Loss

Kevin, I thought about three things right after the show that I wish I had remembered: (1) Dawna (2) Tony Atlas (3) Kerry Von Erich lying about a sponsorship with Oldsmobile

Thanks guys. I really enjoyed doing this show. I thought Will did a great job reigning in my highspots, as I could have gone way overboard without some type of oversight. I also thought Childs was an excellent guest and hope to have him back sometime. We've been brainstorming on all sorts of topics, not just yearbooks. We look forward to doing this again soon.

I just deleted nearly 60 pages of spam account requests. They seem to have peaked years ago and don't really happen much anymore from what I can tell. I resent validation emails to those that looked legit. From here on, if your account looks legit, I will send a second validation email to your account. When I see your name pop up a second time, I will approve it. It's not foolproof, but hopefully it will help. I want to make it as easy as possible for new members to join the board. Apologies to anyone who has slipped through the cracks.

Will & Charles are joined by Childs Walker, sports writer for the Baltimore Sun, discussing the best (and worst) 1990 had to offer in the world of wrestling. They reflect on the demise of the indies as several promotions die while USWA is able to survive. We travel to Mexico and talk about EMLL’s amazing year, maybe the best any company has ever produced in the ring. We go to Japan as new companies are formed and AJPW & NJPW start to push new wrestlers as old wrestlers fade. Finally, they discuss the major highlights and low points of the NWA and WWF. So much content in 2 hours! http://placetobenation.com/wrestling-with-...-retrospective/

Look at the babyface side and tell me Bret wasn't the guy who ignited the WWF turnaround. "Oh Canada" before the match is awesome. Not really a good match, but heated and lots of fun for the crowd. Foley making Dude Love sadistic is weird. Weird seeing the babyface side work dominant. I understand why they did it, but it didn't really fit their working styles at this point and the match was too long anyway.

Shawn was attacked backstage, which we don't see. But we do see Shawn trying to get up after and selling a knee injury. He gets in Vince's face and it looks like he's out of the flag match.

Let's recap what we know so far: - Time period: 1977 (20 years ago) - There was a funeral home, sitting on a hill, surrounded by beautiful oak trees - It was a family-owned funeral home with the family upstairs - The father was the mortician who ran the funeral home, the mother was the receptionist and there were two children, one was Undertaker and the other was named Kane - The Undertaker's father was an excellent mortician - The Undertaker was Kane's hero - Paul Bearer was completing his apprenticeship and going to college at the same time. He worked for Undertaker's father, who taught him everything he knew - One night, Paul saw the Undertaker and Kane take chemicals from the embalming room and smoke cigarettes outside in secret as he was leaving for his college classes. They were also playing with matches. - Their father found them playing with matches and they were both punished. After Undertaker was punished, he was sent off to do his chores when he looked back and saw that Kane had the flammable embalming fluids in his hand. He saw smoke and ran toward Kane as fast as he could, but when he got there, the funeral home was engulfed in flames. - Undertaker was restrained and unable to enter the burning funeral home. - Paul Bearer returned from work to see the funeral home on fire. Undertaker killed his parents and his brother. Undertaker confirmed this. - The Undertaker was not at the funeral. Undertaker says this is because two nights before, Paul Bearer took him to a neighboring funeral home to see his family, and presumably his mother's burned body and it mentally scarred him. - The Undertaker feels a strong sense of guilt and remorse over this. - In order to cope, Undertaker had to embrace death. He had to understand that without death, there can't be life. He draws strength from the spirit of the dead. This is what made the Undertaker the Undertaker. - Paul Bearer has no interest in apologizing since the Undertaker was the one who did the killing. - Kane is alive. But he can't go into sunlight because of his scars. Kane hates his brother the Undertaker. However, there is speculation that Kane isn't really alive. However, Bearer has proof. When they were kids, they cut a statue of the Grim Reaper in half and each of them vowed to keep their half until the day they died. Paul has Kane's half and it's charred by ashes.

Bret is pretty livid about the Shawn thing and confronts Vince at ringside. He ends up smacking Vince around over it and Vince sells this amazingly. He seems terrified but afraid to back down. He finally grabs Vince by the jacket and goes after him with A LOT of intensity. The Patriot tries to make the save and the Harts jump him. What an incredible segment. The Bret/Vince pull-apart really did look like something completely out of control that wasn't supposed to happen. In the context of Survivor Series, it's even more fascinating.

