Loss

Thought this could be fun. 1988 NWA 1994 AJPW 1992 WWF 1996 ECW Comment wherever you can, whether it be on just one or all four.

If TNA wanted to really play some funny jokes, they should put out fake rumors that they want to sign Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Buff Bagwell, Sean Waltman and Lex Luger.

Test would be very dumb to go back, with all the shots he's taken at HHH and Johnny Ace publicly. Matt Hardy would seem like someone management loved by comparison. They'd find new ways to humiliate him, *especially* if he's on Smackdown and has to deal with JBL, Taker and Benoit backstage.

I'm interested. I'll PayPal you for this plus the other thing we're working on at the same time if possible.

Never underestimate the missteps Vince is capable of taking. Remember, he had Johnny Ace sign the wrong one-legged guy a few years ago.

It's an improvement from days past, when his high-fashion pants and long-blonde hair made him look like Gwyneth Paltrow and probably caused several male fans to question their heterosexuality.

I could see them pairing him with Matt Hardy, as Hardy's total descent into jobberhood continues.

Why is every business decision WWE makes these days so damn funny?

This has the potential to be the very best thing TNA has ever done. It's so WCW, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Very simple fan psychology. Fans want what they're getting the least of the majority of the time.

Decent hate-filled brawl, and a match that was bloody and somewhat historic since it was the first really high-profile gimmick match of the modern era. That's about it, though.

Meltzer isn't the best radio personality to say the least, but the wealth of knowledge does in some ways make up for it.

JR has no sympathy from me next time he's booked to take bumps or kiss ass on TV. If he wants the fans to respect him, it would only make sense that he respect himself and stop crawling back every time he's asked to do so.

Say what you will about Dusty, but if someone was around right now who was like him, I'd probably love the hell out of him just because he'd be so charismatic and unique.

This is the time period when Kip Frey was in the VP position, September 1991-May 1992, which was a really fun time period for WCW.

What impressed me most is the way they mixed young guys and veterans so well. The vets had to work hard to keep up with the young guys, while at the same time the younger guys get to learn because they're working with such experienced talent. And it's so easy to hide weaknesses in 6-man and 8-man tags, of which there were dozens around this time. Austin was far from great at this stage, but he was never put in a position to be exposed before he was ready, as the majority of his TV matches were tags, even when he was the TV champ. They made Bagwell seem like he might actually have a future. I really wish multi-person matches happened more often, because it's a great way to do a big-name main event without giving away too much for free. They're also usually better than most singles matches. Lucha seems to have this concept down perfectly, WCW had it down around this time as well. With all the new guys in WWE who just aren't that seasoned, I wish there were more chances for them to get in, do their thing, and get out in two minutes while paired with a vet to carry the match.

That was his debut. The point is that in almost every match that's ever happened, there's a size difference, and in probably nearly half of those, it's a substantial size difference. If Rey wasn't such a great underdog worker, it wouldn't work, but Rey is good enough to make it work. Not any 170-lb guy could face the Undertaker on PPV and have people buy it though. Of course not. But Rey's not any guy.

Starting this thread as more of a reminder to myself than anything. I've been watching a lot of WCW TV from 1991-1992 the past few days, and I'm starting to wonder if DA-era WCW, while it was short-lived, was the best six months for consistently great heavyweight wrestling we've ever seen in the US. After I've made sense of everything, I want to put this all together as one cohesive post and go down the list one-by-one and make recommendations, but consider this roster, with everyone either in their primes or still able to go. Heels: Rick Rude Steve Austin Arn Anderson Larry Zbyszko Bobby Eaton Cactus Jack Terry Taylor Mr. Hughes Vader Tracy Smothers Ricky Morton Faces: Sting Barry Windham Dustin Rhodes Ricky Steamboat Nikita Koloff The Steiners Ron Simmons Brian Pillman Marcus Bagwell Guys like Simmons and Zbyszko really get the shaft when people talk about good workers. Larry Z specifically has a rep for unconditional stalling, but watching these matches, which are all pretty fast-paced and steady in action, has shown that he really has another side to his game. I like Zbyszko as a staller anyway, because I think he's brilliant and great at getting heat, but I'm going to make some match recommendations later for Zbyszko for anyone who thinks he just wasn't that good. I do already know, however, that from the perspective of having hot crowds, over wrestlers, great angles and great matches, I can't really think of any time period in WCW that was better.

