Putin just burying guys.

So I'm watching the AWA documentary on the Network and realized Verne Gagne is still alive. Not to be too morbid, but what other huge figures that would merit that kind of obit in the WON are that old? I wonder if Dave has started working on any of them in the same way that the NYT does or if he just starts when they pass away.

I may be wrong, but I think Verne is the last one left from that era.

Don Leo Jonathan, Dick Beyer, Danny Hodge, Mr. Wrestling II, and Nick Bockwinkel are all in their 80s.

Verne's 89 and was in main events maybe as early as 1949. Only Jonathan is close in that regard, and he is about 5 years off

Speaking today with someone regarding the positive reaction WrestleMania has garnered, with Meltzer (to my shock) really putting the show over as a great top tier PPV.

 

Do you think that Dave saying this is a way to keep himself relevant rather than looking out of touch like his peers Cornette etc? Do you think that this is a concious decision?

 

Do you think 35 year old Dave (he's 55 now) would of rated the Diva's tag as ***, especially after all the years of AJW he's seen over the years?

I think he was there experiencing it and had a really fun time. The funniest bit was how he just sort of dropped out in his live recap after the Rousey thing happened. The pleasure center in his brain exploded and he reached the greatest natural high of this stage of his life.

This was doing the rounds straight after Melty went dark.

 

I believe everything Dave says is sincere. He just has a different view of wrestling than most of us. It's all about right now. Next week, how good or bad the matches were on this show won't matter at all because the standards have already changed. This is of course contradicted by even doing a MOTY vote in the year-end awards, but what can you do?

WWE divas matches are hard to rate. Often the characters are stronger than the wrestling, and almost always they are horribly constrained by time. Seems crazy that they admit to not having enough ideas to fill three hours of television, and still continue to restrict the womens matches to about three minutes. As such, they are conditioned to work messy, disorganized sprints and that carries on to the main shows when they get a few minutes more.

I don't even mean this as a criticism really but Dave's reaction to the Rousey/Steph/Rock/HHH stuff seemed to be the equivalent of him experiencing the birth of one of his children. He just seems so damn happy over it. And he has a full year to tell us how great it is going to be

The guy, after 40 years of following and writing about the ins and outs of pro wrestling, is still an unapologetic and enthusiastic fan. Good on him.

 

Dave Meltzer ‏@davemeltzerWON 21m

21 minutes ago

Few matches I've seen so different live vs. watching on TV as Sting vs. HHH. God did that commentary ruin a bout with super heat

 

I know this is a surprise to nobody that commentary sucked but it really does explain why there are so many different spectrum of opinion on this match.

One of the great advantages of being at WM live is not having to deal with that shit. I sure if I watched the Daniel Bryan WM matches last year I wouldn't like it as much.

 

As far the Rousey thing, this is a guy who lives mixing his pro wrestling with MMA and MMA with his pro wrestling. Why wouldn't he be giddy about Rousey showing up at Wrestlemania. Short of having the Diaz brothers or Paige Vanzant working with Steph and Triple H it doesn't get any better.

 

 

Dave Meltzer ‏@davemeltzerWON 21m

21 minutes ago

Few matches I've seen so different live vs. watching on TV as Sting vs. HHH. God did that commentary ruin a bout with super heat

 

I know this is a surprise to nobody that commentary sucked but it really does explain why there are so many different spectrum of opinion on this match.

One of the great advantages of being at WM live is not having to deal with that shit. I sure if I watched the Daniel Bryan WM matches last year I wouldn't like it as much.

 

As far the Rousey thing, this is a guy who lives mixing his pro wrestling with MMA and MMA with his pro wrestling. Why wouldn't he be giddy about Rousey showing up at Wrestlemania. Short of having the Diaz brothers or Paige Vanzant working with Steph and Triple H it doesn't get any better.

 

 

That's fair. I suppose I'd enjoy Brock Lesnar fighting the Incredible Hulk too.

Yeah the Ronda angle is pretty much Dave's worlds colliding in the best possible way for him both professionally and as a fan of both genres. I'd be marking out like a fool if I was him.

After saying you can't re-watch a match and re-analyse/judge it (does/doesn't hold up), Dave tweets out that Sting vs. HHH doesn't hold up on tape with commentary.

 

I don't understand why he thinks that but at least when he was just on that side of the fence, I could live with it.

 

Now he is going against his own philosophies. Don't get it.

I don't think he would see it that way. I think he'd say he had one experience (live) in the moment and reported on it, then had a different experience (TV) in the moment and reported on that.

After saying you can't re-watch a match and re-analyse/judge it (does/doesn't hold up), Dave tweets out that Sting vs. HHH doesn't hold up on tape with commentary.

 

I don't understand why he thinks that but at least when he was just on that side of the fence, I could live with it.

 

Now he is going against his own philosophies. Don't get it.

I don't think he means you can't rewatch a match 3 days later. I think he means watching a match 5 years later in isolation and out of context from what was going on around the match.

I don't know that he grasps that a match working in its time *is* a universal concept that can be used to make comparisons.

I think it gets blown out of proportion to a degree because everything Dave says gets dissected to a particle level, I'd imagine someone watching the main event of WM III in twenty years might not understand the importance of the match, since based on just watching it void of any context it fucking sucks. However watching the build and knowing the history fills in the blanks and makes it simpler to understand how they got such a massive crowd. Dave seems to be trying to make the point that the way people tend to watch wrestling now (individual matches rather than full shows/angles) can cause you to form an opinion without having the complete picture.

I'm not sure Hogan vs. Andre is the greatest example given that Dave Meltzer gave it -**** at the time, unless you needed to live it in the moment to understand its full horror.

And that was the Dave who used to say shit like Junkfood Dog. He's grown up.

And Andre / Hogan rules.

I'm not sure Hogan vs. Andre is the greatest example given that Dave Meltzer gave it -**** at the time, unless you needed to live it in the moment to understand its full horror.

 

I think it gets blown out of proportion to a degree because everything Dave says gets dissected to a particle level, I'd imagine someone watching the main event of WM III in twenty years might not understand the importance of the match, since based on just watching it void of any context it fucking sucks. However watching the build and knowing the history fills in the blanks and makes it simpler to understand how they got such a massive crowd. Dave seems to be trying to make the point that the way people tend to watch wrestling now (individual matches rather than full shows/angles) can cause you to form an opinion without having the complete picture.

The match does not suck in a void. Watch it now, it's a good match with an insane crowd and it is really fun to watch. Hogan is great seller in the match and the lay out is perfect.

 

This notion that the match stinks, seems to be the same notion that wrestling has changed and without speed and huge athletic spots it sucks.

I'd rather watch two big guys have a "slow, lumbering match" in front of 70,000+ people screaming their heads off than 2 dudes doing a bunch of flippy dos in front of 50 people chanting how awesome it is. Even more than that, I'd have liked to see Andre pile all those 50 people up and sit on them.

Andre/Hogan kind of rules, yeah.