Jerichohol! Get me some of that. And then apologise for getting BRAIN on my BOOTS.

[clo_again]

So last night make_a_move texted me about Jeff Hardy, and we started a text convo about wrestling, which started me saying "You must see this!" "And THIS was awesome!" "Do you know that Jericho once peed in Regal's tea? And that it was AWESOME?" Until I made myself so nostalgic that I hit Youtube (my vast collection of recorded wrestling was on VHS and has mostly now been thrown out for lack of space. :( I have I think one of my Hardy Boyz tapes, which was basically 'every week I record the Hardys on Raw or Smackdown'. Matches last around ten, fifteen minutes maybe, including backstage stuff; my tapes lasted three hours. I had three tapes, just of the Hardys and with a couple of Jericho's matches thrown in because I couldn't resist the blond. I'd also record every PPV because we used to get them free back then *wistful* but I think I only kept Survivor Series 2000, since I think it was my first PPV ever maybe. But I don't have a video player anymore anyway, so I can't transfer them to DVD. Gr). A few hours of trawling Youtube for classic WWF/WWE clips later, wow do I miss how it used to be. I miss Rock and Classic!Jericho and Austin and catchphrases like can you smell what The Rock is cooking and shut the hell up!. LAYETH THE SMACKETH DOWN ON ALL THEIR CANDY ASSES, YESSIR.

But out of the hours of stuff that's on there, I found a few bits I remembered and loved, a few bits I didn't remember but love now and a few bits that I wish I'd stuck around to watch because they were hilarious. This is not even a TINY fraction of the stuff that happened in the WWF/WWE that I loved so all the people who were watching it back then or since, feel free to chip in with Youtube links and nostalgia! I wish they'd release like, a year's worth of Raw on DVD every December or something because I miss storylines like 'who ran over Austin!' terribly. I'd love to rewatch the whole damn thing week by week.

Anyway, what I did find...


Firstly the Jericho peeing in Regal's tea hilarity is indeed on Youtube! You know, I don't think Regal actually 'found out' for years about this; I'm pretty sure it was 'revealed' a few months back when I started watching again.


Secondly, have one of the moments that made me scream at my TV at around 4am when I would've been watching this. We liked Chris Jericho/Stephanie McMahon for ages (that uh, may be an understatement; Jericho/Steph could be said to be the reason for my entire Australia trip like eight years later, right chickybee32?) and then they made it canon. I cannot begin to tell you how insanely fun that was. Oh for the days when we were young and wrestling made us scream at the TV. *wistful*


So many of my favourite wrestling moments came from storylines that it's hard to find Youtube clips that encompass just how awesome some of these things were. Like Jericho spilling his coffee on Kane starting an epic feud that lasted months of Jericho getting his tiny blond ass handed to him until they had an amazing Last Man Standing match at one of the PPVs, culminating in Jericho tipping stacks of barrels (?) or something on top of Kane and standing on them so he couldn't get up. I lived and died that feud with Jericho. And Shane McMahon reading his personalized 'Jack & the Beanstalk to Big Show! (I can't find the whole thing but there's a good clip of it toward the beginning of that vid) (edit: ARGH, clip got yanked and I can't find another one. It's worth looking for, if you can find it though.) Austin trying to find out who ran him over and the year-later reveal (which was right about when I started watching) that it was Rikishi hired by Triple H. AND THEN AUSTIN PICKED UP TRIPLE H'S CAR WITH A CRANE AND DROPPED IT. OH MY GOD. It was epically awesome wtfery.

Leaving the Hardys aside for a minute (because they didn't really do promos back when I first watched, and every match of theirs had some stupid high-flying stunt in it so it's hard to remember one to pick out), have a bit of Jericho:


This--> I'd forgotten how much of an *asshole* Jericho could be. I loved him and his beautiful hair and his beautiful smug face. Even when he was a being a complete asshat, he was still fantastic. Plus his old entrance theme kicked so much ass.

Jericho and Rock competing in insulting Stephanie McMahon. Jericho and Rock together were gold. I would've watched The Y2J & Rock Show. Totally. They even managed to make shaking hands hilarious.



And The Rock! Oh Rocky. I was really dismissive of you back then because I liked you, but not as much as other people and you didn't have the blond wavy hair so your asshattery wasn't quite as pretty as Jericho's. But then you abandoned us for Hollywood and the name Dwayne and the WWE misses you. Or at least I do. I watched Return to Witch Mountain for you, that's how much I miss you. Dammit.

