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tristram

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  1. http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15296

     

    I believe this is the correct link for Tristam's The Death of WCW? thread...IMO, it's one of the finest efforts in the history of these forums

     

    if this thread is no longer being worked on, please just disregard. :)

     

    I haven't been on these forums for a very long time, or at least it seems, and then I saw this. I know its from a while ago as well, but I wanted to reply that I truly appreciate the acknowledgement. I truly had a lot of fun planning it out and bringing it to action, and loving the little opportunities TEW allowed for the plan to be thrown out the window and evolved into something even more awesome.

     

    Thanks Rob, really appreciate that this one was remembered and that it had an impact with some peeps.

  2. <p>I have an excellent book on Arnold Rothstein somewhere. Can't argue he had a profound impact when you consider the 1919 World Series.... essentially ended the likes of Shoeless Joe Jackson's careers.</p><p> </p><p>

    Currently watching a number of DVDs - House of Cards, Under the Dome, and believe it or not, old Cheers and Frasier episodes. Tops.</p>

  3. 100% correct stennick. CAn't believe I've waded into a forum to defend Eric Bischoff, but Bischoff's impact on WCW came well before the N.W.O was introduced. There was a very successful period prior to the NWO. They just needed one hook story to be implemented, and it so happened to be the NWO that would elevate them to another level.

     

    WCW from say '93 to mid '98, and even in some parts into '99 had a lot going for it. Unfortunately, it also had a lot of political issues both in the promotion itself and behind the scenes (to the point where it no longer was viable on the network it had helped support). You can look through many a PPV and see incredible matches. There's no doubt in my mind certain wrestlers needed to be elevated quicker, and there's no doubt in my mind that there was a certain element of banging their head against a brick wall in terms of turning over their main event, but there's no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Eric Bischoff's period in WCW was ultra successful. Most businesses will judge you against YTD prior figures, in most categories (financial, buy rates, TV ratings, merchandise) Bischoff would have continually stacked up year in year out. And those trends were well in place before the NWO.

  4. I like what TNA is doing at the moment. They finally seem to be trying to deliver on what they've promised, and creating some separation from WWE. That's not a shot against WWE either, there's things they are doing that I enjoy as well. Its great seeing Hardy, Aries, Storm and Roode as the top dogs.

     

    As far as production value, the two funniest ones I can recall come from WCW. Once when Chris Jericho was in a backstage segment pretending he was locked out. He's pulling at the door, pretending its locked... some security dude inside thinks whats going on, and opens the door in the middle of a live cut. The second one also involves Chris Jericho. Wrath and him have a run-off segment backstage... anyhow, they then show Jericho and Wrath running past a semi-truck, at which point they just stop and saunter into a slow leisurely walk, caught on camera.

  5. Thats how I've felt about TNA the last couple of years. I don't have a problem with the experienced wrestlers being there, but with most of them including Sting until late its been like watching the jaded has-been doing his last rounds of the territories and while wrestling or interviewing you can see his mind flicker "where the hell am I/what day do I collect my cheque". My thought was it was a distinct lack of professionalism and they were basically there for their last pay-day or if they got lucky a chance to do a 6 month stint back in the WWE... looking at Sting it looks like he's finally doing something he enjoys again. Sting and Ric Flair actually looked that way at the end of WCW, they'd wrestle in t-shirts as if to cover their shame.
  6. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Stennick" data-cite="Stennick" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Wolfpac Sting iritates me maybe more than any other pro wrestling character EVER. Why would Sting join the the <strong>nWo</strong> Wolfpac? Faces or not didn't most of the guys on that version of the nWo spend over a year trying to destroy him and the year before that didn't they attempt to frame him resulting in him stalking in the rafters for year? Seriously he spent two years being the only guy not named DDP to fight the nWo and not join and then he just up and joins. <p> </p><p> I get what they were trying to do with the Wolfpac, they were behind, the ratings were slipping and the nWo had lost its cool factor so they figured since the nWo isn't cool anymore, maybe a spin off OF the nWo would be. Sadly I never got it. All they succeeded in doing was making Luger and Sting look like jackasses. </p><p> </p><p> /rant</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I agree entirely... the only problem with that was, for some reason, Nash and Sting joining up made WCW fan's pop big time. The Wolfpack lost all its sense and marbles when it swerved back to nWo Hollywood rather than be the internal politick it needed to destroy itself.</p>
  7. I dont think he was ever called Hennig in WWE. I know he was in AWA/WCW though but I think he was always Mr. Perfect, even in the video games and during his last run

     

    Yes he was. At the very start of his journey into the WWF he was announced by the ring-announcers and the commentators (I think at the time Mooney and Hayes) as Mr Perfect Curt Hennig. Infact, I was watching an episode of the WWE show that Gene Okerlund hosts, can't quite remember the name of it but its a historical recap show, and it had Sam Houston against Mr Perfect Curt Hennig.

