It’s the freakin’ weekend… and a holiday weekend for many! Lots going on tonight in the world of baseball PLUS NBA free agency hits at midnight tonight. Our NBA expert Andrew Riche will be hanging around to talk about everything going down, including the Ricky Rubio trade!
We are also planning a live watch tonight at 9PM… if you have a suggestion share it below.
Be sure to check out the NBA Team Draft Recap as you prep for the free agent madness!
And of course, a brand new Letters From Center Stage dropped today too!
Plus a PODBLAST live from the G-1 Special shows in Long Beach!
All that and more in this evening’s thread!
I posted this in the daily thread but I’ll post it here as well:
https://twitter.com/bostonglobe/status/880930371243843584
Always something with this fucking guy.
Eck should have dropped him.
And I thought Carl Crawford was a baby
This 12/82 MSG show has a Women’s tag match with Moolah teaming with Cowgirl Wendy Richter.
I am sure Wendi learned all about cowgirl from Moolah…
Oh dear.
Who was riding the horse?
Canadian Stampede for the Live Watch, anyone?
I am down for whatever.
Not excited about this Yankees/Astros series
It has been a real rough few weeks but the kids are all playing well and that is what matters long term.
Agreed, I just know how tough of a skid they have been on against not so great teams, so I know this is gonna be tough.
Clint Frazier is joining the Yanks tomorrow
Pet peeve: not catching rainouts in time to swap out your fantasy roster. Three holes in the lineup thanks to Detroit’s acid rain.
Finally finishing season 1 of designated survivor.
How bout 7/4/05 Raw where Shawn turns on Hogan for the watch? In Keeping with the holiday weekend
Villanova landed Cole Swider… big signing from them and the Big East beats out Syracuse for another top recruit.
LIVE Watch! Tonight ! Choose among the following:
IYH: Canadian Stampede
KOTR 2001
Beach Blast 1993
One Night Stand 2006
Capitol Punishment 2011
GAB 1997
Extreme Rules 2009
…or ?
Either Canadian Stampede or One Night Stand 06.
Dont wanna jump ahead to KOTR…not there yet on my chrono watch
F Capital Punishment
GAB 97 maybe if enough people pick
ER 09: ehh
I can’t seem to get KOTR 2001 out of my system and feel like I’m gonna have to fire that up at some point this weekend. Leaning Canadian Stampede tonight. I don’t actually want to watch ER or Capital Punishment but they fulfill my loose criteria of June(ish) PPVs, albeit “non-traditional” shows.
Can’t say no to that 10 man tag!.Plus it’s under 2 hours.
I’m down for stampede
I am always down for some WCW
Looks like Canadian Stampede it is then! On your marks in 1 minute!
Let’s give it to 9:05 for people to prep
9:05 then!
Paused on the Great Balls of Fire ad ….
I got a Truth ad
I got a tap out ad
And go!
That was 30 seconds so I refreshed š
I paused right after the TVPG faded to black.
I guess we starting this.
Starting now
And we’re off with Canadian Stampede!
first time on place 2 be. fuck it ill watch Canadian stampede.
Welcome!
Welcome! That’s the spirit!
And we are off!
My first time to, regular over on Scott K’s blog.
same
Welcome!
Thank you JT.
“Brett Rules”
If he rules so much how come you can’t spell his first name right! Eh!?!
love the old in your house set
Probably the most verbose of the 97 intros
Those 97 voiceover video packages are pretty underrated. I’ve enjoyed all of them rewatching these shows in recent years.
Was JR already wearing the hat before this?
RR97 was first
Ah
Love Hunter’s green robe here.
Welcome to the new guys jumping in! Awesome to have you here as we get the comments/blog part of PTBN off the ground!
And we all here to geet funkay like a monkay baybeh!
Anyone know who did the double arm ddt first? it wasn’t mick was it? stole it from Japan i assume
Might have yeah
Crazy how different Chyna looks here compared to early 01…way more man-ish here
its really stunning actually. that jaw line is seriously a sight to behold
Which series of foley hhh matches do you guys prefer this stretch or the 2000?
their street fight at RR 2000 is one of my favorite matches. I think HHH was a little more raw here. Much better in 2000
I enjoyed 2000 more as well but starting here through the raw msg match was a solid 3 match series
2000 were better in ring, but nothing beats the euphoria of that Cactus Jack debut in MSG on Raw.
2000 for me, because I was more invested in Mick as a character and the stakes were so much higher. But their 1997 run is like quintessential Attitude Era work.
2000. HHH had his working boots on by then and could give better matches.
The KOTR match is rough… love SS and MSG. Probably 2000 though.
MSG match felt like one of those “Things are changing” moments
They feel like such a mismatch at this point, but the chemistry is strong
Interested to see how this compares to their cage match at Summerslam, which I’ve seen a million times (and this, like… twice).
Lawler on commentary in his prime brought everything up a notch for me. his screams/yelps/complaining when the heels are getting beat up is some of my favorite memories from the era.
Debra was his downfall. Once he learned to say “puppies” it was end game.
He was still good before he quit over Kat in 01 but the perv stuff had taken over 80% of his shtick
He didn’t really lose his mojo until the face turn in mid 2000s
Yeah but 93-98 was his best work… by early 99 he was sliding downhill.
Chyna dished out some serious abuse to Mick during this feud
Doesn’t Mick talk about it in his book how he wanted to help get her over?
Or maybe chyna said it during a interview
Sounds like Mick. He genuinely liked her, and “credits” her with inflicting his second-most painful injury in the cage at Summerslam (slamming the door on his head).
He and Chyna were tight even right before she passed.
Dude Mick basically MADE chyna into a killer during this era. The craziest looking dude in the federation getting the shit kicked out of him by a baddass women.
No doubt. She already had that intrigue about her, but this stuff put her over the top. And that contributed so much to getting heat on Hunter.
