Frankensteiner

With the MSG DVD, Hogan/Sheik title change will be on 5 releases (Hogan Anthology, Hulk Still Rules, History of the WWE Championship, Greatest Stars of the 80s). Savage/Steamboat has been on 4 releases and Bret/Perfect SummerSlam will be on a 4th release with the MSG DVD as well.

I know Backlund/Race was available on their website before, but it's still nice to have that match in DVD quality. That's probably the only remotely worthwhile thing about the set.

Regarding the lack of continuity, I think this match was not only taped but also AIRED prior to the Clash on Worldwide (think 11/16/91 is the right air date). The Power Hour airing was already a repeat.

I don't think Steamboat has a case at all. I wouldn't put him ahead of either Martel or Santana, two of his most natural comparisons. Steamboat's peak was early 90's WCW.

The Nash shows were awesome. The Terry Funk one not so much. I only listened to the first half hour of Terry's show but he really kept going off on tangents and didn't answer any of Austin's questions. Then Austin would keep trying to ask questions but Funk just kept talking. I stopped the interview after the first 30 minutes. If anyone listened to the full show maybe they can comment if the interview got better. Looking forward to Austin's podcasts with JR and Bret.

After watching a bunch of 1992 WWF recently, I actually have no problem with Flair's cartoon-ish style in the WWF setting. I guess the biggest difference was that the presentation of his character. His promos and interviews with Perfect were more over the top than in JCP/WCW. Plus Flair was never portrayed as some great or serious wrestler, more of an opportunist and cheater. So the in-ring style fits much better than when he was put over as the greatest wrestling champion ever in the NWA. Also helps that Flair was never above transitional champion in his two reigns with the WWF belt.

Here's my current list: 1980 - Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera (Texas Death), 5/19 1981 - Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (No DQ), 3/21 1982 - Bob Backlund vs. Adrian Adonis, 1/18 1983 - Sangre Chicana vs. MS-1 1984 - Rick Martel vs. Nick Bockwinkel, 9/20 1985 - Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase (Cage), 3/22 1986 - La Fiera vs. Babe Face (Hair v. Hair) 1987 - Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, 8/29 1988 - NJ 10-man elimination match, 9/12 1989 - ? 1990 - El Dandy vs. El Satanico, 12/14 1991 - Atlantis vs. Blue Panther, 8/9 ***MOTD*** 1992 - Sting vs. Vader, 12/28 1993 - Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect, 6/13 1994 - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Cage), 8/29 1995 - Volk Han vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto, 6/17 1996 - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin, 11/17 1997 - Volk Han vs. Kiyoshi Tamura, 1/22 1998 - Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto, 9/21 1999 - Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto, 6/24 2000 - Atlantis vs. Villano III, 3/17 ... 2011 - CM Punk vs. John Cena, 7/17 2012 - CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan, 5/23 After thinking about the list I would say 1992 - 1997 are the strongest years. For example, Dandy/Llanes from 1994 would be my MOTY in at least 10 other years.

I'm not saying those aren't good numbers, because they are. But if we just look at raw attendance numbers over any 3 month period, I'd imagine late 1986 with Hogan/Orndorff and Hogan/Kamala, and early-mid 1989 with Hogan/BossMan, Savage/Warrior, and Hogan/Savage would have been better. For example, February '89: - 12,000 sell-out San Diego 2/4 (Hogan/Boss Man) - 9,000 sell-out Toledo 2/4 (Savage/Bad News) - 9,000 sell-out Anaheim 2/5 (Hogan/Boss Man, Cage) - 6,500 sell-out Grand Rapids (Savage/Akeem) - 7,500 sell-out Halifax 2/10 (Savage/Warrior) - 15,200 sell-out Boston 2/11 (Savage/Warrior) - 10,017 Philly 2/11 (Hogan/Boss Man) - 5,000 sell-out Utica 2/12 (Savage/Warrior) ***Graham notes 1st sell-out since in Utica since 70's - 8,539 Portland 2/12 (Hogan/Boss Man) - 12,300 sell-out New Haven 2/13 (Hogan/Boss Man) - 10,207 Buffalo 2/13 (Savage/Warrior) - 18,000 sell-out St. Louis 2/17 (Hogan/Boss Man, Cage) - 19,000 sell-out Chicago 2/18 (Hogan/Boss Man, Cage) - 10,000 Minneapolis 2/19 (Hogan/Boss Man, Cage) - 20,000 sell-out MSG 2/20 (Savage/Warrior) As you can see, both the A and B shows were doing very well. Fair number of sell-outs even without Hogan on the cards. I didn't include the C shows which obviously didn't do as strongly. I guess those might bring down the average attendance per show. Without looking at the B shows in 1992, I could see that being the only argument in favor of 1992 (i.e. stronger secondary shows that didn't dilute overall average).

I find that extremely hard to believe. Not shooting the messenger, just wondering about the criteria. I need to find my disc with all the WON back issues and dig this out myself.

These guys always match up well and this was no exception. The 4 minute opening ground/mat-work section culminating with Bret dropkicking Backlund out of the ring was pretty great. Loved all the waistlock go-behind stuff, and Bret ducking his head to avoid Backlund elbowing out was cool. I wish they had another 5 minutes because this was building to a MOTYC before they had to cut to the finish. Still, a lot of fun and probably their 2nd best match together after MSG.

This is worth repeating after watching last night's match with Cesaro. I don't think there's anyone better in WWE than Del Rio so far this year. Maybe that's setting the bar low but still...

