Nov 12, 2021 23:37:26 GMT Baker said:

Wrestling Shirts In The Wild: Part IV

Saw a guy in the store today wearing an NWO shirt. Lots of tattoos. Guessing mid-late 30s. Seeing an NWO shirt in the wild, even here in the year 2021, isn't that unusual. Then he turned around and I saw the big 6 ball. Meaning he was wearing a Syxx shirt. Now that is unusual. 

Thought of your today.

Did you see your boy Mike Knox has popped up in #NWAPowerrr to challenge for Sweet Charlotte!?

Feels like it belongs up north a bit but dunno where else to put it.

Had an awkward dinner with my Mom and on the car ride (either to or from) and they had an ad on the radio for 83 weeks, Bisch saying Tony needs to embrace being an underdog and not say shit like a dirt sheet writer. Was bizarre to see it not on Youtube. That reach bro. Then again it's dudes and slightly older from my demo that probably still have faded NWO (not syxx pacs though Baker ) shirts and those are the types to hear ads on the radio.

Nov 13, 2021 3:00:00 GMT 🤯 said:

Did you see your boy Mike Knox has popped up in #NWAPowerrr to challenge for Sweet Charlotte!?

I did. It showed up in my Youtube feed the other day.
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I may finally have some competition for the title of World's Biggest Ludvig Borga fan...
segundacaida.blogspot.com/2018/05/complete-and-accurate-ludvig-borga.html
^This guy has been slowly watching every single Borga match over the past three and a half years. He understands what made Borga great. Today he finally got to the Big One- Borga vs. Tatanka from Superstars. He gave it the only acceptable rating- EPIC.

Randomly listened to JR being asked to explain Bret being chosen over Luger (which JR didn't really explain, a total JR move), but what I did find interesting was he slipped and mentioned "Undertaker's influence" in the SummerSlam '93 debacle for Luger. That 'Taker really liked Yoko, wanted to protect him, and that the office wanted to protect Yoko because Taker and Yoko "made money together." For Lex to go over would kill that. If confidence was Luger would be the next Hogan, it's worth it, kill Yoko, who cares. But if there's any doubts (and there obviously were), protecting Yoko for 'Taker made more business sense than hotshotting a Luger they weren't totally confident in, which is the closest I've come to understanding the SummerSlam '93 finish.

JR's solution (now) was to make the match "Title Changes Hands Every Way," so even by DQ or countout, which there was a precedent for. So, the finish can stay the same, but Lex wins the belt, he doesn't look like a fucking loser celebrating a countout win, and Yoko stays protected because he lost the belt in a flukish way. JR admits that this is obviously not the best thing for Luger, but is like, well, it's an improvement, anyway.

Ace is often (justifiably) criticized for hiring shit talent. Models and dudes who sucked and aren't teachable based on looks. One common meme is that he hired the wrong one-legged wrestler. I liked Gowen's run in 2003 and while the whole concept of NOT wrestling with the leg but hopping around was always hokey... I still liked his stuff. So my question... who was the "right" cripple? And have they ever done anything or did witnessing him never winning a match, thrown down a flight of stairs and being brutalized by Vince on PPV cause the superior talent to leave the business. Or was Gowen the "right" one and Ace didn't hire him but another wheelchair bound guy? Seriously I've never seen or heard anything about the supposed "other" and I'm wondering WTF peeps is on about.

Nov 21, 2021 19:19:41 GMT @ness said:

Ace is often (justifiably) criticized for hiring shit talent. Models and dudes who sucked and aren't teachable based on looks. One common meme is that he hired the wrong one-legged wrestler. I liked Gowen's run in 2003 and while the whole concept of NOT wrestling with the leg but hopping around was always hokey... I still liked his stuff. So my question... who was the "right" cripple? And have they ever done anything or did witnessing him never winning a match, thrown down a flight of stairs and being brutalized by Vince on PPV cause the superior talent to leave the business. Or was Gowen the "right" one and Ace didn't hire him but another wheelchair bound guy? Seriously I've never seen or heard anything about the supposed "other" and I'm wondering WTF peeps is on about.

This confused me for awhile as well, but originally they hired a one-legged wrestler by the name of Steve Chamberland before they saw the error of their ways and signed Zach Gowan.

Honestly, seeing Gowen move around was a bit hokey. However, as a disabled man myself, I was far more inspired by him than turned off.

Bret excellently executing the rolling of a perfect joint

Bret just needs to commentate life.

Dec 4, 2021 12:24:17 GMT @ness said:

Bret just needs to commentate life.

