OOOLD SCHOOOOL

[air_raid]

During my trek through 93-95 Raw it's actually making me feel bad for Luger - who I never really liked before he started battling the nWo - as you can see him being put on the back burner time and time again. Being asked to work the pissweak pre-Sid Corporation while Bret was on top really must have hurt, despite Vince's constant assurances that his time would come. He'd told Bret the autumn before that he would have wrestled Luger in an all-babyface match at KOTR, so Vince must have really had his doubts about Lex by the time the event rolled around to not have put it on, just with Bret as champion instead of Luger as originally planned. The Allied Powers was clearly the final straw. Even letting Lex interfere in the SummerSlam main event seems a desperate ploy by Vince to try and convince Lex that main events are still on the agenda for him, but he must have known which way his feud with DBS would have gone, with babyface Big D on top and HBK in waiting.

 

Mid/late whatever...my point was he was in there quite close to Summerslam and also after Borga debuted in June.

 

Nah. "Quite close" isn't good enough. Your point with the phrase "till at least late August" was clearly mooting Reznor for saying Duggan would have been perfect to work Borga at SummerSlam if he had still been around, by implying he was still around. He wasn't. You can't say as "at least late August" and then be "whatever" if you're going to correct people based on something you don't actually know.

[WWFChilli]

Duggan's last date was August 16th losing to Yokozuna.

[Onyx2]

A really entertaining, GIFtastic rundown of the Goldberg v Hogan Nitro. Some bits of it had me in stitches: "Putski comes down in his Jack Sparrow gear," "Scott Hall gets Irish whipped so hard into the ropes that he falls down."

[garynysmon]

Been working my way through 1996 Nitros and almost forgot how well executed the nWo backstage attack on July 29 really was (where Rey Mysterio Jr was darted into the production truck). I can actually see why someone actually though it was legit, with all the heels and faces interacting and general chaos backstage.

 

[air_raid]

Duggan's last date was August 16th losing to Yokozuna.

 

Good job nobody else posted that four days and six posts before you. We'd have never known!

 

 

Anyway, I'm here because I've finished my stampede through 1995 Raw. Here are assorted thoughts about what was great, what was shit, and what made me laugh. It's not quite wall-to-wall Shawn Michaels, but it's close.

 

Early year

 

** Shawn Michaels has an extended run of being Vince's commentary partner and really hams it up. "Lex Luger has been exposed for his lack of talent here in the World Wrestling Federation." Ouch. It's not quite "Luger punches like a girl" but it's pretty harsh. Vince tells him later on "I would suggest you are not the odds on favourite to win the Royal Rumble." At the peak of when Vince says something's going to happen, the opposite happens, he's just told Shawn he isn't going to win the Rumble after weeks of suggesting, Luger, Mabel and Bundy all are. Jesus Christ.

 

** Shawn seamlessly takes over the spot of "main reason to watch Raw" previously occupied by Savage. After a Bundy squash match, he and DiBiase come over to the commentary desk to jaw at Michaels about how Bundy, not him, is going to win the Royal Rumble. Shawn stands up and just takes it without any hint of intimidation from the 444lb monster. Even though it's a full four months from Shawn's fully fledged babyface turn, you can't help but think "Go on Shawn! Shawn's not scared of you, you fat fuck."

 

** In a later episode, Michaels runs down with the mic after a Mabel squash to try and get a word about the Rumble and Bundy comes down to go face to face with Mabel - Shawn literally disappars between the two beasts, all you can see is his hand clutching the mic. It's a brilliant visual.

 

** Bret's return to the ring agains Jeff Jarrett is notable for the "extra aggression" from Bret that Vince like to bleat about at the time, but here is actually evident. Bret rubs Jarrett's face across the ropes, chokes him across the middle and gives him a HARD kick in the gut as he's draped across them. Strangely at the end of the match, after he pins Double J with an O'Connor roll, Hitman appears to spank Jarrett across the ass a second after the three count. Truly, the Excellence of Sexecution would harass anyone.

 

** There is a stunning finish to the Kid & Holly vs Heavenly Bodies match. As the Bodies have Kid elevated for a double suplex, Holly spears Dr Tom, and Kid wraps the Gigolo up with a Fisherman suplex. It's smooth as silk and perfectly believable for 1995.

 

** Manny Garcia (remember him?) makes a truly amazing flub introducing Kid/Holly vs Gunns. I don't know whether he had a frog in his throat or something, but it literally sounds like he says "This contest is scheduled wobble one fall, and is for the World Wrederation tag team champion!"

