And of course Misawa-Kawada for myself. Don't recall if I was able to get in 6/95... that might have pushed it too far.

John

1997 Almanac, page 133 for June 9, 1995:

 

Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue beat Mitsuhara Misawa and Kenta Kobashi to win All-Japan's Unified tag team title. Kawada pins Misawa for the first time ever to end the 42:37 match that is the consensus Japanese Tag Team Match of the Year.

Does anyone know offhand if there's any footage from Doug Furnas' debut in Continental, where he rips the door off the cage. Cornette loves bringing that up, and how he stole that for Kane's debut.

 

Is this what you are talking about?

Those Almanacs got me some cool stuff too because in the mid 90s (before the internet was anything that I had even heard of) there was a wrestling talk show that gave away prizes for answering questions like "Who did so-and-so beat for such-and-such title?" or "Where did this PPV take place?" or they'd give a real name and you'd guess their kayfabe name. I won so many times (usually with the help of the Almanac) they instituted the "You can only win once a month" rule. Got some cool stuff like some (now rare) action figures that I never opened and even front row seats to an NFL game from the owner of the station.

Does anyone know offhand if there's any footage from Doug Furnas' debut in Continental, where he rips the door off the cage. Cornette loves bringing that up, and how he stole that for Kane's debut.

 

Is this what you are talking about?

 

Yeah, it was. Thanks.

Do you ever look back and then see where we are now and wonder what the hell happened?

Hell... I look at *my own life* and wonder how the hell *I* got here. Pretty common for all sorts of things, including wrestling.

 

John

And of course Misawa-Kawada for myself. Don't recall if I was able to get in 6/95... that might have pushed it too far.

John

1997 Almanac, page 133 for June 9, 1995:

 

Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue beat Mitsuhara Misawa and Kenta Kobashi to win All-Japan's Unified tag team title. Kawada pins Misawa for the first time ever to end the 42:37 match that is the consensus Japanese Tag Team Match of the Year.

Hot damn! I must have slipped all sorts of stuff in.

 

John

I don't remember which Almanacs I had but I know at least one of them suffered the fate of a lost cover. I loved that they had all the PPV results and so many title histories. Back before you could just look everything up on the internet the PWI Almanac was the best.

Totally agree on that. It was early-web era, so having a lot of info at hand wasn't really at hand. So even for a WON/Torch reader, if you're trying to look up who was in the 1988 WWF Title tourney at Mania, you either had to pull down the WON binder (if you are a binder guy like me) or... well there's that PWI Almanac that also gives you the Mania the year before and after... and Summer Slam... etc.

 

The title histories probably have flaws we can point to now, but they were also very useful... especially to folks who didn't have Gary & Royal's title history book(s) or weren't online to check out Great Hisa's Dojo.

 

Even the PWI-ish stuff was perfectly fine. We can joke about how the awards were / may have been cooked on some level, but they did give us an idea of what as "big" back in the 70s and 80s.

 

John

I really miss having a weekly wrestling show that I look forward to. There have been various times where I've been really into Smackdown but I haven't cared to watch it in a long time. I loved WWECW and Ring Ka King and both of those are long gone. TNA has a few bright spots but I can't watch their whole show. Is there anything you guys here EAGERLY watch every week?

NXT and WWC for me. NXT has at least one good match every week plus Regal on commentary. Lots of in ring stuff with some talking but not as much as the other shows. Main Event is good too with one long match and 1 or 2 shorter ones with guys you won't normally see on Raw or SD.

There is a guy putting up all the SAW shows as they happen this year and in the past that has been a really fun show week-to-week.

 

I watch Rampage regularly, but it's probably not for everyone

What happened to Ring-Ka-King? I thought it was considered a success?

My buddy Tom Holzerman has done the A1W/TWB 100 for the last several years and I thought there might be some people here interested in submitting ballots. It's deliberately designed to cast a wide net and include people with all sorts of tastes in wrestling. I have fun with it every year. Here is a link that explains how the things work. If anyone has any questions PM me

 

http://wallsofjerichoholic.blogspot.com/20...-call.html#more

What happened to Ring-Ka-King? I thought it was considered a success?

There's pretty conflicting reports on how popular it actually was, but it didn't get picked up for a second season so it must not have been a huge hit.

There is a DeBeers/Psicosis/Ryuma Go vs Billy Jack Haynes/Rey Mysterio Jr./CW Bergstrom match on youtube. It is from 1994. It is a fancam. It is 35 minutes. Can someone please watch this thing so I don't have to?

