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The overwhelming majority of them were tag matches (he had only one singles match with Baba, he had more singles matches with Inoki, but still only around ten). But in the tag matches with Baba, Murdoch was usually the star of the team, outside of a 1975 tour where he reformed The Texas Outlaws with Dusty Rhodes. I think the worst way you can interpret this is that both Baba and Inoki loved working with him on spot shows, even if they didn't have that many major singles matches with him.

Will also asked "How often was Murdoch really a top gaijin?" These numbers are quite staggering: 1968: Faced Giant Baba 3 times. 1971: Faced Baba twice and Antonio Inoki twice. 1973: Faced Rusher Kimura twice (for the IWE) and Baba 16 times. 1974: Faced Baba 6 times. 1975: Faced Baba 12 times. Also participated in the Open Championship League and lost to no-one (double count outs with Oki and Kimura, time limit draws with Tsuruta, The Destroyer, Pat O'Connor and Horst Hoffman, beat Anton Geesink and The Great Kusatsu). 1976: Faced Baba 15 times. 1977: Faced Baba 10 times. 1978: Faced Baba 10 times. 1979: Faced Baba 10 times. 1980: Faced Baba 10 times, traded the International title with Tsuruta. 1981: Faced Baba 11 times, Inoki 15 times. 1982: Faced Inoki 23 times. 1983: Faced Inoki 14 times. 1984: Faced Inoki 14 times. 1985: Faced Inoki 32 times. 1986: Faced Inoki 32 times. 1987: Faced Inoki 10 times, teamed with him 16 times. 1988: Teamed with Inoki 6 times, faced him 8 times. Someone may want to check that I didn't accidentally double count somewhere, but basically Murdoch faced both Baba and Inoki a shit ton of times and was a consistent headlines in Japan from 1973-1988.

From KrisZ's list earlier these are other matches Murdoch had against the NWA champion (most of which would be title shots): 1969-03-10 St. Louis, MO vs. Dory Funk, Jr. L TV 1969-03-25 Sedalia, MO vs. Dory Funk, Jr. 1969-03-30 Topeka, KS vs. Dory Funk, Jr. L 1969-05-01 Kansas City, KS vs. Dory Funk, Jr. L May 11, 1969 Cedar Rapids, IA (Memorial Coliseum) Dory Funk Jr. (NWA world champ) d. Dick Murdoch (2/3 falls) 1969-05-29 Kansas City, KS vs. Dory Funk, Jr. L 1970-04-14 Miami Beach, FL vs. Dory Funk, Jr. 12/5/70 Nassau Stadium NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr vs Dick Murdoch 7/2/71 Tallahassee, FL @ Sports Stadium Texas Death Match NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr vs Dick Murdoch 1971-07-30 Tallahassee, FL vs. Dory Funk, Jr. 8/13/71 Tallahassee, FL @ Sports Stadium NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr vs Dick Murdoch 1/31/72 El Paso, TX @ County Coliseum NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr drew Dick Murdoch 60:00 6/6/72 Odessa, TX @ Ector County Coliseum NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr beat Dick Murdoch 9/16/73 Albuquerque, NM @ Civic Auditorium NWA Champion Jack Brisco vs Dick Murdoch 1974-07-18 Amarillo, TX vs. Jack Brisco W DQ 1974-08-12 El Paso, TX vs. Jack Brisco L 1974-08-14 Lubbock, TX vs. Jack Brisco L DQ 1975-02-11 Tampa, FL vs. Jack Brisco L 1975-08-28 New Orleans, LA vs. Jack Brisco 1975-09-25 New Orleans, LA vs. Jack Brisco L March 25, 1976 New Orleans, LA - St. Bernard Civic Center NWA Champion Terry Funk beat Dick Murdoch 8/9/76 Tulsa, OK NWA Champion Terry Funk vs Dick Murdoch 4/2/77 Springfield Dick Murdoch beat NWA Champion Harley Race dq 1978-01-12 Kansas City, KS vs. Harley Race D 1978-06-16 St. Louis, MO vs. Harley Race L Three Fall Match 1978-07-04 Columbia, SC vs. Harley Race D NC 1979-08-06 Florence, CO vs. Harley Race W DQ 1979-08-10 St. Louis, MO vs. Harley Race L 1980-05-27 Chillicothe, MO vs. Harley Race 1980-11-29 St. Petersburg, FL vs. Harley Race L DQ 2/12/81 Tsu NWA Champion Harley Race dcor Dick Murdoch 1985-07-30 Jackson, MS vs. Ric Flair 1986-08-30 Atlanta, GA vs. Ric Flair D NC 1986-08-31 Charlotte, NC vs. Ric Flair 1986-10-05 Asheville, NC vs. Ric Flair 1986-10-26 Atlanta, GA vs. Ric Flair L