Foley had no qualms making her look like a BEAST.
I kinda like this era of HHH, pre team-up with Shawn. He had kinda ditched the whole snob persona and was just apeing classic Flair stuff.
Yeah and was more aggressive and douchey. It was a nice bridge run for him.
His mannersims are kinda Mid South Terry Taylorish to me. In a good way
Enjoying the knee work by Hunter here.
See, I said HHH was doing Flair schtick in this period, and what does he do? Apply a Figure 4.
Does that make Chyna Arn Anderson?
Yes, should have got her a towel and a Ribera Steakhouse jacket.
Then he actually tried to become Flair with Evolution. With Flair as fourth banana
the pedigree has to be considered one of the better finishers in history. really creative. looks good
Like a horizontal piledriver.
Summer of 97 is my most nostalgic era of wrestling. It was so fucking exciting and enjoyable. Just seeping into the internet, WCW red hot, WWF red hot, learning about ECW. Summer before HS senior year… was so awesome.
And B.I.G on the radio all summer long
Summer after senior year of HS for me. Watching so much wrestling that summer, hitting all the video stores renting whatever tapes I could find. And then dubbing them VCR to VCR.
What a time, was so much fun.
It was the summer my brother graduated high school and we all moved into a bigger house.
Summer after 7th grade a great time always hosted the ppv parties at my house.
speaking off subject for a sec, if they really wanted to get Mike Bennett over with this new deal, why not let him use the piledriver? I get is a huge risk but ive seen him do it well, on the indys with FARRRR lesser workers. Just a thought. They could prob do a legit injury angle for the first time in like 20 years
HHH is an underrated seller
*looks around to make sure Will from Texas didn’t hear him*
Iguodala meeting with the Spurs
Because Paul is off the table, they do have some wiggle room to offer him more than what GSW’s cap hold of $15 million would be, but it’s not by that much unless it is a short term deal due to Iggy’s age.
The Dreaded Repeater Tax is deathly for NBA owners, even Lacob’s superteam in Golden State, and ownership is starting to realize they are staring at an apocalyptic tax bill by 2019.Iggy was probably not happy with the initial numbers and wants $20 mil per year, something the Warriors simply aren’t in a position to offer on a deal that goes past two years.
Chyna is so great. This is practically a handicap match.
BOOO this finish
See I think it worked to set up the cage match and get both guys over as really hating each other.
It does. I just wasn’t quite ready for the call.
oooo a double countout. Hmmm. TBH they really dont do this type of finish anymore even though the network era kinda makes it ok as a setup for a bigger match. Still would have preferred a clean one.
And when they do go there, it’s for… Sheamus/Cesaro, during their Best of Whatever series.
Funny seeing some of this footage, reminds me of Wrestling With Shadows.
They shot some stuff at this and CS
I was just about to ask when did they start following Bret around
WWS even shows Pat booking the finish of the Main.
Yah lots of footage from this show.
https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/880960762000396292
Wow, thought for sure he was going to walk.
ooooooo bad choice imo. should go to OKC.
Hope he likes not making the playoffs
seriously. Terrible choice. Pair westbrook with him. Try to get Millsap.
OKC didn’t have the cap room by any measure. A true threat to take him away was Miami thanks to the medical waiver/release they got on Chris Bosh’s salary.
Looks like they are gonna build around him.
The original team can offer more, so there was obviously a monetary incentive to stay built in. Also, word is that Blake is not a fan of media blitz regarding his free agency and wanted to get it over with. Also, because the Clippers only took on the requisite 80 percent of Paul’s departing salary in the trade with Houston, the “super max” was immediately offered to Blake, and he took it. Now he can actually blossom as the point forward and leader of the team versus being second banana to Paul and having to stagger the lineup in order to get more shine.
Some bald drunk man is trying to accost the Hart Foundation. Good thing those agents were on hand to cart him away.
man austin during this era had the look of a 70’s territory mega draw as a heel.
You know back than I use to think TAKA was meh. years later I saw his work in Michinoku Pro. Guy was a great wrestler
Great showing by TAKA to come out and steal the show here and on Raw.
Right. and wasn’t Sasuke the one they wanted to push? Basically these guys and a few more were the only ones WCW had not snatched up
Yes they ended up being more impressed by TAKA and went with him instead.
So awesome that Mankind and Hunter are still brawling around. Good stuff.
Forgot about this. I am more forgiving of the finish now, since this is what I wanted to see
See this is the stuff they dont do anymore…. Brawling into the crowd after a match. They could easily have done it with Balor-Drifter this past week as an example.
Or Sami/KO when they were feuding or Dean/Rollins
Iguodala is also meeting with the Rockets.
That would have to be the Mid Level Exemption (MLE) at $8.4 mil per year they were able to lock into on the day of the Paul trade by taking on partial guaranteed contracts to officially get over the cap and be eligible to use the MLE. That is a major discount for Iggy’s services, and he reportedly wants way more than that. I would be shocked if he actually took that.
“This is Workrate” sign
Heh.
This is the deal where they wanted to do business with Sasuke and brought TAKA in for a one-shot, but Sasuke ended up flaking, yeah?
pretty much. I think TAKA basically out shined Sasuke here and won over the WWF officials too.
And TAKA got a nice little run out of it!
Correct his showing here and on Raw sealed him a deal.
Hey, everyone, this is Andrew, one of the co-hosts for the NBA-Team Podcast.
On my profile is the Podbean feed for our NBA-Team podcasts on the PTBN
POP feed, and we put up our latest episode this week recapping the
draft.
We are on the verge of free agency madness and the silly
season has already begun. Any questions about your teams, the league, or
hell, even anything else for me or Adam (who might drop some quotes for
me to you guys), give us a holler!
Consider this a master post for all things NBA. I will be around throughout the night and the weekend to answer any questions or open up some NBA topics.
