Wrestlemania Vs The Sopranos

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Inspired by a typically inane conversation with a roomful of drunks and potheads last night: Which will get more viewers tonight - Wrestlmania 20 or the second episode of the new season of the Sopranos (starring STEVE BUSCEMI!!!)?

I voted Sopranos - it tends to trascend specialization more than Wrestlemania. Plus, only one is Pay Per View. It's also the one I'll be watching.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 14 March 2004 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

dammit, way to remind me that I'm now not going to Wrestlemania. : (

― hstencil, Sunday, 14 March 2004 22:53 (twenty-two years ago)

What are we guessing as the WM buyrate this year? 1.7?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 14 March 2004 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

At this point I'm only interested in the evening gown match

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 14 March 2004 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Sopranos doesn't cost $50 so it wins by default.

I'lll be searching high and low for a torrent of the Angle/Eddy match about this time tomorrow.

― anode (anode), Sunday, 14 March 2004 23:02 (twenty-two years ago)

At this point I'm only interested in the evening gown match

I was mostly interested in the free food, dammit.

― hstencil, Sunday, 14 March 2004 23:03 (twenty-two years ago)

The Wicker Man's on Channel 4 at about the point the not-shit matches should be starting, frustratingly.

― ferg (Ferg), Sunday, 14 March 2004 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Gar. I am missing WrestleMania 20 to attempt to learn linear algebra and now I'm not even doing that. DAMN YOU RANK NULLITY THEOREM AND ALL YOUR STUPID COROLLARIES.

― adam (adam), Monday, 15 March 2004 01:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Brock..smash..nullity..theorem

― anode (anode), Monday, 15 March 2004 01:27 (twenty-two years ago)

So then, Cena beats Big Show, RVD and Booker T retain the tag titles, Trish heel turn leads to Christian beating Jericho... eh. Not bad so far.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 01:32 (twenty-two years ago)

How long is the show? (ps any more news?)

― Adam Wayne (AdamWayne), Monday, 15 March 2004 01:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Three and a half hours long.

At the presentation of the Hall of Famers, Pete Rose got booed. Kieron Fallon, welcome to your future.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 01:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh damn I SO want the new Scarface tribute Eddie Guerrero shirt

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 15 March 2004 02:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Sopranos. WWE buys have gone low in the past few years.

however, i'm at work right now, so i can't watch either.

hopefully, I'll make it back in time to catch Samurai Jack.

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Monday, 15 March 2004 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow. Lesnar-Goldberg... it, uh... coulda gone better.

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 15 March 2004 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

KICKWHAMSTUNNER

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 02:46 (twenty-two years ago)

If I'm able to infer what happened from these two posts, how could it end any other way?

― O.Leee.B. (Leee), Monday, 15 March 2004 02:49 (twenty-two years ago)

where's the undertaker?!?!??!

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 15 March 2004 03:06 (twenty-two years ago)

SUPERHEAVYWEIGHTS IN LIMITED MOVESET SHOCKA

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Monday, 15 March 2004 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Brock's moveset is sooo not limited. Compared to Ultimo, maybe.

― anode (anode), Monday, 15 March 2004 03:22 (twenty-two years ago)

but goldberg's sure is.

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Monday, 15 March 2004 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

the undertaker is back!!!

paul bearer!!!!!

and a facelift!!!

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 15 March 2004 03:47 (twenty-two years ago)

OH MAN EDDY IS GOD

But now Undertaker's out -- and once the entrance was through and he ditched the cowboy hat and leather duster he looks exactly the same as before but with black hair.

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 15 March 2004 03:47 (twenty-two years ago)

replete with MMA shootfighter gloves and biker pants

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 15 March 2004 03:48 (twenty-two years ago)

OK, f the Sopranos:

WWE CHAMPION EDDIE GUERRERO
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION CHRIS BENOIT
RIC FLAIR CALLING THE ROCK "MOTHERFUCKER"

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 15 March 2004 04:42 (twenty-two years ago)

and to think I coulda been there.

― hstencil, Monday, 15 March 2004 04:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha, the booking at the end of the Eddie-Kurt match was superb.

The 'Return To Dead Man Gimmick' did indeed consist in A Hat and the odd eye-roll.

MY GOD LESNAR-GOLDBERG SUCKED, was that intentional or what? I dunno if it's just that the fact that the crowd totally hated them both because they knew they were leaving sucked any possible enthusiasm out of it, but Jesus Christ, I expected a garbagey 10 minute power match but instead it went like twenty minutes entirely of restholds and angry crowd chants. I notice the camera totally avoided Goldberg after he got stunned and focused on Austin smirking and shit.

