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LOL (for those wondering, Loss and I were discussing a fellow on DVDVR who posted gems like those in practically every match thread over there. We still don't know what any of them meant.)

Does anyone else appreciate the irony that if TNA had this very same match on the next Impact, people would be absolutely screaming at what an overbooked mess it was? Granted, if TNA did it the quality of the people involved would be vastly different, but still. If the first match is the one I'm thinking of, didn't she have short hair before? I seem to remember that she was sporting that bowl cut style every woman in the world had at some point in the 80s. Meltzer was pretty anti WWF in general and Hogan specifically during that time frame. Hell, he still has snarky moments about Hogan like the aside he did a few issues back where he envisioned Hogan Knows Best as done by the Rey Mendoza (Villano) family.

I don't know, but I'd think that him acting crazy and possibly/probably abusive towards Elizabeth > history and match quality. I mean, it'd be kind of hard for a documentary on him to not paint a negative picture since it seems everyone that ever worked with him is of the opinion he was a crazy sumbitch.

I'm wondering what other folks opinions are on the statement I made in the WCW thread that the Flair-Bischoff spat is what really ended the run of Ric Flair as a top level performer. His in ring work was on a slow decline, but to me it seems as the combination of losing so much steam from being off TV and then being booked in humiliation angles after returning was the end of people viewing him as a credible top level guy.

The Triple H DVD should be interesting if there's a documentary portion, since they seem to have an alternate universe set up for DVD releases. While the marriage to Steph is teased and hinted at on TV, it's openly discussed on DVDs. One memorable example was Triple H talking about doing the whole "going home to meet your fiancee's parents" deal with Vince and how it was more awkward than usual on the Greatest Families DVD. Not to mention Hunter seems to be the type who gets all kayfabe-ish over the strangest things. He's not quite at the level of an Arn Anderson where it's as if everything in wrestling is a real occurrence, but he seems to slip in and out. I'd wager the Chyna era will be excised from history as well.

Well considering the whole reason Zodiac unmasked was because Orton was going to jail, there wasn't much point in building him up as a major heel. Not that Whelan didn't constantly cockblock the promotion with his Ward Cleaver sensibilities, but in this case it was justified.

Not to mention you've watched hundreds of matches and aren't completely sick of him, that's a sign of how great he was too. Watching WCCW from 1983 and NWA Saturday Nights from 85-86 on 24/7 drive it home how he could talk a crowd into a building as well.

Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin (2/12) This will probably be a a pretty solid set. I'm guessing it will be heavy on the WWF era, but there should be space for some of his WCW work and maybe even a World Class match or two just to complete the picture. This could end up interesting since allegedly Austin was lobbying hard to include some matches with Benoit, so this may end up being a test of the embargo on his likeness appearing on TV/DVD again. Triple H: King of Kings (3/25) I think I've reached the point of accepting Triple H is going to be a fixture of WWE for a long time, and it's probably time for him to get the deluxe treatment since his last DVD came out before they started going all out for every release. I hope they include some of his WCW matches as well, since I don't think that's seen the light of day since they originally aired. Evolution of the Hardys (5/6) It occurred to me watching the "Big Bangs and Dazzling Debuts" on WWE 24/7 that the Hardys have been around for a long ass time. Their "official" debut (as the Hardy Boyz) was in 1997 but they were around as a jobber team a while before that. This might end up being the surprise DVD of the year. The Rock (6/3) I can hear it now, people are going to bitch about this having too many promos. Not to mention his whole career was during the Blur-O-Vision era, so my Spider Sense is telling me that people will end up disappointed over this. It should be a pretty solid set if you aren't expecting wall to wall matches. Best of Starrcade (7/8) The best thing about this is that the release date is 3 days after my birthday, so that's a guaranteed gift right there. I guess we can chalk this one up to Dusty's influence, plus it has to be better than the THV releases. Life and Times of Mr. Perfect (8/5) I wonder if this will include the Bockwinkel draw. It's long for a non Bret Hart match to be included on a WWE produced DVD, but it would be a nice thing to have in DVD quality. It'll be interesting to see how they handle his issues in this new "no one in WWE ever had a drug problem" world. I guess we'll find out he made it through the match with Bret with the help of magic pixie dust. SummerSlam Anthology (8/5) Is it just me or is SummerSlam the one "major" PPV that doesn't seem to have that aura of the other ones? I mean, Mania is Mania, the Rumble has Flair winning the title, Survivor Series has the screwjob and the multiple tag matches. SummerSlam just seems to be a regular PPV that's been around a long time. I may end up Netflix'ing it at some point, but I can't see investing in 20 DVDs worth. Edge (11/4) My enthusiasm on an Edge DVD is tempered by the knowledge my favorite segment of his will almost surely not be included (CHRIS BENOIT IS HERE AND HE'S REALLY ANG-RY!). This will probably be one of those DVDs where you think "Really? This guy gets a DVD release?" but it ends up reminding you of all the awesomeness he's been involved in. Randy Savage: Macho Madness (11/18) Depending which way they go, this could either be one of the real top notch releases or a ridiculous hit job. I guess it's hard to not make Savage sound like a nut, but if Vince can make up with other people he's had issues with why not Randy? Sting (12/9) The first impression is that it's hilarious that WWE seems to not even be aware or care that Sting has a contract with TNA. It seems odd that they'd do a DVD of him since he's never had any inclination to sign with WWE. If any DVD on this list ends up not happening, I'd wager this would be the one.

