Heel Backlund applying the CFCW to his old manager as revenge for throwing in the towel vs. the Iron Sheik:

Of all of the very stupid things that got over during the Attitude Era, it's still surreal that HHH thought it was a brilliant idea to do a Michael Buffer imitation that culminated in "let's get ready to suck it." As a ****ing recurring weekly thing. And it always got a good crowd reaction.

It's as if people everywhere just forgot to not pop for that.

I for one can't wait for the sing-alongs to come back with live crowds

3/16/98 Nitro. Bulldog and Anvil vs. Wayne Bloom and Mike Enos. I have to say, having Enos and Bloom be two generic-looking wrestlers in tights with no apparent gimmicks still comes across as more personality than dressing them up as the ****ing Beverly Brothers.

Beverly Brothers continue to be one of the most puzzling gimmicks ever to me. It's a pretty short list of gimmicks that leave me wondering WTF the gimmick even was supposed to be.

The list is basically:
1. TradeOC
2. Beverly Brothers

I continue to think of Vince McMahon's interview (conducted by Kevin Kelly) on the 3/17/98 Raw as one of the most underrated segments of the Attitude Era.

It was clear that he had started into a heel turn, but this interview really feels like the point when he crosses the line and actually comes out of the evening as a full heel rather than as someone slow-burning toward a turn. It's also such a great promo that it was the first moment when I was left with a reaction of "holy ****, not only is he turning heel, but he might be an AMAZING heel."

56:50 on the 3/17/98 Raw on Peacock if anyone doesn't recall the segment and is interested.

I might take a look at that tonight. Appreciating the 1998 updates. Lol.

Except for the Beverly Brothers slander, think we could do without that! Long live Beau and Blake!

Yeah, I was going to give cliffs, but since it's not one of the overhyped AE segments I thought that some might like to watch it unspoiled. One might describe Vince's personality in it as...smugly contemptuous.

The Beverly Brothers did once get a Tag Team Title match at a SummerSlam, which can only lead a person to conclude that the titles were dying at that time. Sure enough, by the following SummerSlam there wasn't even a tag title match on the card.

Alright, I admit the last part is cherry-picking based on some weird-ass booking. The Headshrinkers were supposed to defend the belts at SummerSlam all the way up until the last minute, when Diesel and HBK suddenly took the belts off them at a house show right before the event even though Diesel had a singles match at SummerSlam. And it wasn't some way of writing the Shrinkers out of the show, because they still did the match they were scheduled for; it was just non-title. Weird ****.

In May 1991, the team went to the World Wrestling Federation and were transformed into Beau (Bloom) and Blake (Enos), "The Beverly Brothers". Their gimmick was that of two spoiled rich brats. They were originally managed by Coach (John Tolos), then by The Genius. The team was initially promoted as a force to be reckoned with and launched into feuds with the Legion of Doom, The Bushwhackers and The Natural Disasters, the latter of which revolved around the WWF World Tag Team Championship.

"They were initially promoted as a force to be reckoned with. They were programmed with the ****ing Bushwhackers." Seems like a strange description.

I guess I didn't realize that Coach got more of a run than that absolutely atrocious bit of business where he managed Mr. Perfect for a few months. A man standing ringside and loudly blowing on a whistle for cheap heat...someone was actually paid to come up with that idea.

I googled him. Just a caricature of an "athletics coach". How silly.

While I've been hard on the Beverly Brothers, allow me to state unequivocally: they were still FAR more interesting than DOA. Holy **** at what a completely worthless group DOA was. Not only were the Harris twins not fun to watch in this role, but I actually think they may have put together a whole wrestling career and never caused a single entertaining moment in any gimmick. I'd be hard-pressed to say that about many wrestlers who hung around for any length of time. At least Enos and Bloom were pretty good in the ring.

Seems like a combo of Barbarian and Warlord should have ruled for years

Look at these ****in guys

Yeah, Barbarian at least was great. Having Mr. Fuji be their partner in a handicap title match at WM V was a pretty stupid move, since it seems like it strongly broadcast that they wouldn't be winning the belts that way. I imagine the fact that they were having the IC Title and World Title change hands on that show probably killed much consideration of having the Tag Team Titles change hands also.

But at least the Powers of Pain got a WrestleMania title shot. I was always surprised that the Twin Towers never even got a PPV title shot. They start the year going toe-to-toe with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, and by the end of the year they're en route to a breakup.

Jim Ross: "TAKA won the light heavyweight title on December 7th...ironically enough."

When I was in high school, I was a big fan of the DX crotch chop. The regular one. When they would cross their arms to form an X to do the crotch chop with, I was out. I thought that was stupid, and that they were getting too cute with it. Over two decades later, I can confirm that I was correct.

Of course, not all dumb crotch chops are created equal. The X crotch chop was always garbage, but specifically, Mike Tyson doing that was just next-level stupid.

Lmao, I was the same way. It seems like the original chop was not long for this world. And the X prevailed.


Reminds me, in 8th grade (Xbox time) some stupid kid insisted that the Rock was coming out with his own video game system called the Xpac. That seems like that should warrant a physical attack, among 14 year olds.

Marty Jannetty out to (I assume) job to Chris Jericho on Nitro.

Now all I can see when I see Jannetty is him going on Facebook a couple of years ago and casually confessing to murder. And implying that it was the first of multiple murders.

https://www.sbnation.com/wrestling/2...shawn-michaels

Oh ****, this was the one where Jericho busted out the list of 1,004 holds after the match. Such gold.

…number 381, ARM DRAG!

I'm probably only one or two episodes away from that glorious Chris Jericho vs. Bore-us Malenko jobber squash.

LKJ, you inspired me to watch Nitro as well. Just finishing the Memorial Day episode where Scott Hall first shows up.

I forgot the slick “blood runs cold” tease promos. Absolutely loved Glacier as a kid. WCW midcard stuff was always my favorite.

Ah, you're only one episode away from "look at the adjective."

Unfortunately, in 1998, Nitro went to a full-time three-hour show. Even during a time when they had plenty of good to showcase, a weekly three-hour show isn't ever good for anyone. And at the same time, they added two-hour Thunders on Thursday. Seems like they were advancing the stories on Thunder a fair bit too, but those episodes aren't up on Peacock yet and I don't think I'd be able to bring myself to tune in for them anyway. Five hours of TV per week, plus monthly PPVs, is just death waiting to happen.

That may be the first time these words were spoken in this order in the history of mankind.