The Rock sings about Canada and pisses off Hurricane Helms. I'd forgotten Hurricane. HOW COULD I FORGET HURRICANE. I DON'T EVEN KNOW. HE WAS AWESOME.


The Rock sings his own personal version of Happy Birthday to Steph.


There is a promo out there (actually there's probably a few) where he talks to, I think, Lillian Garcia about wanting strudel. You know, "strudel". Only the Rock could make baked goods into innuendo. Now I think about it, he's kind of like wrestling's version of the Todd from Scrubs ("I'd like to double her entendre!") If anyone kind find that promo or actually any funny promo where he talks about pie... I feel like I'm failing to convey the awesome of the Rock here. Help me out y'all.


From Rock, smoothly into Stone Cold! Stone Cold Steve Austin and Rock had a fantastic rivalry going for a lot of the time I was watching. They did this a few times, especially at the one PPV I saw live (Rebellion in Manchester) and it never fails to give me glee. Rock and Stone Cold singing a duet! There's a much better quality version of the lead-in to it here, with aaaaaawwwweeesome examples of catchphrasing ("Finally the Rock has come back to yadda yadda..." and the "WHAT?" chant after every sentence which is still funny and I miss terribly. (Also some US Open tennis scores flash up about five minutes in which made me laugh too. :DDD WHEN REAL-LIFE OBSESSIONS COLLIDE).


speaking of the 'what' & Austin thing, I found a fantastic 'Stone Cold explains the what thing' vid here where he says that it actually came from him calling Christian and rambling to his voicemail. Austin rambles to wrestler's voicemails. That is utter brilliance. Kurt Angle's ridiculous lack of a neck makes an appearance in there too. Oh Kurt. I still wonder how you do things like, you know, swallow food properly when your chin rests on your chest. I love this; the 'what?!' was such a huge thing. <3 Oh WWE, you are bizarre but brilliant.


~


As for Jeff Hardy (sidenote: I love this icon. It's one of my favourite icons I've ever made, because it's Jeff), I don't really know what to link for Jeff. Jeff Hardy and his awesome dumb awesome shiny black and white boots were the reason I got into the wrestling. That is it, that simple. I was in WWF - and later WWE - solely for JEFF HARDY'S BOOTS.

(Later I read one of lillyv's wrestling fics which involved a pair of Really Cool Boots(TM) and the next three years were spent making references to Really Cool Boots(TM). Somehow my entire wrestling fascination seems to come back to the boots. One day I will figure out why but that day is not today.)


But Jeff was mostly just a tag teamer when I watched regularly. I've seen bits and pieces of his rise of top tier and championhoodness (well deserved! If a little odd to someone who always saw him in mid-carding tag matches/it being a major shock when he got given the Intercontinental for about three days, and came back a few years later to find him contending for the main title) but not enough to remember bits worth reccing. Mostly I just rec Jeff. Watch Jeff. Anything with Jeff. I adore his ridiculously Skittles-coloured hair and silly facial hair and ability to get fired over something dumb and come back, get suspended over something even dumber and come back, quit and come back...hopefully.

I'm also fond of how good he is at throwing himself off stuff, though I've spent more than a few minutes at some goddawful hour of the morning here, pressed to my TV screen in mute horror as he's stretchered off.

And randomly he had a thing for Trish Status once which I remember being a little bit sweet, a little bit odd and a little (lot) bit funny when he got his facepaint on her face when he kissed her. Trish liked him more than The Rock (understandable) too. What happened to Jeff/Trish? Anything? I think maybe I stopped watching toward the end of that.

I also feel like I'm failing with the Jeff awesome here but I've seen hardly any of his main event stuff or promos. Anyone? There's a collection of funny Jeff moments here (mmmm to the bum wiggle at the start. And bwahahaha to "PADDLE THIS, BITCH") which is definitely worth watching, dodgy quality of a couple of the clips aside.


Just very recently Jeff's left wrestling (Matt has a cute blog entry about it here) and is apparently filming a reality series featuring himself and live performances with his band, reputedly to be released around December (I may look into getting that...). Matt Hardy has a Twitter account and posted this recent pic of Jeff with some shiny new toys, so I don't think he'll spend much time moping over not wrestling. I hope he comes back in the not-too-distant future, if he doesn't break himself again with those bikes.


