El Boricua

I'm late to this, but maybe Tajiri.

That's exactly what I think they should be doing with Reigns. Absolutely spot on Grimmas.

I'm fine with Roman Reigns in terms of what he potentially may become. He's not there yet. I find it amusing that the last guy to receive such a push was Brock Lesnar (who is the planned end game for Reigns). I start to compare where Brock was and what he had accomplished in the lead up to the Rumble in 2003 with where Reigns is now. It's a marked difference in terms of accomplishment and preparation. I think what should be more troubling is that Reigns winning is leading to rigged voting remarks. It's an indication that what WWE has done with Reigns is lacking in results for what they want/hope him to be. And that's on the WWE brain trust not Roman Reigns.

Agree, particularly since the ones bringing it up are already the chosen few.

There have heen some odd winners tonight. Not that strong a reaction for the Superstar of the Year (mostly screaming ladies).

I heard the sirens and for a moment thought Scott Steiner was showing up to challenge Bray to a rambling contest.

Good luck to Punk. Two thoughts: Lesnar's leverage for his next negotiation with both WWE and UFC just went up. Punk's stock for the WON HOF just went up with certain voters.

I enjoy this concept as a fun logic puzzle where your own preferences about matches and wrestlers can influence how it will go. It can get aggravating trying to make it work, but that's part of the fun. I'll get around to posting my cards once I have them done. One issue that tends to cause problems for me is trying to keep straight what counts as distinct gimmicks where they are treated as two different people, and when it's all the same person. Your cards look good, but it looks like you have a couple of repeats for some of the months. January - Have Jericho twice (01 and 08) March - Have Goldust twice (XII and X8) April - Have Mick Foley twice (98 and 99), this is one of those cases where no matter the gimmick it was acknowledged as being the same guy June - Foley used twice (98 and 06), Tommy Dreamer used twice (06 and 09) July - Cena used twice (08 and 11) August - may not be a repeat, but think Headshrinker Fatu (93) and Rikishi (00) are viewed as the same guy September - not a wrestler, but the U.S. title is listed twice (01 and 14), I think WWE acknowledges it all as the same lineage November - an aggravating month to work out, Shelton Benjamin is is used twice (04 and 09), possibly Blue Blazer (88) and Owen Hart (94) , both were acknowledged in storyline as being the same person during Owen's last run Still, it was real good effort.

I believe it's people who don't vote lucha, but have heard Cien Caras is a slam dunk and don't want him to fall off. So, they vote for him in the lucha category only and no one else. I guess to see that is see how many total voters there were this year in lucha compared to last year. This illustrates a problem with allowing such fluidity in self selecting where to vote.

I don't remember where I read it, but supposedly the back-up plan in case they couldn't get Steamboat for the Clash was going to be Muta.

You guys are overrating 1991. It's the worst of the first five Survivor Series. I don't get penalizing 89 for shilling No Holds Barred the match when 91 is even worse at being an ad for This Tuesday in Texas.

It's because AJ has been bathed in the mystical waters of wrestling on top in good/great matches in Japan.

In terms of guys who I thought would have made it, I always think of Ahmed Johnson. He had the look, a great combination of power and agility, and presence. If you saw him at the end of 95 and beginning of 96, you'd believe you were watching a huge star on the rise. But sloppiness, injuries (to himself and his opponents) and other issues stopped all that. As for a guy who did not live up to the hype when I finally saw him, that would be Vampiro. You'd hear him talked up on the net and that he should be pushed or used more in WCW , that he was great, etc. Then when he was showcased more, I was left wondering if they were talking about the same guy.

For a last minute idea, you guys didn't miss a beat. it was a fun show. I laughed at Luke buying a gavel and ending up with the equivalent of gavel blue balls when the switch had to be made. Some random thoughts: The moment you get to Randy Savage at 49 is when you know it's going to be an interesting slog through the list. I agree that the 40 to 30 stretch seems to be where they put heels from other territories just to say they were included. No way does Moolah belong on this list, they already had Sherri and Vickie on the list if female representation was needed. Edge is too high, he always had had to be paired with someone to be effective as a heel. It's tough trying to figure out who should be number one, although as you guys said the top three all have an argument. Overall, it was fun hearing the incredulous reactions to many of the placements on the list.

Wouldn't expect anything less. On top of it the music sucked. Horrible sci-fi sounding laser beams. So that's where Loss' lasers went to.

I listened to the SNME live watch episode at work. When you guys got to Moolah vs. Richter, from that point onwards I had to bite my hand a couple of times to keep from making too much noise laughing. As for the Halloween episode, so Justin doesn't feel like the only one, Donatello is my favorite too. And co-sign on Return to Oz. The tv ads for this made it seem like a whimsical children's movie. Headless Mombi and her room of heads still freaks me out. Just a messed up movie.

Agree, it took me awhile to realize it was KrisZ. Threw me off for a bit. Really great show guys.

Hugo Savinovich and Wendi Richter being married at one time was a weird one for me.

