Bix

Not familiar with Mary Sue so I can't commetn on that http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue

By '86 he wasn't jacked anymore though he was still a great worker.

It predates Ring of Hell. Benoit may have mentioned it in an interview and it was mentioned in the first post-murder-suicide WON.

I dunno about that, there was a long period in the Torch where Wade kept saying that X match was better than Flair vs Vader at Starrcade when there was no reason to bring it up.

Not really any footage available. Just a drop of Florida film clips and those may be post-illness. He was such a great promo that it didn't matter if he was good in the ring or not. I dunno if he was though.

As far as the finisher kick out argument in the Taker WM matches goes: In the ROH style matches, they just pick up where they left off. In the Taker matches, it's portrayed as the guy taking the move having enough energy to kick out...and that's it. He's still selling it like a finisher afterwards.

There's no way Rock's not sticking around in some form. It was just too weird otherwise. Before the show a friend of mine and I pretty much simultaneously came to conclusion they're gonna do a year-long build for Rock-Cena in Miami. Overall, it's hard to say the show was less than very good. Edge-Del Rio was pretty good, especially by Edge standards. Rey-Cody was really good with a good story and some creative spots. Orton-Punk was an excellent match with a perfectly executed finish that made up for it being telegraphed. Taker-HHH was exactly the match they needed to have and quite the ride. Yeah, it borrowed heavily from the Michaels matches, especially the first one, but that's almost expected from Taker WM matches now. Both guys were taking bumps like it was their last match and I hope Taker wasn't killed by that chairshot. Cena-Miz started generic and got pretty good. It sucks that Cole-Lawler was so disappointing, though.

I was about the same age for WM8. It was my cousin's birthday, so the party was at his house watching the PPV. That was a lot of fun, especially all of us chanting "KILL THE SNAKE!" at the TV during Taker-Jake. After the show, a few of us were wondering if that was a replacement Ultimate Warrior since he looked so much different and had disappeared so suddenly after Summerslam. I may have definitely stated that it couldn't have been the original.

OH! Papa Shango vs Bret Hart from SNME.

Dave Meltzer specifically said it's not an April Fool's joke.

They eventually aired a "security camera video" of Diamond Doll winning the money herself. Playing bingo.

Umm. Also, yes, prime Koko Ware is definitely up there, especially for the Eaton team.

I think I knew about all of the others but who did Gordy work in NJPW? Meltzer had an interesting story about this period in Bigelow's obit: Baba didn't bring him back because he counted his money in front of him. Bigelow hadn't been taught that Baba was trustworthy, so being used to Inoki, he counted his money before leaving the room.

Kaufman took the all time nastiest looking Lawler piledriver and was fully protected with no injury.

Afa vs Murdoch Kamala vs Lawler many times, especially at WMC on TV in 1991 Elmer had some solid matches in Memphis with Lawler and Tojo. Bravo was a solid worker before roiding up beyond belief and going heel. I like Volkoff vs Hogan. Zhukov had some good stuff as Jim Nelson. Fuji and Saito had really good matches with Martel and Garea. I suspect his best stuff was in other territories like Knoxville and Georgia but isn't on tape.

No Aja Kong?

1990 was when that all actually went down. Doc was a regular for both companies for a good part of the year before fully transitioning to AJPW and the Road Warriors did a few shots between WCW and the WWF. There may be more guys I'm forgetting. Not sure if the Roadies stuff made TV or Classics but there's a handheld of one match.

In fairness, HHH's delivery hinted at a plan, IMO, but Michaels walking out can't really be interpreted any other way, especially six days out with him not as special ref. Dave's definitive proclamation was weird, though.

Does Dave have something he'd like to say to the rest of the class?

Is there any argument against this being the best/most memorable WWE TV episode before the Raw is War era?

Flair's part is way better. "I TRIED TO TELL YOU! I BOUGHT YOU SOME TIME! NOW DO THE SMART THING! CANCEL THAT CONTRACT, GET OUT OF THIS BUSINESS, AND GET OUT OF OUR LIVES!"

What was up with that? Did Andre and Vince have a falling out before he died? IIRC there was no falling out but Vince was taken by surprise and really upset about the appearance.

Dear Vishnu you're an idiot.

You sure? I thought both switches were around.