JerryvonKramer

A new stable here to replace the ill-fated J-Tex Corporation. Buzz was the star of this segment. 3 complete nutters in one stable, quite fun! Cornette's facials are also amusing.

I'm skipping ahead to watching NWA stuff for in between WTBBP shows, but I had to check this out in passing as a curiosity. Christ, what the hell did Yatsu do between December 1989 and March 1990? It looks like he spent every last second of it eating pizzas and doing nothing else. He was positively fat and sluggish here.

Mid-air coming off the top rope for a flying headbutt that he's about to miss.

Okay, trying to stick to the parameters of "in-ring" which I take to mean "stuff guys do from bell to bell". As I said, I find it difficult, because character is so much part and parcel of that. 1. Ric Flair 2. Terry Funk 3. Stan Hansen 4. Jumbo Tsuruta 5. Nick Bockwinkel 6. Genichiro Tenryu 7. Ricky Steamboat 8. Randy Savage 9. Bobby Eaton 10. Ted DiBiase 11. Ricky Morton 12. Tully Blanchard 13. Arn Anderson 14. Rick Martel 15. Vader 16. Ron Garvin 17. Bret Hart 18. Yoshiaki Yatsu 19. Rick Rude 20. Jerry Blackwell That's where I'm at right now. Extreme 80s bias with strong leanings towards NWA, but that's what I've been watching the past the couple of years. Of guys I've been watching recently, here are people I'd give a shot of breaking in with more time and watching: - Pat Patterson, honestly just a great worker - Some of the 80s Lucha guys, in particular Mocho Cota (who I know isn't on the set much beyond disc 2 ), Sangre Chicana and El Satanico. - Jerry Lawler, it's taking me a long time to really "get" him -- but from 90 Yearbook, his stuff on AWA, and disc 1 of Memphis, I'm starting to come round, a little bit - Bill Dundee, now this guy has been really good in every match I've seen him in, and could easily break in soon. On the cusp. Lock once I'm done with Memphis - Greg Valentine, also a really great worker in 1979, will be in a shoo-in once I've seen his high-end Tito stuff - Tatsumi Fujinami ... in the 1980 New Japan stuff so far, he's shown incredible versatility against a variety of opponents working a variety of different styles, more or less guaranteed a place once I'm done with New Japan - Bob Backlund, while I'm predisposed to not liking Backlund, I can see a day where I'd begrudgingly rank him highly just through sheer number of good matches - Dutch Mantell, only a couple of matches so far but he looks like a worker I could really get into - Buzz Sawyer, again has looked great whenever I've seen him, it's just a case of seeing more - Bob Orton Jr., the inclusion of Yatsu on my list should tell you that I love me some cool offense; has every chance depending on how much good stuff he has out there.

Housekeeping Memphis d1 ****1/2 Jerry Lawler vs. Dory Funk Jr. (3/30/81) Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (No DQ) (3/23/81) Bill Dundee & Tommy Rich vs. Dutch Mantell & Austin Idol (3/12/81) **** Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (Empty Arena) (4/6/81) ***3/4 Jerry Lawler vs. Crusher Blackwell (5/4/81) ***1/2 Bill Dundee vs. Tommy Rich (8/23/80) Bill Dundee & Tony Boyles vs. Wayne Farris & Larry Latham (6/7/80) Bill Dundee vs. Wayne Farris & Tojo Yamamoto (3/7/81) *** Bill Dundee vs. Paul Ellering (5/24/80) Bill Dundee & Dream Machine vs. Dutch Mantell & Wayne Farris (3/14/81) **1/2 Bill Dundee vs. Larry Latham (4/19/80) ** Ricky Morton vs. Sonny King (4/26/80) Dutch Mantell vs. Kevin Sullivan (5/9/81) *1/2 Bill Dundee & Dream Machine vs. Kevin Sullivan & Wayne Farris (5/2/81)

