Pinc

2 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

Always surprised me how well received Santino was.

Whatever Rumble it was where he was at the end, you couldn't do that with many talent at that level.

One of the best moments of the 2010s, that. Still reckon they should’ve just have him win it.

Fair points. Although my memory of the storyline is that it ran pretty cold after the first night when they invaded. I've never heard an American fan bemoan Wade Barrett as a particular missed opportunity. It's only British fans who ever seem to say that.

The real missed opportunity around that time was actually Michael Cole, whose heel persona was one of the best things on the shows in 2010. He could've emerged as a new Mr McMahon type figure if they'd revealed that he was both the anonymous Raw GM and the Nexus's 'higher power' figure, which Barrett referred to cryptically once or twice.

None of the Nexus lads had any business being in a main event programme at the time, and most of them never would have. WWE have messed up loads of should-have-been stars in the last twenty years, but I don’t think the Nexus lads belong in that category. The one exception being Skip Sheffield on a technicality - as he should’ve been much more than he was as Ryback.

‘What a silly thread, if you like them of course they had something going for them.’

/is reminded of Amish Roadkill.

’Och aye, loved the useless cunt.’

Fucking hell lads Rocky is playing yiz like fiddles.

1 hour ago, Little Johnny said:

Veering dangerously close to "getting outraged on other people's behalf" territory there.

Oh do fuck off with that.

The boneyard match was some silly shit and it’s a shame if that is the end of Taker.

Lofi Kingston - comes to the ring (slowly) to a rotating assortment of chill hip hop beats.

A graphic comes up at he start saying ‘In Memory of Owen Hart, who accidentally passed away during this broadcast.’ Carny bastards.

That’s Owens’ craic.

3 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

If I were picking my top 6 it'd be 3 of each dynasty, with two of the prequels occupying spots 10 and 11.

Mick Jonno a baddie? Behave.

John Sitton on the baddies side, Peter Reid his goodie counterpart. Paul Sykes the final boss (who wins).

Well then find the kid and get him booked for Double Or Nothing ffs.

Why the fuck did they leave in that exchange between Taker and Sheamus about black chicks!?

On 5/8/2020 at 3:28 PM, DCW said:

Been watching 2001 on the network and some of the pops RVD was getting were ridiculous, up there with what Austin, babyface Angle & Rock were getting at the time. Pity, they never sustained his initial push, he should have been the one proper success story of the Invasion. By February 2002 he was firmly back in the mid card box, fucking around with Goldust and Regal.

Aye its a hill I’m very glad to die on. Babyface RVD beating heel champ Austin should’ve been the main event of Mania X8. And it should have been framed as the beginning of the Van Dam era like Austin’s victory at Mania 14 was the beginning of his.

That was the natural outcome of the invasion storyline, and would’ve meant doing without the sudden Austin face turn the night after Survivor Series ‘01. Which amounted to a retconning of the previous year of storylines, stretched the casual audience’s suspension of disbelief beyond breaking, and is an underacknowledged reason for why so many casual fans switched off in 2001 and never came back. It was the WWE’s Armin Tamzarian moment.

Someone on here (sorry I forget who) said recently that Mania X8 and the Rock/Hogan match in particular was the watershed moment at which WWE's narrative thread stopped looking forward and it became a nostalgia show, concentrating more on playing the hits from its past than building its future (with the nWo, red and yellow Hogan and babyface Austin all central to the shows in the coming months). The natural next step in the story they’d been telling since the start of the Attitude era was RVD as the new face of the company and when they bottled it with him they wrecked their own continuity and they’ve never managed to fix it.

Had a ciggy with Robbie Brookside outside a bar on the Albert Dock in Liverpool. Was during the intermission of An Evening With William Regal.

I asked him about his name and he said he was mates with Phil Redmond in the 80s who told him that Brookside was going to be massive once it launched, and recommended he adopt it as his name about a year before it first aired. Which blew my mind (and I’ve never done the Googling to check if its right).

8 minutes ago, UK Kat Von D said:

Well, that’s kinda what they did anyway. It’s just a case of if the invasion story would work with staggered debuts. 

Aye. But I suppose doing it from the start would save budget on your Mike Awesomes and Tommy Dreamers who were non-entities in the Invasion.

2 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

I always thought it was a damn tough thing to book. You've got 2/3 companies with their own individual faces and heels. How exactly do you book that successfully while keeping them as separate entities/factions?

You’re on to something here, I’d say. The smarter thing to do would probably have been to bring in the small number of top guys they could get as individuals in a staggered way through 2001/02, and book them in big ‘Dream Matches’. Could’ve started with Austin vs Booker at SummerSlam to unify the two world titles. The unification element would’ve popped a big buyrate. DDP vs Rock at Survivor Series could’ve done a number in the battle of the People’s Champs. Flair vs Taker (or whoever) could’ve headlined the Rumble.

The “WWF vs WCW” part of the angle could’ve been pitched as a personal feud between Vince and either Bischoff or Flair, depending on who was willing to come in first. Without everyone in one company turning heel and the other all turning face.

The likes of DDP, Austin, Booker etc for the most part could just chase the gold with their face/heel alignments developing naturally in the conventional way. Maybe you could have the story build to a one night ‘winner take all’ thing at Mania X8; where everyone has to pick a side for the night to determine which company survives. A ‘Best of Seven’ set of single matches at Mania X8 pitting Flair, Booker, Hogan, Hall, Nash, Bagwell and DDP against Rock, Austin, Angle, Triple H, Taker, Kane and Jericho would’ve drawn big at that point. 

3 minutes ago, Shane O' Mac Version 2 said:

Another one I would have liked to see- RVD vs. JBL. They may have crossed paths in the Hardcore division when he was plain old Bradshaw, but in particular, the ECW-hating version of JBL felt destined to clash with Mr. ECW Van Dam in 2005/2006. But in 2005, Rob Van Dam had his severe knee injury, and by the time he healed and returned to head the relaunched Extreme brand, JBL retired from the ring for a couple of years to become a commentator on Smackdown. By the time JBL made a return to the ring for a couple of years at the beginning of 2008, RVD had left the company six months earlier.

Good shout. I'd have taken that as the main event of One Night Stand #3 back at the Hammerstein if they'd decided to go back. JBL riling all the mutants and maybe even ending Van Dam's year long reign as ECW Champ (in this hypothetical) would've been golden.

32 minutes ago, David said:

If you think his support team consists of a dietician, I don't know what to tell you. He's got an entire team of sports scientists.

Mate unless he’s got a team of immunologists in there who for some reason have access to data that all of the other immunologists don’t have his reasons are arse water.

1 hour ago, David said:

Ordinarily I'd agree, but you'd think that someone who's obviously as tuned-in regarding health and so on would be informed by the latest scientific thinking. I recall seeing a short documentary about him a few years back and he was working with all manner of sports scientists, health experts, dieticians and so on.

It would be interesting to hear his reasoning, especially if it's not the usual tinfoil-type material.

This is just dreadful critical thinking mate. He has a dietician so his opposition to vaccination is ‘interesting’? Don’t carry water for the gimps.

56 minutes ago, David said:

That's his prerogative. He's no fool, so he'll have his reasons, and I imagine they'll go beyond the usual "I don't trust the government!" line that we usually hear.

Yes I'm sure they'll be eminently sensible and informed by the latest scientific thinking.

I figure it's some promotion's name. Some promotion named VABO.

A WWF house show in 1986 where the only billed match is Savage/Steamboat. You know what they call that - magic darts.