Jason Mann

Brad Armstrong was good in his delivery here. Why didn't he talk more?

I had to switch web hosts upon the move to Voices of Wrestling. There isn't space for the old episodes to be part of the feed, but I'm working on creating on a page with a list of episodes with downloadable links.

It gets a bit better for Flair with the first Savage feud in June and July and then much better with the Arn feud, Horsemen reunion and second Savage feud by early 1996.

I think we did get into it more, but I'd have more excited to see Flair here if he hadn't been used in such an embarrassing fashion in the next few months.

Dylan Hales and I discussed Hulk Hogan vs. Vader at WCW SuperBrawl 5. We talked about why this feud is perceived so negatively by some smart fans; how Vader's aura was affected by the buildup, the match and the later matches; how WCW had evolved into Hogan's image; what role Vader might have played against the New World Order; and why this is one of Hogan's best performances. Check it out! http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/06/13/hulk-hogan-vs-vader-superbrawl-5-wrestlespective-episode-198/ RSS: http://goo.gl/hrVnOY / iTunes: http://goo.gl/feA9qD / Stitcher: http://goo.gl/GbWdZG

My friend made a fun Genius vs. John Cena battle rap video that some of you may like.

Thanks for the love, everyone!

With that 4-5 hours of older stuff, are you picky there? Girlfriend is another limitation on my wrestling watching too A lot of that 4-5 hours in watching stuff to prepare for my podcast (usually watching pay-per-view main events), but otherwise I just like to explore. I've been watching some of the Clashes this week, and ECW, World Class and Old School shows before that. I just got the '80s lucha and '80s All Japan and '80s New Japan sets in the mail, so I'll need to carve out some time for those.

I always mean to watch the 90-minute version of Raw, on Hulu but I rarely get to it. I would guess I watch an average of 4-5 hours a week of older wrestling, and that's definitely gone up since WWE Network started. Sometimes I have it on in the background while doing other things. I love wrestling, but there are other things. My daughter is too young to watch wrestling (and I'm not sure if I ever want to expose her to it) and my girlfriend hates it, so that limits my time I can watch it.

By the time it happened, expectations were certainly low, but a 1990 fan would have been baffled by how horrid the Warrior vs. Hogan 1998 return match was.

It's been discussed thoroughly already, but I think Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana at the 7/28/90 Saturday Night's Main Event is a perfect example of this. It's also impressive to get the crowd so riled at the idea of Santana winning the title, which was a pretty unrealistic possibility at that point.

This is stretching the definition of "dream match," but I remember looking forward to Scott Steiner vs. Triple H at Royal Rumble 2003, particularly thinking Steiner in WWE would have some legs after a hot start, and boy did that match end up being a disaster. Sort of started a theme that year for Triple H vs. former WCW stars in matches that almost all ended up being disappointing. Also: Bret Hart vs. Sting at Halloween Havoc 1998. Not exactly a disaster, but about one-fifth as good as I would have expected.

I discuss The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at No Way Out 2003 with Patrick Brogan of The Unemployed Historian. We talk about trying to live up to the Rock v. Hogan classic at WrestleMania 18, Rock’s brief and brilliant 2003 renewal as a villain, why the crowd turned against Rock in the first place, and how well Hogan’s 2002-03 WWE stint holds up a decade later. Link to episode: http://gredunzapress.com/wrestlespective/?p=974 Subscribe to Wrestlespective via RSS, iTunes or Stitcher.

I talk about "Below The Belt," a mostly unknown 1980 drama centered around women's wrestling, with Casey of Hammer Dialectic and The Mandible Claw. The movie is pretty good, all things considered. Link to episode: http://gredunzapress.com/wrestlespective/?p=968 Subscribe to Wrestlespective via RSS, iTunes or Stitcher.

I haven't seen much TNA in the past couple of years (and even before that I was hardly a regular watcher), but I caught the last couple of matches. The Lethal Lockdown was really dull, aside for the couple of big spots near the end. So little hate and heat for the big story they've been telling for months. At least the hero celebration afterward felt kind of big. The Bully Ray swerve and title win was what TNA always seems to do, but the extent that it worked was because Bully Ray was excellent. I loved the sinister look he gave Devon, the cocky embrace, and especially him berating Hulk and Brooke. I assume at some point Brooke reveals she's pregnant, then it's a swerve and she turns against Hulk, then Hulk wins the belt from Bully Ray at Bound For Glory.

