The Official UKFF RAW thread (part 2)...

[Supremo]

I want Gunther to come out wearing the Big Gold Belt on Saturday.

[wandshogun09]

3 hours ago, Chili said:

On Golga as @Dr. Alan Grantasked, the scuttlebutt was that John Tenta was going to pop back in as Earthquake, but he had the nerve to lose weight, and apparently management felt he didn't look as imposing.

The thing that gets me with this is weren’t they always on Vader to lose weight? Even though he was a fatty throughout his entire WCW/New Japan run. What were they expecting when they hired him? His size was a lot of what made him so intimidating and made his offence look so devastating. Who wanted to see a smaller, streamlined Vader? I’ve heard people like Bruce Prichard talk as if Vader’s work in the WWF suffered because of his weight but it’s bollocks because as soon as Vader left he was back to having bangers with Misawa and Kobashi and them lot in All Japan.

[RedTwoster]

14 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

Yeah what is it with this? Should be such an easy thing to get right. There's thousands of artists across virtually all genres out there who grew up on music and wrestling, and would intuitively have a very good grasp on writing a tune to fit the character and be immediately recognisable.

Did they lose the rights to some of these old themes? The one thing I can’t fathom is the decision to replace cracking theme tunes with weaker tracks - Nakamura, Nia Jax and Naomi to name a few. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

5 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

Did they lose the rights to some of these old themes? The one thing I can’t fathom is the decision to replace cracking theme tunes with weaker tracks - Nakamura, Nia Jax and Naomi to name a few. 

Is it only people who begin with N?

[Chili]

2 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Is it only people who begin with N?

That you Hunter?

[Snitsky's back acne]

5 hours ago, BomberPat said:

yeah, they felt that Tenta had lost too much weight to convincingly portray Earthquake any more, so came up with Golga. 

 

Absolutely criminal they didn't use Earthquake in 1999 after he got let go by WCW in my opinion.
I reckon Earthquake v Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Kane and Triple H would all have been money. 

[Fog Dude]

7 hours ago, BomberPat said:

One of the things that really stands out to me when I go back and watch mid-90s WWF is how many of the familiar faces of the Attitude Era were knocking about during the "New Generation" or earlier;

Bob Holly to Hardcore Holly

Not forgetting he was Sparky Plugg first, before he was even Bob.

[DavidB6937]

10 minutes ago, Fog Dude said:

Not forgetting he was Sparky Plugg first, before he was even Bob.

Thurman was a way better name than Bob.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I love how occasionally WWE get an idea about a minor facet of their production, something that if they brought in slowly might not even get noticed, and they decide to just do this entirely new thing repeatedly to the point it jars and I'm forced to have an opinion.

Recently, someone's clearly decided that sarcastic backstage interviewers would be a good idea. Lord knows why. And on this show they cut from Cathy Kelly really giving Chad Gable the business about his timekeeping (even handing back to the desk by rolling her eyes at Gable and apologising to Michael Cole for his tardiness) back to Jackie Redmond responding to a Karrion Kross response with something like 'well, that was a curt response' and a look in her eyes like she wanted him to fall on a spike.

I might never have noticed, but back to back really threw me. So now I don't like something I'd have otherwise not cared about.

[SuperBacon]

Nothing Cathy Kelly ever does is negative thank you very much.

[air_raid]

15 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

The thing that gets me with this is weren’t they always on Vader to lose weight? Even though he was a fatty throughout his entire WCW/New Japan run. What were they expecting when they hired him? His size was a lot of what made him so intimidating and made his offence look so devastating. Who wanted to see a smaller, streamlined Vader? I’ve heard people like Bruce Prichard talk as if Vader’s work in the WWF suffered because of his weight but it’s bollocks because as soon as Vader left he was back to having bangers with Misawa and Kobashi and them lot in All Japan.

I think it was that they saw peak WCW Vader able to do moonsaults and thought that he could have better cardio, be less injury prone and get around better if he was closer to say, Bam Bam's fighting weight than Earthquake's. Bear in mind, he debuted on TV needing one lot of surgery and would need another before 96 was out. It's also said (by Prichard, at least) that he came in at one weight and despite being billed as "458 lbs" throughout, did put some fat on during his run. I think it does show in 98, he seems more ponderous than before.

But yes, it didn't stop him working and bumping hard for Musawa and mates, and even assembled something watchable with Akira Taue which at that point in the latter's career, was all on Vader.

@Jazzy G to thread, please. It's Vader Time.

[Jazzy G]

I seem to recall some anecdotes about big Leon and Yokozuna being instructed to lose some weight and being either out on very strictly regimented diets or sent to some kind of "fat camp" only for them to be caught sneaking out to KFC at night. 

I also seem to remember, but it may all be hearsay and conjecture, that due to his habit of not washing his singlet when he had that match against Shawn at Summerslam 96 (citation needed) Shawn wasn't happy with the smell, or with the big lad working "snug" and got in Vince's ear about it. 

He was everything Vince could have done with in a wrestler. Big lad, looks like an absolute monster, and agile. He was a joy to watch on his day, but it just didn't work in WWF. Presumably between Shawn's alleged politics and Vince wanting to call him "The Mastodon" he realised that he could just cash some cheques until his contract ended and then head on back to Japan. 

[Chili]

Can I ask, are they using Hogan again at this upcoming SNME. They wouldn't try to lean into shit to do any type of angle would they? Surely they are not that thick regardless of a few people's real views and who they actually support, you wouldn't lean into him actually doing more on TV than shilling his beer, which they're twats for associating with in the first place.

[Mr_Danger]

7 hours ago, Chili said:

Can I ask, are they using Hogan again at this upcoming SNME. They wouldn't try to lean into shit to do any type of angle would they? Surely they are not that thick regardless of a few people's real views and who they actually support, you wouldn't lean into him actually doing more on TV than shilling his beer, which they're twats for associating with in the first place.

He’s coming back as Mr America to help Chad Gable clear out the Mexicans. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

4 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

He’s coming back as Mr America to help Chad Gable clear out the Mexicans. 

Then he's going to AEW to pin all of The Hurt Syndicate.