Paid Members air_raid Posted September 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) I know this is a bit late but.... Â I remember he had a fairly dreadful match with the Undertaker on the Dec 97 IYH: DX PPV. Â Exactly, 100%. When Jeff turned up back on Raw, I was very confused. I thought he'd been doing OK in WCW and surely might have been able to get the US title back from Mongo (until the latter dropped it to Curt Hennig). I watched the promo Jeff cut and for whatever reason - I was 15 and stupid? - I became convinced that actually, he was better than he'd been as Double J, and that it was only WCW's inept booking that made me think he was still just "that same guy he's always been." I watched them ready him for a match with the fucking Undertaker at the next PPV and thought "Shit, they're throwing Jeff in at the deep end! He's a big deal! He's a main eventer!" The new look, the aggressive tone in his promo, the new music.... then the bell rang, and he was still "that same guy he's always been." By the end of the match you start to wonder why Undertaker's in the ring with Double J on a PPV, and the finish leaves you under no illusions what the match actually existed for - to give Undertaker something to do while they were killing time waiting to start the Kane program properly. Â If I can go off on two random tangents, it reminds me of two other false dawns. Owen Hart attacking Shawn at the end of the same PPV like a crazed lunatic right before the show went off the air made me think "Christ! They're going with the Owen revenge story! Yes!" I was thrilled my hero's little brother was going to take up for him and thought they were elevating Owen. Weeks later he was back pretending to care about the European title and having a nice little midcard skirmish in the Rumble with the previously mentioned definitely-not-Double J. Ouch. Fair's fair I suppose, main event scene didn't need new babyface blood between Undertaker and Steve Austin, who they were about to go all the way with... but it still made me sad because I was invested in Owen. Â Second, typing about throwing Jarrett in at the deep end made me think about Taz. Him being permitted to barbecue the undefeated Kurt Angle at the Rumble 2000 really made me think they were going to push him harder than they'd ever actually do. That was honestly the high water mark, he was fucking about with Boss Man and Tensai shortly afterwards and relegated to Hardcore Battle Royal numbers-maker by WrestleMania. I mean, beating Kurt wasn't as huge as it would become, maybe it's a blessing that his character was so strong he was able to come back from it essentially unscathed, but they let Taz(z) look a killer for one night... then it was over. Odd, but perhaps not entirely unexpected considering how quickly thereafter they hired Ted Bundy and his three mates, who were better. Edited September 22, 2015 by air_raid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Tommy! Posted September 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) They must of been keen on taz, he was falling apart physically by that point, I believe, and yet they kept finding something for him to do. Â I loved his little mini feud with Lawler over the summer, and he knocked about in midcard and tags. Â Bigger names walking in fucked him no doubt, but they stuck by doing something with Taz, even if it wasn't blazing a trail after a great debut, when that could have just sacked him off. Edited September 22, 2015 by Tommy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DraxSpago Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Â Â Â Â Or they could book him as a brute who happens to be Bulgarian? Then you'd have no reason to do the foreigner vs America storyline. They could, but would they ever? I just think his flag-waving ways glues him to the midcard, but if this is just him earning his stripes with a simple gimmick then he gets to evolve a bit then that's cool. The fact they turned him Russian at an opportune moment suggests probably not though British Bulldog was covered in Union Jacks, but his storylines seldom involved that. And Rusev's far better than Davey ever was. Except for the old drawing money bit yeah he is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted September 22, 2015 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 You never seen the buyrate for IYH5? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DraxSpago Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I saw the crowd at Summerslam '92 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Linus Posted September 23, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 I saw the crowd at Summerslam '92 Wait til they do a Summerslam in Sofia... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted September 23, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 I didn't think the design of the F4W site could get any worse than it was - until their new design this week. It looks like it was made using Geocities, and it's as if the CSS styles aren't loading. Â http://www.f4wonline.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 23, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 I've only viewed the site on my phone thus far, but it's a massive step down from the simple, easy to navigate mobile site they used to have. This new design is a nightmare! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted September 23, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 It's a pity that Bryan insists on using his friend who hasn't developed his coding or design skills since 1998. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted September 23, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 None of the archives are working, and some are saying it locks your phone out because everything cluttering it up. Its been a massive fuck up today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted September 23, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 None of the archives are working, and some are saying it locks your phone out because everything cluttering it up. Its been a massive fuck up today. I'm sure the functionality bugs will be ironed out, but my main worry is that's actually the new design & layout! Its' a step back - to 1998! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted September 23, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 23, 2015 Looks like a template job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted September 25, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 On the new Bischoff/JBL show, JBL says to Bischoff "you had a Millennium PPV that was probably going to put the company back in the black, but they didnt want to do it ..." Â Complete madness. WCW had most so much money by that point, and that end of year show (coming a week after Starrcade) sounded like a massive financial bomb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted September 25, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 Was watching a random Raw from 1997 the other day and my God was Undertaker a terrible promo. They can't have been scripting anything back then, but they should have been for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted September 25, 2015 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 What's up ith Vince's voice through the 1994 Royal Rumble? It's really weird. It's like he's exhausted and he's commentating by shouting into the mic from several metres away. Never noticed it when I was a kid but it really jumps out now. Â I really like the show. About 99% because I liked it when I first saw it and that feeling just stays with me but I do enjoy it. The Undertaker stuff is hokey as fuck but I still get a kick out of it. Owen is a cunt and then blows his interview. Love that. Â The Rumble is decent. It's pretty quick and there are some nice stories. The Diesel/HBK stuff stands out but the Diesel/Mabel/Crush/Bigelow stand off is a vusual and a half. The odds being stacked against Luger and Bret work well. There's a great bit where HBK and Jannetty meet and beat the shit out of each other. Then they go into a spot where Jannetty is supposed to duck HBK's superkick and hit one of his own. As HBK lines up the kick, Jannetty ducks but he never throws the kick because Tenryu just randomly walks in between them. Jannetty awkwardly punches Tenryu and then they redo the spot. Pretty funny. Â I think the finish is genius. It's outstandingly worked and it set up a great WM. The fans in attendance obviously feel a bit cheated but it's just so well done. They did a great job of ensuring none of the ringside cameras got a decent view. Very well shot. You really can't tell them apart. Â Vince when number 30 countdown finishes: "Adam Bomb is going to win the Royal Rumble." Yeah, alright Vinny Mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts