WingedEagle

What else do we have up there? August 2013 was pretty solid. Not sure how to single out a particular month from '89, as the goodness was spread out there.

The Fink is definitely #1 in my book. Have to at least give an honorable mention to the All Japan ring announcer. I may not have understood more than 4-8 words every time out (singles vs. tag), but he made those classics feel big from the get go.

Current Favorite Wrestler To Watch: Tomohiro Ishii & Dean Ambrose Last Fun Match You Saw: MITB Briefcase Match Wrestler You Want To See More Of: :LA Park Last Live Show Attended: ROH/NJPW in NY and WM 29 before that. Match You Are Looking Forward To Watching Soon The Most: Brock vs. Cena, Ambrose vs. Rollins and 2014 G1. A lot of hot rematches from last year as well as new, interesting matches this time around. Also the '94 Yearbook. I'm up to the end of August '93 and while I'm looking forward to the AJ tag league and a couple other gems later in the year, I want to get to '94 WCW, SMW, 5/21/94 (first AJ match I saw that blew my mind), 6/3/94 and especially Tenryu/Hash as WAR/NJPW has been the hottest thing in '93. Last Fun Interview/Promo You Saw: Dean Ambrose on RAW 2 weeks ago Last Interesting Thing You Read About Wrestling: Recently reread the WON obituary on Hawk. Forgot how great that one was. Also crossing my fingers that Dave cuts back a bit on the MMA coverage in the WON as he's noted on more than one occasion how UFC is even burning him out. I'm not holding my breath on this one, just crossing my fingers. Last Worthwhile Wrestling Podcast You Heard: Jericho with Heyman & Edge. Most Fun You've Had Watching Wrestling Lately: Post-MITB Raw.

I'd be pretty surprised if Cena's 1A is anything less than 2014 Tanahashi. He may not carry the world title but fully expect him to be the ace of the company for quite a while. As long as he's moving merchandise at a clip many multiples above the next batch of guys I would not expect to see him phased down. Its great that they're looking to elevate Reigns to that level and plan for it, whether it means penciling in a title win over Brock at Mania or otherwise sketching a long term path to get there. But until he's been asked to stand on his own in longer singles matches and promos it won't be clear what just what kind of potential he has. It'll be fun to see how he develops and grows into that kind of role but unless someone takes off like a Cena, much less Rock or Austin, its probably too soon to relegate Cena to the in-house legends role.

I actually just watched this Chamber match last night. For two guys who usually don't hold my attention, HHH/RVD at the start was fun with the blood. I'm curious how many audibles they had to call after RVD nearly killed HHH. Speaking solely off the cuff and with zero research, I may have enjoyed the HHH/Michaels end run more than any singles match between the two other than Summerslam that year.

Only thing I can come up with would be to strongly put over a heel Luke Harper, who's the real star of the act as far as I'm concerned.

Really getting the sense that Bryan comes out to spoil things for Kane and set up his return match with all the focus on him in videos & commentary, as well as Brie backstage.

Dave, it is effing awesome to have you back. I'm out of the city this weekend and don't have the computer I need to get this loaded on the ipod with me, but that lets me save it for next weekend when I can listen to it on an 11-12 mile run. Please keep producing these in accordance with my running schedule Thanks again, and hopefully the rest of the year is smooth sailing for ya!

Wholeheartedly disagree. That's a borderline snuff film with a hope things don't end badly. A knife fight that happens to take place on an elevated square canvas is also not pro wrestling.

Sopranos is super overrated, but gets much love -- not necessarily undeservedly so -- for being the first of its kind and setting the stage for shows like the wire, mad men, breaking bad, etc. It had its moments and top notch acting, but was so inconsistent and seemed to lack any coherent focus.

That is not pro wrestling.

Now we're taking away points for not being truly original? Just about everybody fails when evaluating according to that standard.

I actually just watched Taker/Brock in the Cell last night as I make my way through post-Attitude PPVs on the Network. That was an absolute all timer. Taker rolls off of Brock after a near fall and the blood quickly drips from his head onto Lesnar's chest. Just a major gusher. Other than Eddy/JBL, how many other matches since then in WWE have gotten that much color?

I was thinking about this recently as I just watched Vader vs. Kazuo Yamazaki on the '93 Yearbook. Its not original, but man, Vader was awesome. If you can argue for Hansen or Taue or someone like that as a big guy I could be persuaded, but from how I envision bigs Vader is far and away above the pack. He had such an incredible ability to sell and bump for opponents of any size without losing any of his aura as a brutal, overpowering monster. I haven't seen his work in the AWA or really pre-WCW/NJ at all, so I don't know how far we can extend his run of excellence. But I've got a tough time thinking of someone with a longer list of good or better matches.

I read the likely as speaking to the date. Because everyone was AWOL all weekend I thought it was not conclusive on what particular date each crime was committed.

YES! I don't know what else you could ask for from that match. About as perfect a brawl as I've seen.

Many will not agree with me. Hell, if I put in the time and watch a bunch of classics I've seen and since forgotten I may not agree. But right now Park vs. Wagner is the singular match I would recommend to someone looking to taste lucha.

I always thought this looked awesome but never got around to buying it. Are there any photos of pages within the book? Curious just how everything is laid out.

Only thing I'd caution about Hansen's book is that it was much lighter on four corners AJ than I would've hoped. I expected a lot more there but it was still a fun read and not I was sure as hell glad to get my hands on autographed copy.

Have to tip the cap to Hokuto/Kandori. There may have been worse, but I'd be lying if the female factor didn't make it a whole lot more gory.

Now Lakers fans have it rough? You kids are spoiled

Somehow just got around to checking out this thread. Really great stuff. Can't thank you enough, OJ.

I wish I had more time for wrestling. Lots more. There are 3.25 yearbooks from some great executive producers I still need to work through. There are 80s sets. There's the WWEN. There's trying to keep up with current Japan. Then there's football Sundays in the fall, basketball, which I can forgo on many regular season nights but not so much in the playoffs. There are weekends in the summer when the wife likes to get out of the city and I can sometimes sneak in 30-60 minutes of rasslin before going to dinner. There's time reading the paper, books, news, etc. There's time with the wife/friends/family. There's WORK. I love wrestling. I want more. Much more. But so little time.

Same here, I barely skim the Observer recaps at this point. More than enough.