Kostka

Question... Would bringing back the cruiserweight division strictly to accommodate Misticos strength of working from above with heels built specifically to work Mistico and eat his offense be a good idea, or do you cross your fingers that he learns to work outside of his comfort zone as a traditional underdog babyface?

Once footage of Finlays entire 2011 Indy run is out, he's going to be a serious contender for Most Outstanding. I don't read a lot of dirtsheets anymore, but I've heard Punk has been a merchandise machine this year..and that his stuff is selling bigger than even Cenas. Any truth to it or is it Internet bullshit?

I don't hear Gabe at all. Gabe sounds like a chipmunk. Dave just sounds like some Canadian dude. Edit: How long were Bill Dundee and Buddy Landel together?

How long were Bobby Eaton and Koko Ware a team? They were pretty damn great. I really liked Mysterio/Batista together. They complimented each other perfectly. Rey was his usual self as FIP and Dave was a great hot tag. They had that fun series with MNM and I really liked a match they had a couple years ago on PPV against Jericho and Big Show.

Benoit doesn't lace Flairs boots.

I think Cena vs Edge Summerslam 06 was the peak of Edge as a worker.

It works the opposite way too. Someone with the gimmick of being unskilled/untalented (Cena, for example), is revered as being a "bad worker" among sections of Internet smarkdom. Ted DiBiase was presented as a technical wrestler by Bill Watts, despite the bulk of his matches being punches and the loaded glove. How you present someone works across the board, no matter how "smart" someone thinks they are, everyone is worked by gimmicks to one degree or another. "technical wrestler" is a very undefined, empty term... because it has no merit beyond being a gimmick used by promoters/commentators to market/present someone as being particularly "skilled".

Based soley on 1980-1989, whos better... Lawler or Funk?

It's between Lawler and Flair for me.

Yeah all of that means jack shit now, even to me, but just sayin'

06 was the really great Benoit/Finlay series, the underrated series with Orton in early 06 when he subbed for Booker in the Best Of series, including a really great street fight on SD.. He also had those sub 10 minute tv matches Regal and made MVP into a wrestler. In 07 he had a really good singles match with Edge that isn't the easiest task in the world, and was really finding himself in the ring again as the utility vet bringing good matches out of the new/green guys, which would've been his ECW run had he not dined on the fam. Benoit/Pope was really good and Pope isn't a guy who is ever good.

I actually liked 06/07 Benoit a lot more than 02-05 Benoit.

Rey Mysterio, top to bottom. Most variety in opponents, good to great matches in amazing consistency. He was great in the beginning of the decade as a cruiserweight working your Chavo Guerrero, Tajiri, Noble types... made the transition to a more traditional main event Steamboat/Morton type babyface while still keeping what got him over and adding layers of psychology and selling to his game, producing a vault of good to great matches, hidden gems, long matches, gimmick matches, brawls, angle heavy matches, sprinty matches and so on with the most varying list of opponents of maybe anyone ever. Like Austin in the 90s, you watched Rey transform through the decade, but I'd argue he adjusted to his injuries and remained a great worker even better than Austin did (actually it's not even arguable). Every year he was no less than a top 3 guy in the company, most of the time the best guy. Got the very most out of his environment while still working within the confines of it... Probably the best WWE worker of all time in that sense. The premiere babyface of his era. Bryan Danielson is the second best....but Rey was more consistent and versatile. I like Samoa Joe but his peak is too short. Eddie Guerreros peak in this decade (03-05) was better than Joes and I'm not 100% sure Eddie would break my top 5 2000s guy.

Great show. I hold Jumbo in a much higher regard than you and is probably the only guy I think I have a notch higher than Terry. Great as a young boy vs the NWA champions, great as the company ace, was right there for three company stylical changes and helped pioneer two of them...great as the grumpy old guard in the 90s where he created a star in Misawa. Had MOTDCs in three separate decades...etc. He's the only guy Id put above Terry and feel comfortable about it. Everyone else can go fuck themselves. and rightfully so. Ted is certainly a better overall candidate, but he isn't as good as Arn or Tully if we are talking strictly in-ring. Tully is a strange case of an all time great heel whos run was just too short for consideration. I think, while Tullys run was super short, his peak run against Ron Garvin and the Magnum match are better than anything DiBiase did in-ring. I prefer Blanchard vs Magnum I Quit quite easily to DiBiase vs Duggan Super Gimmick match, while admitting that was an amazingly well executed "angle" match, tieing eveything together. I also prefer Tully/Arn (and possibly Tully/Gino if I had more footage) over any variation of DiBiase team (Dr. Death, Hansen, Rotundo), prefer Tully vs Garvin to DiBiase vs Roop, etc. I'm an admittedly huge Tully and Arn mark, and like Ted a lot, but I don't see DiBiase as "easily better" then Arn or Tully as a worker. I'd rather watch Rude than Ted, too. Teds got nothing on Rude vs Warrior.

There's never a right time to say good bye.

So basically, fans can't watch WM unless they have a WWE Network subscription? That doesn't seem like the best idea. That'll decimate buyrates. I can see WWE Network featuring like... Hell In A Cell, but fucking Wrestlemania shouldn't be apart of this "experiment". Talk about jumping the shark.

Flair was on defense for larger portions of his match. Lots of face shining where he'd selflessly fly around the ring and stooge like crazy for the face. His control segment stuff usually wasn't fleshed out before he was back to bumping.

If the business today isn't going to utilize the male manager, at least bring back the classic "heel hides behind his valet" spot. Dolph should do that with Vickie, or does he already?

Thanks everyone for the Savage/Tito stuff. I'll have something to read tonight when I get home.

Great post jdw. I feel you with the MX love. Amazing act. I've always thought of Cornette as the best heel promo in wrestling history. He was just a machine on the stick. I love the stories about him in World Class where the boys would place bets that Jimmy couldn't keep it under 5 minutes, and he rarely did, with Fritz being shocked how he could remember all of that. A great modern day heel was CM Punk... Moreso on house shows. Drew McIntyre too.

What are the dates for the best Savage/Tito matches?

I know Mr. Perfect era Hennig kinda gets shit on in retrospect, but what's your opinion of the Bret/Hennig matches? I remember really liking the KOTR 93 match, but it's been a while.

OHHH MY GOD. Don't tease me like that

Any updates on Lawler? I have a ticket to the Lawler vs Funk No DQ match at North East Wrestling on 10/1. I hope he's okay and it's still on.

I totally agree with you in general Loss, what I'm saying is that Rude IS ONE GUY who seemed guilty of doing actual restholds. You're right, often a camel clutch. But one that seemed lazy and like he was taking 5 minutes rather than really cranking it. Other than him though, yip, it's one of my pet peeves too and I've ragged on Keith MANY times for shitting on perfectly legitimate submission holds / matwork because in his warped mind they are all restholds. It's definitely a valid knock on Rude. Rude vs Iceman Parsons 2/3 falls from World Class was a chore to sit through for similar reasons. One thing I can say though, is the size of Rudes arms made me buy them as more damaging than your every mans camel clutch.