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Not really. John

Good analogies. John

Hell... last year's awards are as forgettable as this year's awards. Superstar's book won Book of the Year, which was a hoot. John

I don't remember Dave going over each award like this since the days of the Yearbooks. John

I linked in this thread at Classics to a couple of earlier ones on the topic: Backlund in the 1982 Observer question? I was incorrect in the second thread linked that it meant the end of Bob's chances of getting in the HOF. John

Dave had the Cruise vs. Ross stuff in the WON this week. Quoted Ross' desire to clean up the business... with no additional comment. If it were a certain SmackDown play-by-play man who (i) made those comments, and (ii) had that great Beyond The Mat quote... Dave would have put a boot up his ass. Since it's Jimbo, not comment needed. I wonder if Dave has said even 5 things critical of Ross in this entire *decade*. We're 8+ years into it... but even five critical things seems like a stretch. John

Started out well, though. The 1997 stuff was a good "save" when New Japan's original idea (Shamrock) fell through. I think the 1999-2000 feud started poorly. I just don't think it's wise to make the top star in the promotion (the biggest in the promotion of that generation) look like shit getting his ass kicked/destroyed. It went bad from there, and they should have had a much better idea of how badly they were booking themselves into a corner. If I wanted to point to a decline in the promotion, I'd point to that feud. John

Ogawa vs Hashimoto John

Then it must be pretty mediocre. We watched that before, with the Meltzer-Corny Commentary Track. What a horrible match. John

Bock vs. Dusty is one of the matches I want to watch on the set, but I'm saving it for the next King of Chicken. We'll do a little Dusty Battle: Dusty vs. Flair (Starcade '85) Dusty vs. Backlund (Japan) Dusty vs. Nick (Mid South) If Nick can top Bob's match, it will be a hell of a match. If it tops Flair's, I will be greatly amused... since I'm not a big fan of that Starcade match John

Yep. Baba special (or more likely Mrs. Baba special) of booking Kikuchi's first title win into his hometown. John

From CM's list, the TV ones appear to be: Ric Flair vs Lex Luger Bash 88 7/10/1988 23:45 Ric Flair vs Lex Luger Starcade 12/26/1988 30:59 Ric Flair vs Lex Luger Starrcade 89 12/13/1989 15:00 Ric Flair vs Lex Luger Wrestle War 90 2/25/1990 38:21 Ric Flair vs Lex Luger NWA Pro 4/28/1990 8:48 Ric Flair vs Lex Luger (cage match) Capitol Combat 5/19/1990 17:21 Ric Flair vs Lex Luger Clash 12 9/5/1990 15:29 There also was this house show: Ric Flair vs Lex Luger NWA House 9/10/1988 17:24 John

You're write... wasn't reading close enough. Russo is too much of a loadmouth pussy to actually cut Jake Meltzer's nose. The late Road Warrior Hawk would be good in that role... though only Dave probably would get that joke. John

It was there, but it seems to have kicked up a notch as a point that he feels needs to be made strongly. I wouldn't disagree with that, except that the finish surprised no one, including Dave. Since it was so expected, it really didn't need anything beyond a sentence: "It would have been good for the angle and nice for the fans to see Flair go over clean-ish, but we all knew that wasn't going to happen." It getting run into the ground for several issues is overkill. The whole thing about how it just set up Regal to get squashed by Trip... eh. John

Yeah... Dave was in a mood to talk about Jimbo in that issue and get a lot of things off his chest. And I love how Dave has kicked up the "Trip's the Most Hated Man In the WWE" talk ever since Trip didn't put his foot down and insist on jobbing to Our Hero Ric so that all the Flair Fans out there could get one more Memorable Flair Moment to cherish deep in their heart after Ric retires. John

Dave as Jake Gittes is a frightening thought. Wait... The Sham as Faye Dunaway might be even more creepy. John, wondering if Bob Myerwitz gets the John Houston role...

Need something on Pillman being clean when he died as well. I recall Madden going on a bender when someone mentioned Pillman being strung out as he spiraled out of control. John

Fixed. John

Well... they are good examples of how Jim gets let off the hook. John

(a) Because Ross in the recent text someone dragged over here said he wanted to clean up wrestling from juice. That's what's called lying - Jim doesn't want to clean up wrestling. Big muscled up ass kicking athletic wrestlers gives Jim wrestling wood. ( b ) Because Ross is usually beyond criticism from the Wrestling Media. He's either a favorite who can do no wrong, or too good of source to shit on, or a combo of both. So it's fun to point out when Jim is just as much of a piece of shit as most people in wrestling. That is, after all, the point of the thread: that Jim Ross, the God of Wrestling Announcing, is just as much of a Grouchy Hateful Vile Human Being as so many other fucks in wrestling are. John