This article actually makes a point about the major downsides to the WWE of Jeff leaving now and it's interesting looking back at when I started watching because dude, Austin was out for a year and Rock would disappear to make movies and people would come and go, you know. There was always at least two storylines running that I was interested in and it was a bummer if someone was out for a while, but something else would quickly replace it. I don't know how they can get back to that. If they will get back to that. You don't just replace people like Austin and Rock with a 'vacancy' ad in the newspaper.


~

Of happier things, more recently DX takes over Raw! I didn't see this but I wish I had. I only caught a few bits and pieces of reunited DX being marvellous but it was enough to convince me that HHH and Michaels should have their own show of batshittery (mostly, no doubt, annoying Vince). It could be on right after The Jericho-Rock Show - or combined - and the insanity would be quite, quite beautiful.


~


So there's a tiny (uh. It started tiny) smattering of wrestling clips and Reasons Why I Watched WWFE (remember: 'get the F out!') and nostalgia and Jeff Hardy-love. Hope this was helpful, informative, interesting, or at least that you hit the back button before reading far enough to get bored! ;-)





Oh wrestling. I miss my mad obsession with you. It was fun. make_a_move, maybe we should go to a live showing of Raw or Smackdown when they tour over here? They do it at least once a year usually. Could be fun! :DDD We were wwwaaaaaayy back at the one I went to and it was still awesome. Except I'd have to learn new catchphrases... or just yell the old ones and see how many people joined in. ^_^

So there you go, an epic post to make up for my quiet lately! I'm only working part-time for at least the next few weeks now though, so things may be less quiet again. Hurrah! I may inflict my bad attempts to sketch again on y'all tomorrow. :)



edit: I knew I wouldn't get through this without some html fail. It took me three tries just to fix the LJ cut tag. Hopefully that's all good now.

Comments

[scoobydumblonde.livejournal.com]

Oh the old days of wrestling. The Rock and Trips and Austin. Undertaker and Kane. Hardy's and Lita and Trish and Steph and Shane and... man. The good ole days.

YouTube freaks my computer out, but I have to wonder if I have old matches still. I know I don't have them with me, but I might have them still in my storage unit...

Now I will have to watch all of these clips, computer spazzing be damned.

[scoobydumblonde.livejournal.com]

One of the links has been pulled. Just so you know.

And oh god, I forgot how much FUN Austin and Rocky were together!

Jeff was/is psychotic! Him jumping off shit? Scared the hell out of me repeatedly, but I STILL loved watching him.

and that's as far as I got before my computer started making it impossible to watch any more. :-P

[clo.livejournal.com]

Ack, that clip was there AS I posted this but it has to get yoinked right then, of course. Sigh. I can't find it anywhere else either. It was probably my favourite Shane moment too. *wistful*

AREN'T THEY? :D I hadn't really thought about their feuds when I was being all nostalgic but now I remember how epic they were. They'd go feud with someone else, come back to their snark, go away, come back... they were so good together it's almost a crime to say this but I kind of wish one of them had been coming up now instead of back then because there was such a surplus of excellent top guys for a while back then and now there's just yawning spaces. For no other reason would Randy-fricking-Orton get so much screen time.

I love it when he hits the Swanton just right, with that little flip of his feet over his head but all the times he missed... god, I was always terrified that one day he'd land on his head. But he's Jeff. With his crazy hair and crazy boots and (these days) crazy body paint. He's too adorably insane not to watch. ^_^

That sucks. :( I still have to remind myself that Harry II doesn't freeze halfway through Youtube vids like my old laptop. It's nice, but it does mean I waste an awful lot more time on Youtube these days! As the post above may show. :D

[scoobydumblonde.livejournal.com]

I figured that's probably what happened. And I know. Shane reading that story... Oh so cute!

They're so awesome! Even when they were both faces and on the same side, they were snarky and snotty with each other. It was fun! And yeah, they need better top carders. Like, I like Cena and Orton's good at being a bad guy, but it's nothing like the days when Mick and Rock and Triple H and Taker were ruling the WWF/E.

He did land on his head. More than his fair share... but somehow he always managed to get back up. I love watching him. He's so awesome. It's too bad he's had so many personal problems and health problems. The body paint, to this day, drives me nuts! but it's so Jeff!

lol. Yeah. I need a new computer, but I know that's not happening until I've got a new job/more hours and my own place. :-\ I can sometimes spend hours on Youtube until it kills my comp. Then if I'm still feeling that mood, I'll just restart my computer and go straight back to it. :-)

[chickybee32.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Not two weeks ago, Lee and I sat up till 3am watching our favourite moments on YouTube. Which, co-incidentally, but not surprisingly, half of which are linked here. :D

I'm really wishing I hadn't thrown out my WWF videos when we moved. I taped it EVERY FRICKIN WEEK so I had easy reference for ficcing.

