Loss

Yeah, Steamboat/Luger at the Bash is still awesome. Hard to say if this is Luger's best match ever, or if it is one of the Flair matches. As a Luger performance, this may be best, just because it's laid out really well and we now know he's the one who called the match. Love the no-DQ angle at the beginning, the hypocrisy of Luger bringing in a chair after insisting on a regular sanctioned match, and the visual of Luger in the Steamboat position and Steamboat in the Luger position, with Luger begging Steamboat not to hit him. The actual match itself is really awesome, especially Luger's triple clothesline and Steamboat's chops. Luger takes an impressive bump over the top rope when he misses a clothesline attempt and does his usual power moves. I don't want to take away from Steamboat obviously, as the match wouldn't have been the same without him, but I really think this is way more a Luger showcase than a Steamboat showcase.

Not a fan of Steamboat/Funk at Clash VII at all. The piledriver sidelined Ric Flair and Funk has been using it to destroy jobbers. Steamboat takes two piledrivers, including one on the arena floor, and still fights back and evens things up within a couple of minutes. Just not really that good of a match. Still, the post-match angle with Luger turning on Steamboat is one of my favorite angles of all time.

Every single matchup or every single womens matchup?

I think unless they have an exceptional personality, when you fill a show with women, it's just like filling it with men, and they're not going to draw based on their gender, whereas if there are less women, they are more likely to stand out and draw based on their gender. I do think even in the current environment, a woman with great charisma can be a top star, but they don't really seem too concerned with charisma for the most part. I haven't seen her much, but I know Maryse is getting lots of praise at the moment because she has a great personality and carries herself like a star. Women have really never drawn collectively though. I'm not quite sure what the question is.

Stepping away from the Flair/Steamboat matches for a few years like I have has really helped freshen them up. I'm still kind of weary of watching Wrestle War '89 again, but I'm looking forward to it now after rewatching the Clash match. I don't think anyone has ever said it wasn't a great match, but I would say because the past few years have seen so much new stuff get unearthed, everyone has been more focused on that instead of things they've seen a million times. So saying it may be boring to say it, but it is true that the Clash match between Flair and Steamboat is amazing.

I saw the Flair/Steamboat match from Philly for the first time. Just like all the rest of their matches, really great, even though I didn't care for the overbooked crap at the finish with Flair getting a pin and Luger and Barry Windham running in. The match itself was pretty choice though, especially Steamboat destroying Flair's leg.

It is the announcer's job to know what the match is trying to accomplish, and also not undercut the match. And Gorilla pointing things out that don't make sense to him is a bad trait that actively takes away from him being a good announcer, and undercuts a match. And I know WWE is full of detail freaks, but I don't see a booker specifically calling for 10 punches in the corner in the middle of a match on an MSG house show in a midcard match. It's more likely a spot called by Jake mid-match, and the ref in turn tried to make himself look like a tough guy. And yes, Gorilla had a monitor, and the match was broadcast live on whatever network aired Mapleleaf Gardens shows. I understand liking childhood favorites, and think it's cool, and one of the great things about being a wrestling fan. But if that's what it is, no problem in saying so, instead of making the focus on Gorilla's bad bifocals. One more Gorilla point: During Savage/Steamboat at Wrestlemania III, he goes into this little tangent about how the referee may disqualify Savage for throwing a "deliberate" clothesline. Jesse responded and said of course, it was deliberate, and asked Gorilla if he thinks he clotheslined him by accident. Gorilla responded that referees disqualify wrestlers for intentionally trying to put guys out of commission. News to me ... Also, does it bug anyone else that 80s WWF matches were always laid out with a ref bump where the heel would get the visual fall after the ref bump instead of the babyface? Meaning the heel comes out looking like the moral victor?

I wanted to rewatch the Savage/Steamboat match from Wrestlemania III after watching all the matches that led to it again in order. I have not been a big fan of the match in the past, and have criticized it for Steamboat not really seeming all that angry about having his larynx crushed, even though the wrestling was admittedly really good. But jdw was right in this case -- seeing the Toronto match really provides a missing piece of the puzzle, and gives you that angry Steamboat thing you really want to see. He had come after Savage full of piss and vinegar before, and hadn't won the title. This was being pushed as his last chance in pre-match promos, so he had to win or he probably wouldn't get another shot. So he had to keep his cool. I still don't think this is among the best matches of all time, but I do consider it a great match now. Yet another case that it always helps to watch stuff in context. I was pretty wrong about this one.

Savage/Steamboat from Toronto on 2/15/87 is AWESOME. They basically worked the fast-paced two count sequences from Mania verbatim, but slowed it down and mixed in tons of brawling and even a little blood. Really awesome match, now I want to re-watch Wrestlemania III to see if it changes my opinion. This is a match that I would rank top 2 or 3 of the 80s for the WWF, probably.

