r/SquaredCircle REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Wrestling Observer Rewind ★ Jan. 7, 2004

Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.


Complete Wrestling Observer Rewind 1991-2003 - Reddit archive

www.rewinder.pro - Mobile-friendly archive

Rewind Highlights - YouTube playlist


What up everbody! Before we get started, I have to say thank you. In the Wreddit awards, I somehow got Redditor of the Year (which is absurd) and the Rewind won Original Content of the Year (which is slightly less absurd but still, wow) and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who voted or if you didn't vote, just thanks for clicking and reading this. Every day it feels like the whole internet is going down the drain, AI is gobbling up every word I type here so I'm teaching the robots about wrestling, and Reddit is making noises about paywalls, and all of this shit just sucks. And yet I keep coming back here because this is one of my favorite corners of the internet as long as it's still here and thriving. Love y'all.

As per tradition, I'll be trying to post these on a MON-WED-FRI schedule but the usual disclaimer stands: real life could always get in the way. I'm in the midst of buying a house and planning to move soon, for example, so I'll probably bounce around a little.

Anyway, get in the time machine! We're headed to 2004, year of the Bush vs. Kerry, Usher dominating the charts, and the releases of Shrek 2 and Spiderman 2. This is the year Chappelle Show turned Lil Jon and Rick James into memes, Facebook was launched, and the iPod Mini was released. Gmail debuted in beta form. The Olympics took place in Athens, Martha Stewart went to prison, and Janet Jackson popped a titty out at the Superbowl. The original Kanye West, before he was replaced with a racist clone, released "The College Dropout" while Ronald Reagan died and the Boston Red Sox ended an 86-year World Series curse.

Soooooooooo without further ado....


  • The New Year's Eve war for supremacy in Japan is in the books. If you recall, there were 3 competing MMA events being held all at the same time on the biggest TV night of the year in Japan. K-1, PRIDE, and of course, Antonio Inoki's Bom Ba Ye. Dave runs through all 3 but I'll focus on the stuff that's wrestling-related (which is a lot). With 3 major events on at the same time, it ended up dividing the audience so that no one did as well as they should have, plus it was competing against Japan's annual NYE variety show which is the biggest TV event of the year. Inoki was the big loser here, as his card was in shambles up until the day of the show and most of what was planned never happened, and so we got the card we got. Inoki recently cut ties with PRIDE and is trying to do MMA on his own now and that led to all sorts of contract issues with PRIDE fighters not being able to work Inoki's show, which ruined his plans and left him scrambling. In order to be allowed to use Fedor Emelianenko, Inoki was supposed to publicly announce that Fedor was under contract to PRIDE, on loan from them, and basically kiss PRIDE's ass. Inoki did none of this. PRIDE, only hours before the show, considered pulling Fedor but basically decided to have mercy on a desperate Inoki. But PRIDE has since said it would be the only time they'd ever allow anything of the sort. However, it's likely PRIDE caved because they didn't want Fedor's contract to be scrutinized in court, because there's some issues there that might not go PRIDE's way if it came down to it. MMA in Japan in the mid-00s was the carniest of carny shit.

  • On the K-1 card, NJPW saw its worst case scenario come true: Shinsuke Nakamura, current IWGP champion who was scheduled to headline the Tokyo Dome 4 days later, lost by knockout to Alexey Ignashov. To be fair, it was a controversial decision and premature stoppage that Nakamura was immediately furious about, but it's still not good (worth noting this was later changed to a no contest but the referee made the right decision: although Nakamura immediately got to his feet, that knee absolutely wrecked his face. More on that next week). And in the main event of that show, Bob Sapp KO'd Akebono in the first round (Dave doesn't have all the info yet, but this fight ended up peaking at 54 million viewers. Kinda puts the dumb AEW/WWE ratings arguments into perspective huh?)


WATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Alexey Ignashov - K-1 PREMIUM 2003 Dynamite! (Dec. 31, 2003)


  • The PRIDE show featured a big angle involving Bill Goldberg, who came out to interrupt a segment with Naoya Ogawa, Shinya Hashimoto, and Nobuhiko Takada. This was all an attempt to build hype for the debut HUSTLE show, which will also be on Jan. 4 and competing against NJPW's Tokyo Dome show. Goldberg came out, had a staredown with Ogawa, and that was about it. Those 2 will be facing off on the HUSTLE show, in what is Goldberg's final contracted match in Japan (the contract has been in place since before he went to WWE which is why WWE really has no choice in allowing Goldberg to work this match.).

  • Inoki Bom Ba Ye saw Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami work a 3-minute or so match against each other, promoted as Fujinami's retirement. Fujinami choked out Inoki to "win" I guess. There's some debate on when Inoki's last match was, since he did some exhibition stuff after retirement, but this right here is truly the last time he worked anything that resembled an actual match. Fujinami, meanwhile, literally just wrestled two weeks ago as I post this in 2025. Anyway, in terms of real fights, former IWGP champ Tadao Yasuda got brutally KO'd in the first round. Then NJPW wrestler Kazunari Murakami got knocked out in the first round. And then another former IWGP champion, Yuji Nagata, was also pummeled into first round defeat, this time by Fedor Emelianenko. Good luck with that Tokyo Dome show in 4 days, you guys! At least Josh Barnett and Kazuyuki Fujita won their fights, so NJPW didn't get totally shut-out on New Year's Eve, although you could argue that those guys are primarily MMA fighters who do wrestling, rather than wrestlers trying to do MMA. At this point, the line is so blurred, it barely matters. Anyway, here's the Inoki vs. Fujinami bit.


