spudz25

1) Track & Rate every match I watch this year 2) Finish my Wrestling Board/Card game that I've been working on for decades 3) Read the Observer front to back each week in a timely manner 4) Get to Long Beach to see New Japan in July 5) Watch less current Raw and more 80's Territories

Yes to Naito/Tanahashi. Had it been the last match on the show, the world would still be buzzing about it. Yes to Omega/Okada. Unfortunately for Naito & Tanahashi this match followed their's. Maybe best match I've ever seen. No to Yehi/Henry. Shocked about all of the love this match got. It was solid, but I thought it was rather plodding.

Watching Elgin develop in NJPW has been one of my favorite things about this year. For me, his matches are all must watch.

For me it's 1989. Flair v Funk was the my favorite feud of all time. The Bash PPV is my all time favorite PPV. WWF had a stellar year with a roster that was stacked full of stars. AJPW was delivering some great matches too.

They charged $150 as a lump sum.

Thanks for putting this up! Great reference!

I was lucky enough to attend both the 1993 Fanweek and half of the 1995 fanweek. It was an amazing experience. It truly gave you a first hand experience of being in a territory. Cornette was very accessible. Brian Hitlebrand (Mark Curtis) ran the show for the fans. In 1995, Downtown D-Lo Brown was my driver. He carted me all over Tennessee and Kentucky. I was 20 (1 week before turning 21) during the first fanweek ('93) and i was absolutely exhausted by the end of it, though I would've stayed for another week it was so much fun. It seemed we never arrived "home" before 1 or 2am. Some nights were 3-4am. Then you were back up and on the road by noon to do it all over again. It certainly earned my respect for the boys who were taking bumps and doing the same drives. A few great memories for me: Sitting in a hotel room with Dave Meltzer watching Hokuto v Kandori from Dreamslam 1 and Flair v Steamboat from Music City Showdown. I realized at that moment that as big of a wrestling fan as I was (and I was), I was nowhere near the fan he was. He watched intently, pointed out things to the few of us and popped louder than any of the "hardcore fans" in the room watching the matches. Another great Meltzer memory was stopping at a Perkins at 2:30am to eat dinner with 20 other wrestling fans and one fan (Marty from New York, most well known for having Tammy Sytch and Jimmy Del Ray light his hat on fire at a BBQ) persisted to argue with Dave about how Bob Backlund was a much better pro wrestler than Ric Flair. Dave was doing his best to be respectful, but Marty's argument that Backlund would still be champ (this was in 1993) if it wasn't for Arnold Skaaland, was his #1 argument point. Lastly, in '95, we went to a USWA show at the Louisville Gardens. This was in the midst of the SMW v USWA feud. Of course, we were all SMW fans. Cheering the "heel" outsiders. We needed a police escort out of the building and out of Louisville. True story. The business was still alive and well in Kentucky and Tennessee in 1995. Saw some amazing matches and watched some amazing workers. You get a completely different view of some guys when you see them work every night. Great times.

Though, I'm sure they were all struggling, I think it was more of an attempt to fill out those Monday - Thursday shows or Sunday shows where they didn't have to risk what the Gate would be on those "off" nights.

Just when I start to fall back in love with Pro Wrestling, something like this happens to remind of why I hate Pro Wrestling sometimes. During his speech, I found it comforting to see him speak to his family. The admiration looked mutual. I'm always happy when I see a wrestler who made it "out", relatively unscathed. I know 54 year old men die on a regular basis, but it always seems that when they are pro wrestlers, pro wrestling is normally the main cause of death. I hope this situation is different, but I'd be surprised if it is.

Great Review. Actually makes me want to buy a ticket for the first time in 10 years.

Just read this entire thread. I don't watch the WWE regularly anymore due to the complacency of it's angles and talent. Truthfully had Brock not had a match, I wouldn't have gone out of my way to see it. Wyatt v Bryan was just a tremendous match. It was so good, that I got lost in the match for the first time in over a decade. I didn't even realize it went 20+ minutes. DB is something special inside the ring and Wyatt is a captivating character, so different for the WWE in this day and age that you can't help but be interested in him. Lesnar v Show, in my opinion, was exactly what it should've been (minus the "too long" post match). Lesnar brings that bit of insanity to the scripted product that I crave. Show did his job well. Cena v Orton is everything all rolled into one as to why I don't watch the product anymore. It seems I've seen this match 10 times if I've seen it once. The crowd turning on it was great and made it much more intriguing than it should have been. The Rumble was fun and again once DB didn't come out, I felt the groans from Pittsburgh all the way here in cold Illinois. Knowing Batista was going to win was a downer, but on a positive note, if they can put both him and Orton in the same match at least it will give me a chance to eat dinner during Wrestlemania and know I'm not missing anything. I will tune into Raw to see the fallout, so I guess WWE has that going for them.

I bet I saw Claudio on the indy scene 20 different times. I can't remember enjoying too many of his matches. Now that he is in the WWE, I love everything I've seen him do.

