Magnum Milano

Major League II was on the Sony Movie channel earlier and if I have seen it before it was a long, long time ago, which is strange considering how many times I must've watched the first film.  I did miss the opening half hour but I don't think I missed much.  The team are back together for another season, if a little older looking, with one exception, Wesley Snipes clearly thought better of returning and they drafted in another actor to reprise the role of Willie Hayes, while Jake Taylor's dodgy knees mean he's hung up his spikes and is now assistant coach.  The plot is practically identical to the first although there is a sub-plot of fame having gone to Rick Vaughn's head and him having a crisis of confidence as he loses the zip on his fast ball.  If you've seen the first film you know how this one is going to end.  I did get a kick out of Vaughn returning to his "Wild Thing" ways at the end complete with glasses and parts of his hair shaved as the tuned blared out in the stadium.  Bob Uecker is great again and Margaret Whitton is quality in her cameo role. I could've done without the stereotypical Japanese character who signs for the Indians mid-way through the season though. In all honesty it's not the best and not a patch on the first but I don't resent watching it.

Just now, Slapnut said:

I’ve been browsing some Crockett-era WCW on the Network this week, and I’m a bit confused by the TV shows they would have been producing at the time.

If I understand correctly, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling is the original TV show that eventually turned into WCW Pro, while World Championship Wrestling is the show originally produced by GCW, was sold to Vince, and then onto Crockett, right?

On the Network, a lot of these shows have the same air date. So for instance, in 1985, both Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling aired on November 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th and so on.

Was Crockett producing two shows featuring the same wrestlers airing on the same day, or has the Network got the dates wrong?

The first episode of World Championship Wrestling debuted on 6 April 1985, replacing the WWF on TBS which had occupied the time slot since ‘Black Saturday’ in July 1984.  At least for the first few years the shows were taped on the Saturday morning at the Techwood Studios to air that night.  The exception would be during football season when WTBS needed the studio for the live college football scorecard, at which point the wrestling was taped on the Sunday morning to air the following Saturday.  In addition to the World Championship Wrestling show, they would also tape a one hour Championship Wrestling show to air at 08:00am the following Saturday (it debuted 13 April 1985 having been taped directly after the 6 April episode of WCW) and in later years a World Championship Wrestling: Sunday Edition show from the studios, all featuring exclusive matches (mainly squashes) and following a similar format of this main Saturday evening show.

As well as the shows taped at Techwood Studios, JCP also had two lots of syndicated television to be sent out around the country, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and Worldwide Wrestling.  They would tape both shows weekly at the same venue, usually somewhere in the Carolinas (Spartanburg, Shelby, Greenville etc), approximately four days earlier.   These shows would then air on the Saturday, so the same day as the main TBS show.  Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling was eventually replaced by NWA Pro Wrestling, debuting under that name on 7 June 1986.

There is an issue with the Network’s datings for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling being out by a week, but I won’t detail that here

The short answer to your question is yes, and it's possible (with Championship Wrestling and Worldwide) that a wrestler could appear on four different JCP shows on the same day.

Just now, WestCoastPop619 said:

Does anyone know the timings for the two nights?

According to Meltzer's most recent audio they haven't even decided on the match order yet.  Once post-production is finished then they'll work on that.  He said they were hoping to have everything finalized by tomorrow,

Just now, jazzygeofferz said:

Is that Rebecca Front? 

Yes it is.

Reece Shearsmith just tweeted Eddie's "Gotcha" where he shows the patience of a Saint.

With my MMA viewing having subsided in recent years (so I never saw the Korean Zombie getting sparked in the last second of a fight he was winning) that Sell vs Smith fight still has has the best finish ever to a fight for me (just ahead of the Showtime kick).

Mark Weir was also rumoured for the comeback season of TUF, although I can't remember why he never ended up being on it.

Joachin Hansen really is one of those forgotten names in MMA.  Spent all his time fighting in Europe and primarily Japan, only having two of his 38 fights in the U.S. but tough as nails and a great fighter.

Just now, King Pitcos said:

Years after Finlay's WWE in-ring career, he was on video laughing and bragging about how he used to break fan's fingers if they knew wrestling was fake. He's much more of a cunt than someone who breaks a pen.

