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Post by héad.casé on Mar 27, 2015 7:28:09 GMT -5
So I watched the very first RAW from 1993 on the Network, and I found it most enjoyable. Though the moment I saw Rob Bartlett, after 15 seconds he irritated me. He wasn't much better during the matches either asking Vince if the sport regulations say Yokozuna has to wear a bra, asking who was Rick and who was Scott when the Steiners were wrestling, doing a godawful Mike Tyson impersonation during a great Max Moon vs Shawn Michaels match which Vince and Savage played along with asking "Mike" questions. Then when they came back from the break Rob said "What you missed during the break is Shawn Michaels pulled a knife..." causing Vince to finally step in and say "ROB! We're RAW but not that RAW!".
This guy really rubbed me the wrong way and I don't know why they thought they needed him for the early RAW's.
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Post by HMARK Center on Mar 27, 2015 9:46:58 GMT -5
The thing about that era is that he was pretty clearly doing what they brought him in to do: provide an "outsider" perspective on the product and doing jokes that were aimed at an older audience (not to say his humor was mature at all, mind you). He does that, and you can tell how much Vince hates it during the broadcasts...so why did you hire him in the first place? It sucked, but it was pretty clear what Vince was signing on for with him.
I actually saw Bartlett on Broadway a handful of years ago when they revived Little Shop of Horrors; he was a pretty damn good Mr. Muschnik.
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Post by jason1980s on Mar 27, 2015 10:23:30 GMT -5
Things like Bartlett being brought in truly make me wonder if Vince has such control over WWF/WWE that is led on to believe. I can't think of why he'd let anyone talk him into having Bartlett yet I can't think of why he, himself, would allow him to be brought on Raw. Some of the commentating PPV celebrities are another wonder. Surely Vince would "vet" them before being brought in.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Mar 27, 2015 10:35:42 GMT -5
One of the worst commentators in history. I'd rather have the terrible commentators we have now than listen to Rob try and be "funny" especially with that episode where he was doing an impression all night long... uuuugh. Some of the commentating PPV celebrities are another wonder. Surely Vince would "vet" them before being brought in. Vince loves any mainstream attention he can get. He doesn't care what they sound like as long as famous people are on his show so there's a chance someone would mention it somewhere.
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Post by King Devitt: Scrum Guzzler on Mar 27, 2015 11:06:27 GMT -5
I seem to recall an "ass the size of an ampitheatre" comment from him about Yoko. It's honestly the only thing about his commentary stuck with me all these years later. Little version of me rolled his eyes even back then.
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willyjakes
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Post by willyjakes on Mar 27, 2015 12:20:17 GMT -5
So I watched the very first RAW from 1993 on the Network, and I found it most enjoyable. Though the moment I saw Rob Bartlett, after 15 seconds he irritated me. He wasn't much better during the matches either asking Vince if the sport regulations say Yokozuna has to wear a bra, asking who was Rick and who was Scott when the Steiners were wrestling, doing a godawful Mike Tyson impersonation during a great Max Moon vs Shawn Michaels match which Vince and Savage played along with asking "Mike" questions. Then when they came back from the break Rob said "What you missed during the break is Shawn Michaels pulled a knife..." causing Vince to finally step in and say "ROB! We're RAW but not that RAW!". This guy really rubbed me the wrong way and I don't know why they thought they needed him for the early RAW's. This made me laugh
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Post by Porky's Butthole on Mar 27, 2015 13:34:29 GMT -5
See, Rob Bartlett was super popular during his run on that sitcom "Rob's Place" back in 1982. The USA network would rerun episodes on Sunday afternoons. Vince happened to catch an episode one Sunday in 92 and thought that Rob'd be perfect for that new show he was developing.
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Post by thegatewaydrug on Mar 27, 2015 14:53:51 GMT -5
Did Bartlett ever work with Gorilla Monsoon on a telecast?
I'd love to hear Gorilla no-show Rob like he eventually did to Art Donovan at KOTR 1994 while Bartlet tried to get over like Jesse or Heenan.
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Tony Schiavontay
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Post by Tony Schiavontay on Mar 27, 2015 16:46:48 GMT -5
The early to mid 90s were a weird time. Vince seemed obsessed with hiring shitty morning radio hacks for his announce position which, in theory may not have been the worst idea, but when the two guys who are interested in taking the job are Rob Bartlett and Todd Pettengill, maybe you should hold off.
