WingedEagle

Not feedback, but Happy Thanksgiving to everybody at PWO. I spend more time reading this site than any other wrestling site, and I'm afraid to even think about where it weighs with the non-wrestling sites. Love a ton of the discussion here, like almost all of it, can't stand a small touch of it but couldn't imagine being a wrestling fan without it. Hope you all have a great holiday season and new year.

I haven't listened to a minute of this yet because I just got back from being with the family all day so I'm still relying on recaps I've read, but this touches on most of my thoughts. None of this reads all that surprising but to have it laid out in this fashion makes it a lot more colorful and visual while placing it in context with specific examples and situations people can relate to. I don't know Punk. From what I've read over the years he doesn't sound like the nicest guy unless you're part of his inner circle or a model employee in that he makes things difficult. And that's okay. Its his job to maximize his time and talents as he sees fit. If he wants to run and try to eclipse Cena and have his Mania main event that's awesome. If he wants to take his ball and go home that's his prerogative as well. Similarly, Vince and HHH don't necessarily sound like people I'd want to work for. And that's also all well and good. They don't owe Punk anything beyond what is specifically provided for in his contract, and if they try to hold back on that he'll plenty of basis to enforce it. They don't have to like him or push him if they don't want to whether its for legitimate business or personal reasons. He's not owed a damn thing in that regard. My only complaint there is if I were a stockholder who was concerned that their use of that asset was not in the company's best interests. My opinion on this may change -- drastically -- once I listen, but my initial thoughts were that the wedding day termination was overblown a bit. Was the relationship between Punk & WWE at that point such that either side was looking towards turning a new page and rebuilding things? It sounded like this was more expediting a known conclusion. It happened, and then the lawyers got involved to make sure the dollars and cents matched what was provided for had the relationship terminated naturally. Again, if after listening it comes off as a whole lot more bitter and vindictive than I'll gladly acknowledge that. Its light years away from the potential medical issues raised on the podcast, which if they become a bigger story would likely force WWE's hand in ways little or large, TBD. The only caveat to how WWE handled this is its impact on current and future talent. Perhaps this will color how other wrestlers view the company and their choices while negotiating and performing. That could result in enough talent leaving to provide some other promotion a couple marketable stars to build upon. It could result in a dearth of talent within WWE. It could result in talent obtaining greater autonomy over how and when they perform, how they handle outside business interests, their health and a host of other issues. It could also result in absolutely nothing. Those are the issues WWE needs to consider as part of the big picture when managing their business. Just as CM Punk needs to consider the business of CM Punk. I absolutely get how this gets personal given the relationships involved and the context in how it plays out. But its business. Sometimes it sucks and we've all probably got stories to that effect, either personally or from someone we know.

You are the best. Petulant, hypocritical, surly, not a team player, maybe drop a c bomb if you're feeling rich? No, he's a *sociopath*! Talk about a bubble and giving wrestling fans a bad name. That's the type of remark that gives credence to what my inlaws think of wrestling. What I find most sociopathic about it is that it comes from someone who holds himself out as a "writer" rather than the anonymous, over the top, bomb throwing message board member. Go write another book I've already read elsewhere.

Listening to him on Austin's lastest podcast reminded me that Bill Apter belongs on this list. When I was in middle school and couldn't get enough wrestling but didn't really know where to look for more, I called up the number in PWI and said I was writing a report for school about wrestling and wanted to speak to someone. Turns out it was Apter who answered the phone and spent 45 minutes talking to a kid about comparing WWF vs. WCW and talking about territories I'd never seen outside of the magazine's pages. These weren't yes/no responses to a bunch of silly questions (which was all I could manage until I was too floored to say much at all), but him going out of his way to talk about the game. What a passion. This belongs in the podcast thread, but I'm talking Apter so screw it -- loved his line about being asked if he knew wrestling was fixed by incredulously responding he didn't know it was broken.

I had the opportunity recently to spend a few minutes with Dusty Rhodes. Couldn't have been more gracious with his time, polite to my wife or happy to tell us a couple old stories. He also seemed genuinely happy to have someone appreciate what he did for us years back. It was something I'll never forget.

I loved both Hansen/Funk singles and actually had '82 ahead of '83 in my rankings on the set. I'll need to rewatch to remind myself exactly why, but think it had to do with appreciating the complete package of '82 as opposed to the frenetic, balls to the wall insanity of '83. The retirement tag was a spectacular presentation and scene with great emotion, but one that didn't register on quite that great a level with as watching nearly 30 years later out of the moment. As a match it simply didn't measure up to the action elsewhere on the set.

