tim

Yeah this is pretty bad. Although "card" and "show" should be differentiated as Rhodes/Shield should be a great match and Bryan and Orton have good charisma, so it would be at least a decent show overall. I liked the idea of taking the title off Bryan after a clean finish at NoC, showed that Bryan was legit the best in the company but was just getting blatantly screwed over. Problem is they didn't capitalize on it at all and Bryan basically sat there like "hm, ok" and the interaction between him and trips/steph actually went DOWN afterward. So yes the booking of the main feud has left a lot to be desired and surely this show should do a scandalously low buyrate.

I liked Atlantis/Satanico quite a bit and it should do well on my ballot, but I definitely liked Cota/Rocca a ton more and I'm pretty sure that'll finish top 10 for me.

Random thought: I wonder if the use of **** for the ****** could possibly be spun as *****. I mean, it's a halfway academic thing we're doing.

disk three rankings 1. Gran Cochisse vs. Satanico (9/14/84) 2. El Satanico y Espectro Jr. v. El Faraón y La Fiera (8/12/84) 3. Javier Cruz, Impacto y Solar II vs. El Dandy, Franco Colombo y Panico (10/84) 4. Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana vs. El Faraón vs. Villano III (10/84) 5. Satanico vs. Shiro Koshinaka (7/30/84) 6. Sangre Chicana vs. MS-1 (9/21/84) 7. Satanico vs. Super Astro (10/26/84) 8. Villano III vs. Perro Aguayo (10/7/84) 9. Atlantis, Ringo Mendoza y Tony Salazar vs. El Satanico, MS-1 y Espectro Jr. (9/28/84)

Candidates for finish only/cuts. I'm sure it'll be obvious when the match is watched in full to decide but the entrance for that Onita/Chono match NEEDS to be on here.

This match will quite likely be in my top 25 for that. Good chance that will make me the high voter by a long shot, but man I loved it.

Yeah, I watched Wrestlemania III on a VHS when I was 11 or so and there was no mistaking that the feud was about Savage injuring Steamboat's throat.

disk two rankings: 1. Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (1/27/84) 2. Solar, Ultraman y Super Astro vs. Sergio El Hermoso, Bello Greco y Rudy Reyna (2/26/84) 3. Atlantis vs. El Satanico (1984) 4. Hijo del Santo, Ringo Mendoza y Chamaco Valaguez vs. Jerry Estrada, Fuerza Guerrera y Talisman (3/9/84) 5. Lizmark vs. El Satanico (April 1984) 6. Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (2/3/84) 7. Tony Salazar vs. Herodes (3/2/84) 8. El Faraón, Herodes y Mocho Cota vs. Lizmark, Ringo Mendoza y Tony Salazar (2/24/84) 9. Enrique Vera vs. Dos Caras (2/26/84) 10. Atlantis y Lizmark vs. El Egipcio y El Faraón (2/17/84) 11. Jerry Estrada vs. Ultraman (3/2/84)

Well yeah, but I do think there are some matches that will appeal to an exceptionally large cross section of both hardcore and casual fans, maybe even some to a "vast" majority.

i have NO idea what the point of that shield vs. 11 faces match was but it totally fucking ruled

Really cool episode guys, I'm about an hour and twenty in and have been listening to it in chunks while I'm doing various work online. Listening to the stuff on the PR cage match and how the set is coming along, is that slated to be the next 80s set?

Does Loss have a list?

Oh man, Vince as ECW champion. There's something I completely forgot and loved so much at the time. It made so many internet fans just spazz out and Vince knew it and reveled in it every time he went out.

Now of course there will be no REALLY universally enjoyable matches that EVERYONE who has any interest in wrestling will like, but there should be some that come pretty close. The Ultraman/Solar/Astro v. Hermoso/Greco/Reyna match from the Lucha set got me thinking about it. That match is just a total blast; big dives, fast paced sequences, great comedy moments and doesn't let up or overstay its welcome. Seems like a match you could show just about anyone who has any interest in wrestling and they'd enjoy watching it. So what are some other great examples of near universally enjoyable matches? The big 10 man tag from RAW in 2000 should be up there. Big feel, lots of "names" of the time involved, fast pace, some cool dynamics and lots of fun spots in succession and a nuclear crowd. Even stereotypical workrate fans tend to give that match a lot of praise.

So WWE's tagline for Wrestlemania is still "Laissez les bon temps roulez." You'd think someone in the multinational company would have first-month French student knowledge of verb conjugation.

i still have an SD TV with a non-flat screen and unless i suddenly just got a ton of money or something an HDTV isn't on my to buy list

disk one rankings: 1. MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana (9/23/83) 2. Espectro Jr., Satanico y MS-1 vs. Mocho Cota, Sangre Chicana y La Fiera (9/30/83) 3. Sangre Chicana vs. Ringo Mendoza (10/28/83) 4. Atlantis y El Hijo del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera y Lobo Rubio (11/25/83) 5. El Canek vs. Don Corleone (2/14/82) 6. Kevin von Erich, Mascara Ano 2000 y Halcon Ortiz v. Coloso Colosetti, Pirata Morgan y Herodes (9/23/83) 7. Satoru Sayama y Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo y Baby Face (4/13/80) 8. Andre the Giant & Cien Caras vs. Alfonso Dantes, Herodes y Sangre Chicana (1981) 9. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek (6/12/83) 10. Centurion Negro vs. Gran Hamada (2/14/82)

I'm not TOO optimistic because I don't trust WWE to not fuck everything up, but they are on the cusp of having the best era in company history. They've got the germs of some really unique, compelling and dynamic angles going on, tons of talented guys both in and out of the ring, won't fall into the immature excesses of the attitude era but can still have an exciting and intriguing feel to a lot of the stuff they have going on, they have an emphasis on good ring work with the right guys to do it and are able to blend great ring work with good angles very well. I don't think it's all going to come together like it should because this is WWE we're talking about but fuck if they're not in the early stages of what could be an all time great company run right now.

not quite as good as the one where he's against the fence with sunglasses edit: show, dont tell

great ending; and holy shit, RAW ends at 11:05 on the dot.

segment of the night

I actually liked that segment overall but they need to step on it with taking this Show angle somewhere. They'll lose the crowd if the same stuff goes on much longer.