jdw

Really? The tour ran through the end of July. I'm pretty sure he went back to Bama: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_Southeast...ht_Championship And I thought Brad didn't get to Crockett until later. WWEHistory.com's JPC section has him showing up on TBS on the 10/12/86, and at house shows in 10/01/86. That makes sense given the blow off of his last title run in Bama. Pretty complete. Dan's new set also shows Paul Diamond. There probably are others who didn't make TV working lower. John

That's simply due to Dodd's current negatives. Put "Generic GOP" opposite Dodd and it will do the numbers Linda does. I suspect that if it was Linda vs Dodd with an election in March, Dodd would beat her even with his current negatives. Linda's negatives haven't been exposed. John

I don't think seeing the entire world through Pro Wrestling Eyes is too healthy. Which is a bit funny since when UFC was starting, he pretty regularly threw up his arms about the people in pro wrestling who could only see UFC through Pro Wrestling Eyes: i.e. that it was a Work. John

Agree on the Russians (working one tour I think) and Ole (ditto). Brad was before Crockett (which was late in the year). It was all over the place on gaijin. Windham & Rotundo were when they were in FL early in the year. Roadies were a Baba deal from before Crockett, and it seemed to take some priority over the Crockett deal. Hansen, DiBiase and Gordy were a long term Baba guys. One Man Gang was... where in February? Was he still in World Class, or jumping to UWF. Tiger Jeet was popping up. Tom Magee? Mil and Harley were old timers brought in, with Harley getting a title shot at Jumbo. The Funks came in later in the year after they left the WWF. Martel and Zenk came in before they went to the WWF, and Martel had spent a good chunk of the year out of the limelight after dropping the title to Hansen. Paul Diamond? It's a bit similar to the 70s: Baba was using all sorts of talent rather than just one or two sources. John

Transitioning from from obsessing about my cock to obsessing about me getting laid. I'm impressed, Dylan. John, who is going to have to tell his friends that they're not actually my friends because Dylan said so...

Dave seems to confuse "My Readers Interest In MMA Coverage" with "MMA = Pro Wrestling". Is anyone suggesting that Dave stop covering MMA? I mean, other than way back in the day when people like Scherer thought he shouldn't cover MMA? I cringe when I see Dave covering Boxing, and while I may have in the past (though I don't recall doing it) and may in the future joke about it, I certainly wouldn't tell Dave that he shouldn't cover Boxing in the WON if he feels like it. On the MMA side, it's likely that pretty much everyone has accepted Dave covers it. Long ago. "Last decade" long ago. I actually enjoy the coverage, even if I don't agree with him on all things MMA. Where Dave is confused: We can still think he should cover MMA, and actually like his MMA coverage, while at the same time think he's nuts to constantly run with the "MMA = Pro Wrestling" and "MMA Like Pro Wrestling" theme. Criticism of the Part doesn't always mean that we think the Whole is worthless. One wishes Dave wouldn't always be so defensive and come across as thinking it's a house of cards: if we don't by one card, his whole house falls. I don't think MMA is Pro Wrestling. I don't watch MMA every month through Pro Wrestling Eyes, anymore than I watched the Steelers-Broncos on MNF through Pro Wrestling Eyes. But I do think the WON should keep covering MMA. It's a useful addition to the $$$ I fork over every week for it, especially considering how little I get out of the normal weekly Pro Wrestling coverage. Call it a "value added" part of the WON, and these days it's a decent amount of the value. John

I find it telling that the members of this board could have this discussion: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?show...c=5645&st=0 Without anyone obsessing about the poster's jerking off. Yet I draw an analogy between to Our Hero Ric and Ginger Lynn, and you start obsessing about an image in your head of me wanking. It's a bit like folks looking at Bix's old Fantastics sig.file picture and thinking Bix wanted to be double teamed by Tommy & Bobby. It's projecting. I'm sorry you keep thinking about my cock so much, Dylan. If it's troubling your so greatly, you might want to seek out some professional help with it. John

It's funny that I never mentioned playing with myself in the threads but Dylan keeps projecting that into what I wrote. You seem to obsess about my cock, Dylan. John

"My momma always said, 'Everything in life is like pro wrestling.'" Hmmm... "Let's hope he doesn't start rambling about Pro Wrestling and Ginger Lynn again." John

http://lh5.ggpht.com/carlos57775/SCobc6EL_hI/AAAAAAAABys/RG0y66Z3ZDY/s288/Don John

