Dylan Waco

I always thought Chavo v. DDP was better than Eddie v. DDP

Totally agree on Luger. He was my favorite main event/near main event act in WCW at the time. I actually think Luger's real low point was the WWF run and the perception became so bad at that point that he could never recover. He was having good matches with Bret Hart in 99 - months after almost everyone in the company had given up. As someone who is watching a lot of ECW the guy who really stands out to me as a "stock going up" pick is Bubba Dudley. Sadly I'm not sure this will be reflected on the 96 set because there really isn't a lot of Bubba Dudley that is essential to the narrative of what was going on that year. Anyhow he was a comedy act for the bulk of the year but he was insanely over with the live crowds. His athleticism at the time was unreal as he was regularly doing topes over the tope, dives, et and moving around the ring at lightning pace. He had a really good brawl at the Arena teaming with Rotten v. Dick and D-Von, his team with Spike had several strong matches, and he had singles matches with D-Von and Scorpio that were both very good - the Scorp match being pretty damned great. I would say Mikey Whipwreck is a stock going up guy but I've been told by others that he is universally loved.

I don't hate myself enough to watch it. Having just read Foley's new book, he's really too sad a figure to invest even five minutes in at this point.

Wright was arguably the best guy in the company in 95.

The fact that Meltzer knows so little about WNBA business model but speaks about it from a position of authority really tells me a lot about his analysis which to be frank I have always been skeptical of.

interstate commerce clause has been expanded to an absurd degree to apply to just about anything the feds want it to apply to.

Delaney's was really good. I haven't listened to Necro yet or the Joe one.

Piling on to Loss' point about Muta, living in South Carolina, any time I talk about being a wrestling fan with non-hardcore's he is always one of the first names that pops up. On a similar note, my best friend hates pro wrestling now but loved it as a kid. Anytime I've ever been around him and pro wrestling comes up he always ends up talking about how Jushin Liger was the best wrestler he ever saw based entirely on things we saw live as little kids.

Liger and Gedo interest me. The rest of that run is trash.

I wish Gabe hadn't been more dismissive of Will's point about 99/00 ECW being the best in ring product in the States. When you watch the stuff that is out there - something few of us have done - this doesn't even seem like a contentious statement. It's really obvious and Gabe's "well yeah the in ring product was still good" or whatever line really misses the point. It wasn't just that the in ring product was "still good." It was that the in ring product was the best it had ever been, was the best in the States and very probably the best in the World. In Tajiri they had a very serious wrestler of the year candidate for both 99 and 00. Really his run of stuff was just incredible and really varied. It's a shame that whole run isn't watched and discussed more.

your hatred of context is typical anti-smark garbage. But since you think the socratic method is the best way of dealing with RE I will comply with your rules. RE, can you please explain to us how Davey Richards is more realistic than Dutch Mantell?

I was providing important context to previously existing question. I realize as a fan of Memphis wrestling you may not understand the sort of depth of analysis you need to properly examine someone with a career as complex as Taz. But I am going to have to ask you not to troll.

Think about how he won the belt. -Awesome jumps ship with title to WCW. -Paul E. goes to court and ensures Awesome must drop the title. -Awesome loses to WWE contracted employee Taz on random house show. -Taz and Dreamer are destroyed and buried on WWE TV by HHH in a segment that supposedly was meant to put over the Dreamer v. Taz title match at the Arena. -Dreamer - the most beloved figure in ECW history - wins his first ever ECW title by beating Taz in the Arena. -Seconds later Credible comes out and wins the title in impromptu match from Dreamer I don't think the guy was a convincing promo at all, but that's a pretty shitty way to inherit the title.

Before you criticize Taz RE, keep in mind that he is the human suplex machine. No doubt his suplexes are quite realistic in comparison to punches and are indicative of heavy Japanese influence. His status as learned judo superstar further proves that point.

pretty sure your shared love of legend of zelda means you are a smark fighting the good fight

I don't know that any ECW champion was a particularly good or consistent house show wrestler while champion, Credible included. I'm far from a big Mike Awesome fan - and most of his better matches weren't necessarily because of him - but I don't see how Credible was better than him on house shows. Actually I think Credible's best run with the company was a good bit before he won the title.

Just want to note that Gabe's claim that Credible was a really strong house show worker is something I don't see at all. Credible was always a good bumper, but he is not a guy that stands out on the house shows at all despite his cheap heat tactics being a staple of every match.

How many others do you know that are "sexually evil?" How many of those people are really personalities housed in your body? Does Lawler's sexual habits concern you because he doesn't have the "courage" to kill his alleged victims like manly man Chris Benoit? How is top rope fistdrop more non-sensical than the vast majority of highspots you love so much. What the fuck is an "antismark?" Where is the evidence that Davey Richards can even have a single good match, let alone excel at whatever style it is that you think I love? Do you think there is any other person on the planet who thinks Johnny Smith was better at stalling then Jerry Lawler?

I actually liked one of the DK v. TM matches okay. The others were horrible - really among the worst matches I've ever seen. Still even the BEST DK v. TM match is not all that good. For matches involving guys known for violent tempers v. dudes dressed as animals, it is nowhere near the level of Jim Cornette v. Cowabunga. Of course the finish of Cowabunga v. Cornette is a flip so RE might love it despite Memphisy traits.

He wants to watch more realistic wrestling. Punches of course are not as realistic as flying headbutts or shitty, jacked up roid headed midgets that don't sell anything.

Jerry Lawler has sex with fourteen year olds. You can't respect that. Now if you are killing your wife and child, that's going that extra mile for da biz

Enjoyed the show. Loved Gabe's take on J.T. Smith who is a guy I've always marked out hard for. Of course I disagreed vehemently with almost every other opinion seemed to have. But the show was still fun.

don't steal my gimmick

Is Albano even a top ten manager? Top fifteen? Dave is a huge mark for wrestlers that have mainstream crossover appeal and I have to imagine that lies at the heart of this.