• Tag Archives: Vader

    This Or That (4/8/2014)

    Everybody loves binary decisions, especially wrestling fans! In This Or That, we’ve forced ourselves to choose between two options that relate to wrestling.

    Over four questions, @TimWelcomed, @JoeySplashwater and @TomBlackett will have to choose one of two options and give their reasoning on each of their choices. You can then vote on which one you’d choose, giving you the false impression that you’re somehow involved and we care about your opinion chance to join the conversation!

    UPDATE: With Tim recovering from Wrestlemania duties in New Orleans, we have friend of the site Nightlife (AKA @AnimeKing420) filling in for him on the panel. He also came up with some of the awesome questions we’ll be breaking down.

    Before we start, here’s last week‘s results:

    Will Wrestlemania 30 be among the best Wrestlemania’s ever?

    NO – 61%, YES – 39%

    Bigger scumbag entering the Hall of Fame?

    Carlos Colon – 88%, Ultimate Warrior – 12%

    Worse podcast?

    The Ross Report – 70%, Talk Is Jericho – 30%

    More anticipated superhero film?

    Captain America: Winter Soldier – 58%, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – 42%

    More surreal moment from Wrestlemania 30: The Undertaker’s Streak ending or Daniel Bryan’s championship celebration?

    Two very important moments at Wrestlemania 30, which was more surreal?

    taker-bryan

    Nightlife:

    To me, a wrestling moment is “surreal” when I sit back in my chair and say, “wow. We’re here.” It’s when I have a somewhat hard time believing said wrestling moment is actually real. For Daniel Bryan’s big win and victory celebration to close out Mania, I just didn’t feel that. It was probably because it had been pushed so hard over the last several weeks leading up to the big match that Daniel Bryan was the biggest underdog of all time and him winning would be this huge, shocking thing, that left a lot of fans like myself expecting a win, and when that came, it was great, and I enjoyed every moment of it, but it didn’t knock me back like a truly surreal moment would have.

    When Brock Lesnar ended the streak, it took me what felt like half an hour of second-guessing and thinking “this is a schmoz, right? They’re going to restart the match or something, right?” before I realized it had really just happened, and I immediately opened several Twitter searches so I could see morons cry about the outcome of a worked professional wrestling match, To me, the moment when Undertaker lost at WrestleMania was truly surreal.

    Undertaker’s streak ending

    Joey:

    Going to put this all into perspective, well MY perspective. Let’s look at Bryan Danielson. The 5’7” pale dude with the strong suits of being able to wrestle long matches and come up with submissions and great reversals. What if I told you in 2007 that he would main event Wrestlemania 30 with the entire show being based around him? Exactly.

    The Streak ending was always a possibility and honestly, it should have ended at some point before ‘Taker retire. As stunning and incredible as it was seeing the reaction to Brock Lesnar actually getting the 3 count, hearing the crowd and witnessing the moment of confetti falling as Daniel Bryan closed a show that was opened by Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and The Rock is most surreal to me in the best way possible.

    Daniel Bryan

    Tom:

    When the Undertaker’s streak was broken, I wasn’t even paying attention; in fact, I’m pretty sure I was turned away from the TV, smugly explaining to a non-wrestling fan friend about how his win was such a sure thing… and then he lost. Even then, it took Brock Lesnar going to the back for me to believe it really happened and wasn’t going to be taken back.

    Bryan’s win was less of a surprise, though that it happened at all is still incredible to think about. His natural, organic rise isn’t something we’ve seen for years – Punk’s is comparable, but that always felt like an afterthought designed to appease him and the fans, rather than something that WWE would be behind 100% and build a Wrestlemania around.

    However, Bryan’s big win still isn’t comparable to the streak ending. It had become such a big, integral part of Wrestlemania and for it to end in such an abrupt way is… well, it’s a shock, but it’s also pretty exciting. It’s one less crutch for WWE to fall back when it comes to building to a Wrestlemania, so it’ll be interesting what they do in future years.

    Undertaker’s streak ending

    [poll id=”78″]

    Continue reading →

    Life Lessons Learned from Wrestlers Guest Starring on Sitcoms

    From Vader to Rob Van Dam, The Rock to Billy Gunn, wrestlers have made some amazing guest appearances on sitcoms over the years – here are some of our favorites, along with the valuable life lessons you should take away from each one.

    Here to wallow in nostalgia with you are site regulars @typicalROHfan and @TomBlackett. Apologies for some of the video links being crappy quality or hosted on weird streaming sites, but YouTube has been ruthless in removing a lot of these historic moments from public consumption.

    Vader on Boy Meets World

    typicalROHfan:

    The loveable Cory Matthews joins the school wrestling team in hopes of creating a legacy. He defeats high Frankie Stecchino’s partner-in-bullying Joey ‘The Rat’ Epstein in a regulated match. This leads to an UN-sanctioned rematch after school hours as Griff (now known in 2013 as Ben Wyatt on Parks and Rec) books a show and promotes it.

    Griff gets celebrities Robert Goulet and Yasmine Bleeth to appear. Frankie and his dad, Vader, join Joey the Rat making it 3 vs. 1. As it looks bleak for Cory, Mr. Feeny appears and shuts down Vader to save Mr. Matthews. It’s revealed that Vader’s kayfabe real name was Leslie.

    Adam Scott/Ben Wyatt/School Hooligan Griff is such a joy in this episode. He represents every shady wrestling promoter except more savvy. The match itself was better worked than the main event of Wrestlemania 27.

    Tom:

    WE LOVE VADER. He’s honestly pretty incredible in all his Boy Meets World appearances and it’s amazing that they made him a recurring character. Between this and his appearance in ‘Fist of the North Star‘, the mid-90s truly was Vader time.

