pantherwagner

Yes, completely misunderstanding that the magazines were latching on to whatever sold copies. I'm surprised that somebody as smart and aware as Dave would have caught onto that. I'm glad the days of the MMA = pro wrestling talking point are over.

As far as the legend goes the CMLL library is there and it's perfectly complete and perfectly preserved and owned by Televisa (same about AAA). Even when wrestling was banned from TV in Mexico City every Arena Mexico (and many Coliseo shows) were taped for Galavision Europe, the SIN (Spanish International Network) and for a while for a premium cable network that had a short life in the 80s called Cablevision. About a decade ago, perhaps more, there were a few documentaries about lucha history, greatest matches ever, etc., and we could see highlights of things that have never been seen in decades, such as the Fishman vs Sangre Chicana vs Cobarde triangle mask match from 1975 or Atlantis vs El Talisman from 1984 and other "Holy Grials" of lucha libre. I spoke to the guy who had access to those master tapes and he told me that EVERYTHING was there. That's the only proof we have got - Televisa is known was a black hole. They have never really bothered releasing commercially almost anything from their libraries because as soon as you release a DVD for, say, 5 bucks, it will be sold in every street corner bootleg shop for 1 dollar. Maybe Jose you can help me understand the mentality of this but what is the reasoning for keeping this stuff stored in though. I understand the black market that would result from it (I would be one of those people) but some revenue of older footage is better than none right? There's so little money at stake for a giant company like Televisa (that owns the tapes) so there's absolutely no reason to do it. CMLL is run by the laziest people ever to run a major promotion so I'd not expect a spark of brilliance or enthusiasm to come out of them.

Good question: I don't know if the finish was for Atlantis vs. Talisman was a quickie 3rd fall. There are enough people in Mexico that would have a good idea of what's in the tapes. One of the reasons why in Mexico there are no Steve Yohe or Steve Sims type guys is because these guys all works for the magazines or for the promotions so many of them have made a career out of that. They are not about to give away their work for free.

The Sims/Brown bio for Karadagian after he was put in the WON HOF is a must. It's the Sept 8, 2008 issue.

The 1-0 comment is interesting because even for TUF they require either 3 fights or 3 wins (I forgot which one). But it's fair as well as SMART. I wonder if Alberto Rodriguez will start getting shootfights too - can't see UFC but I imagine him trying to get a fight or two maybe for Inoki. It's perfect because he could fight Ishii and/or rematch Crocop.

Meltzer was definitely aware of Titanes because it was shown for a while in L.A. in the early 80s or late 70s - that is how Titanes expert Kurt Brown knew about it. And of course while it's not the answer you were looking for, it was indeed very well known in Latin American countries like Peru, Chile or Uruguay. I believe it also had a little bit of fame in some of the small Central American countries. Some of these countries had their own local ripoff version of Titanes.

I think the AJW library is owned by Fuji TV. If the old promoters had been smart they'd have taped and preserved everything as well, though to be honest Vince would have ended up owning everything. The only ones that got some mileage out of the tapes were the AWA and Mid South.

As far as the legend goes the CMLL library is there and it's perfectly complete and perfectly preserved and owned by Televisa (same about AAA). Even when wrestling was banned from TV in Mexico City every Arena Mexico (and many Coliseo shows) were taped for Galavision Europe, the SIN (Spanish International Network) and for a while for a premium cable network that had a short life in the 80s called Cablevision. About a decade ago, perhaps more, there were a few documentaries about lucha history, greatest matches ever, etc., and we could see highlights of things that have never been seen in decades, such as the Fishman vs Sangre Chicana vs Cobarde triangle mask match from 1975 or Atlantis vs El Talisman from 1984 and other "Holy Grials" of lucha libre. I spoke to the guy who had access to those master tapes and he told me that EVERYTHING was there. That's the only proof we have got - Televisa is known was a black hole. They have never really bothered releasing commercially almost anything from their libraries because as soon as you release a DVD for, say, 5 bucks, it will be sold in every street corner bootleg shop for 1 dollar.

The WWE is banking its future on the WWE Network and this week we saw the launch of NJPW World. It looks that with DVD sales going down, PPV dying and iPPV being a somewhat failed experiment, this will be the way that promotions will compete for our wrestling dollars... Who do you think is going to be the next promotion to launch their own "Network" service? The candidates... ROH: This would be my #1 choice. Well established promotion that always seems to be trying to expand even through it's always going to be at the level that it's at. Loyal fanbase and a fairly extensive library with many names. I could see them trying to launch some sort of service where for 6 or 7 bucks you can access their library and perhaps charging a small premium for current events. TNA: I don't know who would pay for this service. Maybe Dylan if he hates himself. Japanese indies: I haven't followed Japanese indies for a decade and a half but they have always had somewhat of a loyal even if small following. Is Samurai TV still around? I could see them trying an over the top service if NJPW does well. If they could score access to the AJPW and AJW libraries we could have a winner. AAA: Can't see it due to their current US expansion plans. The fanbase and the library are there, though. CMLL: This almost makes way too much sense which guarantees that it will never happen. Their TV situation is sketchy but they produce so many different shows that they could almost churn out a daily show. Their library is the most amazing collection to never be exploited and, unlike in the US, in Mexico I can see a bigger demand for nostalgia shows. However, as I said, it makes too much sense to have access to all the Anniversary shows, the Casas vs Santo feud, or access to Atlantis' mask vs mask matches vs Ultimo Guerrero, Villano III, Mano Negra or Talisman. Any others?

