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Watching Wrestlemania 18 which I haven't seen in full since it aired. Regal comes out for the opening match and the IC title appears to be upside down on his waste. I don't know why, but upside down belts are to me the funniest goof up a wrestler can make... Well, wrestlers and Diana Hart.

Been watching a lot of early Juventud Guerrera in AAA over the past couple of days. I really think Guerrera in his prime was every bit as good as Rey Mysterio Jr in that same time period.

Selling tickets brother!

I've said this for years. Misery loves company after all.

I seriously picture Truth on commentary for the match until it's his time for a comedy spot.

From personal experience, home video rentals were how I was able to view wrestling prior to my 1991 first television viewing. In 1997 I started tape trading via newsletters which introduced me to ECW, AJPW, NJPW, AAA, Smokey Mountain and Memphis. Never mind all of the indies and God knows what else. By 1999 I had my own awful website and often several VHS recorders running all day recording tapes and viewing what was coming through my Uni door. I probably should have been studying more. Good times.

Larry to go in... http://www.wwe.com/classics/wwe-hall-of-fame/larry-zbyszko-wwe-hall-of-fame-2015-inductee-27189380

24 needs to be in this. Edge / Undertaker was blinding. Big Show / Mayweather was great fun. Ric Flair / Michaels was memorable for the emotion. The ladder match was a good stunt show. The arena looked amazing, the music themes that year... it just felt like a great Wrestlemania.

Random timing, but I was just watching a late 96 Raw where he appears on camera playing guitar with "The Real Double J" and he is speaking about how James has a bright career ahead of him. In the same episode Jim Ross on commentary goes on about how he doesn't report to Kevin Dunn quite a lot.

Moi? No you're far too nice and normal Cheapshot

Masked generic anonymous Internet troll machine #2 would be my vote. A toss up between him / her and #3.

X Pac told a story a while back on one of his shoots where Dudley had pissed himself backstage and it was a heartbreaking thing to see, and that Vince went to great lengths to protect him. But you're right, seeing him flicking through a magazine during the speeches he didn't look with it. In the same above shoot, Pac tells a story of Bret Hart giving a great speech and him getting ribbed to lead a standing ovation - but he was the only one standing and just sat down. I really wish they included that.

Could be well wrong here, but wasn't there very early Mae footage on that Untold Story docco Meltzer ripped for being innacuarte?

Was impressed with Stewart. The longer he went I was totally expecting a "Cold Stone" style gaff, but it didn't come and it flew effortlessly.

Thought I'd bookend this topic with the fact that the IC title is literally being used as a hot potato for a storyline right now.

Agreed, another fun show!

#11 for me really sums up what a flux the Federation was in at the time. The biggest crying shame is how Bret Hart in his prime was wasted when he was badly needed to deliver the goods. Playing armchair booker, I wouldn't have minded seeing a match built as the final encounter between him and Owen. The street fight they had a week earlier should have been booked here on a bigger scale, showing how they have intertwined throughout the former year and how we have gone from hesitantly (for Bret) accepting a match, to needing a down and out street fight to end it now, once and for all. Owen basically cost Bret the title at the prior two PPV's so it books itself. We could have had a classic match to save a rotten card.

Rey was definitely way more consistent than either of them. He shined through the cesspool of late 90s WCW booking in a way Bret never did. That's a hard argument to make because it's so apples and oranges. Rey was being featured on mainstream American TV for the first time, VERY young and hungry. He was often working with close friends with a similar mindset. Bret was in his 40's, ego bruised and booked poorly.

Curious to hear more about this. I'm up to early '05 in rereading my old WONs so won't get there for a bit, but am drawing a blank spot here. Spanish TV started showing Smackdown in 2006 around 2 AM. I don't know how, but it caught on and suddenly every kid was watching wrestling and it was moved to a saturday morning spot. During the first year, they were only showing Smackdown, so Rey, Undertaker and Batista were regarded as the biggest stars - most people didn't know about Cena, which is really weird when you think about it now. Before that, there was a WWE show in the early 90s with a lot of fans and in 2006 Smackdown was shown under the same name and with the same lead announcer, so I guess that brought some older fans and helped the show catch fire. Wrestling got really big for a couple of years, which led to WWE and CMLL touring Spain and Ultimate Warrior making his in-ring return in Barcelona, but by 2010 it was mostly forgotten and it has been on and off TV since. Pretty sure it was a case of Smackdown being moved to free TV in Spain and Italy. A European promotion called NWE would book a lot of released Smackdown talent like Heidenreich, Matt Morgan and Orlando Jordan due to the exposure.

That's just how things go Chief. At the end of the day whenever Rey returned over the last few years there'd be clock watching towards his next injury. It's hard to invest in somebody who will likely be on the bench sooner than later, and likewise leave an opponent in limbo. Many legends get phased down the card towards the end of their active run, Snuka in the late 80's and early 90's is probably the best example. But Rey will be treated with due respect when the time is right.

Road Dogg and Billy Gunn didn't exactly leave their runs with fanfare - they were simply kicked / dropped out of the puzzle. Rey will likely be back for things in the future where he will be presented as a big deal. He carved out a tremendous history there.

I still think his first ever PPV match (Kurt Angle Summer Slam 02) was his best WWE match and in many ways cemented Rey with the WWE fanbase. The match for the new SD tag champs teaming with Edge against Benoit and Angle was also fantastic. The Rumble match against Undertaker in 2010 is another belter.

Not surprising, we all know folks who were stars in the 80s were the best workers Nice

Patty Therre once wrote an amazing article about the importance of music in ECW in Power Slam magazine. I wish I had a copy to scan...