Loss

This is another strong match, but in a very different way than the trios match. It's more about hate and aggression, with Eddy and Mando taking it to Santo and Demon and doing a lot more brawling. I don't think it's as good as the other match, but it does have a more main event feel, and the Demon turn on Santo is very well done. There's a lot to like here, but it had a tough act to follow.

Well, this is absolutely a dream match on paper. Some insanely fluid, fast-paced mat sequences get us started. Casas looks not too far removed from losing a hair match. The Santo/Casas mat exchanges are just on a different level than everyone else's, which are already pretty great, and they also mix in lots of playing to the crowd. It's really fun to see the crowd get so into the matwork. I didn't expect Ultimo to be so good so early. Yes, the gimmick added a lot, but he was in a ring full of legends and didn't look even slightly out of place. Nothing good ever comes out of shaking Fuerza Guerrera's hand, or hugging him. Why can't anyone in lucha ever realize this? Hamada and Casas have sort of a violent exchange in the third fall that leads to Hamada bending him like a pretzel on the mat while Panther and Fuerza complain about too much aggression. Casas and Ultimo have great chemistry as they always do. Hell of a match to kick off the year. They cut a Michinoku Pro-like pace and hit some beautiful spots. All of the pairings worked and even within the match, there was quite a bit of variety. Any MPro fans should go out of their way to check this out.

Let's get this decade started! Perhaps the best/worst wrestling music video ever, featuring stars from the CWA and clips of matches from Europe. Owen Hart, Akira Nogami, PN News and others make appearances. We also get clips of Vader vs Otto Wanz at the end. There is some cool wrestling in this video, actually. But yeah, this is pro wrestling. I wish I hadn't watched this so many times on YouTube, so it felt a little fresher. Someone more knowledgeable than me should name all the wrestlers in this.

It says it all that they felt using Brock Lesnar in the finish would have "wasted" a date.

I disagree with you and I did not pay for the show. I just read the results. I do have a different mentality. I am continuously amazed at your ability to call things as you see them and be right far more often than you're wrong. You're a visionary and stuff, but talking about smark point of views the way you did is so behind-the-times that I expect you to be listening to a Staind CD and sticking out your tongue and screaming "Whazzzzaaap?" while posting it from your 56k modem.

Yes. People think this is what wrestling is. I know I do. This is the main reason Punk should have gone over. His matches get higher star ratings from Dave Meltzer. No other reason. Punk/Rock having appeal in January, and meaning more if Punk has held the title for over a year going in is just a cover story.

I've been meaning to start a thread of wrestling references in hip hop for a long time. Maybe this can be the catch all? There are definitely a lot of similarities. Hip hop definitely has a sense of kayfabe, and the performers live their gimmicks around the clock.

I liked the post-Russo Attitude era. 2002 had tons of problems, but I didn't hate it. I've liked some stuff since too. But yeah, 1997 WWF is the apex of the company for me -- great angles and high match quality involving people who are over.

While that is accurate, that would probably also increase Linda's appeal with women. She would come across as sympathetic, and could demagogue on how hard it is for women to be recognized for their accomplishments in the business world.

It was enjoyable for a while in the same way way junk food is enjoyable for a while.

Pretty sure it was Nova.

Gewirtz being gone is indeed a big deal. But Gewirtz didn't write to be effective. He wrote to please Vince. Those things are not the same. Putting someone else in that spot doesn't fix that problem. At the same time, Vince to this day has fundamental understandings of certain things that I worry HHH won't. So Vince stepping aside would help the company in some major ways. Vince stepping aside would hurt the company in some major ways. But I think he's the problem in Creative, more than anyone on the writing team. He's also probably the only guy who's smart enough to turn things around. So there you go.

They are doing fine, which is great for them, because they have a really strong business model and have found ways to be profitable during what would have been a decline under a traditional wrestling business model. Kudos to them for finding so many new revenue streams, expanding into social media (whether the hard indicators are there that it has paid off now or not, it will eventually) and for doing more effective global touring and marketing. It sucks for wrestling fans. Revenue streams other than house show attendance and PPV buys are terrible for wrestling fans, because it allows a wrestling promotion to be profitable without good wrestling and booking. So then, they give us what amuses/entertains them, instead of what their fans actually want to see, because they've built a fairly bulletproof infrastructure. The lengths WWE has gone to in order to simultaneously maintain profitability and avoid addressing their creative problems are pretty staggering.

The greatness of Ricky Morton is that he looked like he did and became a draw with young girls. That was because of his work in the ring. His selling made him so sympathetic that he became kind of an idol.

I have such a ridiculously high opinion of Ricky Morton that I think he's entitled to carry himself like he's somebody, since he is. He probably is an asshole, but in some ways, maybe it's justified. Pretty much everything he ever says about wrestling is 100% correct in every possible way. Morton calmly describing how wrestling booking is like a pyramid in the shoot with Manny Fernandez was such a brilliant moment. I wish there was a way to harness his wrestling mind a little more, because guys who know their craft that well and take that much pride in it are a dying breed. The bitterness doesn't wear well on him, but he's absolutely entitled to it. It's one thing for a 190 lb guy to get over in such a prominent spot in 2012, but Morton did it in an era where it was even less common. As he has (correctly) said, even bookers who tried to bury him could never quite do it because he was too smart in the ring and knew how to get over.

As late as 1995, they were being pushed in SMW and were very valuable to the promotion. There's no reason they couldn't have continued. The difference is that wrestling had changed, and they were no longer national stars. They were regional stars, and wrestling didn't really have a place for strong regional stars to go anymore. The Rock & Rolls are part of it, but guys like Tracy Smothers and Tony Anthony would have had much better careers if the territories would not have died too.

