Smack2k

Name is Brian...35 years old...Pittsburgh, PA My wrestling fandom had three stages within a year... Stage 1 - Late 1985 / Early 1986 - Discovered it on TV and of course Hulk Hogan and the rest...Saw WM2 on PPV and became really into it...I have a soft spot for Bundy / Hogan in the cage, so when I see it bashed, I dont see the hate.. Stage 2 - September 1986 - Rose / Somers vs. Midnight Rockers - Blood Bath - I became a BIG AWA fan in early 86 watching it on ESPN. It was becoming my favorite promotion of what I got on TV (WWF / AWA / Crockett / WCCW). Then this match happened and I was hooked on wrestling...By the end of this, my mom had to come in and tell me shut up as it was late (I was 8) and I was yelling at the TV (ESPN had AWA TV on late some nights) and HATED Rose and Somers after that for a LONG time... Stage 3 - December 31, 1986 - Bockwinkel vs Hennig - The 60 Min Draw - I know this was taped in Nov, but fuck that, this was from New Year's Eve 1986 and always will be...this is the match that made me completely Obsessed with wrestling and everything about it, and became my de facto #1 thing to want to watch, play with, think about...etc....Best Match EVER? Yeah, I think so...although I am sure I will find better matches in Japan and other places, they will never top this. Since then, I was hooked until mid 1995, when I was 17 and the product just didnt seem fun anymore to me, and partying and other things were. Looking back now, I missed some good wrestling but in a terrible era for angles / characters, etc...I went to Penn State in the Fall of 1996 and became friends with a dude on the other side of my dorm. About a week into school (early September 1996), I went over to hang out and saw his roomate watching Nitro and looked COMPLETELY DIFFERENT? I asked him what was going on and he told me all about the Hogan turn, NWO formation and the rest. Right there, I got hooked again, in a matter of an hour, I was back in 100% and loved it...By November, I was also back into WWF and used to love to watch both shows Monday nights. From there, the years went on and I have been a fan ever since, watching and collecting everything I could. I stopped really watching weekly WWE TV in 2003 and havent really been hooked on it since. I am still obsessed with teh territories and finding things I havent seen or watching things 4 or 5 times that I have seen. Just recently, I have finally discovered wrestling outside the US (mostly Canada / Japan / Puerto Rico) and have become really hooked again and basically get to start over with my fandom learning all about these three places and watching a SHIT TON of stuff I have never seen.. So I guess its come full circle now...and with a 2 1/2 year old just starting to want to watch it with me, the cycle looks to be starting again!

Nice!! Thanks..looking forward to it...watched the first one...havent watched the second yet...

Any chance you'd have others on for shows here and there? I was on a show that is REALLY GOOD now when it first started, but due to work and life issues, had to stop and watch it grow into something really good and be pretty pissed off I couldnt do it. The chance to do a show once in a while on topics with others involved would be cool.

TO sum it up - Fulton OR Rogers over Lane.. I was NOT a big fan of Stan Lane...didnt see anything special, and his kicks looked really weak... I know he was "the guy Flair trained", but the apple fell FAR from the tree... That little hip grind thing he did looked strange and awkward..only thing worse was when Sable did it.....

Also, in no order although my #1 is probably my #1 all-time favorite..American only as I am just getting into foreign stuff and cant comment on them yet... 1. Buddy Rose / Doug Somers (late 85 - early 87) - Just fuckin assholes that you looked at said "really? Champions?" and they were like, "Fuck yeah, really...champions Bitch...all 217 lbs of Buddy Rose and the good looks of the Pretty Boy 2. Rock 'N Roll Express (85 - 90) 3. Booker T / Goldust (2002-03) 4. Steiners (89-82) 5. Midnight Rockers / Rockers (86 - 91) Needless to say you can pick my favorite tag feud of all time.....

I know its blaspemous around here, but I dont think Lawler holds a candle to Martel...but I am not a huge Lawler fan at alll (heel Lawler bores me to death with those chain segments)...face Lawler is much better, but still not my cup of tea.

I am a HUGE fuckin fan of Rick Martel....I would count him as one of the most underrated guys EVER... He had some decent matches with Savage as well as a very good little match vs. Marty Jannetty at the 1990 Survivor Series showdown.

El Boricua, What led to teh Big cage match (La Gran Guerra) as well as the rematch? What was the beginning and build to this?

Thanks for the update... What's up with the 6-Man....if you dont stick your tongue out, you arent in it? Ha ha.... Sorry, had to! Wish I could get this tonight.....how does Kenny Dykstra look on the Island? I think WWE Wasted their chance with him.