The beginnings of the affection Canadian wrestling fans have always had for Shawn Michaels. Shawn seems to be enjoying the hell out of the boos, and it's clear right away that his heel turn is going to be off the charts. A KILL THE KLIQ sign! This is tremendous, and how is Shawn Michaels suddenly an awesome personality? Shawn announces that he will be in the main event tonight, and I remember how RAW eventually won the ratings game by doing endless bait and switch hype for matches that wouldn't take place. Shawn finally gives us a blockbuster announcement -- he is going to be the special referee for Bret Hart vs Undertaker at Summerslam! If he doesn't call the match down the middle, he will also no longer be able to wrestle in the United States. I'd agree that this is the best Shawn promo I've ever seen.

They are back in Canada (what a weird touring schedule to leave and go to Texas for a week, only to go back) and Bret gets a remarkable ovation. Vince's frustration at Bret's anti-American lines are hilarious, as are the "U.S. Sucks" chants. Owen tells Austin he can suck his toes, which gets Austin out to set up the six-man flag match main event.

Bracchus is freakishly huge. Almost comedically huge.

Glad to see this feud picking up where they left off in 1996. These two are tailor made for each other, especially since Anjo is such a douchebag prick. Shooters who take cheapshots are heat magnets in Japan, and Anjo is no exception to that. I also love the pop that the sleeper hold and reverse Fujiwara armbar (if that's what it is -- I'm not sure) gets. Awesomely short and to the point.

How is this any different from the general tone on this board that anyone who enjoys Brody at any point in his career must have a mental malfunction? Has anyone said anything remotely resembling that?

I think his point is that it doesn't matter if we like them now or not, because they were liked at the time, and we're incapable of watching something with 1983 eyes in 2013.

So is his entire point really that Bruiser Brody is great because people say he's great? I can call mustard ketchup. I can get a full neighborhood of people to do it too, maybe even people that have tried every ketchup around and speak highly of it. In the end, my french fries will still taste funky. What other people say is not proof of anything except what other people say. Reputation means far less than specifics. Why not a statement followed by a breakdown of why he was great? If we don't get it, show us the light. Explain it instead of condescendingly writing us off as having zero understanding of wrestling. Dave thought Hulk Hogan was a poor worker and he says we have zero understanding of the pro wrestling business. Dave really needs to relinquish some of his control over the Wrestling Opinion Industrial Complex. He doesn't own it, yet he seems to think he does.

I think Russo took a few weeks off because he was angry that Bischoff wouldn't back him when he got Lex Luger suspended for not cooperating with an angle he put together. Terry Taylor was writing the shows and keeping them in complete holding pattern until Russo returned.

How do you know what great wrestling looks like if you don't know what not-so-great wrestling looks like? Some context is necessary. That doesn't mean every single event is significant, but quite a few are significant.

Also, if you know nothing about anyone going in, the significance of Kawada getting the pin on Misawa is completely lost. Is it possible to enjoy the match without that knowledge? Of course. But you're only cheating yourself, especially if you're a fan like me who cares about who wins and who loses.

But if that's the first wrestling match you watch, you may think Kenta Kobashi is a great worker, but why should I give a shit? The first time I saw it, that tag left no lasting impression with me, other than yeah, it was well worked, but so what? I didn't have any investment in these wrestlers at all.

I'm going off of this match only.

Yeah, the last six months or so of WCW aren't great by any means, but it's a solid wrestling promotion with some good booking. It just came too late, after far too much damage was done.

Hmmm, I'm definitely not. Do you think it might be a browser issue?

It's hard for me to watch a match cold without knowing at least a little bit about the wrestlers and their histories so I get that. I never thought this was about not being able to appreciate a great match. It's more about having a full appreciation of it and getting wrapped up in the moment.

The storylines are still there in Japanese wrestling. Wrestling matches themselves usually follow a storyline, and that's not even unique to Japan.

I'd like to know more about top women's matches in lucha libre. I was sort of hoping at least one might make the 80s lucha set, but I know footage is limited and I'm also not sure how the matches are even if they are available.