Loss

The WWF didn't offer guaranteed money at the time. WCW did. Sting had the best guaranteed deal in WCW, and therefore, the best deal in wrestling.

From my understanding, Nash realized he needed to keep going when he lost his ass on the stock market in the financial collapse in 2008. He's not destitute or anything, but he took a hit.

I understand that and don't begrudge that line of thinking in the slightest. But message boards are a place for hardcore fans, are they not?

I'm specifically talking about the relationship between being a great worker in the sense that we consider wrestlers great workers and having chaotic private lives. So with Savage, I agree with you. He saved his money and was eccentric, but didn't really wreck his life.

I read him at one point, so I get this. It's kinda like that embarrassing yearbook photo.

The reason I think it's relevant is that it shines a light on the chaos these wrestlers are experiencing when they appear to be on top of the world. Seeing the paths Flair and Benoit have taken -- among many others for that matter -- makes me wonder if it's possible to be a GREAT wrestler (in the U.S. anyway) without destroying your life in the process. That's not to say every wrestler who's good has these types of problems, but just that a pretty high number of wrestlers who are good at their job have lots of problems away from it. I think that's worth discussing.

And Reid may have used heroin, but Ric made Precious a heroine! (This could be a fun game.)

Flair may have exposed himself, but Jim Herd exposed the business with his Ding Dongs idea!

I understand that. And we all have our biases. I don't expect him to eliminate them, just acknowledge them.

Continuing on that note, I'm usually one of the first to criticize wrestling writers that I think are overly critical without balancing it out by also occasionally explaining why they like wrestling. It's one of my biggest problems with Irv, that after all of the material he's put out over the years I still know absolutely nothing about him as a wrestling fan, or even if he is one at all. But I don't think that criticism works here. This was an attempt to apply context to the available information by adding some chronology and a narrative. It worked. There is almost no editorializing, if there's even any at all. It's not a hit job. It's a recap of the facts.

I don't even know what he's trying to say. Yet I thought the opening did a pretty good job of explaining who Flair was. I'm surprised Mitchell was even slightly critical of him, to tell you the truth. But what context is missing? Do his in-ring performances somehow change/justify/add depth to the story?

I don't doubt that story, but I've just never seen it reported anywhere.

This is Akiyama's first pro match, right? It's pretty solid. I really like Kobashi in this, because it shows that he could have pulled off an ace role if he cared to work that style. Akiyama, meanwhile, makes Kobashi faces after some tough chops. Kobashi won, but it wasn't an "easy" win and put over Akiyama strong right away. Really enjoyable.

Not familiar with this. I know he and Flair aren't close anymore, but I didn't know there was more to it that had been said publicly.

There has to be some stuff that has nothing to do with Hulk Hogan or Vince McMahon, right? Wrestling has existed for over a century and it has been quite prosperous at times. I don't know what "night" it happened in 1972, but obviously, Baba and Inoki breaking from the JWA to form All Japan and New Japan changed the game in Japan.

I think, even now, Apter is incapable of shooting, but it's really irresponsible to post that on a blog based on what you have "always heard" without citing a source.

I love late 90s Yoshida, but she hasn't really made an impact on me on this yearbook. But from the way you described what made her good, a yearbook isn't really the best place to make that case. Could you recommend maybe 3-5 matches worth checking out from Yoshida in '92? I know last night when I watched the 6-person 2/3 falls match, she stood out the least, not because of the quality of her work, but more because everyone else in the match had much bigger personalities and she really got lost in that.

I think they paired Sherri with Shawn to give him credibility. Sherri only associated with heels who were near the top. It was to clue us in that Shawn was going to get a push. That's how I took it at the time.

