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It's a shitty match. That's what I thought the first time I watched it. Andre is like a beached whale. I'd feel sorry for Maeda, but as Yohe has often pointed out, he made his reputation by repeatedly being an asshole. That Andre and some of the boys in the back were an asshole to Maeda doesn't really warrant symapthy. John

I walked through a bit of that in another thread on the issue of Hogan vs. Sting at Starcade 1994. Dave was reporting on the plans for Hogan that year week after week. They were changing week after week, and he'd mention the changes as he found out more. It wasn't not a matter of Dave being "wrong" when he first intimated that the plan was for Hogan vs. Sting, and then wrong when he wrote that it was changed to Vader vs. Hogan since it turned out to be Hogan-Beefcake in the end. His coverage of it actually was pretty damn good when reading in hindsight. It was an evolving behind-the-scenes storyline over the course of 5 or so months, and as it shifted around, Dave was there with the new dope on what he was hearing. There are things he does end up being wrong on. He's usually pretty good a correcting them within the WON when people point them out. There are times where you kind of wish he'd make better use of his historical resources before he wrote or said something. Not just in running things past people who might have some insight, but also in checking out what he wrote back at the time to confirm or refresh his memory. John

Angle was a matter of Dave being lied to. It happens. I've been right next to him while people have tried to lie to his face, and have laughed with him about it afterwards. But there are times when he doesn't catch it. I don't think Dave dug in on the Angle. He got lied to. Went with it. He found out he was wrong. He addressed what happened. John

I tend to enjoy Bob's goofiness as Bob Being Bob. It's like when Terry Funk gets Stinky Beer Face and starts windmilling the arms around. I think it's great goofy fun. It drives Yohe nuts, and he thinks Terry wasn't worthy of being the World Champ. To each his own. It looks like Will is just about ready to release his Bob DVD Set. It's 10 disks, and pretty tightly cut. I think it's a smart culling of matches. Bob had a number of matches with Patterson that are available. The Philly matches are Pat's "Fifth Of Gin" selling matches, and aren't good. The catch match in MSG is pretty widly available from the WWF itself, and I don't think really enlightens folks on what the two can do in a straight wrestling match when in synch. So Will went with their second MSG match, whichI think is quite a good match and reflects well on both. The same goes with Slaughter. There's the 1980 MSG match, but for some reason the two aren't clicking. Sarge doesn't look as sharp as he usually does, and Bob doesn't seem to have a good notion of what to do with Sarge. It's pretty mutal in not clicking, and I thought for a while that they just didn't have styles that worked well. But then there are the Philly matches. The first is quite good and it's a total contrast to their MSG match - they're in synch. Then after a match inbetween, there's the cage match which is just an awesome WWF-style cage match. Bingo - Will's got examples of good matches between the two. Bob and Valentine are the same - they had good matches in each of their three runs against each other, and lesser ones. Will has their 1979 draw, their 1981 match where Bob "wins the title back", and their final MSG match in April 1984 that Tabe is really fond of. It will be super cool to see then across five years. There's some stuff on it that I haven't seen like that last Greg-Bob match, so I'm really looking forward to it. Depends on how one defines "best werstler in 1980". If it's worker, I'd like to see more of Jumbo's stuff in 1980. If you're going "MVP"... it's tricky. The biggest feud and match in the WWF in 1980 was Bruno vs. Larry, and it popped the Shea crowd. Bob did have a great feud with Patera. He supported that with the matches Hogan in Philly, Inoki in Miami, Dusty and Stan in Japan, Harley in MSG (and St. Louis in Novermber), Larry and Slaughter. Does the balance of quality of matches against a variety of opponents *and* drawing power make him the MVP? I don't know. On the other hand, he did have a really strong run from 1978 through some point in 1982. It's been pretty underrated. I think the worm has turned on what a fair number of people think of it. John

The Jumbo-Murdock UN Title turnaround was in 1980. Both matches aired on TV in some form, and I've identified them on a list for Puroresu Hunter Extraorindare Dan Ginnettey to track down: Tapes on this list tend to be 2 hours. Carny would be one show, though nothing on it looks like a long match. If that's the case, it crams a lot of stuff into one show, which would shortchange Jumbo-Dick quite a bit. I'm hoping at least *one* of the title changes is in full. I need to hip Dan to that tape again. On the booking of the Tag Title match and the coming Open League, I'd have to see the match and know more about Jumbo's match with Murdoch in the League. I don't think it was anything special in the booking. Exchanging falls like that was common in tag title matches in the era. You'd see it in NJ as well - Saka exchanging falls with one of the gaijin before Inoki won the third fall. Or vice versa. John

