Mr. B.B. Rogers

Great show! Really enjoyed every bit of it and can't wait for part two. I do have to agree that some of those names don't belong anywhere near this list (Kane most notably) and while Eddie was a great heel, I can see Steven's point of thinking of him as a babyface first. However, as with Savage, I think both he and Eddie crossed over into that "so good they're beloved" areas where it became very hard to think of them as heels. BikerTaker was a great idea to freshen up the character, and while it was overbooked, what wasn't at that time? I think it's the phase in Taker's character that really allowed him to grow as an in-ring talent and got him beyond that "punch, kick, choke" style that had dominated the early years of his career. Plus, once the gimmick was done, he was able to return as the "Deadman" and cement his "we'll-cheer-him-no-matter-what" legend status.

Nailed it. Overblown, bland, showing off needlessly with the vocabulary, but still masking it with humility at the end. Perfect!

Agreed. There's a lot of "I didn't see any of the build," but, in my opinion, this is a match that you can get into without that. It's a pure fight for survival. It's dirty, angry, aggressive, and brutal. Matches that visceral, when done right, don't require buildup. Sure, it helps, but I could watch that match 1,000 times without any backstory and still understand what it's about.

That's a very fair point, Loss. And it's true to the story they were telling for Flair "surviving" Vader, rather than beating him. I guess I just feel it went a bit against Vader's monsterness (not a word, but whatever) during that year a bit. Still a great match, but not an all-timer for me. Maybe it's just my overwhelm Vader-love.

I've yet to see an HBK/HHH encounter that I enjoyed. Way too long, self-indulgent, and just never feeling as "big" as they should (read: as the WWE wants you to see them as.) But the triple threat at WM XX was probably the best involving those two, for me, because the inclusion of Benoit kept things crisp and (for a 3-way) moving pretty well.

I agree. It's a really good match, no question, but the ending always bugged me too. Vader was built up at a MONSTER for pretty all of 93 and I just never liked the idea that he lost on a rollup!!! Especially since it looked so bad too.

When I asked goodhelmet for a Butch Reed comp recently, his response essentially was: "Damn, I haven't made one of those in so long, I'm not sure the burner will cut through all the dust!" I admit, I laughed at it! That being said, I ordered it because I've read a lot about how good he was in the mid-80s and I want to see more. Haven't quite gotten around to it yet (work, work, work!), but it's at the top of my list. I wanted to see if there's more to him than I know as "the guy in DOOM that wasn't Simmons".

Firstly, I have been missing the show ... glad to see you guys back up and running! Second, you're getting ever closer to when I became a fan. My first Clash was bits and pieces of Knocksville, USA with the Flair/Eaton main event. The first one I watched in full was the Fall Brawl, so I cannot wait to hear what you guys think of those two. And, Clash 17 (the one with Steamboat's return and Sting/Rude) is my all-time favorite CotC, so that'll be a blast! Third, to answer the question re: heel/face in-match turns, Nothing tops Austin/Hart from Mania 13, but I really liked how the Windham heel turn in late 92 came about. Everything from the tag title win over Williams/Gordy when during the post-match interview, Windham is holding all four belts. He says "I knew if I could hit the superplex...blah, blah" even though Rhodes' bulldog actually put Gordy down for the count, to the simmering build-up to Windham just DESTROYING Dustin after Rhodes refusing to pin an injured Steamboat, is just golden. I loved how it tied nicely into Steamboat and Rhodes being champs a year prior due to Windham's wrist injury. And the debut of the Impant DDT for Windham was a nice touch, as it gave him a more violent, heel-style finish for this run. Lastly, I have to say that Pillman would've been a fine choice, but you're right, he was always booked as a small guy. His look and moveset did not help. Nor did the nickname of "Flyin' Brian" nor Jim Ross' constant yammering on about Pillman's courage award for the Bengals and his "smallest dog/biggest heart" nonsense. It just made Pillman seem even smaller in stature than he really was, which in turn, made him that much smaller in fans' eyes too. No way you can take a guy like that a make him a credible title holder.

I can watch his matches, although diving headbutts & chairshots make me uneasy. Other than that, I have no trouble watching him in the ring. However, I tried to watch the "Hard Knocks" DVD and found that nigh impossible to get through.

