Scott Keith

Coliseum Video

Scott,

Obviously , WWF Coliseum Videos did really well rental wise in the 80s, but at the asking price of usually 59.95, especially the early releases, how did the videos do as far as actual sales as opposed to rentals?

Also, it seemed after the first few volumes of releases, the production started to get lazy, as alot of the Best Of WWF tapes and others would just rehash segments and matches released on previous videos in the series. Did they just figure anything with the WWF sticker would rent or sale at that point?
You must be a young 'un.  Back in the 80s, there was no retail market for home video.  You couldn't just walk into a Wal-Mart and pick up a movie to own, you had to know exactly where to go.  Usually if you're the type of person to purchase home releases at that time, you're buying laserdiscs.  I was as big as of an AV nerd as any teenager at that time, and the first VHS tape I can even remember popping up for sale new, at a reasonable price, was Batman in 1989.  All the Coliseum Videos I had in my collection were purchased years after the fact once the video stores put them up for sale in the used bins. 

Which is to say that sales figures for Coliseum Videos outside of the rental market were nonexistent.  It just wasn't something that was done.

Sleazy E


Damn, Bischoff just said on his podcast that Sting was boozed/under the influence before the Starrcade 97 match with Hogan. What the hell. Believable?


I KNOW you're not new here.  You've seriously never heard that before?  

Lightning Round – Door A or B?


Hey Scott,

 

Here's ten quick "Don't over think them!" A / B choices :


Of all my faults, overthinking has never been one of them.   

1.      
Road Warriors or Demolition?

Demos like a mofo. 

2.      
Chris Jericho or Rick Steamboat?

Did Jericho have multiple match of the year candidates in 1989?  Maybe he should have.  Steamboat. 

3.      
AWA or World Class?

I grew up on the AWA and only read about World Class in PWI for the most part.  

4.      
(as bookers) Chris Kreski or Paul Heyman?

Heyman.  Kreski was never a "booker".  

5.      
Ventura / Monsoon or Heenan / Monsoon?

Ventura.  Heenan as a commentator was overrated, I'll always maintain.  

6.      
Jim Ross or Gordon Solie?

Ross.  Solie's glory days were way before my time.  

7.      
Lex Luger or Sting?

Have you READ this blog before?  Luger.  

8.      
Scott Hall or Curt Hennig?

Hennig's in my top 10 favorite wrestlers ever list.  

9.      
Jim Cornette's tennis racket or Jimmy Hart's megaphone?

Tennis racket.  Versatile and safe.  

10.  
WMX : Hart / Hart or Michaels / Razor?

I watch the ladder match more.  

 

Cheers,


Night Court.  

 

Stan Hansen the Jerk

Hey Scott,
 
How is it that Stan Hansen is never given more shit for his attitude?
 
Here’s a guy who:
 
A) Refused to lose to basically everyone
 
B) Was an insane bully
 
C) Routinely took liberties with his opponents
 
D) Was stiff to the point of non-cooperation in the ring and would routinely screw up his finishing move, blowing it off by saying “I got bad eyesight”
 
E) Refused to lose the AWA title and essentially put the final nail in that title’s coffin (I know it was all but worthless at that point but still. JR blows that whole thing off by saying, “Well, Japan ofered him more money.” Jeez, if a WWE guy tried that, there’d be a Network Special about he might’ve been a Nazi)
 
F) TOOK OUT VADER’S EYE!
 
That’s basically everything the IWC complains about with Hogan, Cena, JBL, Holly, etc to an ever HIGHER degree and people just go, “Oh that Stan,” like he’s the cooky old Uncle or something.
 
Say what you want about Kevin Nash. I’ve never seen him throw a tantrum in the ring or try to mutilate his opponent 
 
Thoughts?
Standrew money and he was fucking awesome, so I don’t see the issue.  ᐧ

Stan drew money and he was awesome.  Get over it.

Current Projected Mania 35 Card

I was listening to the Barnburners podcast from the guys who run Ringsidenews.com and according to them and if true, the card is gonna look something like this…

Daniel Bryan vs Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship

Triple H vs Batista (dependable on how fast Triple H can recover from the torn pec)

AJ Styles vs Randy Orton

Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship

Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey for the Raw Women's Championship

Drew McIntyre vs Kurt Angle or Braun Strowman

Rey Mysterio vs Shinsuke Nakamura/Andrade Almas/Samoa Joe (one of these 3 will be champion come Mania time) for the US Title

Andre The Giant Battle Royal

Women's Battle Royal

Not bad at all….

I don't wanna impugn the fine name of ringsidenews.com because apparently they attack anyone on social media who calls them out for their bullshit "stories", but I'm gonna leave this link here from Reddit….


