goodhelmet

OK, that was only the portion that led up to the Monday Night Wars. I think Meltz expanded on it later in the article but I don't know if I will be typing up those things anymore. It takes alot of time and usually don't generate enough conversation to be worth it.

When did I type up Meltz's comments?

OK, I kept getting the vibe that you saw Benoit stuck in the cruiser division his entire WCW run. That wasn;t the case. As for Jericho, even as cruiser champion, if you remember, he was bigger than the cruisers and he would always claim to be under the limit. Similar to what Disco Inferno tried to do. It was always understood that Jericho was tormenting the little guys... until Malenko feuded with him.

Um, Benoit did feud with the bigger guys.... DDP, Bret Hart, Booker T. I usually don;t associate Benoit with Eddie and the others because I don't think he has ever been pushed as a small guy like the others either. And even then, if you out Rey against Flair, Bret or whoever, they are still the little guy, underdog, big heart cruiser. In that case, you play it up and have Rey win with his wits and speed. It's a pretty common theme actually.

OK, but cruiserweight Jericho, Cruiserweight Dean and Cruiser Eddie are all perfectly acceptable to me. The feuds that Benoit had (Meng, Sullivan, Raven,) were mostly with the Heavies anyway. As for the point that WCW made it bad to be cruiser, I think they also gave a lot of small guys the opportunity to work when they owuld not have had that outlet before, save for ECW. He has a point but, on the flipside, you have instances of Kevin Nash throwing Rey Jr. around. The small size can be exploited and you can have instances where Rey was upsetting Nash on TV or Juvi feuding with the Flock. Putting the small guys up against the giants would only reinforce the size difference anyway so you may as well emphasize how small the guy is but how he has so much heart blah blah blah. It may be a cheap way to generate heat but effective. I also think the cruiser division gives many of the smaller guys an automatic storyline... chasing the title. Unless you want the Sports Entertainment BS, the title chase is the simplest, yet most effective, way of giving the cruisers a story without having to overshadow the bigger angles.

I'll type up whatever Meltz said in the article when I get home.

I don;t know if I would have stuck Benoit in the Cruiser division. If that would have happened, I don't think he would have ever lost the stigma of being a little guy. I agree comletely but, I think Nagata has gained some considerable weight since 1998. Back then, I didn't think it was odd at all to see him go against Ultimo. I look forward to seeing it

I am a complete idiot. This is what I read when I was responding. Ric Flair v Hulk Hogan - 08/18/94 (WCW) I don;'t even think I read the title.

Steven Regal v Psicosis You gave them some props for doing what they could in 5 minutes, but on paper, this looks like a clash in styles. Are there any other Regal-luchadore matches out there? To be honest, the company probably didn't care. I think the attitude was "Most American fans have never seen this stuff ebfore so we'll give them something different." but that heels/faces/roles weren't a concern. They were clearly there to diversify the product and it hurt the company a little bit since some good-very good wrestlers in Mexico had little or no buildup and were used just for filler. Even I didn't care for El Dandy!

Loss, have you rewatched this match yet?

Is this a PPV match or a Clash match? Also, you said something that raised my eyebrow... One of the Observers I picked-up was the History of WCW issue. I may have to see what Meltz says about this ime period. I thought he said Hogan spiked PPV ratings huge. I may be wrong. I am sure he was def. helping WCW PPVs match what WWF was doing.

What years was Russell around and did he call any famous matches that you can recall?

Did anyone tape last night's show?

Sid Does this vote even really matter?

Even though Rey had his best matches in Mexico and WCW, I have to vote for him. I want to vote for Orndorff but without the HOgan feud, he would be nothing. Rey Mysterio Jr.

If anyone votes for Rotunda, they are crazy. Eddie Guerrero

I hate Tully Blanchard more than any wrestler ever. Ted DiBiase was one of my favorite wrestlers throughout most of the 80s. Ted DiBiase

Even though Rude's matches mainly sucked in WWF, I refuse to vote for HHH. Rick Rude

It was a joke. Obviously, not a very good one.

The only problem with voting on work is that I have not seen enough Honky Tonk Man matches... at house shows, Coliseum videos, that I remember from TV as a kid, to really vote on HTM's work. I am just taking for granted the standard that HTM was a crappy worker. I may have to hunt down some stuff to make that determination myself.

Cannonball Kid I was going to go with Venis... only because of Waltman's stint on the most recent Surreal Life but his work prevails.

Damn, does Sarge's run with GI Joe count? HBK

Honky Tonk Man Besides the Ring Crew Express, I don't think Jannetty's legacy will hold up. I think, even though his ring work isn't that sharp, Honky Tonk Man had more impact, drew more money, better interview, blah blah blah. As the results of the Piper-Jericho matchup showed, this is't about who was the better worker, it is about he impact of a particular wrestler... I guess.

Eh, maybe it is just fanboys but Sting never seems to be taken to task the same way Lex Luger is. Maybe, because with the exception of Steamboat and Flair, Luger has never been able to go in singles. In tag matches, he usually did fine and was never too much of a detriment earlier in his career.

Loss, do you plan on reviewing the Survivor Series match? I think it would be interesting to compare the body of work in that match to this one.