"Life, 4 out of 10, more of us should have been aborted, less painful existence, also Triple H fucking sucks"

Went down a Michinoku Pro clip rabbit hole last night after looking for Kaientai gifs. M-Pro was a cool promotion based around a gang of bad guys vs. a gang of good guys all doing state of the art wrestling. What's not to like? Any combination of Kaientai vs. Sasuke/Delfin/Naniwa/Tiger Mask/Hamada/Yakushiji/Hakushi is pretty much a guaranteed win.
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Poor TNA gets no love here or anywhere else. Truly the red headed stepchild of 21st Century wrestling. But I'm going to rectify that situation for one night only. Been working on a rare TNA project ever since @ness made a post about Monty Brown a few days back. Will probably reveal it tomorrow night.

Mr. Perfect's singlet from Survivor Series '92 is his best ever and criminally underrated IMO.

What was more important to their respective legacies, or at least becoming treated as bigger deals in real time:

Bret winning the world title outta nowhere in the Saskatoon Switch?

Or...

Undertaker's days-long WWF title reign in late '91?

Bret was still a midcard champ until X, whereas at least Takers became a highlight moment.. though more for Flair's legacy.

Tough question because they seem pretty even, but I give it to Taker just because at least when he won the title at Mania (13) it didn't come off like the first time like it does with Bret at X.

Who suddenly wants Flair to retain and we get Flair/Yoko @ 9?

Dec 14, 2021 21:42:44 GMT 🤯 said:

What was more important to their respective legacies, or at least becoming treated as bigger deals in real time:

Bret winning the world title outta nowhere in the Saskatoon Switch?

Or...

Undertaker's days-long WWF title reign in late '91?

Undertaker in a landslide. Even though the WWF Championship was cruelly taken away from him a few days later due to corrupt commissioner Jack Tunney inventing a PPV out of thin air just so Hogan could get his title back, Taker had already achieved instant immortality by becoming only the 3rd man to pull off the nearly impossible feat of pinning Hulk Hogan in WWF. You know who never pinned Hulk Hogan? Bret Hart. That's who.

Strobe, or others...

Why you think we never really see many post-WM6 to WM7 rebooks? Seems rife for it.

Dec 19, 2021 2:41:56 GMT 🤯 said:

Strobe , or others...

Why you think we never really see many post-WM6 to WM7 rebooks? Seems rife for it.

That's a good question, I think it's because there's no a lot of interest to book Warrior's run especially when you have Flair coming in after Wrestlemania VII which opens up more possibilities. That whole era is a massive blur to me, basically it's Warrior wins the belt, Hogan faces Earthquake and then the Gulf War storyline which may have been the first time the WWF completely missed the mark under Vince?

The holiday season always puts me in a nostalgic mood and the current interest has been CZW and namely the career of Nick Mondo. I've mentioned this a few times but one of my earliest PW memories is c spouting the virtues of the promotion which was really cool because there was that void in Pro Wrestling and it was really difficult to get a grasp of what was happening without somebody keeping tabs on it. I listened to Mondo's 3 hour shoot interview and I grabbed High Stakes which has the 60 minute three way between Mondo, Justice Pain and Messiah (the guy who got his thumb cut off). Apparently Mondo really disliked working that match since he drove to the arena from Minnesota, it was boiling hot and he was just exhausted. This was also one of the rare matches where they actually had to call it in the ring and he injured his ankle taking a dive and it was already in pretty poor condition. I still need to check the match out, but Mondo comes off so much better than I expected. I like how he doesn't consider himself a Pro Wrestling fan, but just an ECW fan and more than anything else he wanted to be Sabu.

Speaking of Strobe and how time works differently in Pro Wrestling, it kind of blows my mind that CM Punk is 2 years older than Mondo. Mondo retired in 2003 where as with Punk he broke through so many ceilings he still felt like a fresh character all the way until 2013.

The shoot also reminded me of how I miss the youth movement of the early 2000s. Even with AEW right now most of the top talent is 30s-40s with a lot of the younger talent being pushed as 'future stars' instead of just stars.

Wrestling Shirt Hoodie Watch: Saw a Kevin Owens lookalike wearing a Lucha Underground hoodie the other day.

The holiday season always puts me in a Xanta Klaus mood so I just watched his lone WWF match against Scott Taylor as I do every year around this time. One of the Youtube commenters called him Jingle Balls. I laughed.

Dec 21, 2021 2:16:13 GMT Baker said:

The holiday season always puts me in a Xanta Klaus mood so I just watched his lone WWF match against Scott Taylor as I do every year around this time. One of the Youtube commenters called him Jingle Balls. I laughed.

This is a most excellent holiday tradition.

Dec 19, 2021 2:41:56 GMT 🤯 said:

Strobe , or others...

