Ricky Jackson

Amazingly charismatic heel with an iconic look and super impressive track record as a draw. His matches with Bruno are great. Also created magic with Dusty RIP

First episode is basically just a primer on pro wrestling/wrestling sleaze, with a lengthy discussion at the end on the Von Erich tragedy we've all heard a million times (but they were apparently unaware of the death of the first son, Jack). Going forward this is going to be an interesting listen, but if the first episode is any indication, the timeline for various events is likely to be pretty misleading, like a Hollywood biopic (for example, it was implied that Brody died shortly after David Von Erich, when it was more than 4 years later)

Very funny stuff (the bit speculating on the origin of the dropkick was hilarious) but the amount of inaccuracies in Evans' early history of wrestling at MSG had this former history of wrestling at MSG podcast host nearly screaming at my phone. Also, in strange pronunciation watch, "Muchnick" in Sam Muchnick is pronounced "Mooch-nick"

The life and times of Vince Jr is the subject of a 6 part deep dive featured on a pretty popular podcast. I'm not a regular listener but my wife is. Thought I'd give it a shot, mostly so I could compare notes with her. I listened to the first half hour last night. The host, Robert Evans, is not a wrestling fan (and he pronounces wrestling as "resselling" in that non-fan way that annoys the shit out of me) but he's clearly put in a lot of research here. I'm at the part where Evans and his guests are discussing George Hackenschmidt and the early days of wrestling. Good stuff so far, including info on the origins of working dating to 1830s France that I dont think I've heard before. Interested in what others think about this

Yeah, just rewatched that match recently with some folks who are not major old school fans and everyone loved it. One can only wonder how Thesz vs Gagne would stack up with the all time great rivalries if we had the footage to judge. Surprisingly, they seemingly didn't wrestle each other a lot, only 16 results on Wrestlingdata. If it was somehow possible, I would love to see their final battle from 1967 and see how it compares to the 1/1952 match, held in the same arena

Valentine also has strong MSG bouts against Bruno and DeNucci. Pat Patterson is another WWF guy from 79. Top stuff with Backlund but also with a young Dibiase over the North American title. Plus great promos

That was my first thought when seeing this list too. Everyone, save for Theory, has been around wrestling in one way or another FOREVER

One of the great mysteries of the universe. Same spot, same clothes, for every big show for God knows how many years now

Oh and great reviews btw. Just noticed this thread this morning. Keep it up

Backlund has a very good 1981, probably the best year of his reign IMO. 1982 is quite strong as well. The well begins to dry up opponents wise in late 82, and 83 is clearly a "past its expiry date" situation, although with some highlights (still need to see that match vs Koloff from MSG). By the time you get to the buzz cut, singlet and loss of muscle, the bread has turned green with mold

I need to check out that July 80 Larry Z vs Putski. I see they also wrestled on the June Spectrum show, which was apparenly televised but doesn't seem to be out there

As someone who doesn't watch AEW, what is the context of the pic on the Baker T shirt?

Definitely a lot of classic WWF matches from 85-87 MLG, particularly involving the combination of Steamboat, Savage or Santana. Great unique look and atmosphere. Toronto fans were pretty rowdy. In fact, the famous ramp was first installed in (I believe) the late 40s because heels were getting abused so badly on their way to the ring, including stabbings

I believe it was because of a misunderstanding in translation dating from the beginning of Americans wrestling in Japan and it just stayed that way, kinda like the 60 feet 6 inches distance from the mound to home plate in baseball, which came from a misreading of a 0 as a 6 in the original write up

Sky Hi Lee was a major star in Calgary in the 50s. I've always loved the name, like a Dick Tracy villain or something

I don't think there is any Bruno v Hansen 1981 footage. The Rocky Raymond Boston footage ends around 1980 I believe. Boston, even more so than New York, really was Bruno's city. Pedro had trouble drawing consistently there in the early 70s (they even brought in the Sheik for a shot to pop a house when he was basically banned from the rest of the territory) and Bruno would often work the main event feud in Boston instead of Backlund, against Maivia, Patterson, and Slaughter, in addition to Hansen. Not to mention his 85-87 old man run where he was used in Boston on top way more than in any other major city

That match caused a bunch of folks here to lose their minds insisting it was the closest we've come to transcendent brilliance in wrestling or something. 2016 was kinda a weird time for this board

There is a reason this place is called Pro Wrestling Only. Let's can the political bs. We get it, the world is full of a bunch of pussies these days, blah blah blah

So basically we had the "Levesque Spring" and now Vince and the tanks have rolled in and crushed all hope

I think it has a pretty good chance of being a very interesting read. It's completely free of any Vince involvement afaik, so it should be a no holds barred look. The excerpt from the publishers site suggests it will be thorough if nothing else https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Ringmaster/Abraham-Riesman/9781982169442

Bravo

I've made that mistake before. I think many/most non-Americans think it is an independent country

Probably Bruiser Bedlam

If you never post again, you have still contributed one of the greatest things I've ever read on this board

Blassie was on with Ali hyping the Inoki match in 76, but that was with McLean Stevenson guest hosting