Scott's Blog of Doom

I sense this one might open a can of worms.

Have you ever put together a list of 'must-have' wrestling dvd's, classic shows that every fan should check out at least once?  It would help with my buying decisions. 
I am interested in actual shows, not so much documentaries or compilations.

 

Well the problem here, of course, is that not everything awesome has been released on DVD to this point, and in fact there are some glaring absences even from the period when WWE started releasing everything they could on DVD. 

Safest bet:  The Wrestlemania Anthology.  A wussy choice, but you get some great stuff and the truly great stuff is generally saved for here anyway 

Stuff that should be released but isn't:

- Showdown at Shea, with Cole & Foley on commentary.  They should seriously archive this in DVD format and release it, because with the comedy commentary it was one of the best shows I've ever seen on WWE 24/7 and I'd buy it in a heartbeat.  Without commentary, it's pretty worthless, though.

- Great American Bash '89.  You can still track down the tape from video stores, I think, but I'm hoping that someday 24/7 shows the full PPV version so I can get a proper copy of it.  This is the definitive NWA show from 1989 and quite probably the best PPV ever put out, featuring ***1/2 - ****1/2 matches up and down the card and some of the most emotional and brutal battles waged in wrestling.  Plus Ricky Steamboat actually carries Lex Luger to a better match than Ric Flair did, I shit you not.  A miracle show in every sense, headlined by Ric Flair v. Terry Funk in a match where the audience completely bought that Funk was so crazy he just might break Flair's neck for fun. 

- No Way Out 2001.  I bang the drum for this one a lot but I'm guessing that we've never getting the full show on DVD for Benoit-related reasons.  Anyway, you can piece together a lot of it on other releases (with Rock-Angle and HHH-Austin as the one-two punch of near-***** matches that headlined) but the shockingly great Stephanie v. Trish match is unlikely to hit DVD any time soon so it'll always be lacking. 

The other problem is that WCW died before they could embrace the DVD era, so most of their major shows are lost to history now.  So what we're left with is "Best WWE shows currently available", I guess.  Unfortunately my enthusiasm for going back and watching a good chunk of the WWE's product from 2000-2007 has been destroyed by Benoit, as I still can't go back and watch his stuff, and I fear that might be permanent since it's been more than a year and there's no signs imminent of me suddenly wanting to watch him again. 

Stuff that's already out on DVD: 

- Wrestlemania X-7.  A no-brainer, as Rock-Austin still feels fresh, TLC is violent fun, and Angle-Benoit rocks the mat.  Something for everyone, including those who love goofy gimmick matches. 

- Royal Rumble 2000, while not a transcendent show, is at least a good representative of the high quality product they were putting out in 2000 and features a ***** main event brawl between HHH and Cactus Jack and the debut of Tazz.  A very fun show.

- Vengeance 2003.  A tragically underrated and forgotten B-show, featuring the best Big Show match ever as goes against Brock and Angle in a triple threat match for the belt, plus Rey & Kidman steal the show against Haas & Benjamin in a tag match that almost needed air traffic controllers.   

- SMW Night of the Legends.  Probably hard to find, but if you're into the old school mentality of Jim Cornette and want to see Chris Jericho stain the ring red with his blood while wrestling with a broken arm, this is the show for you.  Not a great show in a traditional sense of the word, but Meltzer and Cornette on the alternate commentary track is fascinating stuff and it's hard work all around.

- ROH:  Joe v. Kobashi.  I find most of their shows pretty interchangeable to tell the truth, but this not only had a good undercard, but featured what might be one of the greatest matches I've ever seen in the main event.  When Kobashi is pounding on Joe's chest with an endless stream of chops for minutes on end, it goes beyond suspension of disbelief and into a visceral experience you rarely get in the fake world of wrestling these days.

- ECW Barely Legal.  Doubt you can even find the Pioneer release anywhere but Ebay (if even then), but even with the stripped-out music it's still the best PPV introduction to the company for those curious as to why there was such a fuss about them for so long.  I don't think the show holds up at all, to be honest, but thanks to my tape trading days I've seen it upwards of 100 times, so if you've never seen it before it's certainly worth a look. 

Hey Scott--

I know you're probably sick of these kinds of emails, but one of the reasons we read your blog is to get your thoughts on crap like this.