Why you think we never really see many post-WM6 to WM7 rebooks? Seems rife for it.

I think Baker might be on to the right idea. The belt went back to Hogan, so many people just think "why bother?" in regards to trying to make the Warrior run work.

We did have a little go at improving things for him (here and above it:https://pwcom.proboards.com/post/136899/thread).

Dec 8, 2021 13:59:10 GMT 🤯 said:

Mr. Perfect's singlet from Survivor Series '92 is his best ever and criminally underrated IMO.

It is a toss-up between the classic sky blue with yellow on the back and the reverse one for me. Always loved both.

Did anyone ever make a thread for specific wrestlers' best attire? I feel like I always planned to make one.

Dec 14, 2021 21:42:44 GMT 🤯 said:

What was more important to their respective legacies, or at least becoming treated as bigger deals in real time:

Bret winning the world title outta nowhere in the Saskatoon Switch?

Or...

Undertaker's days-long WWF title reign in late '91?

Taker by a mile.

Bret was definitely on a trajectory to the top of the card post-SummerSlam 1992. If anything, his abrupt title win may have hurt him a bit (midcard champ feel) rather than continuing to build him, mixing him in with the main eventers and having him win the belt in 1993.

Taker was very over in 1991 and had a cool factor from the off that I think meant that he was always destined to turn face and remain in the upper card. But in real time, his winning the title immediately made him different to say an Earthquake or any other heel who challenged for the title. But even more importantly, him pinning Hogan, even with interference, was only the third time since the Hulkamania began, after Andre (with the shoulder up) and Warrior. That is huge.

*I know we have a podcast thread somewhere on this forum but I can't find it so I'm putting this here.

I have a weird obsession with the dying days of the territories so the last two Jeff Jarrett w/ Conrad podcasts are right up my alley. First one covers AWA Super Clash III which saw the remaining territories unite for a supershow in a last ditch effort to survive the onslaught of Vince & Turner. It featured AWA, World Class, and Memphis talent and ultimately failed. Second one covers the dying days of World Class up to Jerry Jarrett buying the territory. Check 'em out if you're interested in this stuff as I am.

Baker man you ever watch the Kayfabe Commentaries series Back to the Territories? Cornette doing a brief history of a territory with a rotating guest that was part of that territory. It was one of my favorite shoot series in the otherwise mostly sea of gossip. Also, Cornette at his best in professorial mode as opposed to crazy guy with Opinions.

Dec 24, 2021 2:05:26 GMT Kilgore said:

Baker man you ever watch the Kayfabe Commentaries series Back to the Territories? Cornette doing a brief history of a territory with a rotating guest that was part of that territory. It was one of my favorite shoot series in the otherwise mostly sea of gossip. Also, Cornette at his best in professorial mode as opposed to crazy guy with Opinions.

Yeah, I've seen quite a few of those. Agree with you on Historian Cornette > Grumpy Old Man Cornette, and I say that as a grumpy old man myself.

So I've often felt that Kurt's title win from Austin was merely a 9/11 thing. I remember WWE really rubbing one out to the idea that they "kick started normalcy" via running a show while we're selling everything. The short nature of his reign and it going right back to Austin had me convinced if 9/11 hadn't happened Austin's reign would've had no roadblocks until Vengeance. It's possible it had nothing to do with it, but posterboy for red white and blue always had me convinced.

Just never felt like he ever got the ball outside of his initial run, where things were kind of ensemble cast at the time. Smackdown Six Before Smackdown Six.

Also now thinking about Kurt on Smackdown... remember when Smackdown was the IWC's answer to a guy that sucked? Just be a top heel on smackdown bro. Then we learned. Edge managed sure, but THE OFFICE(tm) was always behind him. It would've taken a lot for him not to make it. I guess Kurt had legit ded srs runs in TNA, but I can't get behind those ugly ass white boots he wore. Fuck off dude I was the biggest fan until this. Vs. Shawn still rules goddammit.

Ha ha every big man is Taker NWO and every guy that can do moves is Benoit RR. I mean fuck, Kurt is a gladiator. That's WHAT wrestling should be about. But I can't buy into it... that has never been why I watched it man.

I feel like Kurt got a lot of venom at the last half of his career. Always loved him and that booger spot man. Sucks that 2 of his biggest hits (RR03 and the Cage) get scrubbed because of Benoit. Maybe that's why he did EPICS every night for no reason. Could never recreate the magic, but goddamnit if he ain't gonna try.

I disliked Kurt's TNA run. It was 1 dimensional from a character & in-ring perspective.

Marty Jannetty STILL can't walk.

He's just a sexy Kurt, sexy Kurt! he'll make your ankle hurt.

Where am I?