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It splits three ways: Pre-MNW MNW Post-MNW On the first, the super major key players are all in, be they Expansion or Pre-Expansion. Ivan is major, as are the Andersons (who seem to have gotten moved into a different category despite being a direct peer to Ivan)... but they're not exactly Super Major players. There isn't anyone there who is going to pull 80%+. Same goes for the MNW era. There really isn't a strong MNW candidate left: Sting splits his case between Expansion Wars and MNW era. The big boys from that era are in, or are like Hall & Nash and simply aren't ever going in. Post-MNW... this is where candidates get thing as we've talked about for years. Trip is in. Angle went in long ago. Rey splits eras, since he get credit for his WCW MNW era, and his AAA pre-MNW stuff. Cena is in. And... it's really thin. We have a few guys coming in a couple of years who will get in easy: Bryan and Punk. But other than that, it's the Batista, Edge and Brock types: WWE main eventers, lots of PPV, but no one really thinks they're Austin or Rock, or even Trip. I think as Dave pushes some of them, and one or more of them clears off, then it makes it more likely the others will as well over time. I mean... who is coming up after Punk and Bryan that's a candidate? It's really slim. People really want to vote for someone. If they don't have Japanese and/or Mexican candidates to eat up their 10 picks, then they're going to focus on those Americans and feel they have to vote for someone.

Not easy to defend. I'd chalk it up to watching the WWE PPV over the past year (and not TV), and liking Brock as a big guy who kicks ass (setting aside the finishes). Plus Brock has always been a good seller, and while that's not a major thing that Yohe looks for out of Big Guys, he does appreciate it when guys like Vader and Hansen also can make opponents look good. Brock is kind of in Yohe's wheelhouse.

I tend to think another reason people are voting for Brock due to looking over that weak collection of "I FOLLOWED THE MODERN PERFORMERS IN U.S/CANADA CANDIDATES". People want to vote for Someone, and usually want to use up their 10 slots. If you're a fan who came of age in fandom largely in 1995-2013, then the pickings are slim. And look at those years again: it's nearly 20 years now. We're going to have more and more voters with that reference point, as older voters move on. Combine the two: looking for someone to vote for that they watched, and Brock having "cred" with those who give two shits about that bullshit. It gives him a base of voters. If Edge and/or Batista move off that list, with few people note getting added to the ballot in that grouping/"region", then Brock will get more and move votes.

Hawk broke his leg leading into Starcade '86, though I think the injury happened in Japan. Cornette blew out his knee at Starcade '86. I think he reinjured it a few times after that. Terry Taylor's car wreck in 1987. Chris Champion & Sean Royal had one around the same time. Animal had the orbital bone injury in the weightlifting challenge, which would have been 1988. Windham was injured at the time of his '89 dropping the US Title to Lex, was suppose to have it worked on, and then went to the WWF instead. Of course his knee injury with the NWA Title in 1993, which he screwed up again in 1994. Scott Steiner injured himself several times. Steamer's back went out in 1994, though that's likely later than the period you're looking at. There were some minor ones, like Robert Gibson has a short one in Oct 1986. There probably are more, but like several of the WWF ones you mentioned, guys just worked through it.

Liger would qualify. Very rare main events, and it almost always was the event (J Cup) that drew rather than Liger himself. For someone who has worked for 20+ years, his ratio of main events is going to be lower than any tip worker you can find. Fujiwara had a decent number of main events in UWF 1.0 and 2.0. No one had as mnay as Maeda, and Takada probably came in second in 2.0. But Fujiwara got some. Of course he mained in his own promotion.

Glad to see Matsunaga on there, but wonder if it shouldn't be the whole family rather than just one. Glad to see Weston on there, but kind of wish it was "London Publishing" which could honor Weston, Apter, King, Saks and the rest of them together rather than have Apter draw votes, Weston and after thought, and the rest of London ignored. A good first step... but if neither get in, perhaps worth discussing with Dave to "Freebird" them under London. One thing I'm kicking myself when sending the e-mail to remind on Matsunaga was that I forgot to bring up one of the other promoters we talked about last year: Salvador "Chavo" Lutteroth Jr. 30+ years as the boss of wrestling in EMLL, even the creation of UWA didn't stop EMLL from doing good business. I'd kind pointed him towards asking Steve and Jose about him. If Owen is on the ballot for running a smaller promotion for decades, you kind of think Chavo at least warrants consideration for that long stretch between Hall of Famer Lutteroth Sr. and Hall of Famer Paco.