Surprised about Blake?
No, because of two things:
1. Paul leaving opened the door for Griffin to get that max extension. Although losing Paul obviously makes them worse, two max extensions for both Paul and Griffin to stay in LA was impossible, especially since the Clippers have used all of their exemptions and the stretch provision (which is what they call the “cap apron,” when you cannot take on new money under any circumstances without letting someone go). With Paul now gone, the space was there.
2. Steve Ballmer simply did not want to give up yet on being competitive yet, especially with the Lakers’ upcoming superstar sweeptakes in 2018 coming up to try to overtake the Clippers’ place in the Pacific standings. This also occurred with Mickey Arison and Pat Riley in Miami during the infamous summer of 2014 when LeBron left but they wanted some semblance of being competitive so they kept Wade and Bosh. They dodged a bullet cap wise with the Bosh medical waiver, and Blake has certainly had medical issues throughout his career (his explosiveness has definitely sagged over the past two seasons), but Blake is still an All Star level player and he can now truly “max out” his abilities as the go-to guy.
This match fell off the WCW undercard. Unlike anything the WWF has showcased before or since.
Crazy to realize this match, this event, is 20 years old next Friday.
That would have been like watching a Bruno headlined MSG show back then.
Fuck we are old…
I had my 20 year High School reunion last weekend.
Crazier that next year Summerslam 98 will be twenty.
Celts extend qualifying offer to Olynyk
speaking of crusierweights these days, i think the WWE should do what WCW did with Ultimo Dragon when he was TV Champ. Start let him beat the heavyweights. Neville is probably their best pure heel
Yeah they could do a lot worse than actually building those guys up and letting them branch out of the division. You saw WCW cruiserweights sometimes floating in and out of the TV and U.S. title scene.
Magic supposedly offering Joe Ingles 4 years/$60 million .
WHAT? Barkley said it best
” If I was playing now I would be going to the games in a spaceship because thats how much they would be paying me.”
Orlando is sneakily one of the worst run teams in the NBA. They claimed to be rebuilding the right away, let continue to never get better and have no superstars. Just an awful franchise.
Big pop for the Springboard
Yeah that was awesome… he was emptying the chamber here.
Your current WWE champion was 11 at this time.
…And he’s like a 15-year veteran. Journeyman. Whatever
Taka working like a stud here
did Jr call that a thunder fire bomb? it was a suplex i thought…
Great match
Yes yes it was!
Ha they’re still fighting
dude they are beating the shit out of each other
Wizards offering Wall the super max contract extension, 4 years/$170 million.
That is the new method of Renegotiate and Extend, which only the Wiz can offer. Wall is obviously take it since his current deal that comes up in two years is well below his MVP level value. It does, however, put the Wizards into the tax if they re-sign or match a max offer sheet on Otto Porter Jr. It basically puts the Wizards behind the 8 ball to win right now.
This show is all about guys busting their ass to elevate themselves through hard work.
Sounds like 97 as a whole
First onscreen blade job for Hunter?
He bled from his back during the hog pen match but yeah you may be right.
They should have ended the show with them still fighting in the parking lot.
Paul George traded to the Thunder
Whoa!
Oladipo and sabonis going to pacers
Among other things
So pretty much what they got from Orlando in the Ibaka deal
Westbrook and PG. Hey now!
For Oladipo, Sabonis, and I assume draft picks
What?!?!
oooo ok.
Holy shit!
I have an exclusive photo of who brokered the deal https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/122217745742621a94bfa710fe5389dfd452253ea8df26581dad0adf020f746d.jpg
This HUMAN COMMODE, Paul Bearer
This Paul Bearer was pure Percy Pringle.
Yeah he looks way different, even though he’ll go back to this look again later
Vader’s last heel hurrah.
Heh, Vader accosting that Kuwait talk show host is in his Titantron.
They milked the shit out of that one.
“After i kick his ass, i’ll kick your ass.”
this is basically it for Vader as a top act i think
Was this match originally set to be Faarooq? Or heel Ahmed?
Ahmed
I need not ask if he was injured. Well. For very cloud and all.
That would have brought the show workrate down. ’97 Taler was good, but he was no miracle worker.
If the Celtics don’t land Hayward, Ainge might end up at the bottom of the Charles!
If they don’t get Hayward, the Celtics still have tons of directions to go in with the space they have, but one thing they would do first and foremost if they strike out on him is go after Paul George in a trade. After that, I would bet Marcus Smart would be given an extension so he doesn’t enter restricted free agency at the same time that Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley’s deals are up next summer (that is assuming Bradley is not part of a Paul George deal).
I write all of this and George goes to the Thunder
Certainly seems OKC is trying for a one year run that maybe changes PG’s mind. Oladipo, Sabonis and picks is fairly tame (similar to the Butler haul), which really spotlights what the fuck Danny Ainge is thinking.
OKC took the gamble on the rental and are now completely out of future draft picks to give away for the next four years.
I hate the deal for them, but Clay Bennett wants to win in the worst way.
I also think this makes it more likely Russell renegotiates and extends this summer rather than the Thunder allowing both Russ and George to be UFA’s in the same summer, which would make PTSD-suffering Thunder fans want to vomit.
I don’t know, I feel like you gotta take those shots for superstars – Oladipo wasn’t moving the needle for them.
It also allows Oladipo to play in Indiana, where he played in college. The bad news is that he is a two guard option on a rebuilding team, which is similar to the toxic Orlando situation, when he was… a two guard option on a rebuilding team.
Would you have believed it back then if you were told Undertaker would still be wrestling, even sporadically, in 20 years time.
Or hell, even main eventing WM in 2010. Against Shawn Michaels. In his last match, seven years into returning from a supposedly career-ending injury.
Life is strange.
