Pro Wrestling

Wrestling fandom is a fascinating thing. Most of the historians are obviously focused on the big areas-the ones that matter when discussing Hall Of Fame candidates and whatnot. Yet I (being from a country where wrestling is an even bigger niche) never cease being fascinated with the placed where you'll stumble upon pro wrestling shows. There's pro wrestling in Chicle, Vietnam and the Czech Republic and it all sounds so interesting and fascinating. I wish we could learn the slightest details of every pro wrestling culture of even the tiniest shows. That's what this topic is going to focus on-I'm sure at least some will get a kick out of it and considering how close Germany…

Hi, I'm doing research on lucha libre in this era and I was hoping someone on the boards could give me a crash course on the business side of things during this time; while cagematch and other resources have a ton of information about what was going on elsewhere in the world, there seems to be a sort of black hole when it comes to figuring out what was running where, who was drawing cards, etc. For instance, who were the biggest stars of the time? Meltzer seems to think it's Perro Aguayo, but did he have a particularly big-name opponent? I know El Canek had a reputation of being some sort of Hogan-like figure who loved bodyslamming big foreigners, but could he sell out ar…

One of the greatest sports legends of all time. Ties to wrestling include being influenced by Freddie Blassie and/or Gorgeous George for his promo style, famous mixed match with Inoki in 1976, guest ref at Mania I, and involved in Mid South angle with Jake Roberts and the Snowman in 85. Plus Gorilla Monsoon gave him an airplane spin once RIP champ

Two questions here: 1. I was watching a college football game on Saturday and one of the signs used by the coaching staff to signal in a play was a huge picture of Andre the Giant from a WWF magazine circa 1987 or 1988. What other examples can you come up with where pro wrestling is used in some fashion by athletes, teams or venues? A few that come to mind for me: Aaron Rodgers putting on the belt after rushing for key first downs and touchdowns. After winning the Super Bowl, Rodgers had a replica WWE title over his shoulder on the podium. There have been other athletes to wear a replica belt since, but Rodgers was the first that I remember. Ric Flair's "Whoo…

He said so on twitter. I think he was a special ref or something on a DDT show recently so I presume this means he'll wrestle in Japan again and not in Vietnam under a mask. https://twitter.com/boliviacuba/status/739421354810736641 https://twitter.com/e_key_oide/status/739428659883184128

So for this week's podcast we are returning to our booking committee format for a discussion Rebooking the WWF in 1993, a very interesting time that saw the company struggle to decide on a new direction. We're looking to get some feedback on what you think needed to be done to make things succeed during a period where popularity fell. Starting as everything was on January 1st 1993, what do you book for WrestleMania 9? What do you do with the returning Hulk Hogan? Do you stick with Bret Hart as a top guy or try with somebody else? What do you do with the titles? Who would you be looking to use better than they did at the time? As always, we'll be reading the best feedbac…

Please vote and comment.

Seems like good fodder for discussion here. http://thebigguyryback22.tumblr.com/post/143803724226/feed-me-more I'll quote the part that I think is relevant: I'd like to set aside the issue of realistically implementing something like this and instead simply focus on the merits of the argument. Do you think he's right?

FIP World Heavyweight Championship Rematch Fred Yehi defends vs. Caleb Konley FIP World Tag Team Championship Match The Hooligans of Devin & Mason Cutter w/ Uncle Leo defend vs. Flying Solow of Jason Cade & Aaron Solow Florida Heritage Championship Match Martin Stone w/ Mister Saint Laurent defends vs. Nathan Cruz Aerial Warriors Collide AR Fox vs. Sammy Guevara Last Man Standing Drennan w/ Parrow vs. Teddy Stigma Hoss Division Elimination Fray Odinson vs. Jon Davis vs. Deimos vs. Monster Tarver w/ Mister Saint Laurent vs. Jody Kristofferson vs. Rhett Giddens Special Challenge Match #1 Greg Glover w/ Nick Cutler vs. Donovan Danhausen Special Challenge Matc…

If you pay attention to wrestling twitter you've already seem all the discussion about this, if not well Ricochet and Ospreay had a match Ricochet and Ospreay would have and for some reason a GIF of their sequence blew up and we're having that discussion all over again. And Vider chimmed in by shitting on all modern wrestling (including a Twin Towers match llma) after watching the GIF and coming to the conclusion you can't have storytelling in wrestling if you do gymnastics sequences. Quick comments: -I haven't seen the Ospreay-Ricochet match yet. I have no issue with someone disliking the values they use to achieve something. I don't think using the values they do i…

This is probably something that's been beaten around the bush forever but is worth addressing on its own. How long does a match need to go before you're comfortable calling it great or perfect? How much work does need to be packed into that minimal amount of time? How do you want wrestlers to go about achieving greatness and perfection in the smallest amount of time you feel it can be reached?

