Danish Dynamite

I know they wanted to milk the market with Morales, and that WWWF only used heels as transition champs, but Ivan could have been an awesome monster heel champ a couple of years, and then dropped the belt back to Bruno.

😄 yup! I absolutely didn't intend it to be a compliment. Bret did it well a couple of times, but generally I actively dislike all the transition examples I mentioned.

I. Fucking. Love. Brainbuster! Best game show ever 👍🎊🎉🍻

Great show!

Both Bret Hart as well as "Parv's secret crush" Hawk really loved shouldering the ring post when charging an opponent in the corner. ... And it's always a good idea to raise your knees, when The Ultimate Warrior is about to do a big splash (unless he's already gorilla pressed you, because that totally devastating move will put you right out...). For a ripped guy he had a surprisingly soft gut... You could also wait for The Warrior to turn his back on you when either shaking ropes/grabbing valet or manager/hearing voices and then smack him hard. Also, in movies we have a concept called "The Pope in the pool scene", where if you have a stupid piece of exposition to feed the audience, wrap it up in something totally distracting. Like a scene where the Pope is swimming in his pool as a cardinal relays some weird plot point. Chances are you'll ignore the stupidity of the info, and in stead remember the Pope with his little hat swimming in a pool... In wrestling I guess that's "Hulking up"...

Damn... I used to love Money Inc. too... Do I have to dislike Hawk as well then??? :-) ... No! Fuck it! I'll take a page out of the Johnny Sorrow playbook and spread som love! I'm into both LOD and Inc. I think Money Inc.'s a bit underrated as detestable heels, and The Road Warriors are complete guilty pleasure. Watching Jean-Claude Van Damme recklessly injure stuntmen can be fun passtime when hungover as well...

Ah, wow! Haven't seen that one :-) How awesome. Gotta find it. ... I remember seeing them in a six-man with maybe DeNucci. And DiBiase teaming with DeNucci against the Valiants.

Yup. Those Titans shows got me rewatching his 78 stuff. ... And that got me rewatching highlights from all his years. Not a fan of his promos, his wife's presence at ringside or the Little Dragon (his son, dammit! No innuendos here). But close to perfect babyface and one of my absolute favorites from bell to bell. The WMIII and the Flair 89 series is absolutely not overrated. The Rude match is possibly my favorite Iron Man match. And he's just a joy to watch in even lesser matches.

Totally agree! Imagine how shit some of the stuff he was involded in would have been, if he hadn't worked his ass off and at least made them fun.

HAHAHA!!!! Yeah, Legends of Wrestling didn't help him... And I totally agree about the 91 run. If he hadn't gotten the title, but had destroyed Jim Duggan in a series of flag matches, leading into a brutal feud with Hogan (that Hogan would win, but the title would be nowhere in sight), that might have sat better with me. ... But damn it if I don't love his 81-84 years (all of it!) and too much of his "weaker" years in AWA and lots of matches from the 90-91 run. He's on the list and he stays there :-)

Good points. It's kind of like with all wrestling. Anyone can be picked apart, raised or lowered depending on your own taste or intentions. To me personal preference does play into it. A theoretically great worker, that bores me to tears, will have no chance of making my list. Savage never bored me. ... Rude and DiBiase have truly been picked apart. But both are making my list as well :-) ... And I've got to watch more Lucha. Right now I'd probably only have 7-8 Luchas in consideration, and no one at the very top. Have a feeling that will take up a lot of my watching the next year :-)

This would never have happened, but fuck it, it's my fantasy :-) ... Rumble 92: Flair wins title WM8: Flair beats Hogan Slam92: Flair beats Warrior Survivor92: Savage beats Flair Rumble93: battle of machismo, Savage beats Razor WM9: Yoko beats Savage King93: Yoko beats Hogan (Bret wins King) Slam93: Yoko beats Bret (injured kayfabe) Survivor93: Yoko sole survivor Rumble94: Yoko beats Taker (Bret returns, wins Rumble) WM10: Bret beats Yoko

Great Sarge link! Thanks Parv! He's gonna end up pretty high on my list 👍 ... I think you're way off on one point though: Sarge's chin beats Inoki's any day of the week 👊

Think you're right. Been trying to catch up on Kevin's stuff, and I'm surprised how much I actually like the guy. But it's not the in-ring stuff. Maybe top 100 characters/gimmicks though...

