Al

It was well-reasoned on the basis that he attempted to provide valid points and resorted to little of the name calling that others do to express their viewpoint. If our view is correct, then it does not hurt to have someone argue the opposite because our view is sound, and can be successfully argued. Without that, a messageboard is just a bunch of like-minded people staring blankly.

Spineless wussbags? Thin-skinned douchebags? Geez. That has to be a new record for a formerly respected columnist resorting to name-calling to try and prove his point. At least Sass gave a well-reasoned response. This was just sad.

I have not seen the angle last night, nor have I any desire to. Having read the spoilers, the idea of watching such a stupid, offensive display when I could be doing ANYTHING else was more than enough incentive to me to not watch Smackdown last night. I don't want to say I am done with watching WWE. But if angles like this are what they are going to produce, I am not going to watch it.

In a perfect world, wrestling would be a healthier business, featuring two or three viable alternatives freely available on television.

Kevin Fertig was Mordecai, correct?

Can someone give me an argument for Villano III? My only reason not to vote for him is ignorance of his accomplishments.

I've always been pleased with the program itself. Lawler/Von Erich I want to see. Flair/Hennig was an excellent match, but I haven't seen it in over 10 years. I remember Warrior/Andre, as Andre practically hugged the ropes the entire match.

Generally, I consider two things in Hall of Fame discussions... 1. What did this person do that sets them apart from their contemporaries? Dick Murdoch and the Andersons? What makes them stand out. There are dozens of good brawlers and tag teams. Why them and not any of the others? This is the absolute defining trait of any Hall of Fame. What did this person do that others did not. Similarity is a mark AGAINST Hall of Fame candidacy. Hall of Famers are standouts. Otherwise, when you elect too many lesser candidates, the field is flooded with wrestlers who have similar credentials to an existing Hall of Famer, and it just falls apart. 2. Am I absolutely sure of their selection, knowing it is irreversable? Tag teams are horrifically underrepresented, and that needs to change. Surely wrestling produces Hall of Fame caliber tag teams at a better rate than one every 20 years. I can't bring myself to vote for any of the MMA guys. It seems like competitors are candidates after a few big wins. Dominating a sport still in its infancy should not make one a Hall of Famer, especially this soon. We need perspective. If MMA outfits die out within the next few years (I don't know what their current state is, honestly), their inclusion would look quite silly. Just my opinion.

Backlund/Patterson or Backlund/Hansen?

Jacqueline was over I think for a good portion of her run in Memphis. I think Jazz was over as a heel before her injury.

I would note that for those who discussed how Batista/HHH at Wrestlemania should go, THIS is how you book a strong face squashing his opponent and winning the title. I really like this match. Exceptionally hot crowd, the booking hit the right note, and it was too short to drag.

Wasn't this common so that promoters could book a controversial finish and announce a rematch after intermission? I've heard of it done before.

I miss the days of stadium shows.

I would suggest putting the early round matchups in a few threads, say eight to a thread. That way, we will not have to worry about separate threads for mismatches, and it will save time.

People actually RESPECT Bruno though.

You need at least one bitter old-wrestler who's convinced any wrestling from post-1975 sucks the meat missle.

I think it is more than fair to give them credit, seeing how they spurred some of the wrestling boom in the first place.

There's definately some justification for it. Huge crowd, good buyrate, hot match, etc. If I expanded to the top 20 when I make the list, Rock/Austin and Rock/Hogan would have been candidates. That both wrestlers are seemingly out of the game four years later hurts its overall impact.

From Cawthon's Site:

Correct.

You can come up with plenty of matches by reaching outside of the top ten. I thought about doing a list of significant matches, but I think I would display my ignorance if I reached too far.

