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Post by Hit Girl on Aug 20, 2021 12:46:34 GMT -5
For the most part the celebrities were fine. Even Art was unintentionally hilarious.
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Post by greyfmdan on Aug 20, 2021 14:15:27 GMT -5
My pet theory is that Art is the reason celebrity guest commentators have only been used for the occasional one-off segment or match, but never again for an entire show.
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cosmo
Unicron
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Post by cosmo on Aug 20, 2021 14:34:45 GMT -5
I'm still convinced that Art Donovan had literally never seen pro wrestling in his life before they brought him in to do commentary.
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Post by madness50 on Aug 21, 2021 1:14:27 GMT -5
I'm still convinced that Art Donovan had literally never seen pro wrestling in his life before they brought him in to do commentary. He was so bad on that show. I cannot even get through the whole show from cringing so hard lol. It’s unfortunate because Art Donovan was actually a very entertaining guy.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Aug 21, 2021 1:24:31 GMT -5
I think some of the star use was fine, particularly when they got people who "got" wrestling, but it was always so awkward when it was people who looked miserable to be there.
I am kind of surprised that they got Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Pamela Anderson when they did. Anderson was around the height of her fame, and JTT wasn't far off. He was like a year out of doing Lion King, right? It was before he became like THE heart throb for a couple of years, but he was a household name at the time.
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Ben Wyatt
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I don't get it. At all. It's kind of a small horse, I mean what am I missing? Am I crazy?
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Post by Ben Wyatt on Aug 21, 2021 6:01:36 GMT -5
Burt was actually a big wrestling fan and I think knew some of the wrestlers personally. I think his WM appearance lack of enthusiasm may have just come from him having to be himself whereas his movies always had a script to follow so maybe he was nervous. But from all I've heard and read about him and wrestling he's probably one of the bigger wrestling fan celebrities they had. Bret said in his book that, of all the celebrities he worked with in wrestling, Burt Reynolds was the most enthusiastic and a genuine fan. Alternatively, on STWW Bruce said that Jenny Garth couldn’t have been more disinterested if she’d tried. I get that it’s probably an easy pay day, but at least be professional and feign some interest! Russo backs that claim and goes further in saying that Garth was a total asshole who wanted absolutely nothing to do anyone.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2021 9:00:06 GMT -5
I'm still convinced that Art Donovan had literally never seen pro wrestling in his life before they brought him in to do commentary. I believe that is a legitimate claim, given how confused he was about the action, how horrified he got at certain spots and how Mabel (the good guy) had a massive weight advantage over IRS (the heel), plus his constant inquiries that would put Gorilla & Savage in awkward spots that would likely break kayfabe, such as acknowledging that Monsoon was a heel for most of his career which the WWF whitewashed given Gorilla's vehement opposition to heel shenanigans. It made for entertaining programming, but not in the way they wanted it to be.
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Post by jason1980s on Aug 21, 2021 10:38:34 GMT -5
I think some of the star use was fine, particularly when they got people who "got" wrestling, but it was always so awkward when it was people who looked miserable to be there. I am kind of surprised that they got Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Pamela Anderson when they did. Anderson was around the height of her fame, and JTT wasn't far off. He was like a year out of doing Lion King, right? It was before he became like THE heart throb for a couple of years, but he was a household name at the time. Also Lawrence Taylor wasn't too far removed from his football career. I think he retired just a year or two earlier. I'm sure Vince paid a LOT more to get them all there, more than most of the roster made and maybe even combined. Vince is the Barney Gumble of WWE "WE LOVE CELEBRITIES" when Homer starts talking down about his former celebrity friends in the Alec Baldwin episode. Also, I'm 100% sure Art never saw anything wrestling related. Most football players from his era played football and worked other jobs. He had a country club in Baltimore County and spent most of his time doing personal appearances in the area so I'm sure that consumed much of his free time.
