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Austin has said that he's done doing special guest referee stuff. But maybe he'd do it if it were the Main. I think we see Austin WRESTLE at 31 or 32. He's said himself that he's training for it, and I think he got the itch back at 30. Austin has actually said numerous times on his show that he was misquoted. He was talking about getting back into shape about something else and people took it the wrong way. He actually said he was training for a comeback to Gold's Gym, because he didn't want to work out there while out of shape. You know, I knew I shouldn't have listened to dirtsheets that wrote the stories literally a month after the Podcast where he actually said it (or didn't say it..) Apologies.

Goldberg's squash vs Armstrong on one of the WCW PPV's in 1998 was easily my favorite Goldberg match of the ones that I recently re-watched, and thats including the DDP match.

I like Shawn Michaels. I think he's an amazing performer. He gets me drawn into his matches. But I understand a lot of the criticisms the board has of him. A lot of his offense does look weak. His "formula" does get a little tiring. I think Will said something on a podcast that struck me once.. He was referring to either Michaels or Angle, and he said what they do isn't wrestling to him, it's performing. And that helps me understand a lot of the opinions I see on the board. I'm not sure if I like "Wrestling" or "Performing" more, but I do know that Shawn Michaels was a performer. And he was really, really good at it.

Comparing anybody to Nickelback is a dick move.

Austin has said that he's done doing special guest referee stuff. But maybe he'd do it if it were the Main. I think we see Austin WRESTLE at 31 or 32. He's said himself that he's training for it, and I think he got the itch back at 30.

Well said.

Ok now show them Onita, Hogan, Cena, Satanico, and Flair/Steamboat vs Arn/Larry and report back with your findings. I've watched Raw with them several times, they aren't high on Cena. But I honestly don't think any casual would be impressed with Cena. They all obviously know Hogan and Flair. They would probably pop for Hogan's comeback, but be bored shitless the rest of the match. I'd expect they would be thoroughly impressed with Flair. Also, if I'm coming off as a pompous asshole I apologize. i don't like it when I read things that people say about wrestling and it comes out as fact, and I really don't mean to sound like that. If you think Stan Hansen or Ric Flair or Jumbo are worlds better than Austin, you're not wrong. Do I think it's weird as shit that a bulk of the board loves Rey Mysterio and think he's a top 5 worker ever but don't think Austin is Top 50? Hell Yeah. But I don't think you're wrong. You just like different wrestling than me.

An argument that I frequently make is that Austin rarely if ever does the the wrong thing in a match or segment. Whether it's knowing the exact time to make his comeback, or the exact time to give someone the finger. Doesn't matter how small it is, he usually does it perfectly. I know this might not carry a lot of weight to a lot of you, but it is seriously awesome how non-fans react to Austin. I just recently put on his match with McMahon at St Valentines Day Massacre, they were reacting like it was it live. Laughing their asses off, getting into the match. Popping for everything Austin does. Nobody else has that effect on them. Nobody.

Every Austin brawl is awesome because Austin is awesome. His unbelievable fire. His perfect timing. His ability to be make hatred towards his opponent feel as real as it could possibly feel is literally bar none. He could sell his ass off. His comebacks were amazing. You can watch an Austin match with non wrestling fans and they are going to think it's awesome. I do it regularly. He doesn't do high spots. He doesn't do any flips. Yet, he has anyone who watches him wrestle in the palm of his hands. He's the GOAT. You could put him in front of a crowd in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, or 80's and he's going to get an ass whooping over. He could bring in someones grandma from the crowd and stomp a mudhole in her, and her granddaughter is going to cheer it. He's just that damn good. He isn't fluid. He doesn't beautifully manipulate a body part. He may not "work well from underneath", but he's the most entertaining wrestler ever. And that's what the fuck it's all about. He might not have an unbelievable amount of 5 and 4 star matches, but he could get an entertaining match out of anyone. Someone on the other Austin thread said it best "He could have a 10 minute minute match where he just stalks McMahon and make it a 3 star match." and goddamnit is that true.