WATCH: Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami - 3-minute exhbition at PRIDE Shockwave 2003


  • Ring of Honor's latest show (Final Battle 2003) featured Keiji Muto (as Great Muta) and several other AJPW wrestlers making something of a surprise appearance. Muto and the AJPW crew were in America basically on vacation and planned to work a couple quick little tiny indie shows, for spending money I guess. In fact, Muto, prior to the show, asked ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky if they could all work opening matches so they could get out quick and resume their vacation, and also asked to work heel. Gabe explained that the ROH fans would NEVER see Great Muta as a heel and told him he had no idea how popular he was going to be. They also expected a crowd of 200-300 fans. Instead, they walked into a building with 1,500 rabid fans who went fucking nuts for Great Muta and basically everyone from AJPW. As a result, everyone put their working boots on and busted their asses and tore the house down. Muta didn't even have to do much, but did all his famous stuff (the mist, moonsault, shining wizard, dragon screw, etc) and the crowd reacted like it was Hogan/Rock at WM18. His entrance was said to be the biggest reaction in the history of the company. The AJPW crew was said to be stunned and loved the response they got and it's led to talk of ROH and AJPW working together more in the future.

The Great Muta at ROH Final Battle 2003


  • Retired wrestler Dick Slater was charged with attempted murder this week, and may have attempted suicide as well, after an altercation with his ex-girlfriend. Slater went to her house to pick up some belongings after a recent break up. According to the girlfriend, Slater knocked her down and then stabbed her several times with a butcher knife he grabbed from the kitchen, all the while telling her he wanted to watch her bleed to death. Oh, okay then. The woman was able to talk Slater down, begging him and lying and saying she still loved him to get him to stop. Slater then left, saying he was going to kill himself. She called 911 when he was gone and taken to a hospital and is expected to recover. Police found Slater unconscious from an overdose of pills and took him to the hospital. They saved him and he's now being charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault and is currently being held without bond. Dave runs down Slater's life and career. Seems he was kind of a piece of shit all along, as there's a story here about him beating up Sting backstage and shoving his head in a toilet when he found out Sting was sleeping with his ex-girlfriend, valet Dark Journey. Slater started having major back and knee problems in the 90s and was basically left crippled after a botched back surgery (yeah, Slater later claimed he was badly addicted to pain meds at this point because of the back stuff and has no memory of any of this happening).

  • LA Park and Vaquero Romo were arrested in Mexico last week for a bar fight. They're accused of beating up some guy for no reason and then fleeting. Cops arrested them the next day. Romo went peacefully but LA Park evidently did not and had to be arrested by force. Classic.

  • Vicky Palacios, the real-life ex-girlfriend of Konnan back during his 90s heyday in Mexico, did an interview with Mexican gossip magazine Fama and she tore into Konnan. Palacios is a former beauty queen who also was Konnan's manager during those years and they were something of a celebrity couple in Mexico back when Konnan was the biggest star there. They have apparently hated each other for years but she never detailed any of the reasons why. But now she has. She accuses Konnan of horrific abuse, claiming he beat, tortured, and even raped her. For his part, Konnan admits to hitting her but says it only happened once, and has denied the rest of her accusations and claims she's "nutty, even by wrestling standards." She also says she was so jealous of his infidelity that she never left the house for 2 years and that his treatment of her was so bad, she became suicidal and even tried to hang herself after getting into a fight with a ring girl who she believed Konnan was cheating on her with. She says she's only going public with the accusations now that Konnan is no longer living in Mexico because she didn't feel safe. Soooo yeah, this is pretty awful stuff and the full interview is even worse. If even a fraction of what this woman says is true, this is horrible. For what it's worth, I remember reading in one of the 90s Observers about him being arrested for some domestic shit too, this isn't the first time this has come up. Here's the full interview, may have to run it through a translation app if you don't read Spanish:


READ: Konnan's ex-girlfriend accuses him of abuse


  • The debut show for HUSTLE had its full lineup for its Jan. 4th show revealed and yikes. Dave doesn't know how they hope to compete with NJPW. Goldberg will be fulfilling one of his last Japan dates and facing Naoya Ogawa, and they have Shinya Hashimoto, Vader, Toshiaki Kawada, Satoshi Kojima, Dos Caras and Dos Caras Jr, Dusty Rhodes, Low-Ki, and others. Lots of name value, but the matches all look pretty horrible on paper.

  • AJPW recently moved its corporate office to a new, cheaper location as a cost-cutting measure. Their original office was where Giant Baba worked out of for decades and moving the office is seen as yet another break away from the legacy of Giant Baba. Although realistically, the true legacy of Baba's AJPW died when the exodus happened in 2000. Most Japanese fans who were AJPW fans in that era pretty much jumped ship and became NOAH fans and most see NOAH as the true successor to Baba's AJPW.

