BrickHithouse

I don't know shit about Happy Days

I swear I'm not trying to be a troll...generally the point when people jump off is when The Product goes to shit. Not always, but most of the time.

I have 97 thru 2004 or so, and was just thinking of dumping them in the trash. Now I've got the urge to go read through them one last time. Truly awesome, and the 1997 version helped get me up to speed with all the wrestling I missed from 93 thru mid-96.

Bob only spent one year in Japan due to Collusion. The Cards then insanely signed him after Clark jumped to the Yankees... I seem to recall Bill James writing at the time that it was an indication that Whitey was losing his power in the front office because it was about a 180 from the type of players Whitey liked. The analogy to Bob would be a wrestler who had a hot start, but couldn't stay healthy and didn't have the career expected of him. Perhaps BW... though it seems insulting to BW. Damn, well the Horner/Doc comp is a swing and a miss. No idea he was only over there for a year, let alone returned and played for Whitey. How about Jack Victory? There has to be a shitty utility guy that played all over the place and produced nothing. Bill Pecota comes to mind, but he wasn't that bad if memory serves.

Is Bob Horner the Steve Williams of baseball? Heavy hitter that spent a lot of his prime in Japan.

Mankind vs Rock from RAW 01.04.1999

I can definitely believe the oil glut affected business in some way. Where Watts loses credibility is when he says you couldn't even find a hooker in New Orleans.

It's a good book for what it is. I bought it years ago (at full cover price) and have utilized a ton of the awesome pictures. The first edition is worth picking up as well if you can find it at that kind of price.

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A wrestler I work with (at our regular job) told a similar story. Valentine was "in no condition to perform" for a show in eastern KS, summer 2011. He remained on the apron. I might ask him for more details if I get the chance. When I was bouncing at a strip club in the late 90's, we had a day-time dancer that looked EXACTLY like Valentine. Same build and everything. We all called her "The Hammer" but eventually I got her to answer to "Greg". She also generally showed up "in no condition to perform".

Undertaker hurt the Hulkster pretty bad when they had their match in 1974 and he rebounded nicely from that.

I didn't think that deeply into it as a 9 year old, but happy to set the standard for mind-boggling.

Watched this at work with the sound off (and more than a few quizzical looks from co-workers). Eh, it's okay. They kept things moving at least. I ended up distracted by the ref - his build, his glacial 2-counts, and overall ineptness. Was this a no-DQ? He lets Kamala manhandle him repeatedly without a DQ. Is he a regular ref? Kicking myself I didn't put the sound on yet don't want to go back and watch this a second time. Maybe it's better with commentary. Overall - Liked this more than I expected to, but no desire to ever see it again. (EDIT) - looks like JVK already posted the same ref questions I have.

Two shows in the same city in a week, that's pretty impressive attendance.

I'd definitely be willing to give the guy a chance to win me over. It's going to be very hard to get past the gimmick but would be interested to see his stuff outside of WWF.

I hate Kamala. What bugged me as a kid above all else was - how did he not know to roll a guy onto his back for a pin after hundreds of matches, yet paint a complex pattern on his face perfectly every day. Would rather watch 1000 IRS matches than any "high end" Kamala match, and I dislike Rotundo in any situation.

Check out the birthday section. Is MARTYEWR really 93 years old today?

I'm totally the opposite. Surviving? Certainly Yes. Exploding? I don't see WWF doing what it did in roughly 96-98 without Austin. For me it trumps Flair in WCW, but overall I would have no problem putting Flair above Austin based on broader criteria.

Is Bob Brown "the guy" for this category? Can we name it "The Bulldog Bob Brown Award"? He worked from the 50's or 60's through 1996 in some capacity and died in 1997. That's a hell of a career, and a lot of people probably saw him once or twice. He was bad enough that despite 5 or so decades, no one has yet to uncover even a decent match. Brown has very strong case.

He was booker for Central States, definitely. I don't know for how long or what years or anything. From what the people around here tell me, it sounds like he booked himself as an indestructible force.

Was Bob Brown ever even slightly good? Did he ever reach the "heights" of, say, Ivan Putski or Great Khali?

Bulldog Bob Brown is somewhat of a local legend in my area (Wichita KS/Central States). Anyone age 50 and up mentions him every time the subject of wrestling comes up. Judging by what I've seen, he's pretty terrible. A former co-worker about 15 years ago bragged to me that he bought his couch from Brown. To my knowledge, the couch is the only thing Bulldog ever sold.