Scott's Blog of Doom

Why are you still here?

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:19:39 GMT

If you're still coming to this blog, don't. Go to www.rspwfaq.com and sign up for an account there, because that's where I'm blogging from now on.

http://www.rspwfaq.com

Alternatively, you can add "rspwfaqrss" to your friends list and get an RSS feed of the new blog that way.

Vinceosity

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 18:41:43 GMT

(Also posted to the new blog for your convenience)

"Hey Scott,
This is Matt Foster, fos4545 from the blog. Sorry I
haven't been at the blog for a while, I just got
married and started a new school year at a new school
and the kids are kicking my ass right now.
Anyway, I have a question/statement/musing:
With all of this McMahoning going around on RAW and
the DVD, it seems like the pinnacle of Vince being all
over TV. Raw just doesn't seem motivated, the
characters are bland, and the writing is at best
boring, and at worst offensive.
My question is, what if this isn't Vince's fault? I
think the Attitude Era worked because Vince was
tempered by creative, extroverted personalities like
Austin, Rocky, Foley, HBK, the Undertaker, and the
rest. Even HHH was a thousand times more entertaining
when he was getting over as the best wrestler in the
world. It was entertaining because each guy was in to
their gimmick and running with it full force. Now the
only people that seem to do that on Raw are Edge,
Umaga, and Vince himself. Cena was a phenom until he
became bored and watered down. What the hell ever
happened to having a personality on this show?
I guess in all this rambling, what I'm trying to say
is that the crapability of the WWE may not be all
Vince's fault. I'm sure if someone came up with a
good idea, he'd run with it. But in the meantime,
he'll keep fucking Katie Vick's dead body and trying
to be Stephanie's baby daddy.
Your thoughts?"

The problem is that pretty much everything is going to be Vince's fault, because Vince takes the blame for what goes wrong and takes the credit for what goes right. It's been clearly established that he's in total control at this point, for better or worse. So no matter what, you have to lay the blame on him.

Testing time...

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:38:57 GMT

www.rspwfaq.com

I'm still getting the hang of Wordpress and I'm not sure how it'll work in all areas, but I like this layout and having a registration system and such. Comments?

McMahon: The DVD

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:54:59 GMT

Thank god someone did this so I don't have to.

"Yo Scott... it's the guy that sent you Oz tapes all those years ago. I wrote a review of McMahon's DVD for my website at Stablewars (where you're still revered as a former champion). I figure you might want to post a review of the feature on your blog, so here you go! Cheers!
-Charlie (Stablewars.com)
=======================================

McMahon: The DVD
Review by Charlie (Stablewars.com)

Disc One (The Feature)

The feature clocks in at 2:09.

-We start with a look at Vince's annoucing. His father fired the annoucer and replaced him with Vince Jr. out of nowhere.

-We skip over Vince's hostile takeover of his dad's company and go straight to the territory stuff. Vince tried to buy the AWA, but then got Hulk Hogan. Greg Gange is interviewed saying that Vince put his dad into bankrupcy and that he's a bad man. Really. Now to Vince's credit, the Ganges actually tried to put a hit on Hulk Hogan, offering money to various guys to break his leg in a match, which is against the law. Also worth noting is the Ganges, like everyone else in wrestling, lowballed talent. If they had opened up their purse strings, they might still be around.

-Sgt Slaughter says Vince screwed everyone. Vince says he doesn't have sympathy for the people that owned the territories. The DVD actually shows a map of the territorial borders and the owners of each promotion, the ones Vince doesn't have sympathy for. Johnny Rougeau of the IWA in Eastern Canada. Frank Tunney in Toronto. Oh come now, they were in cahoots with the McMahons. Pedro Martinez and the NWF. Ed Farhat, the original Sheik, in Detroit. Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic. Again, oh come on. If Crockett hadn't been such a bad business man that territory could have held it's ground for years. Jim Barnett's Georgia. Eddie Graham in Florida. Ron Fuller's Continental, Jerry Jarrett's Memphis, Angelo Poffo's ICW. Dick Afflis' WWA, Sam Muchnick's St. Louis. OH COME ON, McMahon didn't knock him out. He was on the verge of retiring anyway. Nick Gulas' Mid-America, Bill Watts Mid-South. Fritz Von Erich's World Class, Bob Geigel, Dory Funk Sr, Stu Hart, Al Tomko, The Lebells, Roy Shire, and Don Owen in Oregon. Funny enough, most of these guys have worked for McMahon at some point. I guess Vince is a softy.

-In a surreal moment, McMahon appears on World Championship Wrestling on TBS in 1984 to talk about how his superior product will appear in place of Ric Flair and the good ole' boys. Shane claims it was so sucsessful that Ted wanted to buy him out. Vince decided to get out because Ted kept harassing him to sell to him, so he sold WCW back to the Crocketts. Yep, that's exactly how it went down. And by exactly I mean not at all.

-So we skip a whole bunch of stuff and go all the way to Eric Bischoff launching WCW Nitro. JBL thought when they lost Diesel and Razor that the war was over. He didn't know better. Now we skip ahead to Bret Hart attacking Vince on Raw in March of 1997, after he lost a cage match to Sycho Sid. This was all a storyline, except Bret started to swear like a longshoremen and landed the WWE on a ten second tape delay.

-Up to this point, the TV show never acknowledged that McMahon was in fact the owner of the company. The Bret angle changed everything.

-So now we go to Montreal. Of all people, the Big Show says that Bret Hart was an idiot for thinking he could walk out of the company with the belt. Big Show says Vince did was a business man would do. Big Show says Bret got screwed. "Sorry, shit happens, get over it." Ouch. Jim Ross says it pulled the curtain back and revealed once and for all that Vince was in charge of the company. Shane says Vince wishes he didn't have to do it. I believe him. Bret was always... ALWAYS... Vince's favorite wrestler. Nobody wanted Bret to be the champion in 1992 but Vince. Patterson wanted Rick Martel, the cable companies wanted to stay with Randy Savage or Hulk Hogan. Vince stood up for Bret. And Bret returned the favor by spitting in Vince's face.

-We see the Raw "Bret Screwed Bret" interview where McMahon has a doctored up black eye.

