fishbaugh

Finally decided that I had to turn in a ballot (in the next couple of days), despite what I consider to be some serious gaps in my viewing experience. When talking to some wrestling fan friends about my hesitation to vote based on my lack of expertise, they responded with "you own like a thousand DVDs of wrestling from the 80s alone -- I can't imagine ANYONE watching more wrestling than you". That is obviously not true, but these are guys who have been watching wrestling for pushing 30 years, and would consider themselves to be nutjob fans. Add in the hundreds of hours of video I've watched online or downloaded, and I've seen some things in my time, well above and beyond what that type of fan has watched. Sure, it may not stack up to the few hundred or thousand of the most extreme fans out there, but compared to the average wrestling fan, I'm certainly on the long tail of the distribution. Hell -- when I was in Tokyo in 2014 I figured out how to buy tickets to attend a Wrestle 1 show at Korakuen Hall. That doesn't give my opinion any additional weight, but it does make me feel like I've put in the years to at least have a voice on a vote like this. The big holdup for me was trying to figure out what areas to just cut from my voting, as I couldn't justify voting for ANYONE from an area without a more serious survey of the ENTIRE area. So anyone who might have made their case pre-1980 had to go. Same goes for Joshi workers, WoS, shoot style, post-2000 US Indy (the 15+ early/mid-2000s ROH DVDs I own were so shitty the first time I watched them I couldn't even bother to attempt a re-watch), and many more areas that had to be culled. What I'll be left with, after my final ballot is turned in over the next couple of days, will be my favorite 100 workers based on the footage I've seen enough of to feel confident that I can make an informed opinion on. It won't be what I'd like it to be, it won't be what it COULD be, but it will be my best good faith effort, and that seems like it should be enough.

My friends from Montana are flying down and then we are road tripping up to the Bay Area, so I'm pumped for that. I'm pumped to go to a PPV with them for the first time since No Way Out 2009. I'm excited to be at a Wrestlemania, period. But I'm not excited to be at THIS Wrestlemania, if that makes any sense. None of the matches are interesting, and after being in the crowd for last year's Royal Rumble, any charm that being part of a hostile crowd holds is gone. This will be my first time seeing Sting, so that's something? Though that is kind of like seeing Jerry Rice play...for the Seahawks. I'm trying not to get too negative, but between the price of the tickets and the amount of time I'll be spending getting there, I was hoping for at least 1 match I am interested in.

I was in Tokyo during the summer for work and decided to catch a show at Korakuen Hall. Just went to the Tokyo Dome complex, found the building (blue building off to the left of the main Dome entrance), took the elevator up to the 4th floor, and found the ticket guy. He was super patient with me as we leafed through a huge book showing all the upcoming shows and what tickets were available. Ended up seeing a very bad Wrestle 1 show that looked to be advertising Muta and Tajiri, that was really just those two in street clothes doing an in-ring promo to hype the next show. Even though the show wasn't good, I had a great time and it was fun to be at the venue. From what I've reading online, you can get definitely get tickets at all kinds of convenience stores, and I saw ticket kiosks at a Lawson and a Family Mart (which seem to be on every single corner) that were selling tickets to baseball games and concerts and such. Unfortunately, it rained non-stop every day I was there, and the Swallows play in an outdoor stadium, so I didn't bother trying to figure the machine out.

Coming up with my criteria is proving to be difficult -- might be as difficult as actually doing the rankings. First, I need to decide on a cutoff date for who to consider. I'm leaning towards nothing after 2006, as I think a decade needs to pass before I'm comfortable reevaluating it. But that feels kind of silly, and means people like Bryan won't make my list, which kind of defeats the purpose of the project! Then I need to decide what relative value to give spots on the card, roles played, and such. Can I justify voting a consistent hand with no timeless work over a inconsistent performer with moments of greatness? And what about the relative value of promotions and points in time? Does being on top in a small territory compare to being an upper mid-career in a national promotion? I need to come up with my own MLE adjustments, but that seems like crazy overkill and would take a lot of the fun out of the project. Too much too think about!

I never really hid from it, and in my previous career everyone knew I was a fan. A coworker grew up in Portland and told me about watching a match where Buddy Rose puked between falls and I didn't hesitate to show him the footage when I got it on a comp. However, about 3 years ago I switched careers to a very conservative industry and wanted to keep it a secret as I was worried it may hold back my career prospects. One of my bosses figured it out when I left work early to go to Staples Center, and news quickly spread. People give me a hard time about it, but nobody thinks any differently about me from what I can tell. And when they start to really question me, I just tell them that my great grandfather was a pro wrestler and promoter and that seems to help them get past the cognitive dissonance.

