Pro Wrestling

I think it says a lot about the year when a free TV match, with no build-up, unannounced, that has commercial breaks and a count-out finish is being considered for Match of the Year. That is not to say that the match wasn't enjoyable, mind you, but how was this better than, as an example, Kazuchika Okada Vs. Tetsuya Naito from IWGP (which Dylan doesn't list, which surprised me). I understand that tastes vary and pro-wrestling as an art form is a pretty subjective thing but I think instances like this are why it is impossible for me to establish a definitive list, especially come December. I don't even know what I am looking for from a match that makes it stand out for me.…

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-sto...bow-passes-away Just read this. He was from a different era, but for some reason I like watching some of his 70s matches, especially for his comebacks. I know he isn't very highly regarded as a worker, but he was a pretty big star in 70s New York. Plus he wrestled a dude in a shark cage once. The feathers in the mouth angle with Ladd from Georgia is also good (based on the more famous, and lost, angle with Arion in 74). RIP Chief

I really liked Henry/Punk as well, but I wonder (riffing on Coffey's thread in a way but it fits better in here) what it says about wrestling in 2012 when what was basically a nice, little match done rather well is considered a MOTYC. It shows as much as anything how wrong a turn the guys of this era took from the last.

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Here is the stadium, sun is behind the big screen so we have a nice breeze coming through. Post your thoughts as they happen n this thread. Three way tag match - fun non-PPV opener with some crash course spots that got the crowd into it.

I'm taking Loss's advice and starting a thread instead of continuing this discussion in the large general comments thread...... In that aforementioned thread, I made a comment about spotting only three females in the audience through the first disc of an ECW comp. This eventually led to a few posts about silliness/crudeness in wrestling, and what angles/gimmicks eventually drove people away from caring about wrestling. I threw in the towel when the Dungeon of Doom came along. I was about 15 years old, so perhaps I was naturally growing out of wrestling because it wasn't "cool" at the time, but the Dungeon of Doom definitely put me over the edge. I tried, tried a…

@Anyone who pays more attention to WWE matches than I do. I was listening to the latest Bruce Mitchell audio show. Does anyone drop an elbow anymore? When was the last cris-cross spot?

Loss just made a comment about Nick Patrick being awesome in 1997. I've got to admit, I rarely pay attention to referees. What is it that people notice about them?

It started shipping Monday and I got it today. The packaging is an incredible effort almost on par w/ WWE's best: Haven't started watching yet, will later tonight. I wonder if there's any significance to the presence of a UPC number. I'm really curious as to how they're planning on not losing their ass here. Did the $100,000 also include discounted (down from $10,000) appearances on top of a $50,000 (the original asking price) interview? If not, how did the price double? Are they banking more on direct sales to fans or wholesale money to RF, ROH, etc? Will they eventually try to license it to Big Vision for retail distribution? I really don't…

Why has this guy been so prominently featured in WWE for so long? Weird that not only has he been a TV fixture for so long, but also that he's NEVER discussed really at all. It's just ... odd. He's not particularly good or bad at what he does.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_New...cle_59453.shtml pretty interesting. Nash was on a drug that helped prevent heart disease (caused blood platelets to unstick so they wouldn't clog) and it showed up on his test. That's why the angle with Punk was dropped. the original plan was for Ace to have sent the text and lead a stable to try and take over the company (they sort of did this with Miz and Truth anyway) and feud with Hunter's group over control. I had always assumed that was the plan over the summer/fall. Anyway it could have been a decent storyline and better than what we got. Obviously Hunter was a last minute sub for Nash at the September PPV and…

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I'm finishing watching USWA 1990 and in October, they had a top 10 list with guys like Dr. Death Steve Williams and Ricky Steamboat to challenge Jerry Lawler for his Unified title. To my Knowledge, they never wrestled in USWA. Dick Murdoch was also teased to team with the Dundees in a feud with the Gilberts but that never happened. either. What are some examples of guys being mentioned on tv as coming into a promotion that never happened?

