Last wrestling match you watched.

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

But again, there's nothing they really could have done about it. Shawn wasnt sandbagging, he was in pain and struggling. They did the best they could in the situation.

 

And yes, KOTR is a lot better.

[Guest Canned Heat]

I would go as far as to say, if you took the MATCH from KOTR and mixed it with Tyson and THAT was the WM14 Main Event...it would be looked at as one of the 5 greatest WM matches of all time.

[Guest ADC]

A Wrestlemania match dosen't tend to be the best match of the series/feud in any case. Michaels/Austin is a good example, but also plenty of others, like Angle and Michaels. They often try too hard at WM, and the matches are too spotty.

[Guest ADC]

Jack Gallagher vs. Davey Richards from an indy show that happened in Manchester last month, I bought the DVD. Attended the show but had to leave early, before the main event.

 

This match is seriously match of the century material, match of the year for sure, nothing from Wrestlemania even begins to compare, one of the best matches i've seen in a long, long time. A 5 star clinic, pretty much what wrestling is all about.

[Maxximus 353]

Muta vs Liger from '96 I think. Liger's fighting spirit comeback after Muta tore off his mask was pretty badass.

[Guest John Hancock]

Muta vs Liger from '96 I think. Liger's fighting spirit comeback after Muta tore off his mask was pretty badass.

 

Muta and Liger doing anything in the mid-90s is amazing.

[Omega 354]

I don't think I;ve ever watched anything with Liger in that wasn't awesome, apart from the ankle break thing. Yurgh...

[Guest Canned Heat]

I had to do it...

 

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs HHH @ No Way Out 2001 : 3 Stages of Hell

 

Absolutely brilliant match. In my opinion, best match of the AE and of the best 12 years. Nothing has topped it since in my opinion.

 

Every stage had a different story to tell. Everything in the match was near perfection. The build up was amazing, and the finish was perfect. Austin's last match of the AE where he finished the match as a face. It is a must watch. HHH is the best heel to ever lace em up and he was facing the best face in my opinion. AMAZING.

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

You've convinced me to give that a watch too.

 

So, watched the Austin vs Benoit TV matches from May 2001. I feel like the SD one with the 10 Germans is the more heavily pimped one, but frankly I enjoyed the Raw match a lot more. It was exciting as hell and worked perfectly. Its a Montreal finish, to be sure, but frankly getting EARL HEBNER over as a babyface in Canada makes up for any eye rolling. SD was quite good too but the million crossfaces and million sharpshooters kind of took it down for me.

[Guest Canned Heat]

You've convinced me to give that a watch too.

 

So, watched the Austin vs Benoit TV matches from May 2001. I feel like the SD one with the 10 Germans is the more heavily pimped one, but frankly I enjoyed the Raw match a lot more. It was exciting as hell and worked perfectly. Its a Montreal finish, to be sure, but frankly getting EARL HEBNER over as a babyface in Canada makes up for any eye rolling. SD was quite good too but the million crossfaces and million sharpshooters kind of took it down for me.

 

Dang! You've been getting some Austin matches done lately. I don't think a lot of people remember how good he really was at putting out a great match. People think after his neck injury he just became purely a brawler, which isn't really the case. He is just an amazing brawler and does it a lot. The man can put on a show in the squared circle like few can.

[Guest John Hancock]

I'm not going to acknowledge Jimmy watching any match until she watches all of Survivor Series '98.

 

HUMPH! *folds arms*

[Guest Canned Heat]

I'm not going to acknowledge Jimmy watching any match until she watches all of Survivor Series '98.

 

HUMPH! *folds arms*

 

Maaaaan..The Deadly games tournament and the Rock v Mankind main event. That was quality AE entertainment.

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

Its a whole God damn PPV that I dont even own. Give me some time! Its definitely on my list, believe me.

[Guest John Hancock]

I still maintain, as a watch-no-TV-leading-up-to-it, one story pay-per-view, outside of the Japanese Super-J Cups, it's untouched. One pay-per-view, one storyline, with side-stories, twists, star-making, double turns... just such a brilliant show. I have it on VHS and it's the one wrestling show I can watch over and over again.

 

Its a whole God damn PPV that I dont even own. Give me some time! Its definitely on my list, believe me.

 

TERRY FUNK USED TO WATCH SEVEN PAY-PER-VIEWS A DAY! SEVEN A DAY, BEFORE HE'D EVEN HAD HIS BREAKFAST!

Edited October 11, 2012 by John Hancock

[Guest Eddie]

Damn, what time did he wake up?