Impressed with how Del Rio has looked so far this year. The matches with Big Show, a couple good matches with Ziggler, and now good TV matches with Swagger (haven't seen WM yet). The buildup to their feud was kinda awful but at least the matches have delivered; probably Swagger's best since the Christian series.

Well, they fawned over him because he was the champ. They'd be pretty lousy commentators if they didn't fawn over him, but are you saying that you can't play the bitch in the main event? What is the ideal NWA heel champ if not Flair? No I'm saying the announcers calling him the greatest wrestler in the world didn't fit how he wrestled. He was a cartoon. Would you agree if the commentators called HTM the greatest IC champion of all-time? Because the bar you're setting (barely hanging on to the belt) is there for both guys. As far bitch wrestlers in main events, I'm not sure how to answer that. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other main eventers who played bitch to that extent and had long runs on top in any one promotion or territory.

That's because Blanchard wasn't a world champion main event wrestler. Playing the bitch fit his character and position on card. I personally think the announcers fawning over Flair seemed completely ridiculous given the way he wrestled. How can he be the greatest wrestler if he gets his ass kicked most of the time and rarely wins any matches (certainly not cleanly)? I mean Honkytonk Man called himself the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time simply because he managed to hang on to the belt longer than any champion before or after. But everyone knew that claim was bullshit.

I wouldn't say stiffness sucks, but it is completely unnecessary to having a great match. And I consider execution to be an important part of wrestling. The problem is when people call otherwise average/nondescript matches great simply on the basis of stiff/violent exchanges. It's a little like reading Meltzer-esque reviews. Only replace highspots with stiff punches and blood. I mean "this was a war!" is probably the most overused review comment at this point (I'm sure I've probably used it a few times myself).

Sure... but Ronnie kicked the shit out of him more. 67/33? I think Flair took less than that. I recently re-watched the Flair/Garvin match from the Superstars on Superstation special and (IIRC) Flair got all of 3 (!) moves during a 16 minute match and this includes the weak ass running knee to Garvin's back which ended the entire thing. Sure, Flair threw some chops here and there but all of those were done just to set up getting his ass kicked over and over by Garvin.

That is definitely something I would agree with. My favorite Flair matches are the early 80s matches against Kerry. I think the difference with Flair from that time period, as you mentioned, is that he was less stoogy and came across as more of a world champ (as opposed to the JCP-TBS era world champion version of the Honkytonk Man). Also, Flair still had the ability to be subtle in the ring at that time which is something he abandoned completely as the years went on.

I actually enjoyed the matwork in this. It was significant in the story of the match. Hase wanted to take Hashimoto down to avoid going at him in stand-up. Though Hashimoto eventually countered all of Hase's ground-work to his advantage, leaving Hase no choice but to be the one to initiate the strikes. This really put over Hash as a guy who has few weaknesses. Probably my favorite Hashimoto title defense.

I thought the whole feud was a little strange. In the first couple of matches Martel is out for revenge after the angle on TV. Then the blow-off is a light-hearted match heavy on comedy. Strange way to wrap it all up like that given how the feud started. I've seen the 3 Winnipeg matches, the PWUSA match/angle, and a match from St. Paul but perhaps I'm missing a key point in the feud which bridges everything together.

I think Rock has actually had 5 if you count original WWF DVD releases (People's Champ and Just Bring It) and the Cena/Rock DVD. If we count DX stuff, then Michaels has had 8 releases.

I watched this on the new Bret DVD and this was a pretty great little match just as I remembered. I thought it was awesome how both guys changed up their usual moves and had a totally different match to get over the No DQ stipulation. More so Bret since Owen always had to bit of a rule breaker anyway. A very good blow-off to one of my favorite feuds.

If this is the correct date, this hasn't aired anywhere before. I'm thinking it might be the Survivor Series Showdown match though. I watched this last night and it is indeed the Survivor Series Showdown match. So the location and date for the match are both wrong.

Bret vs Buzz is the same noisy dubbed down copy everyone has. You have the DVD or the Blu-Ray version?

I have not seen much of Regal in WWE, but this is something I tend to agree with. He's so good at the mechanics and filling his matches with cool stuff not often seen with other US workers that it tends to hide or overshadow some of his shortcomings in other areas. I just saw the Arn match and while the work was good, the match felt somewhat disjointed. I think Regal was probably better suited for shorter 10-12 TV matches than 20+ minute main events because he seemed to struggle filling time while connecting different parts of a match. Couldn't disagree more. Phil and I were never bored or not entertained by what these guys were doing for the entire 30 minutes. I think the Hash match went long as well in 1995 and I don't think there were any gaps that indicated Regal couldn't work long. I think that probably came out wrong due to my sentence structure. He doesn't have a problem filling time because he's very good at working compelling holds and strikes. But I think he does have problems connecting different parts of matches into a cohesive story. So I think he's a guy who benefited by his placement on the card in that he wasn't really asked to work long main event matches. With that said, that Hash match is one of my favorite matches ever. But that's mostly due to the sheer brutality rather than any storytelling elements.

I have not seen much of Regal in WWE, but this is something I tend to agree with. He's so good at the mechanics and filling his matches with cool stuff not often seen with other US workers that it tends to hide or overshadow some of his shortcomings in other areas. I just saw the Arn match and while the work was good, the match felt somewhat disjointed. I think Regal was probably better suited for shorter 10-12 TV matches than 20+ minute main events because he seemed to struggle filling time while connecting different parts of a match.