-Bruce Prichard says the fans brought the character out. Vince says the fans wanted to dislike him, so he took advanage of it.

-We see Austin give Vince a stunner for the first time. Vince says that he's more Stone Cold Steve Austin then Mr. McMahon. We see various instances of McMahon being evil. Love him or hate him, it's a wonderful character and one of the most effective heels of all time. Angle says that Austin was only as good as McMahon was, because one couldn't have made it to stardom without the other. We see Austin spray McMahon with the beer truck, with McMahon trying to swim through it. Heh. We see Austin destroy McMahon's Corvette. We see him drive the Zamboni. We see Austin put a gun to McMahon's head. I loved that because the fans were screaming for Austin to kill McMahon right then and there. Hey, wrestling doesn't lead to violence and I'll kill anyone who disagrees with me.

-We see the McMahon/Austin 'match' from April of 1998, the match that changed the world because it was the day that Raw finally beat Nitro after so many defeats. Bruce Pritchard says McMahon always wanted to be a wrestler. Jerry Lawler agrees. Vince McMahon says he wanted to be like Jerry Graham when he was a kid, dying his hair blond, nearly killing his dad. Triple H says if Vince had been a wrestler, he would have been just like Ric Flair. The most outrageous outfits, and larger then life attitude. But his dad wouldn't let him be a wrestler, because they were the office and not the talent.

-We get a montage of his matches. Triple H, Eric Bischoff, Edge, and Kurt Angle all agree that Vince is the worst athlete they've ever seen. They agree he's a big stiff in the ring. Triple H says that Vince acts like he's Lou Thesz but half the time he doesn't know what he's doing out there.

-Falling off the cage at the Massacre, where the table didn't give right away, causing him to break his tailbone. Yep, it's sick. Austin says there was no reason for him to take that bump, but he wanted to entertain the fans.

-They talk about the company going public. JBL says that the WWE didn't do it for traditional reasons. It was to become mainstream. Also it made him a billionaire. They move into his so called 'charity work' like getting young people to register to vote. Most that did never voted. They talk about Make a Wish, which the WWE has been involved with for years. They work with Special Olympics, Americares, and various other things.

-Now to the XFL. Vince claims that it wasn't that expensive. Laughing my ass off. Joey Styles says that the first thing you saw on the first game was the Rock. At that point, it wasn't football. Then McMahon came out to say "THIS IS THE EXEFELL!" and that that point the WWE hating media had all they needed to destroy the XFL. Styles says if they had let it run without the WWE personalities, all on it's own, it might have worked. Styles says if it wasn't The Rock or Vince McMahon, it was the strippers that they hired as cheerleaders. Bischoff says it would have worked if the media had cut him some slack.

-Now onto "Any Press is Good Press." We see the clips of the interview with Bob Costas on HBO where it looked like one guy was going to punch out the other. Stephanie says she was praying that Vince wouldn't hit Bob Costas. Triple H says it's a good thing he didn't because Costas would have kicked his ass. Bob Costas says that Bobby Knight was the next guest, and funny enough he was like Casper the Friendly Ghost next to Vince. Honestly, I think the whole thing was Vince trying to out-Bobby Knight-Bobby Knight. Angle says Vince is a caring person, who's good to the talent, but there's something bad about him.

-They talk about the Katie Vick angle where Trips, dressed like Kane, simulated fucking a dead body. Vince calls it high comedy. They showed an interview of the Rock on the set of the Rundown and he looked pretty disgusted by it. Joey Styles says it was so stupid that it couldn't have possibly be offensive. McMahon says he liked the Angle. The Rock says it was stupid and pointless and he hated it.

-They talk about the McMahon family. Trips says if anyone ever hurt his kids he would use every resource he had to destroy that person. Trips says he heard that threat personally.

-Now onto Triple H and Stephaine's real life relationship. Triple H says people are still surprised to know they are really married. Vince felt Triple H would be perfect for Steph, so he booked the angle. Linda claims that Vince says he loved Trips first. Vince liked the relationship first, then changed his mind because of business reasons. They tried different people. It didn't work, so they got married. Vince says that he respected Triple H because he had the balls to date his daughter, ignoring the way people in the lockerroom felt about it.

-Now onto the McMahons on TV. Shane didn't like having Linda on TV, along with every wrestling fan. That last part wasn't said on the DVD. We see clips of the McMahons feuding on TV. Steph says she didn't want to slap Linda. Linda thinks she warmed to the occasion. Shane refused to do it.

-Now onto Vince as a womanizer. We get a clip of Vince claiming to be a genetic jackhammer. We go into how Vince and Linda met, in church of all things. We move on to him putting the moves on Trish, while Linda is comatose, then a series of clips of him making out with all the hot divas and Sable. Regal says it's OK because Vince always gets the worst of it in the end.

-We move onto Vince buying out WCW. We get to see the big moment where Vince publicly buried WCW. Shane 'took it over' but really, that was the end. Steph says Vince was freaky all day, like part of him died when WCW folded, says Steph. Bischoff agrees. Lawler and Dusty Rhodes say that business was better when WCW was around. Vince says that competition is still there in the form of other TV shows and sports. Vince says the intent wasn't to be the only fed around, but it happened. They ignore TNA, which is OK, because everyone else does. Vince says his favorite match was against Shane McMahon at Wrestlemania 17. Shane says he was sick to his stomach because he doesn't like to fight with family. Vince gave him a black eye right off the bat during the match so Shane felt somewhat better.

-Now onto the Kiss My Ass Club. Regal loved the idea, and although Vince wanted to back out, Regal pushed for it. Everyone agrees that Vince doesn't like ass kissers in real life. Shawn Michaels says he's the best boss in the world because he's crazy.

-Now onto the brand extension. Lawler doesn't like it and doesn't think it worked right. Bruce Pritchard thinks it's confusing to casual fans. Shawn Michaels loves it. JBL is impressed that some people have brand loyalty. Shawn is surprised that some people watch one brand and not the other.

-Now onto Austin's infamous walkout of 2002. Clips here are recycled from WWE Confidental. Even the music is. Did they cut and paste the whole segment here? I guess not. They show Austin saying that he was pissed that they wanted him to have a match with Brock Lesnar on free TV and he didn't like that, plus his health was bad.

