http://www.wwe.com/inside/paul-bearer-passes-26096670

That’s rather sad.  No word on what happened yet.  He was 58 years old.

I’m no financial genius but these numbers look like they’re going up in the right places.

• Revenues totaled 5.1 million as compared to 2.9 million in the prior-year quarter.
• Operating income was $2.6 million as compared to a loss of $13.1 million in the prior-year quarter.
• Net income was $0.6 million, or $0.01 per share, as compared to a loss of $8.6 million, or $(0.12) per share, in the prior-year quarter.
• Operating income was $5.4 million as compared to $3.1 million in the prior-year quarter, and Adjusted Net income was $1.3 million, or $0.02 per share, as compared to $1.8 million, or $0.02 per share, in the prior-year quarter.
• Vince McMahon had the following comments..

  “In the fourth quarter, we continued to make important progress on our key strategic initiatives, expanding the production and licensing of new programs and enhancing our brands. Although we did not announce the launch of a domestic television network during the year, we believe, now more than ever, that we can realize the full value of our intellectual property using a variety of approaches in our global markets. Our confidence is based on the rising value of content and the tremendous global appeal of our brands.”

Here’s a preview from the Wrestlemania 15 redo which sums up the Attitude Era:

We recap HHH vs. Kane. Chyna had turned on DX and joined the Corporation I believe late last year. A few weeks before this she was holding HHH for a fireball shot from Kane, only to take it herself. HHH standing up for the honor of his friend who isn’t his friend anymore because she turned on him. As an act of friendship, HHH painted himself gold and wore a flowery robe while imitating a crossdresser and launched a flamethrower at Kane, burning him again.  Later in the show, Chyna would turn on Kane and reunite with HHH, only to have BOTH of them turn HALF AN HOUR LATER to join the Corporation.

This of course is REAL entertainment, unlike what we got on Monday night right?  Oh wait Cena sometimes makes jokes aimed at ten year olds so he isn’t entertaining right?  Clearly it’s time to turn him heel, like everyone else in the Attitude Era did, sometimes more than once an hour!

Last night was a great example.For every lame show, for every stupid promo, for every time Brooke Hogan has to appear on my TV, there’s a chance, albeit a slim one, that you’ll get something like what we got last night.  Last night’s main event was everything I could ask for in a wrestling match: it had build, it had drama, it had action, it had surprises, it had a white hot crowd, it meant something in the long run, and I didn’t expect it.

In short, I watch wrestling because you never know what you might get to see on any given night.  That’s what makes it so fun to watch.  Yeah it’s probably false hope most of the time, but you never can tell what they might bust out.  Awesome match last night still.

Oh and one more thing: why is it being compared to the MITB match?  They’re totally different things and of course the PPV match should have been better.  It’s not a fair comparison to make, but this is the internet so it’s going to be made anyway.

The last full one to date.Edge

This was obvious from the moment Edge said that he had to retire due to injury.  While Edge is a FAR cry from one of the all time elites, he does have arguably the most impressive resume ever provided you don’t dig too deep into it.  There was never a title that he didn’t win and he held more championship than anyone in company history.  You have to put him in the Hall of Fame for that alone.

Four Horsemen

For me this is the real headliner.  They’re the greatest stable of all time and had one of the most powerful rosters ever.  If any team or faction is allowed in it should be them and that’s all there is to it.  Easy yes.

Ron Simmons

I go back and forth on this one.  Simmons was indeed the first black man to hold a world title and had a decent tag career with Bradshaw.  That being said though, he never was much of note as WCW Champion and the vast majority of his career was spent as a glorified enforcer.  Is it enough to get him into the Hall of Fame?  I can let him in with a yes, but it’s a yes that is so shaky that a stiff breeze would change my mind.

Yokozuna

This is another good example of someone who was very good when he was good and very bad when he was bad.  When he was bad, he was a disturbing looking man due to his enormous weight.  WHen he was good, he was the top heel in the company for the better part of  a year.  That being said, it was quite a solid year and I think that alone is enough to make him world champion.  I can go yes here again, but it’s also not a solid yes.

Mil Mascaras

Think what you want about the numerous stories involving his ego and refusal to sell a lot of stuff, Mascaras is a HUGE star in Mexico and one of the biggest stars in the history of wrestling.  He appeared in the WWF back in the 70s through the 90s as well as having major appearances worldwide.  This is another of those guys that you have to have in a wrestling Hall of Fame if you want it to be taken seriously.

