Random thoughts thread v2 *NO NEWS ITEMS*

[HarmonicGenerator]

Does anyone else remember the brilliant WrestleMania souvenir magazines WWE used to put out this time of year? I think the WrestleMania X8 one was the best piece of merch I've ever bought. It ran through every Mania up to that point in detail, with comments from relevant wrestlers - the likes of Bossman, Paul Bearer, Edge and so on - and had full results and lots of photos. The second half of it was taken up with posed promo photos of the entire roster at that time, many of them full page, from Stone Cold down to Kaientai, as well as all the referees, agents, and what was my first glimpse of Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton.

 

Anyway, I just spotted and impulse bought this year's equivalent, which is The 101 Greatest WrestleMania Moments. There's no roster section I can see but hopefully the rest won't disappoint!

[Dirty Eddie]

Does anyone else remember the brilliant WrestleMania souvenir magazines WWE used to put out this time of year? I think the WrestleMania X8 one was the best piece of merch I've ever bought. It ran through every Mania up to that point in detail, with comments from relevant wrestlers - the likes of Bossman, Paul Bearer, Edge and so on - and had full results and lots of photos. The second half of it was taken up with posed promo photos of the entire roster at that time, many of them full page, from Stone Cold down to Kaientai, as well as all the referees, agents, and what was my first glimpse of Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton.

 

Anyway, I just spotted and impulse bought this year's equivalent, which is The 101 Greatest WrestleMania Moments. There's no roster section I can see but hopefully the rest won't disappoint!

 

 

I have that magazine. It was sold as the Wrestlemania 18 program so I bought a copy at Axxess and got it signed by a few peeps (including the Undertaker) when I was there.

 

I recall seeing Brock and Orton for the first time there too. On the very first look, Brock looked like a World Champ waiting to happen.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Does anyone else remember the brilliant WrestleMania souvenir magazines WWE used to put out this time of year? I think the WrestleMania X8 one was the best piece of merch I've ever bought. It ran through every Mania up to that point in detail, with comments from relevant wrestlers - the likes of Bossman, Paul Bearer, Edge and so on - and had full results and lots of photos. The second half of it was taken up with posed promo photos of the entire roster at that time, many of them full page, from Stone Cold down to Kaientai, as well as all the referees, agents, and what was my first glimpse of Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton.

 

Anyway, I just spotted and impulse bought this year's equivalent, which is The 101 Greatest WrestleMania Moments. There's no roster section I can see but hopefully the rest won't disappoint!

 

 

I have that magazine. It was sold as the Wrestlemania 18 program so I bought a copy at Axxess and got it signed by a few peeps (including the Undertaker) when I was there.

 

I recall seeing Brock and Orton for the first time there too. On the very first look, Brock looked like a World Champ waiting to happen.

 

Fantastic! I'd always suspected that section was meant to be used as an autograph book.

 

Totally agree on Lesnar, that photo plus Jim Ross' comments about him in the Ross Report had me really hyped for him debuting. I remember thinking Orton looked like a star as well, if a bit bland (which, in early 2002, I suppose he was).

 

This year's version's not as good - it's light on the writing, heavy on the pictures, and of course it focuses on individual moments, but it has the complete WrestleMania win-loss records of practically everybody who's competed at one, which is brilliant.

 

I say practically everybody because Benoit didn't make it. They acknowledge his matches but don't name him, so for instance Kurt Angle 'won singles match' at X-Seven, while Triple H was 'def. to lose WHC' at XX.

 

EDIT:

 

The 101 moments in full. Also, it's worth noting that 4 of the 9 guys on the front cover of the magazine are doing the 'fists up, mouth open' up-for-it wrestler pose. Originality! The issue itself's probably not worth the cash unless you like the photos - there are some great ones in there.

