Ricky Jackson

Yeah, what was the deal with this match? Was Tito originally booked against a heel who no-showed, and Koko was just a last-second fill in?

Interesting. I didn't know that. He even teamed with his old nemesis Wahoo a few times, once against the Roadies.

Did Valentine work babyface anywhere else before 91?

The Conquistadors not going over at Survivor Series 88 was one of the worst booking decisions ever AND also the day tag team wrestling died for me.

Yeah, I'm not sure how much of a "push" it was, let alone a WTF were they thinking? moment. (or was it sarcasm, Jerry?) I will say I was surprised when watching the SNME DVD how hot the crowd was for Valentine during the battle royal in 91 where he was the last eliminated.

There will never be a time when long-term WWE booking will satisfy hardcore followers like us. Never. We expect too much from Vince and co. We expect them to deliver filet mignon when they're in the business of selling cheeseburgers to the masses, and always have been and always will be. Lord knows I've bitched about the booking for years. Right now I try and look at things positively (I'm just so tired of being cynical), and when I look back at what WWE was producing around 2009-2010, I think overall things are much better. Remember week after week of celebrity guest hosts? Remember Bret Hart "wrestling" after his return? Remember HHH and Orton fighting in a house or Nexus fizzling out? Things are better now, and have been since the Rock's return last year. Punk and Bryan are major players, and guys like HHH, Orton and Vince have been deemphasized. Sheamus has become a great performer. There have been countless memorable/great matches and PPV's in the last year alone. Hell, even El-P's interested again! It's not perfect, but it's much better than the dreck they served up 2-3 years ago IMO. I may look back at this post in a few months and laugh, but right now I'm still riding the buzz of Extreme Rules and feeling good about WWE.

And 40 pages for the Summer of Punk. Ah, we were so passionate about the WWE back in those days.

Not 100% sure, but I don't think so.

I love how Cena's loss to Tensai has suddenly been revised in some fans' minds as being a clean loss. It wasn't.

My dad's argument for wrestling being fake was "If they're really punching each other in the face, how come the wrestlers don't have black eyes or bruises?" By the time I was 12 or so, I couldn't really disagree with his reasoning.

They did bleed hardway. I think it is way, way too soon to compare last night's result to classic WWE screw ups. (Or post a picture of money burning...ha,ha so funny Chico). Based on the buzz in the air surrounding the match--mostly a positive "Holy shit did you see that match?" response-- I don't see how the result can be considered a bad thing. Only the hardest of the hardcores are talking about bad booking and money being thrown away. I think most wrestling fans feel that last night WWE pulled off something unique and want to see how it all plays out.

Based on Meltz's reaction, I sense five snowflakes for the main event. It was pretty great. The comparison to Rocky IV is spot on.

Pretty crazy main event. Did the right guy go over? I don't know. But I don't think Brock was hurt any by losing the way he did. Wonder if Cena legit hurt his arm. Brock almost pulled a Mania 19 level crazy botch with the dive spot.

Awesome match between Sheamus and Bryan. Oh Chicago and your "Goldberg" chants at Ryback. Pretty good so far.

What's all this about?

It seems like there was a different idea for Jericho's return, with the misleading vignettes and the whole not talking and pretending to be an over-the-top babyface (which I thought was great), but the call was made at some point to scrap all that and just do a typical WWE by-the-numbers overbooked soap opera feud with Punk, with Jericho turning into a boring Kane-like heel along the way. On the bright side, their Mania match was great and I'll be shocked if the street fight on Sunday doesn't deliver.

Shouldn't AJ be the one tied to the tracks?

It came off during a match in Vegas for the AWA in 88. I'm assuming pretty much everyone on the inside probably knew about it by 90.

The crowd was pretty much 100% pro-Cena the only time I saw him live at a house show in Victoria three years ago.

Not from NJ, but from the same time frame in Philly: Hogan vs Adonis

Interesting to see Adonis get a three match run with Hogan in NJ. Hogan tagged with just about everybody under the sun in those days, didn't he?

William Muldoon

I know. He was also in the 90 Rumble. What I meant was in between 91 and 97 he only participated in the 94 Rumble.

Yeah, a below average Rumble with a memorable ending. For a bit of useless trivia, after 1991 this was the only Rumble match Bret Hart participated in until 1997.

I was about the same age as you El-P when I saw this match, but I totally hated the post match supernatural stuff at the time. I was at the peak of my Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels/athletic-workrate phase and the Undertaker (and Yoko as well) was pretty much the antithesis of everything I wanted my wrestling to be. Yes, I spent most of my teenage years and twenties mired in cynicism, but I'm making up for it today by watching an inordinate amount of 80s Hulk Hogan matches! I'm not sure if I'll ever get into early-90s babyface Undertaker, though. And unless I'm forgetting something, I think this was pretty much the first time WWF went overboard with the Hollywood special effects and all that. Warrior-Shango had the black goo and vomiting (haven't watched that stuff in ages, I wonder if...nah) but this was something else all together.