Memhpis 1.6 Bill Dundee vs. Wayne Farris & Tojo Yamamoto (3/7/81) Another great interview segment and angle going into this, as Dundee's partner Rich is caught up in a "contractual situation" so can't make the match. Ruthless Jimmy Hart doesn't care and insists on Dundee taking on his team regardless, in a 2 on 1 handicap match. Rich's and Dundee's Southern Tag titles are also on the line. There's also an added layer of intrigue: the Dream Machine, also managed by Hart, comes out and asks him why he's not being put forward for this match given his years of loyal service. Jimmy laughs him off. I love this presentation. Dundee has 30 minutes to fend off Farris and Yamamoto. Intriguing setup. Farris and Yamamoto gain control after a plucky first few minutes from Dundee. Yamamoto's chops are stiff. This is a tremendous way to get over the idea of Dundee as a world class wrestler. His comebacks and punches are great. And the story of the heels losing in 1 on 1 situations but constantly having the advantage of being to tag out is expertly told. Farris reminds me a tiny bit of Michael Hayes at this point in his career. First 15 minutes of this just flew by. Yamamoto is pretty effective as the wily veteran here. Despite the advantage, the heels pick up the pin cheaply to win the titles. To add insult to injury, Jimmy Hart gets some cheap shots in on Dundee post match, and of course Dream Machine comes out to make the save signalling his face turn. Very enjoyable stuff. ***1/2 Memphis 1.7 Bill Dundee & Tommy Rich vs. Dutch Mantell & Austin Idol (3/12/81) Mantell and Idol are CWA World tag champs here. Mantell's back is sickenly hairy. If I were a wrestler, I would refuse to work with Mantell on that basis. Yuk. Quite a long shine sequence to start during which Rich and Dundee work over Idol with headlocks, snapmares and armdrags. Spot where Idol is caught in the wrong corner and gets the ping-pong punches. Mantell comes in and eats a big dropkick from Rich. Heels bail. They've got nothing so far. Until Mantell pulls what Russell calls "a sneaky" -- pulling the ropes so that Rich falls through them. Fist drop by Idol. Rich immediately gets the atomic drop. Dundee tags in. Mantell tags in. Dundee gets the worst of it and Idol kneedrops him. Cocky pin attempt results in a nearfall for Dundee. Mantell comes in with a backbreaker. Idol drops the elbow from the top. This is our FIP sequence now, it's been a while coming. Mantell does a dog crawl-y scurrying headbutt. Heels have cut the ring in half now. 2nd rope elbow drop by Idol. Bodyslam. Goes for the "Las Vegas leglock" but Dundee kicks him off. Idol reasserts his dominance with a stiff punch. Running powerslam by Mantell. Big elbow drop. Gutwrench suplex. Dundee tries to fire back but he's cut off. Massive backdrop. Dundee manages to get a sunset flip but Idol kicks him in the face. Great FIP sequence! Idol and Rich brawl outside as Dundee manages to roll Mantell up for the win. Excellent match, best on on this set so far. ****1/2 Memphis 1.8 Bill Dundee & Dream Machine vs. Dutch Mantell & Wayne Farris (3/14/81) Jimmy Hart mentions that Wayne Farris is subbing for "The Angel" here. Is "Oil Trough" really a town in Texas? If "Truth or Consequences" is the coolest named town in the world, "Oil Trough" is a contender for the opposite of that. Mantell's back hair is disgusting. He and Dundee seem to have great chemistry. Dream Machine does dancing. Fuck's sake. Men in masks shouldn't shuck, jive or boogie. Mantell is basically the worker I've been wishing Steve Williams could be in all the 80s NWA I watched in the past year. He looks good to me. Mantell and Dream Machine lock up now. Machine is doing all the Porkchop Cash shit I hate. No one with any history of being a heel should ever dance, in my view, except perhaps Dusty Rhodes and Jimmy Valiant. Faces have a spell on top. Dundee nastily stamps on Farris's hand, ouch. Dream Machine comes in and loses control. Mantell takes over. Big elbow drop. Misses a knee but tags out to Farris. Russell's tiredness and sense of frustration with Jimmy Hart is priceless. This was good. *** I like Lance Russell's GOLD microphone. Dave Brown just has a regular one. Memphis 1.9 Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (No DQ) (3/23/81) How exciting. Never seen this one before, I've seen the empty arena match, but not this. Funk has taped hands and runs away from Lawler to start. Calhoun is wearing is extremely tight white flares again. Action goes outside early. Atomic drop otside. Russell calls it "rough house tactics". Funk misses a fistdrop which changes the momentum. Lawler hits some sweet punches. Funk does the cartoon "dazed jabs". Awesome spot know where Lawler rams Funk's head into the timekeeper's bell and you hear it ring!! Funk's eye in injured and is bleeding profusely. Lawler hits a stomp from the top rope. Jimmy Hart is