What the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – January 14, 1995

–Gordon Solie, Larry Zbyszko, and Dusty Rhodes are today’s broadcasters and they are still taped from Dalton, Georgia.

Read moreWhat the World Was Watching: WCW Pro – January 14, 1995

JR Confirms That “X-Pac Heat” Is Real?

Hi Scott,
Curious about your feelings on "X-Pac Heat", specifically whether or not it actually exists. Personally, I think that it's a real thing, but there are those that feel that it is impossible to differentiate between a crowd booing a heel because they're *good* at playing a villain, and a crowd booing a heel because they're *bad* at playing a villain (or, alternatively, that any "type" of booing is what a heel should be looking for). And I'm not talking about faces that get booed, it's obvious that Roman Reigns has "X-Pac Heat", I'm talking about heels.
Take Elias or "Undisputed Era" for example; those guys get big, positive ovations upon entering the arena, but then get booed once they start wrestling or cutting a promo. Or the original recipe "nWo", who were cheered during entrances, but booed once they started to wrestle/talk. To me, a good heel isn't necessarily someone that always gets booed, just one that is entertaining and engages the audience; IMO, you can cheer the performer for doing a good job, and then "play along" by booing them once they start wrestling/talking. According to some, Elias and "Undisputed" are bad at being heels, since they get cheered.
Going further, isn't the most important factor for any wrestler that they be entertaining? Is anyone going to say that Elias, "Undisputed", "nWo", NXT-era Sasha Banks, 2005 Kurt Angle, 2000 Triple H, 2010 Batista, 2003 Rock, or any other number of cool/funny/badass heels were bad at being heels? Why can't we find bad guys in wrestling fun and entertaining? That's not the case in other media, where villains such as Darth Vader, Walter White, and Hannibal Lecter are loved by the audience, so why does wrestling have to stick to the old formula of "bad guys shouldn't get cheered"? Why would it matter if a heel gets cheered, as long as the audience understands that the character isn't meant to be a good person (and move tickets/merchandise)?
Getting back to my original point, JR recently commented on Carmella having "Go-Away Heat":
http://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone/news/977709-wwe-hall-of-famer-accuses-carmella-of-going-into-business-for-herself#/slide/1
While I don't completely agree with JR's assessment of Carmella in this particular case, as I think that she's actually somewhat underrated in the ring and always tries her best, I do agree that sacrificing both Charlotte and Asuka to her is ridiculous, and that she may have some "X-Pac Heat" because of being overpushed (and not because of anything that she herself is doing). My go-to example over the last few years is Randy Orton repeatedly beating Daniel Bryan for the title in 2013/2014; maybe this is just my opinion, but people weren't booing the results because Orton is a good heel, it's because Vince kept pushing Blandy Boreton over the guy that fans actually wanted to see. Orton made his entrance at "WM30" to crickets and tumbleweeds.
Anyway, does this end the argument about whether "X-Pac/BossMan/Go-Away Heat" actually exists? And is the idea that "faces get cheered, heels get booed" out-dated?

​Kind of, but I still have no earthly idea what the endgame with Carmella is supposed to be.  She's clearly terrible and out of her league, but Vince seems to think that the Ellsworth character is funny, so she goes over everyone leading to…something?  I mean, in general, as long as you get SOME reaction, that's a good thing these days, I guess.  ​

Lloyd’s of London


Can you give a readers digest version  of how these policies worked?  I know Rude and Henning both had them. 

Being that Henning came back and Rude was about to come back.  Were they beating the system at the time?

​Totes.  In fact, guys like Hennig and Animal claiming that they were retired and then miraculously returning was basically the reason why Lloyds stopped giving out insurance policies to wrestlers. Basically these guys were taking out huge policies and then almost immediately claiming a career-ending injury, which resulted in collecting an amount of money that was equal to their yearly salary without working.  But then wrestlers started thinking "Hey, I can collect all this money AND probably get a payday from Vince as well!"  And then obviously someone figured out that stooging the insurance cheats out could pay off for THEM​ and the whole system fell apart.  

Saturday Day Thread

Good Morning Blog of Doom! Here’s a day thread since I don’t see one posted, and I’m watching G1 from this morning and I want a place to talk about it. Here some news:

  • WWE added four more competitors to the Mae Young Classic.
  • Flip Gordon still isn’t a part of All In.
  • Stephanie McMahon is making a big announcement on Raw on Monday. Also on Monday, Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley fight for the next shot at Brock Lesnar.

Chat away, friends!

Friday Night Party Thread: July 20, 2018

One small step for a man, one giant leap for the Blog of Doom.  It’s weekend time.  Whether you’re watching CMLL or looking for a retro show to watch, enjoy the night.

RIP Brickhouse Brown, who succumbed to cancer at age 57.  Brown was one of the top wrestlers in the Memphis and Alabama territories in the 80s and had a pretty successful feud with Maxx Payne over the Alabama title.  He also was a World Class Texas champion and three-time USWA Tag Team Champion.

Meanwhile, the Lakers sign Michael Beasley in their continuing effort to drive LeBron James insane by February.

Talk amongst yourselves and enjoy the weekend.

Norrissey’s G1 Climax 28 Review Night Five

G1 Climax 28 Review Night Five

20 July 2018

Live from Korakuen Hall, In the Shadows of TGI Fridays, Tokyo

You can read my preview of the entire tournament here.

You can read my Night One review here.

You can read my Night Two review here.

You can read my Night Three review here.

You can read my Night Four review here.

Night Five picks up right where Night Four leaves off, as we remain in the hallowed Korakuen Hall for another evening.  Here, 1,799 polite Japanese fans, along with one wanker from the UK who’s wearing an Iceland shirt and is probably four Strong Zeros in, get to take in the A Block main events of Okada vs. Page and Tanahashi vs. Fale.

Your commentators for the event are Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero.

Read moreNorrissey’s G1 Climax 28 Review Night Five

Sloppy Joe


Rumor has it that Samoa Joe will be challenging AJ Styles for the WWE Title at Summerslam.  Joe is 0-2 on PPV this year, and has only won 4 televised matches all year – 3 of them against Rhyno, Sin Cara, and Tye Dillinger.  Even making a Roman Reigns v. Bobby Lashley No. 1 contender match after Reigns just lost to him might be more logical.

Given how the booking keeps getting worse and the profits keep going up, should we just ignore that this makes ZERO sense and just be happy that it should be a good match?

​Really, that's the only way to deal with anything in the promotion right now.  ​

Jeff Jarrett on ‘Because WCW’

Hi Scott,
We recently had 'The Chosen One' himself on our WCW podcast. Quite a few interesting topics discussed from his time on the sinking ship:
– Why working with Mongo wasn't as difficult as it probably seemed
– Whether he was going to turn on the Horsemen the same way Curt Hennig eventually did
– An insight into corporate vs creative behind the scenes
– Why smashing midgets with guitars was as much fun as it looked
– How the improved last few months of the company helped sculpt the TNA that gave us AJ, Samoa Joe and more
– And of course, Bash at the bleedin' Beach 2000
Episode is free for all, and here's the link:
https://becausewcw.podbean.com/e/017-jeff-jarrett-special-w-exclusive-interview/

​Thanks for sharing!​