-Not onto his hiring of Eric Bischoff. To this day, I think it's the most shocking thing I've ever seen in wrestling. Linda thought he was joking at first. Lawler says that McMahon truly hated Bischoff and would have choked him to death if he had the chance. Lawler says it was surreal when they hugged. Angle was stunned. Big Show says it was kind of McMahon. Bischoff recalls a story of McMahon saying that if the table had been turned and McMahon had lost the war, he would have hoped Eric Bischoff would have hired him. They bring up how he brought in Paul Heyman. Uh yeah, like they hated each other or something. McMahon was the only thing keeping ECW out of bankrupcy for years. Bringing Hulk Hogan back was shocking too. Not really. Vince always loved Hogan.

-Now onto the feud with Hulk Hogan. They bring up the federal investigation, where Hogan testified against him. They show highlights of Wrestlemania 19.

-Now onto the Mr. McMahon character as a bully. They show him picking on Zach Gowen. We don't get the full match on the DVD, which is kinda stupid.

-We see Vince get inducted into the Madison Square Garden hall of fame.

-Now onto his feud with Stephanie. It was six days before her wedding, and it pissed off Linda, Shane, and Trips. They told him that if she had any marks on her for her wedding he was dead. Nothing is off limits for Vince though, and she didn't have a mark on her. Vince wanted to put Steph and Trips' wedding on Pay Per View. He was serious too. Trips said no chance, and Steph too. Trips says he Steph had let him have a webcast of the birth of their first child, he would do it. Then we get into a disturbing storyline proposal where Vince would be the father of Steph's baby. Wow. That's just wrong. Steph, to her credit, shot that down and said never. So Vince wanted Shane to be the father. Again, not happening. Well, at the end of the day he is still a redneck hillbilly rube from Nort Cackalackia.

-Onto Vince getting beat up. Angle admires it. JR says he would do anything for the business. Shawn says that Vince was the first person to ride the wire before Shawn did it at Wrestlemania 12. They even show a clip of him doing it. Also worth noting, even though they don't show it on here, is that Vince used the harness that Owen Hart was to be lowered to the ring with in Kansas City. More clips of McMahon getting his ass kicked. Blood pouring out of his head. They show him blow out his quads in both legs at the Royal Rumble getting in the ring. That's the second most hilarious injury ever, behind Hogan blowing out his knee getting off the couch. They show him rehab. JR says Vince's favorite saying is "Sleep is our enemy." Bruce Prichard says Vince hates to rest. Vince makes fun of Triple H because he came back faster from the same injury and he had it in both legs. Yeah. But realisticly, he wasn't expected to main event pay per views in the same time frame.

-Now it's onto a "YOU'RE FIRED!" montage. Bruce Prichard mentions getting fired. He was, but he was rehired. This moves onto real life firings. Sgt Slaughter asked for six weeks of paid vacation, a car, etc. Slaughter's attorney told him to no-show a couple dates in the early 80s to send McMahon a message. Vince got the message and fired him. JR says he's been fired three times by Vince McMahon and multiple times on TV by Mr. McMahon. They show JR's hate speech where he introduced Fake Razor and Fake Diesel. They show the Dr. McMahon skit that JR thought was funny at first but dragged on. They show Matt Hardy's situation where McMahon fired him. Matt Hardy says Vince is ruthless. Shawn Michaels tells the story of McMahon firing the Rockers in 1987. McMahon told him he had nice boots, and that they were made for walking. He said he was kidding, and then he fired them for real. McMahon says when he releases someone, they deserve it, and he doesn't feel bad for them.

-Now onto McMahon the Patriot. Oh dear. We see him go to Iraq a couple times. McMahon says nobody supports the troops or something. Yeah, all those yellow ribbons on the back of every car in the US are to support the freeing of Terance and Phillip. Yeah. Shawn Michaels says that he can be a nice guy, but he's still got some of that trailer trash in him. Really. He said that.

-Now onto McMahon's new religion. Shawn says he has fun with his feud with him. Les Thatcher of all people is shown saying how he didn't care for the religious thing and that it crossed the line.

-We end the main feature with Shane having a kid, making Vince a grandfather with balls the size of grapefruits. Vince loves being a grandpa. They show clips of his 60th birthday. Steph thinks he'll live to be 95 because he acts like a little kid. They show Vince toasting people, possibly drunk. He actually tears up a little. JBL calls himself a pigeon-toed fatass who wishes he looked like Vince. Heh. They show him working out. We wrap up by showing that we're still not sure if Vince McMahon and Mr. McMahon are the same person. Angle says that Vince is a nice guy, but if you don't give that in return, he'll end you. Shawn thinks Mr. McMahon is what Vince really is when he's not responsable. John Cena doesn't wish anyone to be on McMahon's bad side. But he conceeds that you don't see his good side on TV."

ECW

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 05:16:17 GMT

The Princess' ECW Report

Live from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

As I continue working on my latest YouTube compilation, I figured I'd give ECW a whirl a few months after Scott gave up on it to see if things had improved. I'll stick around until you get sick of me.

Right away we get a little T & A from Torrie and Kelly Kelly. Kelly Kelly could definitely take some notes from Torrie on ring presence in a T & A segment, although Candace Michelle is probably a better example. Anyway Torrie bares plenty and Kelly threatens to do the same until Mike Knox and Test end the peepshow. Sandman and Dreamer join the fray and it looks like we've got a match.

