Ricky Jackson

Awesome!

I think a stumbling block for Vince as far as promoting Hogan vs Flair as a Dream Match is that, WWF being WWF, he couldn't promote it as a Dream Match. He couldn't acknowledge Flair's past accomplishments. He couldn't acknowledge the fan debate. He couldn't acknowledge Flair leaving WCW with the belt. He couldn't have anyone say "NWA" or "WCW" or explain the wider world of wrestling to his audience. He couldn't do all this because WWF was WWF and nothing else existed in that universe. So we got what we got, which was kinda read between the lines with Flair having the NWA/WCW belt, Heenan acting like Flair coming in was a huge deal, that Funeral Parlor promo where Flair confronts Hogan and subtlety aludes to his past, etc, but soon enough Flair was just another WWF bad guy, feuding with Piper, on a Survivor Series team, always wearing the robe, etc. WCW, coming from a position of desperation and a need to be seen as relevant, of course had no problem making Hogan vs Flair as big as possible. It was the biggest match they ever promoted to that time, whereas Hogan vs Flair in WWF was just a fall house show program, and not even big enough in Vince's eyes to main event the next Wrestlemania, or any PPV for that matter

Please tell me that whole game exists

Steamer vs Savage rematches post Mania 3 headlined one of the groups around the loop and didnt draw well, but post Mania shows didnt draw well in general in the early days

I think the simplest explanation is Vince envisioned Hulk vs Sid as the main event before Sid even debuted in WWF, and Hulk vs Flair had been run as a house show feud already. Back then, Mania was for fresh matches. Basically, Hulk vs Sid was always the plan and Hulk vs Flair was never the plan

I would give Steamboat's 11/25/85 MSG match vs Muraco a shot if you haven't before. Really good bloody brawl imo. I also remember digging the 2/17/86 "martial arts" match between the two, also at MSG, although I'm in the minority with that one

I know it happened during a time a lot of fans have difficulty caring about, but Steamboat's most successful and, besides Savage, most memorable angles happened in the late-70s with Ric Flair in the Carolina's. Two were so popular that they were repeated numerous times later on: Flair getting his suit ripped off by Steamer, and Flair rubbing Steamer's face on the cement floor in the studio, leading to "bruises" on the face of a young star very popular with the ladies. Those angles helped draw huge houses in not only the Carolina's but also Toronto, probably the best sustained run of business Steamboat was ever part of. I think you can find footage of at least the face rubbing angle out there. Also, when I think of Steamboat in WWF I also think of his feuds with Muraco and, especially, Jake Roberts, which both started with memorable angles. Muraco and Fuji hung Steamer on TV in a pretty violent angle for WWF. More famously, Roberts gave Steamer a DDT on the concrete floor on SNME

Yeah, I was definitely hooked by the Wizard preview and couldn't wait until the series started. I loved Kingdom Come as well and poured over the Wizard issue that explained the Easter eggs. Late 90s was a fun time, coming after the worst of the violent characters, hot artists, cover gimmicks, and speculation bubble, things were scaled back and story became important again. I have real fond memories of collecting then. I read a lot of cool stuff for the first time, hunting through the back issue bins for 80s runs every week. Between new stuff, old stuff and trades I spent an absolute ridiculous amount of $ on comics back then

Oh yeah, this was the review I've been waiting for since day one of this mission. Hilarious stuff here. I like to think nobody hates Shane more than me, so this was one of the best things I've read in ages. Fuck Shane. Fuck his inexplicable drawing power. Fuck his absolutely horrible looking work. Fuck this shitty ass Mania and all the equally shitty ass bloated terrible Mania's that followed this one, totally killing whatever interest I had left in main roster WWE. Yeah, fuck modern WWE too and its million hours of unwatchable dreck. Needed to get that off my chest. Felt good

I loved Earth X in real time. I've never read it again. I could see it being a slog, since it was like 14 total issues, and reading it all in a short period is different than spacing it out monthly one issue at a time. I was really taken by the epic scope of it all, and at the time I totally bought the "origin of everything" conclusion and how they tied the ending to the original Human Torch, the beginning of the MU. Busiek and Perez's Avengers from the late 90s may be worth a look OJ, even if just to contrast it with Busiek's Astro City as two different approaches to super hero comics. That was another series I loved at the time. Looks great if nothing else

So, the Brock match was a "draw"?

In retrospect, that sounds about right. Other than NXT, most of mid-2014 (beginning with Rollins turning on the Shield) to present has been a slow slide to the worst of WCW/TNA levels imo

It's actually conveniently organized at this very board Pre-30s https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/forum/389-pre-1930s/ 1930-47 https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/forum/1025-1930-1947/

DP

Clearly, the best medicine to get over your disappointment is to review Taker's turgid 2014-2018 stretch at Mania

I think he meant you could, if one were inclined to go through the extra steps to acquire footage, get everything you needed and more than what the Network provides

Was the explosion a botch? Was it supposed to look better, or did they actually think it was going to get over looking like that?

Yeah, I'm not buying the "it could've been shot better/it looked better live" arguments. I don't think you could turn the lame pyro and puff of smoke into anything satisfying

As someone who used to rely on the Network for classic footage to review on podcasts, I feel for a lot of US based folks in the classic wrestling podcast game. This must be a pain in the ass

In the moment, the finish/post-match of Austin vs Rock at Mania 17 pretty much made me forget that not only a great match just happened but also a great card

From what I've seen, David was a natural heel and would've excelled in the role. I've only seen Kerry and Kevin in a brief clip as heels, but I think the consensus was they weren't very convincing

Oh dear

Going to be interesting to see if there are any W's left. The rest of the decade is basically a write off, but I guess last year was a classic for what it was (didnt watch). El-P shines best when the wrestling stinks, so this should be fun

I dont doubt AEW would be able to do something interesting with him, but Christian just being in the Rumble kinda dulls any surprise or "wow, he hasn't wrestled in years, cool!" factor

Nothing I'm aware of unfortunately. Maybe some silent clips, but I dont think so. Next to nothing of early 70s Montreal available The MSG tag is here