Cross Face Chicken Wing

Thanks man! Is Stan Hansen's book on Kindle Unlimited?

Cena, Dustin, Taker.....maybe Brock.

It had been a while since I browsed through the wrestling book category on Amazon so I started clicking through the other day. Man, there are a shitload of wrestling books (and e-books) out there that I've never heard of! Does anyone have any recommendations for under-the-radar titles that are worth reading? By under-the-radar, I mean stuff besides the autobiographies from well-known superstars, Cornette's stuff, etc. Something that deserves to stand out among the clutter, but maybe hasn't had a spotlighted shined upon it. I'll recommend one to start: I'm halfway through "Kamala Speaks" and it's really good. The writing is substandard, but not bad enough to derail the storytelling and interesting tidbits through the first 150 pages.

To me there are a handful of wrestlers who do not have a resume filled with ***** matches, memorable promos or can't-miss programs that still deserve to make my top 100. Kamala is the leader of that pack. His gimmick was scary, goofy, fun, non-politically correct, interesting, oh-my-God-what-the-hell?, unique and a special attraction. All of those things pretty much sum up why I love professional wrestling. Kamala is not, and should not, win any awards for workrate, but his matches were always interesting to me because there were usually two going on: What is Kamala going to do against (insert opponent)? And what the hell is Kamala going to do in general (can he figure out how to tag in his partner? does he know to turn a guy on his back to pin him? can kim-chee keep him in line?). Add in the belly pat, which is the most underrated schtick in all of wrestling, and Kamala makes my top 100. (Side note: Kamala also wasn't a total stiff in the ring. Whenever he did a leap frog or flopped on guys from the top rope, I was impressed. He also had good matches w/ Andre, Hogan, Lawler and some fun stuff in Mexico as funkdoc mentioned.)

Kamala http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/33202-hacksaw-duggan-vs-kamalahouston-wrestling-71285/?hl=kamala http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32653-kamala-vs-johnny-richhouston-wrestling-92383/?hl=kamala http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/18919-jerry-lawler-vs-kamala-uswa-on-wmc-5-120791/?hl=kamala&do=findComment&comment=5709206

It's a reaction show. Falling asleep is a perfectly normal reaction to what WWE tries to pass off as wrestling these days.

The Undertaker represents everything that is both awesome and lame about pro wrestling. You give almost any other wrestler a dead guy undertaker gimmick and it fails immediately. Calaway still draws with the gimmick 25 years later, so I think he'll make the bottom of my list.

I give WWE some credit for throwing something against the wall and hoping it sticks to try and inject some life into what's shaping up to be an awful Wrestlemania. I don't think a sweatier and chubbier Shane McMahon can save this Wrestlemania, but it at least generated a reaction and a little bit of buzz (even if some of that buzz is of the WTF? variety).

Jericho is a pro wrestler/wannabe rock star. Why is it a surprise to anyone that he's a tool?

I gotta hurry up and nominate Kamala because a 5-minute podcast on Kamala would make me very happy.

Do we have any idea how much a full-time SMW wrestler made in a year?

A non-wrestling fan friend asked me who my 5 favorite wrestlers were the other day. Instead of boring him w/ my top 5 from the GWE project, I told him about Kamala: How Kamala was a truck driver turned African savage, how he sometimes didn't understand how to pin his opponent or tag in a partner, how he always patted his belly because he was hungry for human flesh. My buddy said he YouTubed Kamala for an hour and was entertained.