Mike Knox, Test & Kelly Kelly vs. Sandman, Tommy Dreamer & Torrie Wilson. I don't have huge expectations for this one. Torrie gets a stinkface on Kelly as the lights go out, but unfortunately it wasn't planned. The ladies tag out and Dreamer does the right thing and takes some solid bumps to help Knox and Test get over their very pedestrian offense. The heels work on Dreamer's back as the crowd gets involved with "You can't wrestle"...yes that was so cool back in 1995. You know I can't fault Test and Knox for their intensity, but they just don't have anything that forces me to pay attention to them. Kelly Kelly does nothing to enhance the package and with the right woman (Victoria??) they might be a little better off. I felt the same way about Harlem Heat until Sherri joined them and instantly improved the whole gimmick. Anyway back to the match, Dreamer finally escapes after a pretty lengthy face-in-peril segment and makes the hot tag. Sandman does his usual moveset but adds in a horrible looking suplex and a halfway decent Rolling Rock. Knox tosses him off the top but misses a legdrop of his own. Second hot tag to Dreamer and the DDT gets the pin. (Sandman/Dreamer/Wilson d. Knox/Test/Kelly, DDT -- pin, **1/4). This wasn't that bad to be honest. Dreamer carried the match and everyone put forth an effort.

-- Heyman begs Big Show not to take the rematch with Sabu, Big Show tells Heyman not to worry. I'm sleepy.

-- A promo by Matt Striker??!! Now his teacher gimmick could possibly work in ECW, since most of their fans hate being called stupid.

Extreme Rules: Kevin Thorn w/Ariel vs. Ballz Mahoney. Ariel's ring rope entrance completely dwarfs Melina's, I will say that. She also screams a lot. Not much in the way of wrestling here, it's a brawl...with weapons...and no sort of flow. Thorn uses the cane in a few creative ways and gets a two count. Thorn is focusing on the throat. Ballz rallies with a sit-down spinebuster for a two count. Ballz goes for the chair but Ariel distracts him and Thorn hits some variation of a diamond cutter or RKO with the ropes as leverage...Styles never informed me of the name of the finisher. (Thorn d. Mahoney, diamond cutter-esque move -- pin, 1/2*). Nothing to see here.

-- "The Reject" Shannon Moore? What the fuck.

C.M. Punk vs. C.W. Anderson. Crowd is feeling Punk as he and Anderson do a little wrestling sequence with a clean break. On the second try, Anderson floors Punk with a left and goes to work. Anderson goes for a charge but Punk slides out and uses an Octupus hold around the ropes. Punk hits a running knee and a bulldog but Anderson gets a two count with a spinebuster. Punk rallies with a roundhouse kick and a urinage into a submission. (Punk d. Anderson, submission, **). Typical Punk squash. His style isn't one that gets a lot of crowd pops, but it makes them pay attention and appreciate the ring work. Now they need to find him a strong enemy so the people will really get behind him.

-- Please pay Bill Alfonso to be Sabu's mouthpiece. I'm sure he'll work for $10/hour.

-- They show a trailer for "The Marine", I get a glass of Crystal Light.

-- Heyman whispers sweet nothings in Hardcore Holly's ear and instructs Holly to make an impact. Well I can't say I'm a fan, but they could do worse.

Rob Van Dam vs. Danny Doring. They start with Van Dam's hammerlock-bridge spot and he escapes with a scissors take down. Doring hits a cradle neckbreaker for two but Van Dam reverses things with a front kick and a clothesline. Van Dam hits all his spots including the rolling monkey flip, the top rope front kick, rolling thunder and a BEAUTIFUL five-star frog splash. (RVD d. Doring, Five-Star Frog Splash -- pin, *1/2) Good for what it was. Predictably Hardcore Holly waffles both men with a chair after the match and gives Van Dam an Alabama slam. Van Dam goes from multiple titleholder to a feud with Hardcore Holly. Well as the old saying goes, there's no hope with dope.

-- Rene Dupree says something. Just debut already..please..

-- ECW World Championship: The Big Show vs. Sabu. Show hammers Sabu with clubbing shots to start as they quickly go to commercial. Back from commercial and Show is choking Sabu, which I'm sure he's been doing for the last four minutes. Sabu tries a comeback but a clothesline stops that. Back to the choke. Geez remember when Big Show used to have a semblance of a moveset? Ref bump. Sabu tries to rally but it's stopped by a fallaway slam. Sabu goes for the chair and is successful at finally getting Show off his feet. Triple jump moonsault and an Arabian facebuster get a near fall. Sabu, clearly frustrated, gets the ring bell and goes apeshit on Show, busting him open and knocking him over the ropes and through a table. Looked good, but it's a disqualification.(Big Show d. Sabu, disqualification, 1/4*). And the feud that will never end has no end in sight.

The Bottom Line: This wasn't a bad hour of television since I didn't have to see Vince McMahon, Vince McMahon's ass or Mick Foley kissing Vince McMahon's ass. ECW is still a work in progress and the good news is that the roster is growing. The brand has a direction, I'm not exactly sure of what the direction is or whether it will work, but it is going some place. This would be a REALLY good time for Vince to figure out a way to snag Raven from TNA because he could be EXACTLY the type of enemy C.M. Punk needs to really reach his full potential as one of the promotion's top draws. The title definitely needs to come off of Big Show but who gets it next? RVD and Sabu have already proven that they will fuck up an opportunity to carry a brand and C.M Punk needs another couple of months to put everything together. If Kurt Angle were healthy, he'd be the answer. One thing I loved about the old ECW was those 7-minute promo packets that featured a lot of the talent. Unfortunately ECW isn't building up to anything right now other than a token match at the Survivor Series, but still if they could package Striker's, Dupree's and Moore's promo into one segment, it might work a little better. Anyway, we'll stay on this ride for at least another week and see where it takes us.

Prison Break

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:54:04 GMT

"Quick question...I wanted to start watching 'Prison Break' this season. I wanted to watch it last season and wasn't able to due to work and different things, but now I can. I know on your blog you said you hadn't watched the season premiere and of course I haven't seen it either, but once you have, could you let me know if the average American will be able to understand what's going on or if I'll be too confused to care? I know. Americans, right? I bet you won't know how to answer this question. Also, you going to be watching 'Vanished'?"

Yeah, it's pretty easy to pick up. Michael Schofield is really smart and his group of misfits are on the run from the FBI. They've pretty much wrapped up the major loose ends from last season about the silly government conspiracy stuff by killing off Ver-yawn-ica and making it all about the chase.

And no, my TV time is stretched thin as it is, and the only new shows I'm going to be adding to my list are "The Class" (for obvious reasons) and whichever SNL spoof show has Matthew Perry in it.

