NotJayTabb

Lovely Travis tribute from Balor tonight with the Shooting Stars painted on his hand. The PCW Twitter feed also highlighted that Joe/Balor had the same ending as Travis/Masters, which was one of Trav's breakout matches. Could well be a coincidence, but it'd be a nice touch if not.

One of my friends,when we discuss this, will always refer to the shortlived team of the Godfather and Val Venis: Supply & Demand As for my favourite team names: Powers of Pain (it doesn't make much sense, but it SOUNDS terrifying) The Faces of Fear Calamari Catch Kings

Six months on from this, I'm confident I'm still the high vote on Kevin and Fritz, as well as Bret, Jarrett, Davey Boy and possibly Sheamus. I'm likely the only voter on ZSJ, Zenk, Shelley, Barbarian and James Mason.

First 7 guys announced. ZSJ, Noam Dar, Tozawa, Swann, Gargano, Ciampa and Ho Ho Lun. Amused and delighted to see Lun involved, saw him wrestle a few times in Coventry whilst on his UK tour and really like him. Really infectious personality. Good to see Dar involved too

Trav was so talented and versatile. I remember the first HOPE show, where he faced faux-superheroes Battle Squad Awesome in a comedy tag match (including Travis disappearing halfway through to put on his own superhero costume as Spider-Trav), then he appeared in the 4-way main event with Mark Haskins, Chris Andrews and Doug Williams, and looked totally natural in both situations.

Well, it's got to be either Brian Knobbs or Jerry Saggs, but I can't work out which one

News seems to have broken on Twitter that Kris Travis died this morning. Absolutely heartbreaking news. Aside from being a standout performer on the UK scene, he was by all accounts a lovely guy. Only met him once, where he was very friendly, and he's done loads of work to raise money for the local cancer hospital which looked after him since his diagnosis. His in-ring comeback last year was genuinely inspiring before the news broke though that the cancer was back, and this news is a real sledgehammer blow.

How about Regal? Decent size (6'3, 245lb), excellent promo, can brawl or mat wrestle with the best of them, absolutely loves playing the stooging heel, plays fired-up face well, comfortable any place on the card. Legit tough guy and stretching credentials would have made him popular with bookers in the 70's, could play foreign heel or popular-friend-of-the-Bulldogs in the 80's, and we know he could get over in the 90's.

In football, Neil Warnock has always struck me as a great heel manager, but the kind you love to hate like a Heenan's character. His comments when asked if he'd manage Sheffield Wednesday, rivals of his beloved Sheffield United, were absolute gold: "As long as the whole of my salary was paid within 28 days, I would buy so many tosspots - although, come to think of it, their current squad would do - and fuck 'em up so badly. Then I'd retire to Cornwall and spend the rest of my life laughing my fucking head off."

Not normally a podcast guy, as it feels like a few hours I could use to watch wrestling rather than listen to people talking about it, but I've loved these list podcasts. Only an hour and a half through, but it's really fun to listen to, love the enthusiasm you both have.

How about sneaking over you friend's house to watch Royal Rumble 94 and ... MAINLY being there to root for IRS's bid to win the IC title from Razor? I'm wondering if that made me legit the least coolest kid in the world for a few minutes there in 94. I was forlorn when he lost. Ha, didn't IRS win the title only for the referee to restart the match and let Ramon hit the Razor's Edge whilst IRS was still celebrating? You must have been crushed.

British singer/songwriter Sam Duckworth, formerly known as Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, is a big wrestling fan. I know he did a couple of Spin Cycle's for TNA on their UK tours, and the video for "The Real McCoy" (a song about Kid McCoy) featured Austin Aries and Alex Shelley wrestling in black-and-white. I once DJed a show he was headlining in London, and knowing the above, played Mark Henry's ring music as he came onstage, which he enjoyed.

I seem to remember Elizabeth whacking Russo with a baseball bat at one point (I think he'd kidnapped her) so her WCW run wasn't totally without merit

There's a Flair/Tatanka match from a year later on a CHV tape called "Grudges, Gripes and Grunts" that's perfectly acceptable without ever veering into "good" territory. It's the same tape that has a really great Bret/Savage vs Flair/Michaels tag match, so it's worth hunting down.

The key problem with face New Day is that Woods is wildly irritating.

Yeah, considering there are 92 teams in the Football League, and only one gets to be champion (never mind the countless teams in the non-leagues), for most football fans it's ultimately depressing. Especially when your team is the football equivalent of Barry Horowitz

If anything, the ongoing Lovejoy/Charlie Gimbert feud kept Sunday night BBC in business for years

I know the word is that TNA are paying him more, but I wonder how James Storm feels about leaving NXT to reform Beer Money only for Roode to likely go the other way

I've got 21 guys on my list who were in WCW at some point in 1992. There are 6 in my top 20 alone, and that's not including Flair who only just missed the year.

I totally get what you're saying about the ankle lock, but I've always thought more Kurt matches should've been based around him going for it at all times. It's not a difficult move to put on, just grab an ankle and twist, and even if it's unlikely to get a tap straight away, it might get them the next time. Or the next. Or the next. Logically, the best move to weaken the ankle for the ankle lock is...the anklelock. For something like the crossface or a figure-four, where you have to weaken your opponent enough to tie them up or turn them over or grab multiple limbs, then building to it makes sense, but if Kurt's opponent is ever lying on his stomach, Kurt should be going for that ankle. In many respects, Kurt should have treated the ankle lock like Fritz von Erich would use the claw - an easy to apply hold that's going to really hurt his opponent. I love the way Fritz would use any opening to lock on a claw - if you were trying to pin him and only got a two, you needed to move right away or Fritz will grab a stomach claw while you're still arguing with the ref. If Kurt Angle is anywhere near your feet, you need to move or he'll grab your ankle in seconds. Even if you survive, you're going to have a bad ankle, and you know he's going to go for it again.

Listening to this now. Obviously leaving Ziggler out is a mistake on par with Decca not signing the Beatles, but I'm enjoying this a load. The end result for Kevin Nash made me laugh loud enough to startle my girlfriend's lazy dog.

Just submitted my ballot

Kinda love the way Bret isn't shy about showing his dislike of HHH, even after rebuilding his bridge with the WWE. I'm sure he knows giving HHH/Taker from WM28 4/10 is going to annoy HHH more than a spiteful 1/10, as it suggests he's given it some real thought.

The 'Mark from Peep Show' vibe. Ha, I'm now just imagining JvK looking through other GWE ballots and having a David Mitchell-style meltdown when he sees I've rated Tom Zenk above Flair* *not really

On 40 minus in thus far, but really enjoying it. First thing I've taken away from this is that JvK sounds exactly like I'd imagined he would.