Bruce likes what he does at the Torch, is friends with Wade and has liked what Wade has let him do over the past two decades. That's both in the years when it was just print, but also the web stuff and the audio stuff over the past 14 or so years. No desire to go anywhere else. Dave really didn't have "columnists" at the time Bruce started writing. The closest was Bowdren's booking piece, which was about a year and a half as I recall. Bowdren was also writing for the Torch at the time. Dave didn't get back around to columns until the late 90s / early 00's, and his one experiment with that didn't last long before he pitched it. In the end, the WON = Dave, and pretty much everyone gets that. Bryan really isn't in the "WON Fold". He doesn't really write for the WON. Bryan actually is giving Dave a platform, which certainly benefits Bryan as much as Dave. In a way, Dave joined Bryan's fold in terms of online content distribution after Dave's prior attempts had issues. Bryan has done a better job with it.

Something like this:

I always thought the Choshu go-go stuff was pretty funny. He loved to grab chinlocks and leg scissors, even when working 15 minutes matches. No saying he was lazy, but it was as funny as "Flair and Brody went 60 and never grabbed a hold" nonsense to the point you wonder if people were actually watching what they claimed they were watching. I'd get that now with people checking their cellphones and texting, taking their attention away from the ring. But back then... yeah. Kobashi at a certain point was a heavyweight equiv of go-go, before Angle. Moves, strikes, big moves, big spots, the only breathing room in the match being when they were down and out selling something big.

I can't even remember who the heel was in the break up. Something makes me recall that Jane was kind of bitchy in it. Styx was always the better break up.

I believe we've gotten along rather well for a good number of years, Jonathan.

Bumped the old thread in Projects and Lists. Lots of good stuff that Phil and others did in lists for promotions. Didn't look closely enough to see if we ever got around to looking at his NOAH stuff.

She got goofy dressed for some videos, but you'll find her looking like that in a ton of concerts from that initial 1981 peak... to the point that you're wondering if that damn black dress is her only one. The coked up part is true, which she'll cop to. But here in LA a lot of people dressed a bit like that, and at least the girls at my HS weren't going to the thrift for it, and good lord were they not cheap.

Other regular posters could have been Joshua, Spanky, me, Matt Talbot (SweetJesusFreak) or possibly one or two others. Other regulars that I can remember on the KFZ board and whatever it was later renamed: TY. Ripclawe. LigerMark posted a shitload. Pegasus Kid... there as so many Pegasus's but this one was one that might have done some tape reviewing and/or started another board (like Blue Thunder Reviews or the New Wave board... maybe someone else). There were guys like Xavier and FatSexy that might have been posters mostly in the more general board. Burr. Coey of course, though likely banned at some point. Quite a few other posters to that board. Some good conversations.

So why was I talking about the 1995 match in the thread if it was limited to just about the "Feud"? It was about Sano's career and career patch. For 06/09/95? We've talked about the little extra bit of details and context in the storylines in the match. We have for years. But by all means, if the commentary of the match explains why they broke up, translate it for us. They broke up because Baba asked/told Kawada to leave Misawa go team with Taue back in 1993. This was publically known during the Carny, and is right there in the Hand Shake and also in that last match I linked to, not only in how Taue and Kawada played it during the match, but also in the post match where Kawada knew he wouldn't be teaming with these guys anymore. It's not like he hit Misawa over the head with a chair and gave him a crotch chop before walking out. That was two year before. Seriously, if the commentary of that 40+ minute match two years after their break up has greater detail in why Baba told Kawada to team with Taue (i.e. beyond what everyone knows: Jumbo wasn't coming back), please translate it and give me a match time counter so I can play it for a friend to translate to confirm you're not pulling something completely out of your ass. Same with the Animosity between the two if it goes beyond the "street legend" stuff and the actually storyline stuff and the actual accidental storyline stuff (like Kawada breaking Misawa's orbital bones). Translate the commentary and time stamp it. On 06/09/95? I think to fully enjoy it, some extra context is useful beyond the booking history and just looking at the results. Misawa's eye isn't a booking history thing. They don't build the match around it, so it's not vital to enjoying the match to understand it. But knowing about it, then the points where Kawada and Taue target it mean more. It's a bit like Elizabeth's shoe. If all you know is that Arn and Flair pinned Hogan, that's okay. But if you know that Liz's shoe played a role, then any time that thing got busted out, you got a smile on your face. I'm not the one ducking points. I responded to your entire post. You're the one dancing around. That's not being smug. It's being an asshole to the person who was smug earlier in the thread. You need to be a little more self aware. As far as pot shots, I've been leaving most of the best one on the cutting room floor. Hell, I didn't even take the time to have fun with your latest installment of Fukuzawa punting, which was more than a big smug if we go back and look at it. I'm hardly the only one who has called you Daniel here. I also used it just once in a response to you in this thread. Do you think I have a bug up my ass when people call me John? I think this is where I'm suppose to run off and get a Hallmark card.