That thread blew my mind, but I didn't have time to respond to it. Martel blows away Davey Boy, but most of Martel's best happened outside the WWF.

I was really disappointed that Harlem Heat ended his career in 98. He would've been comeback wrestler of the year if he had wrestled for more than 2 months. Just an amazing string of matches from a guy that had shown nothing in the ring since 1989.

Didn't he blow out his knee in that triple threat match with Booker T and Saturn for the TV title? And wasn't it just one of those things, rather than somebody else causing the injuries?

Martel did blow out his knee, but his career was ended by a Stevie Ray botching a move and injuring his neck.

IIRC, he tore his ACL in a match with Booker, then in his first match back against Stevie Ray, injured his neck.

Martel did blow out his knee, but his career was ended by a Stevie Ray botching a move and injuring his neck.

When did that second injury occur?

Sometime in the summer of '98 I believe.

I love DBS as much as the next guy but why is that even up for debate?

 

If you pick up any 3-5 episodes of AJ Classics with Martel featured, they wouldn't even entertain the idea of having DBS and Martel in the same sentence.

When I saw that match with Martel (then AWA World Champ) and Flair (then NWA World Champ) as a team against Jumbo and Tenryu I was blown away by how good Martel was. As a Canadian, I was used to seeing him in boring matches with Dino Bravo and bloody brawls with Abdullah, both from Montreal, and of course his run as "The Model." I want to get some more Martel from AJPW.

His run as WWF tag champ with Tony Garea in 1980 gets little love as well. In fact most WWF from 80 up till Hogan pinned the Shiek seems to have been forgotten due to being the valley between the end of the 70s and the beginning of Hulkamania.

Hot off the presses from DVDVR:

 

All the Kurt Angle stories/rumors are BS, and if you happen to notice his rapid physical decline then you're being ghoulish and cheering for his demise.

 

And with that, I go to sleep before I punch my monitor.

I mentioned it earlier but the net denial over Angle's condition is pathetic. These same people would be crying about how unexpected it was, etc. if he suddenly died too.

Hogan says that he fell off the ski, it then somehow managed to magically pick up speed and hit him in the face at 2000 MPH.

Did you hold down "0" too long, or did he really say that? I read his book, but I can't remember what he said. I do think he said that it was B. Brian Blair that pulled him out of the water, though.

I was exagerating. If you'd like I will transcribe the story from his book.

Credit : PWInsider Elite

 

We got some news from one of our sources that one of the proposed endings to the Batista and Melina's sexual harrassment angle was to have Melina revealed as being a transvestite. But Stephanie was against it and feared that it would ruin Melina's career.

 

Wouldn't this ruin Batista more though? It would not be cool to reveal the calm, cool, and collected champ had sex with a tranny, now would it? You kind of can't help but notice that she is a he, you know.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

 

I wonder if anybody in that company remembers 1999? Getting head from a tranny didn't exactly make Mark Henry's career take off. One could only assume that fucking one would hurt Batista's image just a little bit.

Lou Thesz thought Stu Hart was a bit of a bully for the way he'd lure people who couldn't defend themselves down to the Dungeon and show them grappling holds. "Stu was great at demonstrating holds on willing participants and those without wrestling training, but not in getting the top guys in them."

 

Thoughts on that? That's a completely different viewpoint from what I've heard.

 

Lou Thesz thought Stu Hart was a bit of a bully for the way he'd lure people who couldn't defend themselves down to the Dungeon and show them grappling holds. "Stu was great at demonstrating holds on willing participants and those without wrestling training, but not in getting the top guys in them."

 

Thoughts on that? That's a completely different viewpoint from what I've heard.

I've not heard of Stu Hart being much of a "hooker" like Thesz, Gotch and or Lewis and considering all the tales of him working people over are indeed those of wrestlers that wanted to train with him rather than well trained wrestlers I think there may be some truth to Thesz's claim.

I've really been enjoying the James Gang/Latin American Exchange angle. I basically can't stand any of the workers in the angle other than Homicide but it's been booked really well. Konnan and BG James have cut some excellent promos the last couple of Impacts.

I always thought it was a bit creepy hearing Bret talk about hearing guys scream in the basement as if it was a normal noise like a banging furnace.

 

I guess Stu thought it was a good way to nip any potential ego problems in the bud, and you can't argue with the level of talent in the guys who've been in the Dungeon, but I can't help but think Thesz has a point about it not being too sporting to stretch the piss out of newbs just for the sake of it.

Funniest news item of the day, although at the rate WWE is going, they'll top themselves before midnight.

 

From Meltzer:

 

--WWE is looking for a new head of interactive programming to oversee all aspects of wwe.com. The position will manage all online content, content plan, management and development of a new distinctive tone for editorials. Interesting.

I guess Vince realized that WWE.com going all shooty has a downside when they start leaking things that the company would rather them not leak. Too rich.

I am really enjoying all the different viewpoints on wrestlers and wrestling matches lately in terms of quality. There are not as many matches these day where a match is definitely 2 stars or definitely 4 stars with little leeway. There is more leeway today than a few years ago and I love it because there never has been and never should be a mathamatical formula to figure out how good or bad a wrestling match is. There are too many variables combined with too many feelings on what belongs in a wrestling ring to be able to do that.

 

Though some people have really made me scratch my head lately. But I enjoy it.

i tuned in to the angle/hbk match on raw tonight on & off. serves me right i guess. i know angle's never been the best at stringing spots together, but when did he get so terrible at it? complete turd of a match.

Angle's attempts at ring psychology went when he lost his hair. Then he got all angry and shit and started screaming in all his interviews and wanting Sharmell even though she looks like a horse. Bald shouty Kurt sucks.

i tuned in to the angle/hbk match on raw tonight on & off. serves me right i guess. i know angle's never been the best at stringing spots together, but when did he get so terrible at it? complete turd of a match.

Agree on the quality, or lack thereof. Although there's a bit of unintentional humour there, as it kinda looked like Shawn wanted to do another of his "bad back" psychology matches, with Angle's lack-of-psychology saving us from that. Nevertheless, boring match.

 

I never thought I'd say this, but I made a mistake watching the John Cena DVD (of all things) before RAW. Even Cena DVD smokes RAW. Albeit, the Cena-Eddie match on that disc ain't bad. For matches where one guy is clearly outperforming the other and trying to hide both the other guy's weaknesses and make a good match out of it, it isn't as good as Bret-Yoko from WM9. But Eddie made a damn good effort. I wonder if Cena misses working with guys like that on Smackdown...

There's a Cena DVD?!

 

Does it have Cena vs. Benoit on it?

yes