Didn't DDP's injury come from that superplex spot where he pretty much had to land wrong to avoid killing Bob Holly? I remember watching that match and they landed so awkwardly Page ended up kicking Holly in the nuts on the rebound. Also, what I fear is the "nothing will change so we shouldn't even bother trying" mindset you see in politics taking hold in regards to wrestling.

I just wanted to isolate this because I would hate for this to become an accepted viewpoint at any level. The Benoit situation combined with similar stories of sudden violence towards families (including children) from oft-concussed NFL and NHL players has brought attention to the fact that repeated concussions (from not letting the brain heal properly) are nothing to fuck with. Athletes with brain injuries often find themselves working on autopilot doing what they were trained to do when their mind fails. That could be an NHL enforcer squaring off for a fight with his 4 year old daughter, the former boxer that was in the nursing home my mom worked at cold-cocking nurses, or a pro wrestler killing his son with his finishing move. These may be extreme examples, and certainly not the fate of everyone that gets a concussion, but too many have the "that won't happen to me" mindset that needs to be shaken up.

Man it's odd watching the debut episode of Prime Time. I'd never seen a pre-Gorilla/Heenan show, and Jesse's fresh from his in ring career still using his promo voice instead of his announcer voice.

1. How big of a WCW fan were you during the company's actual run? I was a big NWA fan growing up, so it was natural I would be a fan of WCW. I preferred their presentation to that of the WWF. It wasn't as slick, but in a way that's kind of how wrestling should be. 2. Are you a bigger fan of WCW now or then? You know, it's funny now that it's gone it's as if I took WCW for granted. I never thought there would be a time where there wouldn't be 2 national wrestling promotions, so there's a lot of WCW stuff that I missed. For one, I know I stopped watching WCWSN once Nitro started and turned Saturday Night into a primarily jobber filled show. Now of course I realize all the awesomeness I missed by doing that. 3. Best Year/Period for WCW 95-97 had the best matches and the hottest angles. 4. Best World Heavyweight Title run Have to agree with everyone else here with Vader. 5. Best United States Championship run Have to go with Luger, he was the hottest guy in the company at the time. 6. Best Tag Team Championship run I'd go with the Steiners, just because the Outsiders run annoyed me so much how they'd lose then Eric would make the other team give them the belts back. 7. Best Television Championship run I always liked Rick Steiner's run, just because him beating Mike Rotunda was a great feelgood wrestling moment. 8. Best Cruiserweight Championship run I always liked Dean's myself. His run as the silent wrestling machine who took on dudes from around the world was pretty much the first and last time the belt had any meaning. 9. Best feud nWo vs WCW 10. Most Underrated Feud Eddie vs pretty much any cruiser. It was always taking a backseat to whatever the nWo was doing, but his match would end up being the best on PPV. 11. Best Angle or Storyline The metamorphosis into Crow Sting was one of the best crafted stories ever until it came time for a blowoff (which became a WCW trademark itself). 12. Most Underrated Angle or Storyline The New Blood vs Millionaires Club was better than it had a right to be, but it gets forgotten because a lot of people were fast forwarding WCW at that point. 13. Best Booker I'm assuming Eric was booking in 96, and since the nWo was the biggest angle in history you have to give it to him. 14. Wrestler who had the most surprising run Hollywood Hogan. I would have never believed he would turn heel in a million years, let alone end up where he did with it. 15. A worker they could have done more with Seems as if they could have done more with Regal than to be a perennial TV title contender. 16. The worker who's most synonymnous with WCW for you To me, Sting was the epitome of WCW. Not only was he there for the whole ride, but like the company itself he was always a solid #2 who never seemed to get over the hump. 17. The point where Flair got old The feud with Austin/Pillman was the first time (that I recall) that his age was brought up in a storyline, but to me Flair was never the same after that period he was off TV because of his feud with Bischoff. 18. Best Face Sting was pretty much the main babyface of WCW from beginning to end. 19. Best Heel Hogan, easily. 20. Most Underrated Face Steve McMichael. He gets crapped on, but he was one of those guys who seemed to recognize his limitations. He came from a completely different background and was able too hold his own. 21. Most Underrated Heel 22. The worker who was most effective whether they were heel or face Booker T 23. A worker who turned (heel or face) too many times Lex will be the popular answer, but to me it was The Giant. They pretty much derailed his career since he changed sides almost weekly. 24. Favourite Commentating Pairing Tony/Bobby/Tenay was one of the best. Unfortunately, two-thirds of that team often didn't give a shit. 25. Lasting Memory of WCW Sadly, my lasting memory of WCW will be of a company that time and time again couldn't close the deal when it came to angles. After a while, the fans had nothing to cheer for.