Mike Tyson

I usually dislike the celebrity inductions, but given how big a deal Tyson was in 1998, I have no problem here.  Tyson was a huge boom to WWE and made Wrestlemania 14 as big of a deal as it was.  Another easy yes here.

That’s it for the complete Hall of Fame classes up to this point.  As is the case with 99% of stuff WWE does, a lot of it is great, a lot of it is poor, a lot of it scratches your head and makes you wonder what they were thinking.  The WWE Hall of Fame can’t be taken seriously due to how easy it is to get in along with some of the older inductees.  The problem is they’ve inducted too many people, making further classes far weaker by comparison.  There are also a bunch of names that need to be inducted but haven’t been for whatever reason, so it’s hard to take this thing seriously.  It’s fun to see though and that’s the important idea.

I’ll look at the 2013 class on the day of the inductions.

Two guesses on who he came out to fight.  Hint:His name is Brock Lesnar.  We all knew this was coming and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.  What a waste for the sake of HHH’s ego.

I have zero problem with this.  He hosted two Wrestlemanias, appeared at Mania 7 and was involved in one of the biggest drawing shows of all time.  Trump may be slimy, but he’s done a lot with WWE and I have no issue with putting him in.

This is one of the lighter classes, except for the headliner.Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels is a yes vote.  Moving on.

Legion of Doom

They’re the most dominant tag team ever, bar none.  Yes the Dudleys won a lot more titles, but to even suggest that the Dudleys are at the Road Warriors’ level is laughable. The Road Warriors feuded with the Horsemen in the late 80s.  That alone makes them a huge deal.  This isn’t even remotely close and it’s an easy yes.

That pretty much ends the good Hall of Fame picks this year.  Let’s get through the rest of them.

Sunny

I can accept this one given how insanely popular she was, but the first Diva inducted should have been Liz.  Considering the INSANE legal trouble Sunny has gotten into recently, this is one of those that WWE likely regrets.  Also, Sable should have gone in before Sunny.  I’m ok with this one but it definitely has its flaws.

Jim Duggan

Uh…….yeah.  Duggan is in that group of people with Hillbilly Jim and Koko B. Ware: he didn’t accomplish much (although Duggan accomplished a lot more than they did) but he’s so beloved that it’s hard to turn him down.  It’s just hard not to like this guy on some level as he never came off as menacing but rather a guy who loved America and wanted to do the right thing, while also being incredibly goofy.  At least Duggan won something of note in his career, as he won the first Royal Rumble as well as the WCW US and TV Titles.  As for being in the Hall of Fame, I’ll go hide in a shelter somewhere before telling the fans that no, he doesn’t belong in there.  I feel dirty for saying it though.

Bob Armstrong

This is another one where it’s more because of his family than anything else.  Bob is the father of wrestlers Steve Armstrong (wrestled in WCW in the early 90s), Brad Armstrong (good wrestler in WCW), Brian Armstrong (more famous as Road Dogg) and referee Scott Armstrong (the blonde one with that annoying hitch in his count).  As for Bob, he wrestled under a mask for years as the Bullet in Alabama and other parts of the south.  While he’s a big deal down there, that’s really about all he’s done.  To me, that isn’t enough to be in the Hall of Fame.

Abdullah the Butcher

This falls under the same category as the Sheik: yeah he’s legendary, yeah he’s been around forever, yeah he was innovative, no I don’t want him in the Hall of Fame due to all of the stuff he’s done to hurt wrestling by making hardcore more popular.  That’s all there is to this one.

Drew Carey

Yeah he’s here too.

Like I said, this is a pretty lame class other than the headliner.

All-American Wrestling
Date: February 24, 1985
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bruno Sammartino, Jesse Ventura

This is another one of those shows that I have a fair few episodes of from this era. This is one of WWF’s weekend shows and I think it ran on Sunday mornings. It was one of their bigger shows and it ran nationally. We’re about 5 weeks from Wrestlemania and this is the six days after the War To Settle The Score, so this is probably going to be talking about Hogan vs. Piper. Let’s get to it.

By the way, this is one of those shows that shows clips from everywhere so no location listed.