Crockett 86 was GOLD...so many good feuds with great talkers and heat...the heels seemed like real dickheads and not trying to be dickheads... Horsemen's best year as a stable - no changes, and all killers, even Ole. The Russians were incredible, through Oct.. If Magnum's accident doesnt happen, could be best year for any promotion all-time in US Continental 1988 was really good and their best year to me Mid-South 1984 - So much going on that year and the whole promotion changed and went from good to great...

Didnt Duggan say that when they were young and in Mid-South? From what I heard from him later years in his shoot...he seemed fairly honest and genuine... Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer were a team I would have LOVED to see against other competition outside 1986 WCCW. Very underrated.

Awww shit, I didnt know we were bringin in the NWA Western States Heritage Title...now THAT is Prestige International type Ballin' there.

I go with the NWA World Title... Our generation has NOTHING that can touch the prestige of the NWA World Title durings its heydey...think about it, promoters across the country based their decisions and big money on when the guy with that belt showed up for a run... A whole group of very powerful promoters got together yearly to decide who would either continue to wear the title or who would be getting it next, the same people that could get together and crush an outsider that tried to come in! Cant get much more prestigious than that... The NWA Title meant you were the shit and no one was better.

Bad loss....LOVED him everywhere he was - Portland / Texas / WWF / WCW (Big Josh, bad gimmick but man, that fucker could still go..check out vs. Arn 2/3 Falls on TV), Mid-South... A True legend...really enjoyed his Shoot as well....should be a HOF in some capacity...may not the WWE one, but some should put him in. One of my top feuds that never really had a payoff was his 1990 USWA Texas feud with Kerry....top notch shit. RIP Maniac, Doink, Borne Again, Big Josh, Matt Borne....him and Tough Tony can form a devastating Father-Son team wherever they are now.

Yeah, I will be checking out those tags right away...just curious how many singles matches they had... I am singles wrestling fan...but as I finally get into Japan, I know I need to get more focused on tags and mult-man matches.

Dylan, god bless you bro, you are fuckin nuts, but I love it!!..I TRIED a few years ago to keep up with just the NWA indy's and couldnt do it.....having a kid kind of stopped it dead in its tracks! Good luck with this...would love to see what you find!

Since you asked... What are some other GREAT Puerto Rico feuds from 80's and 90's that are worth tracking down and watching?? Your recommendations so far have been great...damn Puerto Rico is some hard core shit, but in a great way!

Next Question(s)... How many Choshu vs. Fujinami Singles matches from 83 - 84 are on video? How many Choshu vs. Tenryu Singles matches? How many Choshu vs. Tsuruta Singles? Thanks!

Been reading through this and its GREAT and a huge help as well as reading a bunch about the histories of JWA / NJPW / AJPW / NOAH...Very interesting to see how each of these came to be and where they went, and their ups and downs...I know there are others to see (Dragon Gate / Big Japan and the smaller feds). but taking it slowly! For All-Japan and NOAH, as of the articles I read, neither had TV as of 2011 it said...has this changed and are these two that good anymore? What would you say are the best things to watch for NJPW, as that is where I am going to start, from the 80's and 90's?

I have a big (like 100 or so disc) set of Wildside I dont want.... NWA Wildside - Episode 58 10/16/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 59 10/23/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 60 10/30/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 61 11/6/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 62 11/13/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 63 11/20/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 64 11/27/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 65 12/4/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 66 12/11/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 67 12/18/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 68 12/25/2000 NWA Wildside - Episode 69 1/2/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 70 1/8/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 71 1/15/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 72 1/22/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 74 2/5/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 75 2/12/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 76 2/19/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 77 2/27/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 78 3/6/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 79 3/13/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 80 3/20/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 81 3/27/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 82 4/3/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 83 4/10/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 85 4/21/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 87 5/1/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 89 5/15/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 90 5/22/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 91 5/29/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 92 6/5/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 93 6/12/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 94 6/19/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 95 6/26/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 96 7/3/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 97 7/10/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 98 7/17/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 99 7/24/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 100 7/31/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 101 8/7/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 102 8/14/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 103 8/21/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 104 8/28/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 105 9/4/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 106 9/11/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 107 9/18/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 108 9/25/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 109 10/2/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 110 10/9/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 111 10/16/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 112 10/23/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 113 10/30/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 114 11/6/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 115 11/13/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 118 12/4/2001 NWA Wildside - Episode 121 1/1/2002 If anyone wants it, let me know... Would love to trade it away...