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On Episode 63 of the Wrestling Culture podcast, Dylan and I return to talk the historical and current developmental system of WWE. Sorry it's in two parts.http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112658&cmd=tc

So yes I totally messed that up, I guess I will re-watch the Arrival match to clear up any confusion in my mind lol

I equate us to being like bulldogs, where the dumbness makes us more loveable

On Episode 62 of the Wrestling Cuulture podcast recorded earlier today,Dylan Hales and I are joined by our good friend Tim Livingston to review the year 2014 in wrestling. It took some work to pull it together techincally today and it is posted in two parts, but it may be one of our best shows. Please give it a listen and thanks to everyone for their support of the show http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112658&cmd=tc

On Episode 61 of The Wrestling Culture Podcast, Dylan and myself talk the 2014 Class of the Wrestling Observer Hall Of Fame, how the voting went down and the HOF in general http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112658&cmd=tc

On Episode 60 of The Wrestling Culture podcast, Dylan Hales and I discuss the awesome career of John Cena and his status as all-time great in wrestling. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112658&cmd=tc

Sorry this is later than usual this year, and it was rather spur of the moment on our part, but we had a blast doing it. On Episode 59 of The Wrestling Culture podcast, Dylan and I returned to talk this year's WON Hall Of Fame Ballot. Sadly, we forgot to debate whether Undertaker's disqualification win over Giant Gonzales at Wrestlemania IX only occurring after Gonzales used ether puts El Gigante on par with Brock Lesnar in HOF discussion. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112658&cmd=tc

On Episode 58 of The Wrestling Culture podcast, Dylan Hales and are joined by our new friend Andy of to discuss the Wrestling Observer Hall Of Fame candidacy of wrestler Sting. Andy argues the pros and Dylan argues the cons with me pitching straight down the middle. It was a good time so please listen, and also check Andy's work on the So We Were Told podcast. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112658&cmd=tc

Actually, Alan fixed that issue for us on the last two podcasts and the corrected versions have been uploaded. I will chat with Alan or try to figure out myself how not to have it come out like that in the future. And thanks for listening

On Episode 56 of The Wrestling Culture podcast, Dylan and I ask who could have been made WWWF Champion other than Bob Backlund in 1978. Please give it a listen to hear two guys playing make-believe and taking it all too seriously. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112658&cmd=tc

Thanks for listening...again... I go back and listen to this once in a while myself as it was one of the most fun conversations I have ever had

Thanks everyone for the kind words. It has been a tough road, as was dealing with my parents' declining health in recent years, but I've managed to come through it. So glad to be back on this scene!!!

We're baa-aack...On Episode 55 of The Wrestling Culture podcast, good ol' Dylan and Dave return from an unscheduled hiatus to bring you your fill of two guys over-talking wrestling. The topic? The 2014 Half-Year In Review!!! Plus reader questions are reviewed for the first time http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112658&cmd=tc

One of the things I love about that picture is the faces in the crowd. It's perfect for the old Dave Letterman "What About That Guy?" bit. I'm actually wondering if that is Teddy Roosevelt in the bottom left-hand corner or if just everyone looked like him in that day and age

On Episode 54 of the Wrestling Culture podcast, Dylan Hales and I are joined by are joined by Canadian professional wrestler, promoter and historian extraordinaire Vance Nevada. For the first half, I go solo interviewing Vance about his in-ring career and promoting and then Dylan joins the call to discuss Vance's work as an historian. A great chat with a great guy, please give it a listen. Also, Vance has an upcoming career retrospective DVD to keep an eye out for Wrestling Culture Episode 54

