NintendoLogic

This thread being bumped reminds me of a question I had about the Chicana/Aguayo match. I'm assuming it was an EMLL match since it took place in Arena Mexico. But wasn't Aguayo working for the UWA at the time? How did talent sharing work back then?

I hope he goes to New Japan. I initially thought that he might to be too small to be a credible heavyweight, but he's the same size as Ishii.

Here's a (mostly) complete version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DltVw1c0KkA

This list was long overdue for an update, so I finally added selections for 2014 and 2015. I also changed a few of the selections from previous years. As always, all selections are subject to change.

We have a new contender for the greatest/worst thing TNA has ever done. Take five minutes out of your day and watch this. Trust me, it's worth it.

It's obviously hard to feel much sympathy for Gawker. But the ultrawealthy secretly funding lawsuits they have no personal stake in for the purpose of bringing down outlets they don't like is a cause for concern. If you sue someone openly, you at least have to worry about sustaining reputational damage and inconvenient/embarrassing facts coming out in discovery.

I had no expectations of liking this match, but "all the people bashing it were going off a handful of GIFs" seemed like a fair response to the criticism, so I decided to give it a watch. It was about what I expected. There was a fair amount of goofy bullshit, but at its core, it was worked like two guys trying to win a wrestling match. I wouldn't call it great or even particularly good, but it wasn't more business-exposing than any other junior spotathon. Ospreay's mannerisms were way worse than the match itself. His facial expressions make Edge look like Mitsuharu Misawa, and his vocalizations would make 1995 Chris Jericho roll his eyes. At one point, he actually said "pip pip cheerio, motherfucker" while executing a phenomenal forearm. I literally almost turned the match off right there. Jesus Christ.

Stuff like Parts Unknown/Death Valley/Dudleyville excepted, of course. Colonel DeBeers is a classic example. In fairness to Ed Wiskoski, this was before Lethal Weapon 2 came out, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had no idea what a South African accent was supposed to sound like. Jean-Paul Levesque went in the exact opposite direction. His attempt at a French accent was Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins level bad. Arn Anderson. Billed from Minnesota despite having a Georgia accent thicker than a bowl of grits. Kofi Kingston back when he was supposed to be Jamaican. All the Quebecers who have been billed as French would probably qualify as well. It all sounds the same to me, but I'm sure French speakers can tell the difference.

Lance Russell is from Ohio and doesn't have a Southern accent. Now that I think about it, it's kind of funny. Even in the Southern territories, most of the play-by-play men were either Northerners (Russell, Gordon Solie) or Southerners with broadcasting experience that flattened out whatever accents they may have had, at least on the air (Tony Schiavone, Bill Mercer). Jim Ross is the only notable one I can think of with a really strong accent.

"International object" in WCW. The word "foreign" was never legitimately banned on WCW programming. The term was an inside joke about an overly broad memo from Turner higher-ups. Braves broadcaster Skip Caray was also in on the joke; he once explained that a batter had to step out of the batter's box because he had an international object in his eye.

So it turns out that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel was the higher power bankrolling Hogan's lawsuit. IT WAS ME, DENTON! IT WAS ME ALL ALONG!