Raven

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:49:51 GMT

"Did WCW drop the ball with Raven? It's obviously a
moot point considering where the promotion ended up,
and perhaps even more so considering there talent
squandering was en vogue to the front office. It just
seems to me that among all the people that COULD have
been pushed to the forefront, and no matter how many
people had more talent or potential than Raven, none
were already there in the sense that Raven was. It
seems that at almost any point, Raven could have just
been thrown in the main event and no fans would have
questioned it.

The whole angle involving his gimmick and the
admittedly over-congested Flock (although they seem
like Rhode Island compared to the NWO's California) in
retrospect seems to me to be as over with the fans as
any other angle going on between 1997-1998. My
question to you is- #1. Would it have been a good
business decision to use Raven as a main eventer and
#2. How do you feel Raven would have drawn either
short-term or long-term? I feel at the very least
ratings and house shows would remain stable. PPV's
I'm not as sure of. Whaddya think?

I'd also like to point out that I consider Raven to be
the most depressing example of a wrestler squandering
his own talent. He is the only person I've seen who
excels in every facet of professional wrestling- he
could work, he could talk, he was over as a manager,
he was a very good commentator at points, he could
book, he could write, and he was even involved in the
non-booking points of TV production. I can't help but
feel that he would be a great fit as a
commentator/writer for SmackDown! if he'd swallow his
pride and hang up his boots. It's certainly not as
though he can work anymore. I'd really prefer to
listen to his heel schtick over Bradshaw's."

I definitely think WCW could have done more with Raven, although more as a high-level midcarder than a big main event star. However, it's not like they were specifically discriminating against him -- everyone not named Hogan or Nash got screwed over and held down. It was more a case of blanket stupidity than sheer malice.

And Raven was offered off-screen production roles with WWE on several occasions, first as Johnny Polo and then in his last stint with them, but it's always been his desire to wrestle and not be stuck behind the figurative desk. He started booking Heat at the end of his last run before taking off again, and it was actually pretty good, so I'm sure if he ever retires he'll make some promoter very happy.

The Passion of the RAW

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:32:22 GMT

I think it's Monday night? Hard to keep track sometimes.

Haven't watched Prison Break yet, so no hijacking the thread for spoilers, please.

Awesome snakes on an awesome plane

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 05:46:07 GMT

Genius. Sheer genius. Taking the best of cheesy airplane disaster movies and combining it with cheesy snake movies = GOLD. This was absolutely the most fun I've had at a movie in ages, eclipsing Pirates 2 earlier this year. Silly, stupid, ludicrous, but sometimes you just need a good disaster movie full of dumb people getting murdered by reptiles.

It might not make what they wanted in theaters, but I guarantee it sets DVD sales records.

Summerslam thread

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 02:40:04 GMT

Sounds like a big ol' car wreck.

Greatest stars of the 80s review

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 16:44:02 GMT

Here's part one of a review of the WWE 80s DVD from reader Andy Halleen.

"A review of "WWE's Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 80's" 3-disc DVD set. (somewhat) Hosted by "Mean" Gene Okerlund. I'll start off with the biographies from each disc, followed by the matches and extras.

Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
We learn that Bobby had to drop out of the 7th grade, as he needed to work to earn money for his family. Somehow he ended up going from the Chicago area to the AWA promotion, where he became a manager. We get a lot of footage of Heenan wearing a suit with short hair and sideburns; funny he's a manager because here he reminds me of the Partridge Family's manager. More footage of Heenan is shown as Michael Cole says that his unique managerial style caught the eye of the WWF. Heenan says it was exciting in the WWF because their production style was different and Vince was more demanding. He's managed Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, Rick Rude, Andre the Giant, Harley Race, Ric Flair (I thought this was a set on the 80s?), Hercules, The Brain Busters, Brooklyn Brawler, and Heenan can't say which was the best because they were all unique. Arn adds that Heenan was so over at one point, that he overshadowed his talent.

Lots of "Weasel" chants from various pay-per-views and shows. Bobby says he never minded being called a weasel. We go back to Wrestlemania 3, where Heenan and Andre travel to the ring in the motorized cart. Wrestlemania 3 was his highlight as manager, but he was most successful as broadcaster with the late Gorilla Monsoon. (I'll pause so chronoaut can eat some Chef Boyardee...) Many clips of Heenan and Gorilla, as everyone talks about the chemistry they had. Some words of advice from Heenen are, "you never touch a midget." Heenan says they never rehearsed or wrote anything down beforehand, they just went out there and had fun. All of this led to The Bobby Heenan Show, which I've never actually seen so I'm glad they included a clip as an extra.

Junkyard Dog
Michael Cole tells us the JYD (real name: Sylvester Ritter) was a linebacker for the Green Bay Packers before becoming a professional in the 70's under the name "Bid Daddy" Ritter. He started out in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. After making it to the main event level, he moved onto the NWA as the Junkyard Dog. Michael Hayes tells us that JYD transcended race as everyone loved him, with accompanying clips of people doing the "thump" dance in the crowd. JYD's popularity led him to the WWF in '83. JYD on Tuesday Night Titans says, "New York is so nice they had to name it twice." Many more back up his popularity, including Harvey Whippleman and Jerry Lawler. Shelton Benjamin isn't the first to have his momma on tv, as JYD has his mother Bertha appear on SNME. Now we see some kids dancing in the ring with JYD and these are some of the geekiest kids I've ever seen. Why are they always picking on the whitest kids that can't dance? Moving ahead, we see clips of JYD taking on Ric Flair on the Clash of the Champions. JYD's last appearance in a wrestling ring was at ECW's Wrestlepalooza, as he passed away less than a month later in an automobile accident. (I actually remember hearing the news after I came home from a live WCW Thunder with some friends.) JYD was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004 by Ernie Ladd.