I don't think Maggie was ever going to win the title in 1986, especially at Starcade. Look at Dusty's booking of title turnarounds after getting the book in JCP and being opposite the Hogan Dynasty in the WWF: 1984: Nothing 1985: Nothing 1986: Flair --> Dusty --> Flair around the Bash payoff 1987: Flair --> Garvin --> Flair to set up and payoff at Starcade 1988: Nothing Sure, he tried to screw over Flair at Starcade 1988 in the power struggle. But the point is: Dusty in that era didn't bounce the title around. If the Bash was going to climax with a title change, it was going to be Dusty given: * his stature as a World Champ level guy * Maggie being tied up with Nikita No one else was at the level of the first item, not even Maggie. Had not Maggie's career hit the wall, Dusty would have made him chase it... similar to how Dusty himself was constantly chasing the title. When would the payoff have been? Perhaps Starcade 1987 or the Bash 1987... who knows. But he wasn't going to do two title chances in 1986. Morton... just wasn't goingt to happen. Tag team specialist. They were expanding nationally, and they never were going to put the title on him opposite Hogan. JCP didn't send talent that much. The Roadies had their own deal with Baba. Flair was more an "NWA" deal rather than a Crockett deal, and once it became a Crockett deal it hit the wall. In the back of my mind, I recall Nikita going over there... but it's not like he did anything. Arn, Tully, the MX... not really a blip. The R'n'R did like one tour of Japan if I recall... I'm really scratching my head at many having much impact or even filling up the undercard much. Baba seemed to be getting his gaijin all over the place. Guys that he had his own deals with like Hansen, DiBiase and Gordy. The Funks still coming in, especially after leaving the WWF. Hennig on occassion. He's Our Hero Ric, so of course he's going to be "right" in his battles with Herd. John

If Hansen jobbed, it would have been reported in the mags and newspapers, which lots of fans read at the time. It's kind of hard to promote an AWA Title Match when Hansen already dropped the title, and everyone knew about it. The Japanese wrestling press was likely willing to cover up a lot of stuff for Baba, but that's a hard one to ignore. Since Hansen "walked out" without dropping the title, one could reasonably say in Japan that he was still the Japan. Baba delt with the issue by putting the Int'l Title on Hansen in the title vs title match, so it was safe to send the AWA Title back to Verne and Hansen still had the Int'l to defend. From Hansen's standpoint, you've been told when coming to the building that you're dropping the title. Baba had literally bought the title for him. Knowing how Baba planned things out extremely carefully rather than Russo-style booking, he and Verne probably had a pretty clearly agreed upon date when Hansen would drop the title back. Since Baba was booking the 7/31 show, it pretty clearly was *after* that point. So Hansen is thrown an ad-lib by an asshole promoter, which is what Verne was. It's not like you can pull out your cell phone, call the Babas and hash things out. Different era. He was pretty much on his own to make a decision. Baba was where his bread was buttered. He chose to protect Baba's investment, and walked out. There are a lot of "walking out" and "not dropping the title" spots that I think are pretty much bullshit. Even Our Hero Ric refusing to drop the NWA Title to Lex or Barry while holding up the company for an extension with a year to run on his contract was bullshit. Hansen's is one of the rare ones where I agree with it since Verne was basically going against Verne's agreement with Baba on the belt. John

I'm assuming the first part is a joke, incase it isn't... They were never going to make Ricky Morton the World Champ during the Bash. You know that and I do. Maggie's primary Bash storyline was trying to get back "his" US Title against the Evil Russian. He wasn't going to win the NWA Title during it. We all knew that at the time. Look at the other challengers. Road Warriors? Wasn't going to happen. Gibson? No. Can't recall of Ronnie Garvin had one of the shots, but at the time we couldn't imagine that Garvin was going to win it. I watched at the time. Going into it, I guessed Dusty was going to win it. Greensboro seemed the likely place, with Atlanta being the #2 place. Greensboro was the capital of the territory. Atlanta seemed possibly because it was the final show, they could work the story of Flair being "worn out" by the end of it and it would "climax" the Bash in the final show. Flair would have it back in no time, and I thought it would be this one to "open" the town: August 28, 1986: Los Angeles, CA We were getting Dusty-Flair on it. The NWA Title would have been ripe at the time, as would have been the NWA World Tag Title (MX due to drop it back to the R'n'R). When Flair got the belt back in St Louis, I expected it then to be the NWA World Tag Title to change in LA. I was susprised when the tag titles changed in Philly two weeks out. We did end up getting a title change on the card: Wahoo beating Tully for the National Title. It was a nice bone, but I think they made a mistake. Anyway... The only person who was winning the title from Flair during the Bash was Dusty. Getting jobbed out of consecutive Starcade's in addition to originally dropping the belt to Flair meant he was going to get his payback. It seemed pretty obvious. John t the time I didn't get that Dusty wouldn't give a shit about

I agree on the reasons for this: Crockett and Flair stopped co-opperating as much with Baba, and kept coming up with reasons for Flair not making trips. I recall there was one where the cover story was especially poor since Flair promptly worked JCP house shows. I just like using the phrase "Flair blew of tours". In a sense, while sort of an employee of JCP at that point, he also was the NWA Champ of what was left of the NWA. Other than JCP, Baba ran the top NWA territory. He wasn't terribly demanding: not that many shows a year. Flair chose JCP over NWA Champ, and it kind of needs to be added to his legacy. John