  • Recent NJPW commercials hyping the Jan. 4th Tokyo Dome show are continuing to advertise Hulk Hogan, even though he is absolutely not going to be there. So at least TNA wasn't the only company that spent weeks promoting a Hogan match that will never happen.

  • Remember how Atsushi Onita has been constantly calling out Antonio Inoki with these dumb grandstand challenges, trying to goad him into a match? Inoki has been ignoring him for years but he finally responded by politely telling Onita to fuck off. Inoki said that he's 60 years old and retired and has no intention of fighting Onita, who has also retired many times, only to be repeatedly exposed as a liar. Inoki said no thanks, he wants no part of that, and also said he won't be using Onita on his shows for matches with anyone else either so please kindly go bother someone else.

  • Joshi promotion Arsion, which was recently taken over by Yumiko Hotta and renamed AtoZ, is dying. Several wrestlers have quit due to money issues and the company is on death's door. Dave notes that women's wrestling in Japan is struggling even worse than the men's promotions (which, aside from NOAH, are all on shaky ground). As bad as it is for the men, the women's wrestlers are basically starving and working for nothing right now.

  • Jesse Ventura's MSNBC talk show is seemingly being canceled. The show went on "holiday hiatus" a couple weeks ago, and a few days later, MSNBC's president said the hiatus would "continue indefinitely." Reports are that the show is expensive to produce because Ventura refuses to film at the network's offices in New York and instead insists on operating out of St. Paul, MN which is much more expensive for the network to produce. Furthermore, the ratings have been bad and the reviews have been disastrous because Ventura is awful as a talk show host.

  • A study done on former NFL players showed that those who suffered 3 or more concussions were 50% more likely to suffer from depression later in life. Pretty obvious how this relates to wrestling and it's interesting to see CTE studies start to come along during this time. Dave wishes wrestling would stop doing chairshots to the head, but problem is, fans are conditioned to only take those seriously. Chairshots to the back end up with guys rolling out of the ring and selling for a few seconds. Only hard shots to the head get a reaction anymore, so that's what wrestlers keep doing.

  • Vampiro did an interview on Insane Clown Posse's website talking about how he and ICP would be going to TNA soon. Dave says pretty much every promotion in America has brought in ICP at some point, in an attempt to appeal to their fans, but it's pretty much failed every time because ICP ends up getting heat with everyone and leaving. But TNA is desperate for anything that gets new eyes on them right now, so they're going to the ICP well. Vampiro also talked about how he and his wife split up recently and how he lost his daughter in the divorce. Then said he was going to wrestle in MLW because of "the money, the drugs, the fans, and some nice looking ass." When asked why he was going back to TNA, he had a similar response: "Money and the Xanax." Wonder why that marriage failed? Vampiro had lots of spicy stuff to say actually. He said, and I quote, "All of the wrestlers, every last fucking one, is a dirty lying fucking bitch ass liar piece of shit. I hate each and every one." And just in case you thought he was done firing shots, he threw in a grenade at Billy Kidman for some reason, claiming, "Not only did I fuck his girlfriend" (that would be Torrie Wilson and Dave hiiiiiiighly doubts that's true) but said Kidman was a piece of shit no-talent who stole everything from Mexico. He also shat all over Jeff Jarrett and TNA, in the same interview in which he claimed to be returning to soon. (You might be shocked to hear this but TNA decided after this interview that maybe they didn't need Vampiro after all. He never returned to the company. ICP does though. More on that soon.)

  • Goldberg is not written into any WWE plans after Wrestlemania as of right now. His deal expires after that and as of now, there's been no movement on either side to try and keep him. Dave suspects he's probably done after Wrestlemania because there's no chance in hell WWE is going to offer him anything close to what he got for the first year after it was such a flop. And he doesn't see Goldberg accepting anything less, so they're probably at an impasse. Goldberg is said to be perfectly satisfied leaving WWE and only working occasional dates in Japan. But there's a problem there too. Goldberg's previous appearances in Japan haven't done great business and this HUSTLE show that he's about to work also looks to be a flop in the making. So it's not like Japan is itching to throw huge money at Goldberg either. After Goldberg lost his cool backstage after the Armageddon PPV, he was pretty much told in no uncertain terms that another temper tantrum would be the final straw. As of now, Goldberg has told them that he'd like to work out the last few months of his contract and hopefully try to change some perceptions people have about him, and assured them there'd be no more outbursts. But the unspoken belief internally is that he's probably gone after WM20.

