Daily threads

Daily Discussion Thread – 7/21/17

9 years ago
Daily Thread

Happy Friday, Nation! Talk about what you’re watching, what you’re reading, and what you’re listening to…which could very well be one of our fine audio products.

Note: At 9pm Eastern we’ll be live-watching Vengeance 2002.

283 thoughts on “Daily Discussion Thread – 7/21/17”

          3. I’d be down for night of champions. Segues perfectly for me as I watched the Bash last night.

    2. Jay recommended Vengeance 02 since today is the 15 year anniversary….Good choice, i think. Has that good Rock/Taker/Kurt main plus Cena’s PPV debut

      1. Also a pretty good IC Title Match with RVD/Brock and Hogan/Edge vs The Un-Americans for the Tag Titles.

    1. A guy I used to know was at that show in Hartford. His enduring memory was of the Warrior promo going on forever and killing the show for him.

      1. He’s… not wrong. Never thought I would long for a 20 minute HHH promo to kick off raw.

      1. Phenomenal. Loved that act, in a heel sort of way. Ah, who am I kidding, I was a heel lover as a teen, so I was all about some Big Poppa Pump and Buff.

    3. Seems like people always remember WCW falling off a cliff in the second half 1998, but the July/August shows were still scorching hot. I can’t remember if it was the 8/17 Nitro or the week before, but there was a Goldberg/Meng main event capping off an absolutely STACKED episode. That match itself wasn’t anything to write home about, but it actually started teasing Goldberg/Nash (Nash runs in and Goldberg accidentally spears him… crowd explodes). Everything else on the show actively advanced storylines and/or brought the workrate. All killer, no filler- and on a three-hour show at that.

      The Warrior segment is hard to digest now, but it was HUGE at the time. As the last major WWF holdout of the Federation Era, there was so much buzz behind his potential signing. That first appearance paid off years of rumors and innuendo and they milked it for everything it was worth. Nobody was flipping the channel while he was on camera. The more airtime he’s given, the higher their sustained ratings – a quickie cameo (a la Sting in the rafters) wasn’t gonna cut it. Little rewatchability today, but I know I was glued to the screen for the duration of that goofy promo.

      1. It hasn’t fallen off the cliff for me. The meng match was 8/10. And yeah it was smoking hot. The only thing I’ll say is the 3 hours is tough to get through. They had the roster to fill it, but they use a lot of time on promos that don’t advance any stories and a lot of time re capping things from earlier in the night or the last week of shows. That said, when they are hot they are HOT.

        1. Ah, 8/10 makes sense… go-home for Road Wild. Three hours of a free TV wrestling show is always asking a lot, but I thought that Nitro did it better than most. The lack of commercials helps CONSIDERABLY. In contrast, trying to watch a three hour Raw today is like my personal hell.

          2. Also, WCW was a lot less up its own ass than WWE is with the three-hour shows. Less “In case you missed it, here’s a video recap of the entire segment from 10 minutes ago.” Plus at least the pointless promo segments were unscripted and, thus, more entertaining.

        2. The 8/10/98 Nitro is a great show. It’s also a great example of how desperate WCW was in attempting to beat Raw in the ratings. At least 5 matches on that show could have been on a PPV that summer.

          1. Not to mention the road to Summerslam and a pretty hot Main Event on RAW with that 4 Way Tag Title Match.

        3. WCW for me starts falling off the cliff the night of the Fingerpoke Of Doom.

      2. I couldn’t turn away, but I do remember even at the time thinking “Jesus, Warrior just won’t shut up.” It was definitely at odds with my childhood memories of how Warrior had been. Hogan made the segment with his hilarious overacting, though. That was wonderful.

  4. Doing some yardwork and listening to the latest FYC, what a show! Excellent takes by all and really good conversation around how to consider and factor women’s matches into this project.

    Highly recommended.

  5. Gonna throw out a name for the GWWE project: Ivan Putski

    The best comparison I could make would be Hacksaw Jim Duggan in 1988: Super over, not a consistent big arena main event guy, but can main event your B-Shows and fill in as a Main Event on the A-Shows in a pinch. Tag Champ with Tito in 79, and they formed a pretty good team. I’ve seen a couple of their matches against the Samoans and the Valiants . I think Putski slots in towards the back end of my list, but he definitley deserves a place

      1. Cool, thanks for the invite.

        I’m supposed to start a registry for the baby and grout a bathtub but that might happen Sunday.

    2. I’ve got no wife and no kids tonight and most of tomorrow. So the question is how lazy can I possibly be?

  7. Can I suggest Vengeance 2002 for a Live watch? Today is the anniversary of it.

    1. Yes! Didn’t realize it was the anniversary, but I’ve been wanting to watch that too.

    4. That HHH-HBK does an amazing job foreshadowing HHH’s turn once you know it’s coming. He is visibly steaming that Shawn made that about himself.

