A year or two ago, I posted in the OO/PH group on Facebook a blog post (from another message board I lurk) on dealing with the current location/owner of the acutal original Big Gold Belt. In summary, at the time, Scott Steiner was rumored to have posession of the original, having swapped out his cast copy shortly before WCW closed down. When WWE bought WCW, they inherited the cast copy believing it to be the real belt. Hulk Hogan had also claimed to have the original, having taken another cast copy home with him during the Russo/Jarrett episode. Eventually, WWE had a redesign done, added their logo to the belt and that is what we saw up until Summer Slam.

There is a nice big update in book form. (Purchase your copy Here) A private collector acquired the belt (presumably from Steiner, but names are not named.) With help from the book's author & beltmaker Dave Millican, they were able to track down the original brown leather strap that was replaced a few years before WCW closed, and the original "Ric Flair" nameplate and put them all back together for the first time in years.

The book is a pretty good read, with some nice bits of history & stories about how the Big Gold came into existence, what happened to the "Rick Flair" nameplate & who else had original nameplates ordered, original artwork used to make the belt & behind the scene stories from the people involved.

It isn't a long read, and is probably overpriced for its size, but for a wrestling & history nerd like me, worth the money. I bought both this book and the authors previous book on the "Domed Globe," the belt that the Big Gold replaced as the NWA World Title. Not quite as in-depth a story to be told there, but lots of history & great pictures in both.

I highly recommend them.

Sorry to hear that Fire.

good stuff, this and wrestling with shadows are two must sees for wrestling fans

Guillotine choke before it was cool!

Fixed that for ya Pun!

27. I remembered it as "Tuesday in Texas" but with no "This" I got no point, I remembered Insurrexion, but not how to spell it their retarded way. Remembered St. Valentines, but forgot "Day".

Of course I didn't know the new ones, except "Bragging Rights" and "The Bash" because I think that's stupid, and "The Great American Bash" is a million times better.

I totally blanked out on Judgment Day, though.

Ewww. I'm not sure what either of them would do to them, and I'd rather not

Muhammad (PBUH) doesn't. He's Hogan to Jesus' King Kong Bundy.

That's right, your savior is a fat slob who loses at the worst wrestlemania ever! HA!

Many of you may remember this NBC special from 1998. For those of you who don't or never saw it at all, do yourself a favor and watch these for a shitload of unintentional (or maybe it IS intentional) comedy.

I've been renting all of the Royal Rumbles via netflix starting from the beginning to present day. I just finished the 2005 edition. Simon Dean formerly of Super Nova fame got into the ring and started doing squats. Goes with his character, but just imagine him doing the squats and Mero doing shadow boxing next to each other.

Don't forget to mention the Bushwackers, both Luke and Butch. And how about the Warlord, who in 1991 was 29th in and lasted a 1:35, and in 1992, he was 30th and he lasted a whopping 1:43! Good job, big man!

As much as I find Charles White entertaining, he could actually outdo Mick Foley with 4, maybe even 5 entries! Papa Shango, Kama:El Ultimo Machina de Peleando, Kama Mustafa, The Godfather, and The Goodfather. What a night, what a celebration for Mr. White!

I can't think of anyone specific either. I do recall an announcer saying that about Dan Severen though.

"Don't El Gato mean cat?"

Mabey. The Rockers take the belts from Condrey/Rose. Not a 5 star classic, but not bad. Paul E is there too

For anyone interested, Hulu.com has a lot of old school wrestling clips in their archives. They are all in fairly high def as well. Just go to www.hulu.com and do a search for WWE, WCW, etc.

Yeah, Beefcake's parasailing accident happened in '90 I do believe - when he was replaced in the SummerSlam IC Title match by the Texas Tornado.

I wrote this up a couple of years ago - one of those "everything I needed to know in life" lists.


