SlingshotSuplex

Tully and Arn. Backbone of a promotion guys who can work and talk. Can carry the ball on TV and on house shows. Can get over on their own and unselfishly get others over.

I loved David at the time for the reasons mentioned thus far. Tony provides a great contrast to David's unbridled enthusiasm as the fake radio voice "professional" broadcaster who keeps it together.

Wow. The podcast bomb has been dropped.

This was one of my top takeaways from a chronological re-watch of WCW Clashes & PPVs when the WWE Network launched. Seemingly every new show, there was either a minor or major tweak to the Freebirds' gimmick, rarely for the better, yet not only did management stick with them, they kept winning titles!

Another fantatic show. I had hoped Prazak would be on someday. "Hollywood" John Tatum was great, and I particularly liked the Tatum & Victory combo. Shimmer really was the revolution before there was a revolution. The current NXT/WWE women's wrestling dynamic simply doesn't happen without Shimmer. Meltizer was definitely being picky, but ECW conversations then and even now tend be so ideologically loaeded that it can be difficult to have a reasonable conversation about the company's strenghts and weaknesses.

What a great career. Like many, I first saw him when he was past 50. For all his many accomplishments I might add he's probably the best worker of that age I've seen and certainly among US talent. He's become one of my upper-tier favorites since I've made wrestling's past my top priority.

The twin referees angle 2/88 on The Main Event was the last straw with me and the WWF for several years. I was already an NWA loyalist but was still pretty enthusiastic about the WWF through at least Mania III. Here was the most watched pro wrestling match in US history, and it ends in what I found the silliest, most intelligence-insulting thing I'd seen in years with Hogan's insinuation DiBiase "paid for the plastic surgery" when I"d seen both Earl and Dave on TV for years. I was suprised to, in recent years, discover that Meltzer loved the angle and thought it was a creative way to get the belt off Hogan, so there you go. Hogan v. The Butcher as a Starrcade main event was enough to end my days as a WCW loyalist. I walked away from WWE again during the Orton/Cena years but re-immersed myself in the indies.

These have been informative. Chicky Starr next?

Great listen! I agree about the Andersons being off the ballot clearing the path for the Assassins and also remain hopeful that tag teams will attract stronger consideration moving forward.

Dave's assumption all along seemed to be that Styles needs a few more years on top, so why wasn't he added in a few more years rather than now?

I liked that they switched up the shine sequence, too. The finish, with the roll up leaving the legal man vulnerable to interference from the illegal man, reminds me of the Fernadnez/Rude title change on TBS, only an even better fit with it setting up Jake's finisher.

I liked him when he broke in ECW but not as much upon re-watch, but the same might be said for all of ECW from that era. As a Crockett fan, I was probably just into the gimmick. He wasn't all that convincing in the Anderson gimmick, though and I'm struggling to think of too many remarkable qualities with his work.

Scott Irwin is the other guy in the superplex inventor conversation.

I was shocked to learn that Vince had big sincere babyface plans for HTM because even as a 12 year old mark I was convinced he was clearly a fake good guy always intended to turn. That plan certainly makes more sense than any notion he'd be huge as a face.

Really love Bruce Mitchell in for the Magnum TA talk. Truly fantastic. While UWF had equal talent, better announcing, and hotter TV, it was wishful thinking on Dave's part to even consider they could overtake Crockett in this timeframe. Crockett had TBS and Watts didn't even have cable. The UWF expansion, which you're right to note had to happen, was nevertheless a total bust. Despite the quality of their product, there's just no evidence the UWF was going to take off commercially on the big stage. While the cracks in JCP's facade were visible, they were still reasonbly hot and had numerous over acts. It was for good reason that Dave had confidence in Watts and was hypersensitive to Dusty's flaws, but it's a long way from that to UWF as #2. To Watts' credit, he was quick to recognize it wasn't working out business-wise and wasn't the type of guy to go down with the ship.

I like that aspect of this match since Eadie seemed more than happy to take what he needed. For a minute or two on the mat, both guys were sort of scrapping to have it their way.

The ending did seem abrupt, and it was strange that they bumped the ref even though the face still won just fine seconds later. The mat sequence in the middle of the match was fascinating. They didn't always seem too eager to go where the other wanted to go, which may not have been smooth but seemed so much more realistic than each guy controlling their holds with little resistance. Eadie was absolutely huge in 1983.

I would have a really hard time choosing between Bobby Eaton & Arn Anderson.

Windham and Eaton are two guys whose stuff always stood out. Buddy Rose in his prime had sneaky great offense: an amazing flying back elbow smash, the Robinson backbreaker, crisp knee drops, etc.

I don't mean to pick on Will, but he certainly argues his case with fervor. He makes a strong case for Lawler's virtues, but when faced with his weaknesses, he relates to emotional preference and implies the weaknesses don't matter. Flair's every weakness is scrutinized (as it should be if we're making a case for all-time great), but it feels like Lawler's are taken off the table. I'd love to see him examine them, as I'm sure he'd make a great case. For me, the bottom line is the case for Flair holds up to scrutiny. Even when we acknowledge his flaws, the mountain of evidence left standing preserves his spot.

Nikita was a super over heel v. Magnum in '86. He didn't have to sell as much, could rely on power spots, and his juiced up killer aura (his biggest asset). Vs. Flair in the fall, he was a face, which didn't play to any of these strengths. No, I don't think the Flair v. Nikita matches were fantastic, but it's not a directly applicable comparison. Flair never went away . . . but never got truly rejected by his audience, something that can't be said about Hogan and many other all time greats. Coincidentally, I had just listened to the Flair/Lawler/Funk Wrestling Culture episode where Will made similar Lawler arguments. In both shows, there's tons of extrapolating to get many of Flair's great matches into "just good" matches (or not as impressive due to the level of competition) and Lawler's "good programs" into all-time great matches. Lawler is a deserved all-time great, but I don't see the same level of scrunity being appied to his credentials. As far as Lawler being a guy, like Flair & Funk, who could go into any environment and get over, Lawler didn't do as well in Japan, the one place where his style wasn't a fit. Lawler got over where he could get over as Jerry Lawler being great at Jerry Lawler. Flair & Funk were more successful at adapting to their environment.

The Spartanburg TV taping crowd may be my favorite TV crowd of all time, and Morton was still super nova over in late '86 before coming down to Earth a bit in '87. Ole's value in the early Horsemen is often undersold. Sure Ole getting out of the way allowed them to evolve during the late '80s, but he gave them early credibility and is the one who most brought the mob mentality that defined faction warfare through the nWo and beyond. He was the one that made hurting people and putting them out a Horsemen staple, and you can see this physical intensity in the way he worked this match. Morton, of course, does a great job selling for Ole, but also responding with the same brand of physical intensity. Say what you might about Tony & David, but they put over the Andersons desire to hurt their opponents, and closing promo further accentuates the point. Magnum's accident was 10/14/86, btw.

Cleaning up some things I skipped over, and I was amused by Wendi Richter's heel work during her early '84 match with Princess Victoria. It's not a particularly great match, but Richter projects her personality well, gets over dirty tactics, and even does a precursor to the famous Shawn Michaels flex pose.

Chavo v. Gino is a money match based on how well these two have gotten over with me on NWA Classics.

I was pretty amused by Hogan claiming he would've been happy to have swapped the WWF belt 4-5 times with Flair or even with Piper if Roddy would've done jobs. The notion that he had never exercised his creative control clause prior to the Russo/Jarrett double-cross was another laugher.