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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 31, 2007 3:47:16 GMT -5
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 31, 2007 18:12:01 GMT -5
Just my opinion, but I put HHH in the same category as Harley Race from a historical standpoint. HHH is a bigger star from a bigger era, but they're pretty comparable.
Won a bunch of world titles, and had just enough decent-to-good matches to earn our respect. A very worthy choice to carry the ball, good mind, gets it, and knows more about the business than any of us ever could pretend.
But frankly, a grand majority of their matches and promos bore the pee out of me (with flashes of brilliance sprinkled in), and on the national (non-indy) scene they aren't even in the discussion of the best workers of their generation. Maybe it's just my taste, but I'd take guys Flair, Shawn Michaels, or Terry Funk anyday over HHH or Harley Race. Guys like HHH and Race can have classic matches with the top group, but aren't always a sure bet when carrying somebody that sucks (though sometimes they can/do, which makes them better than most).
I won't diss the guy over DA BACKSTAGE POLITCZ. Even though he works in the scripted carny world of pro wrestling, and married the boss's daughter, you can't indict the guy's talent or success for that. Henry Godwin could've married Steph, but he wouldn't have wound up as the company's consistently biggest star since Austin and Rock trailed off from wrestling full-time.
Being a good hand backstage, smart, connected, and good natured tends to elevate you to higher places in any profession...whether its WWE, or working with Shane Douglas and Justin Credible at Target. It's how the world operates.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 25, 2007 15:09:50 GMT -5
HBK is still 100 times better than HHH. Don't argue with the number of times, because it's a statistical certainty.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 27, 2007 4:27:37 GMT -5
I just was always amazed by how Ahmed could fit one to two kneepads over his thighs.
Not gonna lie, as a kid I thought that was a hell of a look for a power wrestler. Some big dude should bring that look back, I think it would catch on. On the indy scene, somebody popular rocking some Ahmed Johnson-style thigh/kneepads could be like what Maeda and Takada did for kickpads in the early '90s.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 26, 2007 3:56:10 GMT -5
As someone who watches TNA more regularly than WWE, I think they'd be just fine for another run in WWE. I'm not trying to rid them from TNA (even though I was pretty sick of them a few months ago). But lately, with some very solid work in-ring and on the mic, they've clearly still got some gas left in the tank, and would be somewhat of a boon to one of Vince's shows.
They're a far bigger deal in WWE than they are in TNA, just like everyone else is, just because the 'E seems so much more major league. In fact, maybe this is a terrible analogy...but to me The Dudleys in TNA are kind of like Big Bossman in WCW.
Recognizable? Sure. Talented? Yeah. But they aren't "The Dudleys" anymore, so immediately that diminishes their value to an extent. Bossman (as The Boss/Guardian Angel/Ray Traylor) turned into a lower mid-card jobber/Sat. Night regular by the time he left WCW in the late-90s...yet came back into the WWE(F) when it was a far hotter show, and still had a pretty darn good last run for a guy that wasn't that big of a deal on the losing competition's show.
D-Von's in really good shape, though he isn't exactly reeking of "wellness" right now, and Bubba's still an above average talker, and is bumping really hard for a fat guy. And I think the matches they've had with younger teams like LAX and MCMG have helped, because they seemed pretty lazy when they came to TNA.
I think they'd be a help if they came back. Throw some taped-up eyeglasses and camo on those guys, call them "The Dudleys", and they'll be stars again, no sweat.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 25, 2007 16:44:39 GMT -5
I love how he says he's there to "wrestle, and not to bullshit". I really enjoy Japan Hogan.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 26, 2007 14:14:44 GMT -5
For all of the horror stories you've heard about Angle hopped up on pills 24/7, he at least looks sober, alert, and engaged. If he's pushing TNA too much, that's part of his job. He's the face of the promotion for crying out loud.