Also, no fucking way Shawn Michaels main events Wrestlemania.  Like, zero.  

Last PPV You Bought


Hey Scott. Back in the PPV era for WWE, what was the last
event that you felt you had to put your hard earned money down to see? I’m
curious to see when was the last time WWE promoted a show well enough for you to
purchase it.

Money in the Bank 2011 and then Night of Champions 2011.  Summer of Punk, baby.  Before that, if we’re not counting Wrestlemania or Royal Rumble, then it was the Backlash show with John Cena and Edge in the Last Man Standing match. 2009?

WM30


Hi Scott 


I've been watching WM 30 recently,  perhaps the biggest example of WWE snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. However,  what if the original card had gone ahead? Lets suppose Vince had been stubborn enough to press ahead with Orton- Batista as the main event and Bryan-Sheamus somewhere on the undercard.  Let's further assume, since its fantasy booking, that getting his win back over HHH is enough to persuade CM Punk to stick around a bit longer.  How do you see WM 30 going under these circumstances ( I'm assuming Lesnar still ends the streak and Cena still goes over Wyatt), both from a work rate perspective and in terms of how its recieved?
Cheers 


I think Orton-Batista would have been a complete disaster and ended the show on a real down note.  However, Punk and HHH probably would have put together a really good match somewhere in the midcard, so it might have balanced out to a certain degree.  But if 30 becomes remembered for the streak ending and then Orton boring the people to sleep in the main event, it's probably a forgotten thumbs down show.

Hogan/the nWo in 2002

  Was the nWo angle with Hogan, Hall, and Nash in the WWE in 2002 supposed to have lasted longer than it did if Hogan didn't get the type of crowd reaction that he did at W.M. 18 against the Rock, thus more or less forcing his babyface turn?  

Nope, they already knew Hogan was turning babyface sooner rather than later because they weren't complete idiots, so most of the turn was already in motion. 

Downward spiral

I feel WWE is on a quality downfall since 2014 (post-Shield, Bryan/Cesaro push, Lesnar monster push basically) with the occasional good short period here & there (brand split SDL in 2016). Right now RAW is at one of its lowest points ever (I mean was 1995/96, 2002/03 or 2009 really worse?), SDL is pure mediocrity, only the small third and fourth brands put on a consistently strong product, since Vince neglects them or doesn't work on them at all. How long can this go? So many guys and gals are heatless, worthless, look like jokes, it's ridiculous

And yet they're still making billions.  So it'll probably go on for a while.

Announcers



Can we get the announcers back in the press boxes at these big ass stadiums? The early manias, big event, royal rumbles all had Gorilla & other commentators in the press boxes. Get 'em away from ringside. 

You bet.  I’ll ask Vince next time I see him. Anything else, let me know and I’ll make a list.  

Another 90s Wrestling Question Because Modern Wrestling Is Depressing To Talk About


(Well, most find it depressing…)

When Hall and Nash made it clear to WCW that they were signing, when did Bischoff start booking plans for the NWO? Was it right when he found out they were both jumping? 


As I understand it, yes.  Bischoff's done tons of shoot interviews where he clarifies his thought process on the whole deal so I'm sure there's a more precise answer out there, but it was pretty much as soon he had them coming in.

Loose Morals and Looser Ropes

I was down a youtube rabbit-hole last night and couldn’t help but notice – especially when Hogan beat the Sheik for the title –  how loose the ropes were.  Likewise, if you watch the old Rocky movies, the ropes there were also extremely
loose.

 

Around when were they tightened up?  And which came first, the chicken or the egg?  Was it to aid aerial maneuvers or did they follow as wrestlers took advantage of the new norm? 


I'd be lying if I said I ever noticed it before, but ring construction tended to vary from arena to arena anyway so I don't think it would have some kind of global loose rope conspiracy or anything.  

Pushing the Edge

Hey Scott!!

Whilst listening to a podcast recently I thought up a question I thought might be amusing blog fodder, but then forgot about it. (Un?)Luckily, I remembered it again!

Was Edge the last star to receive a true, old school main event push? Not ‘a few surprise main events and then back down you go’, mind you. I’m talking about someone who was around a few years, worked his way up the card to a certain point, and then finally broke through as a true main eventer when the right angle under the right circumstances occurred. If the Lita-Matt-Edge triangle does not occur, it’s not a safe bet necessarily that Edge gets to the main event. Today you are given your role out of the gate and only step outside of it, temporarily, or at least it seems so to me. Admittedly I only follow the WWE via your blog, watching only when something sounds REALLY awesome, so perhaps I am missing a few obvious candidates.