"Who are 6 guys that have never been in my kitchen?"--Cliff Claven

 

(That's what I would have had to ask if you hadn't framed that into it being, you know, an actually-has-happened match. Holy jeez...)

Ohno and Regal's confrontation is worth highlighting:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09sfCHas0fA

 

Pre-emptive apology if WWE pulls the video.

I like Hero... but someone working on the script with him seems to have missed something.

 

Given the early part, Regal does have a legacy:

 

It's guys like Hero and Punk. At least according to Hero earlier.

 

John

The match is being taped as I post:

I can't wait to see that match! I'm really behind on NXT (January 2013) but it seems like there should be a nice long build up to the match since things seem to be headed in that direction from what I've watched thus far. I really need to start watching NXT again and get caught up.

Sad to see Moondog Spike passed away. I'm watching the '92 Yearbook at this time and they were a truly unique, special team.

 

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-sto...son-passes-away

I can't wait to see that match! I'm really behind on NXT (January 2013) but it seems like there should be a nice long build up to the match since things seem to be headed in that direction from what I've watched thus far. I really need to start watching NXT again and get caught up.

You can skip a bunch of shows this year.

Seems like the Bully Ray's vile homophobic comments to a fan story is turning into the Mass Transit situation among the Wrestling media.

 

Dave Scherer:

 

The reason that Bully Ray put out a second apology yesterday via Twitter for calling a fan a "faggot" last week at the Chicago Impact taping is that someone in the wrestling media has repeatedly contacted Viacom asking them if they tolerate people on their network using that kind of language. You would think after Bully apologized the first time and Dixie Carter said that language won't be tolerated in TNA that would be enough for that person, but apparently it wasn't.

Wade Keller via Twitter:

 

Dixie Carter on record to me right now: "I know nothing and have heard nothing about Viacom execs getting calls or getting involved. I know that had nothing to do with Bully's second apology. That's just not true at all."

Just in time for Johnny P's documentary release.

Seems like the Bully Ray's vile homophobic comments to a fan story is turning into the Mass Transit situation among the Wrestling media.

 

Dave Scherer:

 

The reason that Bully Ray put out a second apology yesterday via Twitter for calling a fan a "faggot" last week at the Chicago Impact taping is that someone in the wrestling media has repeatedly contacted Viacom asking them if they tolerate people on their network using that kind of language. You would think after Bully apologized the first time and Dixie Carter said that language won't be tolerated in TNA that would be enough for that person, but apparently it wasn't.

Wade Keller via Twitter:

 

Dixie Carter on record to me right now: "I know nothing and have heard nothing about Viacom execs getting calls or getting involved. I know that had nothing to do with Bully's second apology. That's just not true at all."

Just in time for Johnny P's documentary release.

 

From one David Meltzer:

 

The level of embarrassment this story has left wrestling fans and some wrestling "reporters" with is immense.

 

If you think the role of a heel is to get his company put out of business, then yes, that's exactly what a heel should do.

 

My belief is the role of a good heel is to increase business, but I grant you that is a dated idea since the way wrestling is booked renders that very difficult.

 

So I'll just settle for the idea that a good heel tries to keep his company from going out of business.

Does anyone's actions cause television shows to get canceled?

 

Who knows.

 

But in the real world, a marginal television show that nobody wants to advertise on that causes the parent company great public embarrassment gets canceled all the time.

 

In reality, it wouldn't get to that. It would only get to Bully Ray being fired because they could save the company that way. But he apologized more than once and if you believe he's sincere that's all he can do.

 

But the point remains. That's not being a good heel. That's being a bad heel.

I picked up that Best of Nitro Vol. 2 DVD set today on a whim and a sale at Wal-Mart. I totally forgot how much I marked out when Arn beat Hogan that first time. It was awesome, and the promos at the announce desk to end the show were fucking insane.

 

Edit: Well here's something that surprised me. DDP hosts this DVD just like the first one. At one point he talks about how "Dave Meltzer's rookie of the year award for 1992" went to Rey and he came in second.

Anyone familiar with Five Star Wrestling from Louisiana from 1990? I think Buck Robley was booking and they must have had TV at some point because I've been watching some. Pretty thin roster with JYD as the lead babyface, someone in a mask as Black Olympia and a very old looking bleached blonde Mike George as his buddies. On the heel side it's Buddy Landell, Akbar and some guy who seems pretty terrible named The Beast. The most notable thing so far is the Fantastics working as heels which I actually think works really well for the all Fulton version.