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Post by OGBoardPoster2005 on Jul 24, 2014 14:26:28 GMT -5
Thoughts?
And why was Raven fired?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2014 14:36:36 GMT -5
I thought he was great in the role, although maybe a little too derivative of Jimmy Hart/Mr. Fuji/Slick/Jim Cornette and every other weaselly manager who carried a blunt object.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2014 16:15:19 GMT -5
I vaguely recall stories about him getting Shane involved with drugs, somehow, as the reason for his dismissal in '94.
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Post by fuzzywarble, squat cobbler on Jul 24, 2014 16:24:00 GMT -5
I thought he was hilarious. More entertaining than Raven.
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Post by Apricots And A Pear Tree on Jul 24, 2014 16:30:16 GMT -5
Best. Manager. Ever.
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Jul 24, 2014 16:38:49 GMT -5
Lol yeah he hung out with Shane, but I don't think he ever got him hooked on drugs, Vince would've erased him from history, he just got him drunk, Shane actually started calling his father Vic after Raven called him that when they announced together. Raven was in a position of power, he was gonna be a future member of the inner circle, like Pritchard, Gerry Brisco, and Patterson, there's a video of him touring the WWF offices and all the employees liked him, he kinda owned the place. What happened was that he wanted to be a wrestler not a manager or an office guy. He pitched the Raven character to the office, only Brisco got it, he said that his kids listened to grunge music and dressed in that fashion, and that he could appeal to the teenage demographic, but guess what Vince didn't got the character, it didn't came as a surprise from the man who thought Scott Hall created the Scarface character, he never watched the movie. Frustrated Raven asked for his release, Vince gave it to him with the condition that he wouldn't go to WCW. Before going to ECW, actually Raven called Cornette and was supposed to debut the character in Smokey Mountain (I don't know how the audience would've reacted), but something came up and Cornette couldn't use him, then he went to ECW and the rest is history. Raven is an interesting guy to say the least, he traded a secure job that maybe he could still be doing to this day, to becoming a wrestling superstar for a short time. Lol when he returned to the wwe for his second run, Vince actually looked at him and said, who the f*** hired Raven?
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Post by jason1980s on Jul 24, 2014 16:46:28 GMT -5
Vince probably didn't even realize Raven was Polo.
He was a good hand while he lasted but with the Quebeccers leaving, it left him with nothing. He was an on screen-in ring personality, not a backstage interviewer-host type but that was all they had for him. The days of the manager were dying and I'm sure if WWF did have him as a wrestler, he would have been given a horrible gimmick.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2014 22:33:35 GMT -5
Vince probably didn't even realize Raven was Polo. He was a good hand while he lasted but with the Quebeccers leaving, it left him with nothing. He was an on screen-in ring personality, not a backstage interviewer-host type but that was all they had for him. The days of the manager were dying and I'm sure if WWF did have him as a wrestler, he would have been given a horrible gimmick. I agree, and if Vince had gone with the Raven character, I think they would have killed it. Vince was very narrow minded in many ways about what could get over. I could have seen it possibly working in WCW, as the talent had more freedom to work their own gimmicks and get themselves over there (or not), instead of always being forced to get something over that the office hands to them. In the long run, ECW was probably the best place for him, and he still got to have a nice WCW run during its peak years.
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Jul 24, 2014 23:15:40 GMT -5
The weird part is that Vince kinda did the Raven gimmick after all. In Edge's book the original idea developed by Russo had Edge had a grunge vibe, he quoted poems (sounds familiar?), also those vignettes they did in NYC...f*** he became his own man and is deserving of his HOF induction, but Edge was conceived as a Raven ripoff, I'm glad the performer put his own twist in it.
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Crappler El 0 M
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Post by Crappler El 0 M on Jul 24, 2014 23:17:50 GMT -5
For the most part, I enjoyed him on commentary. He was pretty funny actually.
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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on Jul 25, 2014 0:32:52 GMT -5
I remember getting a kick out of him when I was a kid. After he showed up back in WWF during the ECW "Invasion" as Raven I my mind was kind of blown.
I was all, "What the hell? It's Johnny Polo!!"
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Jul 25, 2014 0:36:02 GMT -5
I remember getting a kick out of him when I was a kid. After he showed up back in WWF during the ECW "Invasion" as Raven I my mind was kind of blown. I was all, "What the hell? It's Johnny Polo!!" My first memory of Raven, before I discovered ECW, was seeing him in the Jesse Ventura story playing the role of Shawn Michaels and screwing some Canadian, didn't knew Jesse tried to stop the Montreal Screw Job.
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Post by oniloco on Jul 25, 2014 5:34:53 GMT -5
I was at a Q & A with Raven last year. He was asked about Polo and talked around it a bit. IIRC the highlights were;
- He had a great office job in that he'd call the office and say he was at tapings, then call tapings and say he was at the office... and then he'd have the day off and do whatever he wanted. He'd actually get all his work done in one day and then coast for the week. - He def. did used to take Shane out drinking, and possibly they smoked a bit of weed too. Vince didn;t know about the weed or he would have been fired on the spot, so the real issue was Shane drinking was underage. - He wanted to stay as active wrestler. Apparently he'd also beee offered Commantary jobs in other organisations (he didn't say who) and turned them down too. He jsut wanted to stay an active wrestler.
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Post by OGBoardPoster2005 on Jul 25, 2014 11:36:04 GMT -5
I was at a Q & A with Raven last year. He was asked about Polo and talked around it a bit. IIRC the highlights were; - He had a great office job in that he'd call the office and say he was at tapings, then call tapings and say he was at the office... and then he'd have the day off and do whatever he wanted. He'd actually get all his work done in one day and then coast for the week. - He def. did used to take Shane out drinking, and possibly they smoked a bit of weed too. Vince didn;t know about the weed or he would have been fired on the spot, so the real issue was Shane drinking was underage. - He wanted to stay as active wrestler. Apparently he'd also beee offered Commantary jobs in other organisations (he didn't say who) and turned them down too. He jsut wanted to stay an active wrestler. Shane was 24 at the time, underage, he was not.
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Post by oniloco on Jul 29, 2014 10:56:22 GMT -5
Ah well, I can only go by what Raven said. He's played me!!!
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Post by willyjakes on Jul 29, 2014 11:13:13 GMT -5
Liked him in that role as well, he was pretty funny and witty (unlike the grating, annoying King Lawler...who did improve himself but I still found him unlistenable at that time and longed for Heenan back in the WWF)
Thought he was great as Scotty Anthony/Flamingo in the GWF as well.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2014 11:16:23 GMT -5
I thought he was hilarious. More entertaining than Raven. I'm going to second this. He got to show some personality on commentary, and he was pretty great at it. But, then again, I never cared for the Raven gimmick in general.
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Madagascar Fred
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Post by Madagascar Fred on Jul 29, 2014 15:16:02 GMT -5
loved Raven and loved Johnny Polo!
as Poli, he was so easy to hate as a manager and really funny on commentary. too bad he left WWF there were possibilities for him to stay there, he could do everything
loved the Raven character and it should have been way bigger in WCW
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Capt Lunatic
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Post by Capt Lunatic on Jul 29, 2014 15:25:20 GMT -5
Ah well, I can only go by what Raven said. He's played me!!!
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Post by lildude8218 on Jul 29, 2014 15:35:51 GMT -5
Raven took a 14-year-old Shane McMahon's virginity
wait....that can't be right
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