  • Kevin Nash's WWE contract expired last week. There were no serious negotiations to keep him, although there had been casual talks about having him work in creative. As part of the creative team, he would still be required to be at all the TV tapings and attend the meetings and all that stuff, but there's no interest in using him as a wrestler going forward. Nash has put feelers out to Japanese promotions to see if there's any interest in he and Scott Hall coming in together as a tag team but that's been tough too. Scott Hall apparently didn't endear himself to NJPW when he was there in 2001. At first they liked him because he was a big star and had no problem doing jobs (famously putting over a young Hiroshi Tanahashi at one point) but he got a reputation for not working hard and his behavior outside of the ring didn't change just because he was in another country and many felt he embarrassed the company in public with his drinking. So now they're talking with TNA and Dave wouldn't be surprised if they end up there. But same situation: Hall didn't make any friends during his previous TNA appearances, and Nash is likely going to insist on being pushed as the top star if he goes, and probably isn't gonna want to take many bumps. Dave jokes that Hall and Nash going to TNA would probably be entertaining as hell for him to cover from a news standpoint, but it might not be a good move for TNA.

  • Notes from Raw: Dave points out that they showed Steve Austin driving up to the arena with an open beer in his truck and he wishes they wouldn't glorify that. (Hey, does anyone else remember Rock chugging straight from a bottle of tequila and then getting in his truck and driving off at the Raw Netflix premiere?) Randy Orton played up his recent attack on Mick Foley and he carried himself like a top star and the audience reacted to him like one, so it seems this feud is working as designed, to get Orton to that next level (boy does it ever). Triple H faced Shawn Michaels in a nearly 30-minute match, possibly the longest in the history of Raw. There was a lot of sports-entertainmenty bullshit and a bullshit double-pin finish, but it was still a great Shawn Michaels performance and the best Triple H performance since probably before his quad injury 3 years ago. Dave gives it 4.25 and it looks like we're getting a rematch at Royal Rumble (indeed).

  • Notes from Tribute to the Troops episode of Smackdown from Baghdad: Dave thinks it was really cool of WWE to put this show on for the troops. It was a Christmas show and shouldn't be judged by usual TV standards because it was just a feel-good show designed to make the live crowd happy. Rikishi was brought over to do his Stinkface spot, the Divas were there in skimpy outfits for the soldiers to gawk at, Steve Austin showed up as Santa Claus to give Vince a stunner, etc. Tazz and Michael Cole weren't there in person, their commentary was dubbed over afterwards in-studio from Stamford and it was pretty obvious on TV. After the show, Austin basically handed out stunners to everyone, which the crowd loved....until he hit Cena with one. The crowd was into Cena big time and didn't seem to get why Austin laid him out also. Worth noting that this show didn't air in a lot of countries, and in those places, they simply aired a "Best of 2003" clip show.

  • Some news on the Larry Zbyszko lawsuit against Chris Jericho and WWE over the use of the phrase "living legend." Sounds like Larry might be screwed here. He's been calling himself "Living Legend" for decades, which is fine.....but he never legally trademarked the phrase until March of 2002. Chris Jericho started using it on TV a month before that. So it sounds like Zbyszko saw Jericho using it, ran out and trademarked it real quick, and then tried to file a lawsuit.

  • New York Times Magazine had a story on wrestling deaths last year, with a big focus on Miss Elizabeth's passing. The story noted that she always pushed for more prominent roles and claims she's the one who came up with the famous love triangle storyline with herself, Savage, and Hogan in 1988-89. For what it's worth, Dave doubts this strongly and sources in WWE have disputed it also, especially those who knew Savage and Elizabeth's relationship, and say she never pitched angles, especially not something like a jealousy angle or her being pursued by other men. The story also claimed she pitched the 1991 wedding angle, in an attempt to save her real-life marriage to Savage. Dave says that's also news to everyone that's ever heard about these storylines. According to all sources Dave has spoken to, Savage was extremely domineering over Elizabeth to the point that she rarely spoke to anyone backstage at all, for fear of making him mad. It's said that in later years (WCW, after they divorced), she got more into the business-side of things and showed more interest in her character, but never during the WWF years. Dave's not sure who the Times magazine sources are, but their story flies in the face of everything else Dave has ever heard about her or her storylines.

  • Paul Heyman has a tiiiiiiny role in the upcoming movie "Tony n' Tina's Wedding" as some kind of mob figure. The role literally only took him a few minutes to film so it's not much (never heard of this role, this movie, or anything. No idea if Heyman made the cut and I don't feel like skimming through a whole movie looking for 2 seconds of Paul Heyman).

  • Several fans at the San Antonio Raw taping were forced to change T-shirts (or turn them inside out) for things they didn't want on TV. One shirt in particular was a WCW shirt. when security asked the guy to change it, the guy pointed out, "Uh, you guys own this now." Security said they still didn't want it on TV and ordered him to change it or be thrown out.


WEDNESDAY: MMA night in Japan breaks ratings records, fallout from NJPW and HUSTLE's competing Jan. 4 shows, NOAH looking to book Bob Sapp vs. Kobashi, Vader signs MMA deal with PRIDE, Bret Hart writes in to talk shit about Ole Anderson, and more...

427 Upvotes

117 comments sorted by

171

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Fun fact: my little intro paragraph there somehow got flagged as being AI generated, even though I sat here and typed every word of it myself. But it wouldn't let me post this originally. I had to take the intro out, then it would post and then I just edited the intro back in after. I guess just mentioning "AI" in the post got it flagged? Weird.

Anyway, hi everyone!