Great idea to supplement the show -- going to be perfect for your "special" episodes. I've been meaning to track down LA footage since I moved here a few years back, so you saved me some serious legwork!

You think?? You kidding me??? I noticed these verbal crutches when he was on Austin's podcast, but they are even more evident tonight.

Finally got in -- tried to process my billing and was told I'd already signed up. Have had my stream freeze twice, but the quality is higher than I expected. Having to reload the video is a pain, so hopefully they add the ability to continue from where you last ended. I expected that feature from go-live and is a letdown for sure. Great video quality more than balances that out though.

I've been trying to sign-up off and on since 7:00am PST and can't get it to go. I finally made it to the actual sign-up page, entered my billing, and that keeps saying "There was an error processing your request. Please try again later." This has happened 5 or 6 times now! Pretty frustrating, and a lot more difficult than I would have expected.

This show is easily my favorite wrestling podcast -- everyone has found their role and works great together. The giggling over each other is actually a positive to me (makes you guys sound spontaneous), and I always love the riffing. I spent 10 years as a commercial radio DJ, so I'm hardwired to listen for the weaknesses in delivery and pacing in any broadcast, but you guys overcome all of that with infectious energy and obvious enjoyment of what you are doing.

I was surprised at how loud The Pond was on the RAW after SummerSlam this year -- no idea if that came across on TV, but sitting up in the cheap seats it felt plenty hot.

People tonight were so pissed that they calmly exited the arena in an orderly manner. The days of people losing their shit is over. I once threw a soda at Buff Bagwell for saying people from Montana were essentially Canadians -- I'd be locked up for that nonsense today. People just don't even think of causing a scene at live events, and no matter how badly their favorite gets screwed everyone is just going to walk out and head home like they are on their way out of the latest superhero movie.

I was being critical of Orton more than Cena. It happens to Orton fairly often. And he pouts about it. That's fair -- he was obviously pouting tonight too. There was one point where he goes up to the top rope expecting everyone to boo him and it seemed like everyone ignored him and he got flustered. I just can't see how they didn't expect this reaction and plan accordingly, so maybe you are right and people are just tone def.

The only thing that brought the crowd back from doing the wave and chanting for Divas matches was the trading of the other guy's finishers (which live came off really well) and then the Wyatt interference (which just made the crowd think Bryan was going to come out to counter Wyatt). It wasn't that John fucking Cena of all people doesn't know how to work -- the audience didn't want to see him in that spot tonight and nothing he was going to do with Orton would have saved it from an occasional pop at best. If the only way to bring the crowd back is through extreme measures like that (which were obviously planned because they knew people would be shitting on the match), then I don't think anyone on the roster could have salvaged things.

I'm sitting in a bar with a bunch of people who flew to Pittsburgh and are staying at a fancy hotel to see WWE. Everybody is talking about what tonight means for Wrestlemania. Sure, this is just anecdotal evidence, but these people are the people WWE consider "hardcore" fans. They were shit on (most of them have Daniel Bryan shirts and three of them have fake beards), yet they can't stop taking about what is next. This is why things like tonight happen.

At the end of the show a guy in fatigues and the haircut of a crazy person ran down to the barricade next to me and held up a sign that said "If Batista Wins We Riot". It was upside down and everybody pulled out their cell phones to take a picture of the weirdo. I doubt anyone would do anything.

Ask anyone who has spent any time in a creative field and they will all hate their hardcore fans. I spent ten years as on on-air radio DJ and I can attest to this. You want people to like what you are doing, but if they aren't responding to what you want it turns to resentment real quick. You then want to make them suffer for daring to not eat what you are feeding them. The WWE is purposefully doing this, and the writers are taking delight in laughing at the complaints. My fellow DJs used to do it all the time -- someone would call up and complain about us playing too much Journey so we'd immediately blast "Separate Ways". I've never been surprised when they pull this shit. That being said, I was in attendance tonight and it was the hottest crowd I've ever been a part of. Orton vs. Cena was such a weird experience, and I felt really bad for Rey Rey as people were furious at that shit. I don't know if it made air, but Dave did a great job going heel on his way out and looked like he hasn't lost that part of what made him so over. Great night in terms of the crowd, but a total letdown of a show.