*sigh* I miss what WWE used to be. How easy it was to hysterically fangirl and how you'd be just dying for the next show to see what was going to happen next. I miss the Edge/Christian vs Hardyz battles I'd get into with a friend and how when those teams wrestled it was exciting and scary because it was still new and nobody had seen anything like that before.

And I know this is getting insanely long for a comment, but do you remember the Heyman & Lita scene that just seemed to channel Intergalactic Medley and whole Asylum just lost their minds over it?

Which was still nothing compared to the hysteria when Steph/Jericho became canon. Fucking canon.

(It's a good thing Tristan's demanding breakfast cause I could go on for hours)

[clo.livejournal.com]

:D Because they are awesome moments. I'm sure I've forgotten a bunch of the stuff I loved though; it's gutting to think of all that awesomeness lost to Best Of DVD edits.

DUDE. EVERY WEEK? Damn, that would've been awesome. But an epically huge video collection, so I can see why you threw them. Mine was only PPVs and certain matches and that still took up too much room to keep. They just need to release it properly on DVD.

Yes. I miss tag matches I actually cared more about than the main events. I miss the freaking Dudley Boys (I shrieked at the screen when they walked into one of the Youtube vids because I'd actually forgotten all about them). I miss the feuds I actually couldn't wait to see the next part of, like Jericho vs Kane and that one time they actually pushed Jeff into a brief fight with Trips. I miss getting excited when the Raw music started. Where did that go? :(

There's a lot of wrestling to cover, so long is good! :D You know, I can't remember the Heyman-Lita. :( I must've forgotten so much. Argh. Thankfully we were BATSHIT enough over Jericho/Steph that it stuck in my mind. :D How awesome was that? How insane? Oh WWE, MOAR OF THAT PLEASE.

(I forget, sometimes, how insane we all were over wrestling and I don't know how, because there was *so much of it* and we were obsessed for so long. I perfectly remember that my very first cup of coffee was due to trying to stay awake until 5am to watch a PPV though. :D Even now, the influence goes on...)

[hobbes75.livejournal.com]

I miss this stuff. Especially Steph/Jericho. And the funny! Jericho and Rock were hysterical. Now I have to watch all these clips and I'll end up spending the whole day on youtube. I actually caught a couple minutes of Raw the other week and I swear, it was just Randy Orton glaring at people.

[clo.livejournal.com]

I miss it too; I don't know if it was the talent they had or the better storylines or (probably) both but it had something then that's mostly missing now. Randy Orton is annoying in a way Kurt Angle or William Regal never dreamed of; instead of being a good guy to boo as he walks out, he's basically just an asshole. Argh.

[make-a-move.livejournal.com]

*flails with glee*

The Rock and Jericho's handshake! "Quack quack quack quack..." Hee! And the Trish and Jeff thing is so sweet. I could see myself getting behind that, if I was watching at the time. I'm actually starting to get really interested in Jeff and his exploits. Triple H too, but that's mainly because of his feud with Orton (who is a massive bastard!).

Going to a Raw or a Smackdown would be brilliant! I suspect my brother would want to come too.

(I am so tempted to get icons, btw. Meeep.)

[clo.livejournal.com]

Jericho and Rock together were fabulous. I think Jericho's first ever appearance was to interrupt a Rocky speech and so the endless snark was born! I wish Rock hadn't gone off to be a movie star. Trish and Jeff was so oddly adorable, in a company of bizarre pairings and kidnap!weddings. Also Jeff running to the rescue like a knight in shining armour body-paint is so cute. :D Triple H has grown on me a lot since the old days (possibly because of his Orton Feud for me too! I hate Randy Orton and his stupid smug face, argh. He should have MASSIVE BASTARD tattooed on his forehead, because he is!)

My brother came we I went, so it's good to keep with tradition and take a brother! :) They usually say when they're touring, so will keep an eye out. It's so much more fun to start an "Asshole!" chant when they can actually hear you! (which in no way stops me doing it to the TV screen anyway :D)

(Get icons! Especially of Jeff! He is pretty!)

[make-a-move.livejournal.com]

ALSO - this person here does excellent WWE icons, both still and animated. Not that I've been looking for some or anything. Um.

LOOK OVER THERE!

*runs*