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6 hours ago, BomberPat said:

There are still some interesting ones, but it really does suck that Sean Oliver was the only interviewer to actually challenge or ask follow-up questions, rather than Feinstein completely no-selling insane stories and bullshit in order to get to his next, "what are your memories of working with...?" question.

Hahaha... it's hilarious how many opportunities to probe that RF idiot misses. His other classic is when a wrestler is on an interesting tangent he cuts over them and says "we're going to come to that later" and cuts it fucking dead. 

In spite of themselves, I still love some of those RF shoots. Bill Watts and a lot of the Kevin Nash and Honky ones are top notch. 

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  • 1 month later...

Just finished Guy Evan's Nitro book. It was creeping on to my Amazon list for what felt like eons, but I largely ignored it as a bit of a cash in on an already well documented story. Fuck me, though, it's brilliant. Miles better than The Death of WCW and perfect if you want a cozy, long wrestling read that gives you plenty of fresh details on a much enjoyed topic. 

I'm sure I'm late to the party, but if you're not aware the text is concerned much more with WCW's relationship to Turner broadcasting and the various interconnected intricacies that made up that relationship. It really delivers on that front. It's not like it doesn't touch on wrestling, but Brad Siegel is more of a principal character than Hulk Hogan. 

It also reinforced for me how - for all its success - so much of the Nitro era WCW was a TV company doing a wrestling show rather than a wrestling company doing a TV show. It made me remember again what an absolute dearth of genuinely emotional, organic moments happened in that run. WWE will squeeze out a handful even in their worst years, but for most of the Nitro era it just felt like what it was. A bunch of (hugely entertaining) old boys riding a gravy train of guaranteed contracts and dizzying creative clauses. So little of it outside the nWo and Goldberg's ascent had weight. It was a total phase. It's interesting how many people that were involved in it at the time had that sixth sense that that's all it was, too. And this is in 1997. The guys on the big contracts intrinsically knew this was just something to flog for a handful of years. I know a lot of that is perceived as being WWE getting to write the history, but I believe it. 

Pre Nitro WCW is the best WCW. 

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2 hours ago, The Reverend said:

Stu Allen aka The Dominator from the UK's highly successful EWW promotion has a book out now. Interesting stories of going to Florida to train under Adrian Street in the early 90's, the late 90's / early 2000 UK industry, WWE Tough Enough trials etc. 

Cheers ... sounds right up my street 
 

Here’s a link if to it on Amazon  Stu Allen book Amazon UK

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone read the Bill Hanstock book We Promised You A Great Main Event? Or can tell me if hes a decent writer etc?

Looks interesting and might ask for it for Christmas.

Also, finished Brets book again. In many ways it's awful (sexy Bret, braggy Bret, bitter bastard Bret) but it is without a doubt the best wrestling book I've ever read and one of the best sports biographies ever.

Really think it should've got more praise from the wider sports world.

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I listened to Foley's 'Have a Nice Day' audiobook this week having not read the book in over a decade, and I forgot how up his own arse as an 'artist' Foley came across. You were  agreeing to take stupid risks with your body for a company that clearly didn't give a shit about you in WCW, having punch kick brawls with 60 year old Terry Funk with womens tights on his head, and getting chucked off a cage, not working on War & Peace mate.

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41 minutes ago, DCW said:

I listened to Foley's 'Have a Nice Day' audiobook this week having not read the book in over a decade, and I forgot how up his own arse as an 'artist' Foley came across. You were  agreeing to take stupid risks with your body for a company that clearly didn't give a shit about you in WCW, having punch kick brawls with 60 year old Terry Funk with womens tights on his head, and getting chucked off a cage, not working on War & Peace mate.

I'm scared to read it again as I loved it the for a few years when it came out and I just know I will find Foley insufferable now. 

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On 9/24/2020 at 11:00 PM, IronSheik said:

Hahaha... it's hilarious how many opportunities to probe that RF idiot misses. His other classic is when a wrestler is on an interesting tangent he cuts over them and says "we're going to come to that later" and cuts it fucking dead. 

In spite of themselves, I still love some of those RF shoots. Bill Watts and a lot of the Kevin Nash and Honky ones are top notch. 

Feinsteins worse moment was when he asked Nick Patrick about the slow fast count at Starrcade 97, Patrick said he didn't know what he was talking about, and Feinstein said he didn't know either, he was just reading from a list of questions people had posted on Facebook. 

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8 hours ago, Pier Six Brawler said:

Feinsteins worse moment was when he asked Nick Patrick about the slow fast count at Starrcade 97, Patrick said he didn't know what he was talking about, and Feinstein said he didn't know either, he was just reading from a list of questions people had posted on Facebook. 

Is RF still involved in the business ?

 

Surely podcasts have made his unique selling point “shoot interviews” null and void .

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9 hours ago, Pier Six Brawler said:

Feinsteins worse moment was when he asked Nick Patrick about the slow fast count at Starrcade 97, Patrick said he didn't know what he was talking about, and Feinstein said he didn't know either, he was just reading from a list of questions people had posted on Facebook. 

That's unforgivable. That's still a total enigma to me that whole finish.

Bischoff's explanations didn't make any sense. It made Sting look shit, heel Hogan look sympathetic and deputant Bret Hart look fucking stupid. It's a complete fucking cluster fuck. Nick is the key guy to understanding what the fuck went on.

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9 hours ago, Pier Six Brawler said:

Feinsteins worse moment was when he asked Nick Patrick about the slow fast count at Starrcade 97, Patrick said he didn't know what he was talking about, and Feinstein said he didn't know either, he was just reading from a list of questions people had posted on Facebook. 

I dread to think of the age group involved in the questions

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16 hours ago, RancidPunx said:

Is RF still involved in the business ?

 

Surely podcasts have made his unique selling point “shoot interviews” null and void .

Sean Oliver has said that podcasts basically rendered the Kayfabe Commentaries brand redundant, but RFVideo still seems to be a going concern, as they just recorded an interview with Shane Douglas and Francine this week. Finger on the pulse of what the public want, as ever. 

I don't think podcasts necessarily undermine shoot interviews, but it comes down to having a good interviewer rather than someone who'll rattle off questions with no follow-up, and not actually dig into anything.

 

Back on books, a mate of mine runs a coffee shop, and one of his customers always brings him random shit from charity shops. He recently ended up with copies of The Death of WCW, Scott Keith's book, and a couple of official WWE "History of WWE" and "History of Wrestlemania" books. I've never read the first two, so I've picked them up now. The Scott Keith book looks utter dross.

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