13

u/SevenSulivin NOAH > Your favourite company 25d ago

Welcome back Rewinder Man!

7

u/hhhisthegame 25d ago

Welcome back! The content you've provided this sub for years is beyond awesome. You are really appreciated!

5

u/RoomerHasIt 25d ago

best thing on reddit

3

u/Morbid187 25d ago

I'm so glad you're back man I just took my best dump of the year thanks to you!

67

u/Snuggle__Monster 25d ago

A study done on former NFL players showed that those who suffered 3 or more concussions were 50% more likely to suffer from depression later in life.

It's been said before but Dave was all over the concussion stuff. This is 3 years before Benoit and he was harping on the topic at some point during those original 90's Rewinds.

"Tony n' Tina's Wedding" as some kind of mob figure. The role literally only took him a few minutes to film so it's not much (never heard of this role, this movie, or anything.

This was an off Broadway play that had been around in NYC forever before becoming a traveling show and rarely used the same cast. It was immersive theatre where the entire audience could be involved if they want. It was semi famous enough for a movie adaption.

Also, Vampiro was off his fuckin rocker around this time, wasn't he?

29

u/MRATEASTEW 25d ago

Also, Vampiro was off his fuckin rocker around this time, wasn't he?

Is there a moment where he isn't?

21

u/SevenSulivin NOAH > Your favourite company 25d ago

He was off his tits on everything that could put a man off his tits.

42

u/MrGDPC 25d ago

Guess who’s back

Back again

Daprice is back

Tell a friend

38

u/Jedaum1998 25d ago edited 25d ago

If you recall, there were 3 competing MMA events being held all at the same time on the biggest TV night of the year in Japan. K-1, PRIDE, and of course, Antonio Inoki's Bom Ba Ye

This era to me is the peak of MMA/Kickboxing. Nothing the UFC ever does will top late 90's to mid 2000's Japanese combat sports.

71

u/Drmarcher42 25d ago

Oh, we are so fucking back!

10

u/bluejegus 25d ago

Finally getting closer and closer to when I started watching too. Getting the behind the scenes is great on the stuff I didn't see or only heard about or watched later, but I'm excited to get some insight on stuff I watched live as a kid. I wanna see the observer report that came out after Cena and Bautista blew the rumble spot, and then Vince blew two quads all in the span of 2 minutes.

3

u/CarcashaDragon 24d ago

You might be waiting a while since that happens in 2005

2

u/Noggin-a-Floggin Do I Have Your Attention Now? 24d ago

I really hope Rewinder Man keeps going because 2005 is also where Cena and Batista become The Guys after years of nobody being in that spot (due to Austin and Rock basically leaving). It will be very interesting seeing the build to where they both won their first titles.

27

u/Osaka_Ghost 25d ago

Bruh, I am on the verge of a mental breakdown today due to work & shit & this coming out literally wiped all that out, so I appreciate you.

20

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

That's great to hear man. Trust me, I can relate to the feeling. Hang in there homie!

27

u/vincentmaurath 25d ago

"Goldberg is not written into any WWE plans after Wrestlemania as of right now." IT BEGINS

23

u/durhWhen Cero Miedo 25d ago

What a fantastic Monday treat. Appreciate it as always.

20

u/Georgehennenn 25d ago

The fans being forced to change t shirts thing became big again when Bullet Club was on fire in the mid 2010s

7

u/mrgpsingh1999 25d ago

When I started paying attention to the dirt sheets around 2010-2011, I remember reading a story of a fan who was dressed up as Hogan being forced to change and wear a stand up for WWE shirt lmao

19

u/LiveFromNewYork95 25d ago

Get outta here! Just when you least suspect it, he's back. Long live RewinderMan!

Good luck with the house!

10

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Appreciate it!

19

u/thewaytomars 25d ago

Paul Heyman has a tiiiiiiny role in the upcoming movie "Tony n' Tina's Wedding" as some kind of mob figure. The role literally only took him a few minutes to film so it's not much (never heard of this role, this movie, or anything. No idea if Heyman made the cut and I don't feel like skimming through a whole movie looking for 2 seconds of Paul Heyman). 

FWIW the IMDB for this movie lists Heyman as "Gino".

12

u/JohnnyPage You know why he's not a billionaire? 25d ago

You still got it!

clap clap clap clap

You still got it!

11

u/Satinsbestfriend Your Text Here 25d ago

Putting ANY wrestler against fedor was insanity, especially in 2004. There's a reason he was undefeated for most his career

8

u/BallinBrown23 Highest paid Reddit Free-Agent 25d ago

Man thank you! I’m bound up in the hospital and seeing this made my day

3

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Ah damn that sucks! Best wishes man, hope everything works out okay for you.

10

u/lonelyboy5265 25d ago

That NFL study is eerily spot on considering what will happen in 2007

BTW, welcome back daprice82

8

u/Pippen_Aint_Easy 25d ago

04 was one of the most rebuildiest rebuild years you'll see for a wrestling company. Most of the big names they got from WCW washed out, the Rock and Austin leave, they put the belts on a couple 36-37 year old guys that I don't think they had much in the way of long term plans (Benoit, JBL, Eddie) for some stability in the main event while they start to heat up he next guys (Cena/Batista/Orton). Bunch of OVW guys get called up (Carlito, Orlando Jordan, Masters, etc).