 

** Again, Michaels seems to be having too much fun to call it working. As Vince makes reference to the Bret/Diesel match at the Rumble in which HBK interfered liberally, Shawn quips "I think I saw that match."

 

Vince (on Bob Holly) : "He's a risk taker! He's a stock car racer! He's a WWF Superstar!"

(Holly jumps right onto Billy Gunn's boot)

Shawn : "He's an idiot!"

 

On a two-count during Mabel vs Bundy :

Vince : "VERY close."

Shawn : "VERY ugly."

 

Spring/Summer

 

** Bob Backlund's spring break video (having to keep directing the camera away from the birds in bikinis and on to him) is brilliant, as are his presidential campaign videos. When I think back to the WWF's use of comedy in the 90s, I forget the joy of "Mr Bob Backlund" once they stopped presenting him as a serious threat to the belt.

 

** Jerry Flynn shows up as a job boy. Unfortunately he's against JPL/PCO and our favourite pirate lays a good kicking on Jerry From The Block. Later, Jerry and his kickpads are the first Raw recipient of a squash from The Roadie. He actually gets a small chant of "Jerry! Jerry!" due to the over the top cheating of Roadie (with Jarrett in his corner). Who needs to hold the ropes when applying a half crab to a ham and egger, I ask you?

 

** Scott "Scotty Riggs/Anton" Antol shows up as Luger's flag barer in the Yokozuna KOTR qualifier, and Vince makes out he's a lifelong fan of Luger. Well, that's as good an explanation as any for how he got the American Males gig.

 

** I suspect they're in the Cleveland area due to some shots of people in "Browns" tops and sure enough later they show Pink Shellsuit Man waving a sign saying "Hey Lawler! Dr Bret says you're having a Hart Attack!" - umm, OK.

 

** Vince tries to rile up Lawler (post-KOTR) by singing "Yummy yummy yummy, I've got toejam in my tummy." Vince's sense of humour is one of the strangest I've ever seen from anybody with the privilege to share their sense of humour with an international television audience.

 

** Summertime samples of useless Vince telegraphing what ISN'T going to happen - "Will Savio Vega be the new Intercontinental Champion (against Double J) ? I've got a good feeling, yes!" "Look for the (tag team) title to change hands in Nashville! (on Owen/Yoko v Allied Powers)" Vince was a cunt on commentary, he really was. He was also stupidly biased, insisting that Bam Bam quit the Corporation when anybody who watched the angle knows that the Million Dollar Man fired him first. He looks really dumb arguing the point with Lawler.

 

** Shawn's short-term obsession with stripping off and teasing pulling his tights all the way down is really, really hard to watch. I can understand looking back how as a 13 year old I had difficulty getting into Shawn as opposed to my straight-laced hero Bret Hart, since liking Shawn's prancing striptease act was so obviously "gay."

 

** Waylon Mercy's first Raw squash is against non other than Jeff Hardy. In a later match, Vince suggests that since Barry Horowitz upset Skip at the weekend, Matt Hardy might have a chance of beating Hunter. Lawler pisses himself. Quite right. It's fun watching guys that made it show up in their previous lives, although Kane vs Scotty Too Hotty would have been more interesting than Isaac Yankem DDS vs Scott Taylor was.

 

** During a brief hype vid for Razor & Savio vs Owen & Yoko, I recognize the stock production music playing in the background, then I realize - I recognize it from porn. If I really think about it, I'll probably remember which scene. Must be one I've watched lots. I'm thinking Jenna Jameson. At first I thought "angel scene from Jenna Ink" but I've rewatched it, and it's not that one.

 

Autumn/Winter

 

** On an October episode they actually conduct a poll as to if the WWF fans think OJ is guilty or not. "Tasteless money spinner" I hear you say. Except, they say all proceeds from the calls go to a child abuse support charity. So, why the poll, you ask? The only logical answer is Vince actually wanted to know if his viewers thought OJ was a murderer or not. Possibly to gauge possible reaction to a character based on him, I bet. Personally I'd have voted no. I'm not considering anyone from the Naked Gun films as capable of any crime. Plus, voting the black man guilty is definitely racist.

 

** This exchange post Mabel crushing Undertaker's face (leaving him without an opponent for In Your House) really made me laugh :

Vince : That was not a bad idea you came up with, with King Mabel facing Bret Hart.

