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I would have to rewatch and maybe this is my memory being fuzzy, but Arn and Flair working holds wasn't very compelling, at least not for half the match.

You don't need blood to convey hate. Anyway, a no blood policy hasn't stopped Ric Flair before.

Putting aside that the match delivered a different storyline than John would have wanted, the match still wasn't very good. I wouldn't say it was a complete bust as there was some clever storytelling touches, but the match dragged and the tired offence made it look like time had passed both Arn and Ric by.

Maybe Bryan was just trying to help Punk by repeating what his sources told him! I think Punk was really lucky to come up when and how he did. Paul Heyman was rightly a big fan and could easily protect and groom him on ECW. Even after Heyman established him as a star he's had a few hiccups (heat with agents, dress code infringement pettiness), but nothing he couldn't overcome by that point.

I now want to see a feud that ends with the wrestlers agreeing to disagree. Like, they are having it out in a promo and one guy is all, "I guess I see your point. I've done some hurtful things to you, and I apologize." And then that's it. Sounds like something Gabe Sapolsky would book. :-/

I suggested the 43 year old cut off more because of the comparison between Tenryu and Flair. 1993 was a banner year for Tenryu as the centrepiece of the hot New Japan vs. WAR feud. Flair's 1992 wasn't a patch on that although he still had a couple of high profile great performances. I think the cut off comes before late 1995, as Flair's feuds in '93 with Windham and Rude were really disappointing. Part of that can be blamed on Windham going into the Beach Blast match injured and Rude declining that year due to injury too, but it also shows that Flair wasn't the guy to carry a broomstick to a ****+ match anymore.

I'm not sure I'd point to Flair's work after his 43rd birthday as proof that he's the GOAT. Not saying that there aren't some flashes of greatness, but Genichiro Tenryu blows him out of the water past the same age for consistency and being in a prolific number of high quality matches.

This may shock you but Bruce is a deceitful carny. Todd asked Lance his impressions of Bruce Hart he said he didnt know him really well, Lance said he tried to listen to the Bruce interview while sitting in a car waiting for a plane to land and gave up listening after 20-30 minutes to instead watch the stars in the night sky for more excitement. Bryan explained that the show with Bruce was taped at midnight. Lance said that he has had conversations with him in past and it takes forever to get to his point. Lance said he didnt anything against Bruce but hasnt had the greatest experiences with him. Lance said between WCW and WWE he did four shows for Bruce for Stampede. Lance and Bruce did a radio show for PR for the shows and Bruce spent the interview talking about he had a relationship with WWE now meaning in the future fans would see the Rock, Austin etc on Stampede shows. Lance felt that Bruce was coming across as someone who was full of shit and sabotaging the forthcoming shows that weekend feeling people would save their money for when the Rock was coming in. He told Bruce specificly that there was a slim chance that WWE may want him for the KOTR PPV and it was up to Bruce then whether he wanted to advertise him for that Sunday. Bruce said that was ok. But Bruce went ahead and advertised him and Lance got the call from WWE to be at KOTR. Lance told Ross Hart that he was doing the PPV. When Lance called WWE offices he was told that Bruce called WWE to tell them Lance made a commitment to be at the Stampede show Sunday and got Lance canceled off the KOTR AND Johhny Ace told Lance that they were going to bring in Lance for Raw as well but Bruce told WWE there was a Monday show which Lance was booked on but there was no Monday show for Stampede..... On a funny note Lance was asked by Bryan about how the Sunday show went and Lance replied that the ring showed up 45 minutes late and the posters promoting the show arrived an hour after the ring. So Lance missed the KOTR PPV for a show that drew 40. More fun to report about this from the Cauliflower Alley Club. Ross Hart gave Dave an earful about how so much of what was in Bruce's book never happened particularly the story about Bret attacking Diana over their mother's death bed. No wonder Bret is furious at Bruce's book! A fine victory for those wrestling scholars Todd Martin and Joe Babinsack.