This is actually weasel language by Irv. It's pretty obvious that Dave meant "proof reading" which is a common term for "fact checking" the book. Dave wouldn't claim to be Irv's copyeditor. John

Without even reading what Snowden may have said about Fedor and the show, I read Coughlin's piece yesterday and came aways with the thought: "This seems to be aimed at someone. Couldn't be Dave... hmm... Snowden?" John

One would have to take a look. Flair at the time was blowing off All Japan trips left and right. He *may* have blown one off in that period, though I'd have to check the WON and the schedules. Their big series climaxed 7/31/86 with Jumbo-Hansen for the AWA & Int'l Title, with Hansen winning the Int'l title. Also had Tenryu-Yatsu for the UN Title. Perhaps that was originally planned to have both the AWA and NWA Titles on the card. Hansen walked out on dropping the AWA Title because Baba already had those AWA defenses in that series booked. Maybe Flair had been promised as well. It was clear a while out that JCP was going to be doing the Bash from July 1 to August 2. July 26, 1986 was going to be Flair-Rhodes headlining Greensboro, and of course Flair would need to headline August 2, 1986 in the stadium in Atlanta. Perhaps there was a plan for Flair to go to Japan between those shows for the July 31 card. Lose a day going... fly out on August 1, get the day back but losing it going across country to work on August 2. It does kind of fit in. But having had the title since May 1984, it seemed kind of clear that Flair was ripe to drop it during the Bash. And Dusty was, sadly, the guy to do it given the chase going back to Starcade 1984 (and beyond). Crockett would have had to have shared it with Baba. Perhaps the original plan was August 2, and it got moved to Greensboro? Well, pretty clear range of WON's to take a look at from roughly May to August 1986. But might also be worthwhile to check the entire year as I recall Flair blew off something like 3 out of 4 trips. John

As Kris says, Dusty was an "Inoki Guy" from 1979 on. Baba used him just one series: the 11/75 - 12/75 Open League series. He had worked series with IWE in 1971 and 1973 before that. Dusty never worked a series with New Japan while being NWA Champ. He worked with New Japan from 5/22-6/4 right before winning the title later in 1981. He worked next during the tag league that year in Nov-Dec. He didn't work for New Japan in 1986. This is likely the thing that people are talking about: The NWA Title being booked into All Japan from 10/06/81 - 10/09/81. Flair always was going to beat Dusty, but it's possible that they shortened Dusty's "run" with the title a little bit because Dusty wouldn't/couldn't go into All Japan to defend the title. John

And if Shane was helping his Mom with her campaign? Anyway, this is little more than an egofuck. She won't get the nomination. If she does, she'll get her ass kicked in the general. But she won't get the nomination. John

If anyone ever does a Dusty In Florida set, there's a lot more to hit on. The whole King of the Ring nonsense to get Dusty a win over the NWA Champ. Dusty in Florida was every bit as abusive to the NWA Title as Fritz was in Texas. John

Eric Bischoff for the Hall of Fame. Responsible to the success of both WCW and now the WWF in the 90s and early 00s. If that's not a HOFer, I don't know what is. *half* --> John

NWA World Heavyweight Championship 1 - DVD Probably on some others as well as they recycle stuff on occassion. Also likely out there elsewhere. May even be on DM and Youtube. Doubt that the WWE is going to have much more in terms of footage that is out there already. Same would go with the Race-Rhodes: it's unlikely to be anything we haven't already seen or is circulating. John

Dory-Kiniski from the 16mm has been out there for some time. It's unlikely the WWE has more than has been circulated by folks like Wrestling Classics. Same goes for the Brisco-Terry match. What's strange is that this is the perfect DVD to roll out the Race-Backlund for the first time. It really is a weak set overall, and not terribly imaginative. Things like Flair vs. Steiner would have been better served on a Best of The Clash DVD, while Vader vs. Steamboat would have been good on a Steamboat DVD. John

It's also dependant on the wrestler. Flair Shtick = Greatest Wrestler Ever It's possible that what Dave liked about Murdoch was the kick ass stuff. Some of the comedy was fine. But if it was just a lot of headlock+comedy, then it might not be what he wanted out of Dick. John

kjh or Phil can ask Dave the various territories where he saw Murdoch live. Dave did do summers in Florida as a kid. How many *house shows* he went to in FL back then, who knows. I don't recall him being specific on whether he watch wrestling on TV or also went to shows while there. I don't think the stuff in Japan will be terribly useful. The comment would be that Dick always had his working boots on in Japan. I also think it probably would be useful to get Dave's thoughts on Dick working a largely comedy and stooging match, and if that would be "lazy". I can see someone being bored by Dick's "shtick" - I'm not as big of a fan of it as some. Maybe Dave wants brawling Dick rather than comedy Murdoch. Not agreeing with that, but tossing out a possible thing where the same thing is being seen (comedy and stooging) but being liked in different ways. John