Didn't think it was a bad interview at all.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 24, 2007 19:36:35 GMT -5
Wasn't Russo the main guy that really pushed Vince to bring in Taz, and then bolted for WCW right after he signed? I seem to remember reading that somewhere.
The time table's right, since I remember on WWF.com, they had pictures of Taz shaking hands with Russo and McMahon at Titan Towers the day the website announced his signing (months before his debut). Anyways, that kind of would explain how WWF cut off his push after such a huge MSG debut...a debut in which Russo/McMahon/Taz could've conceived, but with Russo gone, then Tazz wouldn't really have any politcal allies to help follow through on the push.
That stupid orange jumpsuit he started wearing after a few months definitely didn't help. Tazz in ECW had one of the better "looks" at the time I thought as far as gear, and they completely crapcanned it later on in WWF for that goofy jumpsuit.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 11, 2007 4:21:48 GMT -5
I don't know why Bret making a documentary at that time, and having an all-access video crew is such a sticking point with people who think it's this grand "work".
He wasn't making a Michael Moore-scale, major, wide-release documentary. It was originally an independent documentary made by filmmakers that were Bret marks and wanted to follow him around, and he thought it was a cool idea because he's kind of a mark for himself too, and went to film school. If the screwjob never happened, this doc MAYBE would've aired on CBC or TSN in Canada, and been some random documentary that only die-hard Bret Hart fans and tape traders would've ever seen.
With the screwjob footage, the documentary got a little legs. But really, it debuted in America on A&E, so it was only a humongous deal to wrestling fans, and A&E, who was trying to capitalize on the hot cable TV market for wrestling in 1998/99...just like everyone making the "History of Pro Wrestling", "Secrets of Pro Wrestling", and "The Jesse Ventura Story" hotshot TV movies during the same period.
It wasn't a work. If it was, Bret & Vince wouldn't have said so many terrible things about each other after Owen's death. Ten years is a long time, and those guys had a long friendly relationship before the poo hit the fan, so it's easily understandable how they can be on awkward speaking terms now...without the thing being a work.
If it was a work, they would've hot-shotted that angle by at least mid-2004. Nobody cares now, just like nobody popped or cared about a hot-looking Sunny at RAW's XV anniversary. I just get the feeling that the Montreal Screwjob happened, Bret doesn't want to be involved anymore, and they're both pretty much over it. It happened, it was a sucky situation, people move on.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 11, 2007 4:01:49 GMT -5
By saying "Never Say Never...Ooh Yeah", I thought Hogan was laying the seeds for a possible last ever Hogan vs. Savage match in WWE. Did you guys think it was a dig because Savage wasn't there or something? Maybe I'm terribly naive, but Savage wasn't at RAW's XV anniversary, but neither was The Rock, Bret Hart, or Razor Ramon, and Hogan didn't say a thing about them/imitate them.
Plus, Hogan did cut a very scripted promo, nicely toeing the company line...I don't think he'd just go out on WWE TV in 2007 and randomly shoot on "Macho Man" Randy Savage for the hell of it.
The Savage reference wasn't a bad thing, IMO. It was there on purpose, and I don't think it was Hogan weirdly going off on Savage, unless they had a really awful phone conversation in the past week (which, you never know with those two).
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Nov 27, 2007 5:55:21 GMT -5
Whoo?
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Nov 27, 2007 5:58:44 GMT -5
I think the fact that he's starring in movies called "The Albino Farm" quickly explains why he's back to wrestling full-time. You can rhyme "Ayatollah" slightly with "Rock and Roll" but you can't rhyme it with "Legitimate Acting" or "Stand-up Comedy".
EDIT: Jericho's great, one of my all-time faves. But he's not The Rock, and he's apparently smart enough to realize it while he's young enough to cash in on the wrestling biz.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Nov 21, 2007 2:14:21 GMT -5
Having only seen that picture, he sort of looks like Kevin Steen...without all of the Wellness.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Nov 3, 2007 0:31:19 GMT -5
Harry Smith is a hypocrite for publically saying he'd stay away from that stuff (HBO's Real Sports?), and doing it anyway. That's pretty infuriating. What a liar. At least Teddy Hart was honest enough to say he'd do "whatever it took" to get ahead.
