NintendoLogic

If I was one of the 2000, I would have asked for my money back. All those finishes sound like dogshit. EDIT: WCW ran the Forum again on May 21 of that year and drew exactly half as many fans (2500 total, 1000 paid). Looks like the March show killed the town for them. Well, even more so.

ESPN did eventually air the syndicated episodes of World Class, but according to Gary Hart's book, the original offer was for them to produce a show specifically for ESPN. He said Fritz turned them down because they wanted to air the show alongside roller derby in prime time and he didn't want wrestling to be looked at like roller derby. If they had ended up on ESPN, it likely would have hastened the deaths of both World Class and the AWA. Kerry was a ticking time bomb and would have self-destructed even faster with a national spotlight. And ESPN money was the only thing propping the AWA up by the late 80s. As for why Slaughter never won the AWA title, it could be that they thought he was over enough on his own and didn't need the belt to draw. And Verne received a hefty booking fee from All Japan for the right to promote Hansen as AWA champion.

The Hart Foundation seemed to have cracked the code for having great tag matches in the WWF environment. Rather than an interminable heel in peril segment followed by face in peril, they work a more abbreviated heel in peril followed by a double-FIP heat segment with Bret invariably cutting off the first hot tag with a knee to the lower back in the ropes. Along with referee leniency allowing liberal run-ins from both sides, it gives their best matches the feel of a high-end Japanese tag rather than a high-end Southern tag. In the beginning, none of Brunzell's holds or strikes faze Neidhart, so he has to catch the big guy off guard with a drop toehold. From there, the Bees go to work on Neidhart's legs. The tide turns when Bret crushes Blair's windpipe with a leg drop while he has Neidhart in a figure four. The work on Blair is nothing to write home about, but the subsequent work on Brunzell is out of this world. It's not quite Can-Ams vs. Kobashi/Kikuchi-level punishment, but it's about as close as you'll get in this company during this period. The goal, of course, is to build anticipation for Brunzell's dropkick, and it's a thing of beauty when it happens. I've been hard on Neidhart in the past, but he was a net positive contributor to this match. His best work was as the illegal man providing well-timed interference. Blair has some nice punches off the hot tag, and there's a pretty insane series of nearfalls down the stretch. I actually didn't know the outcome going in, so the finish took me by surprise. Also, I had forgotten that time limits were still a thing in the WWF at this point.

Update: Tag Team Time Limit Draw Edition 95. Toshiaki Kawada/Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yuji Nagata/Takashi Iizuka (NJPW, 12/14/00) The last time I watched this, I decided it was a match that I liked but didn't quite love. I must have been in a mood that day, because this rules. The exchanges in the opening minutes won't knock your socks off, but they do serve a purpose in establishing the sleeper as Fuchi's kryptonite. Things pick up once Fuchi starts going to work on Iizuka's leg. Kawada and Fuchi are both well-practiced at inflicting pain and injury, and not only do they put Iizuka through the wringer, they give Nagata the business to prevent him from making saves. It's that kind of attention to the other team's partner that makes it a true contest of teams rather than a series of loosely connected singles matchups, more Marvel vs. Capcom than Capcom vs. SNK. The setup to the hot tag to Nagata is quite unique and inspired. Iizuka applies a sleeper to Fuchi when he tries to run in, which initially looks like a major blunder because Iizuka has turned his back on Kawada, the legal man. But he manages to hold on long enough to put Fuchi completely out of commission. Kawada has to tend to his partner, giving Iizuka a clear path to make the tag. Some tremendous drama down the stretch, particularly in the final minute. You get the sense that Nagata would have finished Fuchi off if only he had prevented him from tagging out. He came up just short, so Kawada and Nagata go hunting for the knockout. This is the rare match that feels completely fulfilling while leaving enough on the table to leave you wanting more. ****1/2 128. Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees (WWF, 2/17/86) The Hart Foundation seemed to have cracked the code for having great tag matches in the WWF environment. Rather than an interminable heel in peril segment followed by face in peril, they work a more abbreviated heel in peril followed by a double-FIP heat segment with Bret invariably cutting off the first hot tag with a knee to the lower back in the ropes. Along with referee leniency allowing liberal run-ins from both sides, it gives their best matches the feel of a high-end Japanese tag rather than a high-end Southern tag. In the beginning, none of Brunzell's holds or strikes faze Neidhart, so he has to catch the big guy off guard with a drop toehold. From there, the Bees go to work on Neidhart's legs. The tide turns when Bret crushes Blair's windpipe with a leg drop while he has Neidhart in a figure four. The work on Blair is nothing to write home about, but the subsequent work on Brunzell is out of this world. It's not quite Can-Ams vs. Kobashi/Kikuchi-level punishment, but it's about as close as you'll get in this company during this period. The goal, of course, is to build anticipation for Brunzell's dropkick, and it's a thing of beauty when it happens. I've been hard on Neidhart in the past, but he was a net positive contributor to this match. His best work was as the illegal man providing well-timed interference. Blair has some nice punches off the hot tag, and there's a pretty insane series of nearfalls down the stretch. I actually didn't know the outcome going in, so the finish took me by surprise. Also, I had forgotten that time limits were still a thing in the WWF at this point. ****1/2

Note what he said right before that paragraph: The company (WWE) has done everything that they can to make it the safest work environment possible. It is not the workplace that I was necessarily concerned about. Kind of hard for the workers to stick together when the guys on top are such blatant corporate shills.