It's something, but it's still not Flair wanting to put him over.

Not that anyone was particularly big in WCW at that point. Until Nash booking and Russo booking found lower places to go, 1991 WCW was really rock bottom for the group, especially in the months immediately after Flair left.

From the Observer's update:

Yeah, I don't think it's a calculated counterculture or anything like that, as some have suggested. I just think people are generally predisposed to be excited about new things. It's human nature. Jerry, both have strong years in 1990 and are well represented. I'm interested in seeing your thoughts on them after just finishing the DVDVR All Japan 80s set.

That's fairly new. I think it's a backlash toward All Japan's standing as the Unquestioned Best Wrestling Ever, and Jumbo has just been a victim of it. Before Jumbo, Flair was a victim of it. People get tired of the same stuff being played up all the time and are always on the lookout for something new. Jumbo as GOAT was a relatively new idea at one point, and eventually he became a safe pick. Eventually Tenryu will become a safe pick. I love All Japan, but I do think it got a lion's share of the discussion for years and years online, to a point where other good stuff - like the NJ heavies and FMW - didn't get nearly the same level of talk. I still think All Japan is better than those things, but I don't think those things should have been so ignored either. (Yes, jdw, I know you talked about some NJ heavies stuff at the time, but you were a single voice in a crowd of match lists featuring 6/3/94 and 6/9/95 over and over and over and over.) Realizing that every New Japan heavies match isn't horrible - with some being good and even great - has been the single biggest surprise for me watching 1992-1996. In short, I think anyone being down on Jumbo is more reflective of the ebbs and flows of talking about wrestling online than it is Jumbo himself.

Nostalgia isn't based on the age of the participants. It's based on how current they are. HHH, The Rock and Undertaker are no longer on television wrestling every week. They did so in the past. WWE could build WM around their week-to-week guys at one point. They can't do that anymore.

It has become a nostalgia show. WM would bomb if they did it with their normal, night-after-night roster.

I think I am missing something. I can't figure out how to navigate to the other parts of this series on the site. Was this the only one he did?

I thought I'd do one now, just limiting to 1992-1996. I can always make changes much later. I decided to build this around personal favorites instead of what I think are the best matches. Arn Anderson vs Dustin Rhodes (WCW Saturday Night 01/04/92) Jushin Liger vs Norio Honaga (NJPW 02/08/92) Rick Rude vs Brian Pillman (WCW Pro 02/15/92) Aja Kong vs Bull Nakano (AJW 04/05/92) Hiroshi Hase vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 06/26/92) El Dandy vs Negro Casas (CMLL 07/03/92) Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai vs Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta (JWP 01/15/93) Genichiro Tenryu, Ashura Hara & Takashi Ishikawa vs Keiji Muto, Akira Nogami & Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 02/05/93) Nobuhiko Takada vs Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFI 02/13/93) Ultimo Dragon vs Negro Casas (CMLL 03/19/93) Bull Nakano vs Devil Masami (JWP 04/18/93) Barry Windham vs Steven Regal (WCW Worldwide 04/18/93) Vader vs Tatsuo Nakano (UWFI 05/06/93) Hollywood Blonds vs Marcus Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio (WCW Worldwide 05/08/93) Naoki Sano vs Yoji Anjo (UWFI 08/13/93) Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 10/23/93) Aja Kong vs Megumi Kudo (AJW 12/06/93) Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue (AJW 01/24/94) Jushin Liger vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 02/24/94) Espectrito vs Mascarita Sagrada (AAA 03/12/94) Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori (AJW Queendom 03/27/94) Jushin Liger vs Great Sasuke (NJPW Super J Cup 04/16/94) Dustin Rhodes vs Bunkhouse Buck (WCW Spring Stampede 04/17/94) Jake Roberts vs Dirty White Boy (SMW TV 05/14/94) Kazushi Sakuraba & Masahito Kakihara vs Gene Lydick & Steve Nelson (UWFI 06/10/94) Nobuhiko Takada vs Gary Albright (UWFI 06/10/94) Steven Regal vs Larry Zbyszko (WCW Pro 06/25/94) Bret Hart vs Bob Backlund (WWF Superstars 07/30/94) Volk Han vs Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS 12/24/94) Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 01/04/95) Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs Owen Hart & Bob Backlund (WWF Action Zone 02/26/95) Ricky Morton vs Al Snow (SMW TV 04/08/95) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue (AJPW 04/15/95) Shinjiro Otani vs Koji Kanemoto (NJPW 04/16/95) Volk Han vs Yoshihisa Yammamoto (RINGS 06/17/95) Espectrito vs Super Munequito (AAA 07/08/95) Great Sasuke vs Dos Caras (Michinoku Pro 08/25/95) Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon (WWF Summerslam 08/27/95) Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansai (AJW 08/30/95) Hayabusa vs Hisakatsu Oya (FMW 08/31/95) Megumi Kudo vs Combat Toyota (FMW 05/05/96) Vader, Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson & Sid (WWF International Incident 07/21/96) Aja Kong vs Kyoko Inoue (AJW 08/30/96) Rey Misterio Jr vs Dean Malenko (WCW Great American Bash 06/16/96) Shawn Michaels vs Mankind (WWF Mind Games 09/22/96) El Dandy vs Black Warrior (CMLL 10/15/96) El Hijo del Santo & Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr vs Negro Casas & El Dandy & Hector Garza (CMLL 11/22/96) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 11/29/96) El Hijo del Santo & Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr vs El Dandy & Negro Casas & Hector Garza (CMLL 11/29/96) Great Sasuke & Masato Yakashiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin vs Taka Michinoku & Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki (Inoki Festival 12/01/96)