Savage/Steamboat from Toronto on 2/15/87 is AWESOME. They basically worked the fast-paced two count sequences from Mania verbatim, but slowed it down and mixed in tons of brawling and even a little blood. Really awesome match, now I want to re-watch Wrestlemania III to see if it changes my opinion. This is a match that I would rank top 2 or 3 of the 80s for the WWF, probably.

I really liked the TV matches a lot, much better than the Starrcade match. I tried to locate the date and couldn't though, which is why I didn't list it here. Haven't seen any WWE PPV matches for 2009 yet, unfortunately, but Edge/Morrison was surprisingly great. As an FYI, Hulu has complete episodes of TV shows up in perfect quality, usually they keep at least the last 10-11 full episodes posted, sometimes more. That's where I watched all of this. So, if you miss something or hear about something that sounds like something you'd want to see, this is the easiest way to see it quickly.

I really liked Savage/Steamboat from Philly on 11/8/86 a lot, mainly because it was Steamboat wrestling more like the Steamboat of Mid Atlantic/NWA days than the corny headband/karate stuff he did in the WWF. Nice pacing and good build which would have been better with 5 more minutes and probably great with 10 more minutes. But a good way to prelude the feud.

Reasons the Gorilla Monsoon criticism is valid: - I was watching Savage/Steamboat from Boston Gardens. Good match. The finish was Savage hitting Steamboat with a foreign object. Monsoon was insistent that Elizabeth handed it to him, even though she was on the other side of the ring, and the camera clearly caught Savage pulling it out of his tights. Jesse kept arguing with him that that wasn't what happened even in the post-match. Had he paid better attention to the match, he would have seen what happened. - Not knowing the rules of wrestling, which are that to break a hold, the wrestler has to be in the ropes, not just reaching out for them. So Savage would grab the rope to escape an armbar, the referee would kick his hand away, and Gorilla would bitch about how the referee was showing bias toward Steamboat (which is an illogical thing for a pro-babyface announcer to say) and that he should have released the hold. - I was watching Savage/Steamboat from Toronto. Another good match. The finish was Steamboat beating Savage back in the ring by one count and winning the match by COR. Gorilla kept going on about how the match was stopped due to blood loss, and that must have been why Steamboat was declared the winner, again not really paying attention to the match. Referees in 80s WWF are also often horrible, to a point where I think they sometimes took heat from the heels and put it on themselves. Jake/Steamboat from MSG in May '86 is a shining example of this. Steamboat is doing the ten punches in the corner, and the referee actually waistlocks him and attempts a takedown to break it up. He also keeps blocking Steamboat's strikes. Steamboat is trying to following Savage out in their Toronto match, and the referee again grabs a waistlock and this time takes him down to the mat to keep him from going outside. I don't care what rules a promotion sets up as long as they're enforced consistently so the matches make sense. Something getting a DQ or reprimand in one match and being ignored the next is annoying.

Steamboat/Santana vs Dream Team really got slept on in the DVDVR poll. Terrific tag team sprint with a great opening, some fun sequences, a hot crowd, and a clean submission finish. It seems like this should have finished much higher.

Pretty much everything that can be said about Steamboat/Tully from Starrcade '84 has been said at some point, so I won't go into it, except to agree that yes, it's a really awesome match that I probably enjoyed watching more this time around than I ever have.

Steamboat/Tenryu from 2/23/84 is a strong match, probably the first really great Steamboat singles match I've seen on this comp. I really like the matwork and especially the escapes. Tenryu gets the upper hand in pretty much every exchange and also gets the win in the end. For someone who's used to seeing Steamboat in the babyface role getting the upper hand on headlocks and headscissors-type stuff, it was weird to see him on the losing end of the exchanges. I really liked Steamboat trying to stand on his head to get out of the headscissors, and rushing as fast as he could to put on a headlock, only to end up right back in the move. I also liked Steamboat's desperation figure four because he realized he wasn't winning when he was wrestling Tenryu that close up. Good stuff, probably one of the better matches of '84.

I saw that Morrison/Bourne from ECW on 4/14 was getting a lot of praise. It was an okay match, but I didn't love it. It felt like dumbed down Rey Misterio vs Dean Malenko, in the sense that Morrison was forcing Bourne to the ground in long holds for most of the match for some reason. If the matches I've watched so far are any indication, John Morrison is a guy who is able to be carried to an excellent match, but isn't seasoned enough yet to lead one on his own. But he'll get there.

