Al

It wasn't so much that Brad was a terrible worker. But he was Verne's *wink,wink* enforcer.

Yeah, Hans Schmidt really should've been in the Hall of Fame already.

Could you make the argument that being a poor drawing national promotion is a bigger deal than being a relatively successful regional promotion? I go back and forth on Sting but my main pro-Sting argument is that comparing him to HHH, Sting was clearly better in most facets. The clear HOFers on the modern ballot in my view are Cena and the Rock 'n' Roll Express. I respect the effort for Buddy Rose but I don't see him as a Hall of Famer. But he was very, very good.

What about heel vs. face? I think it's relatively easy to have a small face. Much more difficult to have an undersized heel. It's easier to sell a threatening monster heel.

What about Hogan vs. Stan Hansen? That one is high on my list.

Being the guy who steamrolled Honky Tonk Man for the IC Title couldn't have hurt.

I think the Jericho/Punk feud would've worked better if the motivation was reversed. Instead of Punk accused of drinking, Jericho getting upset because Punk refuses to share a drink. Jericho mentions in his book how you'd have to have a drink at a bar with the boys to fit in. Punk doesn't follow the crowd, boom, instant feud.

It's almost impossible to create a Hall of Fame like that. Lesser candidates always get elected, it opens the floodgates. And I think the reason is that people want to see candidates get inducted. Halls of Fame want new inductees because a lack of them will completely kill interest. I mean, this Hall of Fame is one thing since it's hypothetical. But what if the Baseball Hall of Fame had no induction ceremony for say, four years?

I don't think millionaire was played up, but heel rich nobility was certainly a staple of wrestling for a long time. Baron Michele Leone, Lord Lansdowne, etc.

Heck, Darsow was practically in the same training group as the Road Warriors. Demolition holds the record for longest combined reign(s) as tag team champions. So if you grew up in that era as many of us did, you'll remember them being better than they actually were.

Demolition were heels. Standard tactic of saying something deliberately false to draw heat.

Who was the first of these, in your opinion? Group has to have a namesake. Oliver & Johnson's book says the Fabulous Ones. I wouldn't disagree with that.

The Road Warriors spawned a TON of derivative gimmicks. Demolition, the Powers of Pain, the Master Blasters, the Blade Runners. And the Road Warriors themselves were a copy of characters from Mad Max. I think in a way wrestling can be more accurately grouped into families. The Superstar Graham group which includes Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Paul Ellering. The Gorgeous George group which spawned Buddy Rogers, Ric Flair, and a million Gorgeous George Jrs., the pretty boy tag team group where you have the Rockers, the Rock 'n' Roll Express, the New York Dolls, the Fabulous Ones, the Fantastics, etc. And of course, Doink the Clown. It seems like almost any successful gimmick is covered ad nauseum.

What WWE does for a live production every week is insane. Seriously, it makes my head spin thinking about how much goes into each show. And unlike staples like American Idol, they're going to a different venue every week. We mostly debate the booking, but there's a ton of stuff that has to go right that we almost never talk about.

The blame absolutely falls on Vince McMahon because regardless of how it was conceived, Vince would've had to approve the company preparing the stunt. There's no way McMahon could speak publicly about it due to the liability issues. But I get the feeling that if he could change just one thing, it would be the Owen Hart incident. His #1 mistake.

For some reason I always liked when long time heels turned face, even if they were usually JTTS's. Kamala comes to mind.

What about Starrcade '96? Hogan becomes the hottest heel in wrestling, leading the hottest stable in wrestling, and loses to a part-timer in a non-title match.

I think the loss may actually help business with Brock. Everyone buys him as a monster and a credible threat. They don't need to go an extra mile to get him over. But now he's beatable. Whereas before an experienced wrestling fan could say "yawn, he's going to win every match through the summer," now he might conceivably lose here and there. Which adds intrigue. Not to say it's necessarily the best decision, but it's certainly defensible.

I never said that steroids weren't bad. HGH and steroids are different. If Guerrero had HGH and nothing else in his system sure, that shows that HGH is a lethal drug. But Eddie was (I presume) using steroids in early 2005 at least. That was certainly harmful, and contributed to his death. But there's a difference between the drugs. And honestly, real fucking cute drawing out the bingo card.

Bullshit. What about the wrestlers like Eddy Guerrero who died because their hearts couldn't pump enough blood to their grossly swollen organs? If Guerrero's HGH use occurred in a vacuum, sure. But Eddie had a myriad of other health issues, addictions to recreational drugs and painkillers, etc.

One problem is that it's going beyond athletics. Movie stars, musicians who are appearing shirtless on magazine covers are using it too. Vince marketing the body type to children is one thing, but virtually every segment of the entertainment industry is doing it too.

I'm not certain about steroids, but the side effects of HGH have absolutely been overblown.

It seems ridiculous to say wins and losses don't matter in UFC. Not only is it a sport, it's a combat sport. And you can't send a guy into fights over and over to get his ass kicked, no matter how charismatic he is. And the fans won't buy it anyway. The inherit advantage of pro wrestling is that you can work around a guy's injuries.

I'd be tempted to buy the card as long as they promised NOT to run HHH/Michaels.

Brisco, Patterson, who else?