      1. Payoffs really well the next night on RAW when HHH & HBK tease bringing back DX.

  10. After listening to the Women of wrestling podcast I don’t know how to factor this in.

  12. Today’s Jericho podcast is incredible. Lots of things I’d never heard about Benoit’s career, and Jericho probably more raw than I’ve ever heard him in discussing the way HHH and others treated the WCW guys when they came over. No sugar coating at all, especially about his relationship with HHH at the time and how Vince booked the guys from WCW (and, Chris says, still kind of does today with new people from other promotions).

    1. Firing it up now. Jericho’s interview last year with Nancy’s sister Sarah was the most genuine, thoughtful, and heartbreaking account of the tragedy – the whole relationship, really – that I’ve ever heard from anyone. I don’t listen to every episode, but Jericho has absolutely broken out as a great ambassador for the industry via his podcast an other ventures. Just by being an intelligent, articulate, positive dude who cuts through the carny bullshit. Hearing him struggle to reconcile the fact that he cannot watch Benoit matches anymore against his acknowledgment that they did a ton of great work together is one of those things you appreciate hearing as a fan.

      When most people in the business talk about Chris Benoit, it makes me angry or sad. When Jericho does, it feels cathartic. Looking forward to this.

      1. You summed it up far better than I could. When this topic comes up, I struggle with words. Like you, Jericho makes it easier to process my thoughts and remember things both good and bad.

    2. Its still amazing to me how many people get hired to jobs without ever watching them work ala Jericho in WCW based on Dave recommending him to Zane Bresloff. That still happens on the indies as you hear the AIW guys talk about so and so being a “Zellner Recommendation” and what not. I don’t expect these guys to watch footage constantly but you would think they would at least see the guys they book once.

      1. I misunderstood what Dave was saying; I thought he said *Eric* ended up watching the J-Cup match.

        Still, pretty cool that Bischoff thought highly enough of Benoit to take his word for it and sign Jericho sight unseen.

    1. I thought about throwing on hybrid theory last night but then thinking of listening to “in the end” and how the lyrics would be extremely eerie giving how his life ended

  16. I’m recording a new MTPS with Loss about the PWO 2K project, I think we’ll get into GWWE as well. It will be in ya podcast feeds tomorrow

      1. Man, this crowd loves Olympico. They pop for his headlocks. He also got out of a Toru Tanaka wristlock by poking him in the ear, which is pretty innovative offense; I think the world is ready for a wet-willie-based fighting style.

      3. There’s a subtle distinction between Albano jabbing Gorilla in the eyes as a desperate, cowardly tactic, and Gorilla jabbing Albano in the eyes as an act of sarcasm.

    5. Vince: “By the way, we hope you saw our first two professional bowling tournaments, we’ll have more coming here on the Home Box Office.”

      1. Sheridan & Grable actually make a pretty good heel team, cutting off the ring, doing the fake tag, that sort of thing. This is pure tag formula and it’s working.

      2. Everything up to the hot tag was cool, but it kind of dragged after that. I am liking the heel team though.

        …and apparently this is a 2 out of 3 falls match? Whookay.

      3. Match is structured mostly around George running away from Pedro and Pedro knocking him down with strikes. Pretty ho-hum stuff, but the crowd’s eating it up.

        1. Pedro is such an interesting guy. Every time I’ve watched a match of his I haven’t been impressed but the crowds loved him. It’s super interesting.

      5. Pedro holds up a banner & Puerto Rican flag handed to him from the crowd. The crowd rushes the ring to shake hands with Pedro. What a guy!

      5. Fuji now has a nerve hold on Chief Jay’s, uh, pectoral region. Strongbow hits an armdrag to get out of the purple nurple but Fuji gets right back to it.

      7. Strongbow’s comeback was really, really short. That match had no right being as fun as it was, just because of the absurdity (and tenacity) of Fuji’s purple nurple nerve hold.

      2. One of Haystacks’ big offensive moves is putting Mayne’s head in his crotch (in powerbomb/piledriver position) and just wiggling around on him. There’s a form of Big Fat Guy offense I haven’t seen before.

      3. Haystacks’ splash is a very believable finisher.

        Match wasn’t much, but they were just there so Haystacks could push Mayne around a little.

  20. Sounds like Ben Affleck’s age is the main reason why WB execs want to replace him as Batman. He’s 45 now and will be pushing 50 by the time the Batman movie drops in 2019.

    There would be an explanation for the change in the DCEU films so Affleck’s Bruce Wayne would either be killed off or retire and someone new would don the Batsuit.

    Possible that be might stick around for JL part 2 but it’s up in the air right now.

  29. This is an interesting time period…the company was a mess by this point but somehow the in ring managed to stay super solid

    1. Yeah the rosters were freaking all over the place before finally stabilizing after Summerslam. Benoit got drafted to Smackdown, returns on Raw, then jumps to Smackdown in the fall. Lol.

      1. Plus the long term financial hit of the XFL flopping, the name change, the Austin stuff the month prior, Shawn being in the fucking NWO. Messy time

    2. 2002 is definitely one of the weirdest years ever for WWF/E. Constant change week to week, just complete chaos everywhere.