Lawler : Oh that'd be great... because then Bret Hart could get his face crushed too!!

 

** Vince sounds a complete "your dad trying to keep up" when he talks about the Smoking Gunns "chatting to a number of you hackers out there" on AOL, possibly some kind of Alan Partridge/Dave Nice hybrid.

 

** Those early Ahmed Johnson vignettes are so angry/dark/sweaty, watching them first time I probably wouldn't be sure whether he was going to be a new face or heel. Plus, he didn't do what other new characters coming in did and make it clear which side of the fence he was on, like when they were building up Goldust or Hunter by having them say "I'm going to show the Heartbreak Kid a real star" or "aren't the Bushwhackers twats." Not that I would have understood what he was saying anyway. Although in a subsequent promo he tells Shawn Michaels "I got your back, G." Brilliant. Please, script Ahmed's promos to be blacker, I haven't figured it out yet.

 

** Avatar executes a pescado in a squash, and Lawler makes me chuckle.

Vince : When was the last time you did something like that, King?

Lawler : My last match.

 

** Terry "Rhino" Richards is the job boy in a Henry Godwinn match. He's stocky, but looks extremely short wrestling the big pig farmer. He's got the bare bones though, he snarls something inaudible to the crowd in his fairly distinctive growl, and I'm impressed that a young wrestler would think to try some crowd interaction, not many of the journeymen jobbers bother. It's a reasonably notable squash - it's the one where Hunter attacks Godwinn from behind afterwards and slops him.

 

** Marty Jannetty's promos are really bad. His delivery always feels really unnatural, like he's been given a script to read.

 

** The Razor/Sid match where Kid (as the referee) turned on Razor was initially announced as for the Intercontinental title until "Gorilla Monsoon changes it to non-title" but what I had forgotten was that they had (fairly randomly) said the title would change hands on DQ or count-out. I wonder if the initial plan was for Kid to screw Razor out of the belt and Sid to take it, because that stip seems custom-designed for a screwy finish and otherwise completely illogical for a match where the champion is a babyface and his mate is the ref.

 

** I don't need to write much about the Shawn Michaels saga, but the execution of the collapse itself, the interview the week after with his neurologist and finally Todd getting to sit down with the man himself is expertly done, especially the latter. Shawn is smiley at first but his demeanour darkens quickly when Pettingill asks him about retirement, and things end rather abruptly. It was one of the most realistic angles they ever did from start to finish, and at the end of that interview I believed that Shawn Michaels was prepared to risk his life and return to the ring because he was that desperate to be WWF Champion, and couldn't understand why anybody would doubt that.

 

** Diesel's angry, realistic promo the night after Survivors has one of the lowest ratios of quality of material and delivery : amount talked about these days, that I can think of. He vents with convincing fury, while managing - JUST - to make sure we know it isn't a heel turn. It felt at the time like rather than being derailed by losing the belt, Diesel was about to kick it up a notch. As a Bret Hart fan, I was terrified at the prospect of my hero having to defend the belt against him. Big Kev was excellent here.

 

** During the renaissance of Bob Backlund's applying the Chicken Wing to everyone in the winter of 1995, he applies it to a sound engineer for cutting his microphone because they had to go to break. He properly applies it to the young man, with arm pinned behind his back and the fingers locked above the shoulder. It looks miles better than some of the ones he applied to some seasoned pros in similar attacks with the left arm merely out to the side and Bob's hand clasping their chin instead of arm going right across to complete the lock. Best of all Bob hurls the lad around, his legs off the ground, literally elevating him by the neck and shoulder the pressure is meant to be on. It looks brutal. Makes me think a swinging variety of the hold would make an awesome pre-cursor to the body scissors for someone with the height and strength to regularly elevate their foes.

 

** I'm slightly disappointed there isn't more material of Sid & Kid. Their dynamic worked for me, with the annoying little antagnonist luring the babyfaces into a pounding from his pet monster, in a prototype of the setup Syxx would later have with The Outsiders. Sid really makes me laugh in an interview where he tells Jannetty "I feel sorry for you Marty" and repeatedly saying he won't enjoy what he does to him, before Kid asks if he's serious and Sid explodes laughing madly and shouts "NO! I'm not serious!!!" I really wish they'd have had the tag title match with the Smoking Gunns at the Rumble (as initially announced in WWF Magazine) and relieved them of the belts, they'd have been formidable champions that would have created some great satisfaction for seeing a pair of "goodies" finally beat them - maybe at Mania XII.

