Ricky Jackson

"I think I already said this, but again I think what the Alphas have shown - along with Bayley, Sami Zayn, even Tye - is that they really don't know what to do with simple white meat babyfaces on the main roster. They work like magic in NXT because NXT is old school wrestling and simple. There is a good guy, they have a quest to complete, they overcome obstacles along the way, they triumph. AND the crowd understands this and appreciates it and cheers them along. The main roster is different. There are never beginnings, middles and ends. Just a never ending cycle of weekly TV where they try to find things for them to do. You can't get behind a hero on a mission because they have no mission. They're just doing whatever is written for them this week. The things that get babyfaces over on the main roster are catchphrases, coolness and perceived work rate. It's about personalities, not stories. There's nothing really TO the Alphas' characters. They're just nice guys who wrestle good. They weren't any more complex or cool in NXT either. BUT you saw the journey, you saw Gable slowly get Jordan on board with his goofy shtick, you saw them slowly make their way up the tag ranks, and you saw Jordan burst into tears when they won the titles because it was the culmination of a lifelong quest for a championship. We all went through it with them, and it all made sense and flowed as a story, so it mattered. Nothing matters on the main roster. On SD Alphas came in, did stuff, and a few months later won the tag titles off the Usos, on a random SD, with no warning, and it wasn't the culmination of anything except what they happened to have the Alphas doing that week. It's easier for heels and people with catchphrases and shit to adapt to main roster life. Eventually. But for babyfaces that you're supposed to really root for, the main roster is a cold, cruel world. Because there's nothing to root for, really." Yes! Exactly. Agree a million percent. I love NXT because it feels like the wrestling I grew up with. One hour a week and five or so big shows a year. I only watch the main roster PPVs because I have the Network and it's convenient, so why not right? And it's mostly just matches, usually good ones, sometimes great, with little to no meaningless waste like Raw or Smackdown, which I'll watch a segment or two a month at most even though I have Hulu. Main roster TV is 90% junk

Start some weekly TV threads if everything is so interesting

Product feels pretty cold right now. No buzz. I think they've been mostly phoning it in since Mania. Probably going to start building things up for the summer season starting Monday, so you would think things will become more interesting. Hopefully

I think this is an awesome time to be a fan because it feels like there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in a variety of different ways and settings. Japan, indie, UK, women. Crowds are hot if obnoxious at times. Old school footage is plentiful and being discussed more and more. WWE at least has NXT going for it, which has kept me going week to week. I think this is definitely the high point for wrestling in this century. Yes, wrestling isn't terribly relevant on a mainstream level, but this is the age we live in, where you can indulge in your niche hobby 24/7 and there are tons of different niche hobbies out there. Who really wants mainstream acceptance anyway? The last time that happened the quality of wrestling nose dived and it took years to recover. I'm fine with the way things are

For a second I thought this was your top 100. I was thinking "this guy is such a hipster", but then I saw the Baron at 18 and figured , "Oh, I guess he's ok" Lol

I feel people get too hung up on the Performance Center/developing talent aspect of NXT, like if they are not churning out superstars from scratch at a furious clip then everything is a total failure. Does it really matter where the talent comes from and how they make it to the main roster?

Ascension were booked as geeks from day one on main roster. Bayley was super over at one point. Owens, Joe, Sasha, Charlotte, Bliss, Baylor, etc have all done fine on main roster. Plus the Shield...

******1/2? *******?

Latest ep on a November 85 Championship Wrestling show is hilarious

Cool. Yeah, I think the 8/9/69 date is likely the correct one, which is neat because we have very little of 60s Bruno available outside of matches with Baba from Japan. Going to dive into the collection soon. Fans of PWO podcasts be on the lookout for my thoughts, along with some friends of mine...