Does Sting become a mime in 1997 count?

There's also the Old School Wrestling Podcast (OSWP) at flairchop.com. It's a really fun nostalgia-based show run by 2 friends that really have great chemistry and truly enjoy having fun with old-school wrestling. It's, I think, the first wrestling podcast I listened to. Great stuff every time: they usually do NWA, WCW, WWF stuff, but occasionally ECW and even older stuff. Most recently, they reviewed a match between The Destroyer and Victor, the Wrestling Bear!

Yeah, they came back. Not sure exactly when. Fritz still runs the show, does a decent job overall. Not as funny as when D'Lo and the others were on, but it's not bad. Steve (can't spell the last name, won't try) is more of an MMA guy and he has good chemistry with Fritz, but the 3rd guy, Michael Wiseman, is a poor fit, in my opinion. He comes across as being too opinionated for his own good and when he does makes a good point, there is not logical connection to what Fritz or Steve say. He's sometimes contrary just to be contrary. Again, it's not a bad show -- and they get some okay guests, like Cornette most recently -- but it's not what it once was. Aw man, I loved the original trio of Fritz, Vito and the other guy (can't remember his name). Even when D'Lo joined it was a very good listen. Good to know that Fritz still does it though. I can't believe I forgot about Vito! Yeah, he was pretty great on there, added a real nice perspective and had chemistry with Fritz. Which, of course, they both had with D'Lo too. I never heard Dickerman on the show; I didn't get into listening to podcasts until after he was gone.

Yeah, they came back. Not sure exactly when. Fritz still runs the show, does a decent job overall. Not as funny as when D'Lo and the others were on, but it's not bad. Steve (can't spell the last name, won't try) is more of an MMA guy and he has good chemistry with Fritz, but the 3rd guy, Michael Wiseman, is a poor fit, in my opinion. He comes across as being too opinionated for his own good and when he does makes a good point, there is not logical connection to what Fritz or Steve say. He's sometimes contrary just to be contrary. Again, it's not a bad show -- and they get some okay guests, like Cornette most recently -- but it's not what it once was.

The Wyatt gimmick is amazing, but I think Cena's going to damage it with his goofiness. It's supposed to be dark, bizarre, and a little scary, but "Southern Preacher John" probably won't put it over that way. The matches should be fine, but color me skeptical.

Absolutely awesome, Parv! I love how Akeem is dancing right along, and Bossman can't decide to look menacing and thump his nightstick, or try to mimic Akeem and work a bit of "Bossman Shuffle"!

Absolutely for me too. I've not really kept with Angle now that he's in TNA, but when he first showed up, he really felt like a "total package" in the most non-Luger way possible. He could be serious or fun on promos, depending on what was needed; he "got" it outside of the ring and inside. Angle seemed to be able to flip the switch from "I'm the EuroContinental Champion" to "I will murder you with suplexes" with great ease.

It's pretty fun. The co-hosts have good chemistry together and when they stay on-topic, they do a lot of great work. When they get off-topic, however, it's a mixed-bag. But, overall, very enjoyable show and it's great to (before or after listening) watch the shows/matches they discuss.

I just bought my first 3 comps from Will, including the Windham set. I'm currently working through the Dangerous Alliance stuff, but reading this thread has me very excited to get into the Windham stuff, who was one of my favorite all-time workers for sure. Did anyone every do a better, smoother superplex?!?!? One of the reasons I loved his short lived tag team with Ron Simmons, they had the two smoothest "finisher to pin" transiitions in wrestling. When did they team? I assume it was 91-92 during the Sting's Buddies vs. Dangerous Alliance run, but I have no real recollection of that. Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs. Barry Windham & Ron Simmons (Pro 11/9/91) Barry Windham & Ron Simmons vs. Jake the Snake & Barbarian (Sat. Night 9/26/92) Pretty sure they had a couple of fun squash matches as well. They weren't a long term or particularly regular tag team but I always loved them when they did team up. Ok, I initially read it like they were a regular team for a bit, but clearly they were not. In watching back over the DA stuff, it really does seem like Simmons was setting up to be a huge part of "Sting's buddies" until Koloff came into the picture. I wonder if there is a story behind it, or if the bookers just felt like the Koloff-Sting story made too much sense not to run with it, so they bumped Simmons. Be interested to know that one...