The Luger story is actually a really terrible, largely self-imposed tragedy. He and Liz hooking up destroyed two marriages, completely ostracized him from his children and from there, there was a bad series of events that led to her dying. They both got so caught up in the drug and party atmosphere of WCW at the time that it wrecked their lives and continued to bring them down even after WCW was gone. That really brings me to a bigger point. Some of the guys who got lost in the transition had it happen because of WWE's narrow vision of what wrestling is, but the free-flowing money and drugs without being expected to perform at a high level took down a lot of people t…

One thing I've always interested in, is when you see a guy who has clearly come to the end of his run in one of the major feds -- a good year or two past his sell-by date -- who is being used as a jobber to the stars. Often a sad sight to see, but I'm trying think of the best possible example of that. A guy where you can just see the fire has gone out of his eyes. I'm thinking Hercules Hernandez in 1992. He was in a pretty sad state of affairs. Look at this Survivor Series team from 1991: That's Col. Mustafa (Iron Sheik), who also had a very sad run well into 1992, fat, out of shape and over-the-hill, jobbing in a string of 2-3 minute squash matches. I …

This is harder to do than the Joshi thread if only because all of my favorite matches are pretty true. But I'll try to point to good "gateway" matches that are really good and have enough American-style influence that they can be easily enjoyed. Atlantis vs Emilio Charles Jr, 8/11/92 Silver King vs Miguel Perez Jr, 9/22/95

Looking at Cena's best opponents strangely motivated me to get caught up on some stuff I have missed the last few years. I really want to go through everything post-Benoit that I haven't seen and make sense of it all. I'm using as a guide for what to watch from 2008. If it was nominated, I want to watch it regardless. I'll mix this in with my yearbook viewing and do both things at the same time. Worth watching: - Jeff Hardy vs Umaga (WWE RAW 01/07/08) ***1/2 - CM Punk vs Chavo Guerrero (ECW 02/05/08) ***1/2 Skippable:

Just wanted to make a thread about the wrestling philosophy in Memphis and how different it was than other territories at the time. Mid South was awesome, but was more wrestling through the lens of ex-jocks, which is probably what most of wrestling was at that point. Memphis was different. Jerry Lawler was an artist. Jimmy Hart was a musician and a DJ. So I've always thought that was why it was a wilder, more bombastic presentation. They gave us the colorful gimmicks and music videos that helped get tons of guys over in the early 80s. We associate it now with the old school, but for its time period, it was a pretty progressive territory, to a point that it was often looke…

To recap: Dave Meltzer said WWE told Bright House Sports Network they're cancelling FCW's TV show, folding the school/promotion, and sending all developmental talent to Stamford to dick around until they figure out what the hell is happening next. Mike Johnson refuted that, saying that while the BHSN show is done, FCW isn't going anywhere. Maybe some things are being overhauled, Steve Keirn denied anything is happening to FCW. WWE and Triple H issued a weirdly vague statement that could be interpreted a number of ways but was essentially a denial tooling on Dave. The link was posted and rah rahed on Facebook and Twitter by a bunch of guys in FCW. …

On the subject of Rude: I had a thought the other day ... Was Rick Rude in 1992 the most over heel of all time? I just mean in terms of sheer heat. Who has ever got a better heel reaction than him at, for example, Superbrawl II? Who would even be challenging him?

Semi-inspired by Dylan's Tajiri thread, I wanted to start a project of sorts. I'm a big fan of tag team wrestling, and of much of what the whole WWE product, but the latter hasn't always produced a wealth of great tag action. That being said, I thought it would be fun to try and dig out some gems from the main TVs and b-shows, and see how they compare against the more well known stuff from the late eighties, when the tag division really was strong. By all means, please suggest matches worth watching for me. With that said... 1. The Rockers vs The Powers of Pain - MSG 15th Jan 90 2. Ricky Steamboat & Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake - 21st Apr …

That should be some interesting PR.

I just finished listening to the latest Wrestling Culture podcast and I gotta disagree with Dylan on the importance of TV ratings. In my opinion, TV ratings matter. Big time. And as long as wrestling is on major cable networks, ratings will matter for the foreseeable future. Yes, it's easy to just DVR the weekly TV or watch it somewhere online. But from both the company and fan perspective, it's much better when people watch the product live. It makes the product more valuable, both for the immediate bottom line and the product's long-term viability. Of course there's the usual arguments about higher ratings resulting in more ad revenue and overall revenue. I do…

Well, gee, who'd have thunk it? A nice little ROH iPPV show with some good stuff. And then the main event of Richards/O'Reilly vs Edwards/Cole even had some good aspects. For 15 or 20 min. But it went on and on and on and on after that. Sucked away almost all the good will the show had given me towards ROH.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-sto...ave-passed-away