For those as ridiculously interested in this matter as I am, a poster at KM suggests the Bruno vs Steele match may be from 8/9/1969 at the Philadelphia Arena. That could explain the date confusion, plus the finish to the match and the finish to the 6/27/70 match I threw out as a possibility differ. Consensus seems to be that it was for sure from the Philadelphia ArenaTo be even more anal, the Piper's Pit is not from 9/13/85 (that was the date of a Pittsburgh show that DID have a Piper's Pit with Bruno, but not this one, which is from MSG) but from 10/21/85. Funny they didn't go with the 11/9/85 Boston Garden Piper's Pit with Bruno since the follow up matches are from there

For those as ridiculously interested in this matter as I am, a poster at KM suggests the Bruno vs Steele match may be from 8/9/1969 at the Philadelphia Arena. That could explain the date confusion, plus the finish to the match and the finish to the 6/27/70 match I threw out as a possibility differ. Consensus seems to be that it was for sure from the Philadelphia Arena

If you haven't seen many of Bruno's greatest matches, this is a really good playlist. The most interesting match for those that have seen a lot of Bruno is a March 1977 MSG bout vs Patera with Monsoon as ref that hasn't been widely available before

Not sure the exact date or place, but the Bruno vs Steele match from the Bruno collection added today is NOT from the 8/9/75 MSG card as listed. It's clearly from Bruno's first reign based on the belt he wears to the ring. I'm guessing around the same time as the cage vs Steele that was added when Steele passed away, so about 1970. Perhaps the June 27, 1970 card at the Philadelphia Arena a month before the cage

Whoops wrong thread haha

Not sure the exact date or place, but the Bruno vs Steele match from the Bruno collection added today is NOT from the 8/9/75 MSG card as listed. It's clearly from Bruno's first reign based on the belt he wears to the ring. I'm guessing around the same time as the cage vs Steele that was added when Steele passed away, so about 1970. Perhaps the June 27, 1970 card at the Philadelphia Arena a month before the cage

I've only watched the cage and thought it was fantastic. Skipping ahead to the main. God bless the Network

I don't think it's even arguable, the WWWF title was so protected that even transitional champs could ride the reign for the rest of their career

Excellent point, we need to add that to the list. Best example of that I ever saw was in Stampede Wrestling. Bad News Allen permanently crippled the son of Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie and put him out of wrestling forever. It was so convincing, the idiot play-by-play man Ed Whalen got up and walked out of the arena, and helped convince the athletic commission to ban the subsequent Allen/Gouldie blow-off match at the Calgary Pavilion and it almost got them thrown off TV for good. Which is unfortunate because: 1) The kid never really got injured 2) The kid wasn't even really Archie Gouldie's kid...he was just some kid brought in by Bruce Hart for the angle and 3) It got a massive amount of heat and attention and would have drawn huge money for Stampede...if that moron Ed Whalen hadn't help ruin it. They ended up having to do the blow-off on an Indian Reservation and run buses to the show, which a lot of fans wouldn't take. Whalen was in on the angle. It was only later after all the bad press from the post-angle riot that he stepped away. As far as I know he had nothing to do with the promotion being kicked out of the Victoria Pavillion

Yep, 1953 to present are the parameters

This is a great new pod, now on PTBN http://placetobenation.com/greetings-from-allentown-episode-16-wcw-worldwide-6-6-98/. Each episode looks at a different 1 hr TV show from the 80s and 90s. So far, solo host Peter (and he does an amazing job solo, which believe me isn't easy to pull off) has looked at Superstars, Championship Wrestling, Challenge, Maple Leaf, Action Zone, Shotgun Saturday Night, as well as NWA Power Hour and Mid South from 1984. Episode 14 on the episode of Championship Wrestling where Larry turned on Bruno is so goddamn good, one of the best pods I've heard in a while. Latest ep is on a WCW Worldwide from 1998. Fans of old school wrestling please check out this show, it's awesome. He has his own feed to listen to previous episodes, just search for Greetings From Allentown on iTunes or whatever podcatcher app you use. Eventually, all shows will be available on the PWO feed. Check this out now!

Ciampa with a man-sized promo tonight. Maybe not 100% heel but 100% authentic

Looks like the end is nigh for the 80s house show uploads as some vids are finally being taken down. Things may continue underground...the rebellion must continue!

Welcome aboard!

None of those other guys are Indian