To save Kris some legwork, here's a list of major world title level shots Murdoch had that I could find via cagematch.net: 02.12.1970 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Dory Funk Jr. © defeats Dick Murdoch CWF @ Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, USA 14.04.1971 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Dory Funk Jr. © defeats Dick Murdoch CWF @ Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, USA 27.07.1971 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Dory Funk Jr. © defeats Dick Murdoch CWF @ Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida, USA 10.01.1972 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Dory Funk Jr. © defeats Dick Murdoch CWF @ Sports Stadium in Orlando, Florida, USA 13.01.1972 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Dory Funk Jr. © defeats The Texan CWF @ Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida, USA 12.12.1973 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Jack Brisco © vs. Dick Murdoch - Time Limit Draw (60:00) NWA Western States @ Fairpark Coliseum in Lubbock, Texas, USA 05.11.1974 PWF Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls: Giant Baba © defeats Dick Murdoch [2:1] (22:06) AJPW Giant Series II 1974 @ Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan 07.11.1975 WWWF Heavyweight Title: Bruno Sammartino © vs. Dick Murdoch - No Contest NWA St. Louis @ Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri, USA 16.01.1976 WWWF Heavyweight Title: Bruno Sammartino © defeats Dick Murdoch NWA St. Louis @ Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri, USA 02.07.1978 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Harley Race © defeats Dick Murdoch MACW @ Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA 08.05.1979 NWA World Heavyweight Title Two Out Of Three Falls: Harley Race © vs. Dick Murdoch - Draw [1:1] (60:00) AJPW NWA Champion Series - Tag 14 @ Prefectural Gymnasium in Chiba, Japan 07.03.1980 WWF Heavyweight Title: Bob Backlund © defeats Dick Murdoch by DQ NWA St. Louis @ Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri, USA 24.04.1980 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Harley Race © defeats Dick Murdoch CSW @ Kansas City, Missouri, USA 17.09.1980 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Harley Race © vs. Dick Murdoch - Time Limit Draw (60:00) CWF @ Miami Beach, Florida, USA 18.09.1980 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Harley Race © defeats Dick Murdoch CWF @ Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida, USA 23.09.1986 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair © vs. Dick Murdoch - Draw MACW @ Cincinnati, Ohio, USA 01.10.1986 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair © defeats Dick Murdoch MACW @ Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 09.10.1986 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair © defeats Dick Murdoch MACW @ Baltimore, Maryland, USA 12.10.1986 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair © defeats Dick Murdoch MACW @ Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA 12.10.1986 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair © defeats Dick Murdoch MACW @ St. Louis, Missouri, USA 20.12.1986 CWA World Heavyweight Title: Otto Wanz © defeats Dick Murdoch [Runde 7] CWA Internationaler Catch Cup 1986 - Tag 38 @ Stadthalle in Bremen, Deutschland 01.09.1987 IWGP Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki © defeats Dick Murdoch (15:22) NJPW Sengoku Battle Series 1987 @ Fukuoka Sports Center in Fukuoka, Japan So that's 16 NWA World title shots in 8 markets (Florida, Amarillo, North Carolina, Japan, St. Louis, Kansas City, Ohio, Baltimore), 3 WWWF title shots in St Louis, 1 PWF title shot, 1 IWGP title shot and 1 CWA title shot, so 22 in total.

Abstain from the historical performers era. Modern performer in U.S./Canada: Ivan Koloff Dick Murdoch Ken Patera Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) Japan: Gran Hamada Mexico: Cien Caras Karloff Lagarde El Signo & El Texano & Negro Navarro Australia/Pacific Islands/Carribean/Africa: Carlos Colon Europe: Jackie Pallo Non-wrestlers: Howard Finkel Gary Hart Jimmy Hart Jerry Jarrett Gene Okerlund

The issue I have with that thought process is that by all accounts the decision to have Brock end The Streak was a last minute call when Vince McMahon realised that The Undertaker was completely physically shot and that it could very well be his final match. In a lot of ways Brock was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time. That's not necessarily a problem in and of itself, but it is when we haven't got the perspective of what Brock ending The Streak meant for his career. At least with Ivan Koloff, we know he kick-started Pedro's hot three year run of record MSG business and was brought back and did even bigger business with both Bruno and Backlund years later (due to the Felt Forum being opened up for the bigger MSG shows).

Has Lesnar *really* had that great a year? From a booking perspective, sure! But he came into WrestleMania 30 as the coldest WM opponent for The Undertaker since at least 2006 and had his worst WM match since that time frame too. With the changes in WWE's pay-per-view business model, it's very hard to tell how much of a positive impact he's having on that revenue stream, if any. He's not a house show draw as he doesn't work house shows. He's not a big merchandise seller as far as we can tell. He's not a glaringly obvious mover of TV ratings either. He's only worked four matches this year, only one of which was rated above ****.

It's worth noting that The Brawl To End It All built around Wendi Richter vs. Fabulous Moolah only drew 15,000 fans at Madison Square Garden despite Hulk Hogan wrestling Greg Valentine on the undercard. I can't be 100% sure of this, but I think that would be the lowest MSG attendance in over 14 years. There's no evidence that Moolah was ever a draw either at the box office or with TV ratings, she wasn't a good worker and she wasn't particularly famous, so the only argument for her induction is influence, and by the time she retired as a full time performer she left women's wrestling pretty much for dead. That's without getting into the seedy rumors about how she manipulated her talent. Regarding Invader as a Hall Of Fame candidate, he'll never get put on the ballot because he murdered Bruiser Brody and even if he was put on he wouldn't get in for that very reason. Others like Hugo Savinovich and Chicky Starr should get a chance on the ballot sometime though.