I enjoyed the Blaze book. No dirt was spilled, but he had a pretty good story to tell and was entertaining in the way he presented it.

Just finished watching the Blu Ray set. What a great compilation. Though I'd seen most of the footage, it was still great to see it in great quality. The new commentary from Ross was a pleasant surprise and I certainly enjoyed the fact that he did it like he was there that night. I'd forgotten how great of a heel Buzz Sawyer was, Just in the two minute segment and then the wild match with Duggan. He was just dangerous in the ring. I found it interesting that Duggan said he didn't care for Buzz. They sure had a great feud. The Taylor story about Flair was hilarious. I'm not sure how I feel about Taylor. Every time I hear him talk he comes off as a such a fake, sleazy human. It seemed Dibiase was the star of the set. I've never been a huge fan of Teddy, but what's on that set sure showcases how great he was in every area of the pro wrestling business. Overall, I was hoping for a full documentary, but this set delivered in every way. I hope it sells well, so we get a volume 2. (Wishful thinking). Todd

This was my first PPV purchase since Punk v Cena in Chicago. I guess I got lucky again, because this was a great show. The two main events were off the chart good and Del Rio v Christian was excellent. The rest of the card brought nothing memorable, but nothing was so bad that I'm trying to erase it from my memory. I know the Ring of Fire match is getting beaten up, but it was an angle and though it wasn't executed well, I've seen a lot worse. I guess I should probably take another 2 years off, so as to not be disappointed.

I've eaten a meal with Dave. Perkins Restaurant. Somewhere in Tennessee. I remember Dave drinking Grapefruit Juice. I don't recall what he ate.

My 3, in order would be: 1) Funk 2) Savage 3) Steamboat

My sentiments, exactly.

Well, it looks like my ideas have all been shot to hell. It looks as though Corny just booked Lee to be a "bag of shit" (great line, btw.) I have no more defense.

Certainly hard to argue your points, they are all completely valid. But, looking at it from a complete business standpoint. I think we, as fans 20 years later, are looking at it from a microscope as opposed to Cornette who was probably hoping that he could get some crowds in certain buildings monthly, so that he could build up to some big shows that would feature himself, Armstrong, RnR and the Bodies. Also, and I probably should research before typing this, were the shows during the summer months of 92 sold shows (fund raisers)? Or were they running their Morristown, Johnson City, Knoxville circuit that early in the game? It's an interesting topic to look back on. To sum up my thoughts: I think Cornette's business plan was to survive most of the year and profit during the themed tours/shows (Vol Slam, Fire on the Mountain, Thanksgiving Thunder, Christmas Chaos). I'm sure most of focus from the booking was his core group that he knew would be there and were "guaranteed" to draw.

I've enjoyed reading the SMW comments throughout this thread. Though, I haven't watched the promotion in years, I must say that I'm with Cornette on his handling of the Bullet during the Vol Slam. I think he knew all along, that at this period, Armstrong wasn't going anywhere, but Brian Lee most likely would. Unfortunately for Lee, that really never happened. It appeared to me, that Cornette was building up a Babyface for the future and forever with Armstrong. I'm sure that was one of his plans from day one. Though, we know the story doesn't end with a happy ending, the Armstrong/Cornette feud drew some good houses and made some entertaining TV for years. I think "years" being the keyword. Armstrong was probably not a whole lot of cash per shot and I have no question that from 93-95 the Bullet was a great investment. As for Lee, I realize he was made to look like a complete pushover in the tournament, but I would like to think that Cornette thought he could get him over by beating heels clean on the road with no TV cameras around to see. But, we also have to remember that tag team wrestling was going to headline most SMW shows anyway.

I'm not sure about board admins, but I for one would prefer you link all your articles when they are posted. Your writing style is excellent and you've even made those slideshows (which I normally detest) tolerable.

How does a guy like Kal Rudman have an extra 1.2 million laying around. From today's Observer update... --Kal Rudman, who older fans will remember as one of the wrestling announcers on PRISM in the 70s and early 80s when it aired the WWF shows from the Spectrum, recently donated $1.2 million for a media production center and television station to Temple University. A story in the Philadelphia Inquirer noted Rudman and Bill Cosby were friends from high school at Central High in Philadelphia as well as both going to Temple. Every time I see Kal on an old Spectrum show, he makes me laugh. I think he loved his job. He loved the faces (Backlund had to be his favorite) with a passion and seemed so disgusted with the heels (especially Muraco). I miss characters like Kal, if indeed, he was playing a character.

Mark me down as one who agrees that Shawn can't be discussed objectively. I found it amazing that people didn't think Shawn was one of the greatest in ring performers of all time, but then after reading some of the ways that people judge wrestlers, that at least opened my mind to some of the disagreements. My criteria for judging ones greatness in the ring was their ability to have great matches with not so great guys. I always thought Shawn was a bit below Bret in that area, but still better than 90% of the wrestlers from 1990 to current.

Thanks for the info on Sweeney, glad to hear he's fine. Bi-Polar and Pro Wrestling sounds like a lethal cocktail.