khawk20

Glad you told us that, I tuned in halfway through and didn't know that.

Love the Abdominal Stretch with the hammerlock.

Holy shit, that was quick.

Link?

Best example ever amongst old time fans that saw him work of "We have no idea why he isn't in yet", but nobody can provide "compelling" evidence to convince enough people of it. It's weird. Everyone I've talked to that saw him wrestle or grew up with him on their TV in Chicago and Indy have stated he was one of the best. Nobody has ever effectively quantified why. Homesteading (as much if not more than any HOF candidate I can think of outside of guys like Bock or Verne, and they don't really count) and playing second fiddle (by choice) to Dick the Bruiser are huge parts of why he isn't in, IMO. Lack of footage is a good chunk of it, too. Anything outside of a couple of 50's bouts that people see of Snyder now is when he was old, or at least looking old, in Chicago and Indy. I hope he makes it in someday. It just feels like he should be there.

Why'd the "Current WWE" thread get locked? Just curious.

This is what I imagine a dog with a harelip would sound like.

I'm in the mix here, I would think. In fairness, unless we include football games, I'm not in the same league collection-wise. Mine gets even nuttier if I include my hockey fight tapes and discs, TV shows and other miscellaneous things.

I'm in the mix here, I would think.

I've recently watched some early dark-haired Blassie stuff from California. Even as a youngster, Blassie DID look old. Not for nothing but Pedro's AWA run has been described by most everyone I've talked to that saw it as "underwhelming". That would have been the mid-70's, two or three years removed from his WWWF reign.

I can't figure out how to make the thing big enough to read. Any advice? Noting your caveat on sorting, I note it doesn't seem to have a title challenge for Mad Dog to Bockwinkel in 1983. I'd need to see the list bigger to be sure I'm reading it right, though. EDIT: Looking/squinting at it again, I think I was wrong and it says 11 title matches in 1983, which would be more accurate.

I did not see Larry Hennig in there against Pedro Morales. Unless I missed it, I'm sure they had some title matches during Pedro's reign.

Where does Cowboy Bob Orton fit into this? I'm sure he did some work as a main eventer in some of the smaller territories back in the day. Not sure how to rank him in the NWA/Mid Atlantic area (1983 specifically with Slater/Race/Flair, etc), or his WWF time, where he main evented against Backlund in the usual heel challenger fashion for a few shows. Post-84 he was never truly top of the card, I don't think. No question on the talent end of the spectrum, but he gives me more of a "supporting player" vibe for the most part.

There is very little footage of Francis. I've never heard anything that over-the-top about his work personally, but I'd be willing to listen if other guys in the business said the same things Larry did.

Why not just make it a call-in show?

Never seemed strange to me as that was my first exposure to him in the AWA in 1979, feuding with Jesse Ventura.

That list is shit, Jerry.

I always marvelled at how strong he would look on those armlocks the heel would throw on him where he would stand up with the armlock still on him and carry the guy to the turnbuckle and sit him down on it. Helped or not, it's always a cool-looking strength spot.

Just the ones on Verne in Bockwinkel in 86-7 or all of them? I'm thinking about the "Mabel" stories that guys like Stu Hart told, or the story of Pampero Firpo's first road trip after coming to the US, where his travelling partners spun an elaborate yarn where he thought one was going to murder the other. Stuff like that.

A lot of the rib stories from the older guys are great but the embellishment factor is expected when re-telling them. I'd love to have had a bird's-eye view of them as they happened to see how the end result differed from the retelling of the stories so many years later. I believe most of those ribs happened, but I have a hard time thinking they all ended so hilariously, if that makes sense.