EricR

"Superstar" Ricky Del Rio. He looks like a slimmer Joey Maggs, and throws nothing but dropkicks and armdrags. And he has tassles. Like, a lot of tassles.

Isn't he back writing with WWE? That would make even more sense that they would be doing that storyline.

4/21/83 was just Dynamite showing he had mastered the art of long-term selling by wheelchairing the shit out of life since the late 90s. Take that, Kikuchi!

I was so hoping you would include the Psycho Cybil story. Didn't she say she was about to main event MSG in '97 but walked out to care for her ailing husband?

I thought the TM/DK series was boring and awful, but I am not watching with 2011 eyes. I am one of the few who can actually put themselves in the 2040s. People don't like TM/DK here. Oddly enough, melon is really popular here right now, too. People in the 2040s go wild for cantaloupe. And Chris Masters matches have aged remarkably well.

What matches were missed?

From today's update, I really don't understand the reason to do a poll and then make fun of the answers. If there's only one right answer and it's not an opinion, then what is the point of doing a poll again? "-- Which show does better on PPV? UFC 129 in Toronto 63.0% WrestleMania 37.0% Some amazingly optimistic wrestling fans here."

I think this way pretty great from today's update: "Not a lot of major news coming out of the quarterly conference call. We'll have a major story in the next Observer."

I didn't really love Mongo Wrestling Alliance, but I will continue to watch it because A) It's a goofy 10 minute cartoon about wrestling, and most importantly HARRY DEAN STANTON does the voice of the old man. I will watch anything at all that Harry Dean Stanton is affiliated with.

I didn't realize that many people liked Michael Schiavello. I find him unbearable. In the write up for MOTY Meltz hilariously sticks up for Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards, saying that even though HBK/Taker won, that Black/Richards won "the moral victory", because it did well to get the number of votes it did since more people saw the Mania match. Nevermind that the Mania match had way bigger expectations since it was the rematch of last year's WON MOTY and more eyes and expectations equals more scrutiny. And Jimmy Jacobs is *alllllmost* as good a brawler as Abyss. Nice to see Moxley get #2 though. And what is technical wrestling? Because judging by the top 10 I clearly have no idea what it is.

So because of Trump and Mayweather and Tyson making more then they offered Brock to work Mania, by his definition that does mean that boxing and The Apprentice = wrestling.

Eric Davis and Andres Galarraga both fell off a cliff early and then re-emerged big, then fell off again for good. Galaragga's 1998 with the Braves was infinitely more impressive than his Coors Field madness the previous couple seasons. Both also played towards the end of their career with the Giants. Davis was horrible, but Andres had two separate good runs with the Giants.

Chipper Jones put up 2.7-3.2 WAR (depending on whose WAR you trust) in a half season this year though. Schmidt went from MVP candidate to below-replacement overnight.

Kinda off-topic, but to John, has there been a quicker drop from "elite player" to "below average" than Mike Schmidt? From 1974 to 1987 his worst season would still have placed him under MVP consideration, and then 1988 saw him drop off a cliff before dropping even further in '89 before retirement. I know age catches up but there was a such a steep drop from '87 to '88. The only person that I can think of that comes close to that kind of sudden drop-off after prolonged excellence is Andruw Jones.

Man, could you just go away? This whole thread has been full of everybody talking about how fun these early episodes of Raw were, and how well all the matches hold up. Nobody is being super negative against anything. You're being a fucking doofus.

Well I'll give him credit for loving Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The rest of the stuff mentioned fries my brain.

Yeah, not sure why Dave didn't come right out and say Tim Sylvia since he regularly spoke of Sylvia complaining that he wins fights, doesn't get reactions, and doesn't get paid like the big champ.