 

Anyway. You will find that, shockingly, they skew more towards the last couple of years, with loads in particular coming from Mania XXVIII:

 

101. Edge vs. Mick Foley

100. Triple H joins The Corporation

99. WrestleMania IX is staged outdoors

98. Virgil defeats Ted DiBiase

97. Santina Marella wins the Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal

96. King Kong Bundy squashes SD Jones

95. Beth Phoenix presses Maria Menounos

94. Randy Savage retires at WrestleMania VII

93. Ric Flair goes nuts after his match with Randy Savage

92. Salt-N-Pepa play Lawrence Taylor to the ring

91. Flo Rida shoves Heath Slater

90. Kane Tombstones Pete Rose

89. Taka Michinoku vs. Aguila

88. Ray Charles sings 'America the Beautiful'

87. ECW Originals vs. The New Breed

86. WrestleMania VI becomes the first WM to take place outside the US (there's a cracking picture of Andre and Haku to go along with this one)

85. Brock Lesnar attempts a Shooting Star Press

84. Butterbean KOs Bart Gunn

83. Liberace performs at the first WrestleMania

82. The Chicago Street Fight from WrestleMania 13

81. Brodus Clay's dance number

80. Chris Jericho vs. Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat

79. The Gimmick Battle Royal

78. Hulk Hogan vs. Mr McMahon

77. Demolition win the Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania IV

76. Mr Kennedy hits Hornswoggle with a Green Bay Plunge off a ladder at WrestleMania 23

75. Various head shavings - Adrian Adonis, Molly Holly and Mr McMahon

74. The Blindfold Match at WrestleMania VII

73. Wendi Richter vs. Leilani Kai, featuring Cyndi Lauper

72. Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle

71. CM Punk becomes the first two-time Money In The Bank winner

70. The WWE/NFL Battle Royal

69. Andre the Giant chokes out Bob Uecker

68. Undertaker vs. Kane II at WrestleMania XX

67. Tatanka vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania IX

66. A McMahon in every corner

65. The Dumpster Match at WrestleMania XIV

64. Shelton Benjamin leaps off a twenty foot ladder on the ramp at WrestleMania 25 (which they call 'The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania' at every opportunity. Also, they refer to it as 'The Show of Shows' a million times while 'The Showcase of the Immortals' barely gets a look-in by comparison)

63. The Hardcore Title match from WrestleMania 2000

62. Roddy Piper's boxing match with Mr T

61. Randy Savage wins the WWE Title tournament at WrestleMania IV / the tournament itself

60. Hulk Hogan defeats Sgt Slaughter

59. Rey Mysterio's various costumes

58. Trish Stratus turns on Chris Jericho

57. Undertaker vs. Edge

56. John Laurinaitis' suit at WrestleMania XXVIII (yes, really)

55. Shane vs. Vince

54. Hulk Hogan challenges and beats Yokozuna

53. The Hollywood Backlot Brawl

52. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho

51. Stone Cold allies with Mr McMahon

50. WrestleMania 2 takes place in three locations

49. Randy Orton goes on an RKO spree at WrestleMania 23

48. Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage

47. Shawn Michaels vs. Mr McMahon

46. Edge's final match

45. Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus

44. The Miz beats John Cena at WrestleMania XXVII

43. 'Lesnar and Goldberg's "Curtain Call"', not really the match, but more the crowd reaction and Stone Cold's post-match Stunners

42. Shawn Michaels ziplines to the ring

41. The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan

40. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (Kurt gets some nice little write-ups throughout the magazine, actually)

39. John Cena wins his first WWE Title at WrestleMania 21

38. Rey Mysterio wins the World Title at WrestleMania 22

37. Kofi Kingston uses a split ladder as a pair of stilts (there's a quote from Kofi accompanying this that makes me wonder if this really was improvised or whether it was all set-up...)

36. Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan (Hogan gets his fair share of coverage throughout as well, which is pleasing)

35. Zack Ryder's first WrestleMania match (this is the oddest inclusion of the lot for me, including the Laurinaitis one. They also call it "his first match as an actual competitor", which is especially strange considering he had already been US Champion by this point)

34. The streak begins

33. Sheamus defeats Daniel Bryan in eighteen seconds

32. Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper

31. Undertaker vs. Triple H at WrestleMania XXVII

30. Shawn Michaels' moonsault to the outside during the Ric Flair match

29. Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy (Bundy looks like a zombie in the accompanying photo, it's quite disquieting)

28. Randy Orton vs. CM Punk

27. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels

26. The Rock's first usage of "if you smell what The Rock is cooking" in the Gennifer Flowers segment at WrestleMania XIV

25. The Triangle Ladder Match

24. The Rock returns at WrestleMania XXVII (the magazine loved the 20-minute promo at the start more than I did)

23. Bret Hart vs. Mr McMahon (with the most interesting write-up in the whole thing, which sort of acknowledges that it was a bit bad - "the beating went on so long that it almost became uncomfortable to watch. But anyone who's ever had to sit through a friend's one-man show knows that catharsis is about the performer far more than the audience. Bret needed every single one of those chairshots, and we're happy he got to put those personal demons to rest" - is that what they were going for in the match? I can see it, but it wasn't obvious at the time)

22. CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

21. Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart

20. Madison Square Garden hosts three WrestleManias

19. John Cena's various entrances

18. Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels I

17. Shawn Michaels retires Ric Flair

16. Bret vs. Owen

15. The Rock vs. Stone Cold at WrestleMania XIX

14. Batista wins his first World Title at WrestleMania 21

13. Triple H's various entrances

12. WrestleMania III in Detroit (93,173!)

11. Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels II

10. The first WrestleMania

9. Edge wins the first Money In The Bank match

8. TLC at WrestleMania X-Seven

7. Stone Cold refuses to tap out to Bret Hart

6. The Ladder Match at WrestleMania X (nice quote from Shawn to go along with this about how the focus was on the two of them, and not the ladder, which stopped it being a stuntfest)

5. Hogan slams Andre

4. Hell in a Cell from WrestleMania XXVIII (which they call 'Undertaker vs. Triple H II')

3. Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage

2. The Rock vs. John Cena

1. WrestleMania comes to Metlife Stadium!

 

So there we go.

Edited March 16, 2013 by HarmonicGenerator

[wandshogun09]

UFC president Dana White said Vince McMahon wanted to fight him, either on a UFC PPV or at Wrestlemania. Skip to around 8:45 of this video to hear from Dana himself;

 

 

I'd go with Vince by head kick.

[ColinBollocks]

Vince has victories over the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin and has won such prestiges honours as the WWE title, ECW title and the Royal Rumble. All White has ever done is shit out a match with Tito Ortiz.

 

Vince via shouting is Dana's mong ear.

[ShortOrderCook]

Does anyone else remember the brilliant WrestleMania souvenir magazines WWE used to put out this time of year?...

 

YES! If you're talking about the same thing...there was one released before X7, it was fantastic. I remember a joyous nerdy WrestleMania weekend I had that had me feeling awesome and hyped for WrestleMania. I was full on loving the shit out of wrestling and WWF by this point. I sat indoors reading that brilliant mag, eating shit and watching Star Wars on Sky Premier, beig the first time it had been on TV or something. The mag got me massively in the mood for 'Mania. I remember it highlighted the stand-out matches and the main event. I've always thought what the stand-out match would be on every WrestleMania since if there was one of those mags every year since.

I'm thinking:

 

X7 - TLC

X8 - Rock - Hogan

XIX - Michaels - Jericho

XX - Cena - Show

21 - Money in the Bank/Angle - Michaels...or maybe even Undertaker - Orton actually (21 was brilliant)

22 - Mysterio - Guerrero

23 - Vince -Trump

XXIV - Michaels - Flair

25 - Michaels - Undertaker

XXVI - Michaels - Undertaker

XXVII - Triple H - Undertaker

XXVIII - Triple H - Undertaker and Sheamus - Bryan would prob get a good mention too.

 

Maybe. Anyway, that X7 weekend was topped off by the chick in school I'd fancied forever txting me with some messages making it clear she needed some ShortOrderCook. Happy, simpler times.

