Ricky Jackson

I'm so out of the WWE loop that I didn't realize Survivor Series is tonight until a couple minutes ago. Looking at the card, I wouldn't mind seeing the top matches.

I just saw an opening where I could flex a little of my historical knowledge. Continue with the Cena debate. (For the record, I think it is obvious the WWE has revolved around Cena for 7 years and I really don't see how he has been under-utilized. Often poorly booked, yes, but not held back at all)

The 187 sellouts for Sammartino at MSG (or other such really high numbers I've seen thrown around) is, as far as I know, an exaggeration. I think the real number is closer to 45 or so, basically the same as Backlund or slightly less. Sammartino may have main evented 187 MSG cards in total, but that sounds high, even though it was over a twenty year period. Sammartino was a super hot draw of course, but you have to consider things like the fact that he stepped down as the main drawing card from 71-73 (Morales) and from 77-80 (Graham and Backlund, before returning for a last hurrah against Larry Z), and that the 65-68 period was relatively cold for NYC, with no TV in the area for a few years and very few sellouts, etc. Edit: Using Cawthon's site, I counted 125 main events for Bruno at MSG between 63-80, with about a dozen or so possible others where he wrestled on a card during Morales and Backlund's runs and I'm not sure what the pushed main event was. I know he also headlined cards during 60-62, usually as Argentina Rocca's partner, that are not listed on Cawthon's site. Anyway, even when taking all that into consideration, there is no way Bruno headlined 187 MSG shows, let alone sold them all out, as a look at the attendance figures shows.

Will FLIK be brought down by tigerpride's devious attempts to suppress his rebellious spelling of whear and thear? Find out on the next episode of PWO Main Event Wrestling!

Take it to your grave, FLIK.

I second that request.

The clippings include ads for live shows in LA, Detroit (drew 4,138 to the Olympia, apparently more than a closed-circuit of a Forman/Frazier fight a few months prior) and Toledo in addition to the ones I already mentioned. The weird part is the Detroit and Toledo shows have virtually the same live card advertised. No St. Louis, but I may have missed something/I'm sure there were others not included in the clippings.

After looking at the first few clippings from the time of the match it is funny/sad to see Inoki's name misspelled so many times in the ads from the US newspapers--"Inoke", "Inoko". Very interesting co-promotions going on in some areas--in Houston at the Astrodome you could watch an Astros/Reds ballgame and then stick around for the closed circuit broadcast ("On 6 Giant Screens") of Ali/Inoki and Andre/Wepner.

Wow, that is freaking awesome JNLister. Thanks man. Shooters is on my must read list. I might even treat myself to a copy this weekend.

I think that is the shoot reason as well. Muraco was known during his career for wrestling for a while, then heading to Hawaii or wherever, where his heart truly was, only to return to wrestling after burning through all his cash.

Actually the correct answer is the cardboard cutout of Don Muraco.

Yeah, I've seen that one. It was in the 70s episode where they were discussing the supercards of the decade and the Shea Stadium shows were brought up. The 76 Shea show featured a closed circuit broadcast of the Ali/Inoki match following a live card that was headlined by the Sammartino/Hansen revenge match, with Andre vs boxer Chuck Wepner underneath. This reminds me of a question I wanted to ask. Does anybody know which territories other than New York did joint closed circuit-live card shows in conjuction with Ali/Inoki? I know San Fran was one and the AWA as well, but I can't think of any others off the top of my head. Bonus marks for those who can supply attendance figures Edit: after some quick research--GCW had a card in Atlanta with the ubiquitous 70s match of Jack Brisco vs Dory Funk Jr on top of the live card.

I've begun work on a project that may or may not ever see completion, but as part of it I've decided to research this strange encounter between wrestler and boxer from 1976. I've done some basic research so far, and I plan to sit down with a beer or two and watch the whole match soon http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xu7t5_muh...nio-inoki_sport (poor quality, but the only complete version of the match I could find online so far). Anyway, I would appreciate any opinions and insight on the story surrounding the match from the learned folk around here. I know the basic overview, but am far from an expert on the subject. Full credit will be given if this project is ever to see the light of day of course. Thanks

I remember watching this when it aired, but I don't recall it ever leading to anything, even a SNME match or MSG match, much less a proper feud. I could be wrong, 1990 was during one of my wrestling sabbaticals where I only caught a few things here and there. Edit: It was a house show feud that went around the horn from Jan-March. No TV matches but maybe a Coliseum video match somewhere, I'm not sure

I'm thinking he would have been paired up with the Grand Wizard again if he was still alive in 84. Albano was just a substitute choice I guess. Blassie seemed to be only managing foreign heels, and Piper managing him would have maybe been considered too illogical considering their feud in 83, even though it happened for Crockett (and yes I know their feud was acknowledged on a Piper's Pit and they "buried the hatchet").

How did Sexton Hardcastle do this time around?

Can't wait until Vince tries to "stick it" to the Dems with some lame ass, self-indulgent skit on Raw.

Could it be...

HHH for President in 2020!

This random episode of TNT from 1984 sounds a million times more interesting than any WWE TV in 2012.

This sounds like such a wonderfully strange match. (Coincidently, I took out a book from the library today called Wrestling`s 101 Strangest Matches)

"Ted DiBiase fucking with a stripper/Bitch pay me stacks, I'm the cocaine dealer" Lil B, "Jerry Rice" That one is for you, Jerry. Also, this is so great:

I`ve found it best to generally avoid WWE from September through December in recent years. Although this year I`ve avoided most everything since May. Things will pick up in the new year. I think. Maybe.

I think the beginning of the Attitude Era was a great time to be a wrestling fan, with an energy and enthusiasm in the air on a weekly basis that nothing has come remotely close to recapturing since. So much of the fun of the 97-98 years was watching wrestling change from the mostly stale cartoon it had become back into what it had once been, with the amped up violence and adult-oriented content. There was also the intrigue of kayfabe being broken and the new, faster paced, high spot ring style, as well as all the new stars emerging like Austin, the Rock, Foley, etc. You had three promotions, each with their own unique features. It was cool and it was really fun, beacuse all of my friends were into wrestling too, which is the last time I could say that. But with each passing year, for me anyway, it became less and less fun and more and more stupid (yeah, an oxymoron, but you know what I mean), and I began to rapidly lose interest, to the point I was all but done as a fan by the end of 2001. Today, it`s hard for me to watch wrestling from the Attitude Era because so much of the interest in it at the time was in the shock and surprise factor of the weekly TV, and removed from that context there doesn`t seem to be much weight to a lot of the content. I much prefer watching stuff from the 70s, 80s and early 90s. I know this doesn`t really answer the impact and effects question. I guess for fans like us who mostly romanticize the pre-Attitude Era days of wrestling, one could say the Attitude Era killed off the territory-style of wrestling we love. For Vince and the gang, the Attitude Era was the greatest thing that ever happened. For a lot of fans it was the era of wrestling that got them hooked in the first place and will always be fondly remembered. I think I`ll leave it to others to give serious debate to how it has impacted modern wrestling.

I forget where this was discussed recently, but I just watched the Punk doc from the DVD and it is really good. It tells an awesome story, as good as the best WWE docs.