Iggy would be a good signing for the Thunder as a next move. See if you can add Millsap as well
That’s a team that could go deep in playoffs
Man and one more thing. Why would Lebron leave the East? The west is just gonna get more stacked and all the teams will continue to beat up on each other. Much easier ride in the east
Evening fellas what’s happening? Did I miss a Canadian Stampede live watch?
Still going, hop in!
Very good, Im thinking about watching that one again myself soon along with the 3 previous Battlegrounds too. Summer of 1997 is one of my favorite stretches too.
We’re on Vader/Taker now
See at this point Vader was basically done. That Hogan feud in WCW crippled his heat. But hes trying here. Crowd is hot
Yeah he had a few great moments in WWF but was ever quite the same.
Taker/Vader is pretty underrated I feel.
An alleged murder storyline in 1997 WWF. Imagine that today!
Nope. Kids might try it at home.
It represents that more mature, Wild West culture feel of the business and the 90s in general
Paul is totally Percy Pringle here
You’re a god d**** murderer.
He was great during this stretch leading up to Kane’s debut
And the other shoe may have dropped on the Rubio trade: Word going around that the Timberwolves got a verbal commitment from Jeff Teague to sign there.
hmm jeff teague would need to change his game. Distribute not shoot so much
Very true, but he had good shooting seasons in Atlanta once upon a time. If he can reconnect with that and be the off ball distributor while Butler and Wiggins go ISO inside the 3 point line, it works. Still better than non shooter Ricky Rubio.
im big on KAT. I think he can dominate the league. But the need to let him. He should go work with Hakeem NOW. Be the dominate center that he can be. But they have to play that way. If he can be dominate he can draw doubles and leave other guys open
That’s a weird fit on paper with Butler and Wiggins right? Teague is also OLD so the end years of that deal are going to be ugly.
Teague is older than Rubio, but his injury history is not nearly as bad, he is still an efficient above average point guard, and he has played on a winning team in the past to help the younger team alongisde Jimmy Butler.
3 years for Teague is pretty solid. It was the (past) rumors of a 5 year deal that get pretty icky.
Is this Vader’s last really good North American match? Or do we think his One Night Only bout with Owen is better?
I haven’t seen the Owen Match at One Night Only still.
We should live watch that soon, fun show.
I need to see that Show too.
Oh yeah great show.
The goldust match at Rumble wasn’t bad but I also wouldn’t say it was really good, more of a fun opening match. So maybe this was his last really good match.
Ainge not looking good tonight.
Oladipo was an awful fit in OKC and will likely do better in Indiana and Sabonis can score for a big but they really couldnt give them a combo from Bradley/Smart/Crowder/Brown and a pick or two?
Maybe pacers liked that oladipo is locked up for a few years where Bradley and smart are both free agents after this season.
True but the Crowder contract is extremely favorable, like one of the best in the NBA, and they can match the salary and throw in a good 1st rounder.
But if the other offer involved Jaylon Brown, Jayson Tatum, or even both, I’m taking that deal versus Oladipo and a borderline lottery pick.
I’m curious what the picks are for OKC – *because* if they’re future enough, and Westbrook leaves, you’re talking something on par with the Nets pick in a couple years.
Word now is there are no pics, just Oladipo and Sabonis
Woof.
Wow. I’m guessing the C’s couldn’t get the commitment to stay from PG.
The rumor was they could possibly get one if Hayward was going to sign but maybe they know that’s not happening.
I feel like Bill Simmons isn’t taking this into account. He’s out there saying Indy had better offers , but there’s no way the Celtics were giving up one of those high picks for a one year rental.
Brutal. I’m so mad right now.
That is why Westbrook’s new deal last summer getting an exemption from the new CBA in terms of year to year salary increases (which was one of the things that did not allow the Thunder to offer Durant full max year to year last summer and came back to bite them) is so important now. Westbrook can now (here’s that phrase again!) Renegotiate and Extend once again, get more on the back end, and the Thunder does not have to sweat the possibility of both Westbrook and George being UFA’s next summer. Westbrook will be locked in. George is purely a rental, and he is very likely to sign with the Lakers anyway. It’s the worst kept secret in sports right now.
Yea, now it’s Hayward or bust in terms of attracting big names this summer.
If that doesn’t work, Renegotiate and Extend Isaiah and extend Smart, and bunker down with your Brooklyn picks and lean on Stevens to win with less again.
That tombstone reversal spot was misguided. Otherwise this match has been cookin.
Where do you guys rank Summerslam the next month?
man that Bret-Taker match is so good in terms of storytelling. I’d say its up there pretty high. Even the finish with Shawn having to look at Bret while he counts because there at the edge of the ring is great.
Yeah I love that finish especially.
That show should be the next LW. Or maybe GAB 97.
Yes that match is fucking awesome and doesn’t get enough credit. Like you say, it’s the little things.
Jersey crowd all over Bret and Shawn in that match
Watched it recently… here were my grades:
Mankind vs. Helmsley – 1997 ***3/4
Goldust vs. Pillman – 1997 **1/4
LOD vs Godwinns – 1997 **1/2
Shamrock vs Bulldog – 1997 **3/4
DOA vs Boricuas – 1997 *1/2
Austin vs. Hart – 1997 ****1/4
Undertaker vs. Hart – 1997 ****
Hot damn what a fun match with a great finish. Crowd is super hot too. Great stuff.
Crowd is just getting warmed up
Superb hoss match! Shades of UT/Batista,
You guys talked about it on the podcast when you did this show but it really is a great 4 match show.
Yeah it is easily the best WWF/E PPV ever when you by pure total match ratings.
I love the RAWs in between Canadian Stampede and Summerslam going back & forth from the US & Canada. Especially the Halifax episode where Bret goes nuts on Vince and the Flag Match.
did they ever do an Ahmed-Taker high profile match? Would have been……..interesting
Nope, this was supposed to be it but Ahmed got hurt.