Coffey, have you SEEN a Rey Misterio Jr match since WCW? I mean, really watched one? He's not the same guy now he was then. He's a prototypical American-style babyface, undersized and overmatched. I don't know the difference between Rey fighting someone like Angle and Sting fighting someone like Vader, honestly. Rey did not wrestle a main event heavyweight style in WCW. Rey wrestles a main event heavyweight style in WWE, and has gotten over through his selling as much as anything. What I'm saying is that you buying Rey as a champ doesn't really mean anything because you know wrestling is fake anyway. How can you care about believability so strongly and still not believe a thing you see? That's my point. Rey may not set the world on fire, but as over as he's gotten, and as many times as he's turned crap into something watchable, he deserves an opportunity. You do realize that as much as the Eddy Guerrero storyline was criticized when they were feuding over Dominic, that their segments on Smackdown were adding 1.5 million viewers on average and it was the most successful angle they had done in years. And it's not like Rey hasn't shown in the past few months that he can't work with heavyweights, either. Not believing Rey on top ... what does that even mean? Does that mean the fans are going to reject him, or that they're going to tune WWE out in droves because the idea of a guy beating wrestlers bigger than him is so ridiculous that they can't be bothered to ever watch wrestling again? I honestly can't see that happening at all, considering how good he is at playing the babyface, and suggesting that it's going to happen is unfounded speculation at best. And if you look at the most successful babyfaces in history, almost all of them have done big business with at least one challenger (usually more) that was quite a bit bigger than them. Look at Hogan/Andre. Austin/Undertaker. More than credibility or believability (which means almost nothing in 2006 when kayfabe is totally shattered anyway, and the only people who are concerned with believability don't believe anyway), I think the more important issue is that the audience can really get behind the top babyface and want them to win, whoever that is. Rey definitely has that working for him. Like with anyone, you overexpose and push too hard and the fans will reject it, but no one ever said Rey could get over with the wrong kind of push. No one can get over with the wrong kind of push. If there was any indication at all that fans wouldn't be able to engage themselves in a match where Rey is fighting someone bigger than him, I might be inclined to agree with you, but as we've seen when he's faced everyone from Randy Orton to Mark Henry, the heat -- if anything -- escalates because it's fairy-tale like story playing out in the ring.

There's just such a difference in making guys seem special. People still ask about LEX LUGER for crying out loud, and there is no reason that should be happening for him and not happening for so many of the more talented guys to come along since.

All I'm ever asked is where guys are that aren't around much anymore -- Austin, Rock, Hogan, Hall, Nash, DDP, Goldberg, Lesnar ... and when they do ask about someone who's still around, it's either HHH or someone like Jeff Hardy or Chris Jericho.

Arn Anderson v Dustin Rhodes - WCW Saturday Night 01/04/92 Good Lord! I thought this might turn out to be a pretty good match, but I didn't expect it to be one of the best matches of 1992! Just an awesome, awesome encounter with Arn Anderson playing God and wrestling a truly brilliant performance, finding a million ways to make everything Dustin does look like the World's Greatest Offense. And Dustin isn't too shabby himself, showing so much babyface fire and selling so beautifully. It's a battle of wills here, with Dustin keeping all of his focus on Arn's knee and Arn responding in kind by destroying Dustin's arm six ways to Sunday. Booking is great as well, as they're about to run Steamboat/Rhodes v Arn/Eaton on the house show circuit, so Eaton tries to interfere and can't, because Steamboat keeps forcing him at bay. Really, really great wrestling and booking with focus and storytelling and heat and emotion and anger and fists and sweat really, really rocks! ****1/4 (I actually think this is slightly better than Vader/Sting at Bash '92!)

It just seems weird that Japanese fans would say anything about acting classes.

Is this from people who visit SSS or this is a real survey of fans in Japan? Because if it's just people who visit SSS, it's pretty useless, since NJPW will make nary a dime off of this group of people.

Yes, that would be extremely horrible news for the future of wrestling, and it's too much power for one individual to have.