I've added to/subtracted from/otherwise altered this list so many times, I've decided to move in a different direction. I took inspiration from a book I came across recently called 100 Poems by 100 Poets. The concept is as follows: I list my favorite match by each wrestler in the top 100 on the GWE list with the caveat that each match can only be listed once. Most of the picks are pretty conventional, but a few of them might be a bit surprising. Note that this isn't a list of my 100 favorite matches or even all that close to it. In fact, there are a few matches on this list I don't even particularly like that much. 100. Daisuke Ikeda: vs. Alexander Otsuka (4/26/99) 99. Virus: vs. Guerrero Maya Jr. (6/7/11) 98. Kerry Von Erich: vs. Ric Flair (8/15/82) 97. The Destroyer: vs. Mil Mascaras (7/25/74) 96. L.A. Park: vs. El Mesias (12/5/10) 95. Sangre Chicana: vs. MS-1 (9/23/83) 94. Shinsuke Nakamura: vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (8/16/15) 93. Bob Backlund: vs. Bret Hart (Superstars, 7/30/94) 92. Dusty Rhodes: w/ Koloff/Hawk/Animal/Ellering vs. Arn/Tully/Flair/Luger/Dillon (7/4/87) 91. Too Cold Scorpio: vs. Barry Windham (Clash of the Champions, 6/17/93) 90. Ron Garvin: vs. Greg Valentine (Royal Rumble, 1/21/90) 89. Atsushi Onita: w/ Tarzan Goto vs. Masanobu Kurisu/Dragon Master (4/1/90) 88. Sami Zayn: vs. Cesaro (NXT Arrival, 2/27/14) 87. Cesaro: vs. John Cena (Raw, 7/5/15) 86. Hiroshi Tanahashi: vs. Kazuchika Okada (4/7/13) 85. Manami Toyota: vs. Aja Kong (11/20/94) 84. The Undertaker: vs. Bret Hart (One Night Only, 9/20/97) 83. Roddy Piper: vs. Bret Hart (Wrestlemania VIII, 4/5/92) 82. Steve Williams: vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (7/28/94) 81. Yoshihiro Tajiri: w/ Eddie Guerrero vs. Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin (Smackdown, 5/22/03) 80. Tito Santana: vs. Randy Savage (4/22/86) 79. Terry Gordy: w/ Stan Hansen vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada (12/16/88) 78. Dynamite Kid: vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (2/5/80) 77. Rick Rude: vs. Ricky Steamboat (Beach Blast, 6/20/92) 76. Hiroshi Hase: w/ Kensuke Sasaki vs. Keiji Mutoh/Masahiro Chono (11/1/90) 75. Hulk Hogan: vs. Vader (Superbrawl V, 2/19/95) 74. Atlantis: vs. Ultimo Guerrero (9/19/14) 73. Chris Jericho: vs. The Rock (No Mercy, 10/21/01) 72. Brian Pillman: w/ Barry Windham vs. Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas (Starrcade, 12/28/92) 71. Dick Togo: vs. Antonio Honda (1/30/11) 70. Yuki Ishikawa: vs. Daisuke Ikeda (4/24/05) 69. Blue Panther: vs. El Hijo del Santo (5/28/00) 68. Kurt Angle: vs. Steve Austin (Summerslam, 8/19/01) 67. Jack Brisco: vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (8/28/76) 66. Keiji Mutoh: vs. Vader (8/10/91) 65. Shinjiro Ohtani: w/ Wild Pegasus vs. Great Sasuke/Black Tiger (10/18/94) 64. Sgt. Slaughter: vs. Iron Sheik (6/16/84) 63. Giant Baba: vs. Billy Robinson (7/24/76) 62. Kiyoshi Tamura: vs. Vader (6/10/94) 61. Bull Nakano: w/ Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota/Toshiyo Yamada (1/24/93) 60. Volk Han: vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (1/22/97) 59. Samoa Joe: vs. AJ Styles (Turning Point, 12/11/05) 58. Owen Hart: vs. Bret Hart (Wrestlemania X, 3/20/94) 57. Bill Dundee: vs. Jerry Lawler (12/30/85) 56. Jim Breaks: vs. Johnny Saint (5/5/73) 55. Curt Hennig: vs. Bret Hart (King of the Ring, 6/13/93) 54. Greg Valentine: w/ Brutus Beefcake vs. Ricky Steamboat/Tito Santana (4/21/85) 