Ricky Jackson

You win. Close the thread.

Thanks, man. I'm not sure when I'll get around to using all this info. My original idea was to do a podcast about underreported and overlooked moments from the history of wrestling, inspired by the 30 for 30 ESPN show, with Ali/Inoki being the basis of an episode. Anyway, that podcast idea eventually evolved into the Fringe Scholars show that I posted in the podcast section last week. I still want to do a show about it, but it might not be for a while. Actually, I'm also thinking about doing an all-wrestling podcast independent of the Fringe Scholars based on the 30 for 30 for wrestling idea. Shit, if anybody is interested in this idea, PM me and maybe something cool will come out of it. I'm game for more podcasting.

I sent Hammer an e-mail with the clippings, so don't worry about it.

Savage is my all-time favorite wrestler. I considered starting a thread on him before and never got around to it, but the talk of the ICW cage match with Garvin earlier today finally provided the motivation. I just watched that match, so we may as well start this examination with something from the early years... Vs. Ron ("the One Man Gang") Garvin, Cage Match, 1982 (?) Not sure of the date nor the place. Lexington perhaps? Anyway, this is ICW, Randy's dad's outlaw promotion. Haven't seen much of this at all. Lanny Poffo provides post-production commentary in the most monotone manner possible. Savage, prophetically, comes to the ring to "Fame", and he is wearing a robe with snakes and dragons on it. Garvin is the heel, Savage is the face, which I understand was unusual for these two in ICW. We start with a mat-based stalemate for a few minutes. Equals! See Jerry, I told you. Garvin takes over and things pick up. Savage is busted open and bloody only a few minutes in. Savage gains the advantage and Garvin is immediately bleeding as well. I can see why Matt D favours this match, as the selling is long-term, with both wrestlers getting weaker and slower as the match progresses. The match gets real violent when Garvin takes off the ref's belt and chokes Savage, eventually tying him to the top rope with it. Savage prevails in the end with a sweet piledriver after crotching Garvin on the top rope. Post-match, Pez Whatley enters the cage and delivers a beatdown on Savage. Then in a surreal moment, Lanny Poffo narrates himself making the save. Pretty good match. Real heavy on the selling. You just don't see long-term selling in a match like this anymore and haven't for years. Savage won the match with the only ounce of strength he had left and was barely able to cover Garvin for the pin. Actually, one of my favorite Savage traits was his selling. Savage already looks pretty good here, but this is totally different from his WWF years, as he is very subdued compared to the bouncing-off-the-walls Macho Man we all know and love.

I enjoy your reviews Superstar. Makes me want to mark out for some Bulldogs too.

Vince wanted Stu's Western Canada TV slots and the ability to run shows in the area, basically part of his plan to corner the Canadian market. Problems arose when Bruce began promoting an opposition group and Vince's early WWF shows in the area didn't exactly set the world on fire. Vince was supposed to pay Stu $1M (I think) for everything over a certain amount of time, but I'm not sure Stu received one penny before Vince backed out of the deal and told Stu he could run Stampede again in late-1985. Vince was able to keep the TV slots anyway and now had a foothold in the market, so no big deal for him. Bruce booked and wrestled for post-85 Stampede, but Vince never sold him anything.

This was a really fun experience. Thanks again to Parv and Chad. Keep it up boys.

HHH pissed his pants? Oh, and Lawler's ahead 30-22 over Storm last I checked.

We should ask him his thoughts on Londos as a worker and a draw.

It's part of a fantasy wrestling tournament on Facebook, and based on the early results, Angle v. Brody in the finals is a distinct possibility.

I've wandered into the wild (to paraphrase Matt D) and find myself in a situation where claiming Jerry Lawler is a better wrestler than Lance Storm is the MINORITY opinion.

Mania VIII actually didn't sell out, was heavily papered, and is considered by the WWE to be one of their biggest letdowns. It did 360,000 buys, lower than the previous five Mania's and also the next two (Mania IX--430,000, Mania X--420,000). Mania XI did 340,000 buys, so only 20,000 less.

Yeah, I wasn't sure about the equals part either, that is why I added the "/Shine" segment. I think there are examples of matches starting with equals, probably a lot of them, but I can't pull one off the top of my head right now. It is/was maybe used more in babyface vs babyface "scientific" matches.

Just like old times.

I believe all he said when asked his thoughts on working a match was "equals, heel heat, hope spots, finish".

I had a hunch you and Moss might have a lot in common. He has a collection of board games to rival your own. One of the highlights of his life was working in a board game store in Australia for a year. I also love the comic book posters on your wall. I remember having a copy of that Detective Comics issue when I was a kid. I meant to mention the Fringe Scholars when we did the Bash 89 show but I totally forgot. Maybe some day we can do a crossover show. The four segments of a match thing was inspired by a friend in Victoria, BC who used to teach a class at the University of Victoria called "Pro Wrestling as Theatre" (I met him when I attended the class in 07) and how he, as I remember, outlined a basic babyface vs heel match. Basically it goes 1) Equals/Shine 2) Heel Heat 3) Hope Spots 4) Finish. I think he took it from what Jimmy Snuka once said when asked about working a match. Or maybe I took it from Snuka, I can't remember anymore. Thanks for listening, man.

Brown was also pretty bad in late-80s Stampede from what I remember.

Let the glut of the podcast market continue unabated! So I've started a podcast with my friend Moss called the Fringe Scholars. Moss actually deserves most of the credit--all I do is blather about wrestling, he does most of the leg work. Anyway, the concept is two over-educated, under-employed guys talking about neglected forms of pop culture. Mostly nerdy stuff, but we're mostly nerds, so it makes sense. On our show, I am (surprise!) the wrestling guy, Moss is the games/literature guy. We've recorded two episodes, but only the first has been posted so far. In the first episode I discuss just what this crazy professional wrestling thing is exactly and probably talk about Bret Hart too much for the liking of many on this board. Because the idea behind this podcast is for us to be "teachers" (Moss actually is, I'm looking for work in the field), I approach the wrestling side of things as though I'm talking to an audience made up of non-fans, or at least non-crazy ass obsessed fans like us. Give it a listen. It's only about 40 minutes long and is really well-produced by Moss. I plan on establishing the fundamentals of wrestling in early episodes, then explore more of the historical and international aspects of wrestling (that is, non-WWE stuff) in the future. The plan is to alternate episodes between my journey through the wonderful world of wrestling and Moss' look at games and literature. There will likely be lengthy discussions on comic books at some point. The next episode features Moss explaining D & D while I pretend to be interested . Our blog with the first episode and some supplemental bits is here http://fringescholars.wordpress.com/ Our Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Fringe-S...405371989549325 Enjoy. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

I'll second the Sheamus match from Extreme Rules.

Cena's 'rana was botched, but that was a pretty good match. I agree there was little selling. That was the type of match Punk should have lost the title in, with guys busting out power bombs and piledrivers and shit.

Just watched this match last week based on Parv's recommendation, and yeah, it's really, really good. Matt summed up the whole multiple stories going on aspect pretty well. Awesome. A really underrated classic tag match.

vs Owen Hart, Mania X.

Now that you mention it, cutting the play by play of matches is a good idea and probably the best way to streamline the show down to the essentials.

Great stuff, El Boricua. I've been working my way through this feud lately, but boy did I screw things up based on blindly guessing the order of the matches.

I'll second the tag match vs the Rockers from Mania VII.