Fuck though, Christ Benoit! King of Universe! Everyone not Benoit-shaped booed mercilessly! Triple threat match not sucking too much!

― ferg (Ferg), Monday, 15 March 2004 04:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Final shot of Guerrero and Benoit holding respective belts = surprising world has not been submerged under S Keith's ejaculate yet

― ferg (Ferg), Monday, 15 March 2004 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Aaaarghh...this was soooo not the Wrestlemania to not have cable for.

― anode (anode), Monday, 15 March 2004 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Because Scott Keith liking it is the only thing that matters apparently

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 15 March 2004 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

(in retrospect, what's with the Fink announcing Benoit as 'currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia'? Does that make him Ludacris Benoit now or something?)

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 15 March 2004 05:54 (twenty-two years ago)

If it's the beginnings of a 'he has turned his back on his homeland' type heel turn in an attempt to get him booed in Edmonton next month, then god have mercy on us all

― ferg (Ferg), Monday, 15 March 2004 06:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I marked for the first time in awhile. I am happy. Perhaps now would be the best time to destroy my television set, so that I may never have to witness this all going horribly wrong. Screaming "TAP! TAP!" along with tons of other drunks in a Hooters has never been so good.

The line of the night; as I left, a gentleman getting into the passenger seat of an automobile screamed "CHRIS BENOIT IS A BADASS AND I AM DRUNK. I'M GETTING HIGH."

― Alan Conceicao, Monday, 15 March 2004 06:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Scott Keith really is the Pitchfork of wrestling journalism, huh?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno, it's like, I know they're both Not My Kind Of People and that I shouldn't care what I think but I can't help but afford some sort of authority to Keith's stingy star-ratings, whereas Pitchfork genuinely ain't shit to me.*

*Honest

― ferg (Ferg), Monday, 15 March 2004 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, but.... SCOTTKEITHISFATLOL2004

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

what THEY think, rather.

I've never seen a picture of him. If I did it might be like him being unmasked and the full force of his hideousness dispelling any power he had, like some film reference I'm not cultured enough to make, though the Wizard of Oz might suffice.

― ferg (Ferg), Monday, 15 March 2004 16:59 (twenty-two years ago)

One of the Internet’s most prolific and widely read wrestling opinion columnists, Scott Keith’s debut book, The Buzz on Professional Wrestling, was published in 2001 and continues to delight fans of this so-called sport the world over. Keith first gained national attention in 1999 when he moved to CBS Sportsline to write for its Wrestleline website. His own website, TheSmarks.com, is one of the largest independent wrestling-related sites on the Internet, attracting nearly 5 million pageviews every month

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I wrote for Wrestleline a couple of times! WOOT

― dean! (deangulberry), Monday, 15 March 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Hah, Wrestleline... that was quite good, you know? CRZ was pretty great before he just turned into this J Mascis lookalike with his own messageboard and nothing else.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

skeith isnt so awful. he's totally the stereotypical fat guy who writes about wrestling but at least he doesnt pretend that hes not (like hyatte or something..). to keiths credit hes probably one of the few recappers that i can read and get a sense of what happened in the match.. im waiting for the mania post to show up today or tomorrow..

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Monday, 15 March 2004 21:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Hyatte The Janitor is dreadful, agreed. But then again, I'm a Scotsman fan, so what do I know?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

HAHA "Scotsman."

― dean! (deangulberry), Monday, 15 March 2004 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Most of them there Internet guys irritate the shit out me because they think they're important and famous, but the Hyatte Wrestlemania recap was making me piss laughing earlier.

― ferg (Ferg), Monday, 15 March 2004 21:46 (twenty-two years ago)

illhave to paruse the hyatte wm thing..

what was that site scotsman was on awhile back? wrestling uncensored or something..? that site was pretty hilarious..

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Monday, 15 March 2004 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

YEAH D00D XWRESTLING IS TEH BESTSEST MACBETHG PLAYS WITH TOYS OMGFLOMAORLRLO

― dean! (deangulberry), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Most of them there Internet guys irritate the shit out me because they think they're important and famous

So you alleviate this by reading... Hyatte?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

oh lord. the days of xwrestling & all that. flashback to 5 years ago.

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Hyatte did a RAW recap or two on Xwrestling for a while. I cannot remember. He was a bitch about it ... I remember that. (xpost)

― dean! (deangulberry), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh god... latestwrestlingnews.com. With it's pastel blue colour scheme.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

can't access that site...

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

It's been down for about... four years now? It was the first site I regularly accessed. Then it was onto Wrestleline. And then 411. And then... ah, memories.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to read / write for Ultimo a lot. They had a decent design.