It's a point I wholeheartedly agree with.

Will Pruett of ProWrestling.Net and I talk about Shane McMahon's career, including his feuds with X-Pac, Vince McMahon, Kane, Big Show, Randy Orton and DX, his penchant for jumping from high places, his good and bad points as a wrestler, and ultimately how much he mattered to WWE. We also have a lively debate about the Shane vs. Kurt Angle match at King of the Ring 2001. Please enjoy. Link: http://gredunzapress.com/wrestlespective/?p=963 Subscription feed: http://wrestlespective.com/episodes

Yeah, forgetting Mark Henry was unforgivable. And yeah there's certainly been more diversity than we could come up with at the time. Russo was probably 95% negative and 5% positive, but he at the very least had innovative ideas at first (that he'd run into the ground), tried to get everyone on the show involved rather than letting guys languish, and generally put together good promos. The promo on Hogan did a good job of explaining a confusing situation and got much of the crowd behind him and more importantly excited about the Jarrett-Booker match. I think if Russo had never written TV but had been a random manager in WWE/WCW who had been pushed at the level of, say, Slick, he'd be somewhat fondly remembered.

I talk with Adam and Matt from KayfabeComedy.com about the 2000 film "Ready to Rumble" starring David Arquette, Scott Caan, Diamond Dallas Page, Goldberg, Randy Savage and other WCW wrestlers. We discuss the oddness of how WCW and wrestling are portrayed in this movie, imagine a world in which Caan had been WCW champion instead of Arquette, wonder how good Joe Pantoliano would have been as a wrestling character, speculate where plot points and wrestling characters were taken from, and appreciate the oddball performances by Oliver Platt and Martin Landau in a paycheck movie. Episode link: http://gredunzapress.com/wrestlespective/?p=956 Subscription link: http://wrestlespective.com/episodes

I talk about Hulk Hogan vs. Jeff Jarrett, the infamous Vince Russo promo insulting Hogan, and Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T at WCW Bash at the Beach 2000 with Rich of Calling Spots. We talk about the confusing nature of Hogan lying down for Jarrett, how well it was presented to the audience and by the commentators, what seemed real and what seemed like part of the show, Russo's strengths and weaknesses as a character, whether Jarrett and Booker were good choices as WCW's champions, and more. Link: http://gredunzapress.com/wrestlespective/?p=953 Subscription feed: http://wrestlespective.com/episodes

I'm joined by Trey Irby for a discussion of Steve Austin & Triple H vs. Undertaker & Kane at WWE Backlash 2001. We talk about about the fascinating period between WrestleMania 17 and the WCW/ECW Invasion, rising talents like the Hardys, Edge & Christian, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho getting cameos in main events, the intense effort it took to get Austin to be booed, the merits of putting all the titles on the line at once, whether Undertaker and Kane were good choices as Austin and Triple H's first foils, and how this is an interesting meld of Southern-style tag and Attitude Era antics. Link: http://gredunzapress.com/wrestlespective/?p=949 Subscription feed: http://wrestlespective.com/episodes

Even if "failure to draw the vast majority of his career" isn't a negative for Sting and shouldn't be held against him because somehow it was completely and totally the promotion he worked for's fault, what exactly are the arguments for putting him? He had a few great matches and lots of good ones, but I can't imagine anyone arguing for him getting in solely due to in-ring work. 1996-97 is a really interesting period for him and he deserves a good amount of credit for that, but does anyone seriously believe that was enough?

It's funny that the guy who rocked a mullet until 1995 was mocking others for being out of touch.

It might have been even cooler if the jocks had eventually changed their looks/personalities and evolved into freaks.

I was trying to figure that out before the podcast. Here's a key angle with Sullivan and Rotunda joining forces: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF5qAsc4Pk4 I couldn't find the moment in which they start emphasizing the amateur backgrounds or add Rick Steiner to the group.