 

Oh I just remembered Terry Funk doesn't sleep..... he waits, or is that the other old guy?

[dsrchris 190]

He ain't need no mouthpiece.

[Guest Edgehead]

Its a whole God damn PPV that I dont even own. Give me some time! Its definitely on my list, believe me.

 

Put it straight at the top of your list. Its a great attitude era ppv & really was the making of The Rock

[dsrchris 190]

Have you ever seen it Jimmy? Genuine question, with you jumping on in the early 2000's (I think).

 

If not you really should watch it. It's absolutely as great as everyone is saying.

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

Alright, you terrorists win.

 

Survivor Series 1998!

 

I've watched up to the end of Foley/Austin. Its now 12:30am and I will not get through another match without nodding off onto my keyboard, so the rest will have to wait until tomorrow. That isnt a criticism by the way, I just realised what that sounded like, its just that there is nothing that will knock me out faster than a wrestling match when I'm tired.

 

ANYWAY, the show. I feel unbelievably sorry for myself that I never got to see this without knowing what is going to happen. It must have been awesome. The flipside is that knowing makes me acutely aware of any conspiratorial things that happen and being able to figure out how they did it as it goes on. All the pieces are coming together. Vince doesnt want Austin to win. No. 1 priority. He also doesnt want Kane or Taker to win (I assume because of whatever has been going on with the three-way beforehand, who knows). He also seemingly wants his own Corporate Champion, and it is made very clear as the night goes on that this show is about Vince doing just that. And seemingly he has picked his guy.

 

The pieces. Gillberg, and then Al Snow (with added 'Socko on Head' motivation) for Mankind. Bossman beating the crap out of Austin to take care of him. Kane and Taker beating each other up to take care of them. Bossman taking care of Rock - at least, in theory. The Rock/Bossman saga rules, first the "surprise" rollup of doom, and then the nightstick "interception" (which is still amazing and as previously discussed, the second greatest feat of tossing accuracy in wrestling history). Vince and co. "leaving the arena" to draw Austin away from the building.

 

I think the greatest little detail in all this so far is Shane. From what I understand just from this show, Shane went behind Vince's back to sign Austin's contract and was thus a babyface being punished by Vince demoting him to a "lowly referee". So he gets the easy assignment working the Divas match (a great touch) and he has a legitimate reason to be in a referee's shirt when and if Vince decides to pull the trigger if he gets desperate during one of Austin's matches. Which he does. An awesome little detail right there.

 

Cant wait to see how it plays out. Mainly the other semi since I already read the PBP of the final in Foley's book.

 

Some other stuff, I honestly had no idea Real Man's Man Regal was a WWE gimmick. I thought it was one of those WCW creations. Blew my mind a little. JR calling him Blackman through his match was hilarious. I am really enjoying hearing the old '98 mixes of everyone's music.

 

It never occurred to me before, but what kind of name is Sable? Her powerbombing Marc Mero sure was something though, I had no idea she did that.

[Guest John Hancock]

Jimmy rulez.

 

The whole pay-per-view is a two-watcher if you don't know the ending. On first viewing, you buy everything, then, on second viewing, you realise why everything happened the way it did, how some of the "accidents" weren't really accidentally;

 

 

The roll-up and the night-stick

 

 

The only real problem is that, looking back, the final moment of the final match is a total cliche. You just have to remember that, at the time, that had never been referenced in kayfabe before.

 

For a little back story, the thing with Taker/Kane was that to get the title off Austin, Vince kept putting him in matches with them, but they were always too concerned about beating the shit out of each other to do anything about Austin.

 

In the build up to this show, Taker, Kane and Austin had a three-way, where Taker and Kane double-pinned Austin, becoming joined champions, then they had a match against each other with Austin as referee. Austin refused to take the match seriously, beat them both up, counted a double knock out, and ran away flipping off EVERYONE (It was ridiculous-awesome), so this tournament was set up to crown a new champion.

 

Vince says he wants a corporate champion so he can have someone with good business sense who he can rely on. That's why he doesn't want Taker or Kane to win, because they're too unpredictable and can't be trusted to do what Vince wants. It's also why Mankind is in a tuxedo, with no beard, and half his hair short, because he's trying to prove to Vince that he can be an upstanding representative of the company.

 

EDIT:

 

ran away flipping off EVERYONE (It was ridiculous-awesome), so this tournament was set up to crown a new champion.

 

Skip to 24:22

 

[video=youtube;HZOBGtXDVGU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZOBGtXDVGU

 

I miss Corporate Vince :(

Edited October 11, 2012 by John Hancock