It could be just that they need someone to keep the belt warm in the current environment so they can save the big money matches for when they can draw real crowds. It's certainly not the ideal option, but it may be the least bad one.

When Sam Muchnick ran the NWA, there were occasional screwjob finishes in title matches, but he was adamant that every program had to end with the champion going over clean so there would be no doubt that he was the best in the world. After he lost power in the mid-70s, screwjobs became the rule rather than the exception as the focus became making the local star look like the uncrowned world champion. That model stopped being viable with the rise of things like VCRs and cable television. With modern technology, it was no longer possible for Flair or Race to come into town and escape by the skin of his teeth without people being aware that the same thing was happening in every other territory. I do think long heel title reigns can work under certain circumstances, but they have to end with the heel decisively getting his ass kicked and then fading out of the title picture. Honky Tonk Man and JBL come to mind.

The obvious difference is that whether an event took place is something that can be objectively verified while the quality of a match is a matter of subjective taste.

I've never understood the affinity some fans have for long-term heel champions. Wrestling is escapist entertainment. Why would I want to watch something centered around someone the viewers are supposed to consider unlikable and undeserving? If I want to see vice unpunished and virtue unrewarded, I can just turn on the news. The real world is shitty enough. I don't need my entertainment to be shitty.

Hopefully Morton can give the AEW crew some pointers on how to set up a proper hot tag. Simultaneous tags are the cancer that is killing tag team wrestling.

There's no place for an aspiring manager to go to learn their craft. Vince thinks managers are too Southern, and most indies don't have the budget to bring in someone who doesn't wrestle and isn't a proven commodity.

I don't know what you're talking about, bubba.

You have my blessing. Making it into someone's sig is the culmination of a lifelong dream.

I absolutely do not want to see Vickie in an on-screen role. Her work as a manager in WWE was pretty terrible, and she's nowhere near a good enough promo to serve as a pure mouthpiece. She's most effective as a heel authority figure, which is the last thing AEW needs.

Blindfold matches are always terrible, but even that would be a million times better than a fucking match where the goal is to gouge your opponent's eye out. I mean, seriously. How do the police not shut that down immediately? There's no way that can be legal even in the cartoon world of pro wrestling.

I don't remember any details about the fight, I'm afraid. I just remember Kawada walking around a Zelda-esque top-down overworld map before entering a room that happened to be the laundry room Kerry and I were in.

An eye for an eye match sounds like something FMW would have done. They weren't kidding about Extreme Rules being The Horror Show.

I've had a few wrestling-related dreams myself. The other night, I dreamt that Kerry Von Erich and I put a Labrador retriever in a washing machine to clean it off. Soon after, I realized I'd made a horrible mistake because the dog would probably drown. Then Toshiaki Kawada showed up and they had a fight.

In a lot of territories, they couldn't plan out matches to any real degree even if they wanted to because babyfaces and heels couldn't be seen in public together and had separate dressing rooms. There were times when the first time a wrestler saw his opponent in person was when they were introduced in the ring.

Case in point:

Laying out matches beforehand has apparently been standard practice for a while in Mexico. Konnan's Observer HOF bio mentions that his match with Flair at Bash at the Beach 1996 was the first of his career that was called entirely in the ring.

The median age of WWE's viewers has been over 50 for the past several years, so it might be a good idea to rethink the vest-with-cool-logo strategy for bringing in the little Jimmies. Even if Roman's current vest isn't as tactical as the one he wore in the Shield, it's still more protection than anyone else on the roster wears. It sets him apart in a bad way because it makes it seem like he has an unfair advantage. That was fine when he was a heel enforcer for the Authority, but it's a bad look for a top babyface.

Oh, come on. This is a message board. There's no need to preface everything with "in my opinion." That should be a given.

He could always go for the singlet/pants combo like Sgt. Slaughter and the Bushwhackers.

The story as I understand it is that DDP gave Undertaker a script for their match at Summerslam and Taker threw it away without even looking at it. DDP already had heat for not taking flat back bumps to feed babyface comebacks, and that incident solidified him as a WCW guy who didn't know how to work in the eyes of the office.