 

** Freddie Blassie makes an appearance as part of an enjoyable ad for the Raw Bowl, playing a football coach hyping up the "players." I liked it, and in general it served as a great reminder that the WWF used to do "tongue in cheek" really well.

 

** Buddy Landel's appearance against Bob Holly is really, really awkward. They stop short of calling him "Nature Boy" but he's got the white hair like Flair, he uses Flair's (rubbish) old WWF music, and he makes a couple of Flair-like gestures to the fans. He basically comes across as Flair with the volume turned down to about a 3, winning with a crap elbow drop and struggling with Bob Holly while Flair was off winning the World title again.

 

** Sometimes it's easy to remember it was meant for kids at the time. sometimes it's tragically not. Listening to Ted DiBiase and Vince both talking about Santa as if he's real is fucking embarrassing. "Who was that man last night? Was it Santa Claus... or was it somebody else?"

 

** Vince says of the saucy letter Goldust sent to Razor : "This is one of the most appalling things I think we've ever seen in the World Wrestling Federation." That's right, one man fancying another is deplorable. Remember, by this point we've seen wrestlers lure each other into getting bitten by cobras, try to suffocate each other in locked coffins, kill each others' pets, turn on their own families, try and cripple each other, and attack innocent members of the general public. Being a gay? Yeah, that belongs in that list.

 

** The rewatch of the first airing of the "Tell Me A Lie" video still kind of puts a lump in my throat. Shawn wasn't my favourite at the time, far from it, but watching it back brings back the memory of how I felt at the time - "fuck me, the man gave it all to entertain us and now he might be done." Also, all the action shots mixed with him dancing around wearing the Intercontinental belt made me think "Christ, he was good enough to be WWF Champion." Maybe that was the idea? If so, it worked.

[Mr Lawrence]

A pleasure to read. Look forward to anymore reviews you do.

[WWFChilli]

Duggan's last date was August 16th losing to Yokozuna.

 

Good job nobody else posted that four days and six posts before you. We'd have never known!

 

Cheeky. Managed to miss that. For the record Raid, keep trekking through these Raws. Highly enjoy reading about them.

[air_raid]

A pleasure to read. Look forward to anymore reviews you do.

For the record Raid, keep trekking through these Raws. Highly enjoy reading about them.

 

I only have the 93-95 Raw for some insane reason. However I do have 95-97 Nitro as well. Might start (re) watching those.

[WWFChilli]

Skimming through some summer '98 Nitros. Those nWo Nightcap segments completely draw a blank from my memory, and by god they are glacial to sit through.

[CTXRussomark]

Skimming through some summer '98 Nitros. Those nWo Nightcap segments completely draw a blank from my memory, and by god they are glacial to sit through.

The one with Scott Steiner being interviewed is still going on as we speak. Bischoff spent a ridiculous amount of money on the set too, which only ended up being used a handful of times.

[WWFChilli]

Skimming through some summer '98 Nitros. Those nWo Nightcap segments completely draw a blank from my memory, and by god they are glacial to sit through.

The one with Scott Steiner being interviewed is still going on as we speak. Bischoff spent a ridiculous amount of money on the set too, which only ended up being used a handful of times.

 

There has been four so far. There was one with Hogan which went over 20 minutes, including an Bischoff monologue, a small sketch, a recap of the Tonight Show then a Hogan interview. It went on forever and ever. Also with no big video screen to watch the entire Nitro crowd just sits there booing the shit out of it. It's staggering stuff to watch.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I remember wanking like a gibbon over Miss Elizabeth on those nWo Nightcap segments. Those Tonight Show parody's are some of the very few nWo segments I haven't seen since. How's Liz looking?

[WWFChilli]

I remember wanking like a gibbon over Miss Elizabeth on those nWo Nightcap segments. Those Tonight Show parody's are some of the very few nWo segments I haven't seen since. How's Liz looking?

 

Liz to be fair looks banging in those segments. In one she wore a silver dress, which she looked the biz in.

[air_raid]

I don't have a whole season set of '96 Raw, but I've watched a fuckload of '96 WWF over the last few days, and thought I'd share some random thoughts with you.

