JHawk

Bruno Sammartino being a huge money draw in the Northeast for years at a time pretty much shoots "the money is in the chase" right out of the water. For decades, the Northeast was built on a dominant babyface as champion, and it drew well. It's all dependent on the area. Most NWA territories were built on the chase of the local guy going for the World Title. Dusty in Florida, Lawler in Memphis, the Von Erichs in Dallas, etc. A well-built chase can draw, but so can a dominant champion if the fans have a reason to care.

Watts once talked about having a meeting with Leroy McGuirk and Grizzly Smith after a Superdome show with a monster gate and having Ernie Ladd sneak in to listen since McGuirk was blind and couldn't see him. At one point, McGuirk was asked what he thought of the show, and he replied "I think there were too many niggers on the card and too many niggers in the stands," to which Smith replied, "But I think the color of money is green." Not saying Watts wasn't racist (I've never met the man) but he wasn't even the most racist man in the locker room that day.

Ah yes, that was Unforgiven '02 where they had a really shitty DQ ending that pissed the crowd right off (Undertaker and Brock both had a turn punching the shit out of the other in the corner and ignoring the referee's call to break). Then they had the awesome HiaC at No Mercy. I was previously unaware of the "I'm not feeling it" line. I actually liked that finish, otherwise Hell in a Cell the next month wouldn't have made sense. I'm also in the minority that liked the finish of Austin-Angle from SummerSlam 2001 too though.

I'll order it because it's Mania, but yeah, the card looks underwhelming.

I would always do the live commentary, but I'd tape everything and go back to the tape if I thought I might have missed something. And half the time my brother was watching with me and providing the jokes, so it worked well.

Me saying "only half a page" isn't meant to be misleading (I've only glanced through). Merely that the mention's there but isn't anything to write home about. Half a page is a start.

Bingo. Only about half a page, but he's there.

I'd agree Flair-Vader is overrated. Great on a live viewing not knowing the result and knowing the angle. Good but unspectacular on repeated viewings. I'm a rarity. Most either love it or hate it. I'm neutral.

I'd like to see the Silas Young match as the more I see of him, the more of a fan I am, but other than that the two local "NWA" cards that drew like 60 people seem to have had better talent. Then again, the February return date never materialized, so... I'd love for a return to prominence of the NWA, but it's never going to happen at this rate.

Bruno has at least talked to Vince in the last five years, so while he'd surprise me, it wouldn't come out of left field.

"He's pulling Hogan's hair out!" Bobby Heenan: "That won't take long!"

Any word as to what grounds the case was dismissed on? The article makes no mention of it and that seems like a pretty important aspect of the story to not even mention.

I thought it was settled that a pin in wrestling can be established by contact between the two wrestlers, and I've never heard that someone getting pinned from passing out in a figure four isn't "legal". There's only been roughly a billion examples proving both of SK's points wrong. SK would probably blow a gasket if he watched the Glamour Girls-Jumping Bomb Angels match from Royal Rumble 88 today and he saw the referee negate a tag because both feet were on the bottom rope as opposed to on the mat.

Yes. Interesting, any commentary or unaired banter during the dead spots where the commercials were inserted live to tape? Oh I thought you meant not in clipped form. The matches are shown as aired on the networks, so when there's a break we just skip til afterwards. Which is usually about three seconds later anyway.

He was booed before he came out. The fact that he wore a mask for some reason to the ring and his foot slipped on the middle rope doing his pose before the match only made it worse. The fact that he blew nearly every spot assured he'd never be asked back.

I thought that sounded ridiculous so I checked TheHistoryOfTheWWE.com: I'm curious of it was Dave or the "correspondent" that thought going on last automatically made it the main event. I used to beg to go to any piece of shit card in a 50-mile radius, and I would have had no interest in seeing that card aside from the Rougeaus-Bees match.

Robert Stack would he so proud.

I'm happy either way as long as they get posted. I love reading these old postings

My rankings for disc #8: 1. Jerry Lawler vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Texas Death Match--9/7/1986) 2. Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (Title vs. Retirement--5/9/1988) 3. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Jeff Jarrett (5/4/1987) 4. Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol (Hair vs. Hair Steel Cage Match--4/27/1987) Which shows you how awesome this set is, as this was one of my favorite matches ever for years) 5. Jerry Lawler/Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Austin Idol/Tommy Rich (Texas Death Match--3/23/1987) 6. Jerry Lawler vs. Eddie Gilbert (no DQ--3/28/1988) 7. Jerry Lawler/Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Austin Idol/Tommy Rich (Double Jeopardy Match--3/16/1987) 8. Jeff Jarrett/Tracy Smothers/Billy Travis vs. Badd Company/Carl Fergie (8/29/1987) 9. Eddie Marlin vs. Tommy Gilbert (Cowboy Boot Match--4/4/1988) The bottom two actively bored me, but everything else is good to fantastic.

It also helps to know how the main event is supposed to play. If the angle is "Takeshi Morishima injures Nigel McGuinness' arm and works it over for 20 minutes", the rest of the matches should avoid arm work as much as possible so the main event can have its own story. I am NOT saying the main event has to be the best match on the card, but being elevated to the top of the card doesn't mean anything if half the guys on the undercard are using the same story in their match.

My main concern about Pearce as booker is if he's going to book himself as a wrestler. Most of the time the booker booking himself = bad idea.

7,000 for a Crockett show at that stage was actually a pretty nice crowd, but I'm willing to bet the 8 man tag was the draw.

I've gotten through three discs, and what I love about the set is what I also hate about the set: Most everything is good-great, but nothing is so much greater than anything else that it's standing out. Going to have to move to disc 4 tonight.