Ricky Jackson

Why they thought the Kizarny gimmick would ever get over as a babyface, or really at all, is beyond me.

I just had a picture in my head of Meltzer doing a stand up routine of inside wrestling jokes against a brick wall to a room full of wrestling nerds.

Awesome.

And eventually the discussion will shift to Kane's strengths as a draw to tie everything together.

Yep, I agree. One of the main reasons I got hooked on wrestling in the first place was because of the Bulldogs and their fast-paced style.

It always comes back to Demolition...

It was a combination of various promotions/territories as a response to Vince expanding, most notably JCP ("the NWA" as far as the Apter mags were concerned by 1985) and the AWA. It fizzled out by 86. Later, the AWA, Memphis and WCCW attempted another territory combination, which resulted in the 1988 Superclash III ppv disaster (business wise--the Lawler/Von Erich main event was pretty good).

I'd take Backlund/Race over Backlund/Hogan, but both were pretty good matches IMO. Maybe not amongest Bob's best ever (I think the Race match is really quite good, though it seems like I'm in the minority with that opinion), but far from his worst big stage matches as world champ.

This is actually a good read. If for nothing else it is interesting for its analysis of Vince and pro wrestling by a non-fan/someone outside the wrestling bubble.

No problem. The key was searching for "Linda Curry Atlanta"--her site was the first result to pop up.

Does she have a better chance of winning this time around?

Come on, everybody knows who Linda Curry is http://www.livingstudio.net/about.asp She had a fitness show on TBS in the 80s, hence the celebrity hosting gig.

Mania X was the first time you could order a PPV from home in Canada, or at least in the Calgary area. So that probably bumped the overall # up a bit.

Way more ppv homes for IV than III. III's buy rate was way higher--still the highest ever.

Why would it be too soon?

Circa 1983 card: Dusty Rhodes, Jerry Lawler and Junkyard Dog--Southern babyface superteam Bob Backlund, Jack Brisco and Dory Funk Jr--Scientific babyface superteam Ric Flair, Buddy Rose and Nick Bockwinkel--Scientific heel superteam Roddy Piper, Terry Funk and Randy Savage--Wildman combo Ken Patera, Greg Valentine and Sgt. Slaughter--Three great heels I really like and think would make a good team off the top of my head. Dick the Bruiser, Bobo Brazil and Bruno Sammartino--Babyface legends superteam The Sheik, Killer Kowalski and The Destroyer--Heel legends superteam Antonio Inoki, Mil Mascaras and Andre the Giant--International superteam I'll think about who wins and how the matches played out later.

Good work so far guys. Keep it up. And yes, Dusty did play for West Texas. Hansen and Brody too, besides the guys you mentioned.

Good decision to turn Punk, as they really haven't had a top heel for a while now. Not much of a show otherwise, and I was in full fast-forward mode after the HHH/Lesnar bit. Pretty much business as usual.

Haven't seen the show yet, haven't read any spoilers, haven't read anything in this thread--someone tell me, was it a memorable show and a must-see? That's all I want to know.

Great match. One of the classic "match/angle" productions, ala Savage/Warrior and Hart/Doink/Lawler from Summerslam 93, which the WWF really excelled at back then. Holds up real well. Out of curiousity, I checked Meltzer's rating for the match. He gave it a ridiculously low **, lower than the Yoko-Taker and Team Luger vs Corporation tag from the same card (both **1/2). I know he's never been much of a Backlund fan, but he was sometimes such a joyless wrestling snob back in those days.

I'm just guessing, but maybe at this Greensboro show Flair and Valentine had a falling out after losing the match, with Valentine blaming Flair for the loss or some such thing, leading to the match next month. Maybe it was just a localized match/angle to add another big match to the card. Edit: Also, that Slaughter/Kernodle vs Funk bros match sounds quite interesting.

X, I really don't remember calling you out on Cena before. Anyway, what exactly is wrong with the way they've booked Cena's character? And please don't say its because he has been booked as invincible, because he hasn't. Not like the top WWF/E champs of the past anyway. Sure I like Cena. He's probably the best WWE wrestler of the last ten years. Yeah, I guess I've settled for mediocrity. Welcome to the 21st century. And the "reality era" tag was created by that masked man dude at Grantland. It's not something anyone in WWE creative has spent one second thinking about.

Gotta disagree with a few things, X: Cena's first reign didn't end because of fan backlash, it was done to get over the MITB concept and elevate Edge. Cena won the title back a few weeks later. And RVD winning the belt was done in order to help get over the new ECW. Not really true. Sammartino's second reign ended with him getting pinned while Graham had his feet on the ropes "for leverage". Hart lost to Yoko after getting salt in the eyes, to Backlund in a match where he "didn't quit" (Owen conned his mom to throw in the towel), to Sid after Austin interference, and of course the screwjob to Shawn. The Rock lost to Foley on Raw after Austin interference, and I can't really remember the other losses because of the blur of the Attitude era, but I'm sure there were a few other dirty title switches in there. Really, the problem isn't clean finishes to title matches, because even back in the good ol' days, there were a lot of "tainted" wins, even by babyfaces. Besides the ones already mentioned there was also Backlund in 78, Savage in 88, Hogan against Taker in 91, and Savage held Flair's tights in 92. Cena's a babyface, so of course he's going to be screwed over by the evil heel or lose in a controversial manner when he drops the belt. That's how Bruno lost to Graham, Backlund to Sheik, Hogan to Andre, Warrior to Slaughter, Hogan to Taker, etc., etc., etc. Personally, I think you're a Cena hater, and that's fine. But you can't really blame him for devaluing the belt or like it was up to him to decide the manner in which he lost.

Here's the link to the first chapter (of 20+) of the "Road to Greensboro" saga. Some really good stuff here; it's easy to see why this feud was so hot at the time. Edit: I take it the Flair/Valentine Broadway from the Final Conflict show didn't make tape? Too bad. Double Edit: Slaughter timeline: 1980-81: First WWF run--matches with Backlund, famous feud with Patterson 1981-83: JCP--last date Cawthon has for Slaughter in Carolinas is May 15, 1983, although he continued to work Toronto shows until Jan 1984 and wrestled Steamboat on 1/8/84 in Charlotte in what was billed as Steamboat's retirement match (?) 1983-84: Second WWF run--First date March 30, 1983, so there was a bit of overlap with WWF and JCP. Feud with Sheik in 84 Joined AWA/Pro Wrestling USA in late 84. I don't think he worked for AWA during the 80-84 period, other than as Super Destroyer II in 1980, but I could be wrong.

Maybe looking back in retrospect and with nostalgia Tunney seems good in the role, but I know at the time he was pretty much considered a joke by wrestling fans. He was one of the favorite whipping boys of the Apter mags, and not just in a kayfabe way. I'm sure Meltzer and the smart fans of the era tore him to shreads for his wooden, awkward presence.