I take back whatever bad things I said about the 1987 Slammy Awards. A friend told me that the Vince McMahon Stand Back clip was there so I watched that part then left it running while I was doing some work from home. I had never seen it complete (only brief mentions during wrestlecrap segments or somebody bringing it up on Monday Night Raw to laugh at Vince) and, well, it was something else. Everybody singing together "If you only knew" at the end of the video probably was the biggest break of kayfabe in the history of wrestling until that point. Boris Zhukov singing and clapping??? Most of them looked like they'd rather be anywhere but there but others like Bret or Jake looked like they were having a blast in this campy situation.

I don't know if this is a troll job or not but it's half odd half hilarious that the first piece of pre 1990 footage uploaded in months is the Slammy Awards from 1987. I had never seen this before so I caught a few minutes and it's beyond tacky and embarrassing even by 80s WWF standards.

Yes - I think Woman threw salt or powder at Hogan and Arn attacked him with a shoe or something... but back then Hogan just didn't do jobs, so it was quite the shock. In that regard, Yokozuna beating Hogan was quite an upset. Tenryu beating Inoki at a Dome show. Villano V beating Blue Panther in a mask vs mask match. Hard to believe 20+ years after the fact but Perro Aguayo unmasking Konnan was also unexpected. Even if Aguayo was a legend, unmasked guys just didn't beat masked guys in that type of matches - especially the biggest draw in the country at that time. But the biggest ever... has got to be Bruno or Undertaker losing.

I met him in 2011, and got to hang out with him for a bit after the show. Super cool guy. Not to mention a 100% certified pussy magnet.

I am browsing the website and it's great to have this available for that price. Sorry if this has already been answered but are there any apps for this or is it only a website? This may be end up doing well. Every time that you take the train in Tokyo you can see quite a few people watching something on their phones or tablets. I read somewhere that CMLL may be part of this. I hope that means they'll put some limited form of CMLL historical archives there, not just current TV.

Rumi was kind of an idol in 80's, so it somewhat makes sense. She was on a bunch of national shows and sang. She also was better looking than Cuty Suzuki when she was very young. She did two adult videos and a third mostly just modeling video a few years ago and hasn't done anything since, so I wouldn't call her an AV star now. Most of the girls own a bar like Chiggy, Tateno, Kyoko, and others. But then again, most of the guy wrestlers do too. There has to be at least 25 bars owned by former male wrestlers there. Rumi also isn't the only joshi girl to do AV. Toyota did some a BDSM scene that wasn't good and of course Emi Tojo did a few scenes, though she now works in soaplands. She also likely makes more money in it than she did in wrestling. I have some programs of the pre-split original JWP where Rumi is pushed as an idol. Never found her good looking but Japanese beauty standards can sometimes be a bit different. There's a Japanese website somewhere listing dozens of wrestler bars. I went through the list with a friend (Japanese) and most of the bars were minor league wrestlers. In Killer Khan's restaurant there's an ad in the bathrooms listing something like 10 former minor league women wrestlers' bars. I only remember Cooga. The Japanese women wrestlers bar mostly seem to be overpriced and/or with an entry fee for former fans to hang out with them, not all that different to the hostess bar culture. For whatever it's worth... the bar/restaurant business is where a lot of retired sumo wrestlers end up as well.

It was odd but with the backstory and all (him being forced to do that by the mob to pay off gambling debts, "or else") it was kind of sad.

I'm just surprised that there's a market for Rumi Kazama porn. She's got to be near 50 now. Then again, it's Japan. There was a market for Fujiwara porn and Ryuma Go gay porn, so I should not be surprised.

So, this one is for 90s Japan women's wrestling fans: two journeywomen whose names you haven't probably heard for years have ended up in opposite sides of the spectrum of life, if you will. Shark Tsuchiya is a christian missionary and Rumi Kazama is now a porn star/"girl bar" owner. Still haven't figured out which one of the two caused a bigger WTF reaction with me.

What has Paco actually done though? Not trying to be a troll or anything, but everything I've ever read indicated he couldn't give less than a shit about wrestling and seems to only be involved because it was his father's legacy. Sometimes I wonder, especially when you hear the stories about the older (smarter) Lutteroths having to come in every once in a while to clean up the mess and restore order. It feels like the family gave him lucha libre as his own thing to do so he doesn't fuck up the real money making ventures that the family has got. Perhaps the biggest single contribution Paco ever made to wrestling was letting Antonio Pena do as he pleased.

Yep. And on both iOS (iPad) and Apple TV I watch something and it still shows up as not fully watched.

Yes. Sometimes I feel dumb for pushing so hard in the past for Paco to get in the WON HOF. You've got to admire the bulletproof business model that Lutteroth Sr. built.

I'm also way over wanting to meet wrestlers, but the nicest I have ever meet are Dory Dixon and Killer Khan. Both were a couple good decades removed from their heyday though and maybe they were different while active.

The best part about that is that Bix will assuredly change the rules to keep Murdoch on the ballot until he gets voted in. Also he'll create the "Bixenspan rule": if you vote for lucha but don't vote for Los Misioneros de la Muerte your ballot doesn't count.

He had some very good matches in CMLL in the mid 90s though I don't know if they have aged well. One of the ugliest wrestlers ever to be actively promoted as a BJ babyface.

Him and Jerry Estrada were in the run for the "next Sangre Chicana" tag : only smaller and faster. Neither panned out the way it should have though both had very decent careers. Jerry had a better career, as far as output goes, because he had the fortunate (or unfortunate?) talent of being a world class performer while being complete fucked up on drugs and alcohol.