He was also much more of a cunt in the ring than Triple H ever was.  Check out his match against The Black Prince below.  At best he is being unprofessional, at worst he's being careless, a bully and taking advantage of someone who doesn't know if he can fight back.  Someone point out when Triple H ever behaved like this in a match please..



Just now, Winston said:

The latest episode of Dark Side of the Ring featuring New Jack was downright uncomfortable to watch.

The man is an animal.

I probably won't get around to watching it until the weekend, but out of interest do they talk about the incident with Gypsy Joe at all?  Outside of Mass Transit that's always been the most uncomfortable thing for me, twatting this old geezer around the head with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.  Stir crazy. 

I've not watched this for years (and my MMA DVDs are all up the loft at the moment) but that was a great fight.

If you're waiting for Wand's reviews to watch this stuff, don't click on the spoiler.

I've been rewatching Early Doors over the past few days, with just the final three episodes of series two left.

I know it's been talked about plenty on this board but series one really is a work of genius and was better than I remembered (and I already thought highly of it).  I feel there is a noticeable drop off in series two (although it's still better than most comedies); it's as though they tried to make the characters more extreme and as a result they become less believable, so Eddie and Joan go from simple folk to outright dummies, Phil and Nige from a pair of skivers doing the bare minimum to flat out caricatures.  Mel and Liam (James McAvoy) are a better couple than Mel and Dean (Lee Ingleby, replacing McAvoy who didn't return for the second series as he was filming Shameless), Janice (Maxine Peake), while only a minor character, is missed (see James McAvoy) and I'm not caring for Duffy who is constantly on a downer.  More Tanya and Debbie is a plus that the second series has over the first.

Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee team with a couple of local doctors on a charity fundraising show back in 2011.  A highly entertaining match, sit back for twenty minutes and be reminded how good wrestling can be.

Jerry Lawler & Dr Tim Linder vs Bill Dundee & Dr Brian McCarver (2011)

If Olaf vs 'Buckets of Blood' Polakowski doesn't place high I'm not going to be happy!

From memory I think the second half of the decade was much stronger than the first but it was a great time to be a fan with so many different promotions (WEC, Dream, Bodog, Elite, Strikeforce, Affliction etc. along with the omnipresent UFC and Pride) and not the nigh on monopoly that there is today.

Just now, wandshogun09 said:

Loved Steve Blackman. Actually watched his shoot interview not that long ago and like I said about Gangrel, I usually find mid-lower card guys have pretty interesting stories to tell. I vaguely remember reading an article in a WWF magazine in 98 or something about him nearly dying from malaria in the late 80s but he went into detail on it and it sounded fucking horrific. He was stuck in bed for about 2 years. Also didn’t realise he’d done some matches for WWF in 1988 and was supposed to start full time before he got sick. 

He actually debuted back in 1987.  I found this article several months ago from October 1987 when spending far too much time on newspapers.com.  I don't think the information is on thehistoryofwwe website just yet, but should be in the next update as I sent this, and several dozen more clippings of "new" results to Richard Land last month.

Disappointingly neither appears to be on YouTube any more, but if you can locate them (and I've not checked any Torrent sites) I strongly recommend Devil Masami vs Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka vs Jaguar Yokota, which took place on 22 August 1985.  An incredible one-two punch, both matches are phenomenal and wrestled completely differently.  They aired on the AJW Classics show (episodes 5 and 6 respectively) if that helps you in tracking them down online somewhere.  And it's absolutely worth doing if you can! 

Krafty Kuts & Charli 2na - Hands High (2017)

So today I learned in Richmond, VA in the 1980's there was an Association for Retarded Citizens.  I've been watching a fair bit of 1984 Jim Crockett Promotions over the past couple of days (thank god for Buzz Sawyer showing up and saving me from tedious eight minute squash matches) and usually fast forward through the adverts, although for some reason didn't this time.  Imagine my surprise to hear an advert from the Richmond Association for Retarded Citizens advertising an upcoming family picnic!  Crazy how in this day and age that word is a complete no no, yet here it is back in 1984 not only being used and said in an advert but being used in the name of an actual association to describe a group of people.  How times have changed.  

