Didn’t he do the crappy Overdrive too?

Nov 24, 2022 12:56:12 GMT @aaron said:

Didn’t he do the crappy Overdrive too?

Don’t remember that. I thought they gave him Daniels Last Rites for a little while? The fact that even you and I can’t remember really says it all about Carlito Caribbean Crap.

There was a running gag that feet on the ropes WAS the finisher. Kinda had a cool debut and fucking hell man, VIGNETTES.

Maybe it was the cheerleader effect in action, but I dug Carlito. Finally a fun character that received a nice push out of the gate. It was just a shame he got injured early on, because Cena leaving him with the belt would have been less messy. I didn't mind the Orlando Jordan title change for the sake of the feud, but they clearly didn't believe in him and that US title loss was the real death of OJ.

I thought they got too cute with him beating Shelton for the IC title on the first night. By this point I was pretty checked out on WWE so I really don't remember much other than him having a forgettable match with Foley and then the surprise lay-out of NYR 06 where him and Masters DOMINATED the match. I thought for sure they'd be the first two out with HBK/Angle/Cena going the distance.

06 is a blur. Is that when the Flair promo happened? I remember he was feuding with Randy and that was going well...and then I presume he disappeared until he tagged with his brother and they had them unify the tag titles on the pre-show of Wrestlemania of all places. As a JoMo fan, I was bummed.

Still, cheerleader effect in action, I liked Carlito and I need to make a compilation to put alongside my best of Renee Dupree circa 2004-05 -_-.

EDIT: Oh yeah! 07 was where they straight up murdered his career and had him run into a wall while chasing Hornswaggle. Add that to your list as well Bake.

I thought Carlito's Back Cracker was a cool finish in that mid 2000s time frame although Lung Blower is a much better name.

Yes, he also used the Overdrive for a while.

I'm loving the rightful hate on Carlito Caribbean Crap (© Baker-man)! Although I'm with Dr. Emperor in respecting the Backcracker or whatever as a finish, to give credit where it's due.

Nov 24, 2022 13:30:13 GMT Big Pete said:

...then the surprise lay-out of NYR 06 where him and Masters DOMINATED the match. I thought for sure they'd be the first two out with HBK/Angle/Cena going the distance.

Kurt covered this on his podcast. As soon as Kurt & Shawn found out they weren't going over, they drew straws to decide who'd be eliminated first so they didn't have to spend all night working. Not knowing anything else about the match or finish, feels like it makes sense for the vets to make rookies Carlito & Masters "work" the bulk. :lol:

Since he's the hot topic, overrated/underrated on...



TEST

Yeah, the Back Cracker was decent, but it was like a year before he started using it, and it's not like John Walters got anywhere with it in the first place.

Great Kurt & HBK story 🤯 . Hadn't heard that one before.

Test is rated properly imo. He was....ok. I was never a fan of his in real time. He did have some good snap on his power moves, but was otherwise just so blah. There was nothing there. I had no reason to care. No real gimmick to speak of. Didn't talk much. Only had one or two interesting feuds/storylines. 🤯 and @ness to a lesser extent have done a good job of putting him over to the point where I do respect him more nowadays than I did when he was active.

In his defense I will say there was a few week stretch in Spring 2002 where he strung together a nice stretch Smackdown matches and I thought he was finally turning the corner. It didn't last. The Summerslam 99 match with Shane rules and is one those miracle matches. He also had really good chemistry with Tajiri. Oh, and for some reason he had real heat with my friend Bryan, who was a newbie fan at the time, after winning the Immunity Battle Royal at Survivor Series 2001. Bryan out there just passionately hating Immunity Era Test for petty reasons. It's cute in hindsight.

I'm not going to besmirch anyone for being a Testicle. I mean I'm a Scott Norton fan and what is Norton other than a shorter, thicker Test? We all have our guys.

One last Test related thing...TIL Test was only gone for two years in between WWE runs. It felt A LOT longer. Anybody else or just me? Not saying it was quite on the "lol wtf where did they dig this guy up?" level of Tatanka...but, like, it wasn't that far off? Funny thing is WWE didn't even change much from 04 to 06, but Test just felt like a relic of a bygone era for me. Maybe because he did nothing of note during those two years he was away? Out of sight, out of mind.

I think it was just how many stars dropped off after Tude Era ended. By time brand split and they started churning through stars like nobody's business I can buy him feeling like a bygone era. It's hard to think he was rubbing shoulders with WCW guys.

Baker-man is correct...

Despite my love of him, Test is rated properly.

He's as underrated as he deserves to be as the Attitude Era's Adam Bomb. The look and all the tools, talent too... And yet, with all they gave him storyline-wise, he was always only ever what he ultimately was.

But still... I'm with Big Pete & Strobe in thinking he'd have been perfect getting Big Show's spot in that Survivor Series '99 triple threat, a short title run from November to late December or early January, and then being revealed a year later as the wheelman who ran down Stone Cold.