I tend to think Dave does it as often, but that's possible because it's things that mean nothing to others but hit my radar. I don't even bother saying anything about most since I tend to get the "nitpicker" and "obsessively harping on Dave" spot tossed at me when I do. Someone else can supply a "last time" because others probably care more about currrent wrestling than I do and would care about Dave digging his feet in. The historical one I would point to would be the coverage of the WCW Sale, which Dave himself has several times called the biggest story in the history of the WON. He dug his feet in several times and rolled out the "contrary to what you're reading elsewhere" spot to smack Wade. Dave ended up being wrong a fair number of times in the coverage, and wasn't exactly graceful in admitting it. That's the biggest story of his publication's history. It tends to go to his lack of perfection. Of course Dave doesn't exactly claim to be perfect. It's more than some of the rest of us over the years bestow the notion of perfection on him. I haven't kept track of the number of times they had heads up their asses, either through intentionally lying, or being lied to and being too stupid to realize they were being worked. I would simply say that they rate below Wade (and Meltzer) because they're jokes as "reporters" and, as importably, they are pretty vile human beings. John

Bob Backlund: I suspect that people know what I think of Bob. A vastly underrated worker. He didn't need to be in with a "good worker" to have a "good match". His 29 minute match with Hogan and his match with Dusty in Japan showed that, among other matches. He also could have dogs with "good workers" as his 1979 MSG rematch with Valentine and several of the matches with Patterson in Philly showed. Then again, those three mediocre matches during Bob's "prime" were due to the good working opponent not wanting to do much at all. Bob showed with Hogan that if he had a weak worker who was "game" and willing to work, he had plenty of things that could fill up even 30 minutes. But if a good worker didn't want to do much with him, there wasn't much Bob could do. The nice thing is that there is a great Valentine-Bob match from the era, and Patterson did have one very strong match with Backlund in MSG (not the Cage match), so we can compare matches and figure out what the differences are. I look forward to Will's set coming up. There are a few new matches for me on it, some things I haven't seen in a while, and a few that he will have in far better shape than my current version. Dump Matsumoto: Never really did much for me. I won't despute that she wasn't extremely effective in her role. I just never cared for that type of worker. To the degree that she loses my interest in her storylines. That's just a personal preferrence. Roddy Piper: I tend to think he's overrated in our memories in every possible way. In watching/re-watching old stuff, I've yet to see anything that reflects very well on him as a worker. On the mic, he babbles more nonsense than just about anyone. He does have amazing charisma, both on the mic and in the ring. That's his saving grace. But in the ring, he strikes me as a worse worker than Hogan. As far as building a storyline towards a match, I think Hogan was better on the mic since he was more focused, while Roddy would charismatically ramble nonsense. John