Sgt. Slaughter
Right away we are treated to clips of Slaughter during his 90's run in the WWF. The Sarge was working with his father roofing houses, when his buddy who was a journalist told him he was going to do a story on Verne Gagne's wrestling camp. Sarge was invited along and they stretched him out and made him say, "uncle." He knew that day as he was leaving that he wanted to become a professional wrestler. He started out wrestling under his real name (Robert Remus) and then competed under a mask before finally becoming Sgt. Slaughter. He tells us that was actually his nickname in the Marines. He made his way up the rankings in the AWA before heading over to the WWF. Sarge says he was the first to come to the ring with music during his entrance. Clips are shown of the match with Pat Patterson in MSG, where Pat bloodies him with a boot. Next we move onto the NWA where he is Tag Team Champions with Don Kernoodle. Sarge had been a "bad guy", but returned to the WWF as face for a feud with the Iron Sheik. Sarge stood up for America against Sheik and Ayatollah Blassie and says the "pledge" in a small, dark arena which looks somewhat like the Mid-Hudson Civic Center. Sarge says how the tours in 84 were split between Hogan at one venue and Sarge would be selling out the other in matches against the Iron Sheik. They fast-forward to the 90s as Sarge returns as an Iraqi sympathizer during the Gulf War. Sarge says how after winning the title from the Ultimate Warrior he was refused service at a restaurant, and then suddenly there were threats against his life. No mention of moving Wrestlemania indoors. Closing comments about Sarge being successful as a face and a heel, and his 30 year career culminates with his induction into the Hall of Fame.

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
Greg says his father trained Ric Flair and after the plane crash that ended his father's career, he was brought into team with Flair. Greg says they meshed together well and he says Flair had an impact on his career. Several clips of Valentine hammering guys in the ring in what looks like footage from the NWA. Greg tells us the story of how he got his nickname. Its because he'd toss his opponent out to the floor and as they crawled up onto the apron, he'd pull them across the top rope and deliver a big overhand blow to their chest. He loved the name "The Hammer" and says it worked out great. Clips are shown of Greg giving Roddy Piper a good shit-kicking, which led to their "Dog Collar Match" match (its included as an extra.) Prior to the bout, Greg says he was nervous but it ended up turning into a fantastic match. I concur.

Moving onto the WWF he battled Tito Santana, with clips of their Lumberjack Match and Cage Match. Onto the tag team with Brutus Beefcake and we are treated to the finish of the match where I believe Brutus jammed a cigar into the eye of Barry Windham to win the belts. Greg said Brutus was green when they tagged up but says Brutus hung in there. Greg says the British Bulldogs were tough hombres, but enjoyed the classic matches that the two teams had together. Just like the previous three, Greg was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004. As a
stupid mark kid, I hated the guy but as an adult I've grown to love his style.

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper
Piper was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (the site of Bret Hart's Championship win over Ric Flair.) He got into wrestling at age 16, thanks to a priest who wanted to give him an alternative to his life on the streets. Piper's first match lated 10 seconds against Larry "The Axe" Hennig. He was 167 pounds, while Larry was 320. Piper says, "The bell rang, then the bell rang. Shortest match ever in the history of the Winnipeg Arena." He was then asked if he wanted to come to Kansas City, to which Piper thought (but didn't say), "Is Larry Hennig gonna be there?"

Piper went on to manage Johnny Rodz, which was his first big break. He then moved on to the different territories, before winding up in Crockett's promotion. He worked with Flair and both put each other over as great in the ring and on the microphone. We move on to more talk about the Piper/Valentine "Dog Collar Match" at Starrcade 83. They were told to make it brutal, and that they did. That match was his ticket to the WWF, as Vince Sr. saw it and invited Piper to his promotion. Clips of the War to Settle the Score in MSG. Now its the first Wrestlemania and his feud with Mr. T and Hogan. He says he hated Mr. T, and I love the old clips of him making fun of T. Now that stuff is what I call gold. Piper says the way he thinks he helped the WWF the most is with Piper's Pit. He tells us that he pitched the idea to Vince while they were in a bar together. We get famous clips of his segment Andre and of course, cracking a coconut on Snuka's cranium. Piper says it went on for about 3 years and then he did as he was always told, get out of the business while you're on top. (They seem to have forgotten the entire 90s or even his comeback in 89, but thats okay...its WWE.) Besides Heenan's, this mini-biography with Piper is one of the best on here. Roddy Piper comes across as very humorous and I can't wait for a longer bio that will hopefully be on his upcoming DVD released this Fall.

Jerry Lawler

Lawler starts off telling us what we already know, his hometown is Memphis. He grew up a fan of wrestling but never thought he'd actually become one. "The King" says he met the wrestlers after he sent some drawings he did over to the tv station and they invited him to come onto the show. Growing up, his idol was the "Fabulous" Jackie Fargo. When challenging Fargo to a match he said he was going to knock the king off his throne, and so when he beat him, "The King" name became his. We move on to his feud with Andy Kaufman, which he said is the greatest storyline he was a part of.

We move up North to the AWA. Lawler defeated Curt Hennig in 88 for the AWA's Championship and we are treated to the finish of the match. Next is Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich at Super Clash 3, where Lee Marshall with a mullet announces Lawler as the winner. Later Lawler moves into the tag ranks with Bill Dundee after a lengthy feud between the two. Michael Cole moves us along to Lawler's days in the WWF an a color commentator. "The King" says that Randy Savage and Vince McMahon used to call Monday Night RAW, until one day without warning them, Savage jumped ship to the WCW. It was minutes before they were to go on the air, when Vince pointed at Lawler and asked him to commentate with him. (I'm not sure if they're trying to take at shot at Randy Savage or Lawler just doesn't remember how he got into commentating for the WWF. I do know he commentated Superstars as well as Wrestlemania X and SummerSlam 94 before he started commentating RAW with Vince.) King talks about commentating with JR and he loves their chemistry (I did too, until he became a stuck record, "puppies! puppies!") We wrap it up as Michael Cole tells us that Lawler's career has spanned 4 decades and he has won more Championships than anyone in the business.

