Ricky Jackson

Finally watched this, and yes, it is awesome. The final ten minutes in particular are great and Murdoch really shines as the star of the match, selling, bumping, using a freakin ringside telephone as a weapon. My only complaint is the ref (short old guy I've never seen before) sucks ass, and for once Gorilla's criticism is warranted. The ending leaves you wanting to see a cage match or street fight type rematch, but, as far as I know, this was it for the two teams, and I think Jack called it a career only a few days later. Fantastic. Edit: OK, so according to Cawthon, Jack Brisco wrestled for the WWF until at least 2/28/85, and the Brisco's wrestled Adonis and Murdoch in several cities after this match (including 1/12/85 in Philly. Has anybody seen this one?) but never again at MSG. In fact, the night of the next MSG show, 1/21/85, was the same night Adonis and Murdoch dropped the straps to Windham and Rotundo in Hartford.

This is all based on various bits and pieces I've read over the years and not an ounce of first hand knowledge, but his peak was probably the late-60s to about 1974, and based on drawing big crowds in several major territories alone, he has to be near the top. His time on top in Toronto is legendary, as he didn't run out of gas as a draw for at least five years, and I've met several non-wrestling fans over the years who grew up in Ontario during the time and his name is almost always the first mentioned when the word "wrestling" comes up. He also had a hot run in Detroit during this time, of course, but also in New York (where he was eventually banned IIRC), LA against Blassie, and huge matches with Dick the Bruiser in Indy and Detroit. Based on a lack of footage, it's tough to say how "Viscerally Hated" he was by crowds, but he had to be doing something right as a heel to draw all that money for so long.

From the wrestling I know best... Piper at his 84-85 peak. Orndorff in 86. Savage after the turn on Hogan/Elizabeth (actually, turning on her probably made him more hated than anything) Bret Hart in the USA in 97 (or Austin in Canada--I lost my voice screaming at him at the Canadian Stampede PPV) Or any heel from the old days that was stabbed or had to fight their way back to the dressing room after the end of a match.

Then why not just bill him as "The Greatest Wrestler Who Ever Lived"? That should sell some tickets. Or would that be going too far?

Harts vs Steiners 1-11-94 is pretty damn good, despite the lackluster commentary

How about... Vince, Shane and Steph

I know he took his lumps on this board already, but Lance Storm being billed as "The Icon" is so wrong.

Honestly, my first thought when seeing the Saints headline was "that's such an old pro wrestling angle", because in my mind the word "bounty" is automatically linked with wrestling. Meltzer's probably going to jump all over that one.

Anyone have an idea why Shaq vs Show fell apart? Or was it just a rumour that took on a life of its own and was never seriously planned?

Growing up a WWF fan during an era where other promotions or a wrestlers prior accomplisments were never, ever mentioned on TV, and the WWF acted like they were the only wrestling promotion in existence, I sometimes find it strange when watching pre-1986 WWF TV and seeing little bits and pieces of, for lack of a better term, "non-WWF stuff" randomly pop up here and there. One example would be Piper and Valentine acknowledging their JCP feud on a 1984 Piper's Pit. Another example is Adonis and Ventura being mentioned in passing by, I think, Gene Okerlund as "former tag team champions". He meant AWA champs of course, but it confused the heck out of me as a kid as I assumed he meant WWF tag champs, and from watching the old history of the tag title CHV I knew that wasn't the case (even though the tape didn't include a complete history, missing the early years and erasing the Backlund/Morales title win from existence). There is also a promo segment from early-86 where Terry Funk mentions the NWA and that he and Dory were former NWA champions. The peak of "non-WWF stuff" on WWF TV was during the Backlund era, where you had Harley Race wrestling at MSG and in at least one TV squash as NWA champ, Antonio Inoki and other New Japan guys all over the place, and a bunch of random MSG appearances by non-WWF guys like a young Piper, the Von Erichs, Steamboat and Youngblood, Tommy Rich, etc. There are probably a bunch of other examples, but that's all I've got for now.

Greg Valentine

Wrestling Eye was an interesting magazine. It seems like I only sporadically bought (had my dad buy me) an issue here and there. I think it was only availabe at certain stores in Calgary, whereas the Apter mags were everywhere. I remember it for its colour photos and more serious articles, for example a piece on Superstar Graham's career, detailing his personal struggles, that pre-dated the WWE DVD and book by twenty years (can't remember how kayfabed it was, though). Also, they once printed an article that exposed which wrestlers were legitimately related, which blew my young mind with the revelation that Randy Savage and Lanny Poffo were brothers.

And John Morrison.

Guess this is as good a place as any to post this... Just curious, for those who watch TNA out there (*crickets*) does Garrett Bischoff have anything at all going for him, or is this another Erik Watts type situation?

I haven't seen the match, but I would be remiss if I didn't offer praise for this awesome/beautiful sentence.

I'm a fan of basketball, but how much papering and cheap tickets went into the NBA achieving that number? And talk about a record that is already totally forgotten only two years later.

??? And Taker is not going to "quietly retire". It will be a big deal, or at least it will be unless Vince totally drops the ball.

Was this a Dusty finish or something? I've never heard of it before. Rich beat Harley Race for the title in 1981 in Augusta, GA, not the Omni. I watched it on YouTube, but only the closing minutes of the match exist IIRC.

Whoops Rex King not dead

It's misogynist. I'm no feminist bleeding-heart or anything, but let's be honest, you could count the number of times a woman has been portrayed as admirable in WWE history (ok, not counting Elizabeth) on one hand and still have fingers left over.

Cena basically reverted back to his early gangsta days and tore into Eve for being a tramp, leaving her crying and leaving WWE looking more misogynist than ever, if you can imagine that.

They finally made Cena a babyface in the eyes of the male fans in the audience. But yeah, that segment was "exhibit A" in the case for wrestling being viewed as trash by most people.

I think Cena and Taker wrestled on a Raw circa 2006, but as a big time match/feud it has yet to be exploited.

I think more thought has been put into the logic of the WWE's storyline power structure in these last few posts than anything coming from WWE creative regarding the matter.