One for the detractors - HHH against Flair in the cage (having re-watched it the other night after speaking up for it recently) might be one of the best heel performances ever in WWF/E, and one of the best laid-out Flair matches I've ever seen. The long-established heel getting a standing ovation when he leaves is strange but very-much deserved.

I've been meaning to sit down with that match for quite a while now. I remember loving Flair's promo on RAW screaming "A CAGE!" and telling everyone to vote for the cage match.

I've been meaning to sit down with that match for quite a while now. I remember loving Flair's promo on RAW screaming "A CAGE!" and telling everyone to vote for the cage match.

I loved how Joey Styles called that match. He didn't have too many great moments in WWE, but you could tell he was freaking out over getting to announce a great Ric Flair PPV match. After the win, Joey said something like, "And once again, Ric Flair shows everyone why he is the greatest to ever lace up a pair of damn boots!" and delivered the line with the excitement that only a lifelong fan could have.

I've been meaning to sit down with that match for quite a while now. I remember loving Flair's promo on RAW screaming "A CAGE!" and telling everyone to vote for the cage match.

You mean "A CAGE!! A CAGE!! A CAGE!! A CAGE!! A CAGE!! A CAGE!! A CAGE!!" (music starts playing) "A CAGE!! A CAGE!!" That's my all-time favorite Flair promo. Well, that and "I make virgins bleed."

I've been watching a lot of early '90s WCW lately, and something just occurred to me. I don't think that I've ever seen or heard about when the Hollywood Blonds actually won the NWA and WCW Tag Titles. Did that match ever air on TV?

I've been watching a lot of early '90s WCW lately, and something just occurred to me. I don't think that I've ever seen or heard about when the Hollywood Blonds actually won the NWA and WCW Tag Titles. Did that match ever air on TV?

 

It did. The bout went about 18 minutes. It was a great bout against Steamboat/Douglas.

The match aired on Worldwide Wrestling.

Has anyone here been keeping up with Dave Meltzer's posts on the F4W board?

Has anyone here been keeping up with Dave Meltzer's posts on the F4W board?

Yeah,

 

I was just reminded of how awesome the Luger/Sting v Savage/Hogan tweener/faces not getting along storyline was in 95

 

That was probably Luger's best mic work of his career and he sold it great with his facial expressions and mannerisms. You had Sting who really wanted to trust his friend but at the same time was annoyed at him for getting him into more trouble.

 

It's too bad they never blew that off as it was put to the back burner for the Savage/Flair, Hogan/DOD angles and then completely forgotten about once Hogan took his hiatus in April 96.

 

That was pretty high concept stuff especially compared to what the norm was in the business at that time

I enjoyed that time period also.

 

"What's a Chicago Street Fight?"

That was my favorite time period for Lex. I appreciate the fact that he wasn't afraid to make himself look like a complete idiot. For all the talk of him being a prima donna, he certainly wasn't afraid to job or look bad during that time.

What's Dave been saying at the board?

 

And tweener Lex rocked it

Has anyone here been keeping up with Dave Meltzer's posts on the F4W board?

Yeah,

 

 

Excellent exchange here.

Have to hand it to TNA for making Mick Foley's run completely meaningless in only 3 weeks.

 

another retirement angle? Just a couple of weeks after he starts with the promotion?

 

You can tell Mick's heart really isn't in this run. His pride got in the way of common sense (Vince yelling at him in the headsets) and it's costing him (not that he was going to do much in WWE)

http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/7080/

 

-- Bruce writes: This is hardly newsworthy but I wanted to throw it out there since I have not heard anyone else mention it. Here in Columbus, Ohio we are now getting SmackDown on mynetwork just as we should be...but the CW is still airing it as well. As it stands the same show airs on both stations at the exact same time. I really could care less but wouldn't this create misleading ratings? Maybe if SmackDown's rating on mynetwork seems low it is because there are still scattered viewers watching on the old network. Just wanted to pass this along and perhaps hear your take on the ratings debacle I have described. Has anyone else noticed this in their area?

I'm curious about this...

Did Doug Gilbert's 1997 Memphis Live on air shoot get any coverage in PWI or any other mags? WOW was a insider mag, but i don't think that was around til 98 at least

Bruno Sammartino puts over Kurt Angle for new TNA DVD.

 

I find it a bit funny that Bruno puts over Kurt so strongly, given all of Kurt's drug problems and Bruno's years of criticizing the drug abuse in the modern business, though it's too be expected as he obviously isn't paying attention to what's going on in the business anymore.

I wonder if Bruno knows about the Bestiality angle Kurt did?

I'm sure Bruno has some idea, he still lives around here and Angle's DUI was a top story on all the Pittsburgh news stations/papers.

More than likely, Bruno buys into Kurt's claims that the drugs he took were all because Vince McMahon ran him into the ground, and now he's perfectly clean.

 

Never mind that, while Angle may be smaller than he was in his later WWE years, he's still bigger than he was in his early years with the company, and still taking ill-advised spots.

More likely Bruno is aware that Kurt Angle is a gold medalist:

 

Angle isn’t in because of Dave’s “legitimacy” markdom.

 

Meltzer in his piece describing the difference between the various wrestling HOFs pointed out that what he thinks makes his “special” is the number of voters inside the biz. Angle is in because a large percentage of the Observer voters are people in the biz.

 

Angle is in because insecure pro wrestlers (people inside the biz) are legitimacy marks. Ole writes in his book how none of these guys today could have headline Georgia back in his day because they don’t know how to work and then makes the exception of Kurt Angle. Not because Angle works like Ole but because saying that is functional equivalent of saying “Yeah that stuff I did where I cut the ring in half and such, that’s just like gold level Olympic athletics.”

 

No way to do a HOF voted on by proffesional carnys without Angle getting in.

Even if Angle did nothing but SSPs and barbed wire bat shots, you'd have a hard time finding a wrestling veteran who wouldn't want to put him over. This Olympian gold medalist has great cardio much like I did back in the day when my opponents struggled to keep up with me.

TNA's director misses pinfalls, catches Earl Hebner picking up Joe's blade:

 

Hey, remember NWE? That European promotion where seemingly the only information available is that it's Rikishis promotion? Well... I spoke with someone who was at the last Spain shows who told me a couple of things

- the old (Italian?) money marks are gone, in are new money marks (Spanish?), which explains why they left Italy. If you ever thought that Rikishi was anything but the booker for the foreigners.... *sigh*

- wonder why they left Italy? Because every second show in a city bombed

- he told me about a show in Spain that went 75 minutes and most matches were accompanied by "Bullshit" chants

 

So in conclusion.... the only thing we know is that it's Rikishis fed, eh?

Hey, remember NWE? That European promotion where seemingly the only information available is that it's Rikishis promotion? Well... I spoke with someone who was at the last Spain shows who told me a couple of things

- the old (Italian?) money marks are gone, in are new money marks (Spanish?), which explains why they left Italy. If you ever thought that Rikishi was anything but the booker for the foreigners.... *sigh*

- wonder why they left Italy? Because every second show in a city bombed

- he told me about a show in Spain that went 75 minutes and most matches were accompanied by "Bullshit" chants

 

So in conclusion.... the only thing we know is that it's Rikishis fed, eh?

Say, isn't NWE the fed that brought back Warrior?