Loss

Bret, but it's very close and I'm very reluctant. I've been watching lots of old Flair in the past few months and I've sort of come full circle on him -- I used to think he ruled, then I went through a period where I was down on him, and now I think he's one of the best ever again. Tomorrow, my answer could very well be different.

Agreed, since the role of the lead announcer requires that his word have some credibility. He's supposed to be saying what the company wants the fans to be thinking. Coach is too hated for that spot.

I don't really know what else they can do with the ECW brand to make money, quite honestly, considering that they've already done an extensive DVD and a last hurrah PPV with the faces going over and Bischoff getting the big boot. Not to mention, more and more of the ECW talent is getting locked up in TNA.

***3/4

I will say that in 2005, I've gone from loathing JBL to admitting that he can be carried to liking him as a standalone talent and being a big fan of his. The guy has worked unbelievably hard to become really good in the ring, and he's probably the best interview in all of wrestling.

I don't really like the term puro. It derives from "puroresu", which means "pro wrestling". "Puro" just means "pro". Calling wrestling "pro" is silly. I prefer just calling it all wrestling, because that's what it all is, regardless of where it takes place. There are good and bad of every type of fan. We've seen a good side and a bad side to all of them. ROH fans tend to have high standards, which is fine, but it also sometimes seems like every year, they forget about the previous year's great matches totally, which shows that maybe the great stuff in ROH isn't going to age as well as we think. Remember when people were comparing London/Danielson from 04/12/03 to Flair/Steamboat? Who even talks about that match now? More later.

I've thought about trying to collect all the old PWI's myself, for two reasons: (1) Tons of results across the board from all promotions, and I'm starting to become interested in collecting results from all promotions (2) To see what the mark perspective was at the time on all the feuds I don't think I'd want anything after 1994 or 1995, though, which is when the lid started slowly getting ripped off of wrestling and the magazine had to change with the times.

Christian has improved to a point in 2005 where he's a really good worker who's capable of leading a match, and he had a hot streak early in the year having the best match every single week for like 10 or 11 consecutive weeks that has now gone forgotten. I do think he's a better interview and has more charisma. In the ring, Owen Hart is one of the most naturally talented wrestlers of all time who, sadly, never reached his full potential. I have to go with Owen here.

They didn't take him to court, but they threatened to and Zenk shut up.

X Division matches have *not* impressed me at all at this point, especially those of AJ Styles. His matches are convoluted crap, from what I can see. I've watched him every week on TNA, and all he's good for are highspots. Even on the ROH I've seen, he tends to bring down the talent he's working with, in the sense that his opponents typically have far better matches with other people. My biggest issue with him is just that he does highspot after highspot without any real rhyme or reason. I just can't buy his shit. Ditto Christopher Daniels, actually. I have no problem with wrestlers busting out highspots. Rey Misterio Jr is probably the very best high flyer of all time, but he's the type of wrestler that can work matches without even hitting a bunch of crazy spots and still put together a fantastic match. He has a great mind for wrestling. Maybe Styles will get there one day, I don't know, but at this point, the in-ring product in TNA has really come across as being *worse* to me than that of WWE overall, if only because WWE at least attempts to add some sort of psychology to their matches and build a story, even if it is a crappy one. I don't know that TNA has anyone on hand who's keeping things in mind like not letting spots be repeated multiple times on one show, or if they have road agents helping the young guys put together good matches. Ricky Morton would probably jump at the chance; he even worked for TNA a few years back, so I know he's available. Most people would totally disagree with this, but just to show the difference in talent between WWE and TNA, I think the only guy in TNA who is better than Christian or Booker T is Samoa Joe. That doesn't even get into the upper level of talent in WWE, but that puts the difference in perspective, at least from my point of view. Surely I'm not the only one who thinks this.

The minis *could* be awesome if they bring in the right guys and don't try to inhibit them, and also if they don't have the top heavyweight heels destroy them singlehandedly and have them participate in raunchy backstage skits. The only problem with it is that WWE should really be avoiding putting things on TV right now that at first impression would embarass a fan watching with his non-fan buddies. That's the type of thing you debut during a boom.

HHH is not bad in the ring by any stretch, but he's also not as good as a main event guy headlining in a down period needs to be in the ring to justify continuing to center the company around him completely. Jobbing isn't the issue -- he does plenty of jobs. The problem is that HHH gets more TV time than everyone else, more hype than anyone else and what happens to him is always the most important thing on RAW. As for being the best overall in the company, I'm assuming you mean in terms of the whole package of interviews and charisma and ability to headline, along with ability in the ring. He's in the top half, but I'd put Guerrero, JBL, Angle, Michaels, Christian and maybe even Misterio above him. If Jericho was still in the company, I'd rank him above HHH too.

Batista is smart and knows what to say. Undertaker is the hardest working guy in the company? That's funny, considering he works a reduced schedule and is relying on a 15-year old gimmick to stay over at this stage of his career. For better or worse, yes, HHH is a hard worker. I'm probably the only person in the entire world who thinks this, but I think JBL smokes HHH in every aspect -- as a character, as an interview and in the ring. Batista and JBL may not have had chemistry, but HHH wasn't able to have a good match with him either until they did HIAC. Batista should realize that he's quite simply very lucky to be in the spot he's in and that once he loses the title, he'll probably never hold it again.

