Al

I'll have more thoughts later, but it's frustrating to consider guys like Jericho and Edge who are very much yet mid-career.

Thesz was a heel as champ in the majority of matches that exist on him from Chicago, which was the national TV mecca of the country. If he was in with a heel like Buddy or Hans, he was a heel. Against faces, he was that face. I suspect if we had footage of the famous matches with Lou and Leo in San Fran, we'd see Leo as the local babyface and Lou as the heel champ. In the match with Gagne, there is *nothing* "subtle" about Lou's heeling. It's pure NWA Heel Champion stuff, while Verne played ultimate babyface. I tend to think anyone who watches it would come away with the understanding that NWA Heel Champion style work goes right back to the very start: Lou. John It dates back further I'd say. Bill Longson is often listed as one of the all time great heels. Certainly he worked heel as champion.

I can't see Sherri as the best worker. But best manager, absolutely. Her bumping during Michaels/Martel at Summerslam '92 is a thing of beauty.

I was watching ECW regularly but didn't subscribe to the newsletters at the time. I watched that Dreamer/Cactus match several times, and I never knew anything was amiss in that match.

I'm not tremendous when it comes to ratings and describing matches. It's a full hour with mostly mat work. Steamboat really tries to grind Flair down with headlocks for most of that match. I think it's probably well worth checking out, as long as you can get through the Steamboat/Striker commentary. Steamboat tiptoes around kayfabe and they simply don't spend a lot of time focusing on the match.

Don't have much to say in total on this. Watching the documentary though. They show clips of the Greensboro cage match. The finish is intact in their footage.

I believe London Publishing also dealt with Ring, KO magazines and a few other boxing publications as well. The front office staff worked both ends.

Wouldn't surprise me. Ever page through the book of Leviticus? It takes a full chapter, detailed, to forbid every specific instance of incest you can come up with. I can only assume that these were common practices because otherwise why would it need to be stated?

If marriage were involved, wouldn't they have produced a marriage certificate? How difficult would it be for someone to check on that?

Thanks for that John. I studied political science in college so I actually find it quite interesting.

How tough is it historically for a republican to win a senate seat in Connecticut?

I spotted a four disc Lucha set at Best Buy for $15. Has anyone seen it and if so, is it worth the price?

Interest in this book plummeting. Only chance of major publisher taking a gander on this is Simon and Schuster via WWE. Otherwise I just can't see it. If Gary Michael Capetta can get a book published, why not Ross? I'm never entertained by trashing books anyway. Ross has worked for enough promotions that done right, it'd be a heck of a read. I just hope he has a good editor. (I don't mean that as snark. I've read enough biographies that I've gotten a feel for how important the editing process is.)

Ultimately, did this really even matter? I mean, I can't picture most fans being so knowledgeable about workrate that it would affect their decision to buy future PPVs.

Just want to say that I'm really enjoying reading these.

It's sad that Sting vs. Terry Fox would probably have drawn good money.

I agree that it's dumb four years in. It's dumb five years in, it's dumb 10 years in and it's probably not a good idea 15 years into a guy's career. Obviously you can't use the usual sports standard of five years after retirement. But I believe the rock 'n' roll HOF uses a standard of 25 years after a musician/band's debut for eligibility. That's the kind of standard a wrestling Hall of Fame should seek.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308324/

I've found a guy's knowledge on Meatloaf probably depends on if he's dated a chubbier girl born before 1983 or so. Which frankly goes against every biological theory on human attraction I've heard.

I dislike the product but then again I hate a lot of what is popular nowadays so WWE probably shouldn't try to cater to my interest nowadays. I think the world has just passed me by. On a happier note though, I saw Jerry Lawler make a public appearance at last night's Lehigh Valley Ironpigs game. He threw out the first pitch, involved in a mid-inning mascots race, and signed autographs for fans otherwise. I got a picture taken and Lawler was quite pleasant to all the fans. A couple of the WXW trainees were around to assist (and get beat up by mascots).

I dunno. I remember DDP coming out at WM 18 with a look at sheer joy on his face. I don't know if he'd trade that.

Fun topic. The Freebirds and Rock 'n' Wrestling. They debuted with David Wolff and Cyndi Lauper as their managers in August of '84. They could have been huge but they completely fizzled and disappeared within 2-3 months.

Yeah, it seems to me the Russo era pretty much exploded all the Wrestlecrap out of proportion to the point where I can't even begin to fathom a top ten anymore. I might give it a shot though.

Backlund circa 1980 could've given Nash a good match.

Just watched most of the show. (Still need to finish the last three matches.) Bret/Vince, just brutal. I understand they had to work a match where Bret couldn't take a bump. But ten minutes is just way too long for that. The crowd only popped for the sharpshooter, it didn't garner Bret any sympathy as the babyface, and at a point it just became uncomfortable to watch. It seems to me that if you're going to book this type of match, it can't go longer than five minutes. I look at Lawler/Kaufmann. The match goes under six minutes, it features all of two moves and Lawler never takes a single bump. The crowd ate it up and it's one of the most memorable matches of all time. When the angle calls for a wrestler to get his comuppance, the crowd isn't going to complain that it didn't go 10 minutes.