Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 6, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 6, 2025 Don’t know why Gerald Brisco’s tweeting pictures of George ‘The Animal’ Steele’s dinner.
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 10, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 10, 2025 Makes sense that Hayabusa’s 450 was influenced directly by 2 Cold Scorpio. He was the only one who did it about as well as 2 Cold for me. Beautiful.
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 10, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 10, 2025 25th anniversary of the best match of all time.
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 10, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 10, 2025 Of all the mad shit that happened in that match, the bit that makes me wince the most by far is when Awesome springboards from the top rope over the rail and slips on the mixture of beer, sweat, piss and jizz on the floor and twats his back off the concrete. Also crazy how this match was the same month as Triple H vs Cactus, the Dudleys vs Hardys table match and Tazz’s debut at the Rumble. And the Radicalz leaving WCW for the WWF. Like most of you I lived through that time as a fan but looking back what a nutty few weeks that was.
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 11, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 11, 2025 (edited) Absolutely tragedy that Awesome's ECW run was cut short. I know ECW was collapsing at the time but that environment was so perfect for him and he became something truly special and unique there. He could never come anywhere close to it in WCW or WWE and understandably so. I loved that big crazy goon. Edited January 11, 2025 by LaGoosh
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 11, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 11, 2025 Drew. King of Twitter.
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted January 11, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 11, 2025 Incredible!! ?
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 11, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 11, 2025 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said: Absolutely tragedy that Awesome's ECW run was cut short. I know ECW was collapsing at the time but that environment was so perfect for him and he became something truly special and unique there. He could never come anywhere close to it in WCW or WWE and understandably so. I loved that big crazy goon. It’s a travesty we never got that Awesome vs RVD run they were teasing before RVD broke his leg in early 2000.
Merzbow Posted January 11, 2025 Posted January 11, 2025 His ECW stuff was the perfect evolution of his FMW work, I'd have loved to see him bring over the Hayabusa feud similarly to the Tanaka stuff he's most known for.
Chili Posted January 11, 2025 Posted January 11, 2025 (edited) It's a bit of a nightmare because of all the chair shots and what we know now, but FUCKING HELL, that Mike Awesome/Masato Tanaka match at One Night Stand is still so amazing to watch. A greatest hits compilation disguised as a match. Always read people saying 'Oh, Awesome had no psychology blah blah', who fucking cares, he was a big unit with a mullet who could do topes better than people half his size. I get why he didn't work out in WCW/WWF, but that doesn't mean he couldn't work. He just didn't work in their format. Anyway, the ONS match. On a show where Rey Mysterio/Psychosis were bang average, and Guerrero/Benoit suffers from Eddie being in a bit of a bad mood, out comes a nearly retired Mike Awesome with a baying mob of Kevin Owens, Vladimir and a thousand virgins all telling him to fuck off because left a promotion that wasn't paying him and Joey Styles cries like a little baby through Paul Heyman's instructions on the headset. 10 minute's later and everyone is throwing their babies in the air because they absolutely smash the shit out of each other, every spot is hit almost pitch perfectly, the sound of the ring, Tanaka taking some incredibly wincing bumps. I loveeeee the finish, A powerbomb out the ring through a table. That's the finish? Nah, Awesome decides to springboard over and lawn darts right into a mess of broken table and Tanaka. It's got no psychology, I can see why some stuffy sod would say it's not Flair/Steamboat, but it's just so, so, so much fun to watch as a mad spectacle. I believe it might have actually been Mike Awesome's final match too. If it was, after his rep got sullied between 2000-2003, it was one hell of a middle finger to restoring a bit of a clout for his rep. Cracking theme song too. Pair of mad bastards, love it! Edited January 11, 2025 by Chili
davertfnewman Posted January 11, 2025 Posted January 11, 2025 Joey Styles was already an irritant who spoiled an entire promotion via his awful commentary, but that bit about how Awesome should kill himself confirmed he was a pretty shitty person too, which seems to have been further confirmed in subsequent years.
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 12, 2025 Paid Members Posted January 12, 2025 12 hours ago, Chili said: Always read people saying 'Oh, Awesome had no psychology blah blah These people are stupid and have such a limited view of what wrestling psychology is and can be. Mike Awesome in ECW had perfect ring psychology for his character, size and environment: - He's a huge, genetic freak and athletic specimen who can do incredible power moves and high flying in a promotion filled with guys who are all significantly smaller than him and nowhere near as athletic. - his character is basically a coked up maniac who spent years working hardcore matches in Japan and is now in ECW to destroy people. - ECW doesn't have any rules so he can do anything he wants. Considering all the above why wouldn't his matches be him just absolutely murdering people with insane moves, smashing them with chairs and launching people through tables?! It would make far less sense from an in ring psychology perspective if he didn't do all of that. Why would he work a traditional match? It would be idiotic. And fundamentally the point of wrestling is to entertain the fans, make them feel something or give them something to remember. Mike Awesome's ECW run does all of that and fans still talk fondly about it to this day. It was incredible. Anyone who doesn't understand it just needs to listen to the lyrics of his brilliant theme song which pretty much explains everything you need to know about him.
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