El Boricua

So you're saying that Flair was the ace and top star for a promotion that supposedly lost around $23 million that year?

Why not, I could go for some Summerfest.

Whenever there's talk of videos portraying wrestlers as sex symbols, I'm reminded of this: As for videos with odd music choices, this Rick Martel one set to Hall & Oates is one that comes to mind:

This one may be the biggest in terms of resulting impact on the wrestling industry.

I've been enjoying the tournament so far, but one thing that seems a bit excessive is having all these variants of certain themes in the tournament. An example would be the two Alberto Del Rio "Realeza" versions in the tourney.

Team WWE defeating Team Nexus at SummerSlam 2010. That just killed off the Nexus as any kind of threat.

For one night only tournaments very likely, the only other ones I can think of at the moment are the Gillette Cup tournaments from 87 and 88 (but those aren't completely available). If it's over a couple of days, I think the Aniversario 86 Universal title tournament would be near the top. Some might say the IWA PR Light heavyweight title tournament from 99 could be a contender.

Looking forward to this Grimmas. How soon before you bring Fritz out of retirement so he can put over Bret Hart in a cage and go back into retirement?

What a difference the jump to Cult makes. Best of luck Parv, you've got a lot of potential with this roster. Two comments: I didn't see Snuka being offered an exclusive deal. Is he already on one? You don't want another Backlund situation. I'd be a bit wary of going all in with DiBiase if he's not exclusive with you.

Right now put me down as not watching, I'm not really interested in what they're putting out for this one. If anything good actually happens I can catch it later. As someone once told me, "I came here to have fun, not torture myself".

Intriguing how this will play out. I'd be tempted to call an audible and have Snuka win the tournament if Bruno couldn't go.

The bigger issue is not just that DeMott did all that, it's that by all indications it appears this was ignored and covered up by others within the company when people dared to bring it up (let alone if they were actually encouraging it). And those that did dare to speak were usually punished or gotten rid of. This is the story that should be brought up. Be a star indeed.

I gave a shot at doing a September card using Michaels vs. Mankind as the WWF/E title match. These September, October and December cards are pretty dire. Not sure if the final September card I would do would use this as the WWF/E title match. Anyway, here's how it turned out. September 95: Bret Hart defeated Jean-Pierre Lafitte 96: WWF World Heavyweight Title: Shawn Michaels © defeated Mankind by DQ 97: Vader defeated Owen Hart 98: D-Generation X (Billy Gunn, Road Dogg & X-Pac) defeated Jeff Jarrett & Southern Justice (Mark Canterbury & Dennis Knight) 99: Kennel from Hell Match for the Hardcore Title: Al Snow © defeated The Big Bossman 00: Tazz defeated Jerry Lawler 01: WCW World Heavyweight Title Handicap Match: The Rock © defeated Booker T & Shane McMahon 02: Chris Benoit defeated Kurt Angle 03: Stacy's Services vs Steiner's Services: Test defeated Scott Steiner 04: World Women's Title: Trish Stratus © defeated Victoria 05: Steel Cage Match: Matt Hardy defeated Edge 06: I-C Title: Johnny Nitro © defeated Jeff Hardy 07: World Tag Team Titles: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch © defeated Paul London & Brian Kendrick 08: World Heavyweight Title Championship Scramble Match: Chris Jericho defeated Batista, John Bradshaw Layfield, Kane and Rey Mysterio 09: ECW Title: Christian © defeated William Regal 10: U.S. Title: Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz © 11: No Disqualification: Triple H defeated CM Punk 12: Randy Orton defeated Dolph Ziggler 13: Divas Title Fatal Four Way: AJ Lee © defeated Brie Bella, Naomi and Natalya 14: WWE Tag Team Titles: Stardust & Goldust defeated The Usos ©

You're right, I have been enjoying these so far. I have to say you guys are nuts (in a good way!) to follow those rules, particularly "can't use any of the matches that really occurred". It does force you to be creative, particularly at WrestleManias where certain matches are just so iconic and do not have an obvious alternative (like WrestleMania 3). Looking ahead, 8 and 9 should be easier ones to do, while 10 is one of the harder ones to do following the rules. Great job by everyone involved and I look forward to seeing future installments.

It might be better to have what's left of Patterson and Stevens put over Arn and Tully. This could be a good WrestleMania match and they would fit into the old vs. new motif of the feud. it does delay the tag title win but I think it's better to get them somewhat over on their own before getting the tag belts even if Soul Patrol flounders a bit more in the role. As it is, if you do go ahead with the tag title switch it would be the third change in as many months and all of them being brand new champs. I love Savage, but 1983 Andre losing to or failing to defeat 1983 Savage seems like a ridiculously hard sell. If your plan is to have Bruno and Ted be the finalists, I think you are booking yourself into a corner. Bruno can't lose but neither should Ted if you're still building him up. If it were were me I'd have some sort of TLD or DDQ that takes Ted out of the tournament (maybe vs. Dusty or Brisco?) which would set up a WrestleMania match against that opponent with Ted going over. That does leave the question of who faces Bruno in the finals in that scenario. Of course, in the end this is all up to you and how you want to handle it. Love your plan for Graham and Ventura.

Their goal of killing off Bryan's finishers was accomplished.

I'm listening right now and wondering when you guys will notice that you have HBK twice in October (vs. Taker in 97 and Jericho in 08). I'll give it a try to see what I can come up with for these two months. And good luck with November and December, those are going to drive you nuts.

I've been working on these cards and, while doing so, decided to see if I can do them including the SNME shows into the mix. I have a doubt about how to handle them and wanted to see if anyone would offer their take. With the SNME, you have the date the event was held and taped, and then you have the actual airdate. In quite a few cases, that means that the card was held in one month but aired in a different month. Where do you guys think they would be better assigned, the month it was held or the month it aired?

It was worth a try with Graham. At least shoe's idea helps you get something out of him and help the Elite get over. That's a bad break with Backlund. Snuka may be your best bet there unless you have Blassie bring in a huge surprise opponent and have him take it from Backlund right off the bat. Maybe Bulldog Bob Brown is available? I'm sure you'll come up with something.

For Backlund at WrestleMania, would squeezing one last match out of Billy Graham work? Too bad you can't do a champion vs. champion thing with either Bockwinkel or Race.

Have to say those are great. Just some inspired work Word Hoard

They just announced on Twitter that it will be Cena vs. Rusev at Fast Lane. Also on Twitter, Triple H has challenged Sting to meet him face to face at Fast Lane.

Out if curiosity, what areas appear skewed.

Great to hear Bryan's in the Rumble. Hopefully he's recovered well. I am getting a kick out of seeing the Puerto Rican flag at ringside. And it looks like we have the debut of a post apocalyptic Chumbawumba looking team.

They were all over the place with that injury angle. The most impressive part was the toss Show gave Reigns, yet they are focusing on the announce table (which looks to be a step above cardboard in its construction) as being the big blow. Then they say it landed on his legs, then that it was the area where he had the hernia, then back to the legs. Never mind the fact that he was wearing body armor, apparently the table being flipped over has injured him to the point doctors have to check on him and cart him off. Meanwhile, it takes cinder blocks and chairs to the throat to take out Ambrose and have him carted off. They could have made it look more vicious than just saying Reigns was injured because a table was flipped over on him.