Arn Anderson

Most of these look like pieces recycled from Confidential, with Arn's being the most obvious of the bunch. Starts off with many clips from the 80s and 90s, tag matches and one on one, even looks like a War Games match as well. Arn is from Rome, Georgia and we are shown around his town. Arn grew up with his grandparents and his grandfather was a barber. We hear from Arn's best friend from childhood and they talk back and forth. They take us to the football field where Arn played in high school. This piece is mainly about Arn's childhood, so we'll skip to the end. He was trained by Ted Allen, after pulling up in the spot next to him when he was going to attend a wrestling show. Later on he met Ric Flair, who had the biggest impact on his career. Flair talked him into coming back with him to the Carolinas, which led to him making a lot of money. Met up with Tully Blanchard, which turned into the Horsemen, which led to more money for Arn. He explains that one night the show was running short on time and they needed to consolidate interview time. They sent the four of them out there and they all clicked together. Arn says his neck troubles began when he was victory rolled by Marty Jannetty in a tag match. He injured his neck but kept working through it, even injuring it a few more times after going back to WCW. He finally retired in 97.

Dusty Rhodes

Flair starts us off stating Dusty Rhodes is one of the best of the business. Michael Cole tells us his roots, which we all know. He started off in a tag team with Dick Murdoch, the Texas Outlaws. After capturing the gold several times, they split...with Dusty winning the NWA Championship from Harley Race in 79 (and again in 81.) Flair speaks again on Dusty Rhodes' charisma. Clips of Rhodes' many interviews, as I think this may be another Confidential piece (since Rhodes doesn't comment on this.) This is mostly just clips from MANY of his promos and people like Flair, Piper, and Bischoff talking about Dusty's ability on the microphone. I imagine his recent DVD is the same (just with comments from Dusty inserted), so I'll move on.

Ricky Steamboat

Steamboat says everybody seems to think he's from Hawaii, but he was actually born in New York. His high school sweetheart moved away and ended up becoming roommates with Verne Gagne's daughter. One thing led to another, and he came up to train. He put himself through a rigorous workout to get himself ready for 6 weeks before he went up to the wrestling camp. Steamboat says he worked out 3 or 4 times a week, lifting weights and running 5 miles at a time barefoot to build up his stamina. Iron Sheik and Steamboat explain what kind of training he went through. Very interesting stuff, as he had to run 20 flights of stairs, next he had to fireman's carry a guy up and down, then wheel-barrow with a partner up and back down.

After becoming a pro, he wrestled in Florida, up to Georgia, and finally the Carolinas. Flair saw something special in him right away and wanted to work with him. A lot of Flair's comments here are recycled from his DVD's section on Ricky. Steamboat says as a babyface he learned to accomodate heels, he would adjust to their style. He formed a team with Jay Youngblood for 5 years and they won the belts 5 times, enjoying all the matches they had together. Steamboat now skips ahead to WM 3, where we get comments from Jericho. It is Jericho's favorite match and led to him becoming a pro wrestler. Steamboat says Hogan and Andre drew the crowd at the Silverdome but he and Savage wanted to steal the show. (I'm surprised they kept that line on here.) Pre-match comments from Savage and "The Dragon", followed by about 2 minutes of highlights. Flash forward to 89. Steamboat discusses the 3 epic matches with Ric Flair that year (with the missing one from Flair's DVD included as an extra in this set.) Comments on Ricky from Don Muraco, Steve Austin, and recycled Flair.

Ric Flair

Michael Cole says Flair was born Feb 25th, 1949, but was adopted and renamed Richard Morgan Fliehr. We are shown what looks to be various yearbook photos of Flair as he explains he loved wrestling since childhood. He was another who started under the tutelage of Verne Gagne. Flair says it was difficult to make it in the business when he was starting out. Flash forward to the plane crash. This is most of the same feature from Flair's DVD, which was originally featured on Confidential. I'll skip ahead.

Flair's career skyrocketed, says Cole, after he won the Championship from Dusty in 81. Flair says that back then the AWA and WWWF recognized being the NWA Champion meant you were the best. However he lost it to Harley Race. Race is his favorite opponent and they squared off at Starrcade 83 in a Cage. Race says at that point he knew he was winding down and was glad Ric could take the ball and run with it. We jump ahead to the Four Horsemen as they play that cool song they had in the mid-90s undeneath comments from Arn, Flair, and Tully. Now onto the feud with Dusty in the mid 80s. Various clips of promos from Dusty and Flair highlight this section. HHH says Flair was one of his biggest inspirations and we are shown a clip from 3/26/02 where Triple H says there would be no "Game", he wouldn't be in this ring and he wouldn't be the WWF Champion without Ric Flair (and its odd that the scratch logo on the microphone is blurred but World Wrestling Federation is unbleeped.) Jump ahead AGAIN to 5/19/03 where the RAW roster honors Flair after the show. We close with Flair on the shoulders of the RAW guys.

I'll hopefully be back with the last 5 bios (Snuka, Orton, Sheik, Orndorff, Hogan) and all the extras."

Impact thread

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 04:43:36 GMT

"Hey Scott, if you want to post an Impact thread (and I hope you do, because I like the discussions) my recap is up at http://www.insidepulse.com/articles/50429 so maybe you could post a link there."

That's a very sneaky plug there.

Jericho auction

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:53:46 GMT

"Hi Scott,

I know you've been inundated with auction listing requests in the past, but
I have an item up that I was wondering if you could link to on your site.

It's a pair of worn, autographed Chris Jericho tights that I won at the 2001
Pillman Show. He wore them in several matches in 2000 and 2001, and there's
a little rip in the crotch, so I'm guessing that's why he picked these to
sign and donate. It's a really nice item, especially for Jericho fans, and I
just want to see what the interest is. Thanks for your time and any help.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180019081104

Jarrod Rollins"

OK, but I don't do this for everyone!

OK, I really do this for everyone.

Rock Star: Week 7

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 02:59:31 GMT

http://www.foxesonidol.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article0168.art&page=1

Ding dong, the crazy bitch is gone.

So apparently, I'm dead.

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 02:41:57 GMT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Keith

And here my entry had gone for a few weeks without someone vandalizing it. Oh well, I'm just impressed that I was able to post an entry on the blog this morning, despite apparently being found dead the day before. Now THAT'S dedication!

Ballpark plug

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:46:37 GMT

"Scott,

Longtime reader, first time writer.

I'm helping to promote Ballpark Brawl VII in Buffalo, NY on August 27th. The show features over forty performers, including Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and a guest appearance by Sgt. Slaughter. Tickets and information are available at BallparkBrawl.com.