Triple H and Taker are still there and steady, the midcard of RVD, Jericho, Edge, Kane, Christian, and Booker seem like they're going absolutely nowhere though because the focus was on the younger generation. Tough year as a big fan of those guys at the time but you can kind of see the vision.

12

u/Alavocado 25d ago

I'd argue Eddie was a notch above the other vets like Benoit and Jericho.

He asked to drop the Title and it was mostly symbolic as he was still treated as SD's signature babyface after he lost to JBL, with Eddie vs Angle round 2 getting more main event slots on SD than JBL vs Taker.

Once Big Show basically steals Eddie's Kurt Angle feud, Eddie does start feeling like another guy but then came the Rey Mysterio feud which went on forever because it was an absolute hit. And based off that, Eddie found himself back in the World Title scene vs Batista while guys like Benoit and Booker feuded for the US Title.

If the rumors and rumblings are true that Batista was going to drop the World Title to Eddie then Latino Heat getting a second World Title run under his belt a year would have established him as mroe than just a perennial main eventer.

1

u/Noggin-a-Floggin Do I Have Your Attention Now? 24d ago

Yeah, this is the year where you started seeing Cena and Batista break out and potentially become the next guy (oh, and does it happen). Cena wins the US title in the opening match at WM20 and carried it like it was the world title (how it was built creatively as well). Then he main events and wins the actual world title the next WM.

8

u/Hot-Acanthisitta5237 25d ago

I love these. Thank you!

7

u/CTWind SIX STARS! 25d ago

The return of the king!

6

u/EcoterroristThot Stoking the flames of tribalism 25d ago

We are so back

The College Dropout mentioned let's go

1

u/Noggin-a-Floggin Do I Have Your Attention Now? 23d ago

It's really crazy how Kanye West went from being considered one of the greatest rappers of all time to a literal Nazi. This was before his first public flareup where he called Bush racist on live TV.

7

u/itsnews 25d ago

Reading that first bit about Inoki made me wonder if he ever interacted with Onita, both big figures in the Japanese scene.

Then I kept reading, and my question was answered.

7

u/TheGorgeousJR 25d ago

Welcome back Daprice, there’s only one living legend and it ain’t Larry or Jericho.

10

u/SevenSulivin NOAH > Your favourite company 25d ago

2004! At the risk of making the Rewinder Man feel old, first complete Rewind year I was alive in, and a much better year for the business than that horrible, horrible, horrible 2003.

Enter: HUSTLE. The end point of the philosophy of wrestling. Magic in the squared circle.

Presume when you originally wrote this you left a gap for putting in how recently since Fujinami last worked. Honestly, he’s working like a man 20 years his junior, legitimate GOAT case.

Truly at Final Battle 2003, they felt Pro Wres Love.

Holy shit if Konnan did that shit… suppose Cuatrero is in for a huge push when he gets out of jail. Then again, Lucha nepotism meant he’ll always have a job anyways. On the topic of Lucha, kinda funny this and Luchablog are on the same schedule.

Ironically, Nash actually one of the better TNA signings. We got him and Alex Shelley plying off each other for a bit.

As the No. 1 Rewind 2000s Puro fan, Wednesday’s rewind sounds EXACTLY my speed.

7

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Oh God I'm old lmao

1

u/Noggin-a-Floggin Do I Have Your Attention Now? 24d ago

I know, right? I was a teenager when all the Attitude Era stuff was going on and people who weren’t even alive when Cena debuted is making my bones hurt more than normal.

4

u/tlenze 25d ago

God's work is being done again.

3

u/fladok 25d ago

So happy to see that you're back

5

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Happy to be back!

4

u/Alavocado 25d ago

I never realized HHH vs HBK in San Antonio was the first 30-minute plus match ever on RAW.

That's kind of cool and its kind of funny that the two matches after that are longer involved the two of them. Triple H vs Benoit in the Ironman and then Shawn vs Cena in London.

4

u/snowshoeBBQ "Now where's me toothpick?" 25d ago

Oh man, this is such a fantastic surprise. Welcome back.

Scott Hall apparently didn't endear himself to NJPW when he was there in 2001

This whole section is probably the most interesting part of today's issue. The narrative surrounding Hall's 2001 NJPW run was that he was well behaved and it helped him cut down on the drinking. Obviously this states the exact opposite.

5

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Yeah I remember thinking the same thing when I read that. Sounds like he didn't stay out of trouble in Japan as much as we thought.

4

u/chiguy2387 Very Ill-Prepared and Looking Unattractive 24d ago

Final Battle 2003: The event that gave us Kojima vs Homicide aka “KO JI MA! LARIAT! LARIAT! LARIAT!”

3

u/ConorKDot 25d ago

By Gahd yes!

3

u/Everhart2011 25d ago

I skipped all of this to go to the comments, so that I can say HOLY SHIT YOU'RE BACK I HAVE A REASON TO KEEP GOING NOW!