53. Dick Murdoch: vs. Antonio Inoki (6/19/86) 52. Akira Hokuto: vs. Shinobu Kandori (4/2/93) 51. Andre The Giant: vs. Strong Kobayashi (5/6/72) 50. Billy Robinson: vs. Nick Bockwinkel (12/11/80) 49. Aja Kong: vs. Dynamite Kansai (8/30/95) 48. Fit Finlay: vs. Chris Benoit (Judgment Day, 5/21/06) 47. Brock Lesnar: vs. Eddie Guerrero (No Way Out, 2/15/04) 46. CM Punk: vs. Brock Lesnar (Summerslam, 8/18/13) 45. Harley Race: vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (6/11/77) 44. Tully Blanchard: w/ Arn Anderson vs. Lex Luger/Barry Windham (Clash of the Champions, 3/27/88) 43. Rick Martel: vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (9/29/85) 42. Ted DiBiase: vs. Jim Duggan (3/22/85) 41. Riki Choshu: w/ Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (1/28/86) 40. Yoshiaki Fujiawara: vs. Riki Choshu (6/9/87) 39. AJ Styles: vs. Minoru Suzuki (8/1/14) 38. Mick Foley: vs. Shawn Michaels (Mind Games, 9/22/96) 37. El Satanico: vs. Gran Cochisse (9/14/84) 36. Buddy Rose: w/ Doug Somers vs. Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty (8/30/86) 35. El Dandy: vs. Negro Casas (7/3/92) 34. Chris Benoit: vs. Bret Hart (Nitro, 10/4/99) 33. Ricky Morton: w/ Robert Gibson vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane (Wrestlewar, 2/25/90) 32. Dustin Rhodes: vs. Vader (Clash of the Champions, 11/16/94) 31. Shawn Michaels: w/ Diesel vs. Razor Ramon/123 Kid (Action Zone, 10/30/94) 30. John Cena: vs. Umaga (Royal Rumble, 1/28/07) 29. El Hijo del Santo: vs. Brazo de Oro (1/13/91) 28. Bobby Eaton: w/ Austin/Rude/Arn/Zbyszko vs. Sting/Windham/Dustin/Steamboat/Koloff (Wrestlewar, 5/17/92) 27. Jun Akiyama: vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (2/27/00) 26. Akira Taue: w/ Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi (6/9/95) 25. Barry Windham: w/ Dustin Rhodes vs. Steve Austin/Larry Zbyszko (Superbrawl, 2/29/92) 24. Steve Austin: vs. Bret Hart (Wrestlemania 13, 3/23/97) 23. Shinya Hashimoto: vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (8/2/98) 22. Negro Casas: w/ El Dandy/Hector Garza vs. El Hijo del Santo/Bestia Salvaje/Scorpio Jr. (11/29/96) 21. William Regal: vs. Sting (Great American Bash, 6/16/96) 20. Tatsumi Fujinami: w/ Fujiwara/Kimura/Koshinaka/Yamada vs. Choshu/M.Saito/Machine/Kobayashi/H.Saito (9/12/88) 19. Arn Anderson: w/ Larry Zbyszko vs. Dustin Rhodes/Ricky Steamboat (Clash of the Champions, 11/19/91) 18. Randy Savage: vs. Ricky Steamboat (2/15/87) 17. Bret Hart: vs. Steve Austin (Survivor Series, 11/17/96) 16. Nick Bockwinkel: vs. Curt Hennig (11/21/86) 15. Ricky Steamboat: vs. Ric Flair (Chi-Town Rumble, 2/20/89) 14. Vader: vs. Sting (Starrcade, 12/28/92) 13. Genichiro Tenryu: w/ Stan Hansen vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu (12/6/89) 12. Eddie Guerrero: vs. Rey Mysterio (Smackdown, 6/23/05) 11. Jumbo Tsuruta: w/ Masanobu Fuchi/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi (10/19/90) 10. Jerry Lawler: vs. Bill Dundee (6/6/83) 9. Toshiaki Kawada: vs. Stan Hansen (2/28/93) 8. Kenta Kobashi: vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (1/20/97) 7. Rey Mysterio Jr.: vs. Eddy Guerrero (Halloween Havoc, 10/26/97) 6. Jushin Liger: vs. Naoki Sano (8/10/89) 5. Daniel Bryan: vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 30, 4/6/14) 4. Mitsuharu Misawa: vs. Toshiaki Kawada (6/3/94) 3. Stan Hansen: vs. Kenta Kobashi (7/29/93) 2. Terry Funk: vs. Jerry Lawler (3/23/81) 1. Ric Flair: vs. Terry Funk (Great American Bash, 7/23/89)