  8. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Linsolv" data-cite="Linsolv" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Well, the E was still advertising appearances by Bryan at least a week after he got fired, so as far as putting out a toy that breaks the storyline firing (if it is that, which I'm only assuming for the sake of discussion), I can't say I would put it past them.<p> </p><p> EDIT: On the other hand, that is actually LOWER quality than their Build N' Brawl line; Danielson looks like Gregory House; and, <strong>why does Danielson's genital-region come as a separate piece?</strong></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><p> <img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />:eek:<img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Fella, that's quite a funny observation. That's kinda like playing a music game show and answering successfully that you know the name of that crazy Spanish-Mexican dance song from around 1996 where there was that rad worldwide dance phenomena. Sadly, I know what it is (Macharena) <img alt=":o" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/redface.png.900245280682ef18c5d82399a93c5827.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>
  9. The way I look at the Knock-Outs, particularly when you DID have Amazing Kong and ODB was that you had many, many different 'points of difference' in the Knock Out division compared to what can somewhat portrayed as a big racked-up blond/brunette Divas division. I mean, I have time for some of those Divas, don't get me wrong, but here we had a monsterous beast going head to head with a chick who brought a whiskey flask to the ring. It seemed like all their characters had points of difference in their character which gave them a massive wild variety of potential feuds.

     

    What is the status with Kong? Is it definitely all over as far as she goes with TNA? And Cheerleader Melissa?

     

    And the nerve of anyone criticising my mrs, Velvet Sky! :eek:

  10. Not to rag on Ric because I do like the guy as a performer. But after reading his book, and hearing his comments, the grudges he holds against people, and just the general (donkey) that he's became over the last ten years.

     

    For a guy that had spent one year of his entire wrestling career in the E before WCW's demise he was treated amazingly well.

     

    I had really hoped Ric would fade off into the sunset a long time ago and especially after his match against HBK. I thought the stuff he was doing in ROH was fantastic as far as that side of his career went.

     

    All that being said and as much as I love Ric Flair's career and I think in a lot of ways nobody has influenced this entire generation of wreslters more so than Ric Flair. Ric Flar was the celeberity athlete that T.O, Beckham, etc is today. He wore name brand clothing, he was a fan of the ladies, he was consntatly bragging on himself. He was what the E tried to do with MVP 25 years before they did it with MVP and for that he's a visionary even if it was just Ric. Other guys were bar fighting, coke heads but they didn't transition that into their on screen character at the time.....well not purposley at least.

     

    All that being said I'll never forget Ric in the Monday Night Wars DVD saying the day WCW closed down was the happiest day of his life. For better or worse that company MADE him a star and despite problems it kept him a star until their very last show. Without WCW there would be no Ric Flair.

     

    His problems with Bischoff and his mocking of their refusal to push new stars, etc, the creative problems, he tore down Russo in those interviews, he even tore down HOgan on severla occasions. I get business is business and Ric's broke but for him to say the things he's said about Hogan, Bischoff, WCW and Russo only to turn right back around and work with those same guys in the same goofy stories WCW was telling is the ultimate hypcorital thing to do.

     

    Either that or Ric's just showing that he's the ultimate company man. That promo he cut on the last night of WCW was one of the greatest promos I've ever seen in my life. He went to the E and then talked about how they were the driving force and Vince was a genious, now he's in TNA and he's having more fun than ever before.

     

    You hear it all the time that pro wrestling is a business based on lying and everything we see in front of or behind the camera is a lie to some extent or another. YOu know their business is lying, their pro con men and even in an era where "kayfabe" is supposed to be dead you see people working their marks every day of the week.

     

    Hogan gets blased for Andre being 700 pounds and dying the day after WM III. Or how he kept telling WCW how Vince and the WWF did business but they wouldn't listen. Or how WCW was a two bit company drawing nobody before he came along. He gets killed in the IWC for saying those things but yet nobody calls Ric out for all the exaggerations and lies he's told over the last ten years. Nobody ever calls Ric out for rewriting his own history so many different times. He must be doing something right those because even after all of these recent comments he'll still be praised while Hogan's torn down for virtually the same comments and actions.

     

    I think you've hit the nail on the head. A very liberal use of professional wrestling ;take a slice of the truth and make it into a story' license. Sadly, though, the third time he's done it kind of waters down what you can and can't believe is genuine, and you perhaps wonder whether Ric knows how to separate the on-camera Ric Flair to the real-deal Ric Flair due to the web of stories offered.