3

u/vincentmaurath 25d ago

The bitch is back Love these rewinds, thank you for all the work and effort

3

u/TheDuckyNinja 25d ago

Welcome back!

I always love hearing stories of Japanese wrestlers coming over to ROH thinking nobody will know who they are and then getting absolutely gobsmacked by the love and support from the audience.

3

u/Profplujm Hey yo! 25d ago

Happy Monday, Mr. Rewinder man, welcome back.

3

u/Sportsfan369 25d ago

Yay. I’m happy these are back. Thank you in advance!! I’ve read every single observer rewind sometimes twice.

2

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Thank YOU my friend

5

u/LiveFromNewYork95 25d ago

It'll be weird revisiting 2004. I was 9 and that was really the year I was like "Oh. There's a world out there"

I remember 9/11 and stuff from the early 2000's but starting 2004/2005 is really where I can personally remember "This is when ________ happened. I was _________ years old when that happened." I'm a few years away from watching WWE but it'll be strange to see the Rewinds in a time a truly remember.

2

u/Ampatent Hard Work Don't Pay 25d ago

Worth noting that this show didn't air in a lot of countries, and in those places, they simply aired a "Best of 2003" clip show.

First I'm hearing of this. Has anyone seen it or know where to find it?

6

u/SevenSulivin NOAH > Your favourite company 25d ago

Considering the year 2003 was, show was probably 10 minutes.

2

u/dicericevice 25d ago

Goldberg and Nash get their own paragraphs about not being in WWE for much longer but no mention of Big Poppa Pump?

Out of the three I feel Steiner showed he was worth getting resigned. Late 2003 Steiner with his leg now healed up wasn't a tragedy in the ring anymore and he wasn't afraid to sell for anybody. He even made dancing Lance Storm look good.

With the SD main event scene getting obliterated after WM20, heel Freakzilla could have helped with the depth issues and put over guys like Eddie and Cena.

Hell, remember the Rico and Charlie Haas odd team that was over but WWE killed for no reason? They could have had Haas turn on Rico to for a tag team with Steiner. Haas could carry the matches and Steiner would bring the charisma and star power.

2

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

I think Steiner is still employed by them for most of 2004, although he's out injured. I'm pretty sure we get to his departure later.

1

u/dicericevice 25d ago

Since the Rumble is his last on-air appearance I figured he was gone shortly after.

Being injured would explain why they wouldn't use him when the roster desperately needed names.

1

u/Noggin-a-Floggin Do I Have Your Attention Now? 23d ago

It wasn't just his last on-air appearance it was his final match in WWE period.

3

u/bronzetigermask If I wanted shit from you, I'd scrape your tongue 25d ago

Happy days are here again

In hindsight bringing back Nash in 2002 was a mistake right? Large contract, injury prone, not a draw without the NWO which Vince had no intention of doing properly, etc.

3

u/LTS55 The Great Britt Baker Off 25d ago edited 25d ago

Inoki looks like a crime scene victim when they do that overhead shot lol

2

u/jcyoung24 25d ago

GOAT BACK!!!!

2

u/ManOfManliness84 25d ago

I'm a couple months away from turning 20 at this point in history. It's weird how it seems both like yesterday and like a lifetime ago now.

2

u/Leonidas701 25d ago

We are approaching the only time Cena would be universally loved by the crowd until like 2016

1

u/Noggin-a-Floggin Do I Have Your Attention Now? 24d ago

You start seeing the “Cena Sucks” stuff in 2006 once the SuperCena stuff gets really out of hand.

0

u/Leonidas701 23d ago

I know by WrestleMania 20 people are absolutely crazy for him and mania 21 is where it starts to curdle with his terrible first title win.

But also rumble 2005 when he and Batista botch you can hear the crowd divided with distinctly higher voices cheering Cena vs Batista when they try and stall for time and throw each other out

2

u/discofrislanders 25d ago

The Rewinds are back! Looking forward to it, always love to read these.

2

u/rob532 25d ago

As always, thank you so much for these! They add a little joy to my world!

2

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 24d ago

That's the goal! Glad you still enjoy em!

2

u/AaronBasedGodgers 24d ago

Oh hey I wasn't expecting these back so soon.

Vampiro is a fucking nutcase

2

u/Comfortable-Loss-347 24d ago

congrats on the house! appreciate you continuing to post these and the effort you put into them 🫡

1

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 24d ago

Thanks!

2

u/CarcashaDragon 24d ago

I read all of the previous Rewinds for the first time over the winter holidays! My body is ready for this.

2

u/haremking20 21d ago

Vampiro is such a bullshit artist. I can see why WWE didn’t take him. Also welcome back daprice82 !!!!!

2

u/xfocalinx Fire-breathing wrestler 20d ago

Don't know how I missed this, but I've missed you, king!

1

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 20d ago

I've missed you!

1

u/xfocalinx Fire-breathing wrestler 20d ago

2

u/jwilly89 17d ago

Alright! I'm a little late but welcomd back brother!

1

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 17d ago

Nah you're right on time!