[King Pitcos]

The girl at school that I was in love with was shagging my mate that weekend. Which sums up the difference between King Pitcos and ShortOrderCook, really. Anyway, XIX would be impossible to only take one standout match from. You can't leave Hogan-Vince and Rock-Austin out. I loved those WrestleMania special edition magazines as well, I might have bought one last year, and I might buy this year's one on WrestleMania Sunday if it's at the shop by my sister's house. They used to do quite a lot of special edition magazines back in the attitude era and shortly after, including ones for individual wrestlers. I've got an Undertaker one somewhere here that's quite good.

 

This one wasn't a special edition, but the standard WWE magazine had a really cool cover a few years ago for the issue that came out at WrestleMania time:

 

 

It folded out to show all the major roster members in that locker room photo.

[TheShowOff]

The girl at school that I was in love with was shagging my mate that weekend. Which sums up the difference between King Pitcos and ShortOrderCook, really.

 

To continue the theme of sexual remembrance over a particular weekend in early 2001, I watched this round a mates house and gave serious consideration over knocking one out thinking about his Mum in the toilet.

[wandshogun09]

The girl at school that I was in love with was shagging my mate that weekend. Which sums up the difference between King Pitcos and ShortOrderCook, really.

 

To continue the theme of sexual remembrance over a particular weekend in early 2001, I watched this round a mates house and gave serious consideration over knocking one out thinking about his Mum in the toilet.

 

I'm hoping you mean you were in the toilet thinking about your mate's Mom. Not thinking about your mate's Mom having a dump. Right?

[TheShowOff]

The girl at school that I was in love with was shagging my mate that weekend. Which sums up the difference between King Pitcos and ShortOrderCook, really.

 

To continue the theme of sexual remembrance over a particular weekend in early 2001, I watched this round a mates house and gave serious consideration over knocking one out thinking about his Mum in the toilet.

 

I'm hoping you mean you were in the toilet thinking about your mate's Mom. Not thinking about your mate's Mom having a dump. Right?

 

Wrong. I have issues. Obviously.

[Forrest]

Yeah, of What Car? magazine.

Edited March 18, 2013 by Forrest

[hallicks]

Just bought a summerslam ticket, feckulence! I'm sure my head would feel like it's going to explode with excitement if it didn't already feel like it was going to explode from a sinus infection.

[Dai]

Been making my way through the "Falls Count Anywhere" DVD. Some things that have crossed my mind:

 

- LOD vs Booker/Sting lasts (bell to bell) 30 MINUTES. I felt it dragging toward the end, but was shocked when I checked how long it lasted. Crazy length for a street fight. Would have been a cracking 15 minute match, this.

 

- That match is followed by the great Nation vs LOD/Ahmend Mania 13 match, which still holds up fairly well today. Whats interesting is that between the last match and this one, theres about 40-odd minutes of Hawk fighting, and I dont think he sells a single thing for the entire time. Piledriver on floor? No-sell. Choked with a noose? No-sell. I know he had a rep for his selling, but this was crazy.

 

- They have edited out the noose parts of the WM13 match, which means Simmons' crazy, Foley-esque bump from the middle rope to the floor is also cut. Not that it matters that much, as the angle shown of it is unbelievably bad anyway.

 

- Theres a really good Doom vs Arn/Wimdham match, that I dont think gets much attention when people look back at WCW.

[martyngnr]

Been making my way through the "Falls Count Anywhere" DVD. Some things that have crossed my mind:

 

- Theres a really good Doom vs Arn/Wimdham match, that I dont think gets much attention when people look back at WCW.

Is that the one from Starrcade 1990? That's a brilliant match.

[JNLister]

Been making my way through the "Falls Count Anywhere" DVD. Some things that have crossed my mind:

 

 

- That match is followed by the great Nation vs LOD/Ahmend Mania 13 match, which still holds up fairly well today. Whats interesting is that between the last match and this one, theres about 40-odd minutes of Hawk fighting, and I dont think he sells a single thing for the entire time. Piledriver on floor? No-sell. Choked with a noose? No-sell. I know he had a rep for his selling, but this was crazy.

 

If you look closely during that match when they are brawling in the aisle, you can see a very young Colt Cabana in the crowd lean over the rail and wallop one of the LOD.