http://placetobenation.com/pro-wrestling-super-show-53-the-greatest-wrestler-ever/

 

A breezy almost three hours with Dylan and Will talking the Greatest Wrestler Ever project and going over a large amount of candidates. What is not to enjoy?

I feel like I've said this so often now but I'm going to keep saying it till people take notice.

 

Slaughter in 81. Slaughter in 81. Sgt. Slaughter in 81!!!!

 

Most over heel and then some, great opponent for Backlund and Andre, all time great feud with Patterson.

You will get more of that great insight and more on the next episode of Exile on Badstreet!

The line about scummy '97 Eddie resembling a Hispanic Jimmy Del Ray had me cracking up.

 

And any gushing over Puerto Rico will always get a pop out of me.

 

"Brock Lesnar vs. Butch Reed." "Villano III vs. John Cena."

 

For fuck's sake. Will has me stoked for these impossible will-absolutely-never-happen fantasy dream matches.

This was a fun and engaging listen. Lots of names tossed out and batted around. Good stuff.

Really liked the bit at the end inviting everyone to participate. If Steven is much lower than Will on the 'most footage watched' totum pole, I feel like my notch might be in the ground.

Everybody is welcome! It's all about discussion and discovering new guys!

 

Glad you all enjoyed the show and damn those Will hypotheticals were driving me crazy in a great way.

I'm only through the first 30 minutes or so, but I found the discussion about "favorites" vs. "the best" to be fascinating.

 

Am I wrong to sum up that argument by saying that Will gives little to no credence to influence or historical reputation when making his list, where Dylan and Steven do (at least to some extent)?

 

Or does Will factor in influence and historical rep, but thinks the influence and historical rep of guys like Brody and Tiger Mask has been blown way out of proportion?

I wouldn't say I give any credence to historical rep, other than I am probably more likely to check out someone with a historical rep than I am to check out someone who doesn't have one...and even that is increasingly less true over time. What I would say is that I don't think favorites and best are synonyms. J.T. Smith is one of my favorites, I liked watching him far more than I like watching say Akira Maeda. But Maeda is better.

I agree with Dylan favourite and best are different things. It's ok to like things that aren't good, just admit it

Whereas I come down much more on Will's side because to me, if I like it, it must be good.

 

But I think the disparity of philosophies about that is one of the strengths of the project. I wouldn't want everyone to think through the same lens.

For fuck's sake. Will has me stoked for these impossible will-absolutely-never-happen fantasy dream matches.

 

 

Listen to the next Dangerous alliance podcast. It will be one of the games.

 

Am I wrong to sum up that argument by saying that Will gives little to no credence to influence or historical reputation when making his list, where Dylan and Steven do (at least to some extent)?

Or does Will factor in influence and historical rep, but thinks the influence and historical rep of guys like Brody and Tiger Mask has been blown way out of proportion?

 

 

 

We didn't discuss him on the show but my main example has always been Kerry Von Erich. Kerry has been consistently great in Mid South, Memphis, Texas, Japan etc. History tells us he was a hapless drug addict who had to be carried yet before the injury to his foot, and even up until he went to the WWF, he was always good. What am I going to believe... my own eyes or Meltzer and others telling me Kerry had to be carried every time? If I were to just accept the notion that he was not very good, I would have him off my list and Brody and Tiger mask on the list. I can accept that a guy was historically meaningful but not my cup of tea. When people shit on Kerry now, I don't even defend him because it usually feels like the criticisms come straight out of the Meltzer obituary. I spent years watching this guy kick ass. In my view, and I spent many words during the Texas voting defending him, he was far and away the best Von Erich brother and it wasn't even close.

 

ONe of the main things that dirves me crazy is when Parv or somebody else will use a wrestler quote to try and strengthen their argument. I don't give a shit what Meltzer or another wrestler thinks because what they want out of a wrestling match is different than what I want. In the last ten years, I have established in my head what I like and don't like in wrestling. When guys do what I like, I reward them with praise. When they do stuff I don't like, I criticize them. For guys like Lawler and Murdoch, I went into great detail of what I thought Murdoch and Lawler were great at. If people don't agree, cool.... but they aren't seeing what I am seeing and that's OK with me.

 

Also, favorite and best are different but my favorites are usually the guys who are best at doing what I enjoy in the ring. Usually my favorites in wrestling do stuff outside the ring to make them my favorites.

Kevin Sullivan, Portia Perez and (Scottish ICW star) Red Lightning are three of my favourite wrestlers of all time, but it's all character and promo work. I'd love to highlight them on my list. But they don't have the matches. I'm really struggling with what to do with people like that.

If their character work isn't translating to the ring then don't put them on your list. My argument for Eddie Guerrero on the show was that his character work came through and helped his in ring work.

The only time I can recall using a wrestler argument ever was when you suggested that Dory was carried in every single Funks match and I said that Terry would tell you himself that that is total crap, especially when a standard Funks trope is Terry getting injured and Dory going 2 vs 1 for half the match.

Sid and Steve Mcmichael are two of my personal favorites/guilty pleasures. I would never argue that they were good though

Is it thier in ring work that makes them favorites?

Depends on how much Sid powerbombing people counts?

Well, Sid powerbombing guys IS great. It's the stuff leading to the powerbomb that hurts his case.

It's pretty much charisma and aura that draws me to Sid and he's fun in squash matches. I'm from Chicago and a die hard Bears fan so Mongo has a soft spot with me in that it was cool to see a guy from my team in wrestling. He too was pretty charismatic in his own goofy way. Neither guy would be someone I'd prefer to watch in a match north of 5 mins although Sid has a couple decent matches on his resume.