NintendoLogic

I'm just saying that it was supposedly at that point that the RSPW types stopped reflexively attributing his push to nepotism and conceded that he could work. Kind of like what the hour-long Raw match with HBK did for a lot of people regarding John Cena. You can disagree if you want, but not having been there, it strikes me as plausible.

The third hour of RAW usually dips no matter what is on. Sure, but the drop has been even more pronounced in recent weeks.

Hasn't the Brie/Stephanie storyline been a ratings albatross?

So is anyone else even remotely troubled by the fact that two guys with Confederate flags on their asses were presented as heroic babyfaces? Whenever I watch this match, I root for Lane and Eaton to beat them within an inch of their lives.

Scott Keith has claimed that the Vader match marked the point where smart fans finally accepted Dustin. Is there any basis to that?

There's actually some hopeful precedent. Recall the shockingly great Steph/Trish match from NWO 2001.

I had thought my list was pretty well set in stone, but I've gone and made another semi-major revision. Specifically, I've dropped the more technical/mat-based matches in favor of more straightforward hard-hitting wrestling. New to the list are Duggan/DiBiase, Luger/Steamboat, Steamboat/Douglas vs. Windham/Pillman, Windham/Scorpio, Hash/Yamazaki, and Akiyama/Misawa, replacing Baba/Robinson, Satanico/Cochisse, Savage/Steamboat, Dandy/Casas, Bret/Owen, and Kong/Toyota. My initial plan was to try to expand my list to 100, but in the end I felt better whittling it down again.

That was directed at me? Dude, why would you want to dump that project on me? I thought we were bros.

I think it's the exact opposite. My theory is that a lot of heel fans grew up watching promotions where the heels never really got their comeuppance.

How did I know this would turn into a Flair thread?

So as I'm sure a few of you have noticed, I haven't really been around in a while. Part of that is due to my return to gainful employment, which has afforded me less time to dick around on the Internet. But the bigger reason is that I just haven't been that interested in wrestling lately. Then again, I tend to be hot-and-cold with my interests. One day I'm borderline obsessed with something, the next day I hardly care about it at all. But there's always been this voice in the back of my head reminding me "You know, this wrestling shit is pretty fucking cool", and I've started to listen to it. I recently watched some matches on my computer for the first time in months, and I definitely feel my interest returning. So I was just curious. Do any of you ever feel the need to take a break from wrestling? If so, is there anything in particular that sucks you back in?

The only I see this even being a difficult decision is if you're a really big fan of the Attitude Era, NOAH, and/or ROH. Or current New Japan, I guess.

I wouldn't call New Japan a workrate alternative to WWE, but it does provide greater stylistic variety. For better or worse, you'll never see a match like Nakamura/Sakuraba or Ishii/Shibata in WWE. Also, 90s All Japan is the best thing ever. Literally the best thing.

There was a fascinating tidbit in Dave's Warrior obit. Apparently, the AMA used to claim that steroids didn't aid in muscle growth and that any apparent gains were due to water retention. Given that, I can understand how a lot of bodybuilder types would end up being skeptical of claims of the health risks posed by steroids.

I think it's neat that Queen Elizabeth gave Kate the rub before leaving the territory.

When did Sting have a match with Sid that was way better than HBK/Sid at Survivor Series? My personal pick would be Misawa in 1995.

Was that a fair assessment, in everyone's opinion? I don't remember him being anything special. But the "worst"? I don't know about that. ESPN wouldn't hire crap, would they? Considering how bad WWE announcing is, I wonder if Grisham was held back by the "talk about everything except the match" style, being yelled at from the headset, etc. It's...it's Christian.

Bob Holly talks about the Wellness Program in his book. According to him, all the drug testing is done by urinalysis, which doesn't pick up HGH. So if you have a prescription for testosterone and combine it with HGH, you're good to go. The thing is that HGH costs a couple grand a month, so only the top guys can afford to do that. The undercard guys have to settle for cheaper stuff like deca and hope they don't get busted.

I'm pretty sure WM17 did over 1 million domestic.

There are superficial similarities between Bryan and Benoit, but there are some fundamental differences. There wasn't a groundswell of fan support that forced WWE to put Benoit in the main event. He was given the belt because HHH had run through everyone on Raw and they needed someone to keep the belt warm until Orton and Batista were ready.

Regardless of how good WWE has been lately from an in-ring and booking standpoint, it's rather unfortunate that they're continuing the asinine tradition of feuds that start with the babyface winning clean and going from there.

Another one for me would be the 8/23/85 Funk/Hansen match. It finished in the middle of the pack in DVDVR voting, but I thought it was the best of their matches together.

She did express regret over getting involved with wrestling because she thought it hurt her career. I can see how people in the business might be bitter over that.

Nakamura/Sakuraba strikes me as a rather odd choice. From what I've seen, that match has received close to universal praise. As for me, I'm one of the few who rates the Savage/Warrior Summerslam match above their WM7 match. And I'm probably the only person who rates Hogan/Andre at least as highly as Hansen/Andre.

Maybe not, but it'd still be nice to have everything important gathered together in a single piece.