Ricky Jackson

Vince booked the Streak. Why would he book something he didn't want?

I get that, but that sentence doesn't make any sense. How was Johnny calling him out?

"If you're going to call me out for what you feel is undeserved amateur psychology of Vince McMahon, that was darn insensitive." I don't understand what you mean here

There's a photo of Hansen wrestling Flair in a recent Fighting Spirit mag, so it definitely happened. Suspect it was the Carolinas though. According to wrestlingdata their singles encounters happened in Georgia, including two shows at the Omni in 82 and 84 for the NWA title

He's still having trouble coming to terms with that fact

Yes, that is a great book. In a similar vein and equally as good is the Gorgeous George biography from 2008

I've considered it. I once produced 4-5 videos of selected biography segments from early Titans of Wrestling shows, and those were time consuming. Also considered a youtube podcast, which evolved into Titans Xtra. Basically I don't think it's really worth the extra effort as far as attracting new listeners is concerned, but who knows, I may try again sometime in the future

I recommend both, but some do find Hornbaker's prose better suited for a textbook

I had a blast doing this show with Marty "Superstar" Sleeze for the past year, so check it out if you haven't already. 1985-1987 WWF tag wrestling is thoroughly discussed, as well as special topics like Tommy Rogers of the Fantastics and the Midnight Rockers vs Buddy Rose and Doug Somers feud from the AWA. https://soundcloud.com/jerryvonkramer/sets/tag-teams-back-again Look out for the next episode, and first of 2016, Part 2 of our history of the Strike Force vs the Islanders feud, within a week!

Sharpe was a pushed mid carder with Albano as his manager when he debuted in 1983. He even had a shot at Backlund in the Spectrum. By 1986, yes, he was a jobber.

Look back on the year that was for the Fabulous Four, or listen to any eps you may have missed (including the secret 3rd 1970s Mid Atlantic show!), all here in this handy playlist https://soundcloud.com/jerryvonkramer/sets/titans-2015

With hindsight you could argue that they shouldn't have ended the Streak when they did, but I think Vince made the right call at the time. He thought Roman was going to be over enough a year later to get the rub from beating the man who ended the Streak, but he was off by a year

It's all good now

That stuff doesn't really bother me, honestly. And I think he used other spots, like being crotched in the ropes for instance

I've found Bret to be maybe the best overall worker in the tag matches we've reviewed from 85-87, with a pretty varied collection of opponents. Definitely has the best offense

Kerry vs Flair from Hawaii is on youtube in 5 or so parts

I'm pretty sure I'll be the high vote on Tito. And Savage, Backlund, Piper, Bruno, Roberts...

This era provided me with some of my fondest memories as a fan, but also almost drove me away completely when months and months of utter banality finally broke me sometime around April 1995. The great memories I have centre around me and 3 of my teenage buddies and our obsession with pro wrestling at a time when it was maybe as uncool as it has ever been. I was the most hardcore fan, of course, the only one who collected the mags, but my friend Kevin was close. From late 91 to roughly late 94 a significant part of our lives revolved around consuming wrestling. We went to closed circuit showings of PPVs, local indy shows in a skid row area of Calgary, had a backyard wrestling thing going, rented and re-rented CHV tapes, and even did some fantasy booking. We were total fucking nerds about it. I'll get into more later. Christmas and all that

Yeah, maybe it was logical, but it was unprecedented and felt totally like something that was just made up on the fly to get the belt back on Hogan. Plus it totally shattered the illusion that titles were important at a time before switches became common place. And it really didn't make much sense by the kayfabe rules of the time, like if George Foreman challenged Riddick Bowe to an impromptu fight after he had just beat Evander Holyfield, to use a contemporary example, and it was allowed to go forward and Foreman knocked Bowe out.

It's called Imaginary Stories, with me and Johnny Sorrow. So far we've done 3 episodes. The focus is on classic comics of course. Ep 1: New Teen Titans Ep 2: Dick Tracy Ep 3: What If...? http://placetobenation.com/?s=Imaginary+Stories+

Watching the start of the latest NXT and you have a 4-way tag match with a super hot crowd, where every team is over, and it struck me, is NXT the hottest a wrestling "promotion" has been on a national level since about 2000 and the peak of the Attitude Era? Granted it is on a small scale, but there is just such a buzz around NXT right now and a feeling that this is, dare I say, cool in a way it seems pro wrestling hasn't been in ages. Pretty much everyone on the roster top to bottom is over, very reminiscent of Attitude Era WWF

Loss suggested this topic in the Hogan Mania IX thread and it really struck me as something cool to discuss. I moved the year back to 1991 because I think that is the year when a lot of the themes that would dominate the period develop, eg. the steroid scandal comes to the public's attention, WCW business plunges, general interest in pro wrestling in greater pop culture waned noticeably during the year, etc. For me, I was a fan during this whole period, funny enough getting into wrestling again in late 91 after being mostly off it since mid 89. I have a lot of fond memories of this time that I'll get into at a later date. It truly was the most dire time for pro wrestling in my lifetime, business wise, relevancy wise, and quality of gimmicks wise. 2015 is nowhere near as bad. At the same time there was a lot of good, for me the rise of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in WWF.

That's really awesome. Thanks

I'm actually thinking about developing a biographies spin-off show. Mostly to impress people at parties by telling them I have 3 wrestling podcasts (plus a comic book one)

Thanks for the thoughtful response brain. Your comments on Hogan made me realize that the perfect companion piece to this Piper tribute would be an equally thorough Hogan retrospective. Something to look forward to in 2016 fans!