What are the biggest matches in wrestling history? These are not the matches with the best workrate, nor are they necessarily the highest grossing or best drawing matches in history. I am talking about the matches that paired some of the most significant wrestlers in history. In compiling this list, I took the top ten wrestlers from John Molinaro's book, "The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers Of All Time." It is subjective, but it is a decent list, and I think it does the job. For those who have never seen it, the top ten are Ric Flair, Lou Thesz, Rikidozan, Antonio Inoki, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, El Santo, Giant Baba, Steve Austin and Buddy Rogers. For rankings, I am looking for match quality, significance, and overall satisfaction. In occasions where they wrestled more than once, I chose the most noteable match. 1. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant March 29, 1987 - Wrestlemania III The epitome of a big time match. Two legends competing, with a storyline to match, in a big stadium filled to capacity and a hot crowd to boot. To top it all off, a clean ending. 2. Lou Thesz vs. Rikidozan October 6, 1957 These two legends fought to a 60 minute draw in front of 27,000 fans in Tokyo. The match drew an 87.0 tv rating in Japan, and is often cited as a critical event in the establishment of professional wrestling in that Nation. 3. Ric Flair vs. Antonio Inoki April 29, 1995 170,000 fans attended this event, although many say the North Korean authorities ordered fans to attend. Still, that is a massive crowd. Inoki defeated Flair in this bout. Did these two ever wrestle outside of this show? 4. Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair July 17, 1994 The first nationally televised match between these two (they wrestled a match shown on the MSG Network in 1991). Both starred for their respective promotions in the 1980s, but when they competed in the WWF in 1991-92, they somehow never wrestled a major match. This feud marked one of the surest money-makers in wrestling history, but for some reason it lacked the massive appeal it should have held. As Loss noted in a thread months ago, Flair just didn't seem like FLAIR. 5. Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki June 2, 1983 A famous match in wrestling history. According to some sources, Inoki needed to take several months off, so a worked-shoot angle was booked where Hogan clotheslined Inoki on the ring apron and Inoki could not continue. It was considered a major upset at the time. 6. Lou Thesz vs. Buddy Rogers January 24, 1963 NWA promoters, wanting to get the title off Rogers, booked this match as a one-fall affair, and booked their shooter to make sure everything went to plan. Thesz won without incident, but Vince McMahon Sr. and other promoters used this opportunity to claim the title change was invalid because it was a one-fall bout, and create their own version of the World championship with Rogers as champion. Rogers lost the new WWWF championship a few months later to Bruno Sammartino, in a one-fall bout. 7. Ric Flair vs. Buddy Rogers July 9, 1979 Promoters booked these two in a three match series, billed as the battle of the Nature Boys. Flair defeated Rogers, building his name as he rose to championship status. 8. Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant June 17, 1986 A match most U.S. wrestling fans do not know exists. A year before bowing to Hulk Hogan, Inoki earned perhaps the only submission victory ever won against Andre the Giant. 9. Andre the Giant vs. Ric Flair This match finished third in PWI's Match of the Year poll in 1976. Does anyone have any other information on this match? 10. Steve Austin vs. Ric Flair June 3, 2002 I believe this is the only televised match between Austin and Flair, although both wrestled at the same time in WCW twice. This match included a few odd stipulations and run-ins from Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. The stipulations died when Austin walked out of the company the next week. Won by Austin. In some ways, this illustrates the difficulty in matching up the very best wrestlers. Hogan/Flair at Wrestlemania VIII did not occur in part because Hogan did not want to job to Ric Flair on his way to retirement. Only Thesz/Rikidozan matched both wrestlers in their prime, and even that ended in a time-limit draw. Flair was nearing his prime when he wrestled Andre, but Andre was the clear star in '76, and never jobbed anyway. I also find it intriguing that these matches, with the exception of Hogan/Andre and Flair/Inoki, do not represent the top drawing matches in history.

I did find the Raw match between Austin and Flair from June 3, 2002.

Did any of these matches ever occur? Lou Thesz vs. El Santo Ric Flair vs. Giant Baba Ric Flair vs. Steve Austin

I haven't seen the match in perhaps a decade myself. It certainly was not a classic, but it was a fun 10-minute brawl from what I remember. I remember they came up with Van Hammer's music video before the match, and I was confused as hell wondering what happened to the wrestling show. I thought I changed the channel by accident.