ringside and runs under the ring after Lawler gestures towards him. Funk gets a headbutt in, and again. Biting now. And Lawler is cut. More biting. Funk does the spraying of the blood above his head. Awesome. Gouging the face. He is absolutely covered in blood. Disrespectful slaps now. He spits in Lawler's face. A punch. Throws him out of the ring. Big left. Another. And again. And again. Lawler staggers forward. Funk keeps laying in the lefts. Lawler stats his comeback. The strap comes down. And now he makes the comeback. Big rights. Funk goes flying. Crowd is going nuts. Flying fistdrop from the top. Jimmy Hart runs in with a chair. Funk is able to grab it and uses the edge of it to take out Lawler's leg. Several more shots into Lawler's leg with the chair now. Ref throws the chair out. Funk is attacking the leg now. He's looking to rip his tights! Spinning toehold! Spinning toehold! Of course, Lawler is coming back from the broken leg here too, so it all makes sense. Hart throws the chair in again. Funk shoves the ref down and wildly misses Lawler with the chair. Lawler get it now and sweeps Funk's leg with it. Ouch! Several nasty shots to the leg. This is fucking wild. Funk is counted out, which is a disappointing finish, but still absolutely loved this. ****1/2 Memphis 1.10 Jerry Lawler vs. Dory Funk Jr. (3/30/81) This was the typical booking pattern for the Funks at this point. Match with Terry, match with Dory, blow off with Terry. Jimmy Hart is dangling over the ring here. Not even in a cage, just dangling from like a bungee rope. Dory sits in a headlock to start. Good old Dory eh. Eventually we get a clean break. Fireman's carry takeover by Dory into an armbar. Good clean technical wrestling. European uppercut. And again. Hammerlock. Russell: "Dory Jr works almost in a detatched manner, but he will hurt ya" -- top analysis Lance. Back up to an armbar which allows Lawler to get a quick punch in. Dory takes it back to the mat with the arm bar. If this was Bob Backlund people would be all over this shit. Dory dumps Lawler out of the ring. Dory slams Lawler into the table. And again. Hardcore Dory. He grabs a chair now. Ref grabs it, so he slams him into the table again. The rough-house tactics from Dory here! Lawler gets his chain out. Dory goes after him with the European uppercut. Lawler drops the chain and Dory picks it up. Vertical suplex by Dory, and a beauty. Gets a 2 count. He didn't hook the leg Jess. Another uppercut. Gut punch. Lawler starts coming back with the right hands. Dory bails. Back in and they lock up. Trading strikes now. Dory gets the worst of it. He bails again but Lawler chases. He's getting nailed with the rights now and we get a sweet payback spot as Dory gets his face rammed into the table. Snapmare by Lawler. Dory begs off. Lawler in with the rights now. Dory is able to sneak a knee in to send Lawler crashing to the mat. The Iceman Cometh. Lawler tries to start another comeback. Another sneaky knee. The wily veteran has some tricks up his sleeve, former world champ don't ya know. Slam. Dory misses an elbow. The strap comes down. Crowd goes wild. We get a ref bump now. Hart dangling above the ring drops a chain down to Dory who lays Lawler out with it. The ref is still out. Calhoun comes over. NO!! Lawler kicks out at 2. Crowd is losing their shit. Dory chokes Lawler with the chain now. Another 2 count. Calhoun spots the chain and wrestles it from Dory's hand. Lawler sneakily gets his own chain now and lays Dory out with it. He throws the ref to the side. Dory rolls Lawler up with his feet on both ropes. Calhoun spots it and stops the count. Dory now just punches the ref in the face! Russell: "Too much abuse of the referee" I had to pause it because I was laughing so much at this. The bell goes now as Dory and Lawler are still going back and forth. Lawler has a glove and is getting the better of it. Suplex by Lawler. Dory has been DQ'd, presumably for punching the ref in the fucking face! I must note though that moments before this Lawler did shove him to the side too. Jimmy Hart is let down wearing all black and a helmet. Dory bails. Wow, was this a fight! Definitely one of the better Dory matches I've ever seen. I honestly thought this was as good as the No DQ match, if not better. I can see that being a controversial viewpoint, but Dory fucking brought it here. ****1/2 Memphis 1.11 Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (Empty Arena) (4/6/81) I've seen this several times before, I am almost positive it will hold up. The pre-match stuff if, of course, legendary. Amazing performances from both Russell and Funk. "Don't you realise that there's nobody here? You JACKASS" The tirade of abuse Funk is giving Lawler is awesome. The match starts. Chairs being knocked over everywhere. Funk grabs a big number 4 sign from what Russell calls the "identification stand". Piledriver outside by