― dean! (deangulberry), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, rare exception like.

re hyatte x-post

― ferg (Ferg), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:29 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm. for me, when i got back into wrestling in early 99, i was reading CRZ's site & Wrestline.(even the mispelling took you to the right place). also Jim Schroeder's Nitro Report of Doom, before he quit & tried to kill himself once or twice.

heh. i used to print out show reports/transcripts and read them during my Aero classes, then go home to watch any of the good parts on my tape of the previous night's show.

this is what happens when you're an engineering undergrad at the library all the time.

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I enjoyed most of Wrestlemania, but the Lesnar/Goldberg match was extraordinarily dull - maybe apart from about five seconds of good moves, and Austin stunning both after it. I wasn't aware these two were leaving, but I did wonder about them being so low on the bill. The Rock/Sock match wasn't too hot either, and can Flair PLEASE retire now? Though the irony of Evolution going on about the Rock and Foley being past their sell-by dates with Flair as part of their team was sort of amusing. The two world title matches were both very good, and both had the popular outcome. I was a little surprised that Michaels got as little fan support as he did, as I thought he was a big long-term favourite. The women's matches sucked, as usual. The Undertaker's big entrance was pretty good, but the match was highly predictable, and Kane is not a terrifically good actor.

Is the make-up of the two main title matches significant? Heavy on real wrestling skills, light on the power men? Brock, Goldberg, Undertaker, Kane, Show, Rikishi and so on missing out on the main events? Are they trying to shift back to better skill levels and away from the big bruisers? When were there last champs as lightweight as Eddie or Chris?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

HBK is about their size, as are Bret Hart and Chris Jericho. The original Hart/HBK era is really the last time this sort of thing happened and it was an indirect result of the steroid trials.

― anode (anode), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 13:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Something tells me that they won't. Vince has historically favored Big Guys.

(xpost) yeah, it's funny how that works.

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Scott Keith's report is up

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I fully expect Orton to give Flair the RKO within the next couple weeks. Flair's age is catching up with him injury-wise, and they'll need to shake that dollar-store Horsemen feel eventually.

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 15:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Flair's funbags look like overcooked sacks of Bird's Eye broccoli.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

a couple of questions...

remember kane when he had his mask?? wasn't he supposed to have a HIDEOUS, BURNT FACE from like a fire or something? i mean he's quite ugly and stuff but that's not third degree burn.. when did he lose the mask and how?

HBK - what's this shit about him being "one of the best" with Triple H??!? Wasn't he used to be just some womanising jester bloke with that sweet chin music thing?

it was sad actually watching HBK still doing that sexy boy stuff and Undertaker with all his old clichés... it's almost like listening to your favourite band's new album and finding that it does nothing for you anymore. That whole biker shit ruined it all i think and it's hard to go back.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

WWE/F in non-continuity shockah! (Kane was also supposed to not be able to speak on his own on account of the fire.)

― O.Leee.B. (Leee), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

And he also apparently graduated college after these burns that caused him to wear that mask.

Anyway, yeah, I'm trying to work out the deal with all this promotion of the smaller guys. The WWE did not draw anywhere near as much in the Hart/Michaels era as they did in the Hogan/Savage or Rock/Austin era. So... does Vince know something we don't? And how bad an idea is him resurrecting the ECW brand name? (Answer: unless he signs Roadkill, very)

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Flair's been pulled from house shows apparently, so he could well retire, a mere 12 years after he should have.

(Still. 1992 Royal Rumble. Motherfuck that was great)

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:02 (twenty-two years ago)

They explained away Kane's burns in that they were ALL IN HIS MIND! Psychosomatic and whatnot.

The scariest aspect of Michaels now is that he's all groovy for Jesus. Pretty much every t-shirt he has sports a cross or some kinda Bible reference. Baffling.

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Also: worry about "small guys" all you want but Austin isn't exactly Giant Gonzalez

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:16 (twenty-two years ago)

6'2, 252 at his 98 peak, that's not a small man by any stretch of the imagination. Giant Gonzalez and Kamala were part of Vince's drive to push big men that didn't take steroids. That worked.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

haha "worked"! Fuck Benoit, let's have another Diesel-Mabel fued

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Yokozuna vs Mabel! My god.... I think one of them may have even done a move in that match, I forget.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Interestingly enough, the only other wrestler I'm aware of that was 6'2 and 252: Tiger Ali Singh.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Jeezis Dom you know their weights and heights too??

― O.Leee.B. (Leee), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Only the guys off the 1998 PWI 500.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:34 (twenty-two years ago)

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