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Post by Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic on Mar 27, 2015 16:57:35 GMT -5
Did Bartlett ever work with Gorilla Monsoon on a telecast? I'd love to hear Gorilla no-show Rob like he eventually did to Art Donovan at KOTR 1994 while Bartlet tried to get over like Jesse or Heenan. March 15, 1993 Raw had Bartlett, Monsoon, and Heenan. Bartlett did a terrible Vince McMahon impression the whole show and drove Heenan and Monsoon nuts. They sounded like they were ready to kill him. It's one of the few times Heenan and Monsoon were on the same side on TV.
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Essential1
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Post by Essential1 on Mar 27, 2015 17:11:18 GMT -5
Glad the guy didn't stick around he brought nothing to the show.
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Post by madness50 on Mar 28, 2015 0:53:35 GMT -5
Bartlett was terrible, but Mark Madden was so much worse. Had to endure listening to that tub of crap during awful Nitros.
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Post by madness50 on Mar 28, 2015 0:55:11 GMT -5
Did Bartlett ever work with Gorilla Monsoon on a telecast? I'd love to hear Gorilla no-show Rob like he eventually did to Art Donovan at KOTR 1994 while Bartlet tried to get over like Jesse or Heenan. March 15, 1993 Raw had Bartlett, Monsoon, and Heenan. Bartlett did a terrible Vince McMahon impression the whole show and drove Heenan and Monsoon nuts. They sounded like they were ready to kill him. It's one of the few times Heenan and Monsoon were on the same side on TV. Wow, I need to go back and watch that episode. The Brain and Gorilla on the same side, pigs flew that night lol.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2015 5:53:55 GMT -5
The story I've always heard (via Bartlett in interviews) is that Vince saw his stand up bit in NYC some months before and thought he'd be a great comic voice on Raw.
That was pretty much it.
Months later, both parties admitted that it was just a huge mistake and he was gone.
Bartlett's always spoken well of Vince and his time there, not bitter about anything at least.
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Post by Stuart Baggs The Brand on Mar 28, 2015 6:56:36 GMT -5
Between Barlett's bullshit and Vince's horrible, horrible commentary style, Raw '93 was hard to watch. "One, two AAAAAAANNNND he got him no he didn't get him."
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2015 7:48:28 GMT -5
Considering I've been writing about every Raw in the new generation era, I've sat through the era of Bartlett. My god was he abysmal. Just a poor attempt at adding comedy to the program.
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auph10imitated
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Post by auph10imitated on Mar 28, 2015 9:10:17 GMT -5
You really can see the conviction in Sensational Sherri's face when she flings him to the ground full force during that brawl with Luna Vachon. Haha did he ever return after that?
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Post by agent817 on Mar 28, 2015 9:16:51 GMT -5
The early to mid 90s were a weird time. Vince seemed obsessed with hiring shitty morning radio hacks for his announce position which, in theory may not have been the worst idea, but when the two guys who are interested in taking the job are Rob Bartlett and Todd Pettengill, maybe you should hold off. Except Todd lasted a lot longer than Bartlett did.
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Post by Mozenrath on Mar 28, 2015 9:32:52 GMT -5
The thing about that era is that he was pretty clearly doing what they brought him in to do: provide an "outsider" perspective on the product and doing jokes that were aimed at an older audience (not to say his humor was mature at all, mind you). He does that, and you can tell how much Vince hates it during the broadcasts... so why did you hire him in the first place? It sucked, but it was pretty clear what Vince was signing on for with him. I actually saw Bartlett on Broadway a handful of years ago when they revived Little Shop of Horrors; he was a pretty damn good Mr. Muschnik. I think the thing is, it sounded like a decent idea on paper, especially if you had an audience which wouldn't necessarily be composed of longtime fans only and there would be outsiders watching, at least until they got acclimated. The problem is, it just didn't resonate and the humor sucked terribly. Vince probably wanted to give the guy time to adapt or at the least wait until his contractual obligations were over, but I guess he couldn't have anticipated that it wasn't going to be a good fit.
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Tony Schiavontay
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Post by Tony Schiavontay on Mar 28, 2015 9:41:54 GMT -5
The early to mid 90s were a weird time. Vince seemed obsessed with hiring shitty morning radio hacks for his announce position which, in theory may not have been the worst idea, but when the two guys who are interested in taking the job are Rob Bartlett and Todd Pettengill, maybe you should hold off. Except Todd lasted a lot longer than Bartlett did. Yeah he was there for like 5 years. He's still on the radio too, which is awesome, since his terrible radio bits have provided me with hours of entertainment through Opie and Anthony's Jocktober bits through the years.
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