Dusty Rhodes: positives and negatives. His promos at his best are off the charts. They frankly are the best of his generation. I've made the comment a few other places - compare his 70s WWWF promos on the Dusty DVD with the promos by Superstar Graham from the same era in the WWWF. Graham is allegedly a "great" mic guy from the era. Dusty runs circles around him. Dusty makes Billy sound like he's talking nonsense, which is true - Billy was talking nonsense. The irony is that Dusty was also rambling on nonsensically half the time, but could draw the various strands together and tie them together into a theme that made sense. There are a ton of great Dusty promos. But what people tend to forget in clip-o-vision, Dusty DVDs and Best of's is just how Hogan In WCW and Trip In The 00's that Dusty eventually became in Crockett. We see just some of the great promos. What we don't see is that it was week after week after week of this guy putting himself over on the mic against half the heel side of the promotion, and half the heel side of the promotion during their mic spots that show being forced at some point to say, "Dusty Rhodes was out here earlier talking about...". It was totally fucking annoying after a while. Much like Hogan and Trip you just wanted him to literally drop the fuck so that the promotion and the wrestlers could get on with the rest of their careers. I'm glad for the Dusty DVD and for the Crockett set that Punk did over on CMax. It is important that people realize that Dusty was on another planet from everyone else on the mic. Hell, he had to - look at him. But I think we lose the negative side of his mic spots by cherry picking and not seeing them in their *full* context. There's a reason that not just the "smart" sheet reading or wiseass Front Row Section D type fans got tired of him. As a worker, there are times that he's an interesting worker to watch. Starcade 1985, for instance, is interesting to contrast the performances of Flair and Dusty. It's not a good match. But it is a bit enlightening. But a load of his matches are just that - loads. I wish more tape existed of Dusty in his heel days. What exists show him a bumping, stooging worker who looks really good in that role. You see a little bit of the heeling later in New Japan, especially flashes against Backlund. But the really big bumper is gone. My Dusty Dream Match to pray exists somewhere and will eventually come out is: November 27, 1975---Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center, Hokkaido International Tag Team title match Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta beat Dick Murdoch & Dusty Rhodes (2-1) (1) Murdoch beat Tsuruta (13:27) (2) Tsuruta beat Murdoch (8:00) (3) Baba beat Rhodes (4:50)---Baba & Tsuruta kept the title This is the same series as the 1975 World Open League which a ton of photage exists, but it's *before* the League portion runs (12/06/75 - 12/18/75). 25+ of Rhodes & Murdoch against the top team in Japan... it would be one of the best examples we'd get of seeing how Dusty worked heel against some guys who could work in a "big match", and of the Rhodes-Murdoch team as they come near the end of their time together. John

The reality is he's probably waiting to hear more before saying it's one thing or the other. Unlike Keller or Scherer, Meltzer tends to wait until he's heard more of the story before making any statements rather than rushing out rumor or hurriedly gathered word-of-mouth in an attempt to be the first to break the story. I'm sure Meltzer didn't know for sure whether it was a work or a shoot when the story broke, but I'm sure he knows better by now and he still hasn't updated his original story, which does lead credence to my belief that he's holding stuff back for the newsletter. Speaking of Keller and Scherer, the last time people were laughing about them reporting that a story was a shoot too quickly was over the backstage fight between Booker and Batista and that time they were right and Meltzer was wrong when he strongly suggested it was just an elaborate angle. Let's wait for his next daily update to see what he says. The difference between Keller and Scherer and Meltzer is that the first two will state something as a fact even if they're don't know or aren't sure it really is a fact. Meltzer rarely paints himself into such a corner and will make it clear he's speculating and doesn't know for sure either way. Dave will also state things as fact when he doesn't really know. That's why he has "corrections". Neither Wade nor Dave are flawless. They both have been dead wrong on things, even on major stories where they dug their feet in and stated that what you were reading elsewhere wasn't correct. Scherer isn't worth mentioning in the same breath with the others. Even if one doesn't like Wade or Dave, Scherer is on another level far below. John

I really haven't hit that many. I draw a blank on the ones in the US... outside of LA, nothing really that interesting. Even in the rest of CA it's not that interesting. Never even went to the Cow Palace to see wrestling. Nothing in Mexico that is all that famous. Never went to Mexico City. I don't think Rio Nilo Coliseum in Tonala/Guadalajara is all that famous. The places in Tijuana aren't terribly famous other than to the folks who liked to go to them. Japan... Budokan, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo Dome, Yokohama Arena, Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo. Another in Tokyo for fan appreciation night... I want to say Tokyo Metropolitan Gym, but can't recall if that's it and it wasn't especially famous at that point nor did New Japan or anyone else run it much. Yokohama Bunka Gym isn't exactly super famous, and frankly was a dump in the shows I went to. No famous arenas outside of Tokyo. John