  35. This match can only be so “bad” because Benoit, Eddie but… it’s not really clicking

  38. OK opener to pop the crowd. Finish doesn’t really matter, but Benoit and Eddie probably could’ve used it a tiny more

  40. So was Trips supposed to be a free agent even though he’d been appearing exclusively on SD?

  41. If I hadn’t already had ice cream earlier, I’d be munching on cherry twizzlers now. My go to for Network watching.

    1. Surreal moment having these two in the same frame at that time on WWE programming

      1. Also I think ric was taking some supplement that made him look that good that he stopped taking around late 03-ish

      2. I think ric was taking some supplement that made him look that good that he stopped taking around late 03-ish

        1. I know he got a facelift after the ’97 WarGames that bought him a few years. I guess it… fell.

  54. Off to guest-star on Sellers’ Points. Enjoy the rest of the show, everyone.

  55. Incredible star aura for this casual segment. Don’t make ’em like that anymore.

    1. Still looks the same now. Can kind of start to see the miles in his face now though.

      1. Right. Those miles JUST starting showing last year, but he’s obviously still got a lot left in the tank.

  58. I thought at the time cena would just be a permanent mid card guy and hardly ever go for the world title. I was soooo off.

  59. That was an awesome counter to the corner splash. Never seen anyone do it since.

      1. He says they tried to get him for the Invasion PPV, but he said absolutely not partially on account of being so out of shape. Think he felt a little insecure dealing with Vince and tried to look the part a little more.

          1. Lol. He was sittin’ pretty after exercising his Time Warner stock options (which he didn’t even know he had until they informed him) so I don’t think any comfort eating was necessary.

        1. Yeah doing this as a competitive match is whack. Brock would be better served by a rematch with Test, who had nothing going on and could stand the loss but also make Brock look pretty impressive.

          2. Yeah. You definitely can’t squash him, so they end up doing this back and forth. Blergh.

          3. The way they book Brock now is the way to book him…a Frankenstein’s monster that can kill anyone and gives zero shits

  72. Good continuity of bringing up the HHH/Steph on screen breakup from Jan with the divorce papers

  73. I think they missed a big opportunity not selling alarm clocks that woke you up with the beginning of Show’s theme blaring.

    “WEEEEELLLLLLLLL”

  79. HHH so didn’t have that upper body pre quad surgery. Looks like a comic book hero, shoulders are so fucking jacked.

  81. In laws over for dinner ran long, hard to tell them I’m going upstairs to watch a 15 year old wrestling show with a bunch of guys online. Anyways time stamp whereabouts you guys are at?

      1. Future in laws I should have said so once we get married then ptbn Friday night live watch comes first

    1. Generally not a fan but I get why they did this one and the crowd loved it. I also like this Shawn where he was still kind of old HBK. He doesn’t really transform until 2003.

    1. And still have triple h turn on him and have their big one on one match at survivor series at msg. That could have worked. But I’m fine with how they did it as that summerslam match is great.

    2. Not sure how it would’ve worked. Shawn was still doing the nWo thing, so do they just drop that a month early? Have Trips join? I like the way they went, as Shawn returning even for one match was something I never thought I’d see.

  86. Stephanie has a Crockett from Miami vice vibe going if she rolls her sleeves up

    1. I was at the smackdown a few weeks before when they won the belts and it was amazing hearing real American play.

        1. High school graduation present, actually was mad when I saw the taker hardy ladder match on raw the night before. Wishing that raw was in Boston and smackdown was in Manchester but I have no complaints on the show I ended up seeing.

  91. Still remember the first few weeks of the Network when Voodoo Child was intact

  92. I know Brock beats hogan a few weeks after this then he is gone until no way out 03 was there any issues just seemed weird that he was doing stuff this whole time and he doesn’t do anything at the second biggest show of the year. Not sure what he could have done at summerslam but wasn’t sure if it was contract stuff or he just wanted to take a few months off.

    1. Think he got mad he wouldn’t get his win back from Brock then got taken off TV

  97. “WWF…slash now WWE history..”
    Rare time where they were still dropping the F after the change.

      1. Still kind of hate calling it WWE to this day, to be brutally honest. Doesn’t roll off the tongue like WWF.

      1. Ride Along with Kurt and Show has a funny story about that segment and the tranquilizer gun.

  102. Went with Night Of Champions 2009 tonight but can I chime in here for a bit anyway.

  103. This match is good but not as good as i remember it being. Maybe bc of all the finishers..

    1. I’m a reasonable Red Sox fan unlike most Sox fans so it was really funny hearing some people at work saying how judge was a first half wonder and the home run derby curse. Just laughable the guy is awesome. I look forward to fearing his every at bat vs the Sox for the next 10 years.

  107. GREAT main event. Some unmemorable stuff on this show, but all of it perfectly watchable.

  108. I always wonder what the plan was if the nWo had been around here and Nash hadn’t gotten hurt again. Was Triple H suppose to join or feud with them.

    2. I feel like he was a tweener after this, then the Jeff match brings him back to full face.

  110. Taker feuds with the Un Americans when they are moved over from Smackdown 8 days later.

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