While we're on the subject of the Powerteam, I guess now's a good time to share an anecdote I have (don't worry, it's wrestling related). Back in the summer of 92, WWC (still known then as Capitol Sports) started showing promos for John Jacobs and his Power Team. If you've seen some of the WWC 82 tv episodes out there, it was similar as to how they were showing promos for the mud fight girls just before going to or just after coming back from commercials (in terms of the promo style, not the content obviously ). Anyway, they would show these short promos of these muscled guys doing feats of strength for God (ripping phone books in half, breaking handcuffs using a sledge to break a block of ice that was on someone else, etc.). They were coming to Puerto Rico for a week long engagement at one of the local churches and they were cross-promoting with WWC to get the word out about the event. A couple of weeks after seeing the promos, we received a phone call at our house. It was one of my uncles. He's a minister and wanted to invite his nephews to an event where some feats of strength guys would be. He thought it would be a great opportunity to take his nephews to an evangelical event. I thought it would be cool to go see guys do feats of strength, so I said I'd go. We ended up going the first night of their stay (and also the last night). We arrived early and got settled in our seats. The place was pretty full and I was surprised by the size of the church (this was my first experience going to what you would call a mega church). First time I ever saw a church with a gift shop too. Anyway, when it was time to begin, the church's pastor gave everyone a welcome and did some warm up chit chat. Normally, once he would finish with the chit chat he would introduce John Jacobs. Jacobs would greet the crowd and then proceed to introduce his Powerteam one by one as the lights were turned low and they would run down the aisle (very pro wreslting like). He would even introduce one guy as "Bigger than Hulk Hogan, bigger than the Ultimate Warrior!" That's how the event usually started (and did the second time I went). However, that first night there was something different. As the pastor was finishing up his introduction and welcome, he mentioned that he also wanted to thank Capitol Sports Promotions for helping promote the event. He said that there were reprentatives of Capitol Sports present and he would like them to come up and say some words. As I turned my head to the aisle, I saw this ragtag group of five men make their way down the aisle and up to the podium. These men were not dressed for church. These guys looked like they had just gotten here from the gym. The stereotype for how wrestlers dress was out in full force with this fivesome. They were in t-shirts. A cornucopia of jeans and zubaz was on display. And two of them had fanny packs. As they stood in front of the congregation, I focused on one detail and it wasn't what they were wearing. "Hey, how can these guys be here together?" Yes, the fivesome was comprised of two tecnicos and three rudos. As my mind tried to reconcile the fact that these guys seemed to be coexisting peacefully ("is it like Highlander where they do not fight on holy ground?"), the pastor handed off the mic to one of them to address the crowd. As the CSP representative took the microphone, I took stock of who was there. On one side were the two tecnicos, El Vikingo and El Ciclon Salvadoreño (fanny pack wearer #1). On the other side of the man with the mic were two of the rudos, Joe Don Smith and Dick Slater (fanny pack wearer #2). And there in the middle, about to address the congregation in his t-shirt and jeans, was none other than "El Capitan Cuello Rojo" Dick Murdoch. Murdcoh spoke briefly. He thanked the pastor for the introduction and said some brief words of how happy and proud Capitol Sports was to be able to participate in an event such as this. Having said his piece, Dick Murdoch handed the microphone back to the pastor and this motley crew made their way back to their seats. Then John Jacobs was introduced and the event continued as usual. When we left later that evening, I actually scanned the parking lot to see if I could see the wrestlers. Turns out they were in the process of getting into a jeep to leave. It looked like there wasn't enough room in the car for all of them, so they had opened the rear of the jeep to get the rest of the guys in. As we continued along the parking lot, the Jeep with the wrestlers passed us by and I saw El Ciclon Salvadoreño and Dick Slater crammed into the trunk space of the Jeep as they passed us by. And just like that, they were gone. And thus ends the story of the only time I got to see Dick Murdoch live and in the flesh.

First they were part of...Powerteam USA! Is that Rick Bassman in front? He looks like the long lost love child of Kurt Angle and Paul Heyman. Same thing here, when i heard they were originally part of Powerteam USA I thought it was the evangelical feats of strength guys.

Not sure if the plan was always Martel vs. Funk or if it got changed due to Brody not arriving. Brody did wrestle the next two days of Aniversario 86, so I would think he legitimately was supposed to be there (although you never know). His flight would have arrived at Luis Muñoz Marin airport in San Juan. Ponce's about an hour's drive from San Juan (depending on traffic), so any delays on a flight from Japan would have affected getting to the arena on time. Dory Funk and Ric Flair also wrestled on Saturday and Sunday but not on Friday (although in their case they weren't booked for the Friday card).

September 19, 1986 from Coliseo Pachin Vicens in Ponce. This is the first night of Aniversario 86 featuring the opening round for the vacant Universal title and the finals of the round robin tournament to crown the first ever TV champion. After the Funk promo in the link there's a rundown of this card. Invader 3 vs. Vikingo was one of the additional matches, Atlas took on Angel Mejicano, Wajima was there but wrestled against someone else, and Martel won his match via forfeit since Brody was delayed in arriving from Japan.

That's why i was thinking of 85 as Patera's last meaningful year since he was still headlining house shows teaming with Studd against Andre and tag partner early in the year.

It's October 16, 1982. Invader was in WWF in November of 83.

Probably the first Observer of November. Thanks Bix! If Patera stays on the ballot this year, does anyone know if he would move to the historical bracket next year? 1985 seems to be his last meaningful year (anything post jail I see as visible but not meaningful). I don't know for sure, but I'd go 87-88 on Patera's "last meaningful year". When he came back after prison, he was in a fairly high-profile angle. You could possibly go 1989 since he was AWA Tag Champ, even though that promotion was a shell of its former self. It's interesting to see how one can define last meaningful year for purposes of moving someone from Modern to Historical. I can see valid arguments for any year between 85-89 as being Patera's last meaningful year, .