Very few people I've ever seen were better at drawing sympathy from the crowd. His best attribute was after he took the huge bump, he let everyone know it. He could portray better than most people just how hurt he was. And that's not easy to do.

I watched the heavily favored Young Bucks/REDragon match from months back and hated literally every second of it. It literally pissed me off. I watched a Finlay/Thatcher match from a while back and thought it was really enjoyable. 2 years ago. This would not have been the case. At least, I don't think so. I think I heard Dylan on a podcast once talking about a certain indie wrestler who's name escapes me (Maybe Eddie Kingston or Michael Elgin) and he talked about how he must be the biggest pussy on Earth, because he can give you everything he has and the other wrestler is just going to get back up in a couple of seconds. That shit spoke to me. Watched wrestling differently ever since. But some things will never change. I fucking love the Attitude Era (Specifically WWF/E). It doesn't matter to me how much people shit on it now. I love the craziness. I love the realness. I love the "Flash Bang" TV, as Bill puts it. I love big pops and great mic work. I love crowd brawls and chair shots. I love the entrances. I think Austin is the GOAT. That's my favorite type of wrestling. And I don't think that will ever change. I also love most everything I've watched because of this place. I like a lot of shit now that I wouldn't have liked in 2010. So, I've changed, but not THAT much.

Really the first "old" wrestler I ever watched. Heard Dylan talk him up on the Wrestling Culture podcast and he gave me some matches to watch. All of them were great. I even watched several that weren't suggested. Think he had a match with Red Bastien (don't quote me on that) where the entire match was basically a headlock and it was very entertaining. Found Buddy Rose to be legitimately great in every match.

Not sure I've seen it posted on this thread, but if you are looking for some good post 2000's Flair, all of his matches with Austin in 2002 are really fun.

Speaking of Mongo, I was recently going through all of Goldberg's '98 PPV matches, and it struck me how unbelievably bad Mongo was. Beyond terrible.

I picked several Hansen matches out of the above lists to watch. Stan Hansen vs Andre The Giant 9/23/81 I loved this. The sense of urgency for Hansen through out the match is great. The intensity is there and then some. Loved seeing Andre actually moving and BUMPNG HIS BIG ASS OFF. He was very. very good in this. Loved that he was headbutting Hansen's arm and selling the shit out of it. Overall, this was a great match. Terry Funk vs Stan Hansen 4/14/83 Wow. This felt almost similar to that Dump/Chigusa match from '85 in the Joshi thread. But this was better. What a great way to get Hansen over as an unstoppable ass kicking machine and let Terry take in all the sympathy that the crowd has to offer. Dory running in to defend his brother was awesome. This is good stuff. Carlos Colon vs Stan Hansen '86 I guess this was fine. I will say Hansen was a whole lot better than Colon. Got a laugh out of me when Hansen had pretty much dominated for the first 6 minutes and once Colon regained offense, Hansen starts begging for mercy. I though Colon's strikes were garbage, too. The match was just okay, imo. Really good performance from Hansen, though. Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada 6/4/92 Amazing match. Great performance from Hansen, but man, I am loving Kawada in the 2 matches I've seen of his in the past 3 days. I was into every near fall and I was actually pissed when Hansen won. Superb match. Now I wanna go watch some Kawada.

Blake and Kyle (Karl) ran (and participated in) a backyard wrestling promotion where they originally lived.

Legitimately my least favorite wrestler ever, in a "I don't ever want to see this guy on my TV again" kind of way. I watched several of his matches when I was attempting to watch every Austin PPV match in WCW, even his matches with Regal, and I hated every second the guy was on screen.

