ohtani's jacket

So if Marv Albert dropped dead during the NBA playoffs the show would go on? You can't have it both ways.

Then the situation is very different? If you honestly can't discern how those scenarios represent vastly different degrees of severity to the audience and the performers you should probably think about this more. Like, you call out the idea that the show should be stopped and finished with prepared footage and health updates as "crass" as opposed to, uh, having visibly shaken pro wrestlers go out and perform a skit immediately after learning their friend is within inches of death? So, you're saying that if it happens to someone else on the WWE's staff it doesn't matter but because it's Jerry Lawler it's different? It was an emergency at a live event and that's how it should be dealt with. If Lawler and his family and friends and work colleagues have an opinion about whether the show should have continued fine, but ffs the guy would be dead if not for the people at the scene, what difference would it have made if they'd gone to tape? If they'd gone to tape it would have basically been hype, probably using some soundbytes from Lawler's commentary. It's basically saying you can just switch it off and the next time you turn on WWE programming Lawler would be conveniently gone. And if they'd have gone to tape, there would be just as much criticism that they piled on the self-promoting instead of holding some sort of vigil or whatever it is you're meant to do in this sort of situation. How prepared for these things you can you be? Are television networks prepared for veteran sports broadcasters to have a medical emergency during a game? Do TV stations have contingency plans in store if a TV anchorman has a massive heart attack on air? In both cases, the director will cut to something else, but that type of scenario would create a panic on set and in the booth. It's not an easy situation by any means. I think the WWE should be applauded for the way they handled the medical emergency and posturing about whether the show should have continued or not is unnecessary.

So now you're saying they should have called the show off because it was Lawler? What if it had been a cameraman or a security guard or the physician at ringside even? The WWE's contingency plan is that the show goes on. Given that Cole did the best he could and Lawler got the immediate care he needed which saved his life. Surely, that's more important than staying tuned for regular updates on Jerry Lawler while we go to tape. That's crass.

How many other live broadcasts would stop because someone had a heart attack? Would a concert stop if someone in the crew had a heart attack? The WWE actually saved the life of one of its performers for a change, why quibble about the rest?

Most surgeries are only minimally invasive. My wife's knee surgery were two small holes created by a laser. And like I said, I have to tell the ER people about my wisdom teeth because that's deemed to be a surgical procedure that was performed on me. The medical profession would consider this a surgical procedure even if it's less risky than a bypass would've been. Technically speaking, a medical procedure is considered surgical if it involves cutting the patient's tissue. Wisdom tooth extraction is a form of oral surgery. An angioplasty, by technical definition, isn't surgery and is commonly performed at hospitals where there is no Cardiothoracic surgery department. I worked in the operating theaters of one such hospital for a number of years. Here is some info on angioplasties: http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/displaymonograph.php?MID=127 Note the "advantages" section.

An angioplasty is only minimally invasive. If he'd had surgery it would have been a bypass.

An angioplasty isn't surgery.

No documentary is going to contain three minutes of raw footage, not even as an out take. Having said that, I don't see why the running time has to be 90 minutes. If there's enough footage and enough story then 120 minutes is perfectly acceptable. It depends on the editor, story consultant or supervising executive (which these guys probably don't have), as well as whether it's for theatrical release or television. Whatever the case, I doubt Meltzer talking about New York and Philly fans is a central part of the story. If you were going through the transcript you'd run a pen through everything except the one or two lines that are relevant to the narrative. The full interview wouldn't make a director's cut as a director's cut usually contains scenes that were edited after rough cut screenings, not raw footage.

My thinking on Hamada is that we don't really know enough about him. We know the timeline for his career, we've seen his matches and we can construct an argument that his UWF promotion was somehow influential and important, but compared to the amount of research that goes into other candidates it just seems like a message board conclusion to me. I mentioned this before, but when he got blackballed and wasn't working and instead training the JWP girls, what was happening then?

I really don't see the case for Hamada.

Dandy footage has always been out there. People just aren't interested.

I can't see how the past four years would hurt Paco Alonso's case.

He has a point. Rocco and Jones 70s matches are massively ahead of their time.

Hennig vs. Tito from SNME is an excellent match. Easily the best SNME match I've seen.

In the 4/15/85 Observer recap on this site it mentions that Gran Hamada is very unpopular with wrestlers. Has this ever come up in Hall of Fame discussions?

I don't think I would vote for Breaks or anyone from Europe for a variety of reasons. But I am high on Breaks. When I was watching a lot of WoS he consistently stood out as one of the better/unique guys there, who was excellent at building heat. Not only do I think he was a great worker, but he seemed to consistently have a title from 62/63 forward. When I was looking through title histories last year he had a good bit more than Saint IIRC. Since the working theory/position being pushed by many Brits seems to be "those who held the titles the most were positioned as the top stars," it seems fairly safe to say he was one of the biggest names in Brit wrestling for his run. Having said I really don't know enough to vote for him. Trouble is George Kidd was the undisputed and undefeated World champion from 1950 to 1976 and when he retired it was Saint whom they pushed as his successor. Kidd's candidacy is problematic from the 60s onwards, but Dave isn't handling Europe properly. Logan, Masambula, Pallo, McManus and Kellett were the guys who carried the industry during Breaks' prime.

Why would you vote for Breaks?

Sure, it's always a crowd pleaser.