This show is like the templete for today’s NXT Takerovers.
The Race Wars I mean the Gang Wars heating up
“Ten man meeeeeelay” … Vince was the best
See taker was capable of having great matches during this era but he had the most disappointing feud of his career imo during this time period
Undertaker vs Goldust
You would think a match between an undead super zombie vs a cross dressing gold obsessed Hollywood movie director would be interesting. But the matches were soooo meh
Vince is so underrated as an Announcer.
ooohh the gang wars.
Kevin Kelly’s favorite angle!
CSNNE is having a live show and the panel are almost beside themselves about this trade.
Its not the end of the world but if you miss on Hayward then you’ve went two offseasons will tons of cap space to end up with a declining Al Horford.
I always laugh when I think of Goldust calling Austin “Stone” on Raw when he tries to assemble the team for this show.
It’s a really a shame the year kinda limps to the finish once the Hart Foundation is done. Still had a few moments though.
I love the dark feel of late 97… it was a company purely against the wall just piecing shit together on the fly and then boom the powder keg ignites. It is a very cool time to watch.
Oh yeah i can still watch it too but it feels weird for a bit not having Bret and company around post Survivor Series.
Look at Pillman. To bad he had that car wreck because he had the right gimmick
man shamrock looked like an action figure at this point.
Oooh that Shamrock, what a promo man!
Hoofa..all the 90s in that female group!
Hey look! Canadian Dixie Chicks!
The crowd is so loud the ring is shaking.
That…is unprecedented.
Crowd sounds fucking loud on mono
man goldust might be the most out their creation that vince ever made. Brilliant stuff
Sure is… tremendous gimmick and run.
Amazing he’s still going and killing it on promos right now.
I can’t promise I will last too long, but anyone down to start watching the Raw from the next night after this ends? That is a great show too.
The next night in Edmonton with Bret’s anti-American promo.
I’m in, waiting up to see more NBA stuff going down
Probably
Oh i’m fucking pumped for this match now!
Got to meet Shamrock at WrestleCon this year… was pretty neat, always been a huge fan of his.
Surprised he never came back for a run
Yeah always wished he would show up one last time. He is still jacked.
I saw Shamrock on That 70s Show episode today.
I LOVE Austin hamming it up here!
This crowd is dying to cheer him but they knew they couldn’t.
His laughing walking down the ramp is epic
And he still gets a degree of cheers.
That’s what tells you how huge he would be.
Even with the trade, C’s still probably the 2nd best team in the East.
Austin flipping the bird to everyone is classic.
The Hart Foundation entrances here are goosebumps inducing. What a moment for all of them, the peak of the Hart Family in wrestling.
Love the crowds during this stretch
Each pop for the Harts gets louder.
Biggest Jim Neidhart pop ever?
By himself has to be
So, Westbrook and George playing together in a few years for the Lakers?
This could definitely be a test run for them.
So. Damn. Loud.
Afraid we’ll never hear noise like that again.
Such a unique situation, they really struck gold with this whole thing and was either brilliant scheduling or an amazing coincidence that they had so many Canadian shows in 97.
I legit think the company today would freak the fuck out if someone/something started getting reactions approaching this. It’s something they can’t control, and therefore, too risky.
Shit you can’t even hear the beginning of Bret’s theme!
Surprised they haven’t made many trips to Canada lately other than last year for Survivor Series/NXT Takeover Toronto plus maybe one RAW and Smackdown.
Jeff Goodman reporting Celts offered the Pacers three 1st round picks (Not the Brooklyn or Lakers/Kings picks) and two starters, one of them Crowder, for George on draft night.
That has to be better than what they got, right?
I’d think so.
If one of those starters was Bradley or Smart, absolutely.
I would have even been willing to take the Memphis 2019 pick because Memphis might be awful by then.
ALL of these deals were better than the Indiana deal. But Pritchard played hardball with Ainge and Ainge didn’t up the ante will throwing a fucking lob to OKC.
The irony is that OKC may have ruined themselves too if they get no promise from George to stay because you basically gave up what you got for Serge Ibaka and wound up with nothing for it.
So what’s the Pacers thought process here?
Their GM must love Oladipo
The Celtics first rounders would be the bottom, way outside the lottery. Those picks are terrible – no surprise they’d turn that down.
Better than getting no picks though?
Oladipo and Sabonis are better than Crowder and whomever the phantom other starter were (especially if those guys had just one year left on their deals).
I disagree with this, especially if Bradley or Smart were one of those starters. Crowder is overrated, but so is Oladipo. Sabonis was a looter in a riot: He started games at the 4 because they literally had no one else. He might not even be good.
Bradley is a FA after this year – Indiana isn’t interested in him in a rebuild. Agree Crowder is wildly overrated.
Crowder’s contract is what makes him valuable.
They have the Grizzlies and Clippers 1st’s in 2019 too.
Eh, they could be ok, but two years out lessens their appeal. I mean, even if the C’s don’t get another big guy now, they certainly have some chips, damn.
The 2019 Memphis pick is a very good one. The Clippers pick, not so much, now that Blake is there, but it very well could have wound up lottery too. 50/50 shot.
And little Nattie at ringside.
JR mentions Wrestling With Shadows…
Love that Documentary
It occurs to me that doing the whole shades of grey thing with Austin vs. the Hart Foundation shows a lot of confidence in the product. Austin and Bret had just done the double turn at Mania, yet they’re not trying to “protect” the new status quo. Just letting it play out organically and making the most of this nuclear crowd reactions.
Agreed… they caught lightning in a bottle and rode it out week to week without overengineering it in any way.
JR mentioning Wrestling with Shadows with all the cameras at ringside
Love that Austin and Bret open it up too… tremendous. JR going apeshit.
And, if the Pacers GM passed up that rumored offer for Oladipo/Sabonis, then I’d be pissed as a Pacers fan.