Funk! Lawler is busted open. Funk is raving like a lunatic. He goes gets a wooden spike that he breaks off the ring steps. Slamming Lawler's head into the table. "ASK HIM. ASK HIM!" Funk's voice is high and shrill and manic. He still has that wooden shard. Lawler somehow kicks it so that Funk jabs it in his own eye. "My eyeeee! I can't see! Doctor! God help me, please ... My eye!" Russell: "Terry Funk: A victim of his own plotting" Awesome stuff this. As a match it's not as good as the No DQ or in my view the Dory match, but as a total package this shit is all-time great. **** "Pig! Piggggggggggg!" What's so awesome about this is that Funk shows so many different sides of his personality. He's a chickenshit, a psycho, a bully, and a crying moaning bitch all at once. It's just fantastic Memphis 1.12 Bill Dundee & Dream Machine vs. Kevin Sullivan & Wayne Farris (5/2/81) Promo from Dream Machine and Bill Dundee now. I did not enjoy Dream Machine's interview, despite his great accent. Hart comes in with a fucking RIPPED Kevin Sullivan now. And Farris. Still think that Sullivan carries his muscles awkwardly, if that's even possible. They look wrong on him. Farris has a little moustache at this point. Nothing terribly compelling about the heels working over Dundee. Sullivan relies mainly on stomps. Dundee gets a tag to Dream Machine who WILDLY misses a shoulder charge, flips upside down and then falls flat like a pancake on his face. WOW, that was unexpected. Farris in. And things get scrappy between him and Dream Machine. Dundee gets a tag. Big dropkick on Farris. Monkey flip. Farris misses a move feet first in the corner. Still he's somehow able to get back on top. Hits a suplex, and a beauty. Sullivan in. Bearhug now. Dundee starts laying in punches to try to break it. Sullivan hangs on and bearhugs him even on the mat. Double atomic drop. Flapjack by Farris. I don't know if that's the proper name, but who cares. Sits in a chinlock now. Heels have cut the ring off. Another double atomic drop. Another bearhug. I feel I've had enough of this match by this point. It's starting to drag. Big backdrop. The FIP sequence needs to think about ending. Sullivan has been actively boring in this match. Dundee starts to come back, Hart pulls the ropes down and he takes a tumble outside. Takes him a 9-count to come back in only for Sullivan to get a 3-count with an inside cradle. Awful finish and the worst match so far. *1/2 Memphis 1.13 Jerry Lawler vs. Crusher Blackwell (5/4/81) Well this is interesting after AWA. Seemingly JIP with clipping, Blackwell starts out on top mauling Lawler and hitting a big splash. Big slam outside. Jimmy Hart jaws Lawler. Awesome fistdrop by Blackwell. Big elbow drop. Lawler starts coming back with elbows and punches. We get the tree-being-felled wobbling spot. And Blackwell finally goes down. Lawler unloads with a flurry of punches on Blackwell's head. Big back suplex by Blackwell. Huge move. SHIT, Lawler now hits his own back suplex on Blackwell! Only gets a two. That was un-BE-lievable! Blackwell starts laying in the punches now. Big vertical suplex. The strap comes down. Each right that goes in snaps Blackwell's head back. I'm surprised he hasn't got whiplash! Backdrop by Lawler on Blackwell! But Lawler misses the flying fistdrop. And Blackwell missed the big splash. That's enough for the 3 count. Very good match. ***3/4 Memphis 1.14 Dutch Mantell vs. Kevin Sullivan (5/9/81) HAIRY, disgustingly hairy, Dutch Mantell taking on the disgustingly muscle-bound Kevin Sullivan. So Mantell must be a face now. As Russell explains, he just walked away from Jimmy Hart's stable. Slow start here but a little bitch slap by Sullivan riles Mantell up. Russell thinks this is part of Jimmy Hart's strategy. Atomic drop by Mantell. Headlock takeover by Sullivan. He sits in the headlock now. Eventually Mantell is able to hit a big slam and a great running knee drop / splash thing. Back to the headlock by Kevin Sullivan. Really boring. If this was Bob Backlund people would be loving it (okay, okay, I'll stop ). I am not keen on Sullivan here, he's been rubbish in these matches so far. He busts out some strikes and kicks now. Goes outside and posts Mantell. And then rams him into Lance's table. King of the Mountain now. Sullivan is reasonably aggressive in his punching. Backdrop. Arrogant cover gets 2. More punches. Chinlock now. Man, just as it was starting to get better, he sits in a chinlock. Thankfully, it doesn't last long and Sullivan goes back to his punches. Atomic drop. Mantell answers with one of his own. Five minutes left, they've only been going 10 minutes, it feels like 20. Botch-y looking finish as Sullivan steals a pin with Jimmy Hart up on the apron. This match was best when Mantell was on offense, but unfortunately, Sullivan was on top for most of it. I really don't like the 1981-version of Kevin Sullivan. **