Can I get a date for the Bockwinkel/Wahoo match? You guys have me wanting to give it a watch.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I'm not sure I'm very high on Rey. But his match with Jericho (who I am also not very high on) at Bash 09 was great. Watched it purely by accident, too. Just put on a random PPV on the network and watched it, and luckily, this gem was in it.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (6/5/89) I just watched this match and it was seriously fantastic stuff. I'm gonna love watching all of this older Japan wrestling if they are going to continue to absolutely beat the shit out of each other for the whole match.

Kawada & Fuchi vs Nagata & Iizuka (12.14.2000) Probably unlike anyone on the board, I'm really not familiar with any of these guys work. I know their names (I listen to a LOT of podcasts) but I don't think I've ever watched any of them. Anyways, I thought the first 15 or 20 minutes were rather "meh". Nothing bad, but nothing really great. From 20 minutes in until the end, though? WOW. These guys were working their asses off. I especially thought Kawada was great. Fuchi kind of reminded me of Arn Anderson. Nagata and Iizuka also brought a lot to the match. Regardless, like I said, the last 15 minutes was hard hitting stuff. Something that caught my eye was how great every suplex looked. They weren't all picture perfect, but they looked way more painful than any normal back suplex has any right to look. And thats the type of stuff I like in my wrestling. Stuff that looks painful and guys selling how painful it is. Mixed in with some top notch intensity. It doesn't matter to me how bland the first half is if you can give me what they gave me in the second half. This was a great match.

I find it interesting that you make Terry the star of that match, because I thought the real star turns were by Dory and The Sheik. My review is here. I should preface it by saying that everyone involved was great. Maybe I was higher on Terry than you were because I'm guessing you've seen literally 100x's as much 70's and 80's Terry Funk than me. Him being awesome is probably so regular for you that you kind of expect it, so you look elsewhere for your MVP. I feel like that happens sometimes with guys who are consistently so great and entertaining (Flair, Austin, Lawler, Funk, and maybe Hansen for guys who have watched a lot of him) Or maybe you just genuinely thought Dory was better. Which is probably the case. But, even saying that, Dory was awesome. And there is certainly no real argument from me for saying he was the MVP. That was a great review, by the way.

I watched the first one. Excellent match. Had an Undertaker/Flair at 18 vibe to it. And, uhh, Dump is AWESOME. Her bad ass strut around the ring after mashing Chigusa with the chair was hilarious. Never watched a single second of Joshi. I think this was a great first pool to dive into. BTW, What was Chigusa screaming at the end? Because it kinda gave me chills.

The show Workaholics is littered with wrestling references. They even have a full episode dedicated to getting a TV to watch Wrestlemania. A costume party where 2 characters come as Jimmy Hart and Captain Lou. They also have a wrestling poster in one of their rooms. Will Ferrell's character on East Bound and Down is based entirely off of Ric Flair. From his look to even saying "Woo!"

So, I watched the 3 matches I said I was going to earlier. Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (9/19/78) - This was fantastic. I try not to give star ratings because I find that I'm too strict on matches, but this would be a 4+ star match. The Funker was really the star of this one. When he starting screaming at Abdullah, i was going nuts. Absolutely superb match. Pierroth Jr vs. Mogur (1/12/90) - I wasn't a fan of this one. It was smushed in-between 2 matches absolutely dripping with passion, and this one seemed to lack it. Seemed like the guys we're sleep walking through the match. GIVE ME SOME INTENSITY. Steve Veidor vs. Gwyn Davies (5/26/76) - This one, to put it mildly, was mind blowing. This is no hyperbole when I say that it is one of the best matches I've ever seen. It did David v Goliath WAY better than the actual David v Goliath. As amazing as Veidor was, Davies is the star of this one for me. HIs "You really think you have a chance you little shit?" attitude mixed with his actions that said "This little shit really has a chance" was psychology at it's peak. Literally, from the first 2 times they touch, they set the blueprint for how the match was gonna go. Davies is the overpowering brute. It's obvious why he's held the tittle for so long. Veidor is the smaller, more agile and craftier wrestler who wants the belt so god damn badly that he's willing to get absolutely dismantled to win it. What an amazing match.