sek69

There are few things sadder than watching the IC title go from being held by the most over non-Hogan worker (the 80s) to an important stepping stone for future world champs (in the 90s) to something ignored and barely defended on TV anymore today.

Luger was one of the hottest properties around during the time he left the Horsemen and started chasing Flair.

That's why I think it's unfair when a new guy starts in WWE and people immediately brand them a shitty wrestler. All the new guys are instructed to work and speak the exact same (crappy) way and if that wasn't bad enough, most get stuck with a dead end gimmick right out of the box that kills any heat they might get in spite of the style they're forced to work. What's funny is they don't work WWE style in OVW. Guys like Lashley, the Dicks, the Heart Throbs, Ken Kennedy, all had much better matches in OVW than I've seen any of them do on WWE TV yet.

Stumbled is the key word. If WCW hadn't handed him Austin on a silver platter with a bow, I think WCW might have been the company that survived and WWE would be talked about like WCW is now. It just seems that when Vince came back in 1994, it's been one bad idea after another with seemingly no one willing to say it to his face.

I think it started before HHH. Ever since the trial it seems like he's been more and more separated from the real world and his product by an ever growing parade of ass kissers and yes men.

I thought Benoit's contract wasn't up till March...

That's almost Mushnick-ian to tie every wrestling death to drugs. What if he would have got hit by a bus? Would Keller hint that he could have dodged it but his reaction time was slowed by his past drug use?

Still, that doesn't have anything to do with his past drug problems does it?

I thought it was determined Candido died from an infection from his broken leg?

Yeah, that's a complete low blow considering Candido's death wasn't even drug related. I kinda get his comments about Hayes, since he was clearly a sockpuppet for Vince in that promo in terms of trying to get people to forget Flair's troubles. In all it's just more reason why birds should be offended if their owners line their cages with the Torch.

For that matter, I don't ever remember Jim Duggan as thin as he is in the first pic, even when he was fighting cancer. He and DiBiase look like they could be related too.

A lot of people are going to be at home this New Years, since most of the US is up to its ass in snow. Now watch the last two weeks of December be unseasonably warm and causes everyone to go out and party.

Seems odd, considering Sting was the ulitmate team player in WCW, some would say to the detriment of his own career. If he's not being brought in to put people over, what is he there to do? Is JJ going to let him have a run with the belt?

The angle with Sting looks like that they're going to say they can't reveal him until 2006 for "contractual reasons" and have him make his first appearance in their "First Match of 2006" special on New Year's Eve. Seems pretty good to me, hype your special, hype your new talent, get people watching. Whats not to like from a business standpoint? You can argue if Sting can still bring the goods (he didn't look too bad last time I saw him), but if he fails it won't be from lack of trying on TNA's part.

I guarantee if there was some Internet-like communication method back in the 80s there would be much bitching over Flair never giving the title up for more than a month at a time. Again, most of it would be bullshit like most of the griping about today's wrestling is, but it would be there.

No, I don't. There are no similarities in the way Flair has been booked and the way Jarrett has been booked. Sure there are, both were protected by their stablemates from losing their titles. Just because there's a canyon between the talent levels doesn't mean its not similar.

You know what I meant, Loss. The constant negativity on the Internet causes people to base their opinions on workers or promotions almost entirely on someone else's, which may or may not be entirely full of shit. I think part of the appeal of watching all the classic wrestling I now own is being able to watch something that hasn't been completely torn to bits by smarky types.

I bet if there was the Internet in 1986, there'd be people bitching that Flair gets the title back within a month when he loses. Or that all his matches end the same, with people running in and causing a huge schmozz. Not to say JJ=Flair, but people didn't have easy access to streams of negative opinon back then. They were forced to come up with their own views without having them be shaped by others.

I'm no JJ fan, but aside from the guitar shots how is it different from the Horsemen saving Flair every week?

Obviously not, but you've already passed judgement on something you're apparenly admitting you didn't watch which pretty much says all that needs to be said for your credibility in a discussion of wrestling.

Did you watch the show? Sometimes things that sound like an overbooked mess on paper or in type work when you actually see it. ECW was good at that, reading results of their shows would make my head spin but it tended to come off better when you saw it. I didn't watch the show, maybe it did come off as a mess, I'm going to hold off judgement until I actually see it.

Emphasis on "read". Makes me wonder how many people base their opinions of PPVs (WWE ones too) on what someone who may have a bias wrote about it. I know there's been a lot of shows where I watch them then read someone's review and wonder if we watched different shows.

LOL at Meltz and Bryan's non-answer answer on the Savage thing. I've always said even if the rumor's not true, Vince must think it's true.

The thing is, that the NWA champion still defends the belt in different NWA promotions. Hell, JJ won the belt from Raven in D'Amore's promotion up in Ontario. Just because TNA doesn't tour doesn't mean the NWA title shouldn't have world title status.

I don't see how you can call ECW's title a world championship when they barely promoted outside of NY/PA and occiasionally FL. ECW then was no more a world title than ROH is now.