Austin & Pillman, together or feuding, could have something special no doubt. It's probably the greatest tragedy in wrestling history that doesn't involve something morbid.

Lately, the current WWE product has been so shit that I've essentially sworn it off entirely. I'm still occasionally checking out Shield-Wyatt-Punk-Bryan stuff, but otherwise, I don't care. Never really been a WWE guy anyway; I have a long-standing personal theory that Vince hates wrestling. Anyway, my current 5 in no particular order: Barry Windham. I'm been slowly working thru Will's Dangerous Alliance comp, and just started the set on Barry. He's just so smooth and fluid with virtually everything he does. Great superplex, lariat always looks great and I just can't help but LOVE his floating-style DDT. Arn Anderson. He's just been fantastic on the DA set. Really felt like "The Enforcer" was in full swing, albeit with Eaton by his side. Just always fun, especially in the matches against Sting's buddies. Buddy Rose. In addition to the DA & BW stuff, I'm slowly working on some Portland stuff, and I'm really loving Buddy. Just saw his hair vs. hair match with Steve Pardee and he made the kid look like a million bucks while cutting a fun-as-all-hell post-match promo! Midnight Express (Eaton/Lane). I just watch their Starrcade 88 matchup with the "original MX" and it was fantastic. I've also dug up some early Eaton and Lane from Memphis and had fun with that too. It's been so great that I just ordered the MX comp from Will. Lastly, Eddie Gilbert. Got some of his Memphis stuff and the matches are ok to good, but the promos are FANTASTIC! The way he just treats Lance Russell like garbage is hilarious and he just oozes slimy, hate-me-like-you-mean-it heel. Awesome stuff.

I just bought my first 3 comps from Will, including the Windham set. I'm currently working through the Dangerous Alliance stuff, but reading this thread has me very excited to get into the Windham stuff, who was one of my favorite all-time workers for sure. Did anyone every do a better, smoother superplex?!?!? One of the reasons I loved his short lived tag team with Ron Simmons, they had the two smoothest "finisher to pin" transiitions in wrestling. When did they team? I assume it was 91-92 during the Sting's Buddies vs. Dangerous Alliance run, but I have no real recollection of that.

Two words: Fuck yes! He sold it like fire shot out of his opponent's knee straight up his ass into his spine! Always a highlight of any Rude match for me!

I had been just discovering wrestling in 1991 and had seen a few WCW shows here and there, but the Sting-Rude U.S. title match from Clash 17 in Nov. 1991 is the match that hooked me for life. The story was great, with Rude the superbly cocky heel preying on the heroically injured babyface Stinger. It was a short, but awesome match, that was -- and still is -- one of my favorite "short" matches of all time. Rude's whole DA run was amazing, although he lost a lot of steam after that. I've never quite figured out why that is. Put him in the ring with Sting, Steamboat, or Rhodes and I could watch those matches all day long! His '92 Iron Man with Steamboat is a personal Top 5 for me.

I just bought my first 3 comps from Will, including the Windham set. I'm currently working through the Dangerous Alliance stuff, but reading this thread has me very excited to get into the Windham stuff, who was one of my favorite all-time workers for sure. Did anyone every do a better, smoother superplex?!?!?

Really enjoyed this one. I found Derek's insights to be an interesting shift from the typical analysis this podcast gives. I've not seen this PPV in ages, but I do overall agree with Parv that Garvin was shit by this point. Hayes was living on borrowed time as well. He really went from "Coolest dude at the party" to "Someone's awkward dad" in a hurry. As for the Dudes...I really don't know what to say. I mean, I'm a Steiners fan through and through (I live about 30 minutes from their hometown of Bay City, Michigan), but JYD, Orndorff, and El F'N Gigante never did nothing for nobody! The Sting-Flair match was, as many have said already in this thread, a Sting squash. I don't know if they were trying too hard to get Sting over (and thus cement the 'new era' vibe that the match & post-match promo seemed to suggest) by having him dominate Flair, or what. Cool moment, lackluster route to get there. Keep up the great work, fellas!