Here's the thing with this though, I mean fuck, if Chad feels he's in a position that he can't make a call, where does that leave most of the rest of us? Maybe we have to all just admit we've got blindspots, or like Dylan said, you never get to that perfect moment. The top 10 is really really hard to put together.

I am too. I think Tenryu's surliness and his emotionless face hurt him when he's meant to be the plucky young protege. He's not very sympathetic or likable. However, those same qualities make him awesome in 88-89. I also simply don't get the Jumbo as Terry Taylor thing. I don't get that at all. Jumbo in some ways reminds me of Thunder from Big Trouble in Little China And it's not just because he looks a little like him. It's because while he's nice on the surface, you don't want to piss him off. That's what makes Jumbo great once he truly becomes the man. He works in a way that suggests he's just above everyone else and there are times when he's actively affronted that this lowly no-name even dared to strike him. And that's when we see him him explode and start to lose his shit. It's those moments that make him compelling for me. I don't get this "Jumbo had no emotion" talk.

I was only giving Brad some gentle shit. In all honesty, if I had to vote, I'd say he probably had the best draft -- Chad's draft was just a wee-bit smark-y fanboyish and well, Kelly was batting for 1984 and I mostly had a nightmare. Brad managed to get all the Horsemen and whatever you want to say Warrior and Sid were big stars in 1990. I also think he booked them pretty logically, but if pushed I'd probably give the booking nod to Chad's Lawler vs. Hogan feud. I do wonder if fans were ready to boo Hogan in 1990 or not at that time. I think Kelly's main event (Savage vs. Funk in a cage) is the most mouth-watering fantasy prospect. It's faintly ridiculous that I've picked up any votes at all, but y'know I was always relying on the novelty factor of the Hoss squad. I'm looking forward to seeing what El Boricua does the cast offs now. How in the hell did I leave Brother Love out of the talent pool? He's all over that yearbook! If you are looking for any other guys, you could probably coax Doug Somers into working some dates.

I look forward to this one chaps. Loved the last one like this you did. Also, I gotta give credit where it's due, I got the fantasy draft idea from the first one of these shows you did. I think it's a really fun mechanic for a show.

Oh boy, this should be fun then ...

I can see the argument for Hennig, Dylan; I think you were a hell of a lot higher on his babyface stuff than me though -- and partly that comes down to taste, but it may also partly come down to the fact that you watched all the TV too. If people feel that it's still generally too early to do another Smarkschoice-style poll, I do think it would be really cool if people could give at least their top 10s here as a kind of "snapshot in time" type thing. I'm gonna put my thinking hat on and do a "gun to the head" type scenario to see if I can get a top 10 out of it -- right now at this point.

This is a really perceptive comment. And spot on. However, this was also the reason I didn't like the match, lol.

I can admit there's at least an argument for Bossman over Ted in WWF from our old debates Matt, but after revisiting some of Ted in his pomp in MidSouth and seeing young fired-up babyface Ted in 1979, I think you'd be really hard pressed to make a career vs. career argument. I also have some hopes for him being good in the St. Louis stuff. I mentioned Ted not just because of my man-love for him but also because he often makes top 50 lists of this nature and was a Meltzer / smart darling who was thought of as a "best worker in the world" type guy for at least a decade. He was also the top ranked worker in the Mid-South voting -- and those sorts of guys tend to be well-represented. I was just curious really given than guys like Curt Hennig were making the cut. Anyway, this is not intended as any sort of knock --- I think what both Dylan's and Dave's lists are testament to just how many great guys there are out there. Dylan left Bret off his list. Neither person had Backlund. Neither one had Dick Murdoch. Or Tully. Or any number of guys you could point to. Yet no one looks particularly "out of place" on either of their lists. I might feel more comfortable making a list once I'm done with 80s Lucha, seen more Buddy Rose, and finished more yearbooks (or even just one right Chad ) . I could probably think about a US Top 50, I just worry about my anti-modern biases. I'd probably be happier doing a more "total package" sort of list. I've still never really got my head around separating "in-ring" or "work" from all the other things that wrestlers do, they feel inextricably linked to me. But that's just me.