What are some wrestling rivalries you always wanted to see, but never materialized? My mind always goes back to what could have been with Hulk Hogan and Rick Rude circa 1989. Are there any "mark out matches" you never got to see due to politics, real-life animosity, ect.?

 

Rude v. Hogan did happen a few times on the house show circuit and it wasn't anything special.  It's not a really good dynamic anyway -- Hogan's schtick works best against heels who are bigger than him so that he can make the big comeback.  Rude's deal was never the bullying heel, it was the smarmy jerk who you wanted to see get killed. 

I really, really, really should do the Book of Lists for y'all.  Maybe self-publish or something.

Anyway, here's a few off the top of my head...

- Sting v. Ultimate Warrior.  They just never crossed paths, which is a shame because it had all the backstory, star power, and facepaint you would have needed to headline a Wrestlemania. 

- Rick Rude v. Randy Savage.  They used to tear the house down in Memphis (or so I've heard second hand) and it would have been a perfect personality clash in the WWF, but Rude wasn't at the level where he could be taken seriously as a World title challenger in 1988, and by 1992 he was gone. 

- Steve Austin v. Hulk Hogan, 2002.  This one should have happened and was on the fast track but got completely derailed by Hogan's face turn and a truckload of politics.  But man, if you thought the heat for Rock v. Hogan was off the charts, just imagine Hogan hulking up after the stunner.  This one had backstory up the wazoo (they could have played the Steve-a-mania video from ECW!) and the promos would have been legendary.  Oh well.

-

Only two questions this time.  Must be a slow week, but that's OK, because I can catch up easier.  And since blockquotes apparently don't work on Insidepulse, I can try new and fun formatting of the letters today. 

First actual question!  At least I think there's a question in it.  And it feels purple to me for some reason. 

Do you really think this million dollar contest is really going to bring back old fans? I personally doubt it, and I dont really want WWE fans to come back just for greed. They will leave as soon as the contest is over, and then it will be back to low numbers.

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Thanks to everyone who's offered their help with designing Dungeonofdeath.com -- I'm still 100% sure what I want the site to look like, but I'll get back to y'all when I do.  If anyone sees any sites they think might look good as a template, let me know so I can stea...investigate them. 

On with the mail!

Question #1!

 

Hey Scott,
Love the blog. I have a couple of questions for you.
Firstly, do you know what happened to your old buddy Rick Scaia and his onlineonslaught website?
Secondly a couple of weeks ago you were asked what your though the best year to be a professional wrestling fan was. My question is what do you think the worst years have been? I'd say 2002 and 2007 but you have followed the buisness for longer then I have and I'd be interested in your opinion.

No clue what happened to Rick and OO.com.  The domain expired a couple of months ago and he kind of disappeared. 

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Hey, Scott, don't know if you remember me.  Michaelangelo, the semi-retired editor of Popcorn Junkies.  Got a question for you. Being from Dallas, I grew up on WCCW, and of course we all remember the XMas match between Kerry Von Erich and Ric Flair.  Terry Gordy slamming the cage door on Kerry's head launched the Von Erich/Freebird feud, one of the greatest feuds in wrestling history.  It got me to thinking about pivotal moments in wrestling, moments that changed the course of the industry, like Hall and Nash showing up in WCW or the Bret/SCSA double turn.  What would be your list of the 10 most pivotal moments in wrestling?  Say, from 1980 on.  Would the cage door make your list?

Well, let's wing it and see.  We'll make it simpler and limit this to storyline "moments" rather than actual industry moments like the first Wrestlemania or Nitro launching. 

1. Hulk Hogan wins WWF title from Iron Sheik, makes millions for company for years afterwards.
2. Bret Hart loses fake title to Shawn Michaels in french-speaking city, setting off improbable chain of events that destroys WCW and makes Vince into a billionaire.
3. Scott Hall shows up on Nitro making vague references to a takeover, creates multimillion dollar merchandise operation as a result.
4. Terry Gordy slams cage door on Kerry Von Erich, indirectly kills everyone in the family as a result.  And himself.  Years later, Michael Hayes calls someone a bad name and loses his job, having only been winged by the curse.
5. Sting wins WCW World title from Hulk Hogan, looks like a chump in the process, shattering his mystique and killing their one shot at a superhero character to compete with the WWF.