Random Thoughts III.

[gmoney]

It's funny reading old Observers now, having never had access to them in the past. Some of Dave's opinions and stories were lifted wholesale by Fin Martin in Powerslam. Take the below story for example. I remember reading exact sentiments in PS, cut down obviously, but he clearly read this and thought "I'm having that". The sentence in bold was something Fin used to return to a fair bit. Now, I know some of this is just opinion that someone could easily share, but even so, it's pretty egregious. Does anyone remember Fin name checking Dave as a source of his news ever? 

But the background is even more intriguing. Heyman, in pulling off this swerve, proved himself to be one of the great manipulators this industry has ever seen, or simply someone who benefitted by a series of coincidences. After taking over for Jerry Lawler, from day one, he began planting the ECW seed, making as many references to the defunct company as possible. More intriguing was the slew of similar e-mails written by Heyman's minions under fictitious names, or some have insinuated, Heyman himself, to the major web sites that WWF decision makers were known to frequent in a business where playing to the internet audience as opposed to the broad audience has already proven to be part of the reason of the closure of two of the three major companies already this year. There was a consistent theme in the letters, pushing his ideas, pushing the former ECW characters like his pet projects, Spike Dudley and Rhyno in particular, but not Jerry Lynn, an ECW main eventer who politically had no shot at being pushed, knocking the ideas he was against, heavily critical of Jim Ross when the two had legitimate disagreements on the air, consistently ripping on Lawler's work in comparison to Heyman's, and most importantly, pushing ECW as a cool thing and WCW as a dead thing. Clearly, the seeds for this angle were planted months ago, even if the WWF itself made the call in a panic decision after the bad reaction to WCW in Tacoma. The funny thing is, the ECW angle was something that should have been done, but the 7/9 television show, with angles consisting of ECW being formed, the WWF alliance with WCW against ECW and subsequent swerve back, could have been played out over months of television AFTER the WWF vs. WCW angle, correctly done, would have started to lose steam. Instead, it was a panic move to save a PPV they feared was going to die. Somehow the same writing team that wrote a WCW invasion that was bafflingly ill-thought out, has managed to hit on all the obvious storylines once ECW, with Heyman and Stephanie (clearly the stronger power broker of the two siblings, in particular since Shane's trying to play 30-year-old cool white boy dancing to rap on television is almost a butt of jokes comedy sitcom character), were thrust into the focal point. Even the 7/16 Raw, the first show where an ECW effect could be shown in the ratings, which did a 5.03 rating and drew the largest audience to see Raw since 4/23, was more the result of the hotshot angle teased throughout the show of the return of the Austin that everyone wanted, a sure fire ratings winner, but can be used as bragging rights that ECW had a significant effect on the numbers. The Raw ratings, falling at a scary rate after the folding of WCW, have now increased 23% since the introduction of WCW and an interpromotional angle.

 

[tiger_rick]

If spreading it over months delayed the announcement of Steph as ECW "owner", I'd have been all for it. Don't know if there has ever been a shorter gap between "Wow, this angle is great" and "Fucking hell, this angle is done".

[eugenespeed]

Charlotte Flair anagrams into Clitoral Father 

[SpursRiot2012]

I was looking at WrestleCrate, Pro Wrestling Crate, Highspots Box, Pro Wrestling Tees etc today, considering signing up to one of the crate services. Anyone recommend anyone in particular or if they're worth it?

I did, however, buy one of these, which I'm really pleased with. I don't have really any wrestling memorabilia at all, yet I've been a fan - lapsed or otherwise - for most of my life. I'm still pissed as all hell that I can't find my Ric Flair signed cover of WCW Magazine where he's on the cover as President of WCW.

If you can't be bothered to click the link: "The ‘Bad Guy’ made his one and only Wrestle Crate appearance ever in January 2018, with this stunning hand-signed print. Artwork designed exclusively for Wrestle Crate by Defract, and hand-signed by Razor Ramon during the Norwich leg of his recent UK tour. We have a few left over, so grab one while you still can, chico."

At that price, I had to have it. Looks A4 to me, will need to get a slim frame to hang it in my study! I was also looking at the signed Ric Flair print they've got in their 'second chance' section but Ric Flair, unlike Scott Hall, isn't my favourite wrestler of all time since I was a kid and I can't really justify buying two pro-wrestling related items in a month! 
 

Edited August 9, 2018 by SpursRiot2012

[Polish Dad]

WrestleCrate is good if you're into your BritWres, as it's mainly focused on that. They get Defract to do stuff pretty regularly for it, and his art stuff is always a highlight (He also makes a boatload of fantastic CAW's for the 2K games).

[air_raid]

2 hours ago, eugenespeed said:

Charlotte Flair anagrams into Clitoral Father 

Or "Artifact Holler." WHOOO!!!

[SpursRiot2012]

20 minutes ago, Polish Dad said:

WrestleCrate is good if you're into your BritWres, as it's mainly focused on that. They get Defract to do stuff pretty regularly for it, and his art stuff is always a highlight (He also makes a boatload of fantastic CAW's for the 2K games).

I am not into Britwres at all - is there some other crate option for those of us who like our wrestling American and generally at least 20 years old?

[Polish Dad]

It's the only one I'm familiar with, it's not particularly my scene. Best bet might be if a US one has a European distributor, so you don't get hit with import fees/postage.

[Daaaaaad!]

There's a WWE 'Slam Crate' in conjunction with the proper Lootcrate people, but it's very pricey, about £35/crate I think, and is bi-monthly.

[PowerButchi]

If it was only stuff like T-shirts, books (proper books, not comics and stuff) and DVDs I'd be in like Micky Quinn. But all these crates seem to be full of dogshit like funko pops (real shite for tossers) and other such tacky tat.

Edited August 9, 2018 by PowerButchi

[Merzbow]

Do the WWE crates have a theme to them each time like the Loot Crates? Would be decent if they did that, have one month with just NWO items and the next with a New Generation theme (with Lex shirt).

Edited August 9, 2018 by Merzbow

[SpursRiot2012]

I've ordered the lite version of Wrestle Crate (£11.99 a month) with a code for an extra t-shirt included (apparently, every month there is a t-shirt, just this first month I'll get two.) I'll see what I get before deciding on retaining the subscription. Given the demographic I imagine most people who sub to Wrestle Crate are in, I'm worried I'm going to get two t-shirts based on women wrestlers - they're also threatening something from Johnny Impact being in this month's crate, so probably that's one of the shirts.

[Jazzy G]

On 8/7/2018 at 2:30 PM, Accident Prone said:

When it comes to comics, I'm a DC guy. When it comes to movies however, I'm a Marvel guy. What DC have done so far in their rushed attempts to build a cinematic universe has not only killed my interest in their movies, but also any movies going forward as they'll all integrate into that shambles of background.

 

Hasn't somebody said they're knocking the cinematic universe on the head,and just sticking the movies out now? Or at the very least trying to reboot it all.

[eugenespeed]

14 hours ago, air_raid said:

Or "Artifact Holler." WHOOO!!!

Roman Reigns is Morning Arse. 

[Keith Houchen]

Rellik is Killer.