Elderly people can still be active / When someone says "never eeeever!" they mean it (for a few months, anyway) / Everyone's a superhero to someone - or at least a Super Hero In Training / Nicknames never go away quietly / Dance / They think they know you / Rivals make great partners, they know each other well / Keep mementos / Talk and listen / a sense of humor makes things a lot easier / "Potential" is the longest dirty word in the English language / Momentum is not always in your favor / Flexibility in your job keeps you an asset / Someday, if you work hard enough an long enough, you will get the respect from friendand foe alike / Treat me for who and what I am / The routine can change at any time / Take Pictures / Everything's cool / Flaunt your Charisma / Everyone has fans / Intensity is intimidating no matter your size / Even in the most private of locations, someone might be watching / You must always respect the veterans in your field / Too much power can go to your head / It's not always your fault / Some days you're the good guy, some days you're the bad guy, some days no one can tell / wear many hats / Don't cross the boss / Weddings were MADE for interruptions / You can be one of the Millions, one of the Peeps, or one of the Humanoids - deep down we may be all the same / Furniture is available also as handy weapons / Ignore the hype / Even if they didn't like you when you left, they might be glad to see you come back / Adversity is only a temporary distraction / Strut, for people will smile in your presence / For all the roles you play, you are still you / Everyone has theme music, not everyone can hear it / Pain is temporary, but the "Game" is Forever / Your Manager reserves the right to change the rules at any time to get a desired result / Despite our best efforts to deny all allegations there are those limited few who will always get us labelled as idiots. / Tragedy will make you stronger / Good grooming and good manners don't always go together / Sometimes you need a partner, sometimes you need a team / Don't change - Evolve / Why do geeks get the girls? / Don't be afraid / Honor your country / Be good with your money / Appeal your concerns to the one manager who always listens - if you don't have one, fix it yourself on the "get forgiveness instead of permission" rule / Don't be afraid to do something stupid / Show up anyway, you might have work to do / Take a day and speak "Dude" or type "733T" / Guard your significant other / a little blood never hurt anyone / push your boundaries / Love what you do / Be Charitable / Write a story, even if it's about yourself / A change in attitude can help your perspective / Some days, life IS a video game / Appeal to Mature Audiences / When in doubt, do a shameless parody / Work together, even if you just want to laugh / You are never too old to wrestle / Be proud of your name / Change your haircut from time to time / Enjoy the classics / Be artistic, and know not everyone's gonna "Get it" / Cowboy up / entertain unpopular ideas / Dedication and obsession are a really fine line / Sing, whether you know how to or not / Anyone can be in charge / Emulate your idols / Just because you can't speak the language doesn't mean you can't communicate / Stick with your family / Get Crazy / Strive to live happily ever after / Bluster / Be the King or Queen of something / Fly / Speak in hyperbole / Someone will notice uselessness / Dress up / Remember, it's all in your head / Remember how you got here / Take a poll if you're not sure / Stay clean within your means / Speak up if you don't like the situation / Show off what you've got / Don't let the Inmates run the asylum / Teach / Even Legends are vulnerable / You may not always win, but losing doesn't make you unpopular / Working like a dog? Bark / Never be too far from your dream job / Make your own highlight reel / Some people deserve ridicule / Childlike enthusiasm is contagious / Most men have one track minds / Make an impact / Everyone has ONE thing they'll be remembered for Be nice to your siblings, you might need their help later / be proud of your heritage, and laugh at the stereotype / A good friend is one willing to watch your back no matter what the odds against will be / Prepare to improvise / Stroking ego only hurts the target / Travel often if you can afford it / If you're getting it in writing, read it first / The future is never fixed, so be ready when it swerves your plans / Respect is earned / Never pick on the bully / Your car is cool / Insanity is relative / Show your Dark side / Proudly wave your flag / laugh at infomercials / Multitask / attempt inner peace / Dream.

I actually think they were ringside as journalists and showed as part of some big match hype. But they're certainly acting like fans there. My guess is it was all set up to answer Pun's question. Riki was having a match and they were trying to sell what a big deal it was with wrestling journalists at ringside. But I dunno.

Those were some days, huh? There's a version of this, without the MSG name, on 24/7 that shows full 80s house shows. I can get lost in those shows, but it sure wouldn't fly today.

I'm looking for ECW's invasion of RAW back in 1997. If anyone has an electronic copy I'd be very appreciative...

Fantastic turnout thus far... one man's trash is another man's treasure... or something. The WCW stuff went fast.

Still got some EXCELLENT picks here if anyone is interested:

Royal Rumble 2001 - probably the best Rumble PPV ever
Royal Rumble 2003 - Benoit/Angle, HHH/Steiner
Royal Rumble 2004 - Benoit wire to wire, HHH/HBK Last man Standing
SummerSlam 2001 - Austin/Angle - my fave match ever
SummerSlam 2002 - HBK/HHH street fight, Rock/Brock - great show
Judgment Day 2002 - HHH/Jericho Hell in the Cell
WrestleMania 2000 - 3 tapes featuring WM All Day long
WrestleMania 21 - Angle/HBK, original MITB, Batista/HHH
WrestleMania X-7 - the greatest PPV of all time
WWF: Best of 2001 (Top 10 Matches of 2001 joined in progress) & 1/7/02 Raw (HHH Returns)

Plus the two Rock tapes, the Austin tape, and some other stuff listed up there.

Okay, I knew about the machines, but I thought Hulk was too obvious. And I all bullshit on that Justin Credible question, because isn't he using the name PJ Walker now? Or PJ Polaco? Or something like that? I swear he's not allowed to use Justin Credible and stuff...so he's....um....FUCK!

Okay I missed two.

I loved the NWO parody back in the day - the bit about "the hand I drink beer with" paralleled Arn's speech really well, and the my spot stuff was priceless. But timely humor can get very dated.

Hall and Nash on commentary were great back when they used to take over the booth, and then during the black and white segments. Too bad TNA doesn't use Nash as their color guy now.