I do wonder, had not all the rope hijinx occurred, how exactly did they plan to air a 2/3 falls match on a one hour show? Was it going to be taped and then shown on Superstars or something in one of those "hey wow something cool happened" style Special Reports or what?

What's ironic is that the flippy floppy type guys are not usually the ones who get hurt, it's almost always the Serious Wrestler types who get a concussion or break their eye bones and keep on working out of some twisted homage to fighting spirit. Having said that, I've found ROH to be generally entertaining but it seems to be sort of like the original ECW where Gabe has the guys drinking the Kool-Aid to the point where if they're able to move at all then they go to work for the company.

It's like why does he have a list for highest ratings and then have the whole thing be Japanese MMA matches? Japanese TV is a whole different animal and their ratings are meaningless for 99% of the readers. Not having a separate list for North American wrestling kind of renders the whole thing pointless.

It seemed like he was only interested in finding the data to back up De La Hoya being the only draw in boxing, and didn't seem to want to bother with much else.

I'm sure Gabe will assure him it was a one time only thing, and Dave will be okay with that.

I've never understood how Flair can beat Von Erichs in Texas in 1983, but gets shaken beyond belief over some Dominicans?

He's doing dark matches. Meltzer has been pretty vocal about how obvious it was that WWE used him as a patsy and how disgusting that was especially considering his family history. Also, one thing this whole ordeal taught us is that wrestlers' lives don't matter. If Congresscritters don't want to do any investigations because of the political risk with using taxpayer money to look into "rasslin" despite what happened, it pretty much seals it that no one gives a shit about if wrestlers live, die, or kill anyone.

One thing the Wellness Policy will end up doing is start to condition fans to accept guys with more normal looking builds as stars. It's a bit jarring at first to see dudes with manboobs and potbellies, but after a while people won't be looking for superman bodies as the only ones who can be considered major stars. Speaking of Bruce Lee, one of his more famous film fights was against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Since there was nearly a two foot difference in height, maybe WWE should look at that when booking "big guy vs small guy" matches.

Harry was brought up just for the sole purpose of being able to say they suspended a guy on TV for failing. He hasn't been back on TV since his suspension ended. And yes, Hustler is that desparate.

When it first happened, there was two versions: one with Benoit and one with him edited out (24/7 updates on Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning so they had time to rush the editing). They asked cable companies which one they wanted, and I guess most said "without" since that's the way it's been. It appears they are working toward ending that anyway, as his name gets mentioned more and more often on the MNW shows.

I have a feeling McDevitt acted the way he did at least in part to try to deflect some of the heat from Vince. You know half the shit he said came directly from Vince anyway, better to have the EVIL LAWYER~! say it than the head of the company. As far as WWE erasing history goes, personally (and I'm not "outraged" by it) I think it's just stupid. Its as if by editing him off shows WWE can somehow act like nothing happened. Plus they could have made a goodwill gesture and donate all of Benoit's DVD royalties to his surviving children like they did when Eddie died. That way, they would come off as something less than a heartless rasslin' company and the videophiles could have their intact Monday Night War episodes.

All of the wrestlers suspended for Wellness reasons as of late were using steroids that were popular in the 70s-80s and are very easily detected. I'm not saying doctors should run to the press after every blood test, but since steroids are illegal aren't they required to report that to authorities?

Shawn's been looking pretty haggard in standard definition, I can't imagine what HD will be like.