Nothing clever to start off the Mailbag this week from me – I think the nonstop barrage of fireworks around WrestleCrap HQ has further depleted any remaining braincells I still have. I have no issue with folks who want to blow stuff up in the sky, but man, it feels like there’s not a day that goes by where we aren’t hearing aerial explosions. Mrs. Deal often looks at me when we hear them start at random, and I always tell her, “I mean, who doesn’t celebrate March 13?” Whatever, you do you I reckon. Onto the questions!
Arya W kicks us off with…”Is it The Undertaker’s fault that we got all those awful mid-90s gimmicks? I mean this guy took perhaps the dumbest gimmick idea and made it iconic, so who was to say a wrestling plumber or a wrestling garbage man wouldn’t become the next big star?”
Yes. One thousand percent. I have said for years that the Undertaker as an idea for a gimmick is completely idiotic, but the way Mark fed into that character made it work. That was magic in a bottle, and not something easily replicated. But as always, when a wrestling company sees something working, they go back to the well countless times until the public has totally rejected it. And honestly, it’s not just wrestling that does that.
Rob N wants to know…”What do you think of WWE applying for the trademarks for the SuperBrawl and New Blood Rising names?”
If I was a wrestling company, I would apply for any open trademarks of all stuff as fast as possible. If it’s out there and there’s a chance that nostalgia will help a show, why not? And on those two, I think both of the names are pretty good. Note I said NAMES, not original execution of concept, especially in the case of the latter.
Thomas M asks…”Which was the better fight – Homer Simpson v George Bush in “Two Bad Neighbours” or Homer Simpson v Waylon Smithers in “Homer the Smithers”? You can only pick from those two.”
I love “Homer the Smithers”, so much so I know I’ve snuck that “car into a cube” bit onto this here site at least once. So yeah, gotta go with that one.
Adam S ponders…”Whatever happened to El Diablo?”
Pretty sure he’s selling bootleg masks down in Tijuana. That or DJ’ing weddings on the south side of Indianapolis.
Jarvis G is hitting the taunt button with…”You planning on picking up Ultra Pro Wrestling? I absolutely miss the Nintendo 64 THQ wrestling games and feel that this can live up to the magic from 1997-2000 years.”
That would be cool, yes. I was hoping Fight Forever would scratch that itch, but while I really liked it, there was just something missing there. Maybe it’s just that I’ve moved past that style of wrestling games, not sure. More than anything though I am looking forward to the new NCAA Football game. With RD Jr heading to school, I want to get more into the college game and learn/better understand the differences from the NFL.
Kendall M asks…”Is Swerve vs Osprey the beginning of a legendary feud like a Rock/Austin or Flair/Rhodes”
I like both guys (well, I like Swerve and LOVE Ospreay), but they’ve got a long way to go before they hit that mark. Interestingly enough I think Swerve-Hangman is a more bitter rivalry. I mean Swerve broke into Hangman’s house and threatened a baby. HE THREATENED A BABY! And yet he’s the hero due to Nana doing a wacky dance. I love pro wrestling.
SPEAKING OF SWERVE AND HANGMAN…Rafique T goes with…”Who wins the Owen?”
Want Mariah and Danielson. Think Mariah and Hangman. I just feel like they’ve done so much to build Hangman-Swerve as a legendary feud and want to pay it off. Even though Hangman is a heel and he’s never beaten Swerve in AEW.
Chad A wants to know…”Best and worst comedy wrestler?”
Not sure I could even count Orange Cassidy as a comedy wrestler at this point, but I’d go with him for best. I also used to love when folks would see how many rows deep they could throw Marko Stunt into the crowd in the early days of Dynamite. Not sure that was supposed to be comedy, but it made me laugh. As for worst, I always thought early stuttering Bubba Ray Dudley was horrible. And I AM pretty sure that was supposed to be comedy. So I’ll plant my flag there.
Adam W asks…”Is there any reason you haven’t inducted the match between Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantell from the Lonesome Pine Specials where they wrestled in front of an orchestra?”
I KNOW I inducted that years and years ago. Must have missed it when we brought everything to the new version of the site. I know we have stuff missing, including entire sections of the site (like Rewriting the Book) that we need to get back here. Patience, friends, patience.
Sean B inquires…”If Blade was alive still, would you and him do a Let’s Watch of UWF’s Beach Blast and Blackjack Brawl as episodes of Wrestlecrap Radio?”
We had talked about doing stuff like that many times, but we were always hesitant to do a running commentary due to our thoughts that we would fall short of MST3K levels of comedy on something that lengthy. But yeah, for sure we would have wound up doing that. It would have been a natural fit. Still can’t believe he’s gone. Hurts every day.
Derrick G wraps us up with…”I’ve seen no less than 3 outlets erroneously refer to Who Killed WCW? as The Death Of WCW.
Just curious if these Freudian slips ended up moving some copies of your and Bryan’s excellent tome. Also while on the subject, any plans for a 20th Anniversary Celebration on the Bryan & Vinny show or F4W Online on Tues Dec 3rd?”
You know it’s funny, before that book released we had other titles in mind, but Bryan was adamant that we call it simply The Death of WCW. He was of course 100% right, to the point I don’t even remember the other possibilities. As for a 20th anniversary celebration, that sounds like a good idea, even though he and I are both largely sick to death of talking about it.
A funny aside there as well – Russo called me this week and I asked him if HE was sick of talking about it. We laughed about the absurdity of the fact that the company has been dead for nearly a quarter century and everyone tells the same stories over and over but people STILL want to debate it. I mean, I am thrilled that folks still have interest as I have a kid to get through college, but it’s crazy to think it’s all been laid out over and over and people still think there’s some question as to what happened. What can I say? Buy the book!
And with that we wrap it up for another week…say something nice to someone you don’t know today and keep sending in those questions rightchere!