I know, I feel the same way about Mark Henry and plenty of other workers who have lots of fans around various places. You just stated your point in an awkward way, as if Watching The NJPW Set = Tiger Mask Is Meh like it were some kind of mathematical equation with only one possible correct answer. I really didn't want to mention Mark Henry because it's like the own Godwin Point of the DVDVR boards, but that's a great exemple of the anti-moves trend. The Mark Henry craze was really laughable to me, and it all about one or two trendsetters and a crowd following the trend. Because it was "cool" to think Mark Henry was a better worker than Jerry Lynn. Or something. The whole Mark Henry/Chris Masters/Mogur thing really stinks, and it really frustrates me. All of the "trendsetters" who began praising Henry/Masters/Mogur all backed up their opinions with very specific examples of WHY they felt those guys were awesome. But I don't get posts like this that make it sound like a whole bunch of people are blindly following a trend. It really stinks that someone like Dylan can list solid reasons why Masters is really good now, and some person might see those reasons, go out of their way to check out 2010 Chris Masters, genuinely enjoy what they see......but then get derided as a person blindly jumping on the bandwagon. What is so horrible about someone saying "I think X may be the best worker in Y right now", and then backing up his statement with very solid reasons? Mark Henry and Chris Masters were guys that weren't very good at pro wrestling for awhile, so they were both guys that a large majority of people stopped really following. In 2010, most people aren't going out of their way to see Chris Masters matches, which frequently take place on the WWE's lowest rated TV show. But if someone who sees those matches, starts telling people just how good Chris Masters has gotten, and people who had completely written off Masters years ago suddenly like him.....what is so laughable about that? I had never heard of Mission Of Burma 9 years ago, but then I read the book Our Band Could Be Your Life, and I already liked most of the bands featured in that book, and Azerrad made a lot of compelling arguments why I might really like MOB, so I checked them out.....and they have since become a band I have seen live 4 times and whose albums get frequent play in my car. Am I a bandwagon jumper, because I now love a band who had previously flown under my radar? I would love to see proof of ANY post from someone who loves Henry/Masters/Mogur, who has then NOT listed reasons why they think those guys are awesome. I honestly can't remember seeing one, ever. On the other hand, many people who write those guys off don't even respond to the reasons why we think those guys rule. It's really disappointing. It doesn't make me mad, it just frustrates me. It's like if I wanted to get my buddy into the White Stripes and Doors, but he throws the albums out because he doesn't like bands with no bass players. So please, anybody: tell me why Henry/Masters/Mogur is no good. It is your opinion, and you are more than welcome to your opinion. I will gladly offer mine if you want them, but I am very curious to hear why some of you think those guys stink.

Gail Kim's best WWE stuff has been against Foxx, who is the best base out of all the WWE women. All the other women can't properly take all her hurracanranas without losing their balance. Foxx takes them great.

Alicia Foxx was a bad choice to use as an example. I think she's one of the more competent divas. She really SUWA's herself over on Gail Kim's shitty headscissors and hurracanranas and other diva's bad armdrags. She is way better than Rosa Mendes, Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, Bella twins, Gail Kim, and probably others.

I'm confused on that as well. Why are luchadors judged only on Mexico, and guys like Big Daddy judged only on UK, but Colon gets faulted because he was only successful on his home island? Isn't his kind of longevity even more impressive considering he never went anywhere to come back to PR "refreshed".

I thought Manu looked really good in the...3, maybe 4 televised matches he got. Real shame that he had a pissy little attitude and got canned so quick. Any idea what he's been up to post WWE?

At the SF WrestleFan Fest, Dr. Death was wearing short sweat shorts and a bubblegum pink t-shirt (with the required wrestler fannypack). Doesn't that go beyond fashion to "Whatever the fucks cool with me." Eric

This match confrimed that I need to see DVDs filled with Jerry Estrada. Holy shit was he incredible here. Yes, Pierroth's accidental bump looked ultra nasty, but Estrada seemed willing to dump himself on his head on purpose, a few times. Those bumps to the wooden floor were just freakish. Azteca's flying was incredibly fast and a lot different than most other stuff I've seen from this time period. Very impressive. Naturally, having Fuerza as a base don't hurt. And every time I kept seeing Texano, all I could think of was how much he looked like Bestia Salvaje. Might be a stupid question, but are those two related? But hey, I loved this. Couldn't care less who won or lost, but the match could've been 2 hours long and it would've still been a blast. Eric