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cosmo
Unicron
Posts: 2,518
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Post by cosmo on Aug 21, 2021 13:15:43 GMT -5
I think some of the star use was fine, particularly when they got people who "got" wrestling, but it was always so awkward when it was people who looked miserable to be there. I am kind of surprised that they got Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Pamela Anderson when they did. Anderson was around the height of her fame, and JTT wasn't far off. He was like a year out of doing Lion King, right? It was before he became like THE heart throb for a couple of years, but he was a household name at the time. Also Lawrence Taylor wasn't too far removed from his football career. I think he retired just a year or two earlier. I'm sure Vince paid a LOT more to get them all there, more than most of the roster made and maybe even combined. Vince is the Barney Gumble of WWE "WE LOVE CELEBRITIES" when Homer starts talking down about his former celebrity friends in the Alec Baldwin episode. Also, I'm 100% sure Art never saw anything wrestling related. Most football players from his era played football and worked other jobs. He had a country club in Baltimore County and spent most of his time doing personal appearances in the area so I'm sure that consumed much of his free time.
Not gonna lie, I had no idea who Lawrence Taylor was. The only football players I could have named off the top of my head at the time were Joe Montana, Bo Jackson, and Dan Marino. And even today, all I know about LT is he main evented Wrestlemania 11 and had a cameo in The Waterboy.
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Post by madness50 on Aug 22, 2021 0:41:12 GMT -5
Also Lawrence Taylor wasn't too far removed from his football career. I think he retired just a year or two earlier. I'm sure Vince paid a LOT more to get them all there, more than most of the roster made and maybe even combined. Vince is the Barney Gumble of WWE "WE LOVE CELEBRITIES" when Homer starts talking down about his former celebrity friends in the Alec Baldwin episode. Also, I'm 100% sure Art never saw anything wrestling related. Most football players from his era played football and worked other jobs. He had a country club in Baltimore County and spent most of his time doing personal appearances in the area so I'm sure that consumed much of his free time. Not gonna lie, I had no idea who Lawrence Taylor was. The only football players I could have named off the top of my head at the time were Joe Montana, Bo Jackson, and Dan Marino. And even today, all I know about LT is he main evented Wrestlemania 11 and had a cameo in The Waterboy.
Lawrence Taylor was and still probably is the greatest defensive player in NFL history. He completely changed the linebacker position in football forever.
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cosmo
Unicron
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Post by cosmo on Aug 22, 2021 1:21:26 GMT -5
Not gonna lie, I had no idea who Lawrence Taylor was. The only football players I could have named off the top of my head at the time were Joe Montana, Bo Jackson, and Dan Marino. And even today, all I know about LT is he main evented Wrestlemania 11 and had a cameo in The Waterboy.
Lawrence Taylor was and still probably is the greatest defensive player in NFL history. He completely changed the linebacker position in football forever. I picked that up from when OSW Review did Mania 11. I just don’t actually care enough about football to remember it. 🤷♂️
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Aug 22, 2021 1:40:31 GMT -5
Mania 11's kind of an interesting anomaly in that the ratings around it were actually way up compared to what they'd been doing, the PPV itself just tanked.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Aug 22, 2021 2:54:13 GMT -5
Mania 11's kind of an interesting anomaly in that the ratings around it were actually way up compared to what they'd been doing, the PPV itself just tanked. I mean, it was probably much easier to get NFL fans to tune into Raw at exactly the same timeslot they are used to watching football to see what LT is up to and drop an hour of their time, but not quite as easy for them to get them to pay money for a wrestling PPV.
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SmashTV
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Post by SmashTV on Aug 22, 2021 3:17:26 GMT -5
I'm still convinced that Art Donovan had literally never seen pro wrestling in his life before they brought him in to do commentary. I’ll always enjoy Art Donovan’s infamous appearance at KOTR 94, because while it was irritating at first, I like hearing how both Savage and Gorilla slowly lose patience with him. At one point after Art says something, you can hear either Savage or Gorilla let out a slow, resigned ‘count to ten’ type breath. I replied earlier that Jenny Garth, or any celebrity there, should be professional and at least feign interest. Art, bless him, asked some genuine but awkward questions (sometimes more than once...), so he at least tried to get involved. I just don’t think he was smartened up beforehand. Once it was clear he was a car crash waiting to happen, maybe someone backstage should have stepped in and taken him off announcing.
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