MikeCampbell

Dynamite and Davey Boy toward the end.

I'm sure they might *say* it, but saying it and doing it are two different things. They've got to know how unlikely it is that they'll get picked up by WWE, and they can't make the living working indies that they can in TNA. History has shown that workers *say* a lot, but don't always back it up. Mick was adamant that he was done after Montreal, but he came back. When the Radicalz left WCW it started out as a large group, and it was just the four at the end.

Between what I've seen of his work from watching AWA on ESPN Classic, and a pair of AWA Title matches with Jumbo, I'm curious what the consensus is of Nick Bockwinkel. Aside from the Hennig matches from '87, I've never really heard much pimping of his work. I've always been on the impression he was just another past-his-prime guy that Verne pushed in the mid 80's because he was out of touch, but after seeing a pair of fun matches with Boris Zukhov and Colonel DeBeers, I'm starting to re-think that notion.

The moveset thing is really annoying. Ricky Morton will be able to spike someone with a Tiger driver '91 and get a one count, but when he hits his finisher, the dropkick, it's over. Also, the little things that you can find in WWE games, like champions wearing belts to the ring (LOW 2 has World, U.S. and maybe Tag Team Champions), and the thing that I really found annoying, when tag teams would come out separately despite having the same music and video.

Bobby Heenan used to be the highlight on WCW Thunder. He always had to read the preview of whatever movie was on TBS afterwards, and it was usually pretty funny.

I think the mentality is that if it something happened on RAW then it doesn't count to ECW and SD. Like when Viscera went from the World's Largest Love Machine to Big Daddy V, and Styles and Tazz on ECW acted like he was some brand new guy.

Good idea in theory, but who do they bring in? Cornette has already said he has no desire to do so. Heyman is supposedly done with wrestling.

Actually, when I first started watching Josi in 2004 or so, that was the comparison that I was given when comparing the AJW to the AJPW roster in terms of roles and whatnot. Bull was Jumbo in the sense that she was the ace of the company in the beginning of the '90's and passed the torch to the new ace Aja Kong.

I'll try to meet you halfway. How about MMA isn't pro wrestling in the sense that it isn't worked.

I've heard a lot about this, but nothing specific. Could someone please post some details on his bio and his defenses of it? Not even a full c/p job (although that would be nice) but maybe just a few examples of his errors

I've got one that I'm hoping Khawk will be able to give some insight on. The theory that Greg Gagne was a terrible worker, was massively overpushed by Verne, and that he was universally hated.

Paging jdw . . . . In all seriousness, you're pretty much on the money about Brody. I don't know if it's the fact that he was friendly with Meltzer, the circumstances surrounding his death, or a combination, but he's been praised for "understanding the business" because he once said that if a babyface called for a back drop, then he'd kick them in the face because they should know better. If Bubba Ray Dudley, Bob Holly, etc were to say that, the IWC would have a collective fit.

The F-5 wasn't supposed to be the finish of Brock/Angle, the SSP was.

For me personally, I've found wrestling fandom to be a bit like investing, in that you get what you put in. And my years of fandom in various ways, from buying action figures as a child, to obsessively collecting and reading PWI and the like during my teens years, and tape collecting, is starting to pay off for me in various ways. I've met some great guys and made some good friends thanks to wrestling. Hell, I met my best friend because I was wearing a Mankind T-shirt when I ran to the grocery store for something and he saw me the parking lot and just said "hey, nice shirt." Five years later, he was the best man in my wedding. I've also been able to somewhat be involved in the business without actually having trained (and having no desire to). I've been lucky enough to have several face to face conversations with Colin Delaney. With discussions varying from famous Olsen Twins promos in Chikara to the future of his use of Colin Olsen as his ring name and he desire to hopefully go back to the WWE. This past Saturday night I was with my sister in law in Binghamton, NY at a show, waiting for the doors to open, and one of the ring crew guys comes up to me and says that Josh (promoter/booker/wrestler) saw I was here and wanted to talk to me. All he wanted to do was bullshit a bit, he asked how I liked his last show and the booking. Then he started venting about Slyck Wagner Brown complaining that doing an angle where heels handcuffed him would make his character look weak. This turned into us debating how who the real marks are, and talking about things like Bret refusing to put over Shawn in Montreal and Thesz always refusing to put over Buddy Rogers as examples. While I certainly think I'm lucky to have such experiences, I've also had headaches and situations that made me hate being a fan at times. The most recent was at Denny's, of all places, at like 1:00 am after a night out with the Mrs. and some friends. We happen to see a few local indy guys walk in, a couple of our friends literally start to squeal with excitement and want to do things like start applauding. My position was that they were probably tired and sore after wrestling and to leave them alone, and the guys couldn't believe I was so indifferent about the whole thing.