  11. Oh, Ric.

     

    I get that it's his job to pimp TNA, but do he have to take a dump on his entire career since the mid 80s? Evolution? WM against Undertaker? The match with HBK that mightve been the best send off ever?

     

    Ah well...

     

    I would say it'd have to be all PR. There's no way known to man that Ric Flair could logically say that, is there? I mean, after all, after a taping he cried in the middle of the ring when the entire roster came out to support him, led by Triple H. He said at the time that he had learned to like himself again, all because of the support of the WWE. It's practically the substance of his book in terms of how bad he felt about himself because of how he was booked and 'victimised' in WCW, compared to how great things were and how much respect he had in the WWE locker room.

     

    I would have to hope that there's some very liberal creative license in bending the truth to make a story here.

  12. Pillman seemed to have more... verve than Danielson. I don't know if I'd like a loose cannon gimmick for him. I see him in a similar vein to how Bret Hart was when he first came to the WWF. Bret really was in many ways to take a Kevin Nash description... vanilla. They were getting him to play the Cowboy gimmick seeing as he was from Calgary, but it was more or less hiding his excellent ring work to carry the gimmick. Of course, we know that Bret then linked with Jimmy Hart and Jim Neidhart and they got the tag team feud of a generation with the British Bulldogs and the rest is history, and I think Bret's exposure was grown by him being more natural, more... legitimate for wont of a TEW term, and being exposed to wrestle against the British Bulldog in particular. The two worked outstandingly well.

     

    I'd get Danielson into tag team wrestling, and try and showcase his wrestling attributes with a raw power house tag team partner.

  13. I loved shows like Cheers, M*A*S*H and Wonder Years that had ongoing stories and epic endings. I mean, the finale of M*A*S*H... brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

     

    Right now I'm big time into How I Met Your Mother, and also like 30 Rock. But... they'll never split my sides as much as Marrid with Children did.

  14. he British Invasion T-Shirt when they where still active lolz. 8k at a house show in the UK which is a record attendance, television rights fees, high viewer-ship in the UK which makes it easier to sell overseas like their recent Middle East deal. TNA also airs in many other countries like Australia and India. TNA does quite well internationally do not underestimate the income that generates and the importance of it.

     

    All international viewing figures are up for instance with the Hogan era, merchandise sales are up, ppv buys are up, house show attendance is up, international distribution is up. Everything is up except the US ratings, is it as up as could have been hoped? No. Is the US rating figure the only thing that matters? Hell no.

     

    It doesn't do that well down in Australia. If I went up to all my work-mates and asked them about TNA, I'd get a confused look. It's time slot for Impact! is Saturday night at 10:30 on one of the weaker channels on the Fox-cable network.

  15. Okay I had a whole post written out saying how what I said might have been a bit of a bold statement. And Colt came in and brought up a good point, about how you can't really compare all of the sports.

     

    And I talked about how the Celtics winning a title eight years in a row is something that I doubt will ever be done by any pro sports team again. However, the stupid site timed me out so I hope this will be all right.

     

    There is one thing that I have to disagree with you on and that is saying the Steelers are the most dominate NFL team in the history of the league. That is just not true. In fact there are four teams that have more championships. Before the NFL/AFL merge, the Steelers were a bit of a joke. Sorry if this makes me come across as a jerk, as it is not my intention.

     

    However, I hate the fact that nobody seems to think what happened before the Super Bowl era is important. The Packers are, championship wise, the greatest franchise in NFL history.

     

    OTT: St George Dragons won 13 rugby league premierships on end.

  16. They have come a long way, some wrestlecrap from the early TNA days:

     

    http://www.wrestlecrap.com/classic20.html

     

    Edit: Angle didn't do the pac sign he gave Nash a fist bump as a show of respect for the MEM days and proceeded to ignore Hall and Pac. It was in no way intended as a heel tease.

     

    It doesn't really matter what it was. It's the sort of thing down the line, whether it be next week, six months, a year away, that can be built off. Let me use what I like to call the 'nevermore paradigm'. Nevermore in his diaries will tie a story up, and then he'll take you back to something that is now so obvious but before so well hidden that you never thought to consider it, yet it makes total sense. Every action a wrestler does has the ability to be used to build character layers and also reasons to build feuds. IMO that's the art of outstanding authors is the clinical detail they will use to create something out of something seemingly innocent.

     

    I'm not suggesting that tomorrow you go and book Angle as a heel, when it happened, it shot up lights in my eyes as to many different prospects that don't even need to be in the direct future.

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