NintendoLogic

Holy fuck. I can't decide if I want to lock the thread or see more genius Harley pics. I am still amped to see Slayer with Harley on drums. There's an opening at guitar, so that might be a better fit.

The only way you could think that Joe would have fared similarly to Bam Neely or Chris Harris in WWE is if you believe that working ability is completely irrelevant to the level of one's push. There's a huge difference between "consensus top 10 in the world" and "didn't look out of place against Jeff Jarrett." Sure, Joe would have had to do some slumming in the midcard. But I don't see how that's a dealbreaker if he's content to draw a paycheck in TNA. He's certainly not a headcase like Low Ki.

Dylan's constant pimping of Sami Callihan had me interested in his work, so I decided to check out a few of his matches. Based on what I've seen, I don't see what the big deal is supposed to be. He strikes me as a typical indy weeaboo who does lots of chops and lariats and fighting spirit no-selling. And he gets extra demerits for those thigh-slapping kicks. What should I check out that might change my mind?

I don't buy the argument that Curt was unfairly restrained by the shackles of the WWF. Guys like Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat were far more successful, from both a workrate standpoint and a distinctive/big impression one, while operating under similar constraints. EDIT: I should note that I consider the Bret match at KOTR a top ten match in WWF history.

Speaking of Heyman, Joe would probably benefit a lot from the original ECW if it were still around. He could drop in for a few months, wash off the stench of TNA, get his mojo back, and show up in WWE ready to kick ass.

I thought the match where Lawler won the AWA title was a huge disappointment, and it wasn't just because of Jackie Fargo's involvement. That would seem to lend credence to the notion that Hennig lacked adaptability.

Dan Spivey warrants special mention for rocking so many varieties of mullet. He had a classic mullet as the Golden Boy, a flattop mullet as a member of the Skyscrapers, and a quasi-skullet as Waylon Mercy.

Don't forget Magnum TA. Also, pretty much every 80s blowjob tag team.

I won't venture a guess as to which of the two was smarter, but swallowing barbed wire was pretty stupid. Granted, it was an accident, but putting yourself in a position where something like that might happen doesn't exactly qualify you for Mensa.

I never figured a guy with an Onita avatar would be so squeamish.

I have no idea how Edge would get a rep as a layout guy. If he's so good at putting matches together, why do almost all of his notable matches have some sort of gimmick as a crutch? How long would it take you to think of a memorable straight-up singles match involving Edge?

You can't overlook the importance of class as it pertains to this issue. There's a strong negative correlation between both wealth and education and wrestling fandom. We seem to be a pretty well-educated bunch here, so it's likely that the social circles a lot of us travel in are pretty far removed from the typical wrestling fan. There's also the fact that to a lot of people, wrestling is strongly associated with the South, which is another strike against it. As several of you have pointed out, reality TV is just as fake as wrestling, but it isn't regarded with nearly the same level of derision. That's because the real issue with wrestling isn't that it's a work. It's that the wrong kinds of people enjoy it. Fakeness is just a post hoc justification.

That actually would have been a good gag. Sandow could've said that Deep Blue wouldn't fit through the arena doors and played chess against the members of Deep Blue Something instead.

No, I'm saying that MITB is a B-PPV.

I think plenty of movie buffs would like to see studios like The Asylum go out of business. In fact, that's pretty much what TNA is: a mockbuster wrestling promotion.

But even if quite a few people hate TM/DK, just about every serious fan has seen it and has an opinion. By contrast, if you ask most Internet fans what they think of Backlund/Patera, you'll most likely get a blank stare in response.

You have to bring this up again? Things have been so peaceful. Nobody's mentioned Ric Flair, so the situation is still under control.

I'm in the same boat as Loss. Life is too short to sit through shitty matches before getting to a good one. Plus. the way I watch wrestling lends itself to individual matches. When I watch a match, I like to really pick it apart and figure out what works for me and what doesn't. But most matches don't reward that kind of attention. So if a match doesn't do something to reel me in at the outset, I end up either only half paying attention (like I do with Raw most weeks) or just turning it off.

I can't read the Babinsack piece. Can someone summarize it? Anyway, I think wrestling's biggest problem from a perception standpoint isn't so much that it presents itself as real when it's really fake as the view that the target demographics are children and rednecks. Well, I guess the real/fake thing kind of plays into that because a lot of people figure those are the only two groups dumb enough to think it's real.

So I was thinking, as I often do, about people's tastes and how they come to acquire them. It occurred to me that regardless of what one likes, there are certain matches that pretty much anyone who discusses wrestling on the Internet is exposed to at some point. I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of matches that have reached the Citizen Kane/Godfather tier where having seen them is a de facto requirement to be regarded as a serious fan. To make this list, a match has to have both popularity and (consensus) greatness. Various Fujiwara matches would fail on the former front, while something like Hogan/Andre would fail on the latter front. After a bit of brainstorming, I decided that the following matches would be on the list for sure: TM/DK, 4/21/83 Savage/Steamboat, WM3 Flair/Steamboat, COTC 6 HBK/Ramon ladder match, WM10 Pegasus/Sasuke, BOSJ 94 6/3/94 6/9/95 12/6/96 Hart/Austin, WM13 HBK/Taker HIAC Misawa/Kobashi, 3/1/03 What else?

I'm worried that having Bryan headline a B-PPV is setting him up for failure, intentionally or otherwise. He's not a Randy Orton type who will get shot after shot because he fits into preconceived notions of what a star looks like, so if MITB does average or worse numbers, he might get written off as someone fans don't buy as a top guy. That goes double if they do a rematch at Summerslam and it tanks.

Sounds to me like IRS is the babyface in that situation.

HHH is always a safe choice.

I don't know about global warming denial, but having lived through a major nuclear disaster I can tell you I will never take activists at their word ever again. Holy non sequitur, Batman!

Between the BrickHithouse Photoshops and the continuation of the Jerry/jdw feud, this thread is loaded. It's the Wrestlemania X-7 of threads.