Fall #1: Really good. What stands out is how good everything looks. Both guys are laying their shots in. Flair seems to enjoy working a little more stiff. Flair does some stuff I haven't seen from him before. I liked his armbar counter, and putting up both forearms to block a clothesline was great. He should have done that against some of his other opponents. Imagine how lost Lex would be with someone countering his clotheslines. Anyway, Tenryu finishes Flair off with a powerbomb to take the first fall. So far this feels fairly similar to the best Flair/Garvin matches of the 80s. Fall #2: The production values in this match are really strong, so the stiffness and some of the details really stand out in a big way. The biggest example is Flair's repeated attempts to get a pinfall on Tenryu, where he finally gets frustrated and gets up and yells at someone in the crowd. Pretty standard Flair spot, but the camera angles and audio really help get over the struggle because you can hear the breathing and see everything so clearly. Flair finally gets his chance to go after Tenryu's knee, which he tried do in the first fall and was cut off. He does some nice work, including a hold I don't know the name of that everyone uses to work over the knee (usually not Flair) to take the fall. Fall #3: Flair with (almost) an STF(!), except his forearms are criss-crossed on either side of Tenryu's head instead of holding a crossface. But eventually, he slides into it and it becomes an STF. Tenryu's counter to the figure four is an interesting one, grabbing Flair's other leg and taking control of the hold (for lack of a better way to describe it). I love the string of by-the-book Flair nearfalls, especially because Tenryu is wrestling like Kerry Von Erich. Aside from getting slammed off the top rope early in the match and putting himself in position very obviously because Tenryu couldn't reach him, and doing this weird thing where he walks around the ring for way too long to give Tenryu time to get to his feet near the finish, this is a great Flair performance worth tracking down. I don't think this is at the level of something like, say, Sting/Vader, but Flair is much better at certain aspects of his game than anyone, even this late, and even if he's not as good as some guys in others, and his strengths shine when working Tenryu. I'd need to go back and watch the April match, as I'm not sure if it's that this is pro-shot instead of handheld, but this seems much better, even with the DCOR finish, and even if I can't recall enough to say how different it is from the April match. Fuck the WWF, Flair should have gone to SWS after getting away from Herd. I wish MUGA would have existed in 1991-1992.

Sounds like at least a *** match, and that there was more than just booking but you kept it short. John If we're talking about things we "need" to do, you "need" to get a yearbook! I had nothing else to say so I said nothing else. I'm not sure why you're trying to tell me that I really don't think I think what I think. Had something else stood out to me, I would have commented on it. I feel like I'm in court.

Hell of a match more from a booking standpoint than because of the work. I don't really remember anything about it now, and I didn't when making the list either, so it didn't make too much of an impression on me, except in that they did a good job advancing storylines.

Not sure how this is a borderline match, as this is one of my favorite AJW matches so far. Everyone is incredibly distinctive -- Bull, Aja and Kyoko each have very different roles on their teams, and the same can be applied to a lesser degree to the other side as well. Yoshida gets a little lost when surrounded by all these big names. I love how each team worked together and executed strategies to take the other team out, especially Kyoko screaming at Bull and Aja to use her ideas. Tons of really good well time miscoordination spots, lots of set up/payback stuff. This is more U.S. style than most Joshi, which I think makes it great. To borrow the jdw argument, this on Raw next week would be considered a MOTYC and have people going crazy.

I don't remember them teasing a Papa Shango feud for Bret at all.

Sid was the top heel: * caused Hogan to lose the Rumble rather than Flair to "win" the Rumble * got the main event at Mania against Hogan rather than Flair * Hogan & Piper vs Sid & Flair = Hogan Leg Drops Flair 1-2-3 * Flair promptly dropped the title to Savage to *start* their feud * Warrior got the SummerSlam spot opposite Savage in a no-heel double main event One gets the feeling that if Sid hadn't had issues pissing in a bottle that it would have been Savage-Sid at SummerSlam. Flair was "a" top heel... one of the top 2. But he wasn't put over strong. Even with strong angles against Hogan, Piper and Savage, there never was strong payoff in any one of them to make him look strong. John I'll concede most of that point, except that Flair lasting the full hour was equally or more important than Sid eliminating Hogan. Flair lasting as long as he did in that match was putting him over strong in itself.

It was definitely Bischoff. He stayed silent the entire episode, then went crazy after the Fingerpoke and is the one who made the taser noises.