The Pacers knew they were going to be pennies on the dollar thanks to George’s admission to want to leave killing all of their leverage. Unfortunately, they got exactly what they feared they would get :Pennies.
George absolutely fucked them over but why take on that awful Oladipo contract? I’d take three mid 1sts for that or at least a younger, cheaper reclamation project.
Now Bret is stomping a mudhole in Austin.
This is glorious!
its kinda strange how Chris Paul, Paul George and Jimmy Bulter have all
been traded and the best player any team got back was Victor Oladip
Patrick Beverley has something to say about that.
I might be bias here but this was so much better than what WCW was doing at the time.
Only DDP/Savage had this kind of heat for them.
And Sting whenever he would show up.
And the raws were good too but nitro was still winning the ratings every week
Yeah, Foley said it best at one point… Raw was better than Nitro for most of 97 but nobody knew to check it out until Tyson showed up and brought the eyes.
True
was this june of 97? Than yeah probably lol. Everything was in airplane mode at this point building to havoc 97/starcade.
DDP-Savage was good
Early July
Although Sting probably was more over at this point than anyone in this match. Probably the most popular wrestler at this point in North America
Yeah im not taking anything away from that but like i said i guess im bias.
Eastern Conference got a hell of a lot weaker this past week.
Yankee youth movement continues: http://bronxpinstripes.com/news-rumors/clint-frazier-to-join-yankees-saturday/
https://twitter.com/espn/status/880975195477069824
Nobody is knocking off GS any time soon anyway
This was in that weird period where all the WWF PPV shows took place in like the first 10 days of the month, from King of the Ring through D-Generation X in December.
I always found that odd too for some reason.
Yeah that was an odd switch, must have wanted to get way away from WCW.
lol hes tapping out!
Amazing Goldust is still wrestling, he’s been doing it for nearly 30 years now.
man i remember him and dusty doing that wargames in 94 or 93 i think lol. Crazy
Love that build and match.
I just watched the snme when he was sitting front row and Dibiase and Virgil gave him a great beat down while dusty was in the ring vs savage.
Very curious where he lands on the PTBN GWWE List. Probably should be top 15 or 20 I would think?
I think somewhere in there for me.
Jericho is going in my top 10.
My tentative Top 10 right now would go-
Michaels
Savage
Austin
Undertaker
Hogan
Cena
Sammartino
Hart
Backlund
Jericho
I think my top ten will be something similar to that.
Rock just misses the cut, placing him around 11-12. Edge is going in high for me though.
I am really interested in how high Cena lands overall.
Some people build from the ground up. I find it’s easier to work down, and as I fil in spots I come across a guy and look at who is above him and can then assess “does this guy rank higher than anyone I have placed so far”.
Yeah I think with something like this, that is easier for sure. It is hard to start at #100 because you are more likely to know the top 20 guys than the bottom 20 at first glance.
Think I preferred Owen with the long hair instead of the buzzcut
Been digging Goldust going old school lately.
i liked the camera man he brought on monday. nice touch
As did i and one of his old outfits.
yeah the white was good
Reminded of i think he wore during one of the Undertaker Matches.
i gotta say i liked how the euro title looked as a belt. Kinda pointless but looked good
Celtics’ draft day offer for PG was 3 first rounders, Jae Crowder, and “another starter.”
Is there someone inside Indiana working for OKC?????
Adam says that was the trade deadline deal, The draft trade offer was less, but only with the Brooklyn 2018 pick taken out.
man wonder why they didnt do it
Yeah the trade deadline deal had Brooklyn’s pick (allegedly, there is no doubt Ainge is the source for this) that Indiana declined (again allegedly), which of course turned out to be #1.
This deal is three shitty first rounders; how doe the C’s not offer the Lakers/Kings one given all the uncertainty (and being maybe two years away)?
Because Ainge played his cards too close to his vest and will probably wind up dying on the sword that is “The Brooklyn Picks” (Brown, Tatum, and let’s say hypothetically Mo Bamba). That is still a great trio to build with, but if his first idea was to package them for a superstar, then Ainge failed his organization. The league got so sick of the ad nauseum of Ainge’s leverage and it wound up backfiring on him. GM’s either wanted all those picks or no deal would be done, whereas the same GM’s were willing to take lesser deals elsewhere simply because they didn’t want to hear that they got bamboozled by Boston because of those picks.
Very complicated innuendo, but in the end, AInge screwed himself by getting too good of a haul during his rebuild and not being risky.
I truly believe that Ainge believed he could land Durant and would use the picks to get another star. After that failed, he now has to use the picks and hope he hits a home run.
Everyone is playing their roles to perfection here… nobody off in any way.
Imagine Shawn in this match…the building might have burned down from all the heat the crowd would have given him AND Austin.
Wasn’t Shawn suppose to be in this before the scuffle with Bret?
Yes… and then two weeks later in San Antonio, they do the thing where Austin, Michaels, Shamrock, Patriot and Sid stare down the Harts.
Right,Sid’s last appearance until RAW 1000 in 2012.
When was that random title match with Undertaker? June?
Before KOTR I believe.
Interesting, I never knew they did a title match on Raw with those guys after Taker’s win.
Yeah it was a surprise, Sid had been gone since Mania and just showed up and demanded a rematch and Taker beat him clean IIRC.
Owen looked like Bryan there, obviously was a big influence on him
So, Sir Riche…with the Bulls going back to the Tim Floyd era, time to stack up on some Wolves’ and Bucks’ merch?
And when are you seeing “Baby Driver” or “The Beguiled?”
And Happy Birthday!
Seeing “Baby Driver” on Sunday.
First, thanks for the birthday shout out. I’m still looking for my veteran minimum in free agency once all the young guys take the max money I used to earn!
Second of all, I watched Baby Driver already. It’s phenomenal. Watch it ASAP.
