Random Thoughts III.

[The Cutting Edge]

Nu Metal started 99-2000 I think, I was 16 and got into usual bands that started it or made it popular.

In a notoriously bad fashion era for wrestlers, Pillman just looked a cool fucker with the vest and cane he looked the part of a crazy movie villian against The Crow or Face Off etc

[WyattSheepMask]

1 minute ago, Your Fight Site said:

Could have been worse: could have came out to a Terminator-themed entrance… 31 years after the film came out.

There was a new Terminator film coming 3 months after Wrestlemania and they were taping NXT at Arnold’s Roidy Magoo Contests, so I can see why they did that one in all fairness. If anything, the probably got paid a chunk of money by Paramount Pictures to do it

[Liam O'Rourke]

Sure did.

Keep in mind, its even more impressive given how many fuckers were still rocking mullets.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

36 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

And probably during its peak of popularity, or close to.

It's not like he came out dressed as Sylar.

2018 was the year it wasn't on wasn't it. 

[Guest]

Terminator was a paid promotion , was advertised in the lead to mania 

[Cannibal Man]

Probably the only time you'll see HHH get anything close to looking like a proper tit these days aswell so it was worth it in the end. Might rewatch that to focus on his face for the long, well lit walk to the ring

[BrodyGraham]

My daughter is presently upstairs crying because she's just remembered Bayley's heel turn.

Cracking bit of business.

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, BrodyGraham said:

My daughter is presently upstairs crying because she's just remembered Bayley's heel turn.

Cracking bit of business.

What a mark.

[Merzbow]

Just now, SuperBacon said:

What a mark.

 

[BomberPat]

while Pillman's look was "grungy", it didn't feel grungy in the way that Raven did. He wasn't just flannel and band T-shirts, his stuff looked fitted and well made, the cane and the weird glasses, it all added up to a look that felt of its time while being uniquely him, that meant it avoided feeling like it was just missing the boat on what was "in". A million miles away from Jerry Lawler slagging off ECW because they listen to "a band called Nirvana", as if they were complete nobodies, after Cobain's death.

The main thing with Pillman's look is that it never felt like he was putting on a costume. You 100% believed that's who he was.

 

I love his ECW debut, even with the worked shoot element of it, because of the whole impetus behind it - it's probably the best example you'll ever see of someone just fundamentally understanding that the easiest people to work are the people who think they're above being worked. It's a promo all about recognising that the ECW crowd aren't going to react to him the same way that a WCW crowd did, and that heeling on them requires a different approach. I go back and forth on Pillman's ECW run a lot - it's either the most "of its time" bit of wrestling ever, or the most prescient and forward thinking; Pillman recognising that "kayfabe" wasn't so much dead as had just changed directions, and being the first to ride that wave, when it's something a lot of others didn't really pick up on until the internet or even social media became more widespread, and that some still don't understand to this day. 

[The Cutting Edge]

@BomberPat you're spot on with his look, was a mix between 90s bad guy in a Nic Cage movie, sleazy rock star, his wearing a t-shirt that's ripped and barely there worked too.

He kept the look for first part of his wwe run but went to tights and frizzy hair when he joined the harts, to me wasn't as strong a look for him.

If he took Austin's approach of more brawling type matches in 98-99 he'd have fitted like a glove at the time.

[Liam O'Rourke]

The look definitely peaked in the first six months of 96. 

[IANdrewDiceClay]

In the WWF, Pillman decided to wear Reebok hi-tops. Always thought that looked well out of place with his torn jeans and mad shirt and waist coat. I can only assume the trainers were much easier on his ankle than his boots were.

[The Cutting Edge]

Given the thin rosters on Raw and Smackdown, NXT is ok, since April I wonder if it would've helped if they stopped the brand split until this shit is over then do a draft to restart thing's.

Both shows have suffered, majority of the storylines have been going on since May which highlights the issues and ratings reflect it.

You can imagine wwe announcement along the lines of "during these difficult times, we want to entertain the wwe universe best we can..." 

 

[The Gaffer]

WWE stopping running PPVs in MSG was a huge, huge shame. I'm not sure what internal squabbles or conflicts led to it - we used to hear stories the building was too pricey but maybe it's a weird Vince-breaks-from-tradition ego thing we don't know about - but I'd have done anything possible to do a PPV there at least once every two years. It's a part of their legacy and a part of what they were in my brain that they sort of just chucked out the car window. Those shows always did feel like home, and automatically felt big time, and that would have continued for as long as they continued to run PPV at the building. 

SummerSlam 91, WrestleMania X, Survivor Series 96, SummerSlam 98, Royal Rumble 00, Survivor Series 02, WrestleMania XX, Royal Rumble 08. That's an absolutely ridiculous run of shows - every one of them benefiting from MSG. Crazy to think 'WWE at MSG' stopped being a historic theme around the same time shit like Breaking Point and Over The Limit started.