I caught all the post-draft Smackdowns on Hulu. Thoughts on some of the matches: Edge vs John Morrison (WWE Friday Night SmackDown! 06/19/09) - This is the best Edge performance I've ever seen, working as the vet against the young guy climbing the ladder. This dynamic isn't one you see very often in WWE, and often times, when it's attempted, it's done in a way to bury the younger guy, but this was really, really good. Edge's facial expressions of realizing this match is going to be tougher than he originally thought are great, and Morrison loses, but comes out looking much better than he did going in. I think I've said before experienced guy vs younger guy with the younger guy getting lots of close calls but ultimately losing is probably my favorite type of match, so this had that advantage already. Edge has this weird thing where he sometimes starts a move without finishing it, if that makes sense. I don't know how else to explain it, other than for working a style where it's noted the heels control their own bumps, Edge will often do a standard heel spot like missing a dive of some kind, but then not really bump off of it. So this wasn't a perfect match, but the layout of it was fantastic. C.M. Punk vs John Morrison (WWE Friday Night SmackDown! 06/26/09) - I think an easy talking point for Punk detractors (and maybe Morrison detractors too, for that matter) has always been that he had so many matches against Morrison in ECW and so few stood out, with many just not being very good. So when I heard this match was good, I had doubts, because I just remembered two guys who were matched up so many times and couldn't quite pull off a good match. This was a great match. Normally, guys come into WWE and lose confidence, so there were things you saw in them outside the company, but they have been browbeaten and told they're doing everything wrong so they lose whatever spark they once had. Not at all the case here. In fact, both guys really look confident and very comfortable working the style in a long match. I think another easy talking point against Punk was always that he had the chance to do such long matches on the indies he wouldn't have a chance to do in WWE. But he's really mastered sub-15 minute TV matches and is quite good. It's interesting that Morrison is in my two favorite matches post-draft. I think in both cases, that's due to him being guided by a superior wrestler, but that's hardly a knock against Morrison and shouldn't be taken that way. Edge vs Rey Misterio Jr. (WWE Friday Night SmackDown! 06/05/09) - Getting a new batch of opponents, and getting away from the endless Vickie Guerrero skits (outside the ring stuff is not Edge's strong point at all) has been good for him, because I've never really been a huge fan of his, but he has looked excellent in all of these matches. Rey obviously is a world class opponent, which is a big part of it. Chris Jericho vs Rey Misterio Jr. (WWE Friday Night SmackDown! 07/10/09) - Just aired last night. I liked this match a lot. There are other matches I think that have been better post-draft, but this is another really strong match. Jericho, more than anyone, understands how to work with Rey. That said, as good as Jericho is right now, he's really starting to show his age, and while he kept up and even set the pace at many points in this match, he did seem pretty winded, which I guess is understandable for the style. I made a comment in the Jericho thread recently that one thing I like about him is that he wrestles the style of his opponent. With that in mind, there are things like the Atlantis torture rack that he does really well that he should really add to his normal arsenal and start using against opponents other than Rey. Rey was phenomenal, and I really loved the land-on-your-feet spot in both this and the Edge match that he did when he was thrown out. He's having a fantastic year, which is really good to see since he was absent so much of 2008. I really want to see their RAW match and their other PPV matches now. Edge vs Jeff Hardy (WWE Friday Night SmackDown! 05/22/09) - Another really good Edge match. This was the first of the excellent Edge matches, and I initially attributed it to working a guy who he has feuded with on and off now for ten years. That I'm sure is part of it, but Edge was looking better than he ever had to me prior to the injury. Lots of other good matches, with the big standouts being the Jericho/Punk match from the 5/22 Smackdown, which is another good example of Punk really becoming awesome at short TV matches, and Edge/Jericho from the 5/15 Smackdown, which is kind of a battle of assholes. I would put this match ahead of the Savage/Roberts SNME match for heel versus heel, just because neither guy tried to play defacto face, which was awesome.

I tried to watch Smackdown tonight, but unfortunately lost satellite reception. That said, I picked up enough to notice that I really hate the new WWE announcing style. Say something, act excited. I don't understand Vince's new mindset that announcers who get excited during matches is too 80s.

The image isn't there anymore, but it was an advertisement for an upcoming shoot interview.

Wow. That picture of Billy Jack Haynes in the ad on the Observer website looks far more like a picture of Bonnie Raitt.

I have never seen her. Email Dave Meltzer, maybe he knows.

What I don't understand is if the advertisers fear is based in criticizing the office of the President, being outed as Republican, or both?

Sadly, while the Republican brand is damaged, if Chris Benoit murdering his family leading to all the embarrassing PR leading to the Signature Pharmacy scandal didn't result in advertisers pulling out, neither will WWE being outed as a corporation run by right-wingers. People know Vince is crazy. They just don't care.