Loss

Even more.

Interesting news from Meltzer:

Funk taking those rapid fire bumps off of Sting's clotheslines is just really great. I also thought it was funny that they beeped out Funk saying that Flair was starting to show his age, and Jim Ross's indignant reaction was great without seeming like bad acting like it often does with Gene Okerlund. "You're talking about the world champion of the NWA!" The key here was also that they didn't tease this like Flair really was coming. They were skeptical to begin with. That really places the promotion in a better light than setting up a parody angle where they hype that the real guy is coming out.

According to anonymous producers of Beyond The Mat, the whole scene was planned in advance by Mick and Colette, and the kids were put at ringside to get "real" emotion out of them for the sake of making a better documentary scene. All the stuff about the number of chairshots being cut down and Rock doing more than he was supposed to was supposedly made up crap for Mick to save face. The story goes that Mick will never admit to that publicly because it would make him look pretty horrible. I'm not siding or not siding with that version of the story, but that's what kjh is referring to ...

Great summary, Dylan. There are other good and great matches on this set, but this is the match I'm expecting to be the head turner. For my money, it's the best match on the DVD. I'll talk a little more about it after some other people post about it as well.

When I click on the RSS link, I get a "This page can't be displayed" message. But that's not what I'm asking about. Is it possible to syndicate all the big wrestling websites through our blogs? I thought it might be nice to have what would really be a one-stop shop on the Blogs page where you could check out the news sites, other message boards, etc. all in one place. Is this how RSS works?

Before anyone says anything, I am aware the audio is out of sync with what is going on in the ring for this match. I think that is part of the PAL to NTSC conversion. That said, I still hope that doesn't make it impossible to watch this match.

One other thing about this match is that I really think this is Bret Hart's vision of what wrestling should be. That's been argued for Hart/Benoit in the past, and I can see the case, but there was a dark cloud hanging over that match. Here, there's optimism for the future. This was a reaction to the Hogan era, and the type of championship matches you got on top when Hogan was champion. Savage was never really able to break the Hogan mold in the same way Bret did as far as working a different style on top (which may be because Hogan was still around), and this was really more of the classic version of a world champion versus local hero match than anything we'd seen this company do for years. This was more the type of match you would have seen in WCW just a year or two prior, whereas Hogan/Flair at Bash at the Beach (which happened 16 days after this match), in front of a huge crowd in a tourist's city like Orlando was more like a WWF match you would have seen just a year or two prior. Bret Hart as the 1990s version of Jack Brisco is great fun, even though it was odd seeing it in the WWF of all places.

I will probably be including a high-end Freebirds/Von Erichs match in the near future. I thought this was really cool and a great way to really make Hayes seem like a superstar. This video wouldn't have looked out of place showing on MTV at the time because the production values are so good.

I thought this was an excellent match that did a really good job capturing all the storylines near the top of the card. I plan on including one of the Horsemen six-mans from the mid-80s as a comparison in the near future. The Dangerous Alliance was really short-lived, but it was very well-executed and didn't really feature any major weak links. This may be what you'd expect, but if we were getting main event matches at this level on Raw or Smackdown every week now, people would be raving about it. One thing that has really been lost in modern wrestling is the overlap of storylines. Two guys feud and basically keep to themselves during that feud. One great thing about WCW and NWA booking was that they did a great job of mixing things up. The World title feud and the US or TV title feuds were usually linked and resulted in a lot of main event tags and six-mans. Look at Flair/Funk/Sting/Muta, or the Horsemen, or the Dangerous Alliance. There were also more babyface saves when a heel beatdown occurred post-match, which really put over the promotion. You really got the feeling that the promotion was two distinct groups of guys divided by philosophy. People complained about it happening at the time, but Dusty Rhodes coming out to tell the ref the heels were cheating during a MX/Rock & Rolls match when he wasn't involved in the storyline was a nice touch. Sounds like Wrestling 101, but one thing that bugs me about modern wrestling is that everyone really walks alone, and when babyfaces or heels tag, it seems more like it's because they were thrown together than because they share common enemies or philosophy. Probably makes it harder to book too. I don't know what kind of money they were drawing if you compare before Rude came in to after he showed up, but he really filled the void left behind by Flair nicely. To a point where I'd argue that even if Flair was still around, Rude coming in should have been the cue to slowly remove Flair from that spot and start building around Rude as the top heel. It may have even been a good chance to finally do the Flair babyface turn and stick with it, even if it wouldn't have had the same effect it did two years earlier in 1989. Still unfortunate how much of the good will they built up during this six-month period that Bill Watts killed when he came in.

This was a terrific match. I think most people have seen it on the Raw Hits CHV release. I think it's good there also, but it loses something. The CHV announcers were usually pretty low-key and didn't really have a lot of emotion. Jim Ross is so much better in the TV version of this match than the commercial version. I'm curious if people who have seen both versions will agree.

I don't want this post to be overly self-congratulatory or anything, but I do want to use it to make a point. It used to bug me that this board didn't get a ton of traffic. However, after just catching up on a 10-page thread complaining about Non-Stick Wrestling being deleted from DVDVR, I don't think it will ever bug me again. I'm happy running a board that's really kind of its own quiet corner. We may go through posting droughts, and some people may only stop by periodically, but I'd still say that the majority of what's here is stuff I enjoy reading, and we have minimal drama or problems. I'd much rather have a slow board than an overly busy board with tons of crap.

They were in a feud at the time he died, and Zbyszko said something to the effect that he didn't like the guy, but he wouldn't say anything else out of respect for his family.