And Masters is a huge dumbass. If Masters thinks that roids is his ticket to the main event, he should realize that he's never going to be a WWE main eventer, even if he was 400 pounds of rock hard muscle. That ship had sailed about two years ago. Dude should've worried about saving his kidneys, liver, and hairline instead.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Oct 29, 2007 23:03:35 GMT -5
Jericho was in Philadelphia today doing book store and radio stuff, and wasn't on RAW tonight, airing live from the very same city. As far as his imminent return to the WWE goes, that gives me more useful information than anything I've seen in these SAVE_US.222/X29 videos.
Not saying he won't be back eventually, but these videos could still mean just about anything. Tonight was the last night I'll tune in thinking this stuff means Jericho. The IWC's to blame for taking these videos and giving them a life of their own. For instance, maybe .X29 didn't mean 10/29, and maybe Jericho being in Philadelphia the same day as RAW in Philadelphia on 10/29 all meant nothing.
Must have been huge coincidences. Another huge coincidence is that this was the first time I've watched a whole RAW in two years. They totally got me this time. They even told me to "Please Stand By" during three so-called "Jericho videos", and I totally did. If Jericho ever does come back, I'll watch it on YouTube. I just can't sit throught the rest of that brutal show every single week waiting for Jericho, even if it was my fault for getting my hopes up.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Oct 2, 2007 4:53:24 GMT -5
Could it be this next-gen Hart Foundation that's supposed to be showing up? .222 = three second-generation wrestlers (or are there four?) 8.2.11/Savior_Self(save yourself) = a warning to Michaels It's definitely something geared towards the 'net crowd, the only fans obsessive enough to even notice, but it'll have to be something they can easily and sensibly relate to the casual fan too. Hart Foundation targeting Michaels, now THERE'S an interesting feud possibility. On Wrestling Observer Live on Sunday night, Alvarez was saying something* to the effect that Court Bauer (WWE writer) came up with this idea months ago and wanted to do something like these "Save_Us.222"-style subliminal videos for a debuting Hart Foundation 2.0 (who he's been a huge fan of since the MLW days...and later named them "Hart Foundation 2.0") or, a returning Chris Jericho, if that were to happen. Now with any HBK "hints", I think the Hart Foundation 2.0 thing has more legs than I would've given it last Monday. A tie-in to HBK would be money, especially since Bret's said to be willing to do something (within reason) to help kick-start Teddy, Harry, and Nattie's group. *- I included the asterisk because I was watching NFL during the show and caught the last bits of the Court Bauer theory/possible Hart Foundation link...so maybe anybody else that heard this can deny/confirm.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Jul 30, 2007 23:27:57 GMT -5
.....maybe it's just me, but TNA doing an angle that even hints at Kurt and his family having problems and Kurt being mean to his wife and child...yeah, thats a little tasteless at the moment.... If people watched the show last week, and heard Angle talking to Dr. Nash about his family, drawing the conclusion that this angle ties in with the Benoit family tragedy is pretty damn far off. Just because TNA has booked some crappy stuff doesn't mean they're evil.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Jul 30, 2007 18:36:34 GMT -5
Maybe in a moment of clarity, TNA decided that calling him "Andrew 'Test' Martin" would be lame. Because it is.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Jul 30, 2007 18:27:12 GMT -5
So it's like a ____ on a pole match only it has ladders. Just as much as any other ladder match in history could be seen like a "belt on a pole match"...
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Jul 30, 2007 18:25:49 GMT -5
At least I am not the only one confused as to why those 4 are in a Ladder Match. Again, what's so confusing about those four being in a ladder match? They're FEUDING.
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