Thanks for all the feedback on the show Will, the big thing about the Jake vs Earthquake feud was the crazily bad execution of the starting angle. Although a feud based on Earthquake doing something to Damien slightly worse than the things The British Bulldogs used to do to him backstage, the production of this was like Eugene's version of Houdini. I'm not saying they should have actually killed the snake, I'm not even saying they shouldn't have bothered with the angle in the first place. I'm just saying I was probably more convincing in my feeble attempt to put on a magic show for my Grade 2 Class when I was eight years old. Nothing up my sleeve...Presto!!! 1:24 Jake takes Damien out of the bag, thus proving he is there 2:45 Damien goes back into the bag, his last on-screen appearance 3:08 Jake ties the bag extra tight 4:03 For some reason, Jake hides the bag under the ring to keep him away from Earthquake who is afraid of him. Earthquake peaks under the ring on the other side 4:39 Earthquake pulls what must be the same bag from under the ring and throws it into same ring 4:52 Earthquake ties Jake up in the ropes Andre-style 5:40 Earthquake drags the bag to the middle of the ring 6:20 Earthquake goes for his Earthquake splash and the screen cuts away to Sean Mooney recoiling in horror, I assume on take six or seven. He keeps talking about something, I'm not sure what as I have this on mute while my wife "The Incredible Dr. Pol" on Nat Geo Wild, the show that is ironically about an incredible and unstoppable veterinarian, who was unfortunately not on retainer by WWF in 1991 7:30 We're back to the arena with Earthquake and Jimmy Hart celebrating and then leaving the ring 8:30 A freed Jake starts to open the bag, to identify the body I guess. The bag actually looks wet, and Jake even uses his teeth to untie it. 8:47 Jake looks in the bag and recoils in horror at the squashed gelatinous props that the bag contains.

Wow, he would be perfect for the Wyatts Here is his official site with four matches posted on it. http://www.greedwrestling.com/#!portraits/c199t

On Episode 53 of the Wrestling Culture podcast, Dylan Hales and I are joined by the gentlemanly scholar,Mr. Tim Livingston!!! We discuss the wonderful year in wrestling that was 2013. The recording of the show was missing in action the last couple of days but thankfully went up today. A great time had by all. Wrestling Culture Episode 53

On Episode 52 of The Wrestling Culture Podcast, Dylan Hales and I discuss the great career and even great resurgence of Dustin Rhodes, also known as Goldust. It's been too long since we did a show but I feel we return in style with over-talking one of our favorite wrestlers. Please listen and enjoy Wrestling Culture Episode 52

In all fairness Will, I am VERY rock n roll in nature.

Yes indeed I did

The WWF's house show business was the shits when Diesel was champ, continuing a long mostly downward trend since the Hogan-Sid program at the beginning of 1992. House show business went up suddenly when they programed the Bret-Taker-Desiel feud. The related PPV's (Taker vs Bret at the Rumble and Bret-Nash at the Feb IYH) also show growth in buys. People like to give Shawn credit for much of that. Problem is that Mania didn't grow from the prior year, and Shawn-Nash did less than Bret-Nash, and Shawn's PPV buys overall through the year were kind of... well... shitty. Shawn as Champ did continue the house show turn around, and build on it to a decent degree. But... The turn around started with Bret-Taker-Diesel. It then faded eventually under Shawn's watch, and as WCW grew. On a level it's similar to Flair-Savage in WCW that year. The turn around for WCW's long house show issues started with the Savage-Flair program after Starcade. It wasn't lights out business, nor close to what they when they eventually hit their peak. But it was the start. John Thanks John, that's an awesome write-up.

To be fair though, isn't kinda how this sort of thing happens? Isn't that essentially how every wrestling star was created. It's all about being talented but also being in the right promotion at the right time with the right opponents. I agree. If you're not supposed to support someone based on what should have happened for them as in they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, such as some say about Sting, then I find it difficult to hold it against someone for being in the right place at the right time. I think Hogan or Flair would largely succeed if they started now, but they certainly wouldn't be able to do what they did.

With Akiyama, the biggest problem is whether you think it should be a given that things continued at the same level they were with Misawa and company. He was the next generation but didn't have three other contemporaries like they did to come up with him. But I think he did get there just with his body of work in the 90's and he did have success artistically and success-wise with NOAH, just not at the level of Misawa and company before but that is a high standard. What I think is interesting is to wonder if there had been no AJPW/NOAH split, where would Taiyo Kea have ended up?

"Bret vs Taker vs Desiel turned around the WWF's business in 1996. To say it's not a HOF worthy turnaround doesn't cheapen the turnaround. It just says that it wasn't a mind number turnaround." John, could you elaborate on this point? I ask out of interest and not disagreement