing today. I think if you put him in something like Bloodsport and he had an impressive showing then he’d probably get booked by every Indy out there before getting signed by a bigger company. He’s not as charismatic as Matt Riddle but he does look like he could kick anyone’s rear end.
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Sep 9, 2019 21:45
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I went to a superstars taping in 1995 and everyone was just tired by the end. The show was about 4 1/2 hours long and was mostly squashed with big matches in between episodes of the taping. There were a few interviews/angles as well but nothing too memorable. The advertised dark match main event was Diesel/Razor/Shawn vs Yoko/owen/Bulldog but we ended up getting Diesel/jannetty/Ahmed vs Owen/bulldog/Jean Pierre Lafitte.
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Sep 12, 2019 21:37
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GEORGE W BUSHI posted:As a developmental territory it turned out John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar and Batista. Off those four names alone I'd say it succeeded as a development territory far more than NXT ever has. If you're asking why it didn't succeed in becoming a third brand, it's because it didn't have the benefit of being available to watch for most of the country or frequent injections of indie names to put on fantastic matches. It was always treated as a development territory and not a third brand like NXT. To piggyback off of this, who are the biggest NXT success stories? It seems that most of the bigger names were already big before and didn't need to be in developmental.
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Sep 14, 2019 16:12
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Dlo Brown worked as a job guy for a bit. Scott D’Amore also got some work in the mid 90s. Mike Bell was another really common jobber but I don’t think he was under contract oh but seriously I posted:i think around "The Goon" period they were experimenting with having a regular jobber crew with crazy gimmicks Yeah The Goon, Who, Alex Porteau and TL Hopper were all brought in as jobbers with gimmicks. There may have been a few others too.
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Oct 16, 2019 03:37
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When Sid had his “winning streak” during the Goldberg feud was it played up seriously or tongue in cheek?
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Oct 26, 2019 02:49
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ShallNoiseUpon posted:Third question related to tag-teams: which tag team can have (or have had) the best member-versus-member match? I know both Best Friends and Lucha Brothers have had sick matches with each other. I hope someday before they retire we get the Bucks versus each other. The Rockers has some good matches against each other in 1993.
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Nov 22, 2019 16:03
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Heel Michael Cole should have been the anonymous GM. They teased it a few times but didn’t follow through.
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Nov 25, 2019 14:31
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Wrestlemania will either be Rollins vs Punk and Bray vs Roman or Rollins vs Reigns and Brock vs Cain 2. Maybe Rousey vs Becky again too.
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Nov 27, 2019 22:08
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What are some examples of wrestlers recovering well after undefeated streaks? It seems like most guys either flounder or lose their lustre after their first losses.
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Feb 8, 2020 03:21
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oldpainless posted:That sucks. He’s gotta be losing out on some nice cash from ppv paydays Oldpainless? More like oldZaynless.
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Feb 8, 2020 04:00
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The Lord of Hats posted:Who’s the greatest jobber? Barry Horowitz
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Feb 8, 2020 16:03
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DeathChicken posted:That was Al Snow's bit as Avatar. It was duly made fun of I was at one of the few tapings where he did this gimmick and I was marking out to see Al Snow because PWI magazine hyped him up so much and I instantly recognized him from the exposure there. He then had a great match with Candido so I was convinced that Snow was living up to the hype, despite the gimmick.
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Mar 13, 2020 15:56
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Taker’s first good match was Kamala at Summerslam 92.
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May 4, 2020 03:02
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Cavauro posted:sham michaels showed his pecker to me when i was 11 in 1997. As a joke He must be Velveteen’s mentor.
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May 8, 2020 23:06
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O’Haire’s Devil Advocate gimmick was several years after the invasion. He was used minimally during the invasion and then sent to either Heartland or OVW for a while before getting that gimmick.
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May 10, 2020 17:33
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Calling the fans "The WWE Universe" isn't bad in and of itself. It's no different than referring to Pittsburgh Steelers fans as the Steeler Nation. It's just that WWE overdoes it and uses the term every time they refer to the crowd.
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May 13, 2020 13:07
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Bam Bam got hosed over so hard after WMXI. He was supposed to get a push after jobbing to a Taylor but after he and Michaels turned face at the same time his ceiling became #5 baby face in the promotion.
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Jun 3, 2020 03:55
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There’s always been talk about how WWE used wrestlers better after they left WCW (Austin, HHH, Foley for example) but who are some wrestlers that were better utilized by WCW after leaving WWE? There’s Lex Luger as an obvious example but even he was pre-established in WCW before jumping back.
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Jun 3, 2020 15:11
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The Diesel reign is notable for being a year long though. A lot of the other bad reigns were brief.
