Loss

Pretty sure that's the one. Either FMW or ZEN released a commercial version of the show, not sure which one.

I think there was an ECW show with FMW and ZEN, but yes, it wasn't as big a step as touring independently.

The similarities with ROH and ECW are peculiar. ROH modeled itself after ECW. About five years in is when ECW started to lose momentum, just after starting PPV. They also had their first tour of Japan in late 1997-early 1998, which didn't generate a whole lot of buzz.

ROH - The main problem is simply that they don't have much of a roster. Morishima is an all right choice for champ and all, but the Japanese tour is going to feel flat without anyone in the Joe spot to do big matches against NOAH guys. I don't know how good of a job they've done building up new guys either, although part of that is circumstantial and the majority of the problem is just bad luck. TNA - TNA isn't going to change anything, because they're determined that they're doing the right thing regardless of what fans or numbers say. I think people have given up bitching about it because they know it's never going to get better. The only people who really support TNA are people who really, really want the monopoly days to end. I can't say I don't understand that, but I also don't think the monopoly days are ever going to end. TNA hasn't done anything to indicate that they have any desires of ever being competitive with WWE. Maybe that's more obvious than it used to be.

Moving this to Clash of the Champions since it fits the theme of that folder nicely.

I'm looking for someone who could mod the MMA folder who would basically need to drive traffic in that folder and take it from nothing to something. Anyone who's interested, please PM me. Non-smoker a plus.

Did you pick any of these up? If so, what did you think?

I remember thinking Rogers/Candido at November To Remember '97 was pretty good at the time, but was booked pretty badly. I haven't seen that match in years. I'm pretty sure Rogers also had a WCW Saturday Night run in 2000.

What would be considered a really good Volk Han intro match? I'm including the Yoshihisa Yammamoto match from 08/13/97 next month, which I actually like better than the Tamura match from January that gets more love. I'm also including the Yuki Ishikawa/Daisuke Ikeda match from BattlARTS 5/27/98 soon. After that, I don't really know. Any recommendations of specific matches would be great. Think good matches for introducing the style to someone who has never seen it, more than just the best matches. Thanks.

Also, the whole storyline at this point was that Perfect and Genius were trying to taunt Hogan into noticing them so Perfect could get a title shot.

I figured with the recent discussion about the Hogan/Perfect feud not drawing well at tOA that that would probably come up at some point. The feud was really too cutesy for a main event program, although they did a good job of making it more personal on SNME when Genius beat Hogan by countout and Perfect destroyed his belt. Still, coming off of the Savage feud, it felt a little anti-climatic. Hogan/Genius from SNME is still one of my favorite matches, because of Poffo fluttering throughout the ring, purposely using really weak offense like backrakes, and his great "Ohmigawd!" reaction to Hogan hulking up. I really think Lanny Poffo was the best part of the whole feud.

I definitely think the Flair/JBL idea is a great one. JBL should probably start slowly changing his tune on Flair and insulting him now, leading to Flair finally confronting him as the year goes on and eventually a brawl breaking out between them at some point and then promos from January to Mania. It's a case where JBL wouldn't have to be protected at all, as you mentioned, and Flair going over would be logical. I could see some fun stuff involving JBL next time they do a Smackdown in the Carolinas. Because of them both having the North Carolina ties, there's probably also a way to include Matt Hardy in this so that they get something out of the build post-Mania as well.

Terry Funk is a guy I really want to find a way to focus on more in the future. Funk obviously has some great matches against other great wrestlers, but I'm always more intrigued by his matches against guys that aren't considered that great, just because it's so much fun to watch him go into overdrive. Expect the best JYD match I can find from their series in the WWF at some point in the future. Even if you watch the tag with Dory against Hogan and JYD from SNME, Funk is taking absolutely ridiculous bumps on the new NBC-approved mat with no bounce, and I've seen matches from their series in Mapleleaf Gardens where Funk is going through ringside tables (a decade before that became a standard WWF main event spot) and just really creating chaos. Funk/Mike Rotunda around 1987 from Florida is also great fun. Rotunda is extremely green and can't do much, and Funk will call for the same spot 8 or 10 times in a row then sell being completely punch drunk and unable to stand up straight afterward. He really is one of the greatest of all time. I don't know if "underrated" is the right word to describe him, but Funk is one of the least discussed great workers there is. This period -- summer of 1989 -- is probably the highlight of his career, just because it was the only time a national company really built around him for any length of time as a top heel. I've always been curious how far in advance he knew he was getting this run, because he showed up in great shape and worked a full schedule after not having done so for a few years. Perhaps he thought at that time it would be his last chance to make big money and work in front of larger crowds, so he made the most of it. The Flair/Funk feud was really the epitome of the new vision under Turner (that didn't last long). Flair was the top guy for many years under Crockett, but they weren't actively seeking out big stars that weren't already with them to give Flair fresh opponents. He ended up against Sting, Luger, Dusty, Windham and Ron Garvin over and over and over for years. Sometimes they drew well (usually when the feud was fresh) and sometimes, they didn't. When Flair turned babyface, it was really the first time in a long time that not only was he being treated like a big deal, but you really felt like the company he was working for appreciated and respected him in that spot. Doing things like closing the Saturday night show with Flair's big return interview and seeking out guys like Steamboat and Funk to give him fresh programs showed more faith in him than had been invested in him in years before when he was being blamed for all of Crockett's woes internally. The Flair/Funk feud is pretty great on its own, but what made it more than just a great feud and also a good piece of business was two things: (1) They both took great effort to get each other over. When it was time for payback, Funk gave Flair the biggest, most dramatic payback he possibly could. When it was time to re-establish Funk with the audience, the company stepped up and lined up lots of undercard guys whose biggest strengths were in selling and eating offense. You saw at least two months of squashes where he was piledriving guys on the floor, and the Bash '89 match showed how much that did to establish that move as a killer. The piledriver meant more in the NWA in 1989 than it has anywhere else probably ever outside of Memphis. They also did really dramatic and heated angles, like Flair getting Funk's branding iron and destroying him and new henchman Dick Slater with it, or Funk attempting to suffocate Flair with the plastic bag, leading to Brian Pillman giving him CPR to close out a really hot Clash of the Champions. (2) The feud didn't exist in its own universe. The Flair/Funk feud both directly and indirectly elevated Sting and the Great Muta, gave Gary Hart a chance to be the top manager for a while and even catapulted Lex Luger's heel turn, which I think can still be looked back at as the best year of his career. They used it to introduce new guys like Brian Pillman and they used it to try to re-establish older guys like Dick Slater. There were a few misses along the way, but I think what made the feud draw money was that it spilled over and helped a lot of other guys refocus, either guys that had been somewhat damaged by careless booking in 1988 (Flair, Luger) or fresh faces that wouldn't have been pushed this hard 12 months earlier (Pillman, Muta, Funk). The story of WCW for the next decade was started with the end of this feud, when you started seeing changes in direction with new top guys on average every six months or so, to a point where by 2000, the company would be focusing on Hall and Nash as top stars for two months, then on Flair and Hogan, then on Sting and Luger, then on Nash and DDP, then on Goldberg and Steiner, without any commitment to any core group for any length of time. Funk being relegated to the announce booth after such a successful feud had to hurt.

