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Their is no way Warrior can follow T.

Johnny I'm expecting a Grade A impersonation of this!!!

Jake's speech had it all. Humor, sadness, and most important redemption.

This should be a big test for Sunday.

I loved on the Wrestlemania today show when Alberts called the Diva Championship a belt, Josh, and Riley go immediately you mean championship. That was pretty funny.

Some more King from 1988. Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (5/9/88) This had a big match feel to it. Almost larger than life, a real epic feel to it. If you've seen the retirement of Sam Munchnick show headlined by Dusty and Flair it had that type of feel to it. This was Hennig's world title versus Lawler's career. It started out a bit slow with some smoke and mirrors. Jackie Fargo is the ref and he kinda trying to hard to get the special referee stip over. Then we get some shenanigans with the manager and Fargo gives him the boot. So the 1st 8 to 10 minutes is kinda table setting. It starts to really start cooking around the 10 minute mark. Hennig has a waistlock on Lawler. They do a really good job of milking it. It was chess like in Lawler trying to escape it and Hennig block the maneuver. Eventually Lawler escapes with a judo like throw. A big moment that set the story of the match was when Lawler missed a flying leg drop from the top rope. This allowed Hennig to work on his back with knee drops to the back, Boston crab, and a modified camel clutch. Eventually, they go outside and Hennig posts Lawler. Lawler is now bleeding. Hennig does a great job working the cut. Lawler really gains a lot of sympathy here. When the King makes his comeback it's huge. Just amazing punches. Hennig bumping big for the comeback They work to the finish and Lawler is the new AWA World Champion. Pretty strong match. It has some flaws in my eyes, but still damn good. I'd say 3 3/4* Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (5/29/88) This isn't at the level of their 82 feud, but still good. The story of the match is Dutch playing mind games with Lawler. It starts even before the bell where Dutch demands the ref check Lawler for foreign objects. Then the bell rings and Dutch wants the ref to check Lawler again. You see a leg dive by Lawler that misses. Dutch to continue the mind games taunts Lawler by pointing at his foot that Lawler missed. Dutch slaps Lawler a few times which pisses Lawler off and clearly Dutch is in his head. In a great spot that was set up so nicely to maximize the payoff was each time Mantell slapped Lawlerhe would attempt to knock Dutch's head off and the reg would grab his right arm to stop the punch. On the last time the ref grabbed Lawer's right, then Lawler snuck a jab on Dutch with his left. Later on Dutch nails Lawler with a nasty short arm clothesline. Eventually Dutch hit a few more of those. Lawler tries one of his own and misses and Dutch nails a regular clothesline in a great spot. We get some brawling in the crowd. Lawler with a chain ko's Dutch for the win. 2 3/4* Jerry Lawler v. Soldad Ustinov (6/12/88) This was a total carry job by Lawler. Ustinov really has nothing, but Lawler does better than most in getting a match out of him. The highlights were at the finish. Kahn interferes and takes a huge bump off a Lawler punch. Lawer also took a big bump to the outside. Overall the match was worked smartly. 2* Jerry Lawler + Kerry Von Erich (TX 6/17/88) This was a nice 1st step in a feud.

That was just tremendous. Who needs live tv when WCW will air that shit. This is Shockmaster level bad.

I disagree. I thought Solie was really good as a host of their television show. Platt was pretty bad . Solie had a lot of great moments. The sit down with Stubbs as he turns into Mr. Olympia is amazing and Solie makes that segment. I think he was lacking in play by play, but was a strong as a t.v host.

Me too. I watched all this footage about 8 months or so ago and really dug it. Keep it up.

Chad the talking point of Flair not being the type of bumper Scott Steiner needed is interesting. It's a theory I've had for a while.

It's a little surreal since the build to that was just so, so bad. With HHH their is a lot of changing up of history to get to the happy story.. In his beyond the Ring their is no mention of his dating Chyna, They just skipped to his courtship of Stephanie.

think it's a universal problem for all streaming devices when it comes to watching it on the tv. It's the same problem for the Roku. I thought they'd have these glitches fixed by now , 5 days out from Wrestlemania. They added time stamps for the HHH and Mick Foley DVD's why not for the houseshows and Legends of Wrestling?