This is pretty random: http://righttherapist.com/dir/therapist-listings/terry-rudge/ How awesome would it be to have Terry Rudge as your life coach? Bob Backlund, eat your heart out.

Isn't this a bit of an old-school kinda racist gimmick anyway ? The hot white woman and the heel black guy ? It's exactly what Doom were in the days with Woman. And it didn't even work. WCW brass thought that pairing black men with a white woman would make Doom the hottest act in wrestling, but they were more over with Teddy Long as their manager.

I decided to see what would happen if I combined the 2006 and 2016 lists. To accomplish this, I awarded each wrestler a certain number of points based on their ranking on each list (100 points for first place, 99 points for second place, etc., all the way down to 1 point for 100th place) and then added the points together. In the event of a tie, the tiebreak went to who placed highest on the 2016 list. Here's what it would look like: 1. Ric Flair 2. Jushin Liger 3. Mitsuharu Misawa 4. Toshiaki Kawada 5. Jumbo Tsuruta 6. Terry Funk 7. Stan Hansen 8. Kenta Kobashi 9. Eddie Guerrero 10. Bret Hart 11. Ricky Steamboat 12. Rey Mysterio 13. Vader 14. Genichiro Tenryu 15. Chris Benoit 16. Steve Austin 17. Shinya Hashimoto 18. El Hijo del Santo 19. Jerry Lawler 20. Akira Taue 21. Arn Anderson 22. Barry Windham 23. Harley Race 24. Negro Casas 25. Randy Savage 26. Aja Kong 27. Akira Hokuto 28. Nick Bockwinkel 29. William Regal 30. Jun Akiyama 31. Bobby Eaton 32. Shawn Michaels 33. Tatsumi Fujinami 34. Ted DiBiase 35. Billy Robinson 36. Shinjiro Ohtani 37. Dynamite Kid 38. Giant Baba 39. Owen Hart 40. Curt Hennig 41. Tully Blanchard 42. Blue Panther 43. El Dandy 44. Volk Han 45. Finlay 46. Dick Murdoch 47. Bull Nakano 48. Daniel Bryan 49. Ricky Morton 50. Mick Foley 51. Hiroshi Hase 52. Manami Toyota 53. Jack Brisco 54. Keiji Mutoh 55. Nobuhiko Takada 56. The Destroyer 57. Jaguar Yokota 58. Kiyoshi Tamura 59. El Satanico 60. Terry Gordy 61. John Cena 62. Mayumi Ozaki 63. Dustin Rhodes 64. Steve Williams 65. Devil Masami 66. Buddy Rose 67. Rick Martel 68. AJ Styles 69. Chigusa Nagayo 70. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 71. Riki Choshu 72. CM Punk 73. Brock Lesnar 74. Kurt Angle 75. Andre the Giant 76. Greg Valentine 77. Jim Breaks 78. Chris Jericho 79. Bill Dundee 80. Samoa Joe 81. Brian Pillman 82. Mariko Yoshida 83. Hulk Hogan 84. Dynamite Kansai 85. Rick Rude 86. Akira Maeda 87. Sgt. Slaughter 88. Ultimo Dragon 89. The Rock 90. Kyoko Inoue 91. Kazuo Yamazaki 92. Atlantis 93. Dick Togo 94. Bob Backlund 95. Tiger Mask 96. Dory Funk Jr. 97. Yuki Ishikawa 98. Antonio Inoki 99. Masahiro Chono 100. Lioness Asuka