Now about basketball! The Wolves are in a better position cap wise and talent wise in the short term. That is a playoff team on paper right now if the Jeff Teague deal is a real thing. The Bucks are also a playoff team and will be much more cap strapped due to some not so great deals involving Teletovic, Dellavedova, and soon to be extended Tony Snell. But here is my caveat: Giannis will be the best player in the NBA by 2020, barring injury, and it won’t even be close. He is impossible to guard already. The other barrier for the Bucks is the fact that they have bickering between two owners, a coach who has a big ego, and no GM for the time being. They ride things by the seat of their pants, but they always draft on potential, length, and pure unadulerated talent. Imagine the Thunder in the late 00’s if you only had Durant. In the long term, they will eventually put a terrific, athletic, defensively minded team behind the Greek Freak and that team will blossom in the East. The Wolves are really good right now, so get their tickets at the box office today.
I’ll put this in the main post also (and again in tomorrow’s thread):
https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/strong-style-story-the-g1-special-in-usa-special-part-1
I love in Shadows when they have Pat and the Harts planning that tussle with the family and they overlay the footage as b roll.
“And then your brothers fucking help you when he try to smash his fucking knee up…..
Pat is pretty funny for some reason there especially.
its basically downhill for Bulldog pretty soon after this correct? WCW Run was no bueno, and he came back all messed up. Sad
Yeah, post Bad Blood everything goes to shit for him until the end for the most part.
His knees were supposedly shot even before the back injury in WCW. Pretty unreal he managed a comeback at all. Sadly he was worse off for it.
Even without George or even if they do not get Hayward, C’s still the second best team in the East.
only because the east is weak. I am pretty sure melo goes to the cavs now..makes gap bigger
although melo has made some strange choices recently so maybe he stays in NY lol
Dolan already said he wasn’t buying him out so i dont see how that happens.
wave no trade clause?
There’s no way cleveland has the cap room to take him on.
Teague to Min? Is he better than Rubio? Riche – you think they Justin wanted a better shooter?
There’s quite a few mouths to feed with Teague/Butler/Wiggins/KAT right?
Right – I get the need to space the floor but Rubio as a pure facilitator seems like a better fit. They must have not wanted to pay him. Teague isn’t cheap either. Idk. Weird move.
Rubio is a better passer and defender.by quite a bit, but Teague is a better scorer and has been an all star. The fit is not ideal, but he can keep defenses honest at the perimeter and he still has quickness whereas Rubio beats you side to side.
Anthony to the Rockets is a real possibility.
That requires a buyout and stretch, which has been a nightmare for every team that uses it (ask the Clippers and Pistons how that worked out for them with Delfino and Josh Smith). Melo is gonna ride that money train all the way until it is done in 2019.
They might have to find a way to make it work. Melo will be 35 then. How much value will he have then?
It would be very close between them and the Wizards. The Wiz have no bench and now won;t have the money to fix it after Wall and Porter get paid, but their starters can match Boston’s.
ALL of them are still well below Cleveland barring some catastrophe like Kyrie getting traded or LeBron getting hurt.
Yeah, Wizards bench was a disaster in that series. Trey Burke just about played himself out of the league.
Otto Porter getting paid after the start of his NBA career should make him eligible for the Comeback of the year ESPY tbh
He was going to get paid no matter what because his cap hold as a top 3 pick going into his fifth year was quite high. Sa,e reason the overrated Victor Plaxico got 20 mil per year from the Thunder in October.
Bulldog gets one more moment in the sun at Survivor Series.
I thought it was cool he came back despite his body being shot by that point.
kinda weird booking though. I thought he actually had a solid match with the Rock at No Mercy but than if i recall correctly he went into the hardcore division…
Once he switched from the tights to the jeans it was over. They tried to push him hard when he returned but that didn’t last too long.
Following The Rock feud he aligns with the Mean Street Posse but then kinda dissapears at the start of 2000.
I was gonna say, I enjoyed that match with Rock at least. Their literal dog shit match on SD, not so much.
Fuck Pillman tossing Shamrock to the announce table was ugly
Pillman was in his element here!
Is this the best 10 man tag match in wwe? I can’t think of a survivor series match off the top of my head that’s better
The Dallas RAW match was close, but doesn’t reach the epicness of this one.
JR loved referencing Dusty in Goldust’s 97 matches. Did it a ton.
Austin was pretty cut up here. Gained some more muscle later on
Yeah he was really lean and cut in 96 and most of 97, doesn’t bulk up until the neck injury and run up to WM14.
Drinking beers at the end of every show will gain one a gut lol.
Good point lol
Celts Summer League team is pretty stacked.
this is like the one time the road warriors got over as heels except when they first debuted
Was there a botch here because Stu gets involved twice doesn’t he? He was involved toward the end.
You think crowd is cheering Austin’s sharpshooter on Bret but it’s really Owen coming back
lol bruce falling like a dickhead trying to climb over
I need another ten minutes of Shamrock murdering Bruce
Nice bump by Bruce just getting over the guardrail
Can you spot Nattie (she’s probably holding a cat).
This brilliantly transitioned Austin right into Owen.
Love all the chaos post match
Nothing is more Canadian than this: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46031b120646b05b84f6009223d84243b081845abb3237e5fa9257bdf9d2b2e1.jpg
Bulldog sagging the fanny pack is epic
Pills weigh down the fanny pack
It’s technically only 2/5 Canadian ya know.
True, but when in Rome…
Where the fuck did Davey get those pants from?
The Bazaaaaaarrrrrr
Love the family coming after and King says Stu & Helen are responsible for all this.
Bruce Hart is such a scrub….
The scrubbiest of all scrubs.
I hate him so much
Whenever he’s been on camera in one of Bret’s angles, he’s always acting like he’s auditioning for a job.