I had no problem with the Wyatt/Ambrose finish. I just can't stand Bray's act at all. Needs to be buried with his cousin True Blood.

I've had issues with the feed tonight, but my wireless has been spotty all day so I can't put it on the network. Time Warner Cable can suck it.

I love having Vince on TV. Its been way too long.

Are those tags available online?

That's what I thought, but it seemed like Muertes was also presented as a heel.

Looks that way, but it raises the one question I can't quite answer about many in LU. Who's the heel there?

Meltzer was reading an email from someone asking about Edge. He wasn't making the case for him based on ratings during those few weeks.

Its 60 minutes and it flies by. The wrestling is different from what's on USA or SciFy, the production is a complete 180 and its fun. Sometimes I think its so enjoyable just because it feels like a breeze and is a completely different production. Whatever it is, its definitely enjoyable.

If someone checks out a few shoot style and says its not for them and finds it completely boring and unwatchable, that's cool. I'd hope they wouldn't avoid it solely because they don't think there's any relevance to it in the course of wrestling history around the world, but if you check out a few and absolutely nothing resonates there's no reason to search for some connection there.

Would cable execs really even differentiate between the two though? To them, they're both just a non-WWF rasslin show. I don't think TNA's reputation would grant them much over a Jarrett start-up. Let's say they both walk in to pitch. Dixie: "We've been losing millions despite being on national TV for years". Jarrett: "I used to be a big star in the WWF and this is my friend Toby Keith". I disagree. TNA can point to nine years of drawing a 1.0 rating for Spike TV and having much bigger ex-WWE stars than Jeff Jarrett under contract. That track record counts for something. That will certainly count for something. On the other hand, so will Spike walking away from that track record and the shenanigans that brought things to that point. Its up to each team of execs to determine how to weigh those factors.

Flair, Hansen, Jumbo, Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Tenryu, Bryan, Michaels, Liger and Cena is the first batch of names that came to mind. Probably leaving a few off, and there are others I'll want to think about like Funk, Bull, Tanashahi, Hart, Austin, Hashimoto, Hase, Taue, Akiyama, Casas and others who I imagine will be in the mix. And then I'll sit down and look over all the threads and probably find a couple obvious ones I missed and revise things then. But always fun to think about this at different times and in different contexts. EDIT: Annnnnnnd Fujianami is our first definite oversight. He's in the ballpark.

Man, I was looking forward to this as I love Terry Funk and when he's with the right opponent and busts out the crazy I like Sabu. But this just seemed like they had certain spots that needed to be crossed off of a list, and they were going to cross them off that list no matter what. And that's all they did. I just couldn't wait for this to end.

I've loved following as you and others have gone through the 90s, and am having a blast doing so myself, even if I'm not able to maintain anywhere near that pace. Hopefully you pick up with the '00s in the fame fashion. Any plans to add other content to the MDA? In the same vein as as the Japan Best of 2000s, could add everything that placed in WON MOTY voting for every year, all PPV / big show matches, use certain online lists or probably countless other sources to expand the base for that decade until those yearbooks are out.

You can actually find most of them on Youtube/DM. Will only need to download a few.

I love this series. You guys get along great and when you have that going for you I could listen to people talk about these matches for days. Parv, you're driving me crazy with Kenta Ko(great american)BASH-i. Its KoBAHSHI!

This was such a smartly worked match. They go a half hour and at no point did I ask myself how much longer they're going to do this for, which is often the case when people stretch things out too long. The varied offense that each employed to work the neck, and especially the arm by Arn (thankfully much easier to type that repeatedly than say it out loud) was just masterful. I don't always agree with Meltzer, but am usually in the same ballpark even if one of us is in field level and the other in the upper deck. This time? No idea. Thought it was great. The only criticism I'd make is that for as great as Arn's arm work was, it wasn't sold or focused enough down the stretch and almost dropped at the end. But this was great. I also can't imagine that these guys went long given just how long they went. You'd think a couple pros like Regal and Arn are on board with a finish moments before a time limit draw. Its not like they went 27 instead of 20 to get their stuff in.

I have no doubt Brock will do exactly what he is paid to do per his contract, including jobbing for that cat hosting next week if they ask him to. But 60-70K fans crapping all over the match because they all know its his last night wouldn't exactly make for a pretty coronation of Reigns. No guarantees it happens, but I also don't see how you can rule it out.