PeteF3

I hate to say it, but Dr. Death made a definite leap when Gordy went out. He stepped up with a terrific match against Kobashi and then went on the run of his career.

I'm not sure how serious it was, but I swear I had heard that story well before Bruce Prichard had a podcast, or indeed before anyone else had a podcast. One thing to keep in mind is that the Greater Power was originally supposed to be revealed on what became Raw Is Owen. The extra two weeks of buildup added a ton of anticipation that wasn't really there previously, despite some lip service being paid to the concept. It's possible that it was originally going to be a way to introduce a new character rather than a mystery subject to rampant guessing.

Even though I wasn't following the show I was thoroughly glad to see Loss tweeting about Raw the other day.

Maybe, but it'd still be an interesting historical document since there's no other match on tape between the two. On the other hand, the best ZombieTaker matches (Warrior bodybag match, the Bret match, both from MSG) involve the babyface relentlessly throwing everything they have at him while he tries to shrug it all off. Savage could execute that kind of formula in his sleep.

This "can't have both babyfaces winning" thing...I'm sorry, but did we "need" Savage to go over the Warrior at WM7 or one of the heels to win the double main event at 8? (You can argue that Flair should have won, but the WWF obviously didn't feel that way). Even so, if you really don't want HHH losing to Booker, whether it's because of wanting one heel champion or "saving" him for Goldberg or whatever, don't fucking book a race-baiting angle, then.

Agree on 8/5/82. I don't doubt their tangible influence and don't at all see the idea that Gran Hamada would have been "better" in the role--he didn't have Tiger Mask's star power. He was basically a novelty worker--a great one, but an oddly-built, funny-old-man novelty worker, even when he wasn't old. That all said, the rest of the TM/DK series range from interesting to actively terrible (the first and especially the final match, climaxing with the least-exciting bottle-breaking in the history of fiction). *That* said, the worst TM/DK match is still better than the best Takada/Koshinaka match.

It used to. I believe it's switched to a regular calendar year.