From your Thunder report of 12-17...."Y'know, seeing that Jericho gets a knock-off of Evenflow and Raven has one of Come As Your Are, Saturn should get a theme sounding like YMCA."... It's funny you should say that.When I was in Orlando for the Worldwide tapings, I went to a club where the WCW guys hang out. And lo and behold, who should I see doing the YMCA, and VERY obviously having the time of his life, but a large, bald, tattooed, and pierced man. You have never in your life seen hilarious until you see Saturn doing the YMCA. I thought I was going to bust a vein.
I just read your Thunder report and all I have to say is Bischoff makes me sick. Because they brought back Barry Windham, I wouldn't be surprised if the Horsemen brought back Ole Anderson or even Tully Blanchard. Somehow Flair will even the odds.
I'm sorry, but I can officially say that I am WCW free. You want to know why? Read this sad recap:1) I ACTUALLY BUY TICKETS to go to Starrcade '97, on the promise from Jabrone Shavonie that this was the most important PPV in wrestling history, only to see Hogan SCHOOL Sting. It's pretty damn sad when Vincent and Macho Man are in the same match at a PPV.
2) Buff Bagwell REPEATEDLY fakes neck injuries, while my uncle lays paralyzed from a car accident in 1995.
3) I watch a man whose father my grandfather knows (Rick Steiner) be embarassed by 'Chuckie'. I saw Child's Play when I was 8, and I knew Chuckie wasn't real. Looks like I couldn't book for WCW.
4) Hogan totally disses Jesse Ventura on the Tonight Show, and people don't know that Hogan TOTALLY stole Ventura's act, down to the feathered boa.
5) The final nail in the coffin. WCW Nitro was held from the Tampa, FL Ice Palace, a place where I've been to a dozen Lightning games. Our governer dies of a heart attack, and three days later, Ric Flair has a minor one. Then I hear that WCW got the angle idea from reading a newspaper hours before the card. COME ON.....
So, now I am WCW free. I have found bad Shotgun Saturday Night episodes to be more entertaining then some WCW PPVs, so I guess it's not really a loss. And BTW, my friend is a WCW mark who told me that some WWF angles are SOOOOO bogus, (i.e. Gangrel), so I just told him that you can't really call a vampire bogus when your favorite wrestler is a clown who appears in smoke to kidnap a (insert homosexual smear).
I was personally disgusted and outraged by Pissoff, Bryan Adams and Barry Windham beating up Ric Flair's kids. These are _children_ for gosh sakes. Isn't Pissoff always complaining about how "adult" and "inappropriate" the WWF always is? Is this his response? Having two huge wrestlers beat up children? Why didn't security do anything? Where were Benoit, Malenko, Mongo or Arn with a tire iron? Why didn't anyone _do_ anything to stop it?Forget Flair. I'd like to see at Starrcade Benoit put Pissoff in the Crippler Crossface while Malenko, at the same time, puts him in the Texas Cloverleaf. While this is going on, Mongo would punch Pissoff a lot, since that's all he can really do. After they release him, then they should have Flair come in, slap on the figure-four leglock until Pissoff either screams for mercy or blacks out from the pain.
I'm not going to comment about how you feel about the appropriateness of the angle, as many people can form their own opinions. (From my mails and visits to chat rooms, the general take on Bischoff beating up David Flair was negative, though.)
I will point out an observation, and here it is. In terms of adult-oriented angles, the WWF has had homosexuality (Golddust, Too Much), wife abuse (Marc Mero/Sable), and a man getting part of his manhood severed (Val Venis) amongst other things.
In contrast, WCW's versions of adult-oriented angles include alcoholism (Scott Hall), smoking (Giant), cutting weight to make the big cruiserweight match (Disco Inferno), and a fake heart attack (Ric Flair), the latter of which performed three days after Florida Governor Lawton Chiles died after one. While the first two could be debatable, real amateur wrestlers have died as a result of the after-effects of losing extreme amounts of weight to make a bout in a lower weight class. Furthermore, faking a heart attack, dead Governor or not, can still be viewed as sketchy.
I'm not saying that WCW is any worse off than WWF or vice versa. It does seem like WCW is trying to follow the WWF's lead, though in a different manner. Draw your own conclusions as to which one has gone farther.
You referred to Lex Luger as the three-move package. What three moves? All I know is the forearm and the Torture Rack. I'm serious, I can't remember. And that's so very sad...
Well, he's got a punch... oh no, that's not a move. Well he kicks, wait that isn't one either. Oh yeah, the flex! No, no, I suppose that cannot be seen as an official move, either. I guess if you count a clothesline as a move, then that completes the "Package." That and tons of screaming and grunting when Luger sells moves.
Beth isn't David's mother. Also, I was reading a summary of a Flair radio appearance from about October and it stated that Flair said he was trying to steer David away from being a wrestler.
- Wolfpack music comes on. F**kit, so much for being a good show.
- Gonnad wanders out, his arms are spasming! Quick, someone, inject something into him before it's too late!
- Gonnad grabs the mike and I go grab a beer.
- He will be facing... CHAVO!!! Yes!!!
- WCW had better not JOB Chavo to this f**k.
- Hold on, Gonnad is holding out a wolfpack shirt to Chavo.
- I can hear Darth Vader now, "Join us, you dont understand the Power of the Dark Side."
- Chavo accepts and Gonnad grabs mike to celebrate, I go grab another beer.
- I come back and they are still celebrating, I plan on shifting the beer fridge to the other end of the house.
- Chavo decks Gonnad!
- Big Pop! Strange, crowd usually likes Wolfpack, hypnosis must have worn off :)
- Chavo jumps under the ring, comes back with a trash can....ECW!
- Chavo shoves can over Gonnad's head.
- Drumsticks appear from nowhere and Chavo plays La Cocaracha ala Gonnad as we cut to commercial.
yo yo yo let me speak on this. ollala! Aribah larasa! now more impotantly than that. nwo talkin about it for life but somo looko sana talkin about it for ever. (ding ding ding) . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . (wolfpack music)
I thought it'd be appropriate that someone did a small tribute to Brady Boone. When I started watching wrestling in the mid eighties, I actually saw quite a lot of him. Sure, Boone was someone that had to do the job but he was a decent performer.Brady Boone was the nephew (I believe) of Billy Jack Haynes. Every WWF broadcaster kept mentioning this, but WWF never got round to doing anything with this. Boone was a solid technician, with more than adequate aerial skills. I'd compare him a bit to Lenny Lane or one of the Armstrongs. Boone could sell a move, like I think you pointed out a few weeks ago. I remember Boone whipping Savage into the ropes, Savage reversing it and giving Boone a clothesline. Boone did a 270 degree turn, ending up face down on the mat. Don't think Lex Luger can do that.
One of the reasons why Boone was underrated, was that he never had a gimmick. WWF heel jobbers were at that time allowed a small gimmick. Steve Lombardi got his Brooklyn Brawler part. Barry Horowitz could use his pat-on-the-back. Face jobbers were ... faces. Even though some of these face jobbers had gimmicks in the past (like Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair aka The Killer Bees), these disappeared once they were demoted to the ranks of jobbers.
I'll end this with my own trivia question, one I cannot answer but would like to know the answer to: Brady Boone used to wrestle tag team with a bulky wrestler with curly hair. He must have been around 40 and always wore a brace around his arm (because of an old injury). Who was this wrestler?
Brady Boone, thanks for doing the job so well, rest in peace.
I've got nothing more to add to this. Sadly, I never knew much about the guy, or about his partner. If anybody out there can answer Rik Geerts's question, please e-mail him.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing this with us and may Brady Boone get the rest and respect he deserves.