I was going to jokingly post "ban rovert", but thought better of it. Maybe I should have after all. Banning people just for being contrarian wouldn't help the perception of the board having a hive mindset or cliquish tendencies. I'd argue that perception is misleading, but banning anyone wouldn't help that image.

I think there probably does need to be some tinkering with the current system. However, I do think there should be some cap on the number of people you can vote for, as you wouldn't want a flood of candidates going in on the first year of a rules change (a possible consequence of John's suggestion). Being allowed up to 10 votes seems too many if you only vote for one bracket and abstain from all the rest. But 10 votes is probably too few if you vote in all or all but one bracket.

I know Fin was marketing Powerslam to the typical hardcore fan, but I always thought he ragged on John Cena way too much. It seemed like every issue was filled with shots of him as a worker and anything good he did was credited to his opponents. It was interesting hearing Rob Butcher argue that PS got better after he was gone, when the peak of the magazine to me seemed to be the earlier years. There didn't seem to be much in the way of fresh ideas after a certain point in time.

People have been trying to start that rumor since SummerSlam. OH MY GOD A WRESTLER IS RED AND SWEATY HE'S GOING TO DIE IN THE RING! As if the hand wringers of the internet are more alert than WWE's doctors. That article by the Washington Post was a misleading strawman. Although several sites raised concerns about Lesnar's condition, no-one reported that he missed Raw because of them (as best as I can tell). If anything it seems that the Washington Post got WWE to deny a non-rumour so they could have a story with a lot of hits.

I was typing this up as Kris replied. From lucha wiki: Promo Azteca started co-promoting with CMLL in the latter half of 1998 as the company was going down, so that explains why Silver King and the Villanos worked a few dates for CMLL in that period. Regarding AAA working with the WWF that was a retaliatory move for Konnan breaking away from AAA and taking all the WCW talent with them. The WWF were receptive at the time to work together due to WCW's success using Mexican wrestlers and the need to sell tickets for the San Antonio Alamodome show where the Royal Rumble was held in 1997.

Some of the arguments being espoused for Edge as a Hall Of Famer are pretty preposterous, like Jeuron Dove arguing that Vince McMahon had such great respect for Edge that he allowed him to retire as champion and that no other WWE superstar in history had a bigger send-off.

Depends if that was a common affliction amongst the Hall of Fame voters.

I think the impressive thing about Taue's NOAH run is that whenever they decided to put the spotlight on him, he usually delivered.

The Ultimo Dragon comparison seems a bit unfair as there seems to be obvious matches missing (like those with Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko, two of his career best opponents), unless Loss wasn't a fan of those matches.

Yeah, he was a great guy. The online wrestling community will be a lesser place without him. Very sad news.

It should be noted that Money In The Bank 2011 was available for free in the UK, WWE's second biggest pay-per-view market.

I think it should be remembered that Ross had fallen out of favor with Vince McMahon long before his bout of Bell's palsy, as Vince was back doing the pay-per-view play by play commentary by SummerSlam '93.

I think the main weakness of Taue as a candidate is never being positioned in a key position on a major Dome show (which I suppose is akin to Mick Foley never having a really big WrestleMania singles match). Part of that is All Japan/NOAH rarely running such large events, but the fact that New Japan never brought him in at a time when they were looking to outsiders to prop up their business suggests that he was considered a tier below Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada and Akiyama. Re: Akiyama never living up to his potential, I think it could be argued that he was a victim of All Japan's television being consigned to dead end time slots in the middle of the night just as his career was being kickstarted. He was also put in the tough spot of being the ace for a new promotion and that push coming a bit too soon. Nonetheless he became the closest of his generation to live up to the generation that preceded him.

Yeah, Undertaker and Austin never really clicked as a pairing and it was particularly bad over the 12 months after SummerSlam '98, as Undertaker shouldn't have been in the ring for much of that period he was so banged up and the Ministry of Darkness Wrestlecrap didn't help either.

I just think Meltzer was snarkier in his earlier days, hence the Junkfood Dog nickname when his weight and drug problems started spiraling out of control in the mid 1980s. I also think Meltzer values working ability more than many Hall Of Fame voters.

He wasn't notified about being released until after he contracted Bell's Palsy, but it sounds like his firing was due to his creative differences with Vince and was already in the pipeline before he contracted the illness, as he told Wade Keller in a Torch Talk the following shortly after he was let go:

I already emailed Dave on this issue: Dave's answer was "15 years from first appearing" because it shouldn't be beneficial to drop off the ballot. I think Dave must have just looked at who was on the 2000 ballot, as Akira Taue, Curt Hennig, Mark Lewin, Blue Panther, Ken Patera and Sting all dropped off in 1998 and Sgt Slaughter did in 1999 according to that WrestlingClassics thread, so their time should be up too. However, I'm not going to point out the inconsistency to him given that the ballot will be purged more than enough already without any extra help. Was Atlantis on the first ballot in 1998? If so, he had 16 years on the ballot. :-/