Except there was no talk of Beefcake until the angle was run at Havoc, and even then Dave had "No word on Starcade but figure it'll be Hogan vs. either Butcher or Avalanche or a tag with Sting." The Plan For Hogan was a pretty constant topic of discussion not just in the WON in 1994, but is any conversation with Dave. Even side tangents to it such as Rude's legendary refusal to put over Hogan cleanly (which led to him very shortly deciding that his bad back was so bad that it was time to collect on the LoL insurance claim) would be things that would eat up a big chunk of a phone call. Beefcake for Starcade just wasn't something that came up until after Havoc, either in the WON or in conversations. Perhaps the "looking back at it 10 years later" mindset is that it was Hogan's plan all along, but he just kept it secret. I'm not really buying that one. Hogan agreed to a program that would allow Vader to win a title shot at Starcade. Dave's read-between-the-line item on why it was dropped was due to Vader's refusal to do a clean job for Hogan. The company actually then worked things out by the time of Starcade and shot the angle to re-start the storyline. Of course Hogan probably thought at the time that he would be able to get Leon to do the job for him, or pressure the company enough to make it happen... no knowing how stuborn Leon was going to be on it. Beefcake was little more than a stop gap because one plan was side stepped and the second wasn't going to go the way Hogan wanted it. John

The Torch reported a similar story at the time. From the 10/29/94 Torch newsletter: "Flair did get a two year contract extension before Havoc. He is looking forward to concentrating on booking without worrying about his in-ring role. It almost turned into a holdout situation with Flair since it appeared for a while WCW wasn't moving as quickly as he would have liked on the extension. For obvious reasons he wanted his extension done before he lost at Havoc for leverage purposes." In going back through the 1994 WONs to check to see how Dave covered the Hogan Plan, Dave also covered the Havoc Holdup similar to Wade though at more length. I can quote it at home if anyone cares, but it was favorable to Flair's side of the Holdup. I think in the current unending multi-part Bischoff Article that Dave re-confirmed the holdup. BTW, Hunter - no response on Dave as to what he really meant with "it was always going to be Beefcake against Hogan"? I'd even forgotten that Vader was Plan #2 behind Sting rather than Brutus, and the re-read helped refresh that in my mind. John

Just really, really, really good. The wrestler that I most want to watch in the set of 40 1986 - 3/89 discs that I just picked up from Punk. I think he was a bit underrated in the 80s for not-being-Ric - everyone in the sheets seemed to apprecite him as a good worker, but in the shadow of Ric he seemed to rate lower than folks he was better than. As time passed on, Tully was out of wrestling for the most part after the WWF-coke issue, while Arn stuck around and Ric "stayed on top". Tully pretty much passed into the shadows. People would say great things about the Arn & Tully / The Brainbustersm and always wax poetically about the Horsemen as a group... but Tully's own identity seemed to fade. There are a lot of wrestlers over the past decade that have gotten a "rethinking", a "rediscovery" or even a "discovery". Backlund and Baba got a rethinking. Lawler falls a bit into rethinking and a bit into rediscovery. Jumbo falls into all three, since his 70s material was almost non-existant a decade ago. There are a slew of other wrestlers like that that have gotten that spotlight on them. Tully is one of wrestlers who really needs it. He was awfully good, and just hasn't gotten the run he should. I get the feeling that one of the things that will happen if he does get a strong look by a lot of folks is that it's going to quickly drop into a Ric Flair vs. Tully Blanchard discussion. I think that's a mistake by people trying to pimp Tully up. There are still too many people who have Ric Flair Defense Instincts, and anytime you praise someone in compare to Ric, you tend to turn those people right out of the discussion. I'm as guilty as anyone of turning Myopic Flair Fan off of discussions. The problem is that in turning them off of the discussion you lose them getting the key point of a Tully Revisit: Tully was a really, really, really good worker. So I think that folks need to avoid the quick easy chairshots, nutshots and cheapheat of whacking Flair over the head when praising Tully. Hook the crowd first into the concept that Tully was a whale of a worker who deservers to be watched... and here are some matches to watch him in. John