Terry Gibbs/Carl Fury vs. Junkyard Dog/Tony Atlas

Atlas and Gibbs start us off and Atlas easily breaks a full nelson. Both jobbers are easily thrown around and here’s JYD. He throws Fury around for a bit before turning it back over to Atlas. Gorilla press and a splash end this. On a level of squashes, this was pretty squashy.

Off to Gene in the Control Center where he says what’s coming.

UPDATE! With Alfred Hayes!

This one is about the Lady’s Championship as Lelani Kai beat Wendi Richter recently. We get a clip of Moolah beating up Richter during a promo. Richter is going to use her return clause. That would be at Wrestlemania.

Pete Pompeii vs. The Spoiler

There’s no referee. Spoiler is a masked guy with Johnny V as his manager. Johnny is taking pictures during the match. This is in Ontario. It’s another squash with Pompeii getting in some small offense but nothing that makes any real difference. Spoiler wins with the Claw.

Lou Albano is freshly face and has been raising money with Cyndi Lauper for charity. However he wants to talk about his fifteenth team to be champions. He brings in Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham who he SWEARS is the best team they’ve ever seen.

Gene says this is our feature match.

Bret Hart vs. Rene Goulet

This is Bret’s MSG debut and he’s just a kid in black and red trunks. Bret takes him down to the mat with a headlock and then does the same with an armbar. Goulet gets in a knee to the ribs to break that up and hooks a bearhug. Goulet bites Bret a lot and shoves him onto the announce table. Now it’s a claw hold which Bret eventually breaks up. A slam gets two for Goulet.

Bret grabs a sunset flip out of nowhere for two. Rene is your traditional pompous Frenchman and plays to the crowd as rudely as he could. Off to a chinlock and then the Claw again because once wasn’t enough. Bret gets knocked to the floor and Goulet poses on the ropes. Hart comes back in with a sunset flip that had the crowd very excited. Here’s Bret’s comeback with an atomic drop and abdominal stretch. There’s the backbreaker and a legdrop.

Goulet rams him into the corner and pulls out a foreign object from his tights. Bret grabs a sleeper (his finisher apparently, which Gene calls a Singapore Sleeper which is a new one on me) and it gets the win for Bret. Goulet still has the object (can you really call it foreign with him?) after the match.

Rating: D. Bret is one of the best ever but he needs more than this to work with. Goulet was really boring and was usually just there to put over young guys like Bret or Hillbilly Jim. When you use the same rest hold multiple times, you can usually tell that a guy isn’t anything special. Boring match but the fans liked Bret.

Time for the Pit!

The guests are Mr. Fuji and Jim Neidhart. That’s a unique pairing. Fuji says he’s sorry Muraco isn’t here tonight. Apparently Fuji is managing Neidhart. That must have been pretty short lived. Anvil introduces himself and Piper says he loves them. That’s it.

Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff vs. Aldo Marino/Tony Garea

Garea has seen better days. The evil foreigners (as opposed to the nice foreigners) do their singing and IRAN NUMBER ONE RUSSIA NUMBER ONE thing. Garea vs. Sheik starts things off. After about 50 seconds we get contact in the form of a Garea headlock. The fans are freaking over Garea hurting Sheik. Off to Aldo who keeps up the headlocking. Volkoff gets in a boot though and the bad guys take over. Belly to back suplex kills Marino and it’s off to Volkoff. He piledrives Marino and the gorilla press backbreaker ends this massacre.

Rating: D. Garea was so fun to watch back in the day but his prime was about five years before this. Not much to see here but it was a squash near the end of a show so there’s only so much criticism you can give it. Boring match and it was just barely long enough to rate, which is very pesky.

Fuji says he’s beautiful and successful. He and Muraco communicate with their minds. Muraco pops up and shouts BANZAI. He’s got the Asiatic Spike now. Muraco sounds high as a kite and says they’re both evil.

Overall Rating: D. I can’t say it’s good because they’re all over the place with this show. Literally as they were in about 4 different arenas. This is another in the pile of WWF shows that has a random assortment of matches, most of which aren’t any good. Bret’s debut in MSG is cool to see but other than that, not unless you’re a big fan of this time period.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Apparently he was in a tag match.  Pictures and video (from WWE’s official Youtube channel) included.

He doesn’t look great but Undertaker could sit in the ring and have a ham sandwich at Wrestlemania and get a big ovation.

My guess is a match with Punk which would likely be the best bet.

Thoughts/predictions?