The British Bulldogs vs. The Moondogs, 7/12/86 The British Bulldogs vs. The Moondogs, 9/7/86 The Bulldogs continue their fun Brit invasion (or should that be Brit-cum-Calgary-cum-Japan invasion?) One of these matches was a really fun TV bout. I want to say it was the July match but it's been so long since I watched these. Not sure where the Bulldogs bad rep comes from? Is it because those Bulldogs/Hart Foundation matches aren't like Midnight Express/R 'n R Express matches? The Dream Team vs. US Express, Philadelphia 8/24/85 The Dream Team vs. US Express, Boston 11/9/85 Mike Rotundo vs. Greg Valentine, Philadelphia 12/7/85 The Dream Team vs. US Express, Philadelphia 1/10/87 The Dream Team vs. US Express, Toronto 1/11/87 The tag title switch between these sides is well worth watching. It's an actual "proper" tag match with face in peril rather than heel in peril and while the finish doesn't entirely work visually it was a novel concept. Some of the Valentine/Rotundo exchanges in the Spivey version of the US Express inspired me to check out their singles match, but it was the usual bust. The matches from '87 were boring as shit. The Killer Bees vs. Hart Foundation, Boston 2/8/86 The Killer Bees vs. Hart Foundation, MSG 2/17/86 These were excruciatingly boring. The Hart Foundation had some good offense and Bret took an insane bump in one of the matches, but the Killer Bees had all the charisma of a dead bee hive and the matches had no excitement to them whatsoever. They fought a million times, but this time I'm steering clear.

I think it would be next to impossible to get Ueda in on her own. The perception that Sato was the bigger star is probably true given that she stayed on as the ace while Ueda's post-wrestling acting career failed to take off. Someone would have to do a bunch of research about how Sato vs. Monsta Rippa, the Black Pair and gaijin women drew compared to the peak of the Beauty Pair phenomenon where they were able to run Budokan. They pushed Ueda to the WWWA title before Sato but I don't know the reason why. It may not have meant that much in those days given how often AJW belts changed hands and the fact that she went over in her hometown. On the other hand, she was the better looking of the two and they hadn't yet established that lineage of athletic, sporty types that went from Sato to Yokota to Nagayo and beyond. Unless someone can come up with some clear numbers, it's really a matter of whether you recognise how big the Beauty Pair phenomenon was in terms of mainstream success. Even now, if you mention Beauty Pair or Kakemeguru Seishun to Japanese women of a certain age they instantly know who you're talking about. Kakemeguru Seishun sold 800,000 copies and you can still sing it at karaoke. Every now and again they use it on TV. Pretty good for two wrestlers who couldn't sing or dance to save their lives.

So, Joshi stars aren't credible draws but the Matsunagas should be in the Hall because they got Joshi acts to draw? I don't follow you. Are you implying that it's difficult for Joshi acts to draw? If the Beauty Pair and Crush Girls weren't draws then very few workers in the Hall qualify as ever having drawn. At what point does a sensational hot period become "historical impact"? The Matsunagas' system was a clever business model that showed they understood their audience. That being said, after the Beauty Pair split they could only replicate their success with the Crush Girls despite numerous attempts at creating idols. As for why only Sato is in the Hall, I pressume it's because she lasted longer, was a bigger draw in Dave's eyes, was the better worker of the two (in so far as Dave thought they were good workers) and passed the torch to Yokota. Most probably it's because someone told Dave that Sato was the true star of that era. Ueda retired due to injury, IIRC. It wasn't because of the mandatory retirement rule. I think Beauty Pair should have gone in together, but I don't see the case for the Black Pair though I like both of them as workers. Sato went in in the original class, so Dave must have considered her a decent enough draw. The whole point of drawing is to make money. The Beauty Pair made money. I don't really understand your criteria for drawing.

So, you're saying the Beauty Pair or the Crush Girls didn't draw big TV ratings, sell out hundreds of shows, move a crapload of merchandise and make the Matsunagas rich? Joshi had the same business model as Joint Promotions -- the revenue from hundreds upon hundreds of shows in the hands of a few. Why the obsession with big gates? England didn't have large scale indoor venues to begin with and neither did Japan during the Joshi's heyday. Joint Promotions ran townhalls and the Matsunagas similar venues. Who cares if they weren't running venues the size of Madison Square Garden if it was successful?

I'd sooner see McManus and Pallo in the Hall than Big Daddy but arguing that Dale Martin should have ran Wembley Arena more often if Daddy was such a draw is like arguing that the Matsunagas should have run Budokan more often. Big Daddy vs. John Quinn was the biggest indoor drawing match in British wrestling history at the time it occurred and it was just short of 10k. The record was 14,000 to see Bert Assirati face Maurice Tillet at an outdoor football ground. Dale Martin to my knowledge never ran outdoor shows. Their biggest show of the year was the 5k Royal Albert Hall. Most of the venues they used housed well under 5k. So, it's really a question of how much credit you give being a TV star, selling out small capacity venues around the country and drawing the biggest indoors crowd of any British promoter ever.

I was kind of expecting the Estrada/Stuka hair match to be on the set. Not that I've seen it.

There was a HIP stretch in most of the Dream Team matches where Beefcake would eat a bunch of offense usually from Davey Boy Smith, but I think it was supposed to convey how close the Bulldogs were to winning the titles before the inevitable schmozz. That and the fact they had some pretty state of the art offense for 1985/86 WWF and tended to overload their matches at times. The thing I couldn't figure out is why they were so bad at entering the ring to prevent a pinfall or to stop one of the Dream Team from attacking their partner. So many times they'd stay on the apron. I don't know what the later Bulldogs were like, but in '85/86 they were billed as aerial exponent and these exciting young guys with arsenals at the cutting edge of pro-wrestling and I thought they delivered that with their offense. I had never seen that Monty Python skit before. Nice parody of WoS and a good Walton impersonation.