***Official WWE/wrasslin' Thread***

Ledbetterman10 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I went to Wrestleman X8 in Toronto. literally the back row of the skydome. $25. so high up even the big screens were tough to make out. haha. but it was cool being there at least once.

Hogan/Rock is the ultimate match to have been there for live. 

I gotta say, for all the WM's to be at, I often feel lucky to have been at that one. I still have my hogan/rock t shirt and program from the event. often think I should do one of those "jersey behind glass" things with them.

anyone got an extra $1500 you could gift me? lol

https://hulkhoganswrestlingshop.com/products/hollywood-hogan-signed-wrestlemania-x8-poster

Only disappointment was HHH and Jericho were the main event, which I think a lot of people left prior to, and HHH won. The pop in Toronto if Jericho had retained would have been incredible, even though he was the heel at the time. no one wanted HHH to win that match. 

I remember going to matches at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles in the late 70s...I was a mere lad at the time.

Some of the great old school wrestlers included Roddy Piper, Moondog Mayne, Chavo & Hector Guererro, Black Gordman & The Twin Devils.

I always thought about Dave/Earl and how terrified they must have been being thrown by Hogan like 20 feet landing on DiBiase and Andre. that was crazy. 

Only ever caught one live event, when I was about 7 years old, at the 1989 DuQuoin State Fair…Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant. I remember you could see the wrestlers pull n their cars from our seats. Andre hopped out of a big conversion van. 

MayDay10 said:

I watched the Dark Side of the Ring:  The Montreal Screw Job.

I thought it was good.  I never really held much of an opinion on the matter, and maybe I was influenced by a skewed documentary... but my takeaway is that Bret Hart was being a baby and he had it coming to him.  

Its a fake championship based on a story.  He was leaving the company.  It is standard to leave it be.  His company wanted him to pass it on to Micheals.  They tried to provide every single scenario that it can happen and he refused every one.  He knew they were going to take it and was asking Hebner not to screw him over.  
And he ended up continuing to sulk and feel sorry for himself until he completely bottomed out in the WCW.  

Im not a huge fan of McMahon and a lot of his methods.  I think he is a cartoonish scumbag and has drained humans like a parasite in order to amass wealth... but I think I side with him on this one.

Full disclosure: I'm a Bret Hart mark and the screwjob was to me what the Kennedy assassination was to my father (I'm kidding) 

He said he'd drop the title to Undertaker or Austin, I'm guessing that's not mentioned in the dark side doc (I only saw it once years ago and didn't think it was good). Bret just hated Shawn because Shawn told Bret that he would never put Bret over (this is in a conversation where Bret told Shawn that he would be happy to put Shawn over), Shawn suggested Bret had an affair with Sunny on live TV, and Shawn and his kliq were up McMahon's ass and all but calling the shots. And this is all after Bret turned down a shitload of money from WCW in 1996 out of loyalty to Vince, only to have Vince breach the contract in Sept. 1997. A contract that allowed Bret "reasonable creative control" (like Hogan had in WCW). And it's reasonable enough to say to Vince "Can't I lose to a respectable guy like Undertaker rather than his degenerate that you let run amok and has no respect for anybody?"

That dark side of the ring doc is pretty poor in my opinion. That series is good in general, but the screwjob isn't "dark side" enough and it seems like a filler episode. I'd recommend the WWE doc where Jim Ross interviews both Bret and Shawn around say 2012ish because you get both sides of the story some years after the event. It's a little awkward as Shawn is so detached from those years, and Bret is somewhat obsessed with them. But they do a good job of talking about particulars that this dark side doc doesn't. 

Bret and Shawn's books are also really good. Bret's book in particular is great. Now, he wrote it prior to him and Shawn becoming friends again so his bitterness is a little much. And like any autobiography, he biased for himself. But his recounting of everything that led up to the screwjob (from resigning with WWF in late 1996 to being screwed in late 1997) is pretty interesting. 

Having said all that, it is all over a fake wrestling title, and Bret himself has admitted he's not blameless in things going off the rails with Shawn. But it's fun to debate all these years later. And hey, think of all the wrestlers that had to bow down to and perform for a "cartoonish scumbag that has drained humans like a parasite in order to amass wealth," and then remember who was the only one with enough nerve to knock him the fuck out. 

I get it that it's a fake title, but it's real in terms of industry worth. Vince did agree to help him get as much money out of Turner as he could. But for Bret to ask that he retain, and vacate the title on RAW the next day, and then to leave? how fucking unreasonable is that? that just tanks WWF's worth at that time when they were bleeding talent to WCW.