It's pretty surprising to me that The Undertaker went face so quickly. You turn him, and suddenly you're having to shrug and throw Nailz out there as one of the biggest heels in the company.

I do love that Nailz went ahead and testified under oath that the baggy jumpsuit he wore in the WWF was very much meant to show off his physique.

Making me look up the matches . 11 year old me was excited for the actual main event. Was probably solid enough.

Man, I've listened to the trial episodes so many times. Possibly my favorite journey between all of them. That line is just so outrageous. I laugh every single time.

I haven’t repeated the journeys, but I do tend to think of the WCCW one the most fondly. “That son of a bitch is trying to buy my company right after my son died…and I need to know how much.” And the Glen Goza stuff. It was also memorable when they meant to close an episode with a mailbag, but had gotten so pissed at Fritz that they just pulled the plug and ended the episode.

Unbelievably accurate...

Yes Babyface Slaughter so soon after the dispicable acts he commited always seemed forced to me

Was Valentine ever actually good? When I was little he seemed to be in his washed up phase and I always thought he was terrible, but the way they talk about him makes it seem like he was once a big star. It's impossible for me to imagine, he just seems super bland and one of those guys with a physique that makes him look perpetually out of shape. On the Bret Hart scale, a 1 for look, 1 for promos/charisma, 3 for wrestling? (this could be generous)

He was generally quite boring. But I wouldn't put him all the way down at 1 for look. I never thought his body was particularly a problem; he looked thick and strong. His face and hair were never at all appealing, and play a significant part in why I think that he just always had to be a heel. But on a 1-10 scale, I'm inclined to give his look something like a 4. That said, Sherri certainly took one for the team for no apparent reason here:



I'd be inclined to give his wrestling a 5 or so, he was likely slightly above average in WWF ringwork at the time but not as good as the good workers of the NWA that were going then as well. Would agree that he's probably a 1 for promos/charisma. So I guess I'd give him a 10 out of a possible 30 on the Bret scale.

That said, I've only seen the Piper/Valentine dog-collar match from the original Starrcade once. I think some people love it; I can't fully remember what I thought of it. That would probably be a decent barometer of "was he ever good?"

Based on the ugly shirt and the physique it's seeking to hide, I'll give Buck Robley a 1 out of 10 for look.

Sean Mooney tries to get an interview with Randy Savage after Jake Roberts slaps Elizabeth. As he tries to talk, Savage yells, “SHUT UP!” Mooney pleads by saying, “Randy Savage, I’m just as upset about what took place as you are!” WTF, Mooney. The dude is in a psychotic rage right in front of you about something way more personal to him than you. No, you are not “just as upset” as him.

Tough to figure which one of these guys is more upset.

The best version of Valentine I've ever seen was the 1 hour match against Backlund. Probably one of the top matches I've seen from that era on the network. At least from WWF at that time when most stuff was Bruno doing some combination of punching and kicking that somehow drove the crowd wild.

Unbelievably...Conan O'Brien was to blame for this atrocity.

It's kind of surprising that WWF just rolled Lanny Poffo out there with a Randy Savage beard. It feels like that would annoy Vince too much to abide.

From the time that Harley Race came in and became King Harley Race in 1986 until the time that the Macho King lost the retirement match at WM VII and the crown went away for a long time, I'm guessing there wasn't a televised successful defense of the crown. It just usually wasn't on the line, and then if they announced that it randomly was then it was to flip the crown to someone else.

Near the end of the 5/15/89 edition of Prime Time, Gorilla Monsoon refers derisively to Haku as "that palm tree climber." Good Lord.

otoh: *insert Rock waffling Shamrock*

I watched Hogan vs. Goldberg a few days ago which also features a couple of hilarious chair shots but they were better than the ones in that tweet

The Million Dollar Dream always looked like such a convincing hold that it always made the regular sleeper hold look weak to me by comparison.

So the Vince doc on Vice is basically a best of Dark Side clips show.

This doesn’t surprise me, as they barely even advertised it.

Seems like it may have been difficult to unearth new information.

They finally put some WWF Championship Wrestling, the flagship that preceded Superstars, up on the Network. 10 episodes from 1980. I wondered whether that might be too early to be enjoyable considering how dull the early 80s All Star Wrestling episodes seem to be, but I fired up the first episode and I see that they're playing out that famous Zbyszko/Sammartino angle here. The promo from Larry is pretty great, and hooked me into wanting to watch these episodes for that angle if nothing else. Episode also had heel Hulk Hogan in a 1-on-2 handicap match.

Ric Flair attacking someone else for trying to stay relevant. Some people really consider self-awareness to be an optional trait.

Happy new year everyone!

I cant believe I only just now found out about the Toxic Turtles Tag Team...

https://youtu.be/QR0YSq9cskk