At this rate, I can't imagine Batista's in-ring career lasting too much longer. I don't think he'll be endeavored unless he seriously fucks up, but I can see them greatly downsizing his role.

He just took a bunch of time off, from November or so until the day after Mania.

And yet, he still went over Orton on the PPV. Edit: Will beat me by a nose.

I'm not saying he would never have gotten it, but I'm having a hard time to figure out where he'd have gotten the strap. The night of the accident UT won it from Austin, and Austin won it back a month later. HHH was being prepped as the next top guy, I guess they could have put Owen in Mick's place for the one night run, but that wouldn't make much sense, HHH/Mick already had the angle where HHH hurt his knee. Vince won it from HHH strictly to set up the six pack match at Unforgiven, and it went back to HHH. No reason for Owen to get it here. Maybe they could have put Owen in Big Show's spot for the Survivor Series '99 3 way match with HHH and Rock. Jarrett was already gone to WCW. It's not too "out there" to think that Owen's Blue Blazer gimmick might have turned him babyface, the same thing happened with The Hurricane a couple years later. But that was only to keep it warm until they went back to HHH and finally made him a major player 2000 was dominated by HHH and Rock. Again, maybe sub Owen for Big Show for the WrestleMania deal, but they only got Show in there with the goofy Rumble finish that they couldn't pull off with Owen. 2001 was Austin/Rock and then Austin/Angle, Austin wasn't going to work with Owen. I guess they could have given Owen the WCW Title at the time, but that leaves Jericho in the cold, and the whole point of the Jericho push was to put him in the main event. 2002 started with Jericho, who'd probably have a good program with Owen, certainly better than Austin/Jericho. But the point was trying to establish Jericho, no reason to put it on him then. HHH over Jericho was the climax to HHH's comeback after his quad tear. HHH lost to Hogan because of his huge popularity with his comeback. Hogan dropped it to UT when it quickly faded. I don't see Hogan putting over Owen. It went to Rock strictly so he could put over Brock before leaving again. Owen could have fit in there I guess. And then they split the titles. So the only real chances to give him the title all feature him as a transitional champion while they made someone else into a star.

I'm actually surprised that it finally happened. Between the signature bust and his frequent long injury layoffs, I figured if he hadn't been released by now, then he probably never would.

Cornette being a good friend of Dave, and the WON in general probably helped. Plus, I don't know about now, but I know that he used to have a ballot for the HOF.

Tom Zenk cons Verne Gagne into hiring and helping to further train him I heard this while I was at the gym listening to a Zenk episode of WOL: Zenk was playing phone tag with Verne about coming into the AWA. Knowing that Gary "Juice" Derusha had just left the AWA for the WWF, Zenk calls the office and tells them he's returning a message "from a guy named Juice" and asked the secretary if that was the AWA "or the other guys." She puts him on hold and comes back five minutes later and tells him that Verne said to be at his place first thing Monday morning to start working out with Brad Reingans.

They went back to the WWF in early '85, which probably put the kibosh on anything with the NWA. According to Dynamite's book, they split their time between the WWF and AJPW until they signed a WWF contract in early '86.

If you're still taking suggestions, Loss, I'll throw in the Midnight Express vs. Fantastics from 4/26/88 (The Fants U.S. Tag Title win)

19th Century