WingedEagle

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.

I could definitely see this as well, but man, Ambrose as a babyface has been such a revelation. I pegged him as a natural heel but he's been such an incredible baby who takes amazing beatings with well worked comebacks that I don't want him turning.

Nope. Not only do I think he's a good talker, I think he's leaps and bounds better than Wyatt. Bray feels like a vignette that's been done to death at this point. He also doesn't come across as particularly menacing or sudden in the ring. Its a shame Harper isn't the focal point of the act because I think there's a lot more potential with him in the lead role. Wyatt's so over the top it just feels like a 2014 version of something out of the TL Hopper / Goon / Waylon Mercy character era.

Really great point. Hadn't thought of it myself but it is absolutely spot on. They're always operating at the same level with the same urgency.

Arn really shined in tags, multiman and War Games. Always a solid hand in singles but his resume was written in plural scenarios.

Damn. I had to work during most of Cena/Wyatt so looks like I'll be rewatching that on Tuesday.

From WWE? No, but they'll let outside counsel bill a few hours until they go away.

What about publically building the expectations of how the Network is going to do on a study that said there are 100 Mio. (or whatever it was) wrestling fans in the US? There's a difference between fraud and being full of shit. I don't think Vince & Co. were full of shit. They were delusional. They were full of shit. Not as far as securities law is concerned. You and I and everyone here understands why those DYK numbers thrown out on TV are nonsense. But they're also all likely supported and documented well beyond any threshold rising to fraud. These shareholder suits are a lot more frivolous. That's not on the WWE front, but in general. Unless you're talking about SH litigation challenging as an example an M&A valuation or a situation where there's a legit smoking gun where material info is completely fraudulent, these things are just a cash grab.

Vince & co. control enough of the stock that absent fraud, which there is no legitimate evidence of to this point, this is all just a cash grab by opportunistic third parties. Shareholder litigation is big business. They churn these things out like widgets, collect their fees and move onto the next one. There's a lot of noise because of the stock's rapid rise & fall. But last I checked its higher right now than it was a year ago. Hopefully folks in Stamford and their counsel take a deep breath and stay the course.