Can you please pass that along to your readers?

Thanks,
Dave"

I'll think about it and get back to you.

The Diva thread

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 02:41:42 GMT

Did anyone else know this show was on tonight? Why would USA be stupid enough to give the Diva Search an hour of actual TV time? Did anyone watch it?

The ECW thread

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 04:11:37 GMT

I just know everyone is itching to talk about it.

TUF 4 Preview

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 02:02:12 GMT

"My preview of Ultimate Fighter 4. I'd love some feedback, or posting in the blog. Or
both.

http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article9822.art&page=1

Thanks
Mike"

Good info there. I've heard of a lot of the fighters, but I've never been overly impressed with any of them that I can remember. However, the UFC seems to be quickly learning that personalities and storylines sell tickets, not perfect matches, and this plays into that very well.

Changes are a coming...

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 05:44:48 GMT

OK, so I know everyone fears change, but if I'm gonna get into this whole ebook thing, I'm gonna need to go back to having a domain name and server again, so I figured that I might as well find some good blogging software and move off Livejournal while I'm setting everything up. This will at the very least give me the advantage of having total control over my software, and be cheaper than LJ.

So the question is, what kind of features would you be looking for in a new version of the blog? Now's the time to give input, because I'll take it all in account when I'm shopping for my blogging software. Keeping in mind that I don't want to play babysitter or do a lot of maintenance.

The thread of the RAWness which is RAW

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 02:30:15 GMT

And....go.

The Hard Justice thread

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 21:20:19 GMT

In preparation for tonight's show.

Ebooking

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 18:37:12 GMT

"Hello Scott,

Long time fan of yours, appreciate your work you've always done, from
wrestling reviews to even watching the SuperFriends for us.

I'm a fitness & sports performance coach in Minnesota with my own
business, called Speed Dial Coach. As a way to offer one more source of
services, I offer online training & information books to my clients in the
form of e-books. These are all self-published, and my main one,
"Endure!", a book on endurance training for high school athletes, is sold
through a online service called ClickBank.com.

My suggestion is that if you wanted to do it, I think you could write any
damn book you want, self-publish it as an online-only thing, and make
much, much more money that way. As an example, my e-book Endure! sells
for $47, and I have afflilates who sell it for me at 50% profit. So, I
make around $21 with an affiliate sale (minus the charges of having
Clickbank handling the dough for me), and just over $42 with a straight
sale. I have my book showcased on a few trainer sites to make these
sales. Even sold one to a guy in France of all places.

I think with your internet fan base, this could be a huge resource for you.
Plus, you wouldn't have to wait for a publisher to take an idea or edit
the heck out of your own material. I think a lot of fans of yours would
like this concept.

You can basically create a Word document, add pictures, edit your content,
and make a PDF file out of it. Then you just get your website made for it,
which will need a sales page and 'thank you' page, where the customer can
download the book.

You could get insidepulse.com and 411mania.com to be an affiliate for your
books, too. You can also use the e-book to sell your previous books
through their appropriate links being left in your e-book.

I, too, am an author/writer, but of fitness & sports training articles. I
just collaborated with a few other trainers nationwide and created
something called "Training Revolutions". You can download a copy at
http://revolutions.speeddialcoach.com, since the file is rather big for an
email to send.

Let me know if you need any help understanding the whole e-book concept,
or if you've thought about this route before.

Take care, and keep up the great work.

Rick Karboviak

PS: Just started up a LJ account at http://speeddialcoach.livejournal.com,
if you're interested in that as well."

I have definitely thought of doing some self-publishing, although it's nice to have books in bookstores as a prestige thing, too.

Here's an example: I've had a lot of people saying they'd pay for a book compiling all my rants over the years into one file. I could do that pretty easily from my personal archives, in chronilogical order, and probably add some bonus content and keep it updated. The question I would ask is:

1) Would you, as a reader, be willing to pay for that?
2) What would you consider a fair price for it?

Presenting InsidePulse's newest recapper...

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 04:30:16 GMT

Chrononaut!

http://wrestling.insidepulse.com/articles/50281

Congrats to Joel, who has really impressed me (and a lot of other people, apparently) since starting to do his TNA recaps a few months ago. Good job.

More book comments

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 04:24:37 GMT

Here's a nice feedback e-mail on the new book.

"Scott,
Just wanted to drop you a quick line after having read "Wrestling's Made Men". I had mixed feelings about even buying the book given you feelings for the product, but I really enjoyed your previous two books so I decided to pick it up. I was not disappointed. The format was a vast improvement over the previous two books. I'm not a really big fan of reading play-by-play of matches; spend time giving me the reason why these people are in the ring (no matter how lame, a la the Michaels/Angle rematch after WM21) and just give me some highlights. This is basically what you did throughout the book and I enjoyed it immensely.
Two things brought the book down for me a little: first was that it was too short!!! I could have gone through another hundred pages and still not been satisfied. It really made me realize how much I miss your weekly rantings (at least, back when you used to semi-enjoy the product). The second letdown was that this is more than likely your last book on the "E" unless something drastically changes, I would think. I keep hoping that you'll be able to piece together events that have gone down since you stopped watching on a regular basis and grace us with another edition.
I know that this sounds like ass-kissing (and who doesn't like a little ass-kissing every now and then), but I just wanted you to know that I enjoyed your book. It wasn't perfect and there are some parts where I don't agree with your viewpoint (and it wasn't your occasional injection of political snark), but it's your book so you're welcome to write about the given subject matter however you like.
"

Thanks, man, it's much appreciated. I'm basically getting nothing but positive feedback on the new book format thus far and it's much appreciated whenever I do.

As for the length of the book, the publisher says "We want 80,000 words" and I say "Yes massa" and take the money, and that's just how it works and that's why I keep getting books. If it makes you feel better, the book was cut down quite a bit from the original version, with more of my ramblings filling up space, so I actually tried to get more in there.

As for the future of the books, who knows. I really have no further interest in chronicling the WWE's mediocrity, but the door is certainly open for other things if someone can think of something that hasn't been done yet to fill up 100,000 words or so. I'm never one to turn down an advance.

In conclusion, thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you enjoyed the book.