I tend to get mixed. I'm a fan of history. I'd hate to see Fenway or Dodger Stadium go. But a lot of the older parks, stadiums and arenas in the country became exactly the same thing as the fascilities that they replaced - dumps. The Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles had about as much "wrestling history" in the country as any arena outside of the various MSG (which gets a "cheat" by lumping the history of four venues together). Yohe has fond memories of the place, and it's still a temple to him. To me... it's a freaking dump. I always found it a rather crappy place to watch wrestling. But I came a long well after the heyday, in fact after the territoty had died and closed shop. So I don't have the sentiment. I think dumps need to get the boot. The very best you can do with them is bulldozer them and put in a new fascility in its place. I really think that's what needs to be done with Fenway at some point, with "New Fenway" retaining the field and park feel of the stadium, but the seating and boxes and food and other fascilities (locker room, offices, training room, etc) getting a massive redo into the 21st century. In 20 or so years I would hope the same thing happens to Dodger Stadium, and that it's not turned into a "park" like we've seen in the post-Camden Yards era (I like the park feel in dimensions for most places... but part of the unique feel of Dodger Stadium is that it was just about the only "cookie cutter" ballpark that actually felt like a ballpark). But I digress. I think that's the *best* that one can do. Honor the past by building on the same sight with a modern fascility that also looks to retain some of the feeling of the past. The next best would be building across the street like New Yankee Stadium or MSG 5.0... but again trying to retain some of the feel of the old place. The next best would be a major spiff, like Dodger Stadium is currently getting. After that... it's really a toss up. Some places like the Olympic and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum really can't be spiffed. I can't count the number of Rams, USC and UCLA games I've seen at the Coliseum over the years... along with various concerts, the Olympics, soccer games, etc. But the place is a freaking dump. It shoots great on TV, especially when it's packed (like USC is doing regularly now)... but it's a dump. The parking is almost non-existant. The food is horrendous. Accessabliity sucks. It's not really a great place to watch anything. It was a crappy place more than 30 years ago when I went to my first Rams game there, and it hasn't gotten any better. The Olympic is in a part of town and on a size of lot that's a problem. On top of that, there was the Sports Arena not far away across the freeway, and now the Staples Center around the bend on the Blue Line in a better part of downtown. The city doesn't exactly need another "arena". The cost to put in a new one on that location would be a waste. To a degree it would be nice if the city had a 5,000 - 6,000 seat fascility for... er... "something" that's more intimate than Staples Center. But major cities don't seem to be doing that. So I'd just as soon see the Olympic get bulldozered. :/ John

Wiki - The Omni Destroyed in 1997 for Philips Arena. To a degree, one could say that Philips Arena is "the new Omni" since it's built on the same location in CNN Center. That's better than MSG, of which the first two were on the same site, while the third in another location, and the fourth is in yet a third location. The planned 5th version of MSG will be across the street from the current one. It's pretty common around the country. 42 years is pretty good these days. The Omni was just 1972-97. All professional sports arenas are going that way. The majority of older venues that one will see will be among universities, like the Alexander Memorial Coliseum for GATech which goes back to the mid-50s and was used a for the Hawks in the NBA for two stretches. There are a few like the Greensboro Coliseum that are still around, but I think one would find that almost all of those have been spiffed/monderized at some point *and* aren't really the longterm homes of major pro sports. It's pretty similar to what's going on with Baseball Parks around the country. Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium are about ready to join the scrap heap, though at least Yankee Stadium will be across the street from the old one while Shea will still be in Flushing. I'm somewhat loathed to think of Dodger Stadium being replaced, but I guess I wouldn't mind so much if the new stadium were also located in Chávez Ravine. The notion of it being replaced seems to have been put on hold given it's current renovation. John

I'd get a copy of Frank's WCCW Digests from Barnett (or Will/Goodhelmet who probably has them as well). Make sure to get the Background disc as well, since I don't think Bob has that one listed. They're not loaded with a ton of "great" matches. But I think it's a really interesting set to watch and talk about for the booking and the work. There's a bit of a Nitro-style feel to a lot of it, long before there was Nitro-style. It's a part of wrestling history that's talked a lot about, but folks don't seem to re-watch much of it in any context. I think Frank either has just passed along or is about to pass along the discs that take it through the end of 1984 and possibly into 1984. It's not really an overload of discs - he cuts it pretty tight rather than making an monsterous all inclusive set. Other than that... I don't know. I've got 40 discs some 1986 - 3/89 Crockett/Turner on the was from Punk that looks pretty freaking fun to wade into. I really need to do something with Dan's 1993 AJPW set rather than randomly picking through it... something like an organizaed walk through it while trying to figure out what of it might make up a good digest set. Hopefully Will is getting close on his Backlund set... there are a few on there I haven't seen (like the first Bob vs. Patera) and a few I haven't watched in a while (like the first Bob-Hansen in MSG) that I'm really hyped to see. I guess the point - there's a load of stuff out there. Find some stuff that looks interesting to you. John