 

** Every promo cut by Hitman during his third title reign really resonates with me. Even though I'd every now and again catch myself thinking "you're looking a bit tired, Bret" during his matches, he was still the best in my eyes, and listening to his words when he's getting ready for a title match reminds me of that feeling of "fuck the lot of you, he's still the man" that I had at the time, after a year of (call a spade a spade) fucking around with midcarders and revisiting the Lawler feud. It still hurts a bit that his three big title matches with Undertaker at the Rumble and Raw and with Diesel at IYH6 were primarily used to set up their match with each other. I know it was fairly obvious that Shawn's time was about to dawn - even at the time - but I still found it odd that while the commentators would routinely build up Bret's legacy and suggest he was the best champion ever, his defences post-Bulldog always made him lucky to escape reign intact.

 

** Shawn's moments in the Rumble rank among some of my favourite "babyface kicking ass" moments of all time. Tossing the two monsters together, pressing Kid over his head before tossing him, sliding back in between Bulldog's legs then tossing him - incredible.

 

** Watching Ahmed Johnson throw his huge frame around with reckless abandon, it's really no surprise that he's remembered as an unsafe worker. It's a shame that he was, and that he got injured so often, because I admit I found him interesting to watch most of the time, and he was over like Rover. They really could have done something with him, and probably would have.

 

** Still banging on about the "New Generation" on a Free For All show that features a tubby Tatanka against a decrepit-looking Jake the Snake is rather unfortunate. But it's forgiven because the bumper for the PPV is Sunny in her bikini on the beach warning me about viewer discretion. I feel very awkward trying to watch Razor v Kid with a dick that could cut diamond.

 

** It's absolutely mental how much better Shawn Michaels is than everybody else on the roster at this point. Every match he has is fucking dynamite. It needs saying though that I always found Jose Lothario a really strange and unnecessary addition to Shawn's act, even though I like the idea that the "Heartbreak Kid" would be managed by a "lothario." I can almost see the pair of them scouting for mother/daughter combos in the club after the show. Well, unless they were in Syracuse, obviously.

 

** While the storyline reasons between Shawn vs Owen at IYH6 are sound and you could feasibly suspend your disbelief that Owen is a threat to concussion-vulnerable Michaels, the "risking Mania title shot" killed it for me. You wouldn't buy Shawn losing after that Rumble anyway, but even as a kid, I knew there wasn't a Jammy Dodger's chance in hell that Owen was main eventing Mania at this stage.

 

** Watching the 1996 appearances of Warrior now, he looks ludicrously out of place. All his peers have moved on apart from Perfect who's commentating and Undertaker who had JUST about evolved enough to keep everyone interested in his act. It doesn't help that he's up against people that are blatently not on his level. Fucking around with midcarders seems daft, he should be going straight for a Bret, Shawn, Diesel or Taker, not Hunter Hearst Helmsly.

 

** Mania is an utter washout for me. While the top matches are superb in terms of marquee value, the main event is too boring for me to watch it so soon after the last time (a couple of months back), I was disappointed that Yoko v Vader one on one didn't happen, and not knowing about drug tests or suspensions at the time, it boggled my mind that Razor wasn't on the card, but Savio (who I considered an utterly devalued JTTS by this point) made the cut. I wish the show would have featured Bret v Shawn in a straight one on one, Razor v Goldust as planned, Yoko v Vader, and maybe Owen & Smithers vs practically anybody for the vacant tag belts. Winning, natch.

 

** Throughout the year, even though he's on his way out, everything Kid does is still absolute class. Seriously, I hear "1, 2, 3!" and I instictively think "this should be good." And it always is, whether it's HBK, Hakushi, Marc Mero or fucking anyone.

 

** During the Razor/Vader match at Good Friends Better Enemies, Vince goes out of his way to put Ramon over as tough as nails, and talks about what a great competitor he is at the end of the match. The match itself also makes Razor look a million bucks, as he lifts Vader several times and is permitted to kick out of the Vaderbomb. What a refreshing and SENSIBLE use of a guy you know is leaving - let him look really strong before he loses, because then the guy you're putting over looks like he beat someone worth beating. Milk that last bit of value you can out of him.

 

** "Vince as cunt" rears it's head again when Diesel prepares to cover HBK and he moans "This one's over and I'm glad it is." Thanks for killing this nearfall for us, Vinny.

 

** Lawler makes a remark about Phineas Godwinn about "I heard a hooker told him 'Not on the first date.'" That made me laugh but also think "that's a bit risque for early '96!"

