Wrestling nostalgia

I've been wanting write this post for a long while now.

Last week was the 10th Anniversary of WWF Smackdown. The show premeired on the old UPN network in 1999, it was a special at first then a regular series later that year. The show as a takeoff of one of The Rock's signature catchphrases, "The Rock is going to lay the SMACKDOWN!"

As a matter of fact The Rock appeared on that show last week. Often Rocky (well Dwayne Johnson who has long retired from wrestling and has eked out a career in motion pictures) would refer to Smackdown as "The Rock's show" because of it's title. There wouldn't be an anniversary show without him.

To be sure however to see him on there gives me a certain nostalgia for how good wresting was 10 years ago. There were plenty of compelling characters that I just couldn't spend a week without. That's what I remember and I miss watching Rock in the ring or even wowing the fans. Surely wrestling fans of the time wished they had the attributes of Dwayne Johnson in those days, if not the athletic talent perhaps his ability to capture the attention of the crowd.

I barely remember the rise of Johnson. At first he was wrestling as a superface Rocky Maivia. But he was caught up in the era of Austin 3:16 (Stone Cold Steve Austin) and eventually the fans were tired of the superface gimmick as Stone Cold was more of an anti-hero character and that really took off with the fans. After being off TV for a good period Rocky Maivia came back to join the Nation of Domination (they were a group of black wrestlers who sported sort of a Black nationalist gimmick). At that time he became The Rock and was thoroughly booed until not only he took over The Nation himself (Ron Simmons aka Farooq was the leader) but the remaining members eventually turned on him. For that he was briefly a face.

Then by early 1999 he became a heel when he joined Vince McMahon as part of the corporation. Oh yeah that was Vince's gimmick, he was the megalomaniac owner of the WWF and the fans hated him. McMahon was in a serious feud with Stone Cold (just so that you know this was all TV not real would you believe anyone could get away with being insubordinate without some repercussions).

Well the Rock joined Vince and his crew but the fans were starting to like The Rock. At one point Rock would sound off his favorite catch phrases and the fans would start repeating him. The Rock would keep stopping telling him that this is not sing-a-long with The Rock, but the fans kept at it and he just kept on moving. Not too long he would become the fan favorite and to many he still was even during his heel turn after he started his film career.

But his appearance on Smackdown reminded me of when wrestling was good. It didn't matter if I was watching the old WCW or ECW there were performers who were worth watching and storylines worth following. Today whether I was in school or even at home during the summers or holidays or even my extended stay at home when I graduated that I could care less about what's going on in professional wrestling. Perhaps one day it will be good once again!

Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show

I like YouTube, I can see videos for the sake of nostalgia. Usually the nostalgia is of things that I missed out on. I'm like what was I doing that I never saw this or that or appreciated this or that.

It's somewhat how I am about the Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. I was always a WB cartoon fan especially Looney Tunes, but this show I never really watched. I remember the overture, but I didn't get beyond the show. Indeed I had other opportunities to watch Bugs Bunny and crew or at least so I thought.

Once upon a time old cartoons could be found on TV during the afternoons. Now everything is current it could be on the broadcast stations or on cable. Getting older I find that most of the cartoons that air today doesn't interest me.

Oh what I'd give for some Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, Popeye, or even Tom & Jerry today. They're luxuries now and todays children have other programs to watch and those who are my age well we wonder what kids are watching these days and consider them crap compared to what we watched.

Anyway who knows why I never watched this show back in the day. I may never have interested me or it was too early in the morning or I was watching something else. At least I can always see a YouTube version of this TV program's opening.

BTW, I understand that beyond shelling out some cash to see these old cartoons of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies you're hardpressed to see those cartoons anymore. When I saw that info, I thought that was a mistake although I somewhat understand it. Perhaps these days the old WB cartoons have truly fallen out of style although one day people will really want to see them again. For right now, however there's always Cartoon Network. The only place for not to watch some of these classic cartoons.

This takes me back!

This seems like a long time ago when I was in school for this. Well this video aired at 6AM and it was unlikely that I was ever up that early. Still I remember this except I would watch cartoons that aired during the noon hour.

Channel 32 was a different animal in those days. I mean cartoons in the morning until about 1992 or 1993 when they started the whole FOX News in the Morning thing. Then for the rest of the day either cartoons or TV reruns. FOX 32 was certainly a wild west of sorts for a TV station that was a member of a brand new TV network. Even in those days FOX took chances more than they seem to now!

In this era I could watch cartoons. I don't remember exactly what would be seen on 32. Perhaps The Care Bears or My Little Ponies or even the favorite of most young me in my generation, ThunderCats. I also remember that I could watch a nice helping of Our Gang.

You know something what many of us find airing on TV during the day is bland compared to what they show on TV these days. I can literally live without the saturation of courtroom programs, talk shows, even the reruns of recently run programs. I wish I can go back to the time when one could find in abundance reruns of programs that aired in the 1960s and 1970s like there were over a decade ago.

Hey, if I hadn't watched TV in the early 1990s I wouldn't have had a nice early does of Battlestar Galactica many years before the premier of the newer version that everyone seems to like on the Sci-Fi Channel. Ah those were the days!

BTW, I wanted to lighten things up around here. Sometimes it pays to do that. It's my mind after all!!! ;-)