Looking forward to heading to Chicago this weekend to check out All Out. While I am sure the show will be a lot of fun (say what you will about AEW of late, but their PPVs always deliver), it’s not so much the in-ring action I am excited about. No, it’s the fact that RD Jr will be going with me to his first ever wrestling PPV event. He’s not a wrestling fan by any stretch of the imagination, but he always asks to go to Dynamite tapings when they’re in town. It will be very interesting to see what he thinks of it all.
Before we go though, it’s time once more to dive headfirst into the q’s and the a’s…
Christopher G writes…”What are your thoughts on Dark Side of the Ring?”
While it’s been generally stories I’ve heard thousands of times, I found the show to be pretty fascinating regardless. And I think that’s true of any decent documentary or series. Sure, we all know the story of Bruiser Brody, but there is something truly captivating about the underbelly of this carnie world we all follow that makes a trip down the shadier alleys an easy watch.
Had something like it appeared 25 years ago before such information was easily found (“Hey Siri, tell me about the Von Erichs”), it would have had a far greater impact I am sure.
Reese K writes…Is Simpsons Wrestling worth the cash?
Depends on how much someone is willing to pay you to play it.
That game is so horrible I wouldn’t even touch it again for less than five figures.
James B asks…”What’s a storyline/gimmick that looked like it would be pure crap, but turned out pretty good?”
Without question, the original Doink the Clown had everything aligned to be the worst gimmick of all time. Clowns always suck, and jamming one into the early 90’s cornball WWF was a recipe for disaster. But…evil heel Doink was utterly fantastic. Matt Borne took that character and ran with it. To this day, I will put Jerry Lawler’s match with Bret Hart at SummerSlam 93 where Doink was a “substitute” against any other match in history for pure entertainment value. Borne’s evil sneer and near psychotic portrayal of a clown gone wrong was years ahead of its time, as was what is arguably my favorite theme music for a wrestler ever.
How could you possibly hate circus music with screams?
Thomas M asks: You mentioned in the Bobby Heenan tribute that he had talked with you about co-writing a book together. Have you ever given any thought to writing a Bobby Heenan biography?
A biography? No. What I would have loved to have done had Bobby and some of the others involved still been around was to do a in-depth analysis of the entire run of Prime Time Wrestling. Even today it’s still my favorite wrestling show in history. I will at times just start bingeing it again even though I’ve seen them all a half dozen times. I remember seeing Bobby light up when I would bring up the various on location shoots they’d do, be they at Caesar’s in Vegas, Busch Gardens in Tampa, or Tony Packo’s in Toledo. He loved talking about the old west set where they were ‘filming’ a movie, I believe he said that was in Tuscon. I can still recite that entire bit word for word. Just love it.
That would have been the goal, but I just don’t see it happening as most of the players involved are sadly gone at this point.
And with that, it’s time for me to hit the road! Keep sending in those great questions by clicking rightchere and I’ll keep answering them!