Cashed in some frequent flier miles and am making the trip to Pittsburg this weekend -- anyone else going? Really pumped to see Dave, as he is a huge favorite of mine. I quit watching wrestling after the last Nitro, and one of the first RAWs I watched coming back was when Batista collected the bounty on Goldberg which for some stupid reason really pulled me back in. My buddies and I treated Dave like he was our own personal cult figure from then on, and were glad when the rest of the crowd jumped on board. So I'll be jacked to see him live, and will love it if he wins just so I can cheer for my guy. That being said, if Bryan can go, they'd be crazy not to have him win and go on to Mania. My father insisted on coming down for a visit the weekend of SummerSlam, so I wasn't able to go, but I was in Anaheim the next night and that crowd seemed hotter for Bryan than Staples was for the Punk vs. Cena match in 2011. If he ends up winning the Rumble, you'd have to figure the place will come unglued and I'd love to experience something like that live (it seems like every big show I go to has a screwy finish or a heel going over -- No Way Out 2008, SummerSlam 2011, SummerSlam 2012, etc.).

Funny how quickly something that seems great can become disappointing when your expectations change. Prior to the announcement, if I knew I could get all the new PPVs live, the entire back catalog of PPVs, and 5-10 hours of additional content a week for $9.99 a month, I would have been excited. But if it is framed as "all the new PPVs live, the entire back catalog of PPVs, and additional new content for $9.99 a month" and that "additional" is revised to "5-10 hours a week" I'm all bummed out! What is even more silly is that I don't have 5-10 hours a week to kill -- I've got hundreds of hours of DVDs sitting around my house I haven't even cracked yet!!

That's great to hear and I've heard it from others as well. I imagine at its best, the colors and sharpness are every bit as vibrant and perfect as a cable HD broadcast. Would the fast motions and camera panning look as good as a Blu-ray or even a DVD? Or, are you seeing a film-like effect that generally isn't seen on cable TV live sports or a WWE release? For example, does it look like cable quality when the batter swings? I just got a new TV that has that motion smoothing effect/higher resolution, but that was after the season was over so I can't comment. I never noticed an issue on my older LCD TV, but maybe it would be noticeable on one of the fancier ones?

I watch MLB.tv on my Roku without any real picture issues -- the stream always starts off with shitty quality for 20-30 seconds before getting up to 'HD'. Once that happens, I have never noticed any real issues. And I have Time Warner internet in LA, which has a terrible reputation (I've never had any trouble with it but to read online they have been known to cap your speeds so they can use the extra bandwidth to murder the elderly). If the network can stream a PPV at the quality I watch MLB.tv at, it'll be more than good enough for me.

- Go to some lucha shows here in LA. I've lived here for almost 3 years and every time I see an interesting line-up I either think that it is lies, or I look at the neighborhood and get all scared and ridiculous and refuse to go. - Give PWG shows a second chance. I went to the DDT show back in 2012, and found the crowd so horrible that it soured me on the entire experience. The location sucks for me (driving up into the valley???), and nobody wants to sit in some wood paneled sweat lodge with what appears to be 250 fat guys reeking of cigs and beer, but I feel like I should give it another go as the matches seemed fun enough. - Finish the Lucha 80s set before the spring. I'll be so busy at work once the spring hits that I won't have time for a project that requires that much of my attention, so I need to get it done soon. Been really loving the first 3 discs, but have so many other things I'm into right now that it's hard to dedicate the time.

Just finished watching Greg Valentine/Brutus Beefcake vs. Ricky Steamboat/Tito Santana (4/21/1985 - Toronto) and I can't think of a more pure babyface tag team in history than Steamboat/Tito in '85. This match was really just to progress the Tito vs. Valentine feud, with Tito finally locking the Figure Four on Greg to get the win, but it was still a blast. Hell, even Bruti bumps around well in this one! As for the poll, while Steamboat has more classic feuds and matches on his resume, and Martel is fresh in my mind from the AWA set, if I had to choose one of them to buy a comp of it'd be Tito without question. He is so good at fighting from the ground (his punches to the gut from his knees are great) and is really the personification of babyface "fire". Where other 80s babyfaces do the never-ending arm drag sequences, including going back to the arm drag even when the heel starts to cheapshot them to prove what great competitors they are, Tito is quick to mix it up and trade blows and act like a dude who fights for a living. That is obviously a personal preference on my part, but I like my babyfaces to act like badasses when pushed, and Tito has that about him in a way that Steamer and Martel just don't convey.