Hogan signed for a three PPV deal - Bash, Havoc and Starcade, along with the August Clash, various house shows, and what not. The deal was to expire at the end of the year. There were various versions of the use of Hogan while the deal was being worked out, including having a tag match at the first PPV with Rude doing the job. Rude doing the job for Hogan is a funny story unto itself, but I'll skip it here. Anyway, the start of storyline got retooled into Flair vs. Hogan at the Bash. The re-re-tooled version of using Hogan after he won the title is walked through in the 08/01/94 WON ("McMahon Not Guilty" issue). Hogan vs. Flair at the August Clash, with Dave "expecting" Flair to get the belt back with a clusterfuck finish. Hogan getting the belt back at Havoc, with him mentioning PR was already out that Flair would retire if he didn't win the title at Havoc. Then a mention that Sting being the heir apparent for Hogan to pass the torch to (a read-between-the-lines of the final show of the contract - the 12/27/94 Starcade). Then after Fall Brawl where Vader beat Sting for a shot at the World Title at Starcade, Dave makes it even more explicit: "Looks like Hogan vs. Vader at Starcade, which means that Hogan won't be dropping the strap. Vader insured them he was willing to work a lot lighter with Hogan which was one of the reasons Hogan originally balked at doing the program. The original plan was for Hogan to drop the strap to Sting at Starcade, but you know how those original plans go." -Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter, September 26, 1994 After Havoc and the Beefcake angle: "All plans for Hogan vs. Vader matches were dropped. Three guesses, first two don't count. No word on Starcade but figure it'll be Hogan vs. either Butcher or Avalanche or a tag with Sting." -Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter, October 31, 1994 As of the next WON, Hogan still hadn't signed an extension for the following year, though Dave points out that he's basically negotiating for control of the company. Later in the issue he mentions that the Disney-MGM tapings made it clear that Hogan vs. Butchercake would headline Starcade. Dave's current memory is mistaken and not consistent with what he wrote back at the time and what he told me in repeated conversations in 1994. Hell, we were all joking about it during the week and weekend of When World Collide on how brillant Hogan had been to book WCW into a corner for a monster extension. Feel free to e-mail this to Dave. I'm sure he'll be happy to have his memory refreshed by "Mil". I try my best. John

BTW - it is really screwed up that the thread that inspires me to register and post in one on the WON. People are going to think I'm obsessing again. John, who actually came over here to see if Loss had any new reviews up...

I get the feeling Dave didn't look hard enough, or that the limited numbers the stores had were sold out. It was in the Borders across the street from my pad, and that was even before I remembered Eric was doing a book. There really isn't any reason for the Borders in my city to be carrying it unless it was getting national carry by the chain - it never was a suburb that was strong on wrestling while I was growing up, and I doubt that has changed much checking out the shirt wearing at the peak of the Attitude era. And yeah... Eric going on rants about the dirtsheets, and Dave specifically, was a hoot. I wish Dave would delve into why he thinks Eric went on the bender. Dave has generally been more positive on Eric from 2002 to the present than he was when Eric was running WCW. One other interesting insight did come from the pieces is now understanding why Dave was getting lapped by Wade in the coverage of the WCW sale from the fall of 2000 through March 2001. I knew from Wade that he was dialed into sources that Dave wasn't, and that Dave's sources weren't aware of everything that was going on. That wasn't Wade tooting his horn, but just something that was getting born out in the coverage of the story. The story came after the time when Dave and I were talking regularly, so I didn't know who he was talking to on some of the stuff that was at odds with Wade's (and turned out to be "off"). From one of the pieces it's pretty clear it was Eric, though you have to have a memory of the coverage to read-between-the-lines. Dave talks about Eric being out of the loop, but doesn't draw the line that it was causing him to be off. Probably the best news coverage of Wade's career, and usually a story of that depth and improtance is one that Dave would take the bull by the horns on. He didn't. John

I think Dave is pretty clear this was the Clash match that Hogan was supose to job then changed his mind. Everyone knew Hogan was winning the retirement match at Havoc the second it was book. It was known in advance the Ric was going to take time off to "sell" the stips as well. One funny thing that doesn't seem to get mentioned anymore that that Hogan was suppose to face Sting at Starcade that first year, and put him over. We use to joke about how when it came time, Terry would find a way out of it. He did - the match ended up not getting booked, and one of his best friends got a free main event pay day. John