Flair vs. Steamboat, Clash 6. Love the match and have watched it many times without ever losing interest. This would be my first choice because 1) the match is awesome, 2) it brings back great memories of my early tape-trading days, 3) the match lasts an hour, so that's an hour of time where I won't be bored on the island and 4) it's Flair and Steamboat. If you're a wrestling fan on a desert island, you gotta have at least one Flair/Steamboat match to watch. 1992 Royal Rumble. In addition to being a great match filled with hall of famers and wrestlers from my youth, you also get an epic Bobby Heenan on the mic and a classic Flair promo after the match. This one also kills an hour. So far, I've taken up two hours of every day with wrestling. Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen (4/14/83). A wild match between two guys who can temporarily help you forget that you're stuck on a desert island. For the record, my plan when I got to the island would be this: 1. Find a safe spot to store the disc that contains these matches so it doesn't get stolen by an exotic animal or eaten by a cannibalistic tribe led by Kamala. 2. Write a letter letting people know where I am and to come rescue me in one week. I need a week because it might be nice vacation to watch these matches and hang out on the island for a week. 3. Put letter in bottle, toss in ocean. 4. Search the island for hallucinogens and supplies to brew my own beer. 5. Consume the hallucinogens, pound 18 beers and watch my wrestling. 6. Pass out for the day, repeat process the next day.

Incidentally this is why I see ZERO Flair in him Obviously I hate HHH, but let me play devil's advocate for a minute. Flair had no problem making his opponents look strong and himself weak. But Flair had times where he didn't carry that all the way through and do the job like he should have. The best example of this was his feud w/ Luger in '88. The time was right for Luger to beat Flair and become champion. It didn't happen. Would 1988 Flair have put over Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania like HHH did at WM 30? I think so, but I also think it's worth discussing.

If I were running this project, one of my rules would be to automatically toss out any ballot that contained HHH in the top 100.

Back in 2012 I made a thread, while I was drunk, of course, about the best wrestling to watch while drunk. Tip one back and enjoy....... http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/16570-drunk-wrestling/?hl=drunk

Another great episode. Thanks guys.

Saying Punk's WWE career didn't live up to the hype is like claiming (insert name of NBA star) didn't live up to the hype because he's not as good as Jordan. It's silliness.

Fuck cancer. Beat it, Bret.

Thanks guys. The list of nominees thread is up to date as far as you can tell?

I can't help myself. I need to expand a bit on why I think the "WWE doesn't want to create new stars" narrative is bunk. Stars like Hogan, Austin, etc. made Vince and WWE a shitload of money. I mean a shitload. Once those stars leave, Vince and WWE do not have to give back all the money that the departing star helped the company rake in. That's their money to keep. Forever! Once a star(s) departs, then it's time to see if there's an opportunity to develop another one to get that star money train rolling again. There's no way Vince and his crew sit in the board room and say, "We might make $1 billion off Wrestler A in 5 years if everything goes right. But instead of making $1 billion off Wrestler A, let's try to make $300 million over 10 years because we don't want Wrestler A to become bigger than the brand and cause us heartache when he leaves." I get that Vince and the WWE brass are out of touch, overly conservative and naive, but I guarantee they still love money. I don't think they would actively try to NOT make stars given how much money stars have made them over the years. It's totally possible to incorporate a model that attempts to build big stars AND establish the brand as bullet-proof for the starless years as well. I believe they're failing at the first part of that model, and making sure they're patting themselves extra hard on the back for succeeding on the second part so we forgive them a bit for fucking up the first part. Do I have evidence of this? No. But anyone who follows sports or politics knows that narratives get put out there by agents, coaches, teams, campaign flaks, etc. all the time without evidence directly linking it back to said agent, coach, team. It just happens. Edit: I agree that Loss's theory is plausible. But are there other legit heirs to the throne besides HHH at this point? I mean, if Vince dies or decides to retire and his top star doesn't see eye-to-eye w/ HHH, would Vince really give the company to Shane or someone else? I suppose you never know what Vince could do.....

But that model is possible because mega stars like Hogan, Austin, Rock and Cena helped make the company so popular in the first place.

I hope this begins a movement where fans at ringside at all shows dress up as their favorite wrestlers and cause a "distraction" just to piss off Vince and the out of touch WWE brass.

In recent years, Vince and WWE have failed at making new stars. They know they have failed, so they allow the "we don't want stars who are bigger than the company" narrative to gradually become accepted as fact.

I've clicked around a few of the threads in this section trying to find instructions for submitting a ballot. Don't see any. Do we just post our top 100 on the board? Or is an "official" submission process forthcoming? Also, is there an updated post where all nominees are listed?