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Jun 3, 2020 17:46
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I didn’t really care for Sgt Slaughter’s reign in 1990 but it was relatively short.
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Jun 3, 2020 18:05
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The Saskatoon Show was a tv taping but Hart/Flair was a colosseum video exclusive.
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Jun 7, 2020 18:40
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Red posted:
It was okay. I used to have it but it got lost at some point over the years.
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Jun 14, 2020 14:50
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Red posted:Japan: Look at Vader, he's a huge unstoppable monster, and it's a huge deal when he loses They had buried Vader long before that. His first angle was laying out Gorilla Monsoon and it was pretty awesome. He should have won the title at Summerslam 96 but Michaels threw a fit and had a tantrum during the match. They never really got behind Vader after that and he was used to put over guys like Sid and turned into a midcarder. I think injuries and their perception of his weight was the reason why. By the time he feuded with Kane in 98 he was barely being used and when he was it was in a low midcard capacity.
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Jun 16, 2020 17:34
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A lot of wrestlers, including Mick Foley and Ric Flair, have said that they saw star power in Steve Austin right from the onset of his career. Was this a common perspective of Austin at the time? Was he generally seen as having huge potential in the early/mid 90s?
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Jun 19, 2020 17:05
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Randaconda posted:No, Vince is just that out of touch. He made him the Ringmaster because he saw Austin as a good mid-card guy, but nothing else. Yeah, Austin spent months on the midcard carousel with Helmsley, Mero and Goldust before Bret came back for the feud that elevated him.
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Jun 19, 2020 19:56
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If you don’t mind watching Benoit then give 2004 a look too.
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Jul 13, 2020 16:54
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Randaconda posted:Somebody (not me) needs to write an effort post on all the guys they seemingly went out of their way to gently caress up during the past two decades. Ok, I’ll give this a go. As a bit of background for the mess they have had for the past 20 years we’ll go back to the end of the 90s. At that point their main event scene was The Rock, Triple H, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Undertaker and The Big Show. These wrestlers were well-protected and generally would not job to anyone outside of this tier. As 2000 began, Undertaker and Austin were sidelined with injuries and Mick Foley was on the verge of retirement. There was a need to create new main eventers. Fortunately, they had a crop of young stars who should have easily filled the roles - Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. But instead of seamlessly integrating these stars into the main event scene they were only pushed reluctantly. There were lots of excuses as to why - “he hasn’t paid his dues”, “he’s too small”, “he’s too sloppy” etc, etc. Regardless of the excuses, these were the top prospects on the roster and the guys they needed to elevate. The first guy they elevated from this group was Kurt Angle. He was in a red hot storyline where he was clearly angling to seduce Stephanie McMahon areas from Triple H. Of course they never pulled the trigger on this and kept Hunter and Steph together. Although Angle was elevated to the main event he still didn’t seem to be on the level of the previously established crew. I should also point out that this is when a lot of casual fans I knew quit watching. Chris Benoit would eventually become world champ in 2004 but it seemed more like a golden watch reign than anything else. Chris Jericho is probably the biggest red flag of the next two decades. He arguably had the greatest debut in company history and seemed to be a main event player right off the bat. They did everything they could to cool him down though, and by mid-2000 he was feuding with Kane over coffee and by 2001 was entrenched in the midcard as IC champion. But as 2001 came to a close they decided it was time to elevate him. But it was really too little, too late. Although he beat Austin and The rock on the same night to become the first undisputed champion he hadn’t been built up strongly before then and his title reign seemed more like a fluke than anything else. He was booked very week during his reign and essentially served as an avatar for Stephanie McMahon during a feud with Triple H. His world title reign did not make him a made man as it usually did for most previous champions and he was shuffled back to the midcard. I would say he was the first “B+ player” of the 21st century. I’m not going to go into the failed WCW star pushes. We all know that there was a lot of pettiness involved there. /They did successfully push some guys in the early 2000s. Brock Lesnar was a can’t miss prospect, Randy Orton’s legend killer gimmick and Foley feud elevated him, John Cena’s rapper gimmick led to him becoming the face of the company and Dave Batista turned out to be much more than the muscular stiff he initially appear to be. But for every star they made there was multiple gently caress ups. Rob Van Dam was the breakout star of the invasion. They relegated him to the midcard for years before giving him a lame reign in the mid-2000s. Christian was buried so hard that he went to TNA for a push. Carlito, Ken Kennedy and Chris Masters were never pushed beyond midcard level and are largely forgotten now. And then there’s Edge. Edge was a guy who they had high hopes for since his debut in 1998. He wasn’t a guy that they were going to strap a rocket to but they were taking a more subtle approach and slowly building him up. He’d look strong in matches and occasionally rub shoulders with the main event stars. This had