Al

That's Dara Singh. The poster matches an ebook I purchased (but admittedly haven't gotten around to reading). Amazon.com: Deedara aka Dara Singh! eBook: Seema Sonik Alimchand: Kindle Store

This was a featured match on the old WWE 24/7 channel. It's so great. Albano quickly tagging out when his proteges are completely gassed in the corner is a highlight.

I think we just invented Rick Steiner.

WWE cutting costs makes sense if theyre looking to sell the company. I wonder if that’s in their mid-range plans right now.

I would love the spectacle of someone like the Fiend in a greco-roman wrestling match. But pro wrestling as an Olympic artform? Hell no.

Ditto on Wyatt. Hate his character, but he seems like a decent guy. Hope he’s ok.

Anecdotally the mortality of Mexican wrestlers is depressing. None of the Brazos made it to 60.

Going off weeks old memories so forgive me a bit. The ‘06 version was a nice piece of business. I didn’t find it as violent as i feared because it came off really obvious they were working the weapons spots. It’s difficult to use weapons like meat cleavers because you have to use them in contrived ways that comes off unnaturally. The ending angle was top notch in execution. The ‘07 version just left me unimpressed honestly. I don’t know what it was, maybe antipathy towards Shatter. It just didn’t click.

Kind of random but in this case I picked the newest match I haven’t seen. I’ve watched Santo/Espanto, Morgan/Dandy, the two Anarchy war games, Kox/Murdoch, Ikeda/Ishikawa, Sheik-Abby/Funks. That doesn’t take into account matches I’ve seen before the book.

Blue Demon Jr vs Dr Wagner Jr Initial impression at the beginning was that yeah, Demon is not a very proficient wrestler. About a third of the way in that didn’t matter though and this indeed became quite the spectacle. Hell of a bloodbath. Everyone’s cheering Demon though? Must be the legacy of the mask. The referee. What the heck is he doing?! At times it looks like he’s calling the submission but no, he’s just wagging his fingers at the audience for no reason. I don’t get it. Thumbs way up on this match.

Best way around that, do an old fashioned bounty angle.

There's a podcast above talking about a Sheik match with a Sheik biographer. Worth a listen. The writing is great, to the point where at least once I've watched a match and said, "that was tamer than I expected."

We've had wrestling boards where political talk grew absolutely toxic. Otherwise I don't mind off topic posts here and there.

Terry Funk with dementia is more or less his wrestling character.

I meant to say powerlifting in my first sentence.

Something I notice with other wrestlers of that era. Guys like Larry Zbyszko and Ivan Putski are built like bodybuilders. Even Backlund. I think that might be attributable to Bruno's influence. Into the mid-80s wrestlers are opting for body-building looks rather than power-lifting. I don't know if early Hogan was biggest, but probably thickest.

Masha Slamovich

It helped that Van Dam did that sell fairly consistently.

Checking Cawthon's site the match never happened, though it was advertised (perhaps locally) the day after Wrestlemania XII. Between Survivor Series and Wrestlemania Bret wrestled either Diesel in an inhumane number of cage matches, or the Undertaker. Now in fairness in Landover Bret is listed as defending against both men consecutively, that could've been a triple threat in practice.

Non-wrestlers who discuss the inner workings of wrestling will always find themselves in hot water. I'm not upset that she didn't know wrestling. But you have to know it's a magic shop and you don't pull back the curtain unless you're in a place where you can't be fucked with. I do feel sympathy for her though. Obviously she's trying to make it as a television writer, it's a cutthroat industry and she took an uncomfortable job to try and make it. She doesn't deserve scorn.

I watched McDaniel/Spoiler. Interesting that the referee for that match was Danny McShain, himself one of the notable bleeders in wrestling history.

Live look at Aleister Black

Keep HHH away from my Sixers

Wrestlers laying around during a multi-person match while action goes on elsewhere. Especially in a match where you can win by pinning one of those people.

There are things that I can see a talent rehabilitating given time and retroflection. Someone planting a hidden camera should never work in wrestling again.