MikeCampbell

Loss is right about Dave's AIDS obsession, I realize this was the '80's but still.

You also forget that the 1990's was a very hot period for wrestling in Japan, and then it tapered off in the early '00's before really dropping down, and business hasn't picked up significantly since.

I've been watching a lot of early '90s WCW lately, and something just occurred to me. I don't think that I've ever seen or heard about when the Hollywood Blonds actually won the NWA and WCW Tag Titles. Did that match ever air on TV?

I'd never heard anything about Horner being part of the MX. I didn't even thinking the Lightning Express were teaming up at this point. I thought it was still Brad and Bob, and the Express came later on.

This isn't anything mind blowing, but it's a lot of fun for what it is, which is your typical heel NWA Champion vs. Local Challenger on fast-forward. It seems like Mero has the edge on Barry with his speed and flying, but Barry uses his experience to overcome that when he catches Mero in the corner and unloads some elbows, and uses his wrestling to keep him at bay with some holds, including a nice sleeper hold, where he puts his feet on the ropes to add pressure. What really makes this stand out for me, are the various openings that Barry gives Mero to reel off some hope spots, such as the suplex reversal, and the sunset flip. And towards the end, Mero starts pulling off a bunch of near falls, and the crowd eats them up thinking he'll pull off the upset. Mero tris for too much and winds up hotshotting himself and allowing Barry to finish him off. It's not as good as Windham vs. Scorpio, but it's a pretty good eight minute match. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tea3H0jNyIU

Someone on his blog asked him why he's criticized certain wrestlers and matches for not selling limb work, but when Flair ingored his knee in the Spring Stampede rematch with Steamboat, he didn't mention anything and still have it a high rating. His answer is as follows: "Well, see, there’s a perfectly good explanation, and…WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? … Whew, that was a close one."

I've been meaning to sit down with that match for quite a while now. I remember loving Flair's promo on RAW screaming "A CAGE!" and telling everyone to vote for the cage match.

I honestly think that it could have gotten over if he hadn't been doing it so poorly that it looked like nothing resembling a lethal submission hold. Plus there wasn't any real catalyst to him using the hold other than Angle's use of it in their match. The only real explantion seemed to be 'Hey, Kurt used it on me and it hurt, I should do it too!'

That reminds me of Cornette talking about when Mid South would run in Tulsa. When they were at a big arena like the convention center, it was a very high class type of crowd. But then running the fairgrounds was a total 180.

You're the boss, Loss. So Bix, any other good quotes from the book?

I remember your rather famous post on TSM 'A Message to Jubuki' where you called him out for being a dick to you, and others on the board. Whatever happened to him anyway? He used to post at DVDVR and a bit over at tOA, but I haven't seen anything from him in ages.

I've got a tie for my favorite Keith-ism. Either when he basically ripped apart Flair vs. Luger from either WrestleWar '90 or Capitol Combat, and then gave it **** because Flair could 'wrestle a broomstick and get ****' Or his review of WM XIX where he said that Shawn's on-again off-again selling of his back hurt the match a lot (true) and then proceeded to still give it ****

Equalizer/Rude vs Sting/Hawk you mean? That wasn't the main event, Vader/Bulldog was. Wasn't Dave in the main event for Dave/Hogan/Sting vs Faces of Fear at that one clash? Clash XXIX. Yeah they were the main event. So that's one for Evad and one for Shockmaster.

I dunno, maybe it's just a matter of interpretation, but plugging the school and comic, and airing a few vignettes doesn't equate to 'free reign' to me. Keith was making it sound like Warrior got total creative control when he came back (which is probably how Todd interpreted it too). If anything, Vince plugging the school and comic sounds to me like Vince was probably getting a cut of the proceeds from them.

Dave is reporting that Kurt Angle filed for divorce from Karen. I swear, has nobody learned anything from Kevin Sullivan?

Slightly off topic here (although I'll get back to it), but what's the deal with Todd Martin? I remember that bunch of people used to rip on him over at Chris Coey's old message board, but aside from his review of Keith's book, I'd never seen anything else from him. And yeah, Keith's laziness in regards to updating or changing anything has always astounded me. I couldn't believe that he included in the book that Austin was supposed to win the WWF title at IYH Final Four. Meltzer had shot that down ages ago and Keith was even aware because he'd commented on it saying that he thought that he'd read about that in the WON. A couple of years ago he reviewed the WWE DVD of the Road Warriors, commenting that the match they won the WWF Tag Titles from the Nasty Boys in was a good match. He reviewed it and said they had no chemistry and gave it something like **. When I asked him about it, he said that he remembered liking it and then didn't when he watched it. When I asked him why he didn't just re-word his original comment after watching the match, the silence was deafening.

I can sort of see what Keith was trying to get at, which was Benoit still working NJPW while in WCW, but he picked a horrible example. And just to cut Keith a tiny break, why wouldn't an editor or proofreader catch that?

When Sullivan debuted as The Equalizer at the COC special with Rude, were they the main event? That's the closest that I can recall, unless SKeith counts coming to the ring with Hogan as being in the main event. I've made the comparison before, I liken reading Skeith's stuff to reading Calvin and Hobbes in the Sunday paper. It's not the most engrossing read that you'll find, but it's OK if you're looking for something amusing (be it Keith's sense of humor or his inaccuracies)

Yeah, it was Black Tiger vs. The Cobra. The match was actually included on The Best of the WWF Vol. 1 from CHV.

Oh, now that you mention that, I think I do recall hearing about it. Didn't he claim that Buddy Rogers won the NWA Title from Lou Thesz? And that the NWA was formed in the '60's? I was mentioning this thread to buddy of mine, specifically the awesome 'ambitiously stupid' comment that Bix stole, and he mentioned he had the first one. I was thinking about asking if I could borrow it and maybe do the epic review that Bix wants, but now maybe not.

Has anyone read Keith's first book 'The Buzz on Pro Wrestling?' all the Keith book bashing seemd to start with Tonight In This Very Ring. Did he actually get something right with the first one, or is it so bad that nobody mentions it?

I've been saying that both on here and other places for months on end. And Bix, I was lucky that I didn't go insane with Keith's 'Tonight In This Very Ring' which was just his recaps of various years of WWF angles and stuff. I can't imagine how bad this winds up being, well actually I can since you've already given us a sneak preview.

Highspots has to know that the bootleggers and cheapskates will out in full force for this. If they were smart, they'd include some sort of incentive to actually get the DVD legit.

The scary thing is just how many 16 year olds out there who think that's actually the case. And how many others who think that's the case strictly because he's written books (no matter how inaccurate they are).

Agreed with Loss, please do some more, Bix. 411 was sent a review copy and I'd considered volunteering to review it, but now I can safely say that I made the right call.