Ricky Jackson

Is this a new LHP or a random rerun of the Michael Landon one?

It works on so many levels.

Thanks again for listening Chad. 6/3/94 is a cliche pick amongest puro experts for sure, and it was really hard to narrow it down to two matches to represent all of Japanese wrestling history, but, damn, it really is an awesome fuckin' match. Definitely a crowd pleaser. Thanks so much for the complements. I know we talked about this before, but if the spot is free, you can pencil me in for Havoc 91 with you and Parv on Big Boys, whenever that may happen. I had a blast doing Bash 89.

It's awesome that the smark darling and the smark pariah are dating twins.

Good show guys. "Santa Tully" is my new favorite fantasy angle.

He's my current favorite wrestler as well. I never thought about the Owen comparison before, but when you think about it, that is maybe the wrestler he is most similar to overall, and not just because of the Team Hell No stuff either.

How widespread was the steriod scandal reported in the mainstream US press? I don't really remember reading about it in the Calgary papers at the time, but I do remember tabloid TV shows like A Current Affair covering it. I know the Apter mags covered some of it, or at least the sex scandal part involving Patterson and Phillips, but I don't remember how in depth they went.

Looking back, A&E really went wrestling crazy at the time, with multiple Biography episodes and that Unreal Story of Pro Wrestling doc they ran a million times, on top of airing Wrestling With Shadows.

God, they can't possibly run a Cena/Orton feud again, can they?

Vince was the booker, at least for the big picture stuff, during the 80s and most (maybe just half?) of the 90s. At some point in the 90s it seems he decided to let others to do most of the day-to-day booking, but I've never really been sure of the exact timeline, or how much credit Patterson deserves for the 80s/90s stuff, etc. But maybe I'm totally wrong.

You should watch Raw from the night after Mania, Jerry. Way more fun. Your countrymen take over the crowd and turn it into a soccer match atmosphere.

I don't remember him having one with Edge either.

I usually think current WWE is pretty lacklustre, but God, compared to this era of WCW... :o :o :o It really was just the most awful crap ever. I mean, just thinking of Hogan doing the Hulkamania schtick again and everybody pretending the NWO years never happened and Sting being such a dumbass and, fuck, IT GETS WORSE WHEN RUSSO TAKES OVER!!!!!! El-P, I don't know how you do it. Or why. Makes for a great thread, though.

Episode 3 is now up for your listening pleasure. Rejoice! Wrestling talk returns to The Fringe Scholars as Moss and I explore Wrestling from Japan http://fringescholars.wordpress.com/ I promised non-WWE talk in the past, so here we go. I do not profess to be an expert on puro, although I do love to watch it and research it. In this episode I give a general overview of the history of wrestling from Japan, hitting the major points and names, and examine some of the differences between Japanese wrestling and North American wrestling. Then, Moss and I review two matches --Terry Funk/Hansen, 4/14/83 and Misawa/Kawada, 6/3/94--becoming almost giddy in the process. So enjoy, guys. As always, any and all feedback is welcome. In the next episode I deconstruct one of the great classics of the art form, the Chamber of Horrors match from Halloween Havoc 91.

When he stays away from trying to push the "Reality Era" and other bullshit postmodern theories, like he mostly did with his last column, he can be pretty good. His piece on Bruno was just really, really bad and embarrassing.

What gets over is what gets over.

The proposed year long build to a Rock/Brock match didn't sound very appealing.

So Meltzer is reporting Rock has gone home and there is chaos backstage this afternoon. Anybody know anything more?

I missed the first three matches and only half-watched Jericho/Fandango. Taker/Punk was really good. It seems I liked HHH/Lesnar more than anybody else around here but it was hurt by the dead crowd. Rock/Cena was better than last year but the finish was as predictable as they come. Considering how underwhelming the last year or so of WWE has been, this is about as good as one would expect Mania to be. The last 4 or 5 Mania's all feel the same to me anyway.

I'm jealous.

The highlights of Backlund's HoF speech read just as crazy as I hoped they would.

Germany has a national wrestling mag similar looking to the French one above, with a lot of the show reviews taken straight from the WON.

Yeah, I had a "didn't someone just recently review this match?" feeling when I wrote this up last night. I was too lazy to check. Honestly, I totally forgot there was even a Bockwinkel thread, let alone a 6 page one that was only started in January.

OK, time for something good. This is prime Savage, not the sad version El-P is subjecting himself to in 1999. Vs. Nick Bockwinkel, 4/15/85, Memphis This is near the end of Savage's run in Memphis and only a couple of months before he joined the WWF. Wild start with Savage attacking Bock before the bell. Savage is out of control and Bock is fired up, and only seconds into the match they are brawling outside the ring. Questions for those more familiar with Memphis history than I: 1) Who was the announcer? It's not Russell. 2) Who was Dutch Newman, Savage's manager? I don't think I've heard of him before. Savage and Bockwinkel are going at it like they are in a heated feud with each other. Were they? This is a total brawl. Savage takes a licking from Bock early, so more signature Savage selling. Savage breaks out his famous foreign-object-in-the-trunks spot and takes control. Even though Bock is the babyface he wrestlers very viciously, and this match is almost like a battle of two heels at times. Man, and no shock to those going through the AWA set, Bock was still really good in 85. And Savage looks every bit the star that would take NYC by storm in a few short months. Eventually interference from Newman leads to Bock being distracted, the ref turns his back to deal with Newman, and Savage nails Bock with the illegal-in-Memphis piledriver for the 1-2-3. This was nice little brawl. Fast-paced, and both men looked good. Finish seemed a little rushed, though. I've liked pretty much everything I've seen of Randy in Memphis, and this was no exception.

If there is zero chance of him turning heel on Sunday, that was a HORRIBLE promo by Cena.