Well, I have to ask, how far down the list DiBiase would have come. When Savage was out on both lists, I knew we wouldn't be seeing him. But just a small personal point of interest. I don't quite get, for example, why Barry Windham is so "obviously" higher than him in these sorts of lists. I sometimes get the impression that guys go up and down depending on when stuff is being watched. Conduct a poll right in the middle of when the MidSouth 80s project was going on, and maybe Ted gets more of a look in. Know what I mean? I think both Dylan and Dave were open about this being a "snap shot" (see also Harley Race). Anyway, despite all that, I really enjoyed this. Excellent show. And Exhibit A in why I feel still feel pretty inhibited about coming up with my own list. Still a few years off. This has also got me quite pumped for Puerto Rico.

Memphis 1.1 Bill Dundee vs. Larry Latham (4/19/80) Latham aka Moondog Spot has an awesome beard. Dundee giving up a size and weight advantage. Danny Davis the evil ref is a manager here? No, a different chap. Latham doesn't seem like he has much to do when he's on top. Dundee sells well. This was okay. **1/2 Memphis 1.2 Ricky Morton vs. Sonny King (4/26/80) Morton is pretty young here and almost good looking. He's virtually unrecognisable from a distance. This is being worked in a very amateur style. King is a big mean-looking guy, but he's keeping it on the mat. First five minutes have been rather scrappy. Trying to work out heel and face dynamics here. Guessing King is the heel, but hard to tell thus far. Now he's started to choke Morton and shout at the ref, which confirms it. The crowd is a bit quiet. A lot of struggle here and I've not seen Morton work a match like this before, but ... it never gets off the mat in 10 minutes. "Struggle" alone is not compelling to me. I'm never going to be that high on a match like this -- this is pro wrestling not the Olympics. ** Memphis 1.3 Bill Dundee vs. Paul Ellering (5/24/80) First look at Jimmy Hart here, nice moustache and hat Jimmy. Dundee has "Macho Man" written across his ass. Ellering has epic sideburns. Is this Paul Ellering of Road Warriors fame? He looks absolutely nothing like the man I know, even like the shape of his head and face are different. Weird if it's the same guy. Dundee controls the arm in the early segment. Ellering takes over. Before long gets Dundee in the bearhug who breaks it with a headbutt. Awesome spear-like move by Dundee. Goes for the slam but the weight of Ellering it too much. Kneelift. Elbow drop. Lateral press gets Ellering a 2 count. Big back drop. Neckbreaker. Bodyslam. Legdrop. Dundee is making Ellering look like a million bucks here, but we have to give the man on offense at least 50% credit if recent arguments are anything to go by, so I'm going to give Ellering equal credit for what was a decent heat segment. Ref bump and Jimmy Hart gets up on the apron. But Sonny King comes out to carry Hart away. And Dundee gets the win. This is more my sort of match. So Sonny King is a face after all or was that a turn? *** Memphis 1.4 Bill Dundee & Tony Boyles vs. Wayne Farris & Larry Latham (6/7/80) Speaking of unrecognisable, check out Farris here. Interesting to see him presented as to some extent a "big man" here. A lot of comedy miscommunication spots between Farris and Latham early doors. Tony Boyles. I don't know this guy. Up there with "rookie of the year" Steve Travis. He's our FIP here and the Blonde Bombers cut the ring in half. Dundee is pretty great as the fired-up guy on the apron busting to get in. Latham's FOUR big knee drops are pretty cool. Farris's punches and double axehandles actually look good to me. Latham has been very good during this FIP sequence. And that's it, they get the pin. Not a bad formula tag match ... interesting there was no hot tag. Post-match there's a great senseless and completely uncalled for beatdown on Boyle and Dundee. The increasingly angry protests from Lance Russell on commentary are highly amusing. Later an incredibly fired up Dundee kicks the shit out of Sgt. Danny Davis. The bombers are back. More heel beatdowns until Eddie Marlin comes to make the save. Davis powders him. Now Jerry Jarrett is here and flails at the heels with his belt. Lance Russell's constant "Okay Jerry that's enough!" calls are funny. The match alone was a C, but all the post-match goings on take it up to a ... ***1/2 Farris cuts a promo now. The accents on display are tremendous. Dave Brown comes and takes the mic from Russell. "What are you doing here? We don't need you Dave Brown. You just sit over there and play 'yes sir' to Lance Russell. You're a number 2, a stooge ..." awesome! Memphis 1.5 Bill Dundee vs. Tommy Rich (8/23/80) Looking forward to this. Starts out with a lot of energy. Crowd is wild for it. On commentary, they are talking about Billy Robinson being the world champion. CWA had its own world title?! Huh. This one has kept moving in the first 6 minutes. No one getting the upperhand thus far, there's a true sense of jockeying for position. Suplex by Rich. Gets a 2. Misses an elbow drop. Big running body slam by Dundee. Sleeper! I must pause here to compliment Jerry Calhoun on his awesomely tight white flares! Nice well-kept beard too. Cool ref. Snapmare by Dundee. Eats a backdrop. Flash inside cradle by Rich gets the pin! This was a pretty good match and easily the best one so far. ***1/2 There's some controversy as Rich caught Dundee in the groin. Post-match Rich cuts a great promo about how he never got a title shot 3 years ago, went alround the country to make a name for himself; and now he's come home. And now he turns on Lawler! Attacks his "pretty little suit" and calls him a "has been". Wow, this is a heel turn! He calls him a "big fat sissy". Rich starts shoving Lawler with his broken leg now. God, he pushed him over! This is fucking awesome stuff. "You cried the blues ... I come back to Tennessee brother!" Rich was great in this promo. I love the angles in Memphis so far, they are upstaging the matches. Back for 1981 later.