NXT was up ASAP after it's debut show.

Going to look at Lawler from 1988. Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (2/19/88) This is for the AWA World Title. This was a fun match. Early on we see Hennig on his bike to frustrate Lawler. They would build to spots where Hennig would bail before their was a payoff. This was well worked and really hooked the crowd. Both guys threw great punches in this. Both guys took some big bumps. Lawler did a great job milking his big bump to maximimum effect. This lead to a double DQ with both guys battling on the floor I believe. I'd say this was around 3 1/4* match. Jerry Lawler + Eddie Gilbert Brawl (3/26/88) This was an amazing studio brawl. They took it to the outside. At one point Gilbert slams Lawler on the windshield of a car. Fuck you believe these guys hate one another. Jerry Lawler vs. Eddie Gilbert (no DQ) (3/28/88) Man this is so disapointing after that killer angle 2 days earlier. I don't think these guys have ever had that killer match with each other on tape. We see some stalling early by Gilbert. He seems to be working like Larry Z. We get a bit of action, but overall I feel the match misses the mark. I'd say maybe 2 1/4* Curt Hennig Promo + Jerry Lawler Interview (4/30/88) Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig Build (5/9/88) This was pretty great. They are going all in on drawing a house. It's amazing to see the Govenor of Memphis in a wrestling build.

Also on the pushing of Pillman another thing going against Dusty pushing him was that Dusty was going to push Dustin as the new young star.

Is it me or does Dolph Ziggler remind anyone of Wayne Arnold from the Wonder years played by Jason Hervey?

I've just listened to the 1st part. I really enjoyed the Pillman talk. If he would have debuted nationally in say 92 or 93 he might have gotten a stronger push. Plus seeing his later years we know he could work heel too. Guys if you look at the Mid-South you see a lot of Ronnie West. Also the booking choices was interesting. Another thing about Paul E. In 1988 he was Gilbert's assistant booker in Continental. Still not enough experience to give the reigns of WCW to creatively.

Batista was awesome at the press conference. I was cracking up.

Toronto (as well as Hamilton and London) never got full shows, just select matches as Canadian content for the Canadian syndicated shows. Plus airing on the recap shows and in international syndication. They ended around the same time as MSG, late '91-early '92. Oh, plus the Sam Houston Coliseum was only '87, in a similar context to the Canadian shows: It was shot to include select matches on "Houston Wrestling." Also there were a number of house shows taped only for the recap shows and home video: Stuff from Detroit, the Summit in Houston, and more. Capital Centre, Nassau Coliseum, and the Meadowlands were taped at times under varying circumstances (recap shows/home video, one offs on USA Network, and for Nassau/Meadowlands only, one offs on MSG Network when MSG was being renovated). Thanks for the info on the Houston stuff. I was living in Houston at the time. I remember the show on KHTV 39. Though everything else is foggy. I assume they weren't airing the main events though.

The Icon on the WWE network for Wrestlemania 30 really makes it look like they had no idea where they were going.

Some new houseshows have been added.

Their was an update to the Roku last night . The year stamps are still a problem. Though they added another feature called reccomended. Furthermore now Starcade 84, and the Wrestlemania 3 rewind plays on VOD . It doesn't kick you off the network . At least that's some progress.

I've always thought Bock, and Buddy Rose are the best at working different types of matches.

I thought this match was tremendous. I liked the early stuff with Jericho trying to get Punk to get DQed with the taunts. I thought it meant a lot especially since the added stip was so last minute. I thought the story telling was great. They start off with some match work to start. The big moment was Jericho doing an inside suplex to the floor where Punk lands on his back. Jericho then just goes after the back with some nifty work. We see a Butterfly back breaker, tilt a whirl slam, and other stuff. I was digging the counters off their finishers. The finish was great where The Best in the World comes up with the perfect way to apply the Anocanda Vice. Easily the best match at Wrestlemania 28.

When dealing with the Wyatt's motivation I like Johnny Sorrows backstory where Black Jack Mulligan was always under Kevin Sullivan's control. Thus Kevin Sullivan is the force behind the Wyatts