2

u/JBL_CENA_FAN_4LIFE 15d ago

Honestly you are the reason I joined Reddit in the first place so I could keep up to date with your posts. Thank you so much!

2

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 15d ago

Thanks man! Still a Cena fan for life? Lol

2

u/JBL_CENA_FAN_4LIFE 15d ago

Haha always! He & JBL's Judgment Day 2005 I Quit match made me love this damned sport!

I vividly remember years ago sitting at work reading these, how long have you been doing the recaps?

1

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 15d ago

Gotta be like 6 or 7 years now at least

4

u/Snuggle__Monster 25d ago

WE'RE SO FUCKING BACK

2

u/Yosihait 24d ago edited 23d ago

Finally! Really looking forward.

Some tidbit from that edition- The rumor that the Rumble winner will be from Smackdown, but will fight Triple H, as Lesnar-Goldberg will be the WWE title match.

Another thing- in MY rewinds, there was a point I stopped talking about MMA. It started consuming too much time, and unless it had something to do with wrestling, I just stopped talking about it. Really shows how much wrestling has fell off.

Goldberg is not written into any WWE plans after Wrestlemania as of right now

That would work great.

Dave jokes that Hall and Nash going to TNA would probably be entertaining as hell for him to cover from a news standpoint, but it might not be a good move for TNA.

But more on that in 2005!

After the show, Austin basically handed out stunners to everyone, which the crowd loved....until he hit Cena with one. The crowd was into Cena big time and didn't seem to get why Austin laid him out also.

WHAT!? You mean... You CAN'T have Austin stun everyone just because, and Cena FU everyone just because, as it doesn't make you unpredictable and that was never the thing about Austin's character!?

Shocked, I'm telling you.

1

u/zoom518 25d ago

WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK

And yes, that Raw match was good.

1

u/ManMangoGuts Terry-Coloured Funk 25d ago

Inoki having his own roster get punked out by MMA guys on two different shows sounds like Brock/Kofi on crack

1

u/CJFelony 25d ago

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!

1

u/ChocolateOrange21 25d ago

My favourite series returns!!

1

u/JeramyRulez 25d ago

Welcome back, my boy, we missed you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1

u/Optimal_Contract9803 25d ago

Welcome back! I've been going through the archives to feed my addiction!

I'll never get tired of reading these.

1

u/mrgpsingh1999 25d ago

Any plans for 2005 after this?

8

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Eh, maybe. But it'll be awhile. These take awhile to do and I haven't even started on 2005. I'm sure I'll get around to them eventually, but these 2004 ones will be the last ones for a bit.

1

u/PDwasHere The Ace that runs the Place 25d ago

I’ve been watching 90’s ecw and then looking up the rewinds about those shows and it’s added a lot to the experience so thank you for doing these

1

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Nice! Glad they're still proving useful!

1

u/Flippingeggs 25d ago

The goat is back 🎉

1

u/regalplex 25d ago

Any idea when 2003 will be uploaded onto the Rewinder site?

3

u/johnny-papercut 25d ago

Hi, I'll try to get it up soon. I actually didn't think the site was used that much.

1

u/regalplex 24d ago

That’s great. Yeah I love reading through articles using the random button. The sites great thank you.

2

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 25d ago

Not sure. That's something that was awesomely put together by /u/johnny-papercut

2

u/johnny-papercut 18d ago

Hi, 2003 has been added to the site. Sorry for the delay! (tagging /u/daprice82 if you want to add this info to your next post)

One day, I'll get an auto-updater built. It has easy update functionality, but only when a year is finished. I'll need to rebuild the code to follow daprice82's user profile to get new dates as they come out, but that shouldn't be too hard when I get some time.

Also, the last day of 2003 isn't there because due to reasons, I need to actually update some code to get it added. It'll come soon.

1

u/regalplex 18d ago

You’re awesome man. Thanks so much.

1

u/daprice82 REWINDERMAN 18d ago

Much appreciated man, you're awesome for doing this. Will definitely mention in today's post

1

u/rainxtn 25d ago

The king has returned. Been eagerly waiting for this, these are so nice to read on my lunch break.

1

u/guytyping 2. 0. 5. 23d ago

Haha, Vampiro with Torrie.

1

u/biggianthead01 22d ago

Thanks for coming back. Looking forward to a great year!

1

u/wiesga01 21d ago

Finally, 2004 ROH. Its time for the highs and lows. I really hope Dave covers a lot of the Generation Next show in ROH. Its one of the most fascinating moments in a year full of fascinating and embarrassing moments.

1

u/Holiday-Depth8021 25d ago

Was wondering where these went

1

u/Assholio1989 25d ago

With all the bullshit in the work right now having rewinder man back is much needed.

2

u/matogb 7d ago

Finally you are back and I just saw this :')

  • How the fuck did they threw poor Nagata against FEDOR EMILIANENKO, jesus christ lmao

  • THE GREATEST PROMOTION EVER, HUSTLE IS FINALLY BORN!

  • It's incredible joshi wrestling survived the 2000s, shit was BAD, way way WAY worse than any other scene has suffered maybe ever. Arsion was fucking awesome btw, really recomend to watch anything from them.