WWF/WWE/ECW/WCW

Witchfinder wrote:

Believe it or not, two buddies of mine have a band called MaxXout and they just released their first video - "Kayfabe" - that stars none other than WWF/WCW legend Virgil!



It turns out that Virgil lives right here in Pittsburgh and was more than eager to participate in the video.  My friends have many hilarious stories of all the crazy things Virgil was telling them.  

Not surprised, Virgil is a desperate and crazy man. Using what little impact he had on pro wrestling to charge $40 an autograph after attaching his name to The Million Dollar Man to get tables at fan events even though DiBiase says he hasn't seen or talked to Virgil in 10 years.

As for the video, the music ain't bad but those vocals are little too much for me. I agree with Toho, a very funny video! I guess for a joke band, that's what they're going for.

Witchfinder wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

I'm not that wild about the song but the video is beyond hilarious.  So much going on that just cracks me up.

Bear in mind that they are a joke band, so they aren't striving for anything good.  Ha!

Then they hit the mark they were aiming for.  The music isn't really bad but it's the video that makes that clip.  All the abuse of the Sandman doll is just hilarious.  And not too far from reality.

Last night I finished watching Survivor Series 1996 and started watching the last Wrestlemania before the attitude era officially began. This is the one where Bret Hart starts his match with Austin as a babyface but ends the match as the heel (haven't gotten to that classic bout yet). Though Austin was starting to gain popularity, the most stunning thing at the time was the main event. Sid Vicious was the obvious booked heel and Shawn Michaels was the obvious booked babyface (black and white, no grey area for either of them). Throughout the match, the boos for Shawn were almost deafening and the crowd was about 85-90% behind Sid. Funny line from Vince McMahon was, "The crowd is divided between these two!" He was deluded even back then .

One of the things that stood out so far in that Wrestlemania was the second match for the Intercontinental title. The Rock defended his title against Rikishi. Though it being before the Attitude Era, it was Rocky Maivia vs. The Sultan.

I watched New Japan Pro Wrestling last night and guess who did commentary?  Good Ol' J.R.!

tohostudios wrote:

I watched New Japan Pro Wrestling last night and guess who did commentary?  Good Ol' J.R.!

Yeah, he recently signed a contract with them.

It works really well for NJPW matches because the Japanese matches are much more scientific than the nonsense in WWE.  It really adds to the realism when you have an announcer who can name all the moves as they're being done.

tohostudios wrote:

It works really well for NJPW matches because the Japanese matches are much more scientific than the nonsense in WWE.  It really adds to the realism when you have an announcer who can name all the moves as they're being done.

It's often been said that Vince dislikes JR because he knows more about wrestling than he does. Actually watching the older PPVs when JR and Vince are both on commentary, you can hear veiled sarcasm from Vince in certain responses.

Plus those are two giant egos.  Last night's NJPW show was preceded by a special interview with JR and he even admitted he has an "Oklahoma-sized ego".

tohostudios wrote:

Plus those are two giant egos.  Last night's NJPW show was preceded by a special interview with JR and he even admitted he has an "Oklahoma-sized ego".

Sure he does, it's not hard to do when your commentary is considered some of the best in wrestling history. However, this was before the attitude era started (Steve Austin was still the Ring Master) and he hadn't quite hit legendary status. One incident that came to mind: there was a second generation wrestler (can't remember who) and JR asked Vince if he ever got to see this wrestlers dad wrestle? Vince answered, "No I haven't," then quickly changed the subject. Maybe I was misreading his tone, but it sounded like, "that has nothing to do with this match, don't mention it anymore. So anyway...". There were many other times where it seemed Vince was very dismissive of JR.

The duo of JR and Josh Barnett (former wrestler and the youngest UFC heavyweight champion ever) are the best commentators out there right now IMO.  Their commentary makes the garbage we have to put up with every Monday night sound like the juvenile crap it is.   These two actually call matches like it's a real sporting event and don't make stupid jokes or remind us 30 times of what's coming up next or what happened in previous segments.

tohostudios wrote:

The duo of JR and Josh Barnett (former wrestler and the youngest UFC heavyweight champion ever) are the best commentators out there right now IMO.  Their commentary makes the garbage we have to put up with every Monday night sound like the juvenile crap it is.   These two actually call matches like it's a real sporting event and don't make stupid jokes or remind us 30 times of what's coming up next or what happened in previous segments.

I'm sure it's a breath of fresh air. I've gotten almost to the point that I tune out the WWE commentary, heck, everything is just something on in the background. I wouldn't miss anything if all I did was read the results.

I recently found out Jerry Lawler is back to being a heel commentator, but from what little I've heard, it's the same crap from the last 10 years, just directed at the faces this time.

Oh, back to the issue of blood in matches, found out the classic Wrestlemania bout between Austin and Hart originally pissed Vince off. They never told him they were going to blade. At that time it was PG like it was now and that stuff usually didn't fly. The only reason neither two men were punished for it, was because of how great the match was. There are some talented guys there now but I don't think any of them would ever take that chance these days. It'd be nice if they did, but apart from the Cena vs Lesnar match a while back, it'd more than likely be career suicide.

tohostudios wrote:

The duo of JR and Josh Barnett (former wrestler and the youngest UFC heavyweight champion ever) are the best commentators out there right now IMO.  Their commentary makes the garbage we have to put up with every Monday night sound like the juvenile crap it is.   These two actually call matches like it's a real sporting event and don't make stupid jokes or remind us 30 times of what's coming up next or what happened in previous segments.

