PeteF3

A big crowd losing their shit over a World title change, thus irrevocably proving that drawing a singular pop outweighs the larger needs of the business.

"The ending to Dexter was terrible" is possibly the least-controversial take in the history of television, or at least tied with "The Simpsons went through kind of a decline after Seasons 9 & 10." I'm on fairly safe ground.

I have no criticisms of the end of The Sopranos, so no. The criticisms of the end of Lost, though, have led me to not bother binge-watching the series after the fact since it all seems like a waste of time. Dexter also.

Leaving aside the can-you-criticize-without-watching question for a bit (as it's so self-evidently true that's scarcely worth arguing), as someone following what actually happened on-screen, Goldberg-Nash sucked and the finish was idiotic (both the idea of Goldberg losing at that time, and the manner in which it was carried out). Both then and when I watched the '98 Yearbook. Booking for a singular "pop" is Vince Russo bullshit. You always have to know where you're going to go tomorrow.

Yeah, they apparently did have another match in '89, presumably around the same time as the Arn bout. Magee is a heel managed by Jimmy Hart. So the date may be right after all, but it's *a* match rather than *the* match.

This. When I was watching the '98 Yearbook I was amazed all over again at how effective the WM14 build was, and not just the main event. Even Sable's in-ring debut was a big deal and it turned out to go as well as it possibly could (probably too well, leading to them going back to it way too often). Tyson got eyeballs on the product, but Vince helped engineer the MNW turnaround by sheer laser-like focus while WCW was, as usual, all over the map. WrestleMania III was also a brilliantly booked top-to-bottom card. Literally every single match served a specific purpose--either blowing off a feud, heating up an existing or new one, or establishing new stars. And sometimes all of the above.

I thought the Rock-Austin X-7 build would be near the top spot for Worst Builds, actually. Shoehorning Debra into the thing was pure death. I think it gets overly romanticized because a.) The match was great and historical, and b.) They had the sense to shitcan the Debra stuff before the event, which was the right move but also made the build even choppier and more haphazard. This match seemed like the start of the WWF deciding that having two huge stars face off wasn't enough and they had to overthink things to death.

Yes it is.

My memories and cursory re-examination over the years indicate that this place (in Loch Sheldrake, New York, apparently at the Community College) made the Fernwood Resort look like Cowboys Stadium.

The most notable thing about this show is that among all the tiny dumps the WWF taped television in from late '93-'95, this special has to be the absolute worst. It looks like it's coming from an industrial warehouse basement somewhere. That and maybe the surprise finish to Crush-Bret.

How much '90s MUGA is actually out there that we know of? I don't think even a certain eastern-PA tape dealer has much before the mid-'00s revival. I've seen lists of two tapes on the old KanD Match Listings site and on Lorefice's site, some of which has shown up on Jetlag's Youtube. And yet... https://youtu.be/jq-4-KJCIaQ I found Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tully Blanchard from a '95 show on Nicovideo and threw it on my Youtube channel, as well as a match from the same card between two Brits out of the Snake Pit. I knew of this match, but had no idea that there was more MUGA actually taped. Edit: I should also point out that I've found a few pages of what appear to be Japanese match reviews of other not-circulating tapes from this era.

Were they still taping Rosemont Horizon matches in '85? I want to see Flair vs. Billy Robinson for the NWA title.

These dream World title matches all sound like pleasant little matches, but what I really want to see is Bret Hart trying to get something watchable out of Tom Magee.

Even would have set up Beefcake vs. DiBiase as a match for WM5 with a little something behind it, too, instead of just two guys thrown together. That said...they did want Studd as a B-show main eventer, doing a quick run around the loop with Ted before moving on to Andre, so I can see why he made sense at the time.

While I don't exactly see her being announced any time soon, Bull Nakano was a full-blown member of the roster for several months. If I got to see her work a half-filled Columbus Convention Center at a 1995 house show, she probably worked more than two matches. As far as Japanese women...going by the Tatsumi Fujinami precedent, I think there's a non-zero chance they work out some deal with Satomura if they ever try to buy out or form a relationship with Sendai Girls. Again, I wouldn't say either of these are likely, just that they're possibilities.

Was that an actual promo meant to be seen by everyone or one of those interviews with the enhancement talent that was usually filled on TV by local promos?

Not to speak for NintendoLogic but I'm pretty sure that was his exact point. It's a horrible gimmick for an ostensible star babyface.

Wasn't the consensus that there never actually was any WWE references for him to remove to begin with? Can I get a definitive answer on that? This does feel like a big deal, even accounting that WWE-contracted people are also appearing (Arn, Coachman, Lawler).

I'm assuming Flair-Valentine is 8mm ringside footage a la Flair-Rogers from the same venue. It would definitely be "new." Weird that the rest of that MSG show hasn't turned up since the main event aired on 24/7 years ago, not that it looks like an overly interesting card, but it does have Tatsumi Fujinami and Allen Coage working squashes.

There's film of that Thesz-Valentine match out there, but I'm pretty sure it's not 14+ minutes worth. Big find.

That may have been his first New Japan tour but he and Valiant worked All-Japan at least once as a tag team. This was some sort of talent exchange deal, because Fujinami also came to the MSC to face Lawler that same year. And either that year or the year before, Fujinami did a home-and-away series with the Grappler in Portland over their title.