I've reached the 21. mark and there's still almost 2 hours left! At this stage, considering who is out already, I'm looking set to be heartbroken that my boy didn't make the cut on either list. Also, there's one guy who doesn't make Dylan's list who is a legit massive shock considering Dylan's ... for lack of a better term "gimmick" over the past 18 months or so.

My plan for this afternoon was to read a text I'm teaching next week and then write a lecture. What I'm actually doing is listening to this with a pen and a pad at the ready writing down the names as they come out. The lecture can wait. Dave has just started his list. How exciting.

Kelly, I just stumbled on this on KM, apparently Bobby Fulton of The Fantastics is to thank for this match being available: Wild Billy Curry vs. Luiz Martinez from 75/6 from Columbus, OH Vets Memorial. Filmed on 8mm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0qpi7ZPWtk Pretty wild brawl featuring what appears to be a piece of lead piping. Some good blood. The eyebrows are also in full effect.

Loving these. Lolled quite a bit at the Super 8 cameo.

Dave had been a WWF ref for ages. Earl was an NWA ref until really late in 87, possibly as late as January 88. Dave retired as an onscreen character after the incident and Earl became the main ref for the next 15 years or so. At least that's my understanding. I don't know how they transitioned Earl from evil twin to normal ref though. Or even if in kayfabe continuity they are even the same character.

Matysik shits all over Brown (and Central States in general) on the Talk57 booking sheets. That reminds me, I need to finish those soon. From watching the 1979 WWF stuff, I feel like I've become acclimatised to the pace and style of the era, and as much as possible I'm going to try to approach Brody and the St. Louis stuff in general with that context in mind. Looks like a lot of squashes though, because I don't recognise some of the names he's facing. There are quite a few promos and things. I'm hoping at least to get a SENSE of what it is that sparked the imaginations of that generation of fans. OJ - if this place is cropping up in your dreams, you may be spending too much time here.

Yeah just read through your comments now OJ and everyone else's. Glad to see that I'm not alone in my general marking out for Cota, never heard much about him before watching this stuff, but man is he awesome. Your Richard III stuff raised a smile from me too.

This time round, I'm going to leave podcast specific comments here and match reviews in the threads. 1. Johnny - do you see an argument for Dave Brown over Gene Okerlund? 2. Ole Anderson .. lmao 3. I saw this Robin Williams stand-up show once where he was sarcastic and even quite biting that I thought was pretty good. 4. All the different guys you said Cota looks like, he reminds me a little bit of The Master from Dr Who. Original Roger Delgado version: 5. Totally agree with Will that El Egipico and El Faraon could have mixed it up with any of the classic 80s babyface teams. 6. I swear I called Harley Race before you guys, check my notes. 7. Johnny, I should note that I'm not exactly a structure guy or a logic guy (though I do take those things into consideration). I'm a character guy before anything else. But that first 6-man on the set was totally chaotic to the point where I literally had no idea what was going on. I just couldn't follow it on the most basic level. This 6-man is one of my favourite ever 6-man matches though.

