Dav'oh

"Choshu appeared in a tag match for the urgent cicada...A single match with Inoki was realized with an unconvincing appeal of Choshu, but Choshu had already digested one game and Inoki thoroughly attacked Choshu's injured face and it was indigestion. It ends." (How Google's page translation rendered Asahi-net's account of the build to Inoki-Vader).

I want to know what happens next. I have to turn the next page in this book I've been reading since I was nine. Initially, I thought this was an easy question - pre 1996, for sure. But then I realised that as much as I love history, wrestling to me has always really been about what happens next. What happens next in a match or a sequence within a match; what happens next in an angle or feud; what happens in the next match or show; what happens next to AEW or NJPW or WWE in covid times; what happens next to Ric Flair - that sort of stuff. So, yeah, I can say that I prefer the earlier product of my youth (and stuff that predates me), but I'm compelled to follow it today and every tomorrow, 'cos I wanna know whodunnit, so to speak.

That's why I thought Lewis/Stecher might get a gig. Five and a half hours of Lewis "running away" and "on the defensive" might have been the straw that broke shootfighting's back. And I thought Misawa's death would have changed bell-to-bell business, but I guess wrestlers will always be whores for a pop, and their ego's are purpose-built for one-upmanship.

Really surprised the five-and-a-half-hour Ed Lewis vs Joe Stecher draw from 1916 hasn't been mentioned. Maybe it was too obvious? "Slambang" wrestling was already around, but this "terrible" match gave a major boost to the transition from "real" to "worked" (read: from "deathly dull" to "colourful"). That's my limited understanding, anyway. I'm happy to be wrong. MTV and WWF combining for The War to Settle the Score (Feb 19, 1985) laid the groundwork for Wrestlemania, and made wrestling "cool" and mainstream for a bit, and launched everything since. I'd like people's thoughts on the one match that perhaps should have changed wrestling: June 13, 2009, Mitsuharu Misawa's last match. Would I be right in saying it, unfortunately, didn't change diddly-squat?

I'd argue they wanted to be conned. I can't remember where I read it, but wrestling is now: Promoters/wrestlers (to fans): We know you're "smart". We know you "know how it's done". But we're still going to trick you. Fans: Go ahead. Maybe we like being tricked.

I see what you did there... Is Baba the really deep-voiced, mumble-mouthed, semi-comatose commentator I occasionally hear on AJPW matches? Whoever it is, he never gets mentioned in "Worst Commentator" discussions. Is that just out of respect, or are his comments so insightful/witty/interesting that how he says it is irrelevant. Because I can't imagine hearing him in his native tongue would make him any better, otherwise.

Will Marko Stunt ever bulk up (well, as much as it could be possible), or will he be billed as 120lbs or whatever when he's 45? I don't expect him to be Ted Arcidicito, but if he's ever going to start winning matches a few extra pounds of muscle might make it more credible. Might prolong his career, too, given the beatings he's expected to take.

Bray can always go back to seconding Baba...

Holy grails, Batman! Thanks for that. This might be my new fetish, chasing down XXXXL trunks instead of ***** matches

We know Santa's a drunk and he didn't bring us the TrapperKeeper 2020 like we asked for and we'll go on Facebook and call him a wanker, but come next year we'll be sitting on his lap excitedly asking for the TrapperKeeper 2021. And we think he'll come through this time because he's got new elves and Mrs Santa's been removed from creative and he said he listens to us and reads every one of our letters. And because he's got personal sentimental importance to us, we'll temporarily forget the bad times and tell him we love him. Or something like that...

Thanks for that. I didn't want to bump the Ric Flair (sigh) thread because bumping it startles people.

Cheers. Reading through the archives here, it was mentioned that Ted DiBiase was pretty much the last person taken from the UWF (behind even Dick Slater, for example) so the question was raised as to how badly Vince really wanted him. I thought there were parallels to Flair in that sense. Thanks for clearing that up. That brought a smile to my face. He's definitely a contender. All I could find on Tommy Rich in Japan was two tag matches for AJPW in 1988, so I didn't think he was exactly a wrestling god over there. Maybe he is to one person...?