Test's hair is seriously underrated. Lovely locks. I vaguely recall he wrestled with short hair which was a huge disappointment.

Nov 25, 2022 9:19:01 GMT Emperor said:

Test's hair is seriously underrated. Lovely locks. I vaguely recall he wrestled with short hair which was a huge disappointment.

Was it ever confirmed that HHH mandated that all the blonde guys had to get their hair trimmed? It was awfully coincidental Test, Christian and Jericho all sported shorter hair-dos around this time.

Test's ceiling with me was "I think I might be starting to like this guy" before immediately falling off. Happened two or three different times. Like he was just good enough to seem like he was capable of bigger and better things, but not good enough to ever deliver on that promise.

The thing with Test is that the run with Steiner was so forgettable, that it feels like any serious push he had ended against Taker at SummerSlam 2002. So it felt more like a 4+ year break. Even then, outside of being roided to the gills I barely remember anything about that run. I remember one match against RVD and then there's a massive space until he faces Bobby Lashley at the 2007 Royal Rumble. To me that RR match more than anything defined that entire run, because it felt like the most inauthentic ECW match you could possibly put together. It would have been like Curtis Hughes vs. Jim Duggan for the ECW Title in 1994. Or Test vs. Adam Bomb/Wrath in 1999.

Look at this though!



It makes the feud look so cool!

Why do I have a desire to wear an Affliction shirt and cover myself in Axe/Lynx bodyspray?

Nov 24, 2022 13:30:13 GMT Big Pete said:

EDIT: Oh yeah! 07 was where they straight up murdered his career and had him run into a wall while chasing Hornswaggle. Add that to your list as well Bake.

lol Somehow I missed this one in real time. PW was talking it up one day as an all time bad moment. Naturally I thought it sounded awesome. Somebody posted the video. PW was right. I was wrong. It sucked. 

Nov 25, 2022 3:22:19 GMT 🤯 said:

the Attitude Era's Adam Bomb.

We can end the Test discussion here. This is the perfect take.

Nov 25, 2022 9:31:59 GMT Big Pete said:

Was it ever confirmed that HHH mandated that all the blonde guys had to get their hair trimmed? It was awfully coincidental Test, Christian and Jericho all sported shorter hair-dos around this time.

You might be onto something. Don't forget about Val & Billy Bad Ass. Didn't they lose their long locks in 2000? Perhaps raping those midcarders of their dignity was a trial run before HHH moved onto shearing more pertinent threats? Only Hogan played The Game better than Trips.

Nov 25, 2022 9:50:39 GMT Big Pete said:

he faces Bobby Lashley at the 2007 Royal Rumble. To me that RR match more than anything defined that entire run, because it felt like the most inauthentic ECW match you could possibly put together. It would have been like Curtis Hughes vs. Jim Duggan for the ECW Title in 1994. Or Test vs. Adam Bomb/Wrath in 1999.

Best take since Test=Attitude Era Adam Bomb.

We've beat Test into the ground. Time to move on.
"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff

I've got an action figure of him but I've never ever seen any of his matches.

Nov 26, 2022 16:44:58 GMT @aaron said:

I've got an action figure of him but I've never ever seen any of his matches.

Me too!



Great figure! This the one you had?

Never seen an Orndorff match, huh? Well, here is an Orndorff masterpiece featuring THE GREAT Disco Inferno...



I unironically believe this is a ***** segment. What is pro wrestling? THIS is pro wrestling. Two guys getting their characters over in just a few minutes. Beautiful. Nay. WONDERFUL!

Baker It's this one!




I feel like this whole thing has been a trick to get people to watch a Disco match!

^ That pic keeps breaking PW.

@ness, What do you mean? You can't be vague when it comes to serious matters like breaking PW!

I kept getting the GRRR BEAR Proboards Error Page so I blamed @aaron!

I thought Test had a decent but really underrated run from the T&A split through his Euro title run until they put him in the Alliance.

Nov 26, 2022 20:06:33 GMT @aaron said:

I feel like this whole thing has been a trick to get people to watch a Disco match!

A happy accident I assure you! 

@ness PW was down for me as well. I too will blame Disco-hating @aaron

I thought @ness was somehow referencing and seeing this...



But with Orndorff's head pasted onto Kim's body.

Orndorff - Underrated

He's one of those guys where coming in my perception was that he was just another relic of a bygone era. A WWF cast-off WCW picked up who phoned it in and thankfully had the courtesy of disappearing when the nWo appeared and Pro Wrestling actually embraced the edginess of the 90s. I really thought he was just another body guy, but in watching him work alongside guys like Foley, you see somebody who was still busting his ass despite not being on the cutting edge. Then of course is the Gary Spivey segment which seemingly flew under the radar for years until I want to say the WWF mentioned in this web-series.



Then obviously you came along Bake and pushed it up another level.

Both Orndorff and Muraco are underrated workers. That's why the WM2 crowd was so pissed about their bullshit match finish. These two could go, especially against each other, and the people wanted to see it!