PeteF3

Is TBS going to have any sports packages at all outside of March Madness and MLB? Will they be having any hockey (regular season or postseason) when the NHL goes to Turner next year?

I remember a roast or comedy special years and years ago, probably early 2000s, where one guy (not in a whiny OMG PC POLICE manner) talked about the end of ethnic-based comedy and how we were running out of ethnic groups to make fun of. But he said that for as long as he still could, he would target the remaining "allowable" ethnic groups for humor and sent out a warning to "you damn, dirty Swedes." This feud is like that stand-up bit, but without the irony.

Let's be fair to Cody and not assume what he means by "modern era." Like, if the "modern era" extends back to, say, Wednesday afternoon, it's a contender.

Apparently *nobody* on the site knew about it until it was up. Just inconceivable on Dave's part. I'm absolutely okay with him having an actual discussion with Bruce, but to just do a Joe Rogan and let him spout off and quadruple down on his original column is incomprehensible. I can *sort of* see why Dave might not have been 100% in the loop because this whole fiasco took place while he was planning his mother's funeral and wrestling, even a major story like Jon Huber's death, was probably about the last thing on his mind. But he had to have read the article by now and I don't know how anyone can evaluate it as meeting any kind of publishable, journalistic standard. It scarcely needs a rebuttal here, but someone gently remind Garrett that no, Bruce Mitchell does *not* "have the right" to a wrestling journalism career, assuming that's what he means by living his life doing what he enjoys.

If it is CM Punk then that's almost a relief to me because I'm long past the point of giving a shit about him, or expecting him to return in any meaningful capacity.

Twitter has poisoned Dave's brain. He wastes so much time arguing with bad-faith actors on behalf of Prichard and Bischoff that he's starting to see any criticism at all as being from that same kind of mob.

Last time I watched it I remember the finishing stretch being better than I remembered, but if it's a top-20, top-50, or top-100 WWF match of the '88-'97 time period, I'm the King of Romania. There are a lot of really, really good matches that I had to prune from my list.

Up to nine now. It is absolutely flabbergasting how terrible Japan's vaccine rollout has been. I would have expected them to be among the front lines, both because of their reputation and because they know they have the Olympics this year (in theory).

The Humvee line refers to the vehicle that Pillman was driving when he crashed.

Every negative the Sheik is accused of having, and much less. One of the worst workers of all-time, even "for what he is." It got so bad that I was basically skipping every Yearbook chapter he was involved in because I didn't want to be bothered. Like the Sheik and like peak Reign of Terror HHH, there's never any comeuppance or payback for the shit he pulls, so there's no emotional attachment to watching him wrestle.

Russ Davis is the Chicago guy, and that is...definitely a minority opinion, I think. I have no real opinion of him but a lot of old-timers hated him.

I don't believe that's correct. I'll have to check when I get home but I remember it being all about seniority and how it related to the WWF's ban on the blade.

Lots and lots of classic joshi discussion and show reviews have sprung up there, oddly enough.

I enjoy the Comments sections (for the most part) and Brian Bayless' WWF TV reviews, which are an invaluable resource. What can I say.

At this point I've completely tuned out any WWE wrestler contradicting a Dave report on anything. Fair or not, they've played that card too many times when it was plainly obvious that Dave had it right.

Horst Hoffmann We have so little hard info on the continental Europe scene pre-1980, but all indications are that he was the biggest star of that era, in a time when you pretty much had to bring the goods from a technical standpoint to get pushed as hard as he did. As good of a pure mat technician as anyone who worked in Japan in the 1970's. Inventor or at least popularizer in a pro wrestling sense of the gutwrench suplex. Supposedly the inspiration for Misawa to sport long green tights. 10/5/61 vs. Lino diSanto 12/15/75 vs. Dory Funk, Jr. 12/17/75 vs. The Destroyer 12/6/77 w/ Billy Robinson vs. The Funks

Also, 1998 Pro. Yes, Pro continued in syndication form after it left TBS with the debut of Thunder, for about another 9 months. It was mostly repeats with some exclusives mixed in. Someone on DDTDigest recapped most of them.

Probably a submission move that starts off like a neckbreaker and then the attacker leans forward, pulling the opponent off the mat by the neck and holding him there. That was Butcher Vachon's finisher and he and Mad Dog were often billed from Algeria.

What were we supposed to be looking at there?

Rusher vs. Jumbo from '76 is the big match of his from that era. But if you get all the IWE stuff that's out there, that's quite a bit of Rusher. The standout singles that I remember seeing are against Blackjack Mulligan and against Strong Kobayashi.

We've gotten another match of Horst's in the French catch footage, which is a good glimpse of him in the '60s when he was closer to his physical prime.

I think in his original rant he said something like, "Two possibilities here: 1.) the wheel wasn't gimmicked, 2.) Bill Watts is a moron." So...sort of? Coal miner's glove is such an incongruous stip for the time and place that I don't know if we can hold Keith solely accountable for a widespread belief that it was a shoot spin. Not nearly to the degree of other bullshit he's peddled that educated people even in the business sometimes still believe (Mr. Perfect was going to win the '90 Rumble, Mankind was going to win at Mind Games, etc.) And just to clarify, they went with coal miner's glove because it hadn't been done on PPV before and because they weren't going to be allowed to blade, so they went with a match where fans wouldn't feel cheated for not seeing blood.

It was not really a "one-off appearance" by Flair, either. Kerry's chase for the title had been the dominant story in World Class for the previous 6 months, from their match at Reunion Arena to the mysterious bounty to Flair being revealed as the source behind it, leading to the big cage match. It's one of the greatest builds in wrestling history.

It wasn't a worked vote. Hayes was over like gangbusters as a babyface.

And Ricky mostly teamed with Ivan Koloff, who, God love 'im, was like the platonic opposite of "fresh" in 1988.