    Lesson learned: Cory vs. The Vader Family drew more fans than the average indie show. Continue reading →

    Match of the Week: Chamber of Horrors Match (WCW Halloween Havoc 1991)

    Many sites have a match of the week but ours is a little different. These matches are the ones that are fun to watch… in the non-traditional way.

    This week, in the spirit of Halloween, we’ve chosen the Chamber of Horrors match from WCW Halloween Havoc ’91, which is spectacular in that it has just about every single bad idea you could think of thrown into one match. Members of the site @TimWelcomed, @typicalROHfan and @TomBlackett give their (lack of) expertise on the action.

    Part 1: Eric Bischoff is not a good interviewer.

    abby-cactus-eric

    Tim:

    Eric Bischoff is in a suit standing… outside of the arena, I guess? Cars are pulling up but there’s also a lot of grass behind him. Something feels out of place. Bischoff tries getting interviews but these guys are just too busy for him. Especially Barry Windham who is getting his hand slammed in the door like a chump.

    typicalROHfan:

    Eric Bischoff just seems like a douchebag. It’s amazing how one person can maintain the high level of douche chills over a span of 22 years but EB does it.

    Highlight of this for me is Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson smashing Barry Windham‘s hand with the car door. Zbyszko telling Bischoff to “get out the way, you jerk” was a glorious moment that made me just feel in my bones that we would see these two co-main event Starrcade 7 years later.

    Tom:

    First of all, WWE not adopting Halloween Havoc as one of their annual PPVs is CRAZY. It’s a really fun name, the theme is ridiculously easy to do cool sets and posters and stuff with and, really, wrestling and Halloween are just made for each other. Both celebrate people dressing up like idiots and running around doing dumb stuff, so why keep them apart? It’s a natural fit!

    Having said that though, the Chamber of Horrors might not be the best example of ‘doing it right’. In the opening interviews, Eric Bischoff is DREADFUL. He looks good in a tux, but beyond that, he delivers everything in the same hokey tone and doesn’t seem to be able to react to anything naturally. DDP is in full Andrew Dice-Clay mode, asking Bisch “What are you, parking cars now? SEEYA!” We love Andrew Diamond-Dallas-Clay.

    Onto the entrances, and there are two teams (catchily named ‘team number one’ and ‘team number two’), who all come out to the same generic theme. Cactus Jack has a chainsaw. Abdullah the Butcher is carrying… something else, I’m not sure what. Finally, Sting gets to come out to his own theme, and everyone goes NUTS. Without any explanation of how it works, the match begins! Continue reading →

    WCW Comic Book Reading Club: Issue One, Page 14

    WCW: The Comic Book was published in the early 90s by Marvel Comics. Nobody in wrestling or comics paid it much attention, and after 12 issues, it was cancelled and lost to the ages. Until now.

    On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, @tomblackett will post a new page of the WCW comic with his comments and we’ll read through it together. We’ll be there for each other, through the good (Vader! The Steiners! Sting! Cactus Jack!) and the (Johnny B.) Badd.

    WCW: The Comic (Issue One, Page 14)

    wcw-14

    WCW: The Comic is probably the property of Marvel Comics / WWE, though I’m not entirely sure. This website makes no claims to own it; all panels and images are posted in the spirit of fair use and are the property of their respective owners and creators. Continue reading →

    WCW Comic Book Reading Club: Issue One, Page 13

    WCW: The Comic Book was published in the early 90s by Marvel Comics. Nobody in wrestling or comics paid it much attention, and after 12 issues, it was cancelled and lost to the ages. Until now.

    On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, @tomblackett will post a new page of the WCW comic with his comments and we’ll read through it together. We’ll be there for each other, through the good (Vader! The Steiners! Sting! Cactus Jack!) and the (Johnny B.) Badd.

    WCW: The Comic (Issue One, Page 13)

    WCW-13

    WCW: The Comic is probably the property of Marvel Comics / WWE, though I’m not entirely sure. This website makes no claims to own it; all panels and images are posted in the spirit of fair use and are the property of their respective owners and creators. Continue reading →

    WCW Comic Book Reading Club: Issue One, Page 12

    WCW: The Comic Book was published in the early 90s by Marvel Comics. Nobody in wrestling or comics paid it much attention, and after 12 issues, it was cancelled and lost to the ages. Until now.

    On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, @tomblackett will post a new page of the WCW comic with his comments and we’ll read through it together. We’ll be there for each other, through the good (Vader! The Steiners! Sting! Cactus Jack!) and the (Johnny B.) Badd.

    WCW: The Comic (Issue One, Page 12)

    wcw-12

    WCW: The Comic is probably the property of Marvel Comics / WWE, though I’m not entirely sure. This website makes no claims to own it; all panels and images are posted in the spirit of fair use and are the property of their respective owners and creators. Continue reading →

    WCW Comic Book Reading Club: Issue One, Page 6

    WCW: The Comic Book was published in the early 90s by Marvel Comics. Nobody in wrestling or comics paid it much attention, and after 12 issues, it was cancelled and lost to the ages. Until now.

    On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, @tomblackett will post a new page of the WCW comic with his comments and we’ll read through it together. We’ll be there for each other, through the good (Vader! The Steiners! Sting! Cactus Jack!) and the (Johnny B.) Badd.

    WCW: The Comic (Issue One, Page 6)

    wcw-6

    WCW: The Comic is probably the property of Marvel Comics / WWE, though I’m not entirely sure. This website makes no claims to own it; all panels and images are posted in the spirit of fair use and are the property of their respective owners and creators.

    Continue reading →