One of the key reads as to the WWE’s true intentions, in my view, is in presentation. If a guy gets to wrestle, let’s say, Cena after a huge storyline in a big main event, but their outfit, promotion and character are basically the same, they aren’t being elevated. It’s a novelty almost, a palette cleanser.

Am I off? Have Edges galore simply slipped under my radar?

Thanks dude.


I think CM Punk also counts, and his happened after Edge.  He was around "ECW" for a few years, then moved into the midcard of the main roster, and then had the pipe bomb promo to break through as a main event guy and stay there.  

Ed Ferrara



Do you know what happened to former  WWF and WCW writer Ed Ferrara?  I remember him staying on in WCW until McMahon bought the company in 2001, but did he ever work in the industry again?   
He was with TNA as a color commentator and did some of the other fly-by-night companies in that role, but then basically disavowed all connection with Vince Russo and he's teaching at Full Sail now.  The University, not NXT, thankfully.

Becky Lynch


Am I the only one getting tired of her Twitter shoot gimmick? I love Becky to death but I feel like it's been too much. It was hilarious and entertaining at first, now it's overkill. Is it just me?

I’ve been told that Becky is the best and the next Steve Austin.  You’re obviously watching wrong.  

Endgame!!!!


So. We aren't going to discuss the Avengers trailer at anytime this weekend? Because I haven't slept since I've seen it


I hadn’t even seen it yet!  Last thing I saw was Fantastic Beasts: The Revenge of Greystache last week and they didn’t have the trailer yet.  
I feel like this will be a popular movie.  Glad to see Hawkeye and Antman back, because it felt like the cast list was pretty thin last time.  

Piper going over



I get Roddy Piper never jobbing in the early-mid 80s. But a decade later why was he so untouchable. In 96-98 long past his expiration date as a top wrestling talent he was booked to go over Hogan, Flair, and Savage on PPVs, never take clean losses and essentially be a top level face. Why?

As a part 2, since hogan/Piper rematched at SuperBrawl 97, why didn’t he just get a 2-month title reign before jobbing it back to Hogan?

Piper was always old school and super protective of his losses.  Granted by the time he got to WCW he probably shouldn’t have been, but if they’re not gonna ask him, he’s not gonna offer.  
As for why they didn’t change the title, good question.  Maybe they were thinking the Sting payoff was coming a LOT sooner than it did and didn’t want to waste the title change on Piper?

Steve Austin US Title run with Harley Race


Steve Austin has said before he and Flyin Brian were put together as a tag team (in late '92-early'93), he was supposed to get a run with the US Title with Harley Race as his manager.


However during this time, Rick Rude was the US Champion, so is Austin mistaken, or was he supposed to get the US title that Dustin got once Rude got hurt?  Was Rude supposed to win the WCW Title from Ron Simmons and vacate the US Title before the injury?

Rude definitely wasn't winning the big belt, but it's not like it would have been hard to switch the US title to Austin.  You could have used any number of transitional guys.  

Nash ending Goldberg’s streak


How long was the plan in place for Kevin Nash to end Goldberg's undefeated streak while beating him for the WCW Championship at Starrcade 1998?  Was there even really a plan at that point?   

I'm sure Nash was planning on it for a LONG time.  And to be fair, they did a lot of preparation for him, like ending Wrath's own streak and stuff like that.  So at least a few months in advance.  

The NEW Daniel Bryan


I know you don't follow the regular TV product, but I'll assume you've at least heard about the direction for Daniel Bryan's character change.


Do you think Daniel Bryan defies the odds & becomes the first person to be over with the "New [Insert Name Here]" gimmick?

Well, he's not LITERALLY a new person.  This isn't like the New Blackjacks or New Midnight Express.  

Dynamite Kid interview


Hey Scott,

  The unedited DK interview from the Matter Of Pride DVD has just been uploaded. It's 3 hours long, but maybe 5 minutes were used in the final documentary. He's very matter of fact, and stone faced in his mostly one word answers. It's very interesting, since there is not a lot of shoots with him out there.

Commentary Questions


Hey Scott,


Need to get your opinion because it is being debated in the comments. Who is the better commentator Michael Cole or Tony Shiavone? I think despite his career worst work in WCW being really bad, Tony is way better than Cole. I think Tony did a lot to get the nWo over in the early days of the angle. Really selling that he personally felt like he was in danger, and his loyalty to WCW rang true. Whereas I don't think Cole has ever enhanced a storyline.

Now, just for fun; who is better: Mauro or Kevin Kelly?

I feel like all the people hating on Tony weren’t around watching him for years and years as the voice of Crockett.  Just because he got lazy and checked out at the end of WCW’s existence doesn’t mean he wasn’t really good for years leading up to it.  He blows Cole away on every level.