Always been fascinated by the pre-Jack Tunney presidents. I went through to see if I could find actual footage of the first two WWF Presidents. Rare sightings indeed. 2/2/76 MSG: I believe this is the first on-air appearance of Gilzenberg as President. He passes a note to Wagner about next month's MSG card, and Vince mentions him on commentary. 10/1/77 Championship Wrestling: After Ken Patera disgracefully wouldn't let go of a swinging full nelson on Juan Lopez, causing Lopez to go to hospital. Gilzenberg suspends Patera on the spot. 10/22/77 Championship Wrestling: Here Gilzenberg deals with an irate Captain Lou, who of course was Patera's manager. Lou is goi…

Just off the top of my head Piper WM 12 and Starrcade 96 Nash WM 12 and Starrcade 96 John Tenta WM 10 and Starrcade 94 Randy Savage WM 10 and Starrcade 94 (only appearance did not wrestle) Jeff Jarrett WM 15 and Starrcade 99 Arn Anderson WM 5 and Starrcade 89 (appearance did not wrestle) Bam Bam Bigelow WM 4 and Starrcade 88 sure I'm missing a bunch. Any others? well, Dustin Rhodes WM 15 and Starrcade 99

Well, I think it's safe to say that NJPW is the WWE for the Land of the Rising Sun (and the best alternative to WWE for the rest of the World!). That being said, we still have: AJPW Pro Wrestling NOAH Wrestle-1 All actively vying for the #2 spot. At the moment, AJPW is probably the promotion that best fits that, with NOAH in third. But, Mutoh's Wrestle-1 has a real shot at breaking through provided they are able to expand their talent base. It's still early days, and Mutoh has felt the need already to put the top belt on himself (due to the fact he's the most over name there currently). So, let's use this thread to discuss these three other promotions. …

What are your favorite matches that you think are safely very good but fall short of great, either barely or by a big margin? I do think sometimes we focus so much on the super super high end that a lot of very good matches get forgotten that shouldn't. What matches stand out to you the most as being enjoyable that aren't going to be anyone's MOTY but still are really good and worth seeing.

Seems like a good time to discuss this given the recent string of big names testing positive. Some relevant reading http://nattyornot.com/the-real-reason-why-steroids-are-banned-from-sports/ I would suggest reading the whole thing as it is by far the best analysis of the situation I have seen online but the tl;dr version is that fans have been conditioned to expect such a high level from televised sports that PED's are basically essential to compete. Hence, drug tests basically to send a message to those on the outs with the promotion with the occasional smaller name busted to make it look like a legit program. I saw many WWE fans posting a similar view of…

Been thinking about this for a while and thoughts y'all would be the perfect group to ask Ric flair covering the rest of his career Kurt angle wrote his way to early Same with edge , the hardys and the rock ( pretty sure he is working on another one

https://wwe.2k.com/wwe2k17-roster Some interesting names popping up among the usual suspects on the Legends roster, like Fujinami and Lex Luger. I wonder if that means we'll see Lex in the HOF this year.

I know "Terry Funk retires" has been a longstanding joke in wrestling, but this sounds serious and sad. http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0918/617615/wwe-legend-terry-funk-dealing-with-medical-issues/ Video: Meltzer Update: http://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/terry-funk-alive-and-well-texas-after-exhausting-weekend-221171

He along with Bad News Brown, Gorilla Monsoon,Smash & Dino Bravo always felt like the biggest LJN oversights to me.

Don't want to clog up Last Battle thread with this. But I did think this was interesting: Are these iconic finishes or have they become iconic because they ended classic matches? How much did they help make these matches classics? And how much does a match need a finish like this to get the full five stars from people? I got no answer myself, need to look over the matches I've given the full five to and think about it. When I think of Clash 6, I tend to think of Ric in the double chickenwing, 16 elbow drops, or them just locking up as the iconic moments in that match, rather than the actual finish, but then when I think of Magnum - Tully, the…

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We live in a time where there is more content than ever, and watching every match of a wrestler that's made tape is only possible if that wrestler has wrestled a lot less frequently than an average one does, had a short career or there isn't much tape of him. At what point do you become more entrenched in your opinion? And, once you've seen what the best matches and performances of a wrestler look like as well as his worst and have firm grip on what he stands for does watching another match that confirms what you've already concluded really matter that much? What point is there in watching more of the same if you've already assessed its worth? If this sounds like an argum…

So for this week's podcast we're looking for your nominations on the Most Useless Tag Team or Stable you believe you've ever seen in wrestling - from any company at any period of time. You can pick either a full-time tag team or stable to focus on here, so nice and broad, but we're looking for the general uselessness of the unit, and WHY they get your nod for the most useless there's ever been. As always the best contributions will be read on the show and you'll be credited accordingly. So who gets your vote for this lofty title? EDIT - Our show debating the Most Useless Tag Team or Stable Ever, featuring many of your contributions, is now online and available…

Since Andre would have been 70 today, I wrote up a piece looking at his 1991 comeback in the WWF and thought maybe it could spark some discussion about his career in general or even what could have happened if he was able to hold up a little longer. Either way, thanks for reading! http://placetobenation.com/andre-the-giants-lost-1991-comeback/