Ok I have to ask, since I haven't watched wrestling in a very long time, who announces Raw now ? I assumed JR was still on.

Just reading the results is what I'll be doing in about a month once Cardinal baseball season starts up again.  Right now I'm between sports with the end of the NFL and baseball not starting until April so on Mondays I watch Raw by default.  I've already given up Smackdown on Thursdays for NCAA basketball so Raw's days are numbered.

You're right, you usually don't miss anything by just reading results and skipping all the other BS that goes on in WWE programming.

007 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

The duo of JR and Josh Barnett (former wrestler and the youngest UFC heavyweight champion ever) are the best commentators out there right now IMO.  Their commentary makes the garbage we have to put up with every Monday night sound like the juvenile crap it is.   These two actually call matches like it's a real sporting event and don't make stupid jokes or remind us 30 times of what's coming up next or what happened in previous segments.

Ok I have to ask, since I haven't watched wrestling in a very long time, who announces Raw now ? I assumed JR was still on.

Michael Cole, JBL and Byron Sexton (who's about as interesting and colorful as sand).

I've heard of Cole and know JBL (mostly when he went by Bradshaw). Sexton's a name I don't recognize

007 wrote:

I've heard of Cole and know JBL (mostly when he went by Bradshaw). Sexton's a name I don't recognize

I think he used to be the NXT commentator.  But he's so dull and boring on Raw.  For one thing, 3 commentators is too damn many and leads to too many distracting interactions between the announcers.  Plus from what I understand, the production truck feeds them stuff to talk about which really has to suck if you actually want to call the action in the ring.

I actually prefer Michael Cole when he was more of a heel character and used to sit in his own booth (called the "Cole Mine") to isolate him from everyone else.  Now he's just as boring as the other guys.

And the only thing I enjoy about JBL on commentary is contrasting his style on Raw to his clips on Fox Business Network when he shows up there to give investment advice.  The guy is obviously one sharp cookie.

I used to enjoy watching JBL argue with Wayne Rogers (RIP) on FBN.

tohostudios wrote:

I used to enjoy watching JBL argue with Wayne Rogers (RIP) on FBN.

Really ? That's hilarious !

JBL has parlayed his wrestling earnings into a fortune because of his stock market acumen.  And Wayne Rogers had done the same thing.  So when FBN would ask each for stock tips they'd start arguing over who's were better.  When it comes to investments I wish I was half as sharp as either one.

I knew that Rogers was rather wealthy from his actions outside of acting. I had no idea that JBL was the same way. I just find those two together rather amusing.

007 wrote:

I knew that Rogers was rather wealthy from his actions outside of acting. I had no idea that JBL was the same way. I just find those two together rather amusing.

Actually, when he went from Bradshaw to JBL, it was incorporated into his character. He'd come to the ring in a chauffeured Cadillac with bull horns on the front. For a short time, the closeline from hell was called the closeline from Wall Street. At one time he "bought" Shawn Michaels who at the time was "desperate for money".

DallasBlack wrote:

007 wrote:

I knew that Rogers was rather wealthy from his actions outside of acting. I had no idea that JBL was the same way. I just find those two together rather amusing.

Actually, when he went from Bradshaw to JBL, it was incorporated into his character. He'd come to the ring in a chauffeured Cadillac with bull horns on the front. For a short time, the closeline from hell was called the closeline from Wall Street. At one time he "bought" Shawn Michaels who at the time was "desperate for money".

I do remember that. I just figured it was all a part of the gimmick. Good for him. I wish I had that savvy.

007 wrote:

I knew that Rogers was rather wealthy from his actions outside of acting. I had no idea that JBL was the same way. I just find those two together rather amusing.

So did a lot of other people which is why FBN hooked them up often.  Everyone knows finance TV is boring but not when you got those two together...

After Rogers passed, FBN had JBL back on and he actually seemed genuinely choked up that his favorite financial sparring partner was gone.

tohostudios wrote:

007 wrote:

I've heard of Cole and know JBL (mostly when he went by Bradshaw). Sexton's a name I don't recognize

I think he used to be the NXT commentator.  But he's so dull and boring on Raw.  For one thing, 3 commentators is too damn many and leads to too many distracting interactions between the announcers.  Plus from what I understand, the production truck feeds them stuff to talk about which really has to suck if you actually want to call the action in the ring.

I actually prefer Michael Cole when he was more of a heel character and used to sit in his own booth (called the "Cole Mine") to isolate him from everyone else.  Now he's just as boring as the other guys.

There was a time, years ago, when Cole was ok, before he became annoying. Never liked the way they developed the character, wish he was left alone as neutral.
Jerry Lawler has mellowed out and almost the same as Sexton.Boring.
Lawler used to be hilarious. I miss him throwing out the really quick off-the-cuff insults and jokes.

i watched Smackdown the other day and the new announcer Mauro Ranallo is really good
He was calling all the moves like J.R. or Joey Styles,and occasionally I think I am hearing WCW's Tony Schiavone voice on the mike.

I must have missed it, but is there still a brand division between RAW and SMACKDOWN, or not ?
The last time I seen that was in 2002.
Now wrestlers bounce back and forth from RAW, Smackdown,and sometimes over to NXT.

They finally did away with the brand split that they never really honored anyway.

Mauro Ranallo is the guy JR replaced for New Japan.  I agree; he does call a good match.