The Microscope

After watching the latest NWA episode on 24/7 where he single handedly tries to break up a fierce Magnum-Tully brawl, I've decided David Crockett is one of the main reasons to subscribe to the service right now. His indignant tone at any and all heelishness and is quasi-homoerotic love for Magnum T.A. are the kind of things sorely missing from wrestling today.

So I'm trying to shake off the dark cloud of the Benoit situation by continuing my series of (hopefully) thought provoking threads. Next up: Necro Butcher, what's the deal? I hear him get talked up a lot, and while he's not bad by any means, I don't get the amount of love he gets. I know he does non-deathmatch stuff but he's primarily known for taking horrific amounts of abuse in matches to a Foley-in-Japan-esque level. I'm sorry, it doesn't take a lot of talent to get torn up by weapons and barbed wire. Some people are into the deathmatch stuff, and that's fine. Whatever floats your boat, different strokes and all of that. I just always thought the point of pr…

I've been watching GH's Finlay comp and it has been really fun. His matches with Tony St. Clair were just fantastic. He was also great at meshing different styles. Fit had some awesome matches in Europe with the American workers. I really enjoyed how he meshed the styles with Armstrong where you had a great southern babyface selling for Fit's snugg offense mixed in with some awesome psychology. Another great one in Europe where Fit just meshed the styles was where he worked Scorpio. It seemed like a BW Scorpio match from the coc. Finlay just came across just as an awesome worker. Inctedible job with the set Will.

I decided to start a little thing here if you will, where I ask questions and hopefully spur debate on selected topics. There was discussion on how someone like Andre would never succeed in today's wrestling at the level they did back in the day due to more TV, PPV, and whatnot. My question is could Hulkamania have worked had Hogan started in 2004 instead of 1984? I'm going to say no. A big part of what made him special is that Hogan almost never wrestled on TV. When he did it was a special occasion. Hell, I'd even go as far as to say he was the most protected person on WWF/E history as guys who could potentially overshadow him were generally kept far awa…

This one really sucks. I always thought Sherri was a great second.

A friend is on the phone laughing about how goofy the 3/28 Figure Four daily show was with Matysik on it. Seems like they going on about what a great worker Brody was, and how certain smart fans don't get Brody. Some such nonsense that he wouldn't bump unless it meant something. Yadder yadder. "Great stuff." -Unnamed Figure Four Subscriber I don't subscribe to it. Perhaps someone else can confirm whether it's as funny as I'm being told it was. John

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...ATES02/70311008 rnie Ladd, a talented football player who made his name nationally as a wrestler, died overnight, according to family members. Ladd, 68, had battled cancer — first in his colon, then later in his stomach and bones — since 2004. Born Nov. 28, 1938, in Rayville, but raised in Orange, Texas, he worked through his final years as a pastor in the Louisiana town of Franklin. Funeral arrangements were still pending today, according to Roslyn Ladd, his wife of more than 45 years. Selected 15th in the American Football League draft by San Diego out of Grambling College, Ladd appeared in three of that…

Meltzer:

In anticipation of Bix's comp, plus receiving the updated "Legends" set from Shado-X, I watched the Chi Town Rumble and WrestleWar matches over the weekend. For all the Ric Flair hate of recent years (some of which is justified), the Chi Town Rumble match is one of the most non-formulaic Flair matches out there and just overall terrific. Has anyone watched the uncut PPV version? I have only seen the Commercial version in all my watchings. I am also very excited to see the Philly handheld match, which I haven't seen prior. Going to watch the Clash match this week, hoping that it will stand right by the Chi Town Rumble match as being worthy of going head to head …

http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/h...t.asp?aID=18705 Mike Alfonso, better known as Mike Awesome, was found dead on Saturday evening in the Tampa area according to those close to the family. He was 42. Friends were coming to his home in Tampa to pick him up and go out Saturday night at about 10:30 p.m. and he never answered the door and found him hanging in the home. It is believed the death was due to suicide pending results of the autopsy. Mike Awesome was one of the top foreign stars in FMW in Japan, who as a high-flying big man was made ECW champion on two occasions in 1999 and 2000. As champion, he signed with WCW, creating a situation that many fe…

From Meltzer:

Let's talk about Barry Windham. I've been going through Will's comp for the past week or so and am pretty overwhelmed. It's amazing how many great matches he had, and the variety of opponents he had those matches against. It's easy for me to get tired of watching a wrestler for any significant amount of time in every match, or even watching one particular style for too long. Barry Windham really defies that. I have so much to say, and fully intend to elaborate in the next day or so when I talk about the two dozen or so Windham matches I've watched, but I wanted to start the appreciation thread in advance. Share the love.

Anarchistxx wrote: "Very good match, no doubt, but when you've seen Havoc it's rather disappointing. They try to work a different style, but aren't so good at it, at least with each other." I have seen a broad range of people make the first statement and there is some truth to that. You don't see the amazingly fast exchanges in the Smackdown match as you do in the Havoc match. You also don't see the two big highspots (which are easy top 5 highspots of the 1990's) in the flipping DDT and the Liger style flip into the rana. In 1997, these spots were out of this world (Rey had previously done the Liger flip into a rana on Eddy and Psicosis in AAA in 1995 and pos…