Rick Rude did that on one of the matches on the DVDVR discs. But Rick Rude is so amazingly cool that he can get away with something like that. Few have that benefit.

Good idea! Mitsuharu Misawa v Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 10/21/92 Wild Pegasus & Shinjiro Otani v Black Tiger & Great Sasuke - NJPW 10/16/94 The Rock v Chris Jericho - WWF No Mercy 10/21/01 Misawa/Kobashi v Kawada/Taue from 10/15/95 also gets a lot of love, but I haven't seen it. Just missed the famous Michinoku Pro 10-man tag (10/10/96) by a few days. EDIT: I went too far ahead on some of the choices I selected.

I'll watch Bret's interview before I pass judgment on the matches he included. He's typically good at explaining himself.

I think they could have made Show a novelty if they debuted him in the same way the WWF debuted Diesel in '93 -- pair him with a smaller, charismatic worker the company is trying to get over as a heel and push him hard as a bodyguard. Put him in matches maybe once or twice a year, maybe in an occasional tag here and there and absolutely never on free TV. It's weird to say that WWE can't have novelties now, because aside from a period from 1997-2003 or so where he was around pretty consistently, the Undertaker has been a novelty act his entire run in the company. With the booking Undertaker gets, Show could have been a megastar. Of course, Taker had a bankable gimmick, is a superior worker and reinvented himself with the times to stay fresh in every change of direction WWE has had, while Show's character isn't nearly as versatile or adaptable. The problem with Big Show is that he was misguided early on in his career and now he has a reputation for being lazy and uninspired when the past year has shown him be anything but lazy and uninspired. The matches with Lesnar, Angle and Benoit molded him into someone who, for better or worse, finally had the right attitude and took pride in putting on a good match, even if he didn't always succeed. The Smackdown match against Eddy Guerrero last year showed that the right guy can bring something special out of him. Sass mentioned Vader, but Vader was knocked off of his feet all the time. He played pinball for guys like Sting and Davey Boy on a regular basis, but he could get away with it because he had more convincing offense and had the kind of timing Show will probably never have. Truthfully, Vader was a 450-lb Ric Flair in terms of clowning to make his opponent look like a million bucks, but because he was so believable as a killer, he could do whatever he wanted. I remember Sting tossing Vader around the ring with ease, but the spots were set up as momentum spots and were built up big before they happened, so those moments meant something when they finally occured. Show just can't do the Vader act.

Because "wrestling" is just the acrobatics of it and psychology is the story the match is trying to communicate to the audience. It's impossible to have a bad wrestling match with good psychology, or a good wrestling match with bad psychology, at least from my point of view.

I think the loveable big sap who becomes a warrior when you piss him off but is the nicest guy in the world the rest of the time who takes up for his friends would have been great for him. I think he's been great in tag teams with small guys as well, but they've never stuck with that for any length of time.

The RAW in question was the one right before Mania in March of '99.

Vince Russo booked that because he wanted to book a "biggest RAW ever", and apparently, people in the company did question it at the time since it was going to be the main event of Wrestlemania 2000. That changed as the year wore on and the usual "he can't work" stuff started that always starts with new guys.

Still haven't watched Slaughter/McGraw. The rest of the match is pretty standard face-in-peril stuff that isn't as "vicious" as I think heels working over a face should be, but technically, they're doing everything right in terms of ref distractions, comedy spots, distracting the ref, etc. Standard stuff, but they captured the audience so amazingly well early on that it seems better than it really is. To me, guys who can have a good match without taking any bumps or even making contact for nearly the first half of the match epitomize what "working" in wrestling really is.

You know, 10 years ago, I think it would have been totally reasonable to suspect that Wight would be the biggest star in wrestling (not just in stature) today, if only because of his size, natural charisma and the fact that guys his size are typically protected and pushed hard. Instead, he's been jobbed out, had major bouts with laziness and apathy, has had totally inconsistent booking in two major promotions and is a *total* waste of potential. Most of the time, guys like RVD and Jericho are the ones people think of when they think of the can't-miss superstars the business has missed the boat on, but I think this may even be a bigger case, because you don't even have to try all that hard to get the most out of him, to make him credible and to book him effectively. He's become a much better worker in the past year or so, and here and there, he's always been capable of having a good match opposite a guy who puts some thought into the match and how to approach it. Giant not making it in WCW didn't surprise me at all. I don't think they even knew what they had, and he was green and around guys who taught him the underbelly of wrestling without really teaching him anything else. But because of his size, he's the type of guy tailor-made for Vince McMahon to get over huge, and he's failed on every level imaginable. Now that he knows how to work, he's been too damaged by bad booking to be reestablished, if only because someone that size doing jobs should be a monumental occasion and because he's done far too many, and he's turned more times than even Lex Luger ever did. Someone else to throw in the "should have been a no-brainer superstar" category whose name doesn't get mentioned as often as it should ...

Is there anyone in UFC that you would say is there only because they want to fuck people up, not because of the sport of it all?

Question from someone who's seen *very* little MMA -- is it marketed as a sport or marketed as violence? Does the commentary focus on strategy or violence more? Do the fighters typically attempt to win or just attempt to maim?