Ricky Jackson

That's a cool bit of historical info. Thanks for sharing

Oh you Americans and your competitive marketplaces, with tons of subscription perks. (bitter Canadian here who once used a VPN to circumvent crappy near monopolistic Canadian cable systems, with their stupid streaming rules and other bullshit barriers)

I've seen a lot of praise for the magazine version of Planet of the Apes. I had a few issues when I was a kid because I was a big fan of the movies. Plan on reading the run eventually. The confusion with Savage Tales is probably because it was canceled after one issue but Stan brought it back after he became publisher over a year later. Red Nails is really good. I finally got a copy of the 80s color reprint last year

Ha, this should be fun. Gotta be more L's than W's, even with that 10-year or so stretch of epics (some of which were really bloated and dont hold up)

Nah, that's just some old made up newz. Backlund was a pro about the switch, although privately crushed it was finally over. As soon as Hogan signed around mid-Dec 83 the decision was made to drop the strap to Backlund's next MSG challenger (Sheik) in order to get it to Hogan asap

That's an interesting one. I read Backlund's autobiography but I cant remember if he outright stated he did that or not. Superstar Graham definitely claimed Backlund was paranoid and iirc it stemmed from a match where he got Backlund to agree to a screwy finish where Graham was briefly declared the winner and new champ, or something like that. Nearfalls in general back in the day were far, far, far (infinitely) less common than today though, so claims that Backlund refused to give anyone more than a one-count may be exaggerated. Years back I watched a ton of Backlund matches and specifically remember him kicking out at one from a big, finishing type move from Sika and thinking "really, just one?", but then again, it was only Sika. That was in 1980, and later in the year he let Killer Khan get an almost 2.9 on him during a match at MSG, so he wasn't a total selfish ass lol

They had run Tito vs Hammer I think 6 times at MSG prior to Mania, including a lumberjack match only a few weeks before. It was the right call to go with the fresh match here, even if it turned out to be a dud

It was "resolved" about 5 issues after Gerber's run ended. Then years later it was brought back when DeMatteis was the writer but I've haven't read those issues

I love Astro City but something about the Dark Age didnt grab me like other arcs and stories in the run. I seem to remember that in real time it took quite a while for all the issues to come out, like several years, and I didnt finish it until much later, when it was all collected in trades. May have to re-read someday. Gerber can be hit and miss. I really liked a lot of Howard the Duck when I tried reading the whole run back in the day but eventually tapped out about halfway through. Man Thing was similarly inconsistent. I really enjoyed his Defenders run, although at the end, the Headmen saga went on a bit too long and the climax wasn't great. Going to read his Guardians of the Galaxy next and then finally Omega

Shit, I'm not sure if I knew about that and had forgotten or not. Horrible

Re: Captain Marvel reprints. Was listening to a comics history podcast the other day, a retrospective of 80s Secret Origins from DC, already 5-6 years old, and one of the hosts (seemed very historically knowledgeable) offhandedly mentioned that the lack of Captain Marvel reprints is due to the racism depicted in some of the 40s issues. I've read some of the old issues but not a lot. I dont remember anything glaring like some comics from the time. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Wow, obscure ass thread. https://www.wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl=konst&letter1=D&wrestler1=262&letter2=T&wrestler2=1115&letter3=&wrestler3=0&letter4=&wrestler4=0&matchtyp=0&anzeige=matches Looks like most of their matches were from March 1992. They did wrestle at a tv taping in May 91

Koloff over Bruno in 71 is usually the default greatest wrestling upset ever

Especially when there was a very successful movie out a couple years back that you would think someone would've thought would be a good idea to capitalize on the popularity of

Yeah, I totally agree with @Graham Crackers take on Golden Age comics. The earliest stuff, and like you said, the most often reprinted, is the least readable. I'm no expert on the Golden Age, but it seems around 1945 the quality really improves and there are some real gems if you can find them (although I would prefer a physical copy, I generally have no problem with scans, so there are several sites with large amounts of issues). Around 45 is when Captain Marvel and the Spirit, for example, really hit their peak. I also love Dick Sprang

The lack of easily available, affordable Captain Marvel reprints has frustrated me for 20+ years

TSN cancelling Raw because of the sex celebration is an urban legend. They stopped airing Raw because they got the rights to broadcast MNF in Canada starting in the fall of 06. Last Raw on TSN was apparently late-July 06 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/wwe-raw-bounces-over-to-the-score/article18168373/

Twenty year old me wants that on his tombstone

Well, Austin lost the match that made him a babyface superstar, and several matches in the months leading up to it. Face turns in general dont come from winning streaks

I saw Goldust vs Stardust at a house show in early 2015 and it died a serious death before the crowd. I was kinda hyped for it too, but I remember them just going through the motions. Pre-ironic New Day vs the Ascension was greeted with even more derision. Main was Roman vs slacks-wearing Kane and we left before the finish. Weird card in hindsight

It was insane. Also the only WWF/WWE PPV I've ever been to (have been to one Takeover), so it couldn't have worked out any better

Main event of IYH: Canadian Stampede

Oh I agree. I remember I was only half watching at the end, glancing up thinking "Taker's going to kick out of a 3rd F-5? Really?". And then he didnt. But as you said, formulaic WWE booking usually gets in the way of good storytelling

It's interesting to debate the pros and cons of Brock ending Taker's streak now that we have some distance. It was definitely shocking in the moment, something you never thought was going to happen. Was it ended the "right way" by the "right guy"? Hindsight says no based on the well documented twists and turns that made the moment meaningless beyond remembering the initial shock and the mileage they've gotten from "eyes bulging out guy". The idea was supposedly to make Brock as strong as possible in order for Roman's win over him at the next Mania to be a huge star-making moment. Just writing that sentence and not bursting out laughing at the absurdity of it knowing how history played out was difficult. I think, in theory, they could've ended the streak the "right way" but because WWE is WWE it would only have been possible in an alternate universe where Vince didnt run away from booking like a wrestling promoter

I think the 2000 thing was going to be Hogan and Jarrett as competing World champs based on Bash at the Beach fallout, with maybe separate shows for each champ, culminating in a big unification match, but it all blew up before ever really starting? Or something