Random questions: Does anyone know why there's a Tommy Rich Inn in Kyoto, Japan?https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g298564-d1080616-Reviews-Tommy_Rich_Inn_Kyoto-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html When did Vince first show interest in signing Ric Flair? He took his sparring partners like Valentine, Steamer and Piper - was there any attempt to get Flair back then? The thing that I always noticed most about Steve Dr. Death Williams was the size of his trunks - they are humungous. It's like he's wearing a small tent. I recently watched some latter Kobashi matches (for better or worse) for the first time, and noticed he had impressively large trunks, too. Not really a question, but outside of your giant-types, I believe Steve Williams had the biggest trunks in wrestling

I wonder what the stereotypes are in other countries? Here in the antipodes, it was basically "you enjoy wrestling? You must be really stupid", without geographical or cultural markers. How does Mexico label its lucha aficionados? Or Japan its puro fans? I know there's Brits who post here, so I hope someone can tell me how their country viewed/views the graps crowd.

https://watchfreenet.com/powerbomb-2020/ should work fine. The movie definitely winks or outright talks to "smart" fans.

It's swinging a club. Cavemen used to do it, they'd just aim a bit higher. So it's nothing complex. The movement is very basic - try it while you're reading this, if you don't believe me - it's the timing and contact and direction and hip-alignment and be-the- ball etc that people find tricky. Anyone can swing their arms, my grandma does it in aqua aerobics (not a sport).

As someone once put it, "we used to watch wrestling to see it being done. Now we watch to see how and why it's being done." I think once the way we watched it changed, so did our enjoyment, as it was no longer a means of escapism, but rather something to analyse and dissect. Now we don't boo because a heel used a pilediver, we boo because a heel used a piledriver "5 minutes in", or "as a transition" or "after working the arm all match".

They're two of the requirements, and I'd also suggest you also need to be able to 'play'. You don't 'play' boxing or MMA, for example. Can't play backyard sailing or driveway horse-racing. One is applying physical force ironing one's wrestling robe; doesn't make ironing a sport. Golf does not count as "athletic" because it is only one (very basic) movement, repeated ~72 times. Yep. There's no athleticism when you're in a tiny box with very little scope for movement/athleticism. If driving a motor vehicle from point A to point B as fast as you can whilst following rules and regulations makes you an athlete, my grandma getting her bread and gin of a morning makes her a sportswoman.

Hear hear! I've been burying myself in the archives lately, and Loss is one of my favourite posters. Always has well-thought and well-written arguments and seems exceedingly calm (at least, in comparison to some of the other old regulars, god bless 'em all).

This is one of my favorite topics: things in the Sports section that are in no way sports. I'll keep this brief, given it's Pro Wrestling Only. The following are NOT sports : motor racing, horse racing, golf, surfing, skating, boxing, MMA, gymnastics, foot races, darts, snooker, lawn bowls, archery, shooting, skiing, snowboarding, cockfighting, trampolining, weightlifting, sailing, diving, luge, BMX, fishing, and many more. I'd be happy to explain in an appropriate forum. Pro-wrestling, of course, is the King of Sports

350 Days: The Movie is up at https://tubitv.com/movies/493899/350_days?start=true. Looking forward to settling in and watching it, been looking for it for a while.

Fair enough, my "sniff test" on this is "can I imagine Bradshaw walking around saying how tough he is (which I believe was Russo's assertion) in that environment, with those guys around, and none of those guys putting him in his place?", and I think JBL is more savvy than that. To me he comes across as the sly, sycophantic type who would ingratiate himself with the tough kids and higher-ups, and know his place until a spot as a leading bully opened up.

Cornette called bunkum on that on his podcast, saying 1998-Bradshaw was in no position to be a bully, due to his relative inexperience/place on the card, and the fact that the locker-room had Severn, Shamrock and a host of legit tough guys that wouldn't have tolerated his (alleged) cockiness.

Halfway through "Powerbomb" (2020), starring Matt Cross and Britt Baker (in an Adam Cole T-shirt, so far) and Adam Cole popped up too. Seen far worse. I can understand why IMDB's 24 voters give it a 2.8, but as a wrestling fan it's instantly a million stars. (Available at your friendly neighbourhood torrenting site.) From IMDB: Powerbomb is the story of an independent wrestler on the verge of breaking into the big time, but he's contemplating leaving it all behind to spend more time with his family. When our wrestler's biggest fan hears the news, he decides to take matters into his own hands to ensure that his champion gets to the top by any means necessary. (Couldn't find a movie thread, so I put this here.)

If the WWE announcers are just parroting what Vince tells them over the headset, I have to think Titus' reaction to the Funhouse mirrored Vince's own.