BigBadMick

If wrestling isn't grabbing my attention, I find it easier to stop watching, step back, let a few things unfold and cherry pick the pimped stuff afterwards. Similarly, I find myself favouring proven, well regarded films and tv shows over something new a lot of the time. I have to remind myself that it's still nice to take a chance that something might get better if you persevere sometimes.....

Undertaker's best year was probably 97, followed by 07 and 08 (wasn't a full timer by then, but the Batista and Edge matches were super). Perhaps 02 is worth a mention also.

I'm with you on Taker/HHH. I thought most of the match was garbage until the last few nearfalls. I actually enjoyed their HIAC match more even though it was pretty over the top with the acting. Their Mania 17 match is still my favorite. Agree on 3 stages of Hell. Huge fan of Austin in 01 generally too. I've tried to like it (oh how I've tried!) but cannot. Might give it one more go sometime.

I love US film history, and US history and politics in general. Wrestling has certainly aided my understanding of geography and cultural quirks throughout the states.

One massive drawback in the demise of WCW was it severely restricted the potential for future dream matches. My classification of dream matches is two comparably highly regarded workers, or massive draws, having moved up the ranks in separate areas and coming together for the first time in a, well, Clash of the Titans. The last such matches I can think of were Angle/Michaels in 05 and Angle/Joe in 06. I'm not saying I haven't been excited or inspired by a match since, but it's virtually impossible to get two wrestlers up to that level without some interaction before they're both big big names. Within my criteria, what's everyone else's last true dream match?

It didn't. Pity.

I thought it was interesting a few weeks back when Corny admitted he really didn't watch mid to late 80's WWF (while saying that he taped and watched anything else he could get, even while working full time with JCP). Looking through old Observers, I can see that Meltzer wasn't singing the praises of much under his Titan section, but I would have thought Corny would find something worthwhile in the tag division and all the workers he rated highly pre-WWF. Or maybe his aversion to everything happening with WWF was too strong to look for anything worthwhile there-in? Either way, found it fascinating.

Looking forward to things settling down a bit with the Smackdown 6 in the autumn. You won't hear ME slagging off match structure with Angle/Edge/Benoit etc...

Watched it again recently. Thought it was solid, bit overly long. Probably Flair's best in a long time, but HHH had a better HiaC with Batista that June, imo....

I remember really liking the Souled Out 98 match with Bret. Thought it was Flair's best since the Savage match at GAB 95. Agree that there wasn't much essential stuff between those two matches though.

Read through this entire thread last weekend (great stuff!) and while I agree that lots of TNA is utterly detestable gunk (yes, gunk!) I think the May-December 2012 period deserves more love. The Bound for Glory matches on Impact weekly were rock solid and the PPVs were always worth your time. Kudos to Joe, Angle, Roode, Aries, Hardy, Bully Ray, Styles, Daniels and Kaz for that brief resurgence. Loved it.

I've enjoyed reading the last few pages on this thread. Reminds me of the glory days (I'd say 04 all the way to end of 08, and plenty of decent stuff in 09 too). RoH is one reason I haven't commited on the pre/post 1996 debate....

I've been reading Torches from this period, really enjoying these podcasts too. 2002 WWF/E was messy as hell......

I would love to know what the caller expected from Steve when he brought it up.

Anyone hear Austin on Keller (I think) about a month ago? A caller tried to ask him about the assault on Debra in 2002. Uncomfortable radio for 30 seconds followed....

I brought up the subject without really having thought about it a great deal. As I said I was more curious about it's lack of profile here generally than anything else. Thinking about it I can see why it could be considered behind the times - the best articles tend to be historical like their series on the WWWF/WWF/WWE title last year, and there's a definite fondness for yesteryear in their history of PPV recaps. But I still see it as relevant today, and thought it might be interesting to note the top 10 in the PS 50 from the last few years... 2013 (first to tenth) - Okada, Tanahashi, Bryan, Nakamura, Ishii, Orton, Punk, Prince Devitt, Shibata, Ibushi 2012 - Tanahashi, Aries, Punk, Okada, Devitt, Bryan, CIMA, Naito, Steen, Styles 2011 - Tanahashi, Orton, Davey Richards, Devitt, Shingo Takagi, Christian, Angle, Punk, Ibushi, Takashi Sugiura 2010 - Angle, Davey Richards, Tanahashi, Devitt, Sugiura, Takagi, Go Shiozaki, Marafuji, Sabin, Seth Rollins (Tyler Black in RoH) 2009 - Mysterio, Kenta, Tanahashi, Davey Richards, Styles, Punk, Orton, Danielson, Angle, Jeff Hardy Thinking about it, some of them might be problematic here......

Can I ask everyone this too?

Same access - everything up to and including 1996,or 1996 and beyond.

Up to and including, or 1996 onwards....

That was quick! Thanks Loss. What year would we have to use as a divider to make it a harder decision for you?

Years ago, I remember a common discussion point being 'if you could only watch the matches of one wrestler, who would it be?' This is slightly different: If you could only watch wrestling before or after 1996, which would you pick?

.....and they have a REALLY, REALLY hard time saying anything constructive about Cena as a worker.

So I'm not completely insane? Thanks lads! I was thinking that the Angle/HBK bias wouldn't go down too well here. But other than that I couldn't see why it wasn't/isn't discussed more.

Thanks Matt. Could you elaborate on that a bit though. I can't remember who it was but there was a discussion about the type of fans that gather here very recently. I'm not clear about how Power Slam deviates from that.

Hi everyone. I wanted to get people's thoughts on Power Slam magazine. If you've no idea what I'm talking about, perhaps a few words by way of intro would help. Power Slam is a UK based magazine, covering mainly US and Japan wrestling. It's been around since the summer of 1994. Every December they run a PS 50 - Top wrestlers for the previous 12 months. I've been lurking on this board for over a year, and can't remember seeing any mention of the magazine. I think it got a quick mention on Chad and Parv's show about the UK scene. I would have thought it quite a relevant/prestigious mag, but perhaps I'm completely wrong? Thoughts anyone?