 

** Vince describes Owen Hart as "pesky." I think that's pretty much the perfect word to describe Owen's heel character, once his main event run died down. He was a perfect annoying heel that I just loved to hate. Eventually that simply became "loved" round about the time he and Davey - who in truth I'd never been able to hate - were getting ready to relieve the Gunns of the belts. I know he'd betrayed my hero, the Hitman, but in Camp Cornette and with Bret on sabbatical, I still looked upon the pair of them as sentimental favourites. As an aside, any time watching Owen wrestle Shawn is poetry, and I think a lot of their matches were better than some of the ones Shawn had with Bret, although for me the Hitman/Michaels match at Survivors '92 was the best match he had with either brother. The only issue with Shawn wrestling Owen (as opposed to Bret) was as I mentioned earlier, I never really bought Owen as having much chance of beating him.

 

** Yokozuna surprises me how decent a babyface he makes with lots of fire and working the crowd during his pretty decent match with Vader at Beware of Dog 2. A shame he wasn't such a fat fuck, he could have been a useful roadblock for heels to go through en route to Shawn for a while.

 

** Vince makes a staggering remark - in response to JR saying he thinks the Body Donnas are the quickest tag team in the WWF, he says he thinks the Godwinns are just as quick. The only word that comes to mind is "bollocks."

 

** JR tells us "they're young, they're hungry, and they have their best years ahead of them without a shadow of a doubt" of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Marc Mero - which makes me sad that of Mero, it didn't turn out true. I always thought that he had all the tools, and I think he'd have been very useful in the midcard in 1997 had he not gotten hurt. Although he was always destined to be overshadowed by his mrs either way. For the first time in my life, I catch myself wondering if I prefer early-days, innocent-looking curly-haired Sable to the wanton, surgically enhanced wankmagnet she'd transform into.

 

** King : "Once again, you've hit the nail right on the thumb, McMahon." LOL.

 

** At International Incident Vince says he has to have "faith in Shawn and Ahmed for the choice of Sid...." just as "Sycho" is standing in the aisle practically frothing at the mouth, in a hilarious moment punctuated by Vince backtracking immediately ; ".... well, maybe not that much faith." On the same show the Vancouver fans have a great laugh, some lads behind the broadcast desk responding to Vince saying "Can you believe what we've seen?" by shouting "We believe it!" and then ON CAMERA, popping a Burger King crown on Lawler's head. Great work.

 

** It breaks my heart looking at Sunny in her little cutoffs with the Smoking Gunns - if she'd had a better attitude and kept clean, she could have had the same attention Sable had in 1997-8 when the WWF really knew it's audience and seemed as happy to cater to our wanking needs as they were our bloodlust. She'd have maintained the same merchandise presence and been used more on TV in SOME capacity, and had her image plastered on even more shit than she did, and made a shitload more cash, and not be in the state she is. Plus she could have opened the door for Candido to come back. I firmly believe she was much the sexier between her and Sable both in terms of looks and also carrying herself like a playful tease or sultry seductress depending on the situation.

 

** It's quite stunning looking at the difference between the rosters of spring/early summer '95 and the corresponding time period of '96. Your WWF Champion and top babyface, Diesel? Gone. Your current Intercontinental title feud, Razor Ramon vs Jeff Jarrett? Both gone. Bam Bam, who just went on last at 'Mania? Gone. Mabel, your newly crowned King of the Ring? Gone. Your "living legend" Bret Hart? Taking a break. What are you left with, really? Shawn and Taker. When you consider that they were able to subsequently bolster the roster with the additions of Hunter, Goldust, Mero, Vader, Cactus and Steve Austin, it really underscores for me just how much better the industry was for a range and variety of talents when there were places to learn your trade and work like WCW, ECW and even places like the USWA and Smoky Mountain where young guys would learn from old pros in an old-school environment.

 

** During a brief hype vid for Razor & Savio vs Owen & Yoko, I recognize the stock production music playing in the background, then I realize - I recognize it from porn. If I really think about it, I'll probably remember which scene. Must be one I've watched lots. I'm thinking Jenna Jameson. At first I thought "angel scene from Jenna Ink" but I've rewatched it, and it's not that one.

 

My first instinct was correct, it WAS that scene. I had checked by watching the start of the scene, which featured a different track, but the end of the scene features the same track as the tag team title match hype video. Fitting really, since Jenna herself did appear on Raw a couple of years later.

[Professor Paul's Bin]

Talking about Elizabeth. I recently watched the promos she was in with The Four Horseman during 1996. Elizabeth clearly ends up pissing herself and having an absolutely brilliant time every time Flair decides to cut a promo. Fantastic television.