Harts must have felt like on top of the fucking world during all this
Austin looks like a total fucking badass
What happens when you’re booked strongly
This is the Austin I loved. The damn near psychotic, rage fueled sociopath!
Flipping off the crowd with the cuffs on is one of my favorite Austin moments just amazing stuff
This crowd was buzzing the entire night, never stopped.
This show is perfect. Nothing even slightly bad.
Stu should have told Austin to “show some discipline”.
Owen with Oje š
This is awesome and tragically sad to watch at the same time.
Yeah I cry whenever I’m subjected to Natayla too.
Oh man yes…so poignant
Yanks Beating up on the Astros. Go figure. Such a strange sport
And Clint Frazier arrives tomorrow!
Good choice Denny! 7/7/97 Raw next until we pass out?
Fuck it why not? Holiday weekend!
Fire it up at 11
I’m ready
OK, 11PM: 7/7/97 Raw!
I am paused at the zeroes.
I’d love to join, but I have an early shift tomorrow. See you guys around later!
Thanks for hanging Joseph! Talk to you soon!
Thank you for hosting Mr. JT.
Later Joseph!
I’ll be back in a bit. I got work in the mourning too but i can come back before I hit the hay.
We have thunder and lightning here now.
The WCW tag team?
The weather
Yeah we had some rain and lighting earlier but it was brief.
yep just heard the thunder here
It’s like okc is mocking us here in Boston, now we have to hear thunder
I would like period-specific ads before shows. Truth commercials only for early 2000s content.
Or Lugz.
Zima (it’s back!) ads for New Generation stuff
Been seeing a bunch of those watching the 2000 episodes.
And we’re off!
“That’s all i gotta say, eh..”
Some revisionist history in this voiceover by Vince
Always wanna fight somebody every time this era Raw intro comes on
God damn all those signs.
Wheel
Chair
Wrestling
I never made a sign to bring
I WANT THIS BACK IN WRESTLING TODAY!
Gotta love the RAW uniform
Did they ever sell that jacket?
Bret could have easily won any political office in Canada in the summer of 97.
Makes you want to live there. Especially today.
The Oilers jerseys were brilliant.
It is also awesome how they already have three matches set and ready to go for The SummerSlam.
Was always a funny Bret-ism. “The Summerslam”
Coming off stampede lod are the only ones that go off on a different feud.
Ten minutes into the show, and already three matches hyped for Summerslam
All time GOAT moment that doesn’t get talked about enough… Austin attacking during the Anthem.
So great
Wonder if USA told Vince to apologize during the break
Japanese promo with zero translation
“The Great Sasookie”… Brian Christopher going all in on commentary.
Brian name dropping USWA
TAKA almost died on that springboard.
Taka almost just died
Brian going racist there for a sec
And now sasuke almost dies
Still a fun match
For sure, you can see why TAKA impressed them across those two nights.
Nene just re-signed with the Rockets
Today Taka would have gotten his win back
Thunder Fahr Bomb
“I took out of the fields picking jalapeƱo peppers….”
Savio with some man boobage going on underneath the wife beater
I’ll be honest at the time I liked all the factions. The matches weren’t good but I just liked seeing the different gangs.
And at the time, it felt fresh and exciting after the staleness of 95-96
The nation was getting stale so once crush and savio were booted and godfather dlo and Ahmed joined it freshened them up and you had crush and savio getting there groups together like you said it was something fresh and exciting.
Yeah it definitely was different and mixed things up
Of course it did get old rather quickly. Can only watch so many doa vs boricua matches
What’s that song during the Paul bumper?
I am fading fast guys. This was a great time and we will be doing plenty of these in the weeks to come. Enjoy the rest of the show!
Later, Gawdfadda!
Good times indeed, later jtr
Loved Vince getting hot at Austin for cutting him off bc they were up against a break
I forgot about this tag tournament
There were so many little things about this time period…the general tone of the shows was hostile and chaotic…everyone is pissed off. I’m not even sure 98 is like this to this level
The whole rebranding and calling it raw is war and the war zone fit perfectly
And I do feel like 97 doesn’t get as much attention as 98
I know Scott and Justin talked about that when they did 97
Believe Scott mentioned it on the WM 13 Vault. He was right though..it’s all the little details
“Thank you for joining us, Mr Austin…”
“SHADDUP!!”
Love it.
Austins the best
Time to get some shut eye. Enjoy the rest of the show Sean! This was definitely alot of fun!
Yeah I’m checking out too, nice look back at the summer of 97 tonight. Talk to you later.
Anyone still up?
Curry officially gets the designated player exemption which he was eligible for because he won MVP in back to back years. 5 years, $201 million, no player option on the fifth year. His Bird rights allow the Warriors to retain Durant at just below the super max,which means that Curry got sweet revenge for getting underpaid on a low extension for years.
For the players re-signing with their teams :
Patty Mills agrees to sign a 4 year, $50 mil deal with Spurs
Shaun Livingston agrees to sign a 3 year, $24 mil deal with Warriors
Nene agrees to sign a 4 year, $15 mil deal with Rockets
Blake Griffin agrees to sign a 5 year, $173 mil deal with Clippers
Tony Snell agrees to sign a 4 year, $46 mil deal with Bucks
Woj out and firing at the stroke of midnight with his new gig at ESPN.
Is Tony Snell that good?
He is one of the most efficient shooters in the league, and Milwaukee took a chance on him after dealing MCW right before the season started and Snell started at SG. He also plays good defense. Milwaukee actually got him on a discount by most standards.
I agree that 10 per is VERY reasonable, esp considering JJ Reddick is looking at a 1 year deal for 20+ million
Guys (and girls) – just as a heads up, there will be a fresh Saturday thread up in the morning, which will cover the entire day’s worth of events, culminating in NJPW G1 Special in USA 8pm – midnight ET LIVE discussion right here at Place to Be Nation