As someone from Flair country, Dylan, it would be interesting to hear how much a part of the local culture the NWA was at its peak, and also if Flair is a household name now among people in that area. That's always what's referred to as his strongest market. I'm curious if he transcends wrestling in that area like Lawler in Memphis.

So, it's been reported for a few months now that Flair is finishing up and will most likely have his last match at Wrestlemania 24 in Orlando. Orlando isn't the best place to retire Flair with Charlotte, Greensboro and Atlanta all right there, but it's better than trying to finish him up somewhere in the Northeast. Considering this and how much time they have to plan it, what type of sendoff do you think he should get? This is the first time I can ever recall Flair wanting to retire. I figured he'd be wrestling until he died. He's obviously a shell of his former self, but wrestling without him around at all will seem pretty strange, if he indeed can stay away. He was a key part of the changes cable TV created in wrestling and has probably had more nationally televised matches than any wrestler in history. Aside from Vince McMahon, he's really the only guy who's been regularly featured on television in a prominent role as long as cable has been around. Even if he stays employed by WWE, which I figure he will, if things go according to plan, we're not going to be seeing him regularly anymore. It will be interesting to see how they handle this. And I do agree that it's pretty long overdue.

Mid Atlantic had a problem anytime they tried to put a special referee in a spot. Look what Kiniski did to Flair/Race at Starrcade '83.

Yes. Actually, they go as far as to line the camera up with Hennig's bulge while Poffo stands idly by and fawns.

They made some really obvious homoerotic overtones in this one as well.

Didn't see them on the match list. I'm assuming in the documentary they were covered? Fitting. You can't have a Most Powerful Families In Wrestling DVD without the most powerful family in wrestling.

They had longer rematches on house shows, and I'll probably include one at some point in the future. You have to love the make-a-wish spot.

I really thought this was also a terrific match. Inoki is obviously a major, major star in Japan. When Japanese wrestling from the 60s and 70s is watched and discussed by American fans, most of the focus usually goes on All Japan. All Japan had some classic matches in the 70s, many of which I'd consider among the best I've ever seen. But the more Inoki I watch, the more I enjoy him, and I don't think the gap between All Japan and New Japan (yes, I know this is a JWA match) in terms of match quality during the 70s is as big as is sometimes implied. Inoki gave a really spirited underdog babyface performance here, and bled a gusher. He really came across as a superstar in the intros, the body of the match and especially the post-match celebration. Markoff I thought was just a terrific asshole here. He's basically working Inoki like they're working Memphis, playing hide the foreign object and just in general being loudmouthed and contemptible. I've seen exactly one Chris Markoff match, this one. I'm not sure if the guy is still alive or not. Whether he is or not, it's good that at least one high-profile match exists in good quality so his family can see it. I also enjoy the novelty of seeing Inoki as a legend on the rise, as opposed to a cultural phenomenon. He wasn't quite at that level yet, and it's fun to watch and see what got him there.

Also, the McMahons.

I wasn't aware they had one even then. I need to see that.

The stockholders are foolish for not knowing more about the company they're investing in and the nature of the wrestling business if that is the case. I understand that if you visit a stockbroker, you don't really get any type of company history or anything, but anyone who's investing anything significant should still find a way to do their own research. Maybe I'm wrong, but I always figured WWE stockholders were just fans who marked out for the idea of owning a part of the company. I can't imagine anyone has yielded any kind of significant return on their investment.