I think this conversation is focusing a bit too much on the cultural dimension and not enough on the political/economic one. The natural tendency in business in the absence of regulation is toward monopoly, and wrestling is no different. But the NWA was able to enjoy a favorable regulatory environment for the first three decades of its existence due to key members having friends in high places. For example, as a cartel, the NWA was pretty blatantly illegal. But Sam Muchnick was good friends with Congressman Mel Price, who helped the Alliance negotiate a consent decree (which they of course ignored) prohibiting them from doing things like blackballing wrestlers and recognizing exclusive rights to territories. Another example: in the wake of the quiz show scandals of the 50s, Congress passed a law prohibiting fixed contests from being aired on television. Nick Gulas was close to Senator Estes Kefauver, so he got a rider exempting professional wrestling added to the bill. But airwaves don't recognize territorial boundaries, and we now know that fans generally won't pay to see wrestlers they view as second-rate when they can watch the big stars on TV for free. In addition, the Alliance members had largely developed an every-man-for-himself mentality by the end of the 70s. As such, even if Vince hadn't gone national, the spread of cable most likely would have led to open warfare between the territories ending in a single nationwide monopoly.

I don't think there's much more to it than the fact that the promotion based in New York was the one that went national. WWE will always be viewed as Northeastern just like NASCAR will always be viewed as Southern regardless of the actual demographics of the drivers. When the other territories went out of business, a good chunk of their fans simply stopped watching rather than switching over to the WWF (look how dead Atlanta has been ever since WCW went under), so there weren't many fans around to keep the territory flame burning. And because the WWF targeted children so aggressively, millions of future fans received that as their first impression of what wrestling "should" look like. It kind of reminds me of the situation with German beer. In the 16th century, Bavaria enacted a law (the Reinheitsgebot) strictly regulating which ingredients could be used in the brewing process. In the 19th century, as Bismarck was trying to unify all the German states into a single nation, Bavaria would only join on the condition that the Reinheitsgebot be applied nationwide. This had the effect of wiping out many northern German beers that used different processes. As a result, when most people think of German beer, they think exclusively of Bavarian-style beer (pale lagers and wheat beers), even though dozens of beer styles are brewed throughout the country and dozens more have since gone extinct.

Jawbreaker lariat.

I honestly think lack of blood in current WWE is a big part of the problem. I think fans would be more willing to accept a match that consisted of nothing but punches and a few basic wrestling moves if both guys bled buckets. Since the wrestlers don't have that option, they have to resort to stuntman spots and high-risk maneuvers.

I rather doubt that Vince is deliberately pursuing a strategy that he believes will be less profitable, if for no other reason than the fact that it'd be a pretty serious breach of fiduciary duty to his shareholders. I think it's far more likely that he's convinced himself that creating a situation where the brand is the draw and the performers are largely interchangeable cogs is Best For Business. After all, the human capacity for self-deception knows no limits.

From the latest Observer:

The WWE guys have supposedly been doing a lot of Olympic lifts to try to prevent shoulder injuries, but it seems to be causing them instead.

Would you consider Samoa Joe in that category? I rate their match at Turning Point as the best match in TNA history. And I don't mean that as a backhanded compliment, because it's legitimately a great match.

Just about everything I watch is from Youtube/Dailymotion and Ditch's sites, with WWE Network covering pretty much everything else I care to watch. It means I miss out on pretty much all the modern super-indy stuff, but that holds little or no interest to me anyway. Lucha is also maddeningly inconsistent. It was only a few months ago that someone uploaded a complete version of MS1/Sangre Chicana with decent VQ. And the Santo/Casas 11/29/96 trios was only uploaded earlier this month.

I reviewed Cena's first title reign a while back. Just saying. Long story short, they booked him like someone they didn't trust to hold up his own end of long singles matches. So he'd spend 90% of his matches selling and then hit an FU out of nowhere, which is counterproductive in its own way, but he also didn't have the rug pulled out from under him repeatedly the way Reigns has.