Bix

Is anyone left besides Kevin Dunn who everyone knows they plan to replace the second Vince dies/gives up control?

I'll say this: When I found out AJW's home base in the '80s was Korakuen Hall, I was very confused. Whether they just packed the building more or what, I can sort of believe why people would've thought Korakuen changed.

http://youtu.be/Domfk4f9NBg Allegedly he lost even more weight in the weeks between the NJPW tour and the Bearman tour where he died. Why *was* he working a Bearman tour, anyway? He had lost most of the weight and was back with NJPW. Was the money better than you'd expect?

1. That's not what a false finish is. A false finish is a near fall.2. So you want Snowden to alienate Dusty and WWE? These can be re-worded to have more appealing language but are still valid questions. Not every interview has to be a list of reasons why the subject is awesome. Snowden knows that as well as anyone. I don't mean the negativity. I mean that there's a delicate line of what is and isn't too "inside" for a WWE PR interview.

1. That's not what a false finish is. A false finish is a near fall.2. So you want Snowden to alienate Dusty and WWE?

Manami Toyota, Sawako Shimono & Hanako Nakamori vs. Aja Kong, Tsubasa Kuragaki & Mio Shirai (Chikara Joshimania 12/4/11) One of the best matches I've ever seen live, much better than Hamada vs Del Ray (which was really good). Was super impressed by the younger girls. Del Ray vs Ayako has the dream match thing going but if you're including one match from that show, it should be the trios match.

I'm sure Patterson laid out the big moves. My point is Rude (well, Hogan too) is clearly carrying it with his pacing. Of the great Warrior matches, Rude is the only one working something approximating his usual match. Rude's usual way of getting the heat with the perpetual motion chin locks and whatnot happened to be a great fit for Warrior.

Rude gets the credit because he's clearly the one pacing and calling the match, just like Hogan gets the in-ring credit for his Mania match Warrior even though he didn't lay it out. John, by your standard Fuerza never carried Octagon.

This one is actually true, more or less. When he was getting interest from Vince, he asked Regal for advice. Regal said that being inexperienced, going to the WWF was a no brainier because he's be working so much more and improving faster.

IIRC: 1-14 are the same. 15 is a new version with some edits for content.

To homestead a territory was to take up permanent residence there and stay in the territory, usually referring to someone who wasn't an anchor star, promoter's son, etc. It can be used as a positive, negative, or neutral term. For example: - The Carolinas under Jim Sr. were considered a homsteaders' territory, but he was admired for it because he allowed wrestlers to settle down in the territory and make a life for themselves there. If they decide to move on, they were usually free to come back as they pleased. - Jim Cornette felt that no other heels could get over in Dallas when he was there because Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez had homesteaded the territory.

@davidbix

If the podcast is listed in iTunes, subscribers can use iCloud to sync their progress between iTunes and the podcasts app for iPhone/iPad, which is insanely convenient. It's very, very easy to make a podcast feed, both for submitting to iTunes and so people can use other podcatching apps. If SoundCloud provides a direct MP3 link you can use, then you just need to link that in each blog post. If they don't, that complicates things. You could always use another site like Archive.org, which provides free hosting for all self-produced audio and is pretty flexible (you can get a direct link for a podcast, but they also have a Flash-based embeddable player).

Hunter and Stephanie think they're babyfaces. That's the key to all this. None of this is for the sake of being evil, they genuinely feel that their heelish behavior is for the greater good of the company and the fans' enjoyment. Speaking of Stephanie, it took her the better part of 15 years, but like her husband, she's doing amazing work right now, and is arguably outdoing him. In the past she was effective plenty of times, but never actually good aside from MAYBE the early marriage stuff in 2000. Her delivery is fantastic doing the phony gladhanding "fan friendly" executive shtick and I'm actively looking forward to everything she does now. Heyman doing his thing is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but Stephanie is a really strong contender for best non-wrestler performer this year.