Savage is as close to a complete package as any I've ever seen, next to maybe only Flair. He could end up anywhere in my top 5. In the weird mix of storytelling, sport, violence for kids, childishness for adults, blood, sex, fun, aggression, nostalgia and all around awesomeness that is wrestling, Randy Savage is the true total package. The man was pure art! Johnny Sorrow said it best: He's the fucking Macho Man! Oh yeah!

Cool. No one's given me a reason to remove Steamboat from my top 25. One of the guys who could elevate wrestling to something even better than entertainment.

I actually didn't like Demolition as a kid. Loved them facing each other in the rumble. Actively disliked (and still dislike) them when Crush joined. ... But the last five or six years have turned me. Somewhere around no 20 probably.

Agree. No chance. But just imagine them in mid-south in 82-83...

Totally agree! Really like them with David as well. But you're right. Kevin & Kerry is the choice for this.

Since these names are not the same I had a month ago, I'm sure they'll change again, but these are contenders for me: Flair, Hansen, Savage, Jumbo, Funk. Bret, Misawa, Bockwinkel have grown on me lately. Tully, Hammer, Hennig, Slaughter, DiBiase, Lawler are people I wouldn't have thought would come close, but they're getting there... And definetely: The mighty Vader!

Great questions. Very inspiring! ... Along with all the considerations you guys mention, I also take into account the "rewatchability" of a wrestler's matches. I can absolutely be a sucker for dumb wrestlecrap, but I will rarely watch those matches and storylines over and over again. If a wrestler is capable of coming up with matches, that can be watched over and over again, and new details come to light or it keeps my attention at repeat viewings, then the guy will be a contender for my list.

Great show, guys. I think there's so much that could've been done to make that title reign much better. I like your ideas. Alternatively maybe directly from WM6 to a feud with Savage, with Warrior winning at SummerSlam. Then feud with Perfect at Rumble. Let Hogan Slaughter have a brutal, no-DQ blood-fest at WM7 without the title. Have Warrior Savage rematch, title vs career, in a cage, at Mania. Savage wins. Warrior goes crazy and destroys Savage. Elizabeth to the rescue. Warrior turns heel. Mega Powers reunite and face Warrior and Undertaker at SummerSlam. Warrior eats pin and disappears. Taker beats Savage for title at Survivor Series, Hogan beats Taker at Tuesday in Texas, title held up. Flair wins at Rumble 92. ... After that: rebooking Flair in WWF, including Mania win over Hogan, SummerSlam win over Warrior, Survivor Series loss to Savage thanks to Perfect face turn. Savage loses to Yoko at Mania, save Bret title for 94... But that's another story for another time :-)

Thank you!!!!!! Been looking for this for a project!!!! Awesome!

Thank you everyone for the extremely kind welcome on the board! Been busy the last week, so haven't posted here, but I've kept up to date on the podcasts (gotta keep boosting those listening stats for Copenhagen, Parv ... Thanks for posting that!). Along with some friends here in Denmark, I'm starting up a podcast. But so far we're sticking to pop culture stuff (mainly film & TV), 'cause we haven't found too many people here who share our passion for wrestling... Besides, most of the wrestling terms and names of holds sound too fucking stupid in Danish... I'll really start diving in to all the different posts here come this weekend. Can't wait :-)

Yeah, yeah. I'm totally ready to get my ass handed to me, but... Parv, I totally love you on the podcasts and posts here, and you're probably right about Hawk. ... But dammit. I like The Road Warriors :-) They're likely going on my Top 25.