Jazzy G

I had a mate who'd video PPVs for me so I could watch them in the week because we didn't have the Sky. I'll always remember for some reason when I watched Summerslam 93 taped off the Sky the sound hadn't turned out for any of the show apart from the opener and the main, so I sat and watched it all in abject silence. I should fire up the network and see what wondrous insights I've missed out on.

It's a crying shame that any WWE Kurt Angle career retrospective would be lacking some of his finest matches. He's still had some blinders, but without some of his matches against Voldemort it's going to feel incomplete.

Borash on Play by Play, Heel West on Colour and Professor Iron Mike Tenay reeling off those statistics like he used to do on Nitro?

 

 

Ever since he debuted I've not been able to watch a Tony Nese match due to the feeling I recognised his face from something else and it hit me that he is reminding me of Matt Berry.

He strikes me more as a 2/3 size mannequin of Christ Masters that's been brought to life.

 

Now there's a gimmick.

 

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Sacrilicious.

Ever since he debuted I've not been able to watch a Tony Nese match due to the feeling I recognised his face from something else and it hit me that he is reminding me of Matt Berry.

He strikes me more as a 2/3 size mannequin of Christ Masters that's been brought to life.

Jericho has donated $5000

 

What a guy. I'd be surprised if he doesn't think about setting up some kind of charity for this kind of thing in the future.

I'm surprised Vince hasn't offered to pay for rehab, or that DDP hasn't reached out yet. There's still time, though.

Tenay and Heel West were golden on commentary, even when they were just sat reading their scripts at ringside. I honestly thought TNA's commentary couldn't get any worse than Matthews & Taz recording lines in Dixie's en-suite that were then just dubbed over the show at the appropriate time, but Matthews & Pope is the absolute drizzling shits of commentary. Matthews seems to be permanently cutting one of those really embittered promos all the ex WWE guys cut on their TNA debuts and Pope just mumbles incoherently. It makes Otunga and Saxton sound like Gordon Solie by comparison.

The Big Show/Mayweather match was brilliantly put together too. WWE was on point for most of 2008.

 

Anyway, I think every promoter would want McGregor and Mayweather together in a ring. $100M for Floyd and £10.50 for McGregor, I believe is the going price.

It was a nice change for the celebrity to be cast as the heel for a change. Although I guess there was the Mike Tyson DX thing as well.

Steve Austin was ALWAYS USWA until the Attitude Era.  He looked out of place in WCW.

Nah, stunning Steve in the Hollywood Blonds alongside Pillman. Team of the 90s.

Scott Steiner is Big Poppa Pump, as opposed to the young, be-mulleted brother of Rick Steiner.

 

 

 

Never forget the greatest reveal in TNA history (3:55)

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that answers everything...

Angle looked like a proper hard bastard in that segment in his suit and t-shirt. Sting, Joe and Magnus looked like a bunch of sales-managers that had rocked up to the iMPACT Zone and been press-ganged into appearing. Rampage had a t-shirt to sell, obviously. There was no mistaking who the leader of that group should have been. In the absence of Scott Steiner, obviously.

Strowman takes 'Taker out then starts crowing about how he's going to do it for real?

Has WWE ever invested in sending their talent to proper acting classes, or even invited a teacher backstage to help?

 

Miz went for some acting lessons after the whole Diva Search debacle didn't he? I'm not sure whether it was WWE mandated or something he did off his own back, but he certainly benefitted from it. I'm surprised there isn't an acting coach at the performance centre.

Edit: Turns out there is. That makes sense.

Bayley will make Steph look like a million dollars, while Cole and Graves remind us that she's a former WWE Women's champion...

Even though he spent longer in TNA, I will always think of Kurt Angle as a WWE guy.

It's true. It's damned true.

The streak ending should have been his swansong, but I'm guessing Vince was at panic stations over who he could get on at MAnia to pop a decent buy rate. I'm guessing that's why he's on Raw this week as well, to try and get the rating back above Smackdown's. Although Tripper will be back now that Monday Night Football's finished for the season so he can claim that he's responsible for any possible rise in ratings.

Sid will always be Sid Vicious to me. Savage in the cowboy hat, tights and vest rather than trunks and that poncho thing he used to wear to the ring..

Totally get where you're coming from, Raid. The Tag belts and American Alpha were used as window dressing in the Orton/Wyatt Family storyline. It wasn't about the belts changing hands, it was about whether Orton hit Harper accidentally or deliberately. Titles etc unfortunately sometimes take a backseat to the storylines being forwarded, which isn't always a good thing.

I daresay Hindley's pout likely wasn't up to that standard.

I'd guess whether they look for a tv deal will depends on how many people sign up for the app.

Agreed, consumption of media has changed so much over the years.

He might have had to fork out for a new TV after his Daniel Bryan rant the other year.

I'm surprised he's not crowdfunding it like Sabu did for his medical fees a few years ago.

 

Maybe it'll be like 2004 when the Rumble was on Smackdown the Thursday following the Rumble PPV that was won by Eddie. I can't for the life of me remember why they didn't have one at the Royal Rumble PPV, though.

That was because Beniot won it in 04 and was on smackdown at the time, he then defected to raw so smackdown had there own mini rumble on tv to crown there own number 1 contender, this set up that belting Eddie/Brock match at no way out.

 

Ben who? I think you've missed the joke. It was a great run into that year's Mania though.

At least stick a tl:dr at the end?

I think lower ratings may be in part to do with how media is consumed nowadays. Why watch Raw live when you can watch a streamlined, edited version on Hulu the day after? By 2020 RV as we know it might be dead, and it may just be that what you want to watch is available to be watched on demand from that time on that day. Let the TV deals expire and stick Raw & Smackdown on the Network. I don't think it's just the Wrestling, but most TV shows. On Demand viewing fits in better with most people's lives nowadays. As nice as it is to be able to channel hop, I  can see a time when new stuff gets stuck online, then the TV channels themselves become even more of a cycle of repeats, with the possible exception of sports and news channels.