Have Will, Johnny and Kris plugged in for the first time watching. Comments in that thread. Lucha 2.1 Atlantis vs. El Satanico (1984) Like some of the stiffness in the early exchanges. The sea-saw surfboard thing was gnarly. Satanico's kicks to the gut look good. Backbreaker! And again. Nutshot for Satanico marks the transition. Big bump on the apron. Viciously goes after the mask now. Atlantis is cut open pretty bad. This is quickly turning into a brawl. Satanico is cut open now as the footage goes black and white. Two more backbreakers now from Atlantis. Awesome moment as Satanico just dumps Atlantis going for the victory roll. I liked that. Flying headbutt. And again ... misses! Submission win for Satanico. This was really good, but for some reason I wasn't all that emotionally invested in it. B+ Lucha 2.2 Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (1/27/84) Mocho Cota is one cool-looking evil son of a bitch. Some matwork to start. Really fluid matwork. Armdrag by Cota. I can't really describe any of the stuff I'm seeing but it's cool and the first fall was high quality. What the fuck??!! Cota has only 3 fingers?! Huh?! God. That shoulder barge by Cota into Rocca's arm was awesome, and now a great sick-looking arm wrench thing. Cota is one nasty muthafucka. This is one of the best arm-control sequences I can remember seeing. Great, effortless, back drop. Arm drag. Really enjoying this second fall. Senton. Unusual submission hold for 1-1. Really good. Things dropped off a tiny bit in this third fall until a very high dropkick and insane fucking dive out of the ring by Cota basically right into the crowd! Man, did he fly! I love this guy. Sick submission hold now. Reverse camel clutch thing now. Actual camel clutch now. Octopus. Eat your heart out Dean Malenko, this is the real man of 1001 holds right here. Ref bump. And a cheap pin. Thought this was awesome. My number #2 for the set so far. Possibly also just overtaken Bockwinkel vs. Billy Robinson as my favourite mat-based match. Really really excellent. A Lucha 2.3 Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (2/3/84) Cota is such an awesome douchebag heel. The guy is just absolutely right up my street. The way he carries himself, the way he's just such a little fucking dick! Awesome. This matwork is not quite as great so far as the first-fall of the last match. However, the face rub and heelish laughing was fucking great. Cota has been the stand-out character for me so far watching this stuff. Nice bulldog. This is more of a bomb-throwing affair than the last match. Massive backdrop. Running belly-to-back suplex. Awesome Alabama Jam into the victory roll for a very flashy fall. I thought this wasn't going to be as good as the last match but that was awesome. Very different style of match too. There's an interesting narrative developing with Cota having hurt the BACK of his head. I can't recall too many matches built around hurting the back of the head. Interesting. Rocca's selling of that snapmare is tremendous. Neckbreaker. Rocca is great at selling. Hmmm, not sure about this draw finish. But this was still pretty great. LOVING Cota. B+ Lucha 2.4 Atlantis y Lizmark vs. El Egipcio y El Faraón (2/17/84) Very sweet opening exchanges between Lizmark and Faraon to start. Lizmark just looks incredible. Faraon is one stiff, bruising heel. Love how he's sticking those forearms in. Awesome butterfly suplex. Hot first fall. This disc is shaping up to be pretty great so far. These heels are so fucking cool. Great slugfest between Faroan and Lizmark. Faraon is a total asskicker. Those kneelifts. YES! El Egipico, on the other hand, kicks like Lou Albano!! What the hell?! Pathetic feather-lite kicks. Lizmark unloads with the kicks now. El Egipico is like a chicken-shit sleazy wimp heel, Faraon is the bruiser. I get the impression that Egipico is not half the worker that Foraon is. This elmination business with the double pin is interesting. So now it's a one on one match? Knee to the balls for the instant DQ. This was a lot of fun, loved those heels, especially Faraon. Thought Lizmark looked absolutely awesome too. Atlantis as good as he's been so far too. B+ Lucha 2.5 El Faraón, Herodes y Mocho Cota vs. Lizmark, Ringo Mendoza y Tony Salazar (2/24/84) Oh awesome awesome awesome. Faraon and Cota teaming up! YES! And with the Mexican Hercules! Actually he looks more like a Mexican Harley Race here. First fall seemed super quick. This is a great heel beatdown here. Herodes looks great nailing the shots in. Tony Salazar is being totally killed here. Awesome stuff. And that's a DQ? lol, ok. Amazing visual of Salazar dangling over the apron as the heels just dickingly still kick him. Oh man, I fucking love this heel team. I fucking LOVE them. Awesome knee lift by Faraon. Great little cocky sneaky dipship deadleg by Cota on Lizmark. And now they go back to bullying poor Salazar. Ha ha ha ha. This is so great. Babyfaces coming back now and the crowd is pumped. TREMENDOUS bump into the turnbuckle by Herodes. Chaos breaking out now. Bodies and blood everywhere now. Oh my good, what an awesome blatant kick to the balls by Salazar for the payback, justice is done. Ah fuck it, I had so much fun watching this. I'm probably way overrating it, but I don't care, this was great. A What an awesome run of matches here. Cota is a new JvK hero. Faraon is just great as well.