Scott’s Blog of Doom

So a nice treat today, as RD Reynolds sent me a copy of his new book, and I blew through it in a few hours and had fun doing so.  Gotta say, I kind of wish I had thought of the idea myself, although I had toyed with doing a series of shorter “Top X” books for smaller paperback releases.  Anyway, it’s a fun and breezy read, although to be perfectly fair and honest about it there was a lot of repetition of stuff you’ve probably already heard before and there’s a bunch of the book that just felt like filler.  Really, there’s enough stupid stuff in wrestling that happened for real without the need to make up lists of stuff as jokes.  But hey, it was funny and entertaining and I could dance to it, so I heartily recommend checking it out.  Link below.

http://www.amazon.com/WrestleCrap-Book-Lists/dp/1550227629/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199158631&sr=1-1

Well, I don’t have a catchy name for them, so sue me.

Anyway, Matthew Michaels of Insidepulse was bugging me to vote in the real 2007 year-end awards for IP, but given that I barely watched anything new BEFORE Benoit died and then stopped watching the current product entirely after that tragedy, I would have nothing to add to that kind of discussion.  What I DID watch this year was WWE 24/7, which presents an infinitely more entertaining product anyway, so given the volume of stuff I saw on there from January 2007 until now, here’s the only year-end awards you really need.  Now remember, these are based on stuff that I watched on that channel ONLY.  So if Ric Flair was doing ****1/2 matches on house shows every night in 1985 (which he likely was), they don’t count because all I saw was the World Championship Wrestling broadcasts from that time, where he barely wrestled at all.

On with the show!

Best Wrestler:  Bret Hart.  From his early days in the Hart Foundation to the epic feud with Steve Austin, there was just nothing bad with Bret on 24/7 in 2007, which is probably because he only turned it “on” during the big shows and that’s what they air.  Close second to Ricky Steamboat for getting some great house show matches out of odd people and also being involved later on in the Flair series.

Best Tag team:  The Midnight Express.  Sure, they mainly did squashes in the stuff I saw, but there’s just an AURA about them that’s awesome to see, even in their early days.  Plus there were additional matches with the Fantastics from Bash 88 in the Lane version and from WCCW in the Condrey version, and they were both great. 

Best Heel:  Tully Blanchard, daddy.  Just watch a year of World Championship Wrestling and you’ll understand why all he needed was five minutes of promo time every week to make people HATE him.  I respect him as a worker and interview so much more having seen the buildup to Starrcade 85 now. 

Best Babyface:  Hulk Hogan.  Is there really any question?  Every appearance on a 24/7 show outside of WCW features him selling out a giant arena and getting mobbed by the fans. 

Best Worker:  Ricky Steamboat.  Nuff said.

Best Match:  I’m torn here.  If we’re looking for something that was a great match that they happened to show, then it’s clearly Flair v. Steamboat in some form.  If it’s something rare that I hadn’t seen in a while and didn’t realize how great it was, then it’s Owen v. Bulldog in the European title finals on RAW.  Either way, there’s so much great stuff to choose from.

Best Feud:  Again, so much to choose from.  Bret Hart v. Steve Austin seems a clear choice, but they’re barely into the Hart Foundation formation at this point, so I’m going to go with Tully Blanchard v. Magnum TA, because it carried the promotion for most of the summer and into the fall as well.  Just such great stuff with real hatred.

More later!

Hey, let’s talk a little Guitar Hero because pretty much everyone got it for Christmas and that’s all the topic of conversation at work right now too anyway.  I was lucky enough to get the GH2 bundle plus the GH3 game, so I’ve been playing through both of them on easy and slowly working my way up to medium because I’m still a guitar wuss at this point, but holy cow is it a fun and addicting experience.  I’d have to say that although I enjoy the song list on 3 more from a music standpoint because it’s AWESOME to play stuff like “Cult of Personality” and “Cliffs of Dover”, there’s some really bad choices from a technical standpoint.  I mean, I love Rage as much as the next 30-something Gen-Xer, but “Bulls on Parade” is basically just “Dun Dun DUN-DUN Dun Dun DUN-DUN” over and over for five minutes with a Morello solo in the middle, not exactly the kind of thing that lends itself to technical mastery.  Even though 2 has a lot more soundalike tracks, there’s something more satisfying about beating a complicated song rather than putting “Talk Dirty To Me” on there because Bret Michaels is doing the motion capture.  Plus the battle system in 3 just feels tacked on and silly, and really lacks any true strategy other than “collect powerups, throw them at your opponent”.  Either way, I love both games and I love the whole attitude behind them, as it pays homage to rock stardom while thumbing a nose at it.  The thing that REALLY bugged me about 3, however, was that unlike 2 it forces you to do hammer-ons and pull-offs on the later levels, even on easy, whereas 2 doesn’t even give you the ability to do them unless you’re on a higher difficulty level.  I think that’s an unfair change to the gameplay.  I also don’t like that they unlocked the encore system on easy in 3, either, because it gives me (the lazy player) less incentive to move up in ability like I have in 2. 

Question:  Is it worth it to track down the first GH?  I’ve heard that Rocks the 80s is a fun addition to the series, but I never really hard anything about the first game. 

Back into the swing of things, post-Christmas vacation, with everyone’s favorite internet writer (well, at least mine), Derek Burgan!

http://www.thewrestlingfan.com/gimmicktable16.html
Derek Burgan
www.GumGod.com

The SmarK 24/7 Rant for MSG Show - December 26 1987

- Let us journey back to the days of yesteryear, 20 years ago today in fact. This is cutting into my valuable Guitar Hero playing time, so I hope you appreciate it.

(more…)

Well, the season is upon us, and what with all the craziness at work and the impending holiday I probably won’t get another chance to update the blog before the big night, so I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas while I had the chance.  Hopefully Santa brings you everything you asked for and all that, and I’ll see y’all in a few days. 

Here’s a Coliseum video rant from reader Megane 6.7…

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhm9rvtp_3dh9kzqf6

The SmarK 24/7 Rant for WCW Starrcade 98

- Has it really been 9 years since this atrocity? Oddly enough, I haven’t watched it since the original rant, so needless to say this one’s overdue for a redo. And that’s what WWE 24/7 is for!

- Live from Washington, DC.

- Your hosts are Tony, Brain and the Iron Professor. Here’s a moment that creeped me the hell out — in talking about the Horsemen being banned from the building tonight, Tony names Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko and then says Chris Benoit and pauses before going “…yes…” as though fans at home would be shocked by hearing that name in 1998. WEIRD. At least he’s not on this show.

(more…)

You know with all this talk of sharing gifts with Scott’s blog community, I was starting to feel a little left out.

So enjoy my presents too!

The Princess’ Holiday Gifts Rant

http://www.youtube.com/PissedOffDemento

Guess he’s not doing a children’s show after all.  Damn you, Wikipedia!  Anyway, he’s not gonna be happy when 24/7 airs the first episode of RAW next month.  That being said, pissed off shut-in who reads internet comments about himself and snaps is a gimmick that hasn’t been done before.  I didn’t say it was a GOOD gimmick, but it’s new.  Plus he’s more coherent than Warrior and Sheik combined!