JHawk

Apologies to Loss if my comments in the last post seem harsh, as he must have clarified his statement as I was posting. But the point about people making blanket statements about the deaths in wrestling is valid, I think.

It doesn't really matter the cause of the deaths. Owen Hart would still be alive if he weren't a pro wrestler, whether his death was drug-related or not. He died because of stupid petty wrestling bullshit. Eddy Guerrero died because of stupid petty pro wrestling bullshit. There is a parallel, regardless of the cause of death. Adrian Adonis and Joey Marella died in car accidents. Still a parallel simply because they were in route to a show at the time? John Tenta died of cancer? Still a parallel? Big John Studd died of Hodgkin's Disease. Still a parallel? Wrestling did cause Owen, Eddie, and Pillman's deaths, among others. To say anything else is ridiculous. To say wrestling doesn't cause a lot of premature deaths would be total denial. To say wrestling itself killed over 100 people under age 65 in the last 22 years is just as ignorant a statement as the other two statements would be.

Having seen Kennedy on Fox News, I thought he came off about as well as he could have given the fact that he had to tow the company line. While Finlay looked horrible on Nancy Grace, the fact that she immediately pointed out "the list" and essentially saying "They're all wrestlers and that's all that matters" took me completely out of the segment, particularly as it came out right around the time Joey Marella's name came on the screen. Has anybody brought out the list and omitted the guys that died of cancer or car accidents or stuff that isn't possibly drug related yet? That is the list with relevance to the subject (and is likely to be way too high as well but would be far less misleading).

Not to mention the slo-mo replay right after. And yet they removed the latest Monday Night War because Benoit and Nancy are on screen together for like five mintues in over three hours of air-time.

Benoit missed the Saturday show, but reports conflict as to whether he made it to Texas or not.

Jarrett vs. Michaels from IYH2. It dawned on me the other day that I've never seen it.

It may. But I can still watch Invader 1 matches and enjoy them knowing what he did to Brody. I just won't get choked up watching Benoit matches like I do watching some of Eddy's.

There are times where it is very hard for me to get into puroresu. Generally, if I look at the watch and think the match is shorter than it actually is, I enjoy it. Bad puroresu has me looking at the stopwatch wondering if time stopped during the match. This falls in the former category. Everything just seems to click on all cylinders here, and what you have is an almost perfect combination of brawling, technique, and flying to balance out into a hell of a match.

I remember hating this as a ten-year old kid, but I guess that was the point. Upon second viewing almost 20 years later, this was awesome. Terry Funk at his best.

Outside of Slaughter doing one of the five most obvious blade jobs in history, that was ten kinds of awesome. Kernodle's a few minutes later might make the top ten. Brilliant spot you never see today that needs to be stolen: Steamboat diving toward Kernodle and Slaughter tackling Kernodle to force Steamboat to miss his target and hit the cage. Snuka missing the dive against Backlund in 1982 might have gotten all the publicity, but Slaughter's dive might have been the best timed missed cage dive spot ever. And yes, David Crockett's reaction sold it perfectly. I never though I'd say that. Loss might be right calling it the greatest tag match in U.S. history. I'm tempted to call it the best cage match ever. It's that good. The only thing keeping me from giving it ***** is Sandy Scott, as instead of counting the fall, he shoves Slaughter back to the corner. Uncalled for behavior from a ref in a no DQ match. Do the reversal while Slaughter's trying to turn him around and it works just as well. Still, an easy ****1/2 and the best cage match I've ever seen.

As cheesy as these things were, I still mark out for them.

The way the top rope snapped in the first fall, I'm surprised Pierroth Jr. survived, much less ended up continuing to wrestle for as long as he has. That could have ended a lot of men's careers. Solid match, but with the Spanish commentary I got completely confused as to who the captains were and, as such, couldn't immediately figure out when each fall ended. And did the graphic announce Estrada's team as the winners? I'm assuming a DQ for the Tombstone piledriver?

I loved the story behind Dundee repeatedly going for the figure-four and Lawler repeatedly finding his way to the ropes, and Dundee having to adapt and find other ways to work on the leg. Nearly fifteen minutes in, and a desperate Lawler begins busting out the foreign object, and Lawler's a master at hiding it from the referee and garnering heel heat out of it. Both men throw some of the best punches in the business. Dundee is very underrated in that regard. The "NWA representative" stepping in and attempting to stop the match only to give in at Dundee's pleading helps put Dundee's heart over, and it gives Lawler an out to set up yet another rematch that's sure to draw a crowd. Excellent booking all around. Awesome contest. It also helps that I love heel Lawler and prefer Dundee as a face, which automatically makes the match ten times better in my eyes.

Nice solid contest between two fantastic wrestlers. This was a match of two guys who really wanted a championship working hard and doing whatever it takes to get it, provided it doesn't get them disqualified. While the finish was disappointing, it's actually a great way to set up future rematches, as neither man actually gained enough of an advantage for one man to be seen as better than the other. I'd love to see how this one would go over 15 full rounds.

While I will readily admit to having seen very little Japanese women's wrestling prior to this, this was absolutely nuts. Theyplayed the size demographic beautifully, with Nagayo having trouble overcoming Dump's superior size. Before long things get extreme, with both women using every weapon they can get their hands on. Chigusa bleeds like a champ before finally losing via KO as half the roster protests. Excellent brawl with insane heat.

Solid TV main event, as most of Mid-South's TV main events were. Neither team gets too much offense in, so the result is a pretty even match with a hot finish. It seems weird for Ross to make a mention of how the previous mach went to a draw, only for them to leave maybe seven minutes for the rematch.

I couldn't get into this one at all. Great heat (Inoki was super over), but Markoff's offense was so cookie cutter that I simply didn't become all that enthralled with the contest. Nice from a historical perspective, but now that I've seen it I'm not sure I'll ever bother with it again.

Best wrestling music video ever.

I think it was on Raw. It was OK but nothing spectacular.

First time I've seen it since it originally aired. Only two real gripes with it. 1. The faces control almost too much of the match in the early going, so when we do get the face in peril sequence, it almost seems rushed. 2. Steamboat would have been far more suited for the face in peril role than Dustin Rhodes. Other than that, very good. And was Sting mega over with that crowd or what?

One of my favorite matches ever, and one I used to watch at least once a year. What's missed by a lot of people who have seen this match is how Bret's playing a subtle heel over the course of the match. especially before the restart. He's doing everything by the books, but he's using roughouse tactics: elbows, boots, forearms, etc. Kid's comeback are perfectly timed, and the near falls are so good that it's only when Hart locks in the Sharpshooter that you think he's got the match sewn up. An easy **** in my eyes, and it's a shame they never had a rematch until Kid's heel turn.

Got it today and plan on watching it before work tomorrow. Thanks Loss.

See, I myself find the angle tasteless and disgusting, and it makes me ashamed to be a wrestling fan. My reaction? I'm watching the tape of last night's Raw and ignoring everything but the actual wrestling. I was going to pay attention to the whole show until the build for the five way at Vengeance became about "You killed Vince." "No, you killed Vince." Now I'm watching the matches with the sound off. Much better.

To whoever made the Fritz Von Erich reference: Is that regarding the "heart attack" angle? As I recall, there was never any mention of "heart attack" in that angle, and it was sold as if Fritz collapsed because he was a 60-something year old man who got beat up by three guys. Hardly the same situation.