I didn't like WCW while it was active. They were the Street Fighter to WWF's Mortal Kombat.

I was thoroughly intrigued by the early days of nWo though.

Was that during his "Larry Land" era in the AWA? Think that may have been my first exposure to him too. Some of those were really good. Which is why his Hall of Fame speech fumble was so surprising.

I am glad that Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat both existed.

It was just a promo on a weekly World Championship Wrestling episode in early '88, setting up a match/feud with Barry Windham. I watched in increasing awe, going, "Damn, Larry could go! He hasn't even mentioned the New World ODOR yet."

This is a rather apt comparison. Unwittingly, I think my parents followed this line in restricting my media consumption habits. Both WCW and Street Fighter were allowed in my house, but WWF and Mortal Kombat were BANNED.

I don't remember Larry in the NWA in the 80s at all. AWA used to run afternoon shows on ESPN in the late 80s and I'd thought he's spent the entire decade there. Checking his Wiki, it seems he bounced back and forth between AWA/NWA(WCW) quite a bit. If I remember right, there was also a period in the early to mid 80s where the two promos had a slight working relationship back when Rick Martel might have been champion?

Going completely off track: Then in the late 80s I remember AWA having a working agreement with World Class that led to a title unification match between Lawler/Kerry Von Erich that not only was a spectacle in the ring, but recent stories I've heard/read sound like the behind the curtains story of this match was even crazier.

Yeah, he was with Baby Doll here, and I don't know the history of 80s JCP well at all. I remember Baby Doll from being an early Horseman valet, and I don't know what the story is with her alignment with Larry.

One thing I always wish that I had is the full angle that led to Larry turning on Bruno. The turn is great, and it seems like it was potentially a great full story to watch.

I haven't seen that Lawler/Von Erich match either, but I know the one you're talking about.

But was he already talking about "30 glorious years"?

Always seems kind of weird that Heenan and the Islanders go over Koko and the Bulldogs at WM IV, especially with Heenan getting to make the pin. One of the semi-rare exceptions to "faces go over at WrestleMania" is the team that kidnapped a dog to set up the match? And you add the salt in the wound of a manager pinning a wrestler?

I mean I don't hate it by any means, but that's mostly because I would struggle to hate any Heenan win ever. It's just surprising.

As a kid in WM3 I fully expected the Bulldogs + Tito Santana to get their “revenge” on crooked referee Danny David and the Hart Foundation. While Davis absorbed a ton of offense I expected the Bulldogs to go over in a non-title match.

I recall Honky Tonk beating Jake the Snake as a big surprise too.

1/10/00 Raw. HHH and Stephanie have recently taken over running the show. Rock leads the entire roster out to the ring to open the episode. He rattles off a list of demands to HHH and Steph under threat that the whole roster will walk out if they don't meet the demands. HHH and Steph cave to each one as the crowd cheers wildly.

Seems kind of jarring that a Vince McMahon production would roll out pro-union material like this.

Had to be a real life thing that spawned the idea. Sort of like the Occupy RAW segment for DB.

When the hell are they going to release more episodes of Icons?

Just had the pleasure of watching my first Brakus match! I remember his promos, but never saw him in the ring. He beat up the Boriqua that is not Miguel Perez.

There are two non-Savio/Miguel Boricuas.

Just wait until you get to the thrilling debut of Tiger Ali Singh.

I caught it in passing.

I've been having a hard time reconciling where WWF was in1998, vs where I was in life. I was in elementary school while Kane existed?! The difference from 93-98 is enormous. Im unsure if I'll be able to tell much of a difference between 2008-2018 RAWs. Probably saw less than 10 episodes in those years.

It's also nuts that Paul Bearer and Undertaker were at odds for years.

I got to meet old Percy Pringle in 2011. That was cool.

Edit: just googled him. I had long thought that was his real name. Lol. ****ing William Moody. Bill Moody is probably a better wrestling name than Percival Pringle.

BH, I know we’re about the same age so the prime years of the war should be a bit of elementary and all of middle school. I know my prime years of watching were 4th to 8th grade.

I'm pretty sure that, back in 2000, I generally enjoyed HHH/Stephanie promo segments. I do not enjoy these segments anymore.

It's possible that these were never good, but I think it's more likely owing to just how many ****ing years they've spent in my ear, slowly but surely degenerating into full-on nails on chalkboard. The sound of their voices is just awful to me now.

On the bright side, he doesn't seem to still be coming out and doing "let's get ready to suck it" in 2000.

That was definitely his best theme. With all due respect to

lololll

Oh my lord.

Golga.

Edit: wow! I did not recall that's John Tenta.

Oh wow. I could have gone the rest of my life without remembering this existed. Sounds like the DX guys. Break it down!

I really like the The Game theme.

I thought Time to Play the Game was his weakest theme and was always frustrated that it won out. Not only is My Time better, but King of Kings is better too.