BigBadMick

Just Survivors 89, as far as I know.

All Noble's ROH work was disappointing? It's been years - probably 2005-06 - since I watched it, but I remember enjoying it loads....

If anyone wants to search for it, I think Meltzer talked about the Magee match on his WrestleMania 2 audio. Probably late last summer.

I'm surprised 1997 didn't get nominated - big stadium, Micheals v Sid, Rise of Austin in a solid Rumble with a very good last 10-15 minutes.....

https://twitter.com/chrisolds2009/status/557385734860972032/photo/1 awesome Wade is gonna come unglued over this. Thinking exactly the same thing!

Weird, I just watched the first episode of TE Season 1 last night, and I don't remember Morrison being on it. Was it a blink and you miss it thing? That pic of Dunn in the same shot as Mooney. Which show was that from? http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/29524-possible-kevin-dunn-sighting/

I don't know what Dave could really have that no one else doesn't WWF wise. The only way would be if someone from inside was hooking him up with stuff that was taped but not aired, which doesn't seem like it would be much. I could see him having some stuff from other territories or Japan that the recorders missed. Probably doesn't matter though as I'd think most of his stuff is ruined anyway from sitting in his shed, OUTSIDE, for 30 years. I remember him talking about seeing the Bret v Tom Magee match on tape at some stage. Fairly sure he's in a minority there...

Downloaded ok, cheers!

Is this working ok? Seems very slow to download.....

Interesting - I prefer Taker-Michaels at WM 26 - shorter, tighter, more at stake. Anyone with me?

How was last week's Aztec Warfare Rumble anyway? Can't beat PWO for some perspective when everyone else goes nuts about things.....

It is well trodden ground, agreed. But there are so many generalities, commonly held beliefs, assumptions, myths and outright lies out there that a forensic, week by week analysis is a refreshing tonic.

I actually think Bruce Mitchell is great, if you can get past the "everything was better in Crockett" stuff. He did a podcast with Keller this week that dissected every issue with WWE and TNA programming like a serial killer. Agreed. He has a few peculiarities and annoying traits, but I've never understood why Mitchell is barely mentioned in PWO. Mitchell can be great at times, but as someone that was a Torch subscriber from 2008-2013, it really devolved into "we've heard this before too many times" and he came across as a blowhard that refused to move an inch on any past opinion he had formed. Digging back into the archives, you see even more examples of him really taking a minority line and sticking up for important issues. I do like Bruce and think the Torch overall gets dissed on too much from the F4W crowd, but lapsing my Torch sub hasn't given me many regrets. That's probably fair, actually. And he's a teacher, so he has no problem repeating himself and droning on and on sometimes.

I actually think Bruce Mitchell is great, if you can get past the "everything was better in Crockett" stuff. He did a podcast with Keller this week that dissected every issue with WWE and TNA programming like a serial killer. Agreed. He has a few peculiarities and annoying traits, but I've never understood why Mitchell is barely mentioned in PWO.

Todd Martin's been reviewing old Observers on Alvarez' show for a while now. They've gotten to the middle of 1985 now. Meltzer was on a major kick against everything WWF was doing at the time, and said one Fabulous Ones match in Memphis had more action than all of WWF combined all year. The two men agreed that Dave has changed his views on many things over time, but I'm wondering - when did Dave grow up and stop writing like an angry teenager?

I'm noticing a lack of affection for Rumbles this decade. Would it be fair to say that quality/intrigue/novelty/spectacle seems to have dropped off? I know it has for me.

Don't know if there are many regular viewers here, but if I was to cherrypick and ask for a best 10-20 matches of 2014 - any ideas?

Watched eps. 18 and 19 over the weekend. Noticed they've relaxed a bit on showing and mentioning Benoit.

Taker-Rey, really? Watched it again last year, it didn't jump out at me as exceptional..... What's the rest of the list?

I think it's easier to separate this into best undercard ever and best Rumble ever. Best Undercard - 2000 (the Rumble was forgettable) Best Rumble - 2007 (especially for the Undertaker-Michaels finishing stretch)

Good recap. Have to agree with Chad about not letting nostalgia overpower reality. I first saw this in 92 or 92 when a glut of WCW videos were released here. Loved it then, but I can see that it doesn't hold up and lacks any real substance. Looking forward to the 91 tv episode - watched loads of it a few months back so it's fresh in my mind.

Just getting caught up on these now. Really good show. I like episodes when you cover a period of time (helped by Observers) and get quite in-depth with it - loved the Invasion angle one also. Perhaps you could continue these with 4-6 month updates per episode? I'd like to hear more until the end of 98 at the very least.

The New Year tradition! Looking forward to it

He did a 1996 one? I thought he only did 1997 (which was really good, btw).

I was lucky enough to attend both the 1993 Fanweek and half of the 1995 fanweek. It was an amazing experience. It truly gave you a first hand experience of being in a territory. Cornette was very accessible. Brian Hitlebrand (Mark Curtis) ran the show for the fans. In 1995, Downtown D-Lo Brown was my driver. He carted me all over Tennessee and Kentucky. I was 20 (1 week before turning 21) during the first fanweek ('93) and i was absolutely exhausted by the end of it, though I would've stayed for another week it was so much fun. It seemed we never arrived "home" before 1 or 2am. Some nights were 3-4am. Then you were back up and on the road by noon to do it all over again. It certainly earned my respect for the boys who were taking bumps and doing the same drives. A few great memories for me: Sitting in a hotel room with Dave Meltzer watching Hokuto v Kandori from Dreamslam 1 and Flair v Steamboat from Music City Showdown. I realized at that moment that as big of a wrestling fan as I was (and I was), I was nowhere near the fan he was. He watched intently, pointed out things to the few of us and popped louder than any of the "hardcore fans" in the room watching the matches. Another great Meltzer memory was stopping at a Perkins at 2:30am to eat dinner with 20 other wrestling fans and one fan (Marty from New York, most well known for having Tammy Sytch and Jimmy Del Ray light his hat on fire at a BBQ) persisted to argue with Dave about how Bob Backlund was a much better pro wrestler than Ric Flair. Dave was doing his best to be respectful, but Marty's argument that Backlund would still be champ (this was in 1993) if it wasn't for Arnold Skaaland, was his #1 argument point. Lastly, in '95, we went to a USWA show at the Louisville Gardens. This was in the midst of the SMW v USWA feud. Of course, we were all SMW fans. Cheering the "heel" outsiders. We needed a police escort out of the building and out of Louisville. True story. The business was still alive and well in Kentucky and Tennessee in 1995. Saw some amazing matches and watched some amazing workers. You get a completely different view of some guys when you see them work every night. Great times. Ok, I've changed my mind - that sounds fantastic!