Al

There could be a lot of good stuff on the Road Warriors set. It'd be nice to see them throw a Wargames on there, if they don't save it for a Horsemen dvd.

I think wrestling needs to adopt a more sports-like approach. Not like the real wrestling zealots insist on, but something to give the show more structure and purpose. The presentation needs to work on the principle that we are watching a legitimate competition, and that there are consequences for striking referees, raising havoc, etc. It would give wins and losses more meaning.

Forget Vida. Katja Kassin is where the ASS is at.

I've just realized that I can't afford to be very picky when it comes to the opposite sex. Besides, looks have little to do with sexual performance.

I've heard quite a few wrestlers state that he could be quite a prick at times.

Same here. With the usual prerequisites regarding my gal, of course.

I'm going to try listing five wrestlers here, since we tend to go in depth, this might make things a little easier. Andre the Giant Shane Douglas Wendi Richter Dustin Rhodes Bob Sapp

Snuka/Muraco in the cage. The cage dive was an insane move at the time. Mick Foley cites it as an inspiration, and a few other wrestlers have as well. Austin/Foley from Over the Edge '98. Set the format for main event matches for years.

And for the record, Christy started it.

I love Evil Trish.

Daivari is a cross between Jimmy Hart and Sherri Martel.

Fun to see the crowd chant USA for the Canadian to beat the American. That's always fun.

Fair enough. Thank you for setting the record straight.

Booker T. It's easily forgotten that Harlem Heat has an argument of being the dominant tag team of the 1990s. They're almost entirely forgotten today. Bobby Heenan. What more needs to be said? One of the greatest managers/commentators of all time. Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig. Limitless potential, but doomed by injuries and his own vices. I would like to say he should have been pushed further, but he had all the opportunities he needed. Terry Funk. I would love to get ahold of his prime work. Terry is one of the top five over-50 workers in the history of professional wrestling. Lex Luger. He always got shit for not being more than he was, but he was a capable draw during the late 80s. The motorcycle crashed stalled his career at an inopportune moment, and a badly timed leak to a NY Times reporter cost him the WWF Title. Dusty Rhodes. Most people hate him for his workrate, but he was a master at working the crowd. One of the most charasmatic wrestlers in history. Rick Martel. It is a shame little is seen of his pre-Model days. Martel won tag titles in the late 70s, and had a run as the AWA World Champion. And for what it is worth, I did not think the Model was a bad gimmick. Martel played it well. The Great Muta/Keiji Muto. I don't think any Japanese wrestler has experienced more success on American soil. Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid/Syxx/X-Pac). Arguably responsible for kicking off the light heavyweight boom in the United States. I still remember watching his match with Jerry Lynn in 1991. Ric Flair. Well covered already. Great wrestler, great charisma. I don't think any wrestler is better known in the mainstream purely for WRESTLING.

That's true. Lord knows I've had fun combating the anti-Moneyball backlash.

I think the biggest problem in the Smark community is the tendancy of fans to blindly follow the group. If the going opinion states that Wrestler X is a bad wrestler, or the latest move made by some promotion sucked, not many are willing to dispute it.

ECW 1995. While the other promotions were pushing crap, I got to see Eddy/Malenko, Misterio/Psicosis, Raven/Dreamer, Sandman/Mikey, the Cactus Jack "Anti-Hardcore" Promos, Steve Austin's "Monday Nyquil" parodies, Snow/Benoit, Sabu & Tasmaniac/Public Enemy, and a LOT of other good stuff, all on free television. It was an exciting time to be a wrestling fan.

I've had an idea I've been kicking around. Use the King of the Ring to build up house shows. Have each brand run separate round robin tournaments, with the matches occuring on the house shows. Run highlights, results, and standings on the weekly telecasts. And then at the June PPV, have the two best Raw wrestlers face off (ditto the Smackdown guys), with the winners competing in the Finals.

I stated stars retired at a faster rate than one could expect new ones to emerge, and I believe that. You mentioned five wrestlers. Of those, Benoit missed a year with neck surgery, Guerrero missed significant time due to drug problems, Booker T is almost forty, and RVD seems to have lost interest. Of course, RVD's problems could be his lack of quality booking, but the fact is the desire is not there. New stars? The WWE has come up with John Cena, Batista, and a few others, and they have done a reasonably good job with them. No. When's the last time so many quality wrestlers retired in short order? I don't think the lack of new stars is due to bad booking in large part. Fans will generally respond to a good wrestler no matter how he is booked. The problem is that fans have their allegences to their favorites, and a loss here and there is not going to change that. If you meet a wrestling fan who watched during the 1980s, will they remember how the Junkyard Dog and others gave up their spots, or who they lost to? Of course not. I'm just throwing out an example here. Basically, popularity is not attained just by giving a guy a few key wins. There's more to it. Benoit, Van Dam, and Booker T are good wrestlers, but you're kidding yourself if you think they have the charisma of most of the bygone wrestlers. I'm saying that the wrestling boom has after-effects we can look forward to. They do not erase any mistakes of the current generation, but they do offer some excitement for the future.

I think the biggest issue wrestling faces is the exodus of name stars. Within the last five years, Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Steve Austin, The Rock, Sting, Mick Foley, Dallas Page, and others have ceased wrestling full time. You can blame the lack of quality booking for the failure to create new stars, but I cannot recall another time when so many top wrestlers departed the industry at the same time. You simply cannot create many new stars so quickly. The departure of WCW hurt most in the regard. The Monday Night Wars made the top stars independantly wealthy. When the bubble burst, salaries plummeted, and since the top guys did not need the money, they felt no need to stick around. The lack of wrestling competition has hurt in that there is little wrestling activity outside of WWE. TV shows are one thing, but the only local wrestling one can see comes from rare WWE shows or small time Indies, unless you live in Philadelphia. The lack of live wrestling shows hurts fan interest. There is a silver lining, I think. The Attitude era created a boom in wrestling popularity, and yesterday's viewers could become tomorrow's superstars. There are likely some guys working their way through wrestling schools and small-time indies, and a few of them could become big time stars some day.

It's one thing with Stacy and Torrie, but when you have these nameless Diva Search candidates, it is a waste of time.

I think the HOF is more of a good-time gathering than any real ward. But "Cowboy" Bob Orton was a good wrestler, so its all good.

They ran a WWF/All Japan show in 1990, so its certainly not unheard of. Running overseas shows is a good way to keep up business when U.S. business is down.