Whoa, that's incredibly fast for international shipping done over a weekend. Looking forward to your thoughts. I don't want to be the first person to talk about anything in any of the threads because I don't want this to be all about everyone responding to my opinions.

I'm thinking some people will start receiving their discs today. When you receive yours, please do me a favor and post that you received it. That should be 19 responses after this one if everyone gets what was sent to them and replies.

Babyface Steve Austin gives Stacy Keibler a stunner and drinks beer afterward, given his own history. How does that fit into all of this?

What was up with that? I kind of forget now. The story goes that HHH was still bitter about a low payoff he received from a PPV a few years prior. Vince told JR to play hardball with HHH on the amount, HHH was upset and went to Vince, and Vince acted as if it was all JR's doing and that he agreed that HHH deserved more money.

The way that the syndicated network was set up at the time, I don't think it was really possible to do it. Maybe not. But you would think as soon as he died, they'd immediately make every effort to edit the match out of the syndicated shows. Who knows? I always got the impression that the whole thing, including the roofie, was a setup. Part of the confusion with that was that the storyline didn't make sense. Why did Stephanie need to pretend?

Add: WWE refuses to acknowledge death of Crash Holly because they felt they had already acknowledged too many deaths around that time

Add these. WWE: Airing a stretcher job taped for TV of Rick McGraw three days after his death Lobbying fans to vote Owen Hart's death as the best RAW moment ever before the 10th anniversary special Creating a match on RAW for HHH to purposely take liberties with Jim Ross (Ross now has damaged vision as a result) Mocking Jim Ross's colon surgery Randy Orton stating Eddy Guerrero is in hell Playing 9-1-1 calls on Confidential and framing them in a way where it would appear Lex Luger murdered Elizabeth Stephanie McMahon falls in love with HHH after he gives her a date rape drug Shawn Michaels mocks Davey Boy Smith's family at ringside after a match dedicated to his dying nephew WCW: Ric Flair fakes a heart attack and WCW teases that he may be dead Gene Okerlund runs Hotline teaser asking what Davey Boy Smith and Magic Johnson have in common Ed Ferrera wears makeup to create appearance that he has Bells Palsy ECW: Justin Credible calls Tommy Dreamer's dead grandpa a piece of shit

Make that two newsletter writers that need time off. Good Lord. There are so many truly horrible things happening in the world that are worth getting upset about and worth our anger and emotion. This is a wrestling storyline. It's gone past laughing at people overreacting. At this point, it's more worrisome because it's really an unhealthy reaction. There have been times in the past where wrestling has managed to piss me off too, so I'm not saying I'm above it. But I finally grew up. Wrestling is fun. This indignant reaction to over-the-top storylines is the type of reaction I'd rather save for worthwhile political causes, for loved ones battling health problems, for families torn apart by infighting. Perspective. These guys need a good massage, a nice vacation, a peaceful swim ... something. I'm starting to wonder if I should include them in the Pro Wrestling Only DVD Club.

Dropping the angle would be ridiculous, and I hope it doesn't happen. I don't know who these people are who think WWE is required to address these situations with class, because there is no historical precedent for it at all. WWE is run by horrible, hell-bound people. We should celebrate their immorality instead of expecting them to pretend they've changed when they haven't for show. Also, the tribute shows are not sacred and don't mean anything. It's workers working. It's a chance for wrestlers to get themselves over as genuinely good people with the fanbase by playing top this with each other to see who can do the most touching tribute and get the most adoration from it. If there's reality to it, it's incidental and rare. Acting like they've committed some sort of sacrilege by mocking it isn't cause for scorn. If anything, WWE should be commended for being more honest about their lack of class, rather than disguising it as they've been wont to do before. Do you really think an Owen Hart tribute show that features the Undertaker staying off camera to protect his gimmick, Road Dogg making drug references in honor of a guy who never did drugs, and Steve Austin, who didn't even like the guy, closing out the show by toasting a beer to him simply because he's the company's top babyface, is something special that should somehow be protected? Is Stephanie McMahon comparing the Federal government to Al Qaeda really a standard that is too important to be mocked? Is a show really the best effort possible to honor Eddy Guerrero when they can't even deliver a clean finish in the main event because they want to protect guys they're building around? WWE makes some utterly classless decisions. People should really stop expecting more from them, and getting angry and complaining about it is only going to cause the company to get even more tasteless. And better yet, the people who do the majority of the complaining are the people who are still watching. Wrestling is shady. People who can't handle that should watch something else instead of expecting it to change. It's not going to change. I hope Stephanie does a Melanie Pillman-style interview on Raw. Expecting otherwise is like watching Jerry Springer and chastising the lack of thought-provoking debate, or popping in a porno and complaining about the acting. They're bad people. They're never going to be good people. This has nothing to do with how any individuals who watch wrestling live their lives, and it has nothing to do with Sherri Martel's death, or anyone else's death. It's a worked storyline. I don't disagree with people who say it's tasteless. I do think that fans that are getting worked up over this are really taking the whole thing far too seriously.

You heard me.

The WWF may have still been #1, but it probably would have been a closer race, WCW would have had an even better roster to play to their strengths, and there would be some absolutely terrific shows. If they managed to sign all of these guys and if Sting hadn't gotten injured, I could see them riding a big wave of momentum through 1990 with almost all of the best wrestlers in the country. Tons of fresh matches, and Sting may have been more successful on top than Warrior without the injury that killed his momentum.

If he's that upset about it, he should really take a few weeks off.