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January 2024
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This Day in Wrestling History: 9/30/179/30/2017 As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below.
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In researching the sale of World Championship Wrestling came across an interesting tidbit of information involving the owner Fox during the period in question Rupert Murdoch, and an interesting business venture. See back in the day Ted Turner wasn't only feuding with Vince McMahon, but he also held a grunge against Fox and Rupert Murdoch. Looking ahead to the 2000-2001 period Rupert saw how successful that wrestling was and hot the profession was that he was actually entertaining the idea of entering the sport and making his own company.
Executives at World Championship Wrestling, or W.C.W., say they have been told that Fox, owned by the News Corporation, whose chairman, Rupert Murdoch, is a bitter rival of Mr. Turner, is considering adding wrestling to its prime-time lineup and is trying to lure Hulk Hogan, one of the Turner wrestling empire's prized names. A Fox spokesman, Gary Ginsberg, would not comment. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/22/business/media-cue-music-roll-mayhem-wrestling-once-ad-libbed-now-carefully-scripted-top.html The time table is right in the middle of the Monday Night Wars just before things started heading completely south for the WCW rumors began floating around that something big could be coming. Rumors on a variety of sites disclose that former News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch was considering entering the wrestling business. Apparently, Murdoch was looking to poach Hulk Hogan away from WCW which would have been next to impossible considering Hulk had just resigned with WCW two years prior. The odds are that if Hogan was stolen then that would’ve meant that Murdoch would’ve had to buyout the remaining years of Hulk’s contract. Hulk Hogan himself confirmed the story in an interview with Dave Meltzer where he claimed that it wasn’t if but when Rupert and Fox would join the wrestling business. However, Hulk did deny the idea that he would be heading to the “rumored” company at least at this point.
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Unforgiven 2003: A Month too Late9/21/2017 For those new to the brand split this time around if you want to see the height of the split then this period of time was probably the height. Also this was the end of when former WCW stars would finally hit the WWE's TV which included the likes of Rey Mysterio on Smackdown and Goldberg on Raw. Following WrestleMania 19 we saw the big debut of Bill Goldberg in the WWE and his first feud was with The Rock which set him up perfectly for his future after defeated him at Backlash. It was very clear early that Bill would be on a collision course with Triple H for the World Title. However, WWE made the bad booking move of putting Goldberg into the Elimination Chamber with the other top talent from Raw. The only reason why I say it was a bad decision is because in the end they had Triple H take the cheap way out of the match and killed Goldberg's momentum. Though waiting a month and having him defeat Hunter one on one is a good decision, but what they should've done is kept Bill out of the Chamber due to being screwed by Evolution. Looking at this card it was a solid event, but overall the damage had been done and this was too little late for Goldberg. In my opinion this would really be the beginning of the end for Bill and his first run with the WWE. Unforgiven 2003
Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley def. Rene Dupree (c) & Rob Conway & Sylvain Grenier (c)Handicap Tables World Tag Team Titles (WWE) Test def. (pin) Scott Steiner Randy Orton def. (pin) Shawn Michaels Lita & Trish Stratus def. (pin) Gail Kim & Molly Holly Kane def. (TKO) Shane McMahon "Last Man Standing" Christian (c) def. (pin) Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam triple-threat WWE Intercontinental Championship Al Snow & Jonathan Coachman def. (pin) Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross Goldberg def. (pin) Triple H (c) World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)
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This Day in Wrestling History: 9/17/179/17/2017 Wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below.
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Over the years wrestling has had a tendency to depend on the storytelling and patience that a feud would always reach a plateau and an end. In recent years the WWE has really made it seem like the fans make it difficult to allow for long term booking. Often over the last few months a lot of us have been hearing opinions from legends like Edge who has put over how important long term booking can be. On an episode of Edge & Christian's podcast Edge would bring up the booking of Samoa Joe and how it is clear that the WWE do not have a long term booking plan in place.
Fact of the matter is that some fans would attribute the lack of long term planning to the fact that no companies are in direct competition with one another warranting the concept of long term planning. I also will say that this isn't just about the WWE either as every company other than New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The booking decisions made by United States wrestling promotions nowadays is an indication of how the world has changed over the years. The reason I use that logic is because people today in particular young people don't have the attention span of the previous generation and a lot of fans look as wrestling as a joke more than a serious profession. In my opinion, I think that the reason why long term booking has went away in the world of wrestling is because it allows companies to now change plans on a dime rather than having to work harder to make new plans. This is not my way of saying the writers today are lazy it's more the idea of that they may not have enough of a background in wrestling or certain people are micro-managing their companies a little bit too much. However, there is a reason that Daniel Bryan's push to the World Title heading into WrestleMania 30 was amazing. There is a reason why Kevin Steen vs El Generico in Ring of Honor was the greatest feud in ROH history. One last one and that is there is a reason why the Invasion is considered such a flop and that is because it felt like it was rushed. But the first two have one thing in common and that is how long in advanced they were booked and how the patience in booking was rewarded. Those first two are the reason why long term booking does actually work if done right.
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A Sight Never Thought Possible9/11/2017 It's hard to believe that it's been a year already since AJ Styles not only debut in the WWE, but looking back at everything he accomplished in that time. Nobody thought that AJ would accomplish half of what he went onto accomplish in the company as most thought he would get buried. I still remember the reaction he got at Royal Rumble last year and it was amazing and a sign of things to come. This was also the first time that Smackdown Live had there own exclusive PPV event and though it might have been a little rough around the edges all and all it was good. The one thing I will mention is that the Dolph Ziggler and Miz feud was a highlight at this time for Smackdown, but would end up as a flop due to the title going back to Miz in the end. Overall though this event will go down as a very special event and not just because Slater got his job back but also because AJ Styles became WWE Champion. WWE Backlash
Baron Corbin def. (pin) Apollo Crews Becky Lynch def. (sub) Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, Nikki Bella 6-pack challenge WWE Smackdown Women's Championship Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso def. (sub) Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder The Miz (c) def. (pin) Dolph Ziggler WWE Intercontinental Championship Bray Wyatt def. (forfeit) Randy Orton Kane def. (pin) Bray Wyatt No Holds Barred Heath Slater & Rhyno def. (pin) Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship A.J. Styles def. (pin) Dean Ambrose (c) WWE World Championship
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Random Wrestling Video of the Day9/8/2017 At this point in the year it is fun to look back at some of the predictions that were made prior to the start of the year. Some of the predictions that were made was very accurate, but others were very far off and way off base. For example, hearing the idea of WWE shrinking the announce team down to two teams of two instead of two teams of three like they have. But one that was accurate to a point was that Undertaker would retire following this years Wrestlemania event. Even though some of these predictions were off base it is fun to look back and see what some thought might've been in the cards for 2017 and what some predicted things they'd like to see. Part of the reason that these prediction were bold is because some were quite out there and other were actually possible to happen.
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Wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Part of the point of this series is to shine a light on talent that some of you may not remember or have forgotten. In the era before Japanese wrestling began to expand to the states one of the top stars across the Pacific was Shiro Koshinaka. The other name is included below is one of the top trainers in wrestling and a very underrated talent. "Brutal" Bob Evans has done more of the wrestling business than most are aware; I don't expect much from this but if it opens one door then this was worth it.
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