successfully been done in the 90s with guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. His push was derailed a lot due to injuries but by 2005 everything seemed to be back on track. He had dominated a feud with Matt Hardy, had Lita by his side and was the first money in the bank briefcase holder. This momentum came to a head in January 2006 when he cashed in the briefcase on Cena and became the champion. He was then immediately derailed because he wasn’t part of the mania main event scene so they quickly got the title off of him before he could accomplish anything significant as champion. He never quite rose to that level again but was still a valued B+ player for years. He was largely relegated to Smackdown, which was the B-show. He’d have multiple title reigns but never seemed to be as over as he was when he won his first one. This is a big reason why he’s not moving the ratings needle now. There were multiple other short pushes. JBL was a midcard really who got an inexplicably long title reign and was shuffled back to the midcard right after. Rey Mysterio won the world title largely due to capitalize on sympathy for Eddy Guerrero’s death. He was the weakest booked champion in company history up to that point. Mark Henry got a golden watch reign. None of these guys were booked as mega stars though and were a tier below the B+ players. This helped devalue the titles and main event scene. The actual main event scene, the A players, started drying up in the mid-2000s. The Rock left for Hollywood. Austin retired. Brock left for the NFL and ufc. Batista left as well, and Triple H’s reigns of terror made fans leave in droves. It is speculated that people leaving the company and becoming bigger stars is the main reason why they stopped pushing stars so strongly and focused on the brand instead. I think it’s partly that but I honestly think it can also be attributed to incompetence. Anyway, that’s just some of the background and I haven’t even gotten to Jeff Hardy or Daniel Bryan yet. I got to get back to work but if you want more info I can go into those two stars and the failure to push them led to the current state.
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Jul 15, 2020 14:58
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It’s incredible how many forgotten characters there were from the 2000s. Just off the top of my head I got: The Bashams Gymini Gunner Scott The Teachers Pets Manu Mordecai Hade Vansen The Heart throbs Kizarny Luther Reigns Orlando Jordan DJ Gabriel And that’s just a short list. Many of these guys got a lot of tv time too, but had no memorable matches or angles. Was any decade worse in terms of go-nowhere characters?
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Jul 21, 2020 00:19
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For gimmicks that are worlds apart, Fatu was portrayed as a savage Samoan who couldn’t even figure out how to wear boots to being a street-savvy community activist. He then became a sultan and then a sumo guy who danced to hip hop.
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Jul 22, 2020 13:44
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My favourite trope is when a lackey finally gets fed up with his boss’ poo poo and turns face. Works every time.
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Aug 12, 2020 14:33
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How do you think Shane Douglas would have done in WWE if he had waited one year to jump ship there? By Summer 1996 Hall & Nash were gone, and guaranteed contracts were a thing so that’s two big negatives from his 1995 run out of the way.
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Aug 18, 2020 01:59
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Nakamura and Balor’s themes were good.
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Aug 27, 2020 20:55
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There was a really bad stable that was Slater, Bo Dallas and a few other job guys. There’s also the new nexus and corrrre
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Sep 8, 2020 01:00
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Paper Lion posted:literally every other promotion across all regions and genders uses valets/managers. vince does not use them because of the following reasons (which also apply to tag teams): 4) it’s cheaper not to fly an extra person out to the shows or pay an extra person for the show
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Sep 15, 2020 02:45
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Tato posted:Ah, the fun days of Scotsman vs The Internet Scoopsmen, where there was a leaderboard and you'd get points based on the most outlandish poo poo you could get wrestling scoop sites to print. Adrian Adonis signs with WWF was the greatest of all the fake news articles. I miss Scotsman’s old site that had the recaps of all his feuds. For other old IWC personalities, last I heard was that Mike Samuda (MiCasa) committed fraud, Sean Shannon transitioned and then kind of disappeared, and Rick Scaia kind of kept Online Onslaught around for a while off and on. Does anyone know what happened to Eric S. from 411? I can’t even remember how to spell his last name so I can’t google him.
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Sep 22, 2020 22:30
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MassRafTer posted:Two guys who fell off the face of the Earth were GH and Joe. They were two funny dudes on the Prodigy BBs and then recapped Raw and Nitro for a couple years for various sites... and I don't think I ever saw them again after that. They created the Stevie Ray song in the WCW thread OP. These two were great and I wish their Raw and Nitro recaps were archived somewhere. They also wrote the Revenge of the Nerds parody with Bryan and Dave going to WWE.
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Sep 23, 2020 13:11
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davidbix posted:Since his name was mentioned: I think he’s more gullible than fabulist. He seems like the type who believed whatever rumour he read on RSPW first and never learned to re-evaluate as new info became available.
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Sep 24, 2020 13:41
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