Tabe

Ric Flair.

In a shock to no one, I pick shoot style. Han, Tamura, Kohsaka, Kopylev - basically the RINGS guys

Is that really a wrestling taunt though? Most fighting sports, non-predetermined or otherwise, do use belts as trophies. Questionable, especially given the context. Still, seems like more a wrestling gesture than boxing.

My four would be, well, the Four Horsemen: 1) Tully Blanchard - all-time elite in the ring and promo. 2) Ric Flair - 'nough said. 3) Arn Anderson - great in the ring, great promo, could be a great face or heel, etc 4) Barry Windham - all-time elite in the ring before he got fat, great face, great heel, and a good talker, too

Please understand I mean this in the most respectful manner possible but... The pace of uploads the last couple months has not been close to what was promised. I appreciate that the Roku app somehow got in the way - though I fail to see how - but that's small comfort to those of who don't care about the Roku. Love the service, Bruce, but please do better.

In the early 90s, after Bob Probert beat Tie Domi in a hockey fight at the Garden, Red Wings Captain Steve Yzerman did the belt gesture at his waist.

Holy crap, somebody agrees with me!

Apparently some footage surfaced on Disc 2 of the JCP Good Old Days documentary. No idea what's on there but I might check it out soon. I can't remember what all is on there but it's REAAAAALY disappointing. Like 15 minutes of footage, not worth much at all.

This is a fair point. One of my favorite finishes of all-time is the Steamboat/Youngblood vs Briscos match from Starrcade '83. The finish isn't some huge move/finisher but rather the culmination of damage. Do a move, 2.8 count, do another - 3 count. It makes sense and it worked in that match. That said, I just feel like a match like LBOA needs a bigger ending. Pull Rich's piledriver from earlier in the match and stick it after the slam into the cage for your finish.

My cheeky radar must be on the fritz today

You've got to tell us what you don't like about the post-match! If you're talking about the piledriver through the table, I don't think I've ever seen anyone be down on that. Just sheer curiosity. It's everything - the god-awful acting from Funk, the incredible obviousness of the angle, the terrible execution of the piledriver, the fact that I hate angles after title wins, the whole nine yards. I just hate everything about it.

Technically the main event was Gilbert and Rick Steiner vs. Sullivan and Spivey....5 stars? But did you mean Flair-Steamer and then the post-match angle with Flair-Funk? 1 star for Flair and Funk and the table piledriver? Yeah, that would be a singular opinion... Surely you've seen enough wrestling to know that the main event isn't always the last match. For decades in the WWF, the main events (and they were announced as such) went in the middle of the card. Exact same thing as WrestleWar '89.

Barnett got us the raw footage from 1987. Any uncut stuff from 1986 is not circulated (to my knowledge).

For me, the match and the post-match are separate. The post-match can help the whole experience but the two are basically distinct to me. For example, in an opinion that I alone hold, the WrestleWar 89 main event? 5 stars. The post-match? 1 star.

Spent some time thinking about it and this is my list so far for Holy Grails: Misawa vs Kobashi, 3/97 (Carnival match - Kobashi's first win over Misawa; NOT the finals) Backlund vs Race, 11/7/80 (St. Louis rematch) Backlund vs Race, 2/23/78 (Florida) Fantastics vs Sheepherders, 4/19/86 (Crockett Cup) Rogers vs Sammartino, 1963 Sammartino vs Morales, 1971 (Shea) Sammartino vs Hansen, 1976 (FULL neck-break match) Backlund vs Masked Superstar, MSG, 11/83 Memphis Texas Death Tag match Hogan vs Jake Roberts, Providence(?) Flair vs Windham, 90-min draws Hogan vs Race, St. Louis, 10/83

Apology accepted!

Maybe throw a Frankensteiner or two in there too right? Yeah, that's clearly what I'm advocating.

I agreed with Childs. My repost from Facebook: I thought it was OK. Super bloody but not enough hate. I thought the finish was kinda weak. Couple dumb spots, like the Rich piledriver that came out of nowhere. Too much selling of mutual exhaustion, too. I wonder if the crowd was tired of the feud? They were not into it nearly as much as I expected and were way more heated for the followup match. Speaking of which, the whole thing struck me as a way for Ole to put himself over. There was no need for the second match at all, then Ole is the one getting attacked with a weapon and double-teamed. If all seemed to me his way of taking the spotlight back from Tommy. And then to have Buzz and Tommy teaming together a month later... **1/2

Flair/Veneno exists, in full. A documentary was put up on YouTube about 2 years ago that included all (or nearly all) of the famous match. I believe it's no longer up.

It's the full thing - 29 minutes of footage, including intros and the followup cage match.

Correction -- all gone. Really odd. Clicked on 1981 & 82 and saw a ton of files, went back and now its all empty. I'm still seeing everything. Maybe it's frequency capped? This must be it, everything's still showing for me. Indeed looks to be the case. Crisis averted! Is this ditch's list? It's the collection of a guy named Drakkhim. He basically set a goal to acquire every available All Japan match and organize it and this was the result.

Another one: I like David Crockett as an announcer.

I can see your point in reference to the WCW show. Week after week of squashes with an occasional Superstation Championship Challenge Series thrown in. But Worldwide and Pro were both waaaaay more than just squashes. All the hot angles happened on them and they had TONS of big matches, including a then-unheard-of world title switch.

Tully Blanchard was the most complete wrestler in the Four Horsemen. Much more varied style in the ring than Flair, more varied promo guy than Flair, and could work with anyone.