Loss

It's annoying to me because it's not always clear that it's a name. Remember the roommate I mentioned on that one podcast that thought Madusa was Mad U.S.A.? He also thought Kidman was Kid Man -- a wrestler with an overgrown manchild gimmick.

I hate it when men don't have first names and women don't have last names.

Lita actually looks younger and healthier not in wrestling than she does when in wrestling. I've been surprised at how much better she has looked in her cameos post-2006.

They did also do it in Crockett, yes. Fans also complained at the time about marquee matches starting as the show was going off the air in the JCP days, where you'd get not only no finish but no mention of the match or the finish on the next show. That was fairly common then too, but then again, house shows were core business then. Television is core business now. Anyway, television shows are scheduled to the point now where I don't think it would be difficult to at the very least not do commercial breaks during the main event, just to say that they've fulfilled all their commercial obligations prior to the main event starting. I'm not really against it either, but I do think it's something people who aren't as accustomed to wrestling tropes are turned off by that people who are accustomed to wrestling tropes simply don't give enough thought. I'm sure there are other things like that as well.

Exactly, that's my point. That it's one of those things newer or more casual fans hate that we've just gotten used to because we've watched wrestling forever.

Yes, Yoko.

I thought this was interesting. Someone I know who was a total Attitude Era casual fan and doesn't watch anymore told me recently that wrestling came up at work and people were talking about why they don't watch anymore. Everyone complained about commercial breaks during matches. Generally speaking, is this something that bugs you or has bugged you in the past? Have you heard other people complain about this too? I thought this was interesting because it's the perfect example of something someone inside the wrestling bubble doesn't give much thought, but I could see it being annoying for people who feel like they're missing something because of a commercial break. I didn't say "With the new WWE app, you can see what is happening during the breaks", because I would have felt like I was in a commercial.

I wonder whose idea the "Refer-Eye" at Halloween Havoc '91 was. It feels like something I would say on a podcast as a joke, only it actually happened.

I'm glad to see that pattern was similar overall, especially since Orton/Cena is a matchup that the company has tried in vain to protect and keep special for nearly a decade.

I really enjoyed this show. I used to think there was no bigger fan of the Flair/Luger series than me, but I think I've been outdone. Should I check out that Worldwide match again? It seems crazy that I'd have that drastic a turnaround re-watching it, especially because these two have set such a high standard for their matches anyway, and also because that match is so short. But I've seen the light before when someone has made a case to me. Also cool to hear all the Doom praise. Parv, I look forward to you getting into the week-to-week segments from the Horsemen feud and hearing your thoughts on the individual promos and television angles. The reason I couldn't go all the way there is because as entertaining as it was, I still feel like there was so much missed potential. I think sometimes I come across as someone who gets upset when my fantasy booking ideas aren't used in what I'm watching, but really I don't tend to think of fantasy booking ideas if something is hitting the mark. And Flair putting his hair up instead of the yacht to get the title shot at the Clash, along with a huge "RIC FLAIR IS MISSING - WHERE COULD HE BE?" campaign going into Starrcade, both seem like gimme angles that weren't pursued. I really did enjoy the way the heels kept out conniving each other though. Too often, heel vs heel feuds underwhelm, but in spite of my criticisms, this one didn't. Also, do you think part of the reason for Sting not doing well on top is because the Flair/Luger feud, while only designed to be a placeholder feud, produced such great matches that got over so strong? I think there was a feeling at the time - at least I felt this way as a 10-year old fan - that fans wanted Lex as the guy, but the promotion wanted Sting as the guy. It sometimes seemed like Luger was excluded from big moments because they knew he would compete with Sting's spotlight. Not being part of the Bash '90 post-match celebration and the St. Louis crowd chanting Luger's name when Sting was trapped in the cage at Starrcade, despite tons of other babyfaces being right there, are two moments that stand out the most. On top of that, there was no reason in the world Luger couldn't beat Flair at the Clash to bring closure to that feud. I don't think that came from a place of not wanting Luger to have that moment as much as it did that Ole Anderson strikes me as someone who probably wasn't in tune with the landscape when he was taking over. Hell, every WCW booker had their own ideas of what the most important revenue streams were to the company and booked according to their instincts because no one was overseeing the ship and telling the booker, "Improve television ratings" or "Get houses up" or "PPV should be the number one priority". So I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that a two-year chase (three years if you count the planned blowoff at Bash '91) that happened during a company sale and multiple regime changes didn't have the conclusion it deserved. Also, with regards to the television shows, it's probably another case of steering the ship, but initially, Main Event was created by Crockett in 1988 as a way to draw television ratings and nothing more. Their idea was to build their core business on Saturday nights and focus solely on drawing television ratings on Main Event. In fact, Crockett was even going to do incentive-based pay based on TV ratings when the show first launched, but his financial problems killed that. By the time Turner took over, it was just a show. Power Hour was conceived similarly, not so much with incentive pay based on ratings, but with the idea of being more of an action-packed show designed to draw ratings more than further storylines. 1990 was a pretty good year for Power Hour early on, but like everything else, it suffered under Ole's booking and was moved to Saturday mornings early in '91. The potential of that promotion with their talent roster and multi-network backing that was never achieved is probably something I'll never fully get over as a wrestling fan. On a complete side note, I think the single best television concept of 1990 was the Run The Gauntlet idea. There were some problems in execution at times (Scott Steiner pinning Ric Flair to set up a final match against Arn Anderson that he could only win by DQ?), but the concept in general was an excellent one that could have really been cultivated into something special with time and more focus. I also think it synced the separate shows in a way that desperately needed to be done, and to me, if you watch a wrestler on Friday, you want to continue following their journey on Saturday, and then into Sunday as well. I always wished someone else would try it, but no one ever did.

I couldn't get anyone to touch this before: Shawn and Razor only went :17 long? I thought you were just making a joke out of the wording making it seem like the ladder match only lasted 17 seconds in total. That's why I didn't respond before.

Previously at PWO:

I haven't.

Holy cow, that Real Americans tag! How the hell was that match so awesome? Also, WWE crowds are fascinating right now. The juxtaposition of the heat for that match followed by the piss poor reaction to Cena's promo on the big screen told a story. It feels like people are ready not just for Daniel Bryan, but for a fresh crop of headliners.

No.

Previously at PWO:

Previously at PWO:

Previously at PWO:

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Anyone CAN, but I have a method to the madness and kindly ask that you don't quite yet, just to ensure consistency in the labeling.