marrklarr

it's almost impossible for me to focus on the text when there's a hypnotic, repeating image distracting the shit out of me. the worst part is that the guys who have them usually write great posts, so you can't skip over them without missing something.

It'd be fun to take a wrestler, like Darsow, and try to construct a narrative thread that unites all of his weird gimmick changes from promotion to promotion. Barry Darsow starts out as a roided-up Soviet sympathizer whose commie ways fade as he falls in with some strange leather/biker/post-apocalyptic subculture. When this runs his course, he decides to enter the repossession business. Before long, he grows tired of this career and becomes an asshole truck driver. Eventually, he takes up professional golf.

No question they were hurting for heels if they brought in over-the-hill Slaughter in late 1990 to headline Mania with Hogan. Slaughter definitely had it in him to play that role, but he was so fat and balding by then it was hard to take him seriously. If I was Vince, I would of gone to him and said, "Sarge, I'm about to put the title on you and make you my top heel, so shave your head and lose 20 lbs., maggot! Oh, and stop growling in your promos." Woulda helped a lot.

I think the title change at Summerslam was pitch perfect for what they were trying to accomplish, i.e. launch Warrior into a main event-level star. The belt gave him credibility, and the squash win made him look very strong. The brief match also hid his deficiencies as a worker and allowed him to do what he did best -- make a big entrance, run around like a maniac, lift a man over his head. I also really liked the element of surprise. The place popped like dynamite when his music hit. I'm not a Warrior fan, but I still mark out over that.

They do kinda look alike.

I always assumed they spent their weekends together on a yacht snorting blow and banging high-priced hookers. Once a month, they'd go to Ted's private island and hunt poor people for sport. I see no reason to doubt any of this.

Here's a wild conspiracy theory: maybe Vince instructed HTM to refuse to drop the IC belt, so that he would be "forced" to placate Macho with a title win at WMIV, providing him with a handy excuse for backing out on his promise (and already sketched out plans) to put the title on DiBiase. This way he could get the Savage title run that, by then, he wanted without disrespecting Ted and making him resentful. It would explain why Honky was never disciplined. And it would explain why the Savage title run seems so perfect and well-conceived for something that was supposedly a slapdash, last-minute rewrite in the weeks before Mania.

I was hoping Gorilla Monsoon would be played by an actual gorilla.

That is a MUCH more interesting and thought-provoking question.

I can see Tom being way out of the price range and having to settle for Ted McGinley. I actually prefer this to Cruise. McGinley would perfectly capture the fake, plastic, game show vibe of "Easy E." How about Rob Lowe?

Just noticed Sad Keanu sitting next to Harley. Nice touch.

Anyone else like the idea of Nick "Ron Swanson" Offerman as Arn Anderson?

It was 1967, so he would've been about 20 or 21. I love how the forced perspective makes the people in the background look super tiny. Also notice how Andre's giant hand extends from her ass to about mid-thigh. Wonder where his thumb is.

Christian Bale would make a good CM Punk I think DeNiro coulda played Bruno And if he had lived long enough, I could see Heath Ledger as Bockwinkel

You should send the Dibiase photo to Jerry. Laminate it first. :lol:

The title says it all: http://deadspin.com/oh-yeah-80s-johnny-ben...634558/@maxread

So you're basically saying that the Harts are a good team, just not as good as they are remembered. If you ranked the WWF teams of that era, where would you put them? Also, do you think they were better during their heel run or face run? I like your observation that HF is overrated due to Bret's singles success while the Rockers -- a superior team -- is underrated despite Michaels' success. If the Rockers had a title run, do you think this would be different? On a side note, you pay Vince kudos for his patience and restraint with Bret. I can't help but wonder if this giving him too much credit. What looks like brilliant long-term planning might just be Vince dithering and unable to commit to Bret as a singles star until he absolutely had to. What do you think?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

I think the word emotional kind of confuses things in a discussion like this. It makes us think of jumping for joy or weeping in sorrow. Few of us are or ever have been emotionally affected to that degree. But I think we all get some kind of reaction, even if it's as mild as "whoa! that move looked cool!" And even if we aren't caught up in emotion, I think we enjoy wrestling more when we sense that others are. Ever notice how a hot crowd can make a crap match worth watching? How a dead crowd can lessen a good match's appeal? I've read a few commenters saying that they often watch to appreciate the structural elements of a good match. Some have said it's more cerebral than emotional. I suspect, though, that you're not totally disengaged emotionally. After all, what is it about a well-structured and well-executed match that you find so satisfying?

I think that the entire point of wrestling is to produce an emotional reaction of some kind, so it better not be rare. If you aren't emotionally invested in the characters, storylines, and general theatrics of a match, it all feels hallow and pointless. You can certainly appreciate technical skill and athleticism, but there is much less impact without some kind of emotional context.

Good analysis. Bold thesis. Have you had a chance to examine HF's first title run? If so, how does it compare?

Too bad David Crockett never got that nipple clamp match that I want to believe he was constantly pushing for.

I don't want to be that guy, but Meet The Press is NOT syndicated. Podcast = ruined. Just kidding. Great show, guys! Keep 'em coming!

I guess that's what makes a territory a territory. The distinction is totally bound up with the old NWA system and really ceases to exist once promotions started encroaching on other promotions' turf. I know there were other features of the NWA framework (talent sharing, a single world champion, etc.), but wasn't the crux of it basically "I'll stay out of your backyard if you stay out of mine?" Even Vince Sr. and Verne honored the basic NWA pact except for having their own champions. I believe this is how they remained on good terms with the NWA (is it true that Vince Sr. was actually on the board of the NWA at one point post 1963?) Once promotions stopped respecting the boundaries, the concept of a territory was basically on it's way out. Were there other promotions beside JCP and WWF that openly and blatantly defied the boundaries? (I know expansion was happening all over the place, but a lot of that was companies moving into areas that were up for grabs.) Is this perhaps why Memphis was able to hang on for so long? No matter what they never lost sight of their base and never really spread themselves too thin.