Chael Sonnen's UFC licensing issues won't be over next week

The timeline according to the Torch back issues goes something like this: January 1994 - Jim Ross gets Bells Palsy. February 1994 - Jim Ross' contract fails to get renewed after falling out of favour with management, the main reason having to do with refusing to turn heel and play a "JR Ewing" type character on colour commentary. Ross met with Eric Bischoff about returning to the company, but they couldn't come to an agreement. Early June 1994 - Ross does a lengthy Torch Talk with Wade Keller that is published in instalments over the next two months. Late June / Early July 1994 - Ross signs a two month contract with the WWF to fill Vince McMahon's announcing role until after his trial is over. The company was unhappy with Gorilla Monsoon's performance as Vince's initial fill in. July 31st 1994 - Vince returns as the lead announcer on Monday Night Raw. End of August 1994 - Ross' contract is not renewed again after negotiations broke down. Apparently Ross had heat for some of his frank remarks in the aforementioned Torch Talk interview. End of 1994 - Ross leaves SMW to take a front office position with the WWF.

I don't think that contradicts what Dave says. By the sounds of things Dave just needed someone to have him stop and think for a second that she didn't deserve to go in by fiat in the first year. He didn't need convincing, just needed someone to jog his brain cells a bit.

Yeah, I wonder what Joseph Maroon would make of Kurt Angle's neck? You also had Flair taking bumps on his torn rotator cuff. But then again Hogan is one of the guys in charge, whose recent tweets about Edge and Desmond Wolfe suggest he has no qualms about a wrestler working against their doctor's orders.

I think to some extent Dory is hurt by there being a lack of footage of his prime years. Some people who saw him during his NWA run rank him as one of the best NWA champs ever, above the more well thought of by tape watchers Brisco, Terry and Race.

Someone at Cageside hypothesised that Hogan's tweet was meant to tell Edge he could join TNA and still be cleared to wrestle, which is an interesting idea. Given that they do physicals so rarely he could buy himself another year like Desmond Wolfe did I suppose.

WWE PPV business peaked in the 1998 - early 2002 period. If you go through the booking of that period you'll see a lot of feuds ran into the ground (Austin vs. Taker, Rock vs. Triple H, etc). Moreover, it really exposes the myth that "there's no motivation for fans to pay for something they can get for free every Monday night", as there was more wrestling overexposure and more hotshotting on TV then than there is now. I think the problem is more that they ran off their PPV fan base by diluting their average PPVs with weak line ups through brand only shows, then promoting match gimmicks at the expense of feuds, while their star power diminished as they haven't been able to replace their top stars at the pace they've left. The recent price increase and rise in piracy probably hasn't helped either.

I can see Del Rio mistranslating Mistico's Spanish like heel commentator Dok "Michael Hayes" Hendrix mistranslated Savio Vega at King Of The Ring '95. He wants the top Hispanic babyface spot for himself after Rey retires.

He's done well to get another seven years out of his surgically repaired neck, especially as he didn't significantly alter his style (well outside of the toning down of everyone's style WWE implemented once they got sick and tired of all the neck fusion surgery's many of their top stars were forced to get) and was continued to be booked regularly in ladder matches.

To add to what John wrote, there were plenty of successful territories in the past that didn't rely on an overabundance of squash matches and proved that you didn't need them to create and protect your stars.

I thought it had more to do with Savage having heat with the returning Hulk Hogan at the time? Or is that urban myth?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKnqPI-ujPU

"When you are talking about money, you are talking about old school. I was hired to bring ratings." What an idiot. I watched that clip, and I am not even sure what it means. He's saying being concerned about drawing money is old school? In the sense of this argument, Ratings=Money. So it's the same thing. . . I think that clip says more about the stupidity of the likes of Brad Siegel and the other Turner execs that brought him in than Russo's stupidity. Where Russo's stupidity came in that he didn't bring ratings while at the same time killing their PPV business. Really Russo's great at his job, which is self preservation in a backstabbing business. I can't see Russo ever losing his TNA writing job at this point unless he does something really stupid which forces Dixie's hand. He's the Rasputin of the wrestling business to Dixie's Tsarina Alandra - an unfairly persecuted "holy man" who can do no wrong.

That's only because any wrestling reporter worth their salt spends half their time watching MMA nowadays, Will!

I think it's a sign that Hunter will get more power on the wrestling side of things, so that Vince can concentrate on his entertainment aspirations.

The problem becomes in one or two years time what do you do when you have no Undertaker around to be a key hook of the PPV?

I dunno who Bruce is, but he's smoking something illegal. Bruce Mitchell, long time Torch columnist.