I love WWE.com. From the latest wacky WCW photo gallery:

It's (basically) Cajun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laissez_les_bons_temps_rouler

Most home videos were priced for rental, meaning they had higher prices than retail "sell-through" videos of children's movies and whatnot that stores had to invest in and make up. Even the highest priced wrestling videos were cheaper than studio movies, though. Only the $9.99 30-60 minute "greatest hits series" type wrestling tapes were sold at retail. In the long thread about Blockbuster's mass closing of stores at the last version or the DVDVR forum, it was mentioned that one of the reasons porn was so profitable for non-chain video stores was that they cost something like $5-$10 each. Stores broke even right away. Also, by '88 at the latest, the Turner Home Enterainment JCP titles were selling for $30 shipped.

WCW Tag Team Title tournament in early 1999.

Also: "THE JAPANESE HAVE ATTACKED FLAIR!"

The change in the majority opinion from Gary Hart being a useless lump who no-sold for Ric Flair to him being a great manager definitely happened before his death and book. The positive response to his interviews in both WCCW documentary DVDs started the shift, IIRC. The book added a lot to his legacy and there's plenty of obvious self-aggrandizing in there, but a lot of people also learned about some legit history that wasn't well-known. For example the booking structure of JCP in '83-'84 with Hart, Wahoo, and Ernie Ladd each in charge of a state (NC/SC/VA) with Dory Funk Jr. in charge of "the territory" is something I never heard about before his book (Dory always got sole credit for the build to Starrcade) and it's confirmed in the JCP doc.

Like I said, I'm perfectly willing to be swayed there, but he was an anchor manager in Texas, big star in Australia, successful booker, etc.

Both. I had been locked into the other four since I got my ballot so I reserved the last spot for the most "sentimental" pick of the other guys I was considering. At least for now. I'm willing to switch him out for Dave Brown or Gene Okerlund or Bill Apter or whoever if someone makes a persuasive argument.

Right now, my ballot looks something like this barring someone yelling at me forcefully enough to make changes: I FOLLOWED THE MODERN PERFORMERS IN U.S/CANADA CANDIDATES Ivan Koloff Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) Johnny "Mr. Wrestling II" Walker I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN MEXICO CANDIDATES Cien Caras Karloff Lagarde Blue Panther Villano III Dr. Wagner Sr. I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN AUSTRALIA/PACIFIC ISLANDS/PUERTO RICO CANDIDATES Carlos Colon Mark Lewin NON-WRESTLERS Gary Hart Jimmy Hart Jerry Jarrett Takashi Matsunaga Don Owen Notes: Really strong field, and in the end Mexico kind of dictated the rest of my ballot because there were so many good candidates. If room is made for them, I could easily see myself voting for Atlantis (especially if he has the mask match w/ Ultimo Guerrero), L.A. ParK, and Huracan Ramirez in the next couple years. I had Jim Breaks and Volk Han on an earlier iteration of my ballot but decided to throw my energy towards Karloff Lagarde and Blue Panther. Ken Patera, Dick Murdoch, and Sgt. Slaughter would have rounded out a top 15. US/Canada historical was an outright abstention: While there are candidates in that category who I could easily see myself voting for, like Enrique Torres, Red Bastien, and John Tolos, I didn't feel comfortable effectively voting "no" on an act like the Von Brauners & Saul Weingeroff who I'm really intrigued by but don't quite feel like I know enough about their overall candidacy. I see myself as informed enough about Japan to vote, and would have voted for Han if he had a lower percentage than Panther last year, but I also have some concerns. In the last several years, the divide between who the actual Japanese voters see as HOFers and who foreigners voting on Japan see as HOFers has gotten a lot more obvious and I'm certainly less comfortable voting in that bucket than I would have if I got a ballot like, 5 years ago. It's a lot less clear-cut than the other regions are because there's a lot of cultural stuff in play that we don't necessarily think about. Most people here probably never would have voted for Masakatsu Funaki (though I was sold on him after reading Dave's bio when he was voted in), Masa Saito, Steve Williams, and so on. Candidates who I would vote for if added to the ballot: Junkyard Dog, El Dandy, Salvador Lutteroth Jr., Valente Perez ("Lucha Libre" editor), more people I'm forgetting (the specific Japanese magazine guys, for example) for when I actually email this to Dave. Will go over my actual picks more later.