Just now, PowerButchi said:

Death Wish was on ITV4 on Monday and is still amazing and after it I finally watched Foxcatcher after it. The two hours flew by and I didn't go for a fag or piss once during it which is like an Oscar in my eyes. Steve Carell was ace in it. 

Yeah, Carell was excellent as the pathetic, desperate Du Pont.  I didn't think of Michael Scott once when I watched it which is a huge credit to him as the two nigh on blur into one with me.

Just seen this on another board.  Scott Armstrong tweeted his father "Bullet" Bob has got cancer and isn't undergoing treatment, still working out and b-b-b-bad to the bone though!

Bundy: A Legacy of Evil (2008)

I paid 10p for this from a charity shop (sealed) and if I still had the receipt would go and get my money back.  An appalling excuse for a movie, with the blurb on the cover of the DVD sleeve claiming "one of the best serial killer films to date".  That hideous lie came courtesy of something called GoreZone magazine and I'm now doubtful such a magazine even exists. Thirty minutes was all I managed of this before switching it off.  The film looks like something you would find on Five USA at one in the morning and contains some of the worst acting I've seen in a long time.  Corin Nemec plays Ted Bundy whose attempts at menacing and terrifying are laughable.  What is equally laughable is when we get the high school scenes of Bundy meeting Stephanie.  We don't get a younger actor playing the high school Bundy, no 37 year old Nemec, and this isn't a young 37 year old looking man.  Jen Nikolaisen, who plays Stephanie, is very easy on the eye but that's the only remotely positive thing I can take this.  Don't waste your time.  Shite.

BBC4 are showing the incredible OJ: Made in America documentary tonight and continuing Tuesday and Wednesday (one episode this evening then two on each of the following days).  If you've never seen this before, watch it!

Just now, Arn Anderson's Darb said:

If you have Sky the first series is available on demand from Vice. I'm on the Gino Hernandez episode right now. Grim stuff.

It's also available on All4 for anyone who doesn't have Sky.

Nightcrawler got recommended to me by someone and boy is it a fucked up dark tale.  Jake Gyllenhaal plays Lewis Bloom, best described as a chancer, who accidentally stumbles across the world of Stringers, people who video tape things (primarily crimes or accidents it seems) and sell the footage to news stations.  Bloom gets drawn more and more into this world, learning that stations will pay a higher premium for more graphic footage.  It's seriously dark and Gyllenhaal is excellent playing Bloom, a man who has no moral compass and will do whatever it takes to further his career.  Great to see Rene Russo in this too as the station's director who ends up finding a kindred spirit in Bloom.  Engrossing stuff.

"Wash your hands ya little fuckers!"

More Molly Ringwald, this time Pretty in Pink.  I've taken to scouring charity shops and picking up cheap DVDs, finding this in a triple DVD set along with Flashdance and Footloose for 99p.  Ringwald plays Andi, a high school outcast from a poor background, who becomes the object of affections for Blaine (a rich kid and friends with the group who tease and make fun of her) and Duckie (her long time best-friend).  I got surprisingly emotionally invested in this and, without giving spoilers, although things didn't go the way I wanted, everyone in a sense got their "happy ending".  Andrew McCarthy is particularly bland with Jon Cryer as the standout of the three lead characters, although Annie Potts and James Spader are equally memorable in their supporting roles.  Spader playing an absolute c*** who you can't help but despise; the only issue is that he looks as though he's in his early 30's (he was actually 26) whilst playing a high school senior!  Cameo appearance from Andrew 'Dice' Clay which I'm sure some folk on the board will appreciate.

Just now, JNLister said:

On the records I have, Daddy lost five times between 1977 and his last match in 1993, though I believe they were all DQs.

Warrior lost a bunch of cage matches in 1991 but presumably by his opponent escaping. He also had the odd countout loss to Savage in early 89 and late 90 during their respective title reigns. As far as pinfall losses, in his entire WWF run I believe it was Andre on a European